Beneath This Man (This Man, #2)(142)

My lips part involuntarily and I soak up the greedy lashes of his tongue, moaning, begging for more, but then he pulls back and I thrash my head from side to side, flipping myself onto my front. I hear him laugh, and then he slaps my arse hard before he gets off the bed. ‘Don’t shower.’

‘I’ve not got time!’ I yell to his back as he rearranges his boxers on his way out. I shout and thrash myself about on the bed for a few moments. I don’t know what this is going to achieve, apart from messing my hair up some more and smudging my make-up further. I can’t believe he did that. What am I talking about? Of course I can believe it. This man is beyond unreasonable and challenging.

Right! I jump off the bed and set about sorting myself out. My blow dried waves are now more of a tousled array of brunette and my cheeks are flushed. I look well and truly f*cked, which is ironic because I’m not. Not in the satisfying sense, anyway. I clench my thighs together on a groan and grab a wash cloth to wipe the remnants of Jesse from my chest. There is no wiping away the huge love bite on my boob. There will be no low cut anything for me tonight and not just because of the bruise on my chest.

Control freak!



After refreshing my make-up and getting dressed, I walk down the stairs as quietly as possible. I’m heading straight out that door and with any luck, it will be a while before he notices I’m gone. He is nowhere to be seen as I scan the vastness of the penthouse, so I tiptoe to the kitchen and poke my head around the archway. Where is he?

‘You’re not f*cking wearing that!’

My legs instantly kick into gear at the sound of that fierce voice and I dash for the door, slamming it behind me to hinder his pursuit while praying the elevator is open. I thank all that is holy and dive in the lift, punching the code in frantically. The doors shut just as I see Jesse’s raging face appear through the tiny gape. I give him a cheeky wave and turn to look at myself in the mirror.

Okay, so the grey Chloe number is a bit on the racy side, but my legs look incredible, even if I do say so myself. He asked for this.

The elevator door opens and I scurry across the marble floor, searching for my keys as I go. He’s got to get some clothes on and wait for the elevator to get back up to the penthouse, so I should be fine.

‘Hi, Clive!’ I sing, running past him and emerging into the evening air. I fire my key fob at my car and run across the car park.

I hear him before I see him. I turn and watch as he flies out the foyer of Lusso, looking like the Devil himself. I clench my lips shut to suppress my laugh. He looks homicidal. He tears towards me, barefoot and gloriously naked, except for his fine, tight boxer shorts. I stay where I am. I knew I wouldn’t be going out in this dress, whether he caught me here or at the bar, I was always going to be hauled home in disgrace and dressed in something more suitable by Jesse’s standards.

He grabs me and flings me up onto his shoulder, reaching up to hold the hem of my dress down before taking me straight back into Lusso. ‘It’s just my f*cking luck that I go and fall crazy in love with most impossible woman in the f*cking world. Evening, Clive.’

‘Mr Ward,’ Clive nods without paying much attention to us. ‘Hello, Ava.’

‘Hi Clive!’ I sing through my laughter. Jesse gets in the elevator and punches the code in while muttering under his breath.

‘Have you still not got that code changed?’ I smooth my palm down his back and into the seam of his boxers, giving him a little squeeze.

‘Shut up, Ava.’ he spits.

‘Are we friends?’

‘No!’ he slaps my arse hard and I yelp. ‘Don’t f*ck with me, beautiful girl. You should know by now, I always win.’

‘I know. I love you.’

‘I love you too, but you’re a f*cking pain in the arse.’



We pull up outside Kate’s super late after I gained Jesse’s approval on a blush Ponte dress and matching heels, but I very nearly got handcuffed to the bed again when he saw my engagement ring on the bedside table. I completely forgot about it, but Jesse made sure it made it onto my finger. I managed to convince him to leave the necklace in the safe, though. I’m not comfortable with this dirty great big rock sat on my finger as it is. The necklace added to the equation will tip me over the edge of nervousness.

Kate comes barreling out of her house and Jesse gets out, letting her in the back of the car. ‘Wow! I like this better than the Porsche.’ she says as she gets comfortable in the back. ‘Don’t tell Samuel I said that. Come on then, let’s have a look.’

‘What?’ I shift in my seat so I can see my fiery friend.

She freezes and throws the back of Jesse’s head a fearful look. ‘Oh shit!’

‘It’s fine.’ Jesse assures her.

I gape at him. ‘She knew?’

‘I needed one of your rings to make sure the size was right.’ He shrugs and keeps his attention on the road. I hear Kate sigh in relief.

‘You knew?’ I fire at her accusingly.

‘Yep. Was it romantic? Show me.’ She gestures for me to pass her my hand.

I actually laugh – really hard. Jesse looks at me out the corner of his eye, his lips pressed into a straight line as he weaves in and out of the traffic. ‘Yeah, it was romantic.’ I snort. If you call handcuffs and being forced to swallow romantic. I thrust my hand at her.