Broken: Round One (Broken #1) (10 page)

Jai draws his cup to his lips. “They’re nice leggings.”

I have to agree. Not only do they fit and are comfortable, they also had the price tag still attached. Whoever owned these before paid a pretty penny for them. If I lost them, I’d be pissed. I sip at the whiskey and wince as it burns its way down my throat. I cough and cover my mouth.

“It tastes like gasoline.”

Crinkles surface around his eyes as he smiles while swallowing a mouthful of his own whiskey. “Just as expensive, too.”

I raise my eyebrows. “An interesting statement from someone who catches the train.”

“I have a car, but I enjoy catching the train. I like the grittiness of it all.”

I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who enjoys catching the train. I hate it with a passion—the smells, the people, the stops—ugh.

“When you’re not riding the subway and smashing innocent women’s tablets, what do you drive?”

His eyes flare and I can tell I’ve stumbled on a topic he’s passionate about. “A Ford Mustang, Shelby, GT500.”

I stare at him. All I heard were words. Words I don’t understand the meaning of. When I ask someone what they drive, I expect a color or a one-name brand. ‘A blue one’ is a good answer or ‘a Nissan’ works too. I can understand those. When more than one name comes out of their mouth, followed by a bunch of numbers, I’m lost. Jai catches on, too.

“A red one with black stripes up the middle.”

I smile. “Fast?”

A stupid question. It’s red; of course it goes fast. Jai tips his head to the side a little. It’s endearing—cute, even.

“She does all right. What’s with the questions?”

I shrug. “We sleep in the same room. It makes sense we should get to know each other a little more.”

Jai leans forward, resting his elbows on the table. I drop my stare from his and watch as he trails his index finger along the rim of his tin cup. At any moment I expect blood to roll down the dull metal, but he keeps his touch light and careful.

“You really think knowing me a little more will make you feel any better about what you let me do last night?”

His tone confuses me. It’s half amused, half serious. I wondered who was going to address last night’s situation first. I would have done it in a roundabout way, but I guess Jai’s style is more … straight to the point.

“This has nothing to do with last night. I don’t need to make myself feel better. I own my actions.” I frown. “Wait. Are you implying I should think less of myself because of what happened?”

“Not at all.”

I grip my tin cup in my hand. “Then what are you saying?”

Jai’s full lips fight a smile. It seems almost everything I say is amusing to him. He’s not taking this conversation as seriously as I am, and it bugs me.

“What I’m saying is, what’s done is done. Even if I tell you my whole life story, we’ll always share that moment as strangers.”

His stare flickers over my burning cheeks and watering eyes. I don’t think I’ve been in a more embarrassing conversation. This is the first time I’ve ever had a conversation with a guy that has given me an orgasm, after the fact.

I cover my face with my hands. “This is humiliating.”

Jai laughs once. “Don’t be embarrassed. You were perfect.”

Perfect? I peer through my fingers. There’s no humor to his look. Whatever is happening in the depths of his ocean-like eyes makes me feel sixteen all over again.

Virginal.

Curious.

Shameless.

It’s an art, saying the right words to make a girl feel like a puddle of jelly, an art I suspect Jai has mastered.

Dropping my hands from my face, I sigh. “Can we talk about something else?”

He studies me while I rake my teeth over my bottom lip. “We could, but I think I prefer making you blush.”

I roll my eyes. Of course he does. “Please? I find this topic of conversation uncomfortable—even in normal circumstances.”

He exhales and slumps into his chair. “Fine. We can change the topic, but I’m revisiting it once you’ve had a few drinks. I want to know where your panties have disappeared to.”

It takes me a few long seconds to process what he’s said. When I do, my cheeks burn unlike anything I’ve experienced before. How can he tell? He’s looking at me, his eyes dancing while his mouth taunts me with a lopsided smirk.

“I’m wearing them,” I tell him, but the certainty I hoped for doesn’t reach my voice.

He leans closer and I focus on his lip as he drags his tongue along the bottom one. To tease me or moisten it, I have no idea.

“I know you’re not.” His voice is unbearably intimate and I squeeze my thighs together. “And it’s making it really hard for me to stay on this side of the table.”

I swallow hard, my attention flicking to his lips. “This isn’t the place.”

My attempt at protesting is lame. My drama teacher always said that if you can’t convince yourself, you’re not going to convince anybody, and it’s true. Jai doesn’t look the sold, not in the slightest.

His irises dance with indecent excitement as he taps the side of his cup. “There’s never a good place, Kitten, but you’re right. After last night. I’ve decided I don’t like the idea of someone else hearing your husky voice as I make you come.”

I inhale and hold until my lungs burn. How does he say those things? How do they just tumble from his mouth and make my pussy swell? I pull my cup to my mouth and take one large mouthful, then another. I swallow it and grit my teeth before pushing my cup across the crate. He gets the hint and with a sexy half-smile, he grabs the cup, pushes out of his seat and saunters across the room.

Fucking hell.

I bunch my hair up in one hand to expose my neck while I fan my face with the other. How am I going to make it through the rest of the day without having Jai take me against a tunnel wall? Using only his words, he has all of my nerves heightened. If we were elsewhere, and alone, I’d have made him tear my leggings with his teeth already. I can tell he wants to.

I want it too.

More than anything.

* * * *

When Jai returns with full cups, conversation lightens up. I’m grateful. My nipples were beginning to sting they were rubbing that hard against the fabric of my halter.

“I really am sorry for breaking your tablet,” he admits after I tell him about my studies and how long I’ve been doing them for.

His eyes are no longer wide and alert. The whiskey has slackened them, turning them into tired slits. My eyes feel the same—tired and heavy with impure thoughts. I stopped at three cups, deciding here wasn’t the place I should completely lose my mind.

“Thank you. Although, if you had come clean in the first place, I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Jai shuffles his small crate chair closer to me and when he rests his arms on the makeshift table, his arm brushes against mine. Hyperawareness of his warm skin sizzles through me.

“If you can tell me with absolute honesty that you actually enjoyed your life before you came here, I’ll apologize for that too.”

My brows furrow. I certainly didn’t hate my previous life, but it did lack the excitement every other twenty-five-year-old was having. I haven’t really thought about it. In a way, I’m kind of unbothered by the thought of losing my place in my studies and not completing the course. I don’t own much and I’m late to pay rent on my apartment, also. My landlord told me she wouldn’t wait for me again, so it’s safe to say I’m officially homeless. And … I don’t care.

“I don’t want this to be my life, if that’s what you mean.”

He shakes his head. “That’s not what I’m saying at all.”

“Then what are you saying?”

He inches closer, his face unbearably close to mine. “I see the way you react to the fights. I feel your body tighten and relax. Your pupils dilate. Your breath becomes heavy. You hate being down here, but you love the darkness of it all—the dirtiness.”

I swallow the pool of moisture in my mouth. Every word he says is true. I need this. I needed to be pulled from my old life and forced into a new one. I don’t ever want to go back. I can’t do plain now I’ve experienced the flavors of another life. My heart is set on Italy. If I don’t get Italy, I’ll die.

“You’re observant,” I say, involuntarily tilting my face towards his.

Jai’s eyes darken, filling with desire. “It’s important. It drives me crazy, you know.”

“What does?”

“Standing so close to you when you’re watching a fight and knowing your thoughts and your attention isn’t on me.”

My lips part as I expel a heady breath of air. There’s something animalistic about this man. There’s something he has that I want to be a part of, but as turned on as I am, I refuse to slip under his thumb so easily. “You’re fishing for something. I’m not as naïve as you think, Mr. Stone.”

His lips pull on one side. “I don’t need to trick you, Emily. You’re a big girl. You know what you want.”

Why? Why is he trying to get under my skin all of a sudden? Why is he talking to me as if he wants my legs around him more than anything else in the world? Fucking wasn’t a priority yesterday.

“And what do I want?”

“Me,” he states, simply. “And I want you.”

My throat dries. Word by word, he’s killing me, winding me tighter than ever before. I’m about to implode. Every sense is heightened. Even the rogue drop of sweat rolling between my breasts feels erotic as it teases my pores.

“What’s changed?” I ask, curiously. “You’re so certain this is what you want. What’s made you so adamant?”

“Something happened.”

Hooked, I raise my brows. “What happened?”

“You. You came so tightly and so perfectly around my fingers, agreeing to everything I said. Your hot breath blew across my face again and again as your body rocked beneath mine.”

He pauses to glance at my chest as it quickens in pace. Satisfied, his irises come back to mine, and a flash of something beautiful and raw sparks in them. It rushes through my body like lightning, relentlessly striking every nerve.

“My cock is jealous. It wants to accomplish the same feat.”

Holy.

Fuck.

Shameless

With a gasp I stumble forward but catch myself against the wall, my hands shoulder width apart. Jai’s body covers mine, pushing me harder against the dirty tunnel wall, his hard cock pressing fiercely into my ass cheek. I don’t know what happened between our conversation in the bar and our tiny nook, but somewhere between there and here, we decided we were going to fuck.

Hard.

His hand skims the arch of my back and the feel of his rough, calloused flesh sends my body into overdrive. As it slips onto the curve of my ass, my exposed skin tingles where he touched it. I expect my body to calm with every breath I take, but I only work myself up more.

With his free hand, he brushes my hair to the side and presses his hard body against my spine. I shiver as his breath blows across my ear in heavy, excited pants. As one hand grips my ass, the other brushes away hair at the nape of my neck, only to replace it with warm, wet lips. I sigh as his lips part and he grazes my skin with his teeth.

“I’m not going to lie,” he speaks, letting an arm slide around my waist. “I’ve thought about this since the first night.”

“You have?”

His hand presses firmly against my taut tummy, urging my ass on to him. Jai groans his yes, sending rough, glorious tingles down my spine. “From the second I pushed you up against the warehouse and saw your fuckable lips.”

I simper. “Refresh my memory? Was that before or after you insinuated I was a crack-whore?”

He pushes forward and snags my earlobe between his teeth. I hiss and push back on him, making him grind harder into my ass. I love the way his body covers mine, like a warm blanket of sex and alpha male. It creates a surge of electricity inside me and I can’t stop it. I need him. I need him like I need air.

Pushing against him, I turn around and pause when we stand torso to torso. His abs clench against my stomach, and his eyes hold mine in a grip so crushing, I’m certain I’m going to drown if he doesn’t let me come up for air. Throwing me a safety net, Jai’s lips crash to mine and I moan as he plunges his tongue into my mouth. He’s so male.

Dominant.

Assertive.

Certain.

I’m burning up and drenching my leggings with desperation and need. Teasing me with his tongue, Jai slips a hand between our bodies and presses a long, hard finger against my sensitive spot. I inhale against his mouth and feel the muscles around his lips try to smile, but he fights it. His firm fingertip circles me with a soft, almost absent pressure, but tingles grow with his touch regardless. Then, I feel his fingers curl around the band to my tights and push. I move my hips, helping him get the fabric down over my ass. When the fabric touches my knees, his mouth releases me and he grips my shoulders. I barely have time to lick my lips and savor his taste before he turns me around and pulls my ass towards him. I grip the wall as best I can, digging my fingertips into the eroded concrete as he undoes his belt. The sound is all the foreplay I need. Even the rustle of a foil packet being torn is enough to keep me heated.

In the next heartbeat, I feel him pressed into my back and the length of him settles between the cheeks of my ass. My breath hitches and his cock spasms. It turns him on. His hands come around my waist and onto my breasts. With a grip much too tight but all too arousing, he squeezes me in his hands, flicking my nipples between his fingers. I haven’t known Jai for long, but there’s no denying he’s a force of nature.