ROMANCE: SHAPESHIFTER ROMANCE: Dragon Baller's Bride (Dragon Shifter Alpha Male Romance) (Paranormal Romantic Suspense) (39 page)

W
hen Jack got home
he opened a bottle of wine and slumped down in the sofa.  Very soon he was on the harder stuff.

“Well, Jack, you imbecile,” he said to himself, the words filling the empty house.  “Well done.” He raised the glass to the image of himself in the mirror.  “Well done,” he repeated.  “You took the one innocent, sweet thing in your life, the one thing that hadn’t all gone to shit and you defiled it.”

He walked around the house as if in conversation with someone unseen.

“The one thing that might have saved you, and you fucked her.  Couldn’t help yourself, could you?”

He put the glass down on a table and wiped his brow.

“And what will she think of you now?  She think you are a freak.  A dirty freak.”

Jack poured himself another drink.  “And she’d be right about that.  Because that’s what you are.”

He picked up his phone and dialled.  “Well,” he said, “you’re a freak, might as well hang out with the freaks.”

“Talking to yourself, stranger?”

“Chelsea,” Jack said.  “How’s my freaky-pie?”

“How’s your new girlfriend?”

Jack laughed.  “You’re kidding, aren’t you?  Didn’t I tell you, it was just some PR thing.”

“You said taking flowers to the hospital.  I didn’t realize you had to bag her too.”

“Come on!  Seriously?  Can you imagine me banging that sack of spuds?  You know you’re the one who’s got what I need.”

“Well, Jackie-boy, I’m afraid things move on.”

“Oh, shit,” said Jack.  “You’re not out with some half-wit footballer, are you?  You know he’ll only get you home so you can see who’s got the best leg waxing.”

Chelsea laughed.  “He is kind of dull.  But I’m not sure what you’ve got to offer me anymore.”

“Ask your boyfriend what a sugarloaf cabochon sapphire is.  Don’t bother, he won’t know.  But there’s one waiting for you here.”

“Interesting.  Anything else.”

“Some first-class cocaine and outrageously good sex.  Hop in a taxi.”

Jack put down the phone and took another gulp of his drink.

It was only twenty minutes before Chelsea rang the doorbell.  She must really want that sapphire, thought Jack and climbed down to his cellar for a bottle of champagne.

It was polite of her to ring when she could have just let herself in.  Still, she wasn’t a bad girl, not a bad girl at all.  

When he came back up she was standing in the kitchen.  Damn, thought Jack, she looked good.  She looked like a young woman should.

“How do you keep your skin looking so good?” he asked for no reason.

“Clean living.”

“Clean living,” repeated Jack, swaying slightly.  “What’s that?”

Chelsea laughed like honey.  “You’re drunk,” she said.  “Good.”  She looked at the bottle.  “I hope that’s good champagne.”

“What do you know about champagne?” he asked.

“What do you know?”

“A little, but if it’s more than the person I’m talking to, I can pretend that it’s a lot.”

“I normally judge a bottle by its price,” said Chelsea.

Jack nodded.  “I expect you do.”

“So, how much did that cost you?”

Jack lifted the bottle and gazed unsteadily at the label.  “Four figures.  Most probably.”

Chelsea sniffed.  “It will do.”

Jack opened the bottle and took two glasses from a cupboard and they sat on stools by the breakfast bars.  Chelsea did her make-up, for no reason that Jack could possibly see.

“Nice legs,” said Jack.

“Thanks.”

“Very strong thigh muscles.  Good for gripping.”  He poured the champagne.   “Cheers.”

“Cheers,” said Chelsea, still doing her make-up.

Jack drank the champagne.  It was very good.  Or he imagined it was very good, it was difficult to tell after all that he had drunk.

“So,” he said, “how are you?”

“What?” said Chelsea, putting down her mirror.

“How are you?”

She looked at him as if he were speaking Sanskrit.  

“I’ve been out to a sushi restaurant with a guy who would have been happier eating fried chicken in a hot tub.  But he bought me a ring.”  She raised a finger to show Jack the ring.  “Bit gaudy, I know.  We got photographed leaving together.  So, I suppose that’s alright.”

“Excellent,” said Jack.

“And now I’m here and you’re going to give me a sapphire and some coke and we’ll have sex the Jack way.  That’s how I am.”

They looked at each other for a moment and she looked suddenly very young to him and he wondered if he looked the same to her.

“The Jack way?” he said.

“You know, the way you like it.”

“And you like it too.”

She smiled and took a sip of her wine.  “You’ve got a lot of energy for busy man.”

“You bet I have,” he winked.  

“And some moves.”

“I’ve got some tricks,” he acknowledged, nodding quite seriously.  “We dogs have them.”

“Just the tricks,” said Chelsea.  “I don’t want the ticks.”

“And the drugs, of course,” said Jack.  

Chelsea drank some champagne.  “Yes,” she agreed.  “Maybe the best drugs.”

Jack stroked his chin, thoughtfully.  It was true, he got good Charlie.  

“Are we going to break it out then?” asked Chelsea, getting visibly anxious.  

“Champagne first,” said Jack, raising his class, “then coke.”

“Then sex?”

Jack nodded.  “Things in the correct order,” he said.  “That’s the secret to living a good life.”

“On here?” asked Chelsea, patting the breakfast bar.

“Yes,” said Jack.  “I don’t see why not.”

When Jack awoke he found himself on the sofa.  He could hear Chelsea moving around. He failed to get himself to a standing position until the taxi was waiting outside with the horn blaring.  

Chelsea rushed out of the door and yelled something to him as she went.  Jack watched her shimmy to the taxi. God damn, he thought.  She was good.  He couldn’t live without her, that was the truth.  He had been stupid to try.

He noticed Chelsea had taken the sapphire and there seemed to be some cash missing from his wallet.  Well, he wouldn’t miss it too much.

Jack padded to the kitchen and found an aspirin.  Standing by the kitchen window, his thoughts turned to Rainn.  He would have to leave her.  Completely.  He knew that.  But, still.  Would it do any harm to see her just one more time?

J
ack picked
up the phone and as he expected, it went straight to answerphone.

“Hi, Rainn,” he said, trying to sound upbeat.  “It’s Jack.  Hope you are doing well.  I’m in central London, filming on location.  Anyway, I’ve got a suite in The Shard.  Ever been there?  Wow.  It’s an amazing view.  Feels like you can see the whole of London from here.  It would be nice to describe it for you.  I could send a taxi, if you liked.  Well, anyway, it would be nice to see you again.”

Jack ended the call as the traffic around him began to move.  Shit, he thought, maybe she would hear he had called from his car.  He hadn’t thought of that.  She probably would, as well, with her crazy bat ears.

Much to his surprise, he received an SMS not long later.

“I will be going into central with my sister.  Yes, it would be nice to visit The Shard.  And to meet you.  We will be there at 2.”

Great, he thought.  It might be worth paying for a room after all.

Jack waited for them in lobby of the hotel.  He got himself a whiskey to calm his nerves even though he wasn’t sure what he was nervous about.  Every time the lift doors opened he glanced up. When Rainn and Yvonne eventually appeared, he felt almost dizzy.

“Jesus, Jack, get a grip,” he told himself.  

He walked over to them and kissed them both and gave Rainn a hug.  They chatted about how busy London was and how it was difficult to get anywhere these days. Yvonne suddenly announced, “Well, I’ll leave you two to it.  Let you have a nice talk.”

Yes, a nice talk, thought Jack as they travelled in the lift up the endless floors.  How was that nice talk going to go?  So, Rainn, sorry about the rough, violent sex I subjected you to the other day.  I realize that’s ruined the way we see each other and spoiled the very lovely thing we have.  However, it seems I have an unhealthily addictive personality and I coped with what happened between us by getting drunk and taking drugs with my cynical, gold digger girlfriend.  

They kept going up as London scrolled behind them.

“It’s a long way,” said Rainn.  “My stomach feels like it’s down near my feet.”

Jack led her to the hotel room door and fumbled a little with the lock.  He still had no idea what he was going to say or how he was going to play this.  He would fix himself a drink first, that seemed like the best plan of action.

“The room’s got a full-length window.  Not much chance of anyone being able to look in at this height.  Unless it’s an airliner.  It’s incredible really.  You can see for miles.”

“I can see for miles?” said Rainn, sharply.

“I’m sorry,” said Jack.  “What I meant was . . .”

But he didn’t have chance to finish his sentence because Rainn had taken his arm from her back and twisted it sharply down.  With her other hand she had pushed him back against the gold glass of the window.  Jack was quite taken by surprise and; his back thudded against the window, half a mile above the London streets.  

Rainn grabbed him by the shirt and pressed her body up against him. If he had the chance, Jack would have smiled at Rainn’s attempt to take control. Before he could, she had kissed him angrily on the lips.

Jack leaned back, letting Rainn pull off his shirt.  She then worked away his pants as well.  Jack span around, so that Rainn was against the window.  Reaching down grabbed both her knees and pulled them up so they were round his waist.  Momentarily, he sensed her embarrassment as she tried to loosen his grip.

“I want you,” he told her.  “Here.  Like this.  And I know you want it too.”

Rainn reached out her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs tightly around his back.  Jack was too excited now for doing anything slowly.  He released himself and Rainn gasped as Jack thrust at her, pushing her ass hard against the window.

Jack pulled her panties to one side and lifted her into position.  They kissed tenderly and Jack looked into her face and delicately stroked her eyelids.  Then he let her slide down the window and onto him.  He filled her so completely, Rainn let out a gasp of surprise.  He began to thrust into her, feeling her body press against the window.

At the same time his hands searched over her body.  He caressed her back and the back of her thighs.  He dropped his mouth down to taste her breasts, seeking out her nipples.  It felt to Rainn that he was all over her and she moaned her encouragement.

She felt as if she were flying high in the London sky, with Jack pushing into her, pressing her every upwards.  Her head was spinning, and she was unsure where she was.  Rainn dug her fingers into Jack’s back and hung on for dear life.   

Then he lifted her away from the window and carried her across the room.

“Wait,” Rainn said. “What are you doing?”

“Trust me,” said Jack. “You must give control to me.”

He laid her down on the carpeted floor and held her there, pinning her arms to the floor with his hands.  He pushed open her thighs and entered her again, maintaining a rhythm of long, slow strokes. Rainn lifted her legs until they were almost around his shoulders, encouraging him to go deeper.  

Jack took one hand away from her arm and brought it down between her legs, where she throbbed with pleasure.  Rainn almost screamed as she gulped the air.   

Now Jack was holding the backs of her thighs, forcing them upwards so that he could reach further into her.  His movements were becoming more fevered and she could feel his breathing, powerful like an engine.  He was slamming his body into her now, harder and harder and she wasn’t sure how much more she could take.  He plunged into her like a mad man: like a man who had nothing left to live for.  Their movement built towards an inevitable crescendo and she rushed towards it gratefully.  The pressure inside her built like a silent scream. All his muscles seemed to give way at once, as did hers; everything that was tensed turned to warm jelly. Inside, Rainn felt as if a pane of glass had been shattered into a million pieces.  

They lay on the carpet for a long time listening to each other’s breathing.  Then it came upon them, the slow realization that what they had done was not compatible with the people they were outside the moment.

The conversation was stilted and both of them felt awkward.  Neither wanted to stay in the place where it had happened.

Jack went to the bathroom while Rainn gathered her things.  He washed his face.  He knew what he had to do.

“I have a girlfriend,” he said “and I don’t think I can leave her.”

He waited to see what Rainn would say.  She said nothing.

“I have feelings for you, but I hate to do this with you when I know it’s not right.”

“No,” said Rainn, calmly.  “You should not.”  

Jack watched her carefully, he could see the emotion she tried to contain betrayed by the slight shaking of her shoulders.

“That’s the way it is,” he said, firmly and with no hint of emotion.  “I’m sorry,” he said again.

“There’s no need to apologize,” said Rainn.  “There’s no need to say any more.  Please don’t come with me.  I will see myself out.  The only way from here is down.”

Jack opened the door for her and watched her as she lightly touched her fingers against the walls of the corridor, striding purposefully to the lift.  He was relieved that she had not seen the tears he had been crying.