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A minute later, the doors opened onto the roof and Jessica gasped. A row of empty tables stretched from one side to the other and the entire space was illuminated with strings of lights that reminded me of Christmas lights. Also up here were two fancy benches under wooden trellises covered with ivy. It was to one of those that I led her.
“This is beautiful,” Jessica said as we sat down.
“You’re beautiful.” I pushed my hand into those thick red-gold curls and pulled her mouth to mine.
She stiffened at first, but as I licked and nibbled at her lower lip, she softened, her breath hitching and her mouth opening for me.
“That’s it, sugar,” I murmured, flicking my tongue over her lower lip. “Let me in. It’s just you and me up here.”
She shivered, then gasped as I stroked the back of her neck, a response I filed away for future reference.
Once I had her breathless, I turned my attention to her throat, pleased when she whimpered and angled her head, giving me better access. I caught the skinny, sparkling strap of her dress and tugged slowly, waiting for her to resist. When it reached the swell of her breast just above the pouting tip of her nipple, she arched closer, so I pulled it down and cupped her through her strapless bra.
She stiffened and I backed off, going back to what I’d been doing, kissing her neck and moving my fingers through her hair. As I pulled her onto my lap, I took her lips in another soft, wet kiss before returning my hand to her breast. I teased her nipple through her bra, working it into a stiff little bud that I wanted in my mouth. This time, she didn’t tense up, and soon, she was wiggling in my lap, grinding her ass against my erection. Impatient and wanting more, I yanked down the cup of her bra. Taking the hard nub of her nipple into my mouth, I raked it with my teeth and groaned in satisfaction as she arched up off my lap with a ragged cry.
“Good girl,” I muttered, already imagining her wet, picturing her panties in a little crumple of silk while I fucked her pussy with my fingers, readying her for my dick. I slid my hand up her thigh just far enough to dip under the hem of her dress. “It’s going to be so good, Jess….”
I felt her tense and flicked my tongue against her nipple, trying to distract her from whatever it was that had drawn her out of the moment.
But then she caught my hand and pushed it away. Pulled back from my mouth.
Dammit.
“Stop, Derrick.” She was breathing hard, and even in the dim lighting, I could see that her fair skin was flushed. I wanted to grab the dress, yank it off, and see how far that blue when. Taste every inch of her.
But she pushed off my lap, and I let her go.
Gripping the edges of the wooden bench beneath me, I watched as she tottered on her heels a moment before stabilizing, then went about adjusting her bra, then her dress, her back to me, as if I hadn’t already seen it.
“I already told you that I don’t plan on sleeping with you,” she said over her shoulder.
In a voice rough with arousal, I said, “Plans change, sugar.”
She gave me a cool look and I just smiled back. We might be done for the night, but we were far from done for good.
FIFTEEN
JESSICA
Sexual frustration made for a very,very restless night.
Some self-satisfaction had proven rather…unsatisfactory, mostly because I kept hearing his confident, rough voice in my ear as he whispered,it’s going to be so good, Jess.
My body had raged at me when I stopped, and I’d almost listened to it. But I had to get through this with some measure of respect, and it was already proving to be damn hard.
I knew when I was being managed, and Derrick Thomas was going out of his way to control me—and try the same with my friends. The flowers for Jami, his unflappable attitude, and smooth smiles when she was borderline rude to him. He didn’t actually care what she thought of him, but he seemed to think getting her to soften toward him would make this whole thing go easier. And why?
I didn’t know.
I was still trying to figure out the angle he was working with his book. He'd cleverly sidestepped the few questions I asked, claiming he didn’t discuss projects early on in development. I could respect that, but wasn’t Ipartof the development?
“You’re very distracted, dear.”
I jerked up my head and found my mother standing a few feet away. I pasted a smile on my face so she wouldn’t think something was wrong and gave her a vague answer, “Weird week at work.”
I stepped around the box of books I’d been helping unpack and hoped she wouldn’t press the issue.
“We’ve had an interesting week around here, too.” She sighed and gave the storeroom a long, lingering look. She pushed her auburn curls back from her face and I noticed a few more gray hairs that hadn’t been there just a few days ago. “Your dad and I are talking about retiring sooner than planned.”