Grounded (Up in the Air, #3)(52)

He moved against me again.

I spoke just as he was lining himself up at my entrance. “It’s not like I had a choice,” I muttered sullenly.

He thrust into me, bottoming out in one hard motion.

I cried his name brokenly.

“How about I make it up to you with a handful of orgasms?”

I didn’t answer. He already had me incoherent as he made good on his offer.

He pounded into me relentlessly, one hand pulling my hair, the other rubbing my clit. He brought me over, again, and then again. He was merciless. I was completely wrung out by the time he let himself come with a rough groan, grinding deep inside of me, the hand in my hair moving to my chin. He gripped it hard as he watched me.

He gave me one swift kiss before pulling out of me.

He left me where I was, leaning against the door for support, my arms still tied, while he moved to the desk.

He cleaned us both as well as he could with just tissues. He kissed me deeply but softly, a romantic kind of kiss, while he untied my wrists. He pulled me against him, supporting me while I regained my balance, massaging the feeling back into my wrists slowly and thoroughly.

“I love you, Bianca,” he said when he finally pulled back.

“I love you, too, James, but that doesn’t give you a free pass.”

“No, it doesn’t. Being your Dom does that, Love. I’ve compromised far more for you than I’ve ever done for anyone or anything in my life. Controlling you sexually is something I won’t be bending on, but I’m pretty sure you already knew that.”





[page]CHAPTER NINETEEN

Mr. Amenable





James was in a remarkably better mood as we returned to our group. We stayed for hours, laughing and joking with my friends. He was even friendly with Damien, though the man couldn’t get within six feet of me without James grabbing handfuls of me to prove a point. Though, if I was fair, he rarely kept his hands off me when we were together, Damien or no.

Damien, for his part, was giving James even less of a reason to be jealous than usual. He was distracted and quiet. He spent most of the night shooting Jessa baffled looks. I found that strangely encouraging. Maybe there was something there. It could have been that he just took it personal that she hadn’t enjoyed their one-night stand, but I was hoping it was more than that. I caught a little snippet of their conversation as the night was winding down, when Damien had managed to corner Jessa just behind where we’d been standing and chatting with Murphy.

“Hey. Are we good?” Damien asked her, his voice worried.

“We’re fine,” Jessa replied in a flat voice, sounding anything but fine.

“I feel like a jerk. I didn’t know you felt that way. Frankly, I thought you’d forgotten about the whole thing, since you never mention it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Damien. One unhappy customer out of a thousand should hardly mess up your average.”

He cursed, and I couldn’t help it, I glanced over at them.

Damien’s back was to me, but Jessa was facing me, and I saw her face clearly as she rolled her eyes.

“I didn’t know it was bad for you. It wasn’t bad for me. In fact, it was pretty amazing. I’d like to…make it up to you, if you’d let me. You could show me what you didn’t like—help me work on my technique.”

Jessa snorted loudly.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one shamelessly eavesdropping. Murphy started swaying and singing, “Player’s gonna play…”

“Here’s the thing, Damien. It was a hell of a lot more than your technique that wasn’t working out for me. The pining for a chick that’s never going to look at you twice thing was the biggest turn off, and the fact that you didn’t bother to clue me in about your little hang-up before we hopped in the sack. I never do the casual sex thing, and the way you turned into a stranger the second we were done reminded me very clearly why. Sex is not just a bodily function for me. I require some semblance of intimacy with the act, and you wouldn’t know intimacy if it punched you in the face.

“I hear you’ve been celibate for the last few months,” Jessa continued mercilessly. “Waiting for a chick that is never going to want you. You’re not an idiot, you know she’s not going to leave her drop-dead gorgeous, so f*cking hot that they look like they want to f*ck each other in public, billionaire boyfriend for you. It’s just another crazy-ass way for you to avoid real feelings. The only way you could be good in bed for me would if you became a complete person, not just some shell of a man that doesn’t have a middle ground between putting women on a pedestal and degrading them with meaningless sex.”

Murphy clutched his chest, falling to his knees. “I felt that right here, my friend!” he called out to Damien, not even bothering to hide the fact that we’d all been shamelessly listening to the entire exchange.

“How about we have this little chat in private,” Damien said, his tone hard. We all watched silently while he grabbed Jessa by the arm and led her resolutely away.

She went easily enough, just muttering one loud, “Neanderthal,” as they walked away.

I looked at James, who’d been silent throughout the exchange. “Maybe those two will work things out and start dating,” I said hopefully.

James studied me. “Do you want that?”