Traded for Love (37 page)

“You'll get everything you want. It's all a matter of time. You just have to wait, and watch, and not say anything. Don't interfere. If you stay out of this, I promise, you'll get your happy ending.”

“You're wrong,” I protested, incensed by her words. “You think you know everything, but you have no idea.” I scowled at her. “I'm happy. Jack's happy. He
is
my prince, and you can't steal him from him.”

She shook her head. “It's natural for you to feel this way, but you have to face the truth: he was never yours to begin with. He thinks he owns you, and he thinks he's not capable of being owned himself. He'll find out soon, but it'll be too late by then.” She finished her sentence with a sweet smile.

“Just leave him alone!” I shouted, turning on my heels and storming back out onto the lawn.

I felt a tear slide down my cheek.

He'll find out soon, but it'll be too late by then.

He'll find out soon …

High

That Night

(Jack)

I threw my jacket on the bed. Emily came in after me and flopped into a nearby chair. Neither of us spoke. We'd been exhausted by our guests. The garden party had gone off without a hitch. Well, almost.

I hadn't expected Chastity to be working the event. I was sure that after our falling out, she would have avoided seeing me.

Then again, she'd never given me the impression that she was one to run from confrontation. In fact, I was sure she'd taken a secret, twisted pleasure in seeing me squirm.

Could I have helped it?

Maybe it was time to admit that the woman had destroyed me.

Had I asked for less?

I shook my head at the comedy of it all. The indomitable Jack: disturbed by a mere woman.

At the thought of disturbing women, my mother came to mind. I was absolutely miserable she'd decided to put in an appearance. My hate for her had roots in my childhood, roots that made me sick to my core to think about.

As if on cue, Emily got up and mentioned in passing that my mother had asked to meet her for cocktails.

“I'd rather not discuss her,” I said flatly.

“She told me you didn't like her. What happened between you two? You didn't even tell her about Katherine.” Emily kicked off her shoes.

“It's not important. Just please don't bring her up around me.” I went over to the bar and poured myself a drink.

In my pocket, my phone vibrated.

“I'm going to take a shower,” Emily said, crossing behind me and going into the bathroom.

As soon as the door closed, I took my phone out.

Unknown: Meet me at the pool in 2 hrs.

Paralyzed by the message, I let the whiskey from my glass burn down my throat. Warily, I typed in a response.

Chastity?

Unknown: 2 hrs. By the pool.

There was no other word for my state except desperate.

Why not now?

Unknown: We're cleaning.

Make someone else clean. I have to see you now.

Unknown: 2 hrs. Dress casual.

My stomach did somersaults. Naturally, I was ecstatic—and aroused—by the thought of seeing her. The fact that she'd asked me to come made me believe she wanted to work things out. Maybe she was sorry for how she'd acted. At the very least, maybe she was intent on forgetting the whole thing had happened.

I didn't give a shit anymore, not about the kiss, or anything else. If she called, I would go running.

As soon as Emily had finished showering, I took my turn. I was hard as a rock the entire time, lost in thinking of what Chastity and I would be doing together. She'd told me to dress casual. Why? What did that little seductress have in store for me?

Emily went off to see my mother. I spent the next half hour lying in bed looking at the ceiling. I checked my phone for the hundredth time and finally couldn't take it anymore. I had to go out there, even if she wasn't there yet.

The most casual thing I'd brought with me were my golfing clothes. A pair of black tailored slacks and a white undershirt would have to do.

I crossed the lawn under the cover of darkness. I'd forgotten just how beautiful the grounds were at night. There wasn't any civilization for miles, so there were no city lights to drown out the moonlight. I reached the pool. Its mirror-like surface reflected the black night sky, providing a perfect reservoir of twinkling starlight.

The pool house was a modest, two-story building. The lower floor had showers, gender-specific steam-rooms, and a private massage parlor. The second floor had three bedrooms and a game room. I was sure the building hadn't been used for years, even though it was kept in pristine condition.

Beside the pool was a hot tub. It looked inviting, despite the fact that the jets weren't on. If Chastity was up for it, I'd convince her to skinny dip with me. My cock jumped at the idea of seeing her body dripping wet and flushed from the heat of the tub.

As that thought occurred to me, she appeared across the lawn. She was still wearing her chef's jacket, though it was unbuttoned now. Underneath she wore a simple white tank top. Even in
work
clothes she looked attractive. It took everything I had not to meet her halfway.

“You're early,” she said as she came near.

Without giving her a second to say another word, I snatched her close to me and crushed my lips to hers. She responded warmly, though not with as much heat as I would have preferred.

I broke the kiss. “I'm sorry.”

“It's alright.” She cupped my cheek and I thought my heart would explode out of my chest.

I splayed my hands over her back, tucked my nose into her neck, and inhaled the familiar scents of flour, sugar and vanilla.

“Happy to see me, hm?” She wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a gentle squeeze.

I suddenly felt as though I'd acted irrationally and unlike myself, so I let go of her.

“Let's go into the house,” I suggested.

“Why don't we sit out here?” She nodded toward the outdoor furniture, a few weather-proof couches with a fire pit in the middle.

“Sure.” I followed her lead and we sat close on the couch.

A few meteors streaked the sky. “Shooting stars,” she murmured. “Did you make a wish?”

“No. You?”

She leaned into my side. “I have everything I want.”

I put my arm around her. “Are you sure you wouldn't rather go inside?”

She laughed, and I felt her hand brush slightly over the bulge in my pants. “Eager aren't you?”

I tensed and let out a shuddered breath. “Can you blame me?”

“I guess not.” She ran her hand over my t-shirt. “Was this the most casual thing you had?”

“Yeah. Why did you want me to dress casual anyway?”

“I brought us a treat.” She sat up and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small baggy.

“What's that?” I asked.

She raised an eyebrow at me. “Weed.”

I pursed my lips. “Oh.”

"Don't tell me you've never gotten high." She smiled and opened the baggy.

"I'm afraid I've been too busy running a fortune-500 company and running for office." I watched her roll a joint. I'd never seen it done before and was in awe of how fast she did it. She popped it between her lips. "Marijuana is pretty carcinogenic, you know."

She lit the joint and allowed the flame to catch before inhaling deep. She held the smoke, and a moment later, parted her gorgeous lips to allow the folds of smoke to float out. She leaned back. "Anything you smoke is carcinogenic." Her eyes slid open. "The way I see it, I'm going to die one day. I'd rather the reason be a decision I consciously made"

"I've never thought about it that way," I said, watching her take another long drag and hold it in. I'd never thought smoking was sexy, but when it was her ... well, anything she did seemed sexy.

"Why don't you stop staring at me and take a hit?" She held out the joint.

I eyed it with apprehension.

"Afraid?" she asked.

"I'm not sure I'm willing to give up control."

She chuckled. "Shouldn't you be used to losing control around me?"

I smirked. "You're going to get it for that."

She narrowed her eyes mischievously. "I hope so."

I wet my lips and took it from her, then mimicked her drag. A few seconds passed before I was coughing and sputtering. She laughed at me and took it back before I could drop it.

“It tastes awful!” I exclaimed between coughing fits.

“Keep going. It gets better.” She held it up for me and I frowned at it.

“Come on, don't wuss out,” she said with a grin.

We smoked several joints over the next few minutes. Soon we were both leaning against the back of the couch looking directly up at the sky.

My mouth was dry and my eyes felt like they were bulging out of my head. “Is this—is this normal?”

“What?”

“I don't … This is … This is weird,” I said, staring at the back of my hand. Whenever I turned my head, it took my brain a moment to process it, but all it made me do was laugh.

She burst into a fit of giggles. “Fuck. You're
so
high.”

“I've never been high before!” I shouted.

“Oh my God. If I had your kind of money, I'd never be sober.” She snickered.

“I'm drunk a lot,” I said with a grin. “Drunk is good.”

She lost it again, laughing so hard that she fell over into my lap. “Oh my god. You've never been … Hold on.”

“Never been what?” I asked, grinning down at her.

“Hold on.” She rolled off my lap and dropped her knees into the grass.

“What are you doing?”

“I'm gonna do this thing,” she said.

“That's … super vague.”

“Lean your head back,” she said, her eyelids dropping over her eyes.

“Okay.” I did as she told me.

“Close your eyes.”

“Okay.” I closed them.

I felt her hands on my belt and my smile spread into a grin. “Are you … Are you … What are you doing?”

She snickered and reached into my boxers. I'd been hard the entire time, and feeling her hand close around my dick felt like Heaven several times over.

“Keep your eyes closed.”

She took me out and began stroking me. Every movement was sheer unadulterated bliss.

The wetness of her mouth closed around me. I felt like she was sucking my entire body out through my cock. It was unlike anything I'd experienced before. I wasn't sure I could enjoy a sober blowjob ever again

I stuttered like an idiot for the next fifteen minutes … or it could have been hours. My time perception was all kinds of fucked up.

There were several moments that I had to hold back to keep myself from coming.

Finally, I stopped her. “Lay down,” I said, my speech slurred.

She grinned. “Okay.” She rolled onto her back in the soft grass and smiled up at me.

That lazy, lusty expression made my heart swell.

I dropped down in between her knees and tugged down her pants. She hadn't worn any underwear.

All the better for me.

Effortlessly, I slid into her. Every agonizingly tight inch of me was welcomed into her. She moaned as I began my work, despite the fact that anyone could see or hear us. I didn't give a fuck about anybody or anything else except her. She was the focus of my world, this woman underneath the stars, this woman half covered in flour and sugar, this woman I wanted more than any other one in the universe.

Her orgasm was building. For the first time in all the times we'd been together, I could feel that she wasn't fighting it. There was no restraint, just this beautiful acceptance.

I pulled up her tank top and lost myself in the landscape of her breasts and torso as I thrust into her. I leaned over her and took fistfuls of the grass in my hands, anchoring us to the Earth when I was so certain gravity didn't exist anymore.

The moment she came, a warm gush soaked the front of my pants and underwear.

“Again,” I whispered into the chill night air. “Again and again.”

I began the cycle again. Two more times I worked her up to that intolerable squeezing, screaming precipice.

My resistance was failing, so I brought my body down hard against hers, bracing my elbows above her shoulders so she wouldn't slide on the down-thrust. She wrapped her arms and legs around me, clasping onto me as we sweated through the desire.

Cursing under my breath, I held on for dear life. Suddenly, a rush of sensations poured through me and I lost the last of any control I could have hoped to have.

As the waves of ecstasy ebbed and wasted away, the sound of crickets filtered in. I shifted off of her and into the grass beside her.

More meteors streaked over the inky blackness as we laid there catching our breath.

My senses dropped in and out pleasantly, and I savored every moment. Everything that had bothered me and worried me for the past few weeks dissipated. She was here with me. She was all I needed. She was all I wanted.

“Fuck … ” I whispered.

“What?”

“Nothing,” I replied.

In truth, I was worried—and it wasn't because of the weed. It was in that moment that I realized that every time I was with her, I was becoming less myself and more someone else, someone I didn't recognize. I was slipping away from who I used to be, and the worst part of it was … I wasn't sure I minded.