When You Were Mine [Second Chances 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (10 page)

Jamie rubbed the head of his cock against her aching pussy until she finally begged, “Jamie, I need you to fuck me!”

As if he had just been waiting for her to ask, he plunged back into her and began to thrust again. The sounds of skin slapping against skin filled the room. When he reached forward to grasp the ponytail that at the base of her skull and tugged it back, he asked, “Is this what you needed?”

A torrent of pleasure hit her at full force. All she could do was helplessly moan, “yes” as another orgasm tore through her. She shattered to pieces around him, crying out his name.

His thrusts became quicker and more erratic as he now sought his own release. She thrust back to meet him, stroke for stroke until he froze behind her, then groaned out her name as he emptied himself into the condom.

A moment later he released her hair, leaned down, and placed a kiss against the side of her neck, then pulled out of her.

Cora slumped against the table for a moment, absolutely wrecked. The sex between them had always been amazing, but that had been positively incendiary. It felt like her whole body was still vibrating.

She heard the water running in the bathroom, so she started to get dressed. As she began to put her bra back on, she felt his hands skim across her back and clasp it for her. When his head dipped down and placed light kisses against her shoulder, she leaned back into his chest.

After his mouth lifted from her skin, she turned to face him and saw the question in his eyes. It was a little comforting to know that he felt the same trepidation as she did, she realized. Not sure how to address it, she did the only thing she could think of.

She slid her hands around his neck and brushed her mouth against his. Together they stood, half-dressed in his kitchenette, certain only of their uncertainty.

For better or worse, she had changed things between them. She had no idea what that meant, or where things were going. She only knew that couldn’t resist the force that pulled her to him. Only time would tell her whether she’d made the right decision or not.

Jamie watched the taillights of her car as she pulled out of the parking lot of their office complex, not entirely sure what had just happened. Cora had seemed a little tense at dinner. They had been discussing the strange encounter with the drunk man in her office, though. It worried him too.

When he’d dropped her at her car, he assumed that she’d either go to his place, or he to hers. He’d been a little surprised when she’d cited an early morning appointment and taken a rain check. The tension at dinner hadn’t just been about the man in her office, he realized. It was about their encounter too. He didn’t know exactly what he had expected for the rest of the evening, but going home alone wasn’t it.

Knowing how Cora worked, she probably wanted some time and space to think about how the scope of their relationship had changed tonight. He realized, even though it pained him, that all he could really do in this situation was to give her time to work it out.

As much as he knew Cora, he realized that there was a complete other side to her that he was only slightly acquainted with. She had absolutely destroyed him tonight. She was nothing like the sweet, somewhat inhibited girl that he remembered. She’d been wildly passionate. Hearing her filthy mouth had been shockingly sexy. Typically she didn’t curse all that often, but she’d begged for him to fuck her. He had been close to coming on the spot.

He’d always been somewhat restrained when they were together. Way back when, he’d been her first. The thought of grabbing a handful of her hair while he fucked her had seemed laughable back then. He was pretty sure she would have run for the hills. Now...it was totally different ball game.

As he pulled on to the freeway, he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. There was no point in torturing himself by remembering all of this. Once again, the ball was firmly back in her court. He would just have to wait and see.

* * * *

By midafternoon the next day, Jamie had booked another two consultations. One was with a veterinarian and another was with a manufacturer of crane safety videos. That was another great thing about his job. Coming up with an overall marketing scheme for these sorts of niche businesses required a little bit of research, so it kept him busy and he got to learn a little something.

As he was getting ready to head out of the office a bit early to look at the conference table that he’d neglected to look at last night, his phone buzzed.

He juggled his gym bag and dug into his pocket as he locked the door. When he read Steve’s name on the caller ID, he answered, “Hey there, buddy! What’s going on?”

As he headed toward the elevator, he gave one last glance down the hall at Cora’s office. He hadn’t heard from her since last night, and it was starting to gnaw at him. Shaking his head, he tried to clear the thoughts from his mind and focus on the voice booming through the phone.

“Whatcha got planned for tonight?” Steve asked.

Jamie grinned and said, “I dunno. I was going to order a pizza and watch the game. The Bruins versus the Schooners. Tip-off is at 7:30. Did you wanna come hang out?”

“Nope,” he answered. “I’ll actually do you one better. My friend has two tickets to the game, but he flaked out ‘cause one of his kids is sick. Did you wanna go with?”

“Hang on,” Jamie said. “I’m about to get into the elevator. I might lose you.”

“‘Kay.”

A moment later, now on the ground floor, he picked up the thread of conversation where it had previously ended. “Hell yeah. That would be awesome. I hope his kid is okay, but shit. Thank him for me, whoever he is.”

“Pink eye and strep throat at the same time. Nothing a fuck ton of antibiotics won’t cure. Either way, I’ll pass along the message.”

“We can ride together if you want. Meet you at your place? Six thirty?”

“Sounds like a plan, brother. See you then,” Steve said.

“See ya soon,” Jamie said as he disconnected the line. With another glance at the time on his cell phone he realized he needed to move if he was going to make it across town and back before he was supposed to be at Steve’s.

Jamie looked back at the building, then quickly texted Cora. “I’m leaving a little early for the day. When you leave, please don’t forget to call the guard downstairs to walk you out. Talk to you later?”

He hit send and then plugged the address for the warehouse where the table was waiting into his GPS.

One vetoed table and a trip to the gym later, he pulled up in front of Steve’s house. He checked his cell phone once more and saw that Cora hadn’t responded yet. On a frustrated sigh, he texted Steve to let him know he was out front.

A couple minutes later, he saw Steve pop out the front door, lock it and hurry to the car. He grinned as he slid into the passenger’s seat with far more grace that Jamie would have expected from a man Steve’s size.

“Jesus,” Steve muttered. “I didn’t realize you drove a tin can, Connolly. Was there anything on the lot with less leg room?”

Jamie smirked and said, “Great gas mileage. Did you wanna drive to the arena?”

His eyes widening, Steve said, “Hell no. The parking situation is fucked there. I’d never be able to find a spot for my truck.”

Jamie and Steve made it to their seats just before tip-off, armed with drinks and the world’s most expensive hot dogs. When he saw the view of the court, he said, “Holy shit. These are really good seats. How much do I owe you for the ticket?”

Steve waved him off and said, “He’s got season tickets. He just gave them to me.”

“That makes the thirty dollars of food I’ve got here a lot easier to deal with,” Jamie said.

“Captive audience, man.”

The next hour flew by in a flurry of action on the court. The Schooners looked like shit, which only helped the Bruins look good.

By halftime they were up by fifteen points. After a quick refill, he slid back into his seat and checked his phone again. Still nothing. It was almost nine now. He supposed he would have heard something by now if she didn’t make it home. Which only irritated him more...

“Bro,” Steve cut into his thoughts. “You’ve checked your cell phone a million times since we sat down. Is everything okay?”

Jamie sighed, ran a hand through his hair in frustration, then said, “Cora.”

“When did that become a thing again?”

“Honestly,” he responded. “I don’t have a clue. Things have been building up for the last couple weeks, but...it’s not really about that.”

He proceeded to tell him about the man in her office last night.

Steve winced and asked, “Just some random drunk? She must have been terrified. Why wouldn’t she call you or text you at least to let you know? That’s kind of shitty.”

“Last night things got more complicated between us,” he said. “She wasn’t keen on jumping into anything, so I think she might be avoiding me.”

“Complicated?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Rolling his eyes, Jamie said, “Really complicated.”

“Casual dating, man,” Steve replied. “After my divorce, I totally swore off love. Never been happier.”

“She’s hard to resist,” Jamie admitted.

Steve rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably and said, “I’m sure it’ll all work out, buddy. Now can we forget that I asked you about this and focus on the game?”

Jamie laughed and said, “As you were.”

As the buzzer sounded for the third quarter, Jamie stopped checking his cell phone. Clearly she would have texted if she was going to. Tomorrow, he decided, he’d talk to her about all of this. Rather than trying to figure out what was going on in her head, he’d just ask.

When he finally managed to push her out of his mind, he enjoyed the rest of the game. The Bruins were in top condition and the Schooners looked like crap. The best part of these seats is that they were so close to the opposing team’s bench that he could hear the coach yelling at them in between plays. It wasn’t even what the guy was saying that was so funny. It was how unbelievably pissed off he seemed.

It got to the point that he and Steve stopped watching the game and focused on the coach. At one point, someone was taking some heat for a foul. Jamie saw the player’s mouth moving, but wasn’t able to hear what he was saying.

Suddenly, the coach cut him off and said, “Because he’s a better fucking player than you are. Now sit down. I’m not gonna be your goddamned babysitter tonight, Hobbs!”

Jamie almost shot cola out of his nose when the player slumped down on the bench to pout. He quickly swallowed the sip he took and said, “Please god, Steve. Tell me you heard that!”

He looked over to Steve, who was silently laughing as he rubbed his eyes. Eventually he said, “What a nutjob. And he wonders why they play like shit. They’re probably angling to get traded!”

By the time the game was over, the Bruins ended up winning by thirty-six points. Their moods jovial, they made the long hike back to the car, then sat in traffic for half an hour waiting to get out of the parking lot.

When Jamie finally made it home, it felt like he’d been awake for days. Then again, most of his day had been spent staring at a computer screen. Moving from strictly campaign management back into the actual technical work would definitely be a transition. His eyelids were heavy as he stripped out of his clothes and slid into bed. There were things he needed to do, but they could wait until tomorrow. Now? Sleep.

By noon the next day, he had already hit the gym, purchased a conference table, and had the consultation with the vet’s office. He was planning to spend the rest of the afternoon working on new marketing materials for them. Everything they had was developed by the previous owner of the business. The new owner was looking to distance themselves from that as they’d discovered a lot of overcharging in the patient files.

They were on the right track with a name change and re-branding. He’d completely agreed with their rationale. No one wanted to be known as the vet that ripped people off. They’d done all the heavy lifting with the name change itself, but they had no idea where to begin with the re-branding process.

That, of course, was where he came in.

When he finally looked away from his monitor again with a tired sense of accomplishment, he realized that the rest of the day had flown by. He picked up his phone and saw that he had missed two phone calls from his mother.

He rubbed his neck guiltily, as he hadn’t called her in over two weeks.

He took a moment to save his work, then dialed. He braced himself for what he was sure would be a session of guilt and prying.

When Molly answered on the third ring, she said, “He lives!”

“Yeah, yeah, Mom. I’m alive. Sorry I haven’t called. I’ve been pretty busy getting things ready for the office and trying to drum up business.”

There was a moment of silence on the line before Molly said, “And I also hear you’re spending a little bit of time with Cora.”

Jamie narrowed his eyes, cursing whoever had relayed the information and said, “Kinda difficult to avoid her since Patti rented me an office three doors down from hers.”

“I heard about that crazy man in her office the other night. I’m glad you were there, baby.”