The Sweetest Fling (A Stupid Cupid Book) (21 page)

She stepped through as the door closed, put herself into Jace’s arms. Holding his face, hating the pain in his eyes, she pressed her lips to his.

“I’m so sorry, Jace,” she said against his lips.

He sighed.

Claire’s heart clenched. She couldn’t lose him. She wound her arms around his neck and leaned her body in. Jace stood stalk still, but began returning the kiss. With intensity she didn’t know kisses could have. Deep, soft, hard.

Claire gasped.

Her body awoke, charging with anticipation. She pushed her hips to his, her breasts grew heavy, tingling against the hard contours of her love’s chest.

Her love.

The thought made her tremble in parts lower and softer, creating heated awareness through them. She didn’t care if they got to a bed. She only cared that their bodies joined, danced, writhed into bliss so vivid and electric that Jace would be unable to deny her.

Ever.

No matter what storm would come raging. Family, friends, colleagues. None of them mattered without this. This heaven.

He tasted sweet and salty, smelled earthy like the forest. Like a sunrise on a grassy hill. Like Jace.

Claire let her hands rove lower, lower, until meeting the top button of his jeans. The erection pressing his fly was unmistakable. Jace’s breathing grew ragged. He pulled away from their kiss and looked at her. Wordless, he gripped her waist, pulled. His hand yanked her shirt up, exposing her skin. His hands were chilly and rough. His gaze hot.

Fierce, demanding, he shoved his hands up her bra and grasped her breasts, kneading them. Her nipples tingled under his cool touch. Her belly fluttered. With a pop, her bra unclasped. She helped finish the job, pulling her shirt off, tossing her bra aside. She stood against him, jeans to jeans.

He was torn. She could see it, feel it. What had happened between him and Tyler after she last saw them? She wouldn’t push. When he was ready to tell her, she’d listen. Now was for proving whatever happened, they were worth it.

Jace lowered his intense gaze and ripped open Claire’s jeans. He tugged them down and forced his hand between the satiny fabric of her panties and her waiting, wanting pussy. Her body moistened and convulsed at the contact. Her hips curved forward for more.

She tugged open his fly and found his cock, hard and so ready that a dewy drop glistened on the swollen tip. Her mind flashed with an image—his head thrown back in pleasure as his climax jerked forth.

Her body throbbed. She stroked his flesh. He closed his eyes a moment.

In a swift turn, Jace pinned her against the wall then slid two fingers inside her wet sex. Claire groaned on a gasp of sweet relief. Her mind numbed to its purpose while her body grew drugged with each slippery stroke.

Jace’s mouth moved down her jaw line to her neck where he sucked and nipped in time with each thrust of his long fingers. The coolness of his rough skin exaggerated each stroke. Claire’s head fell back as pleasure coiled in her body, satisfaction into her soul.

She held to Jace’s shoulders, breathing his name as the first whispers of climax drew near. Any stroke now, her body would explode
. Oh, yes. Yes, please.
His touch felt so, so good. Then it stopped. Jace withdrew his hand, stopped kissing her collarbone and stepped back. Claire’s body screamed in protest. Her mind raced with fear. But when she stepped forward, searching Jace’s face for answers, he stepped away.

~~

Chapter Twenty-one

Her heart plummeted. Claire shook her head. “Please, Jace, I—.”

He put a finger to her lips. “Don’t say it. Not now. Okay? Not yet.”

Don’t say what? That she loved him? That she needed him? That she would do all in her power and imagination to fix the tear she made in the fabric of his family?

Jace took her hand and led her to the bathroom. Dazed and fearful of breaking the spell, she followed and watched Jace bend, turn the water on and face her.

He touched her cheek for a moment, emotions warred in his blue eyes. Then he removed his clothes and helped Claire do the same.

Don’t speak.
The silence scared her. But she would be silent. For him.

Jace led her into the shower.

*

He began at Claire’s head, loving the feel of her hair. He ran his hands over Claire’s cheeks, down her throat, across her collarbone, admiring the way the water droplets lay there begging to be licked away.

Turmoil roiled through him. This woman standing before him, her eyes pleading, her body driving him insane, could be the end of him. Nearly had been already. Jace’s heart still weighed heavy, his mind fatigued. The delivery, the emotional roller coaster. Tyler.

He’d come home confused and ready to shut down. Her knock on his door changed it all. His soul renewed its hope. Hope for Claire to be standing on the other side, to soothe him, comfort him, just be there. And then Claire had made the world fall away.

Tyler hurt and accusing, disgusted and mad, gone.

The longest three hours of his life, holding Ashley’s legs up until his arms became dead weight themselves as his niece came into the world.

Lawrence almost passing out.

His niece’s first breath. Tears of joy, some of pain, some of sheer jealousy as he watched Lawrence and Ashley meet their child. He’d suddenly become an outsider, envious, intrusive. Jace left, not sure what to do or feel. Then his worst fear was realized. How could she tell Tyler without him? And why do it so bluntly.

Almost cruelly.

It wasn’t like Claire.

But he loved her and truth be told, he only knew part of her. Loving her fully and truly meant accepting the bad with the good. He had to do more than tell her, though. He had to show her—he was in this thing for forever.

He washed her hair and her body. His groin ached for release. He held out. Why rush?

“Jace,” Claire whispered as he nudged her under the water.

“Shhh.” Jace kissed her, tasting the droplets on her lips, memorizing the first slick feel of her water-covered skin. He was too tired to explain. And he half feared the outcome when they would have to speak of the future ... or of the past.

For now, he just needed to be. “Don’t speak, sweetness. Just let me love you.”

A funny choking sound escaped Claire as she nodded. Jace kissed her again, exploring, tasting, teasing until his mind blanked of thought. Only sensation remained.

The swells and curves under his fingertips leaning in for more. His hunger for more growing with each gasp, every feel. The soft strip of hair at Claire’s mound beckoning him. He made circles over, below, under, between, watching pleasure play across Claire’s face.

His cock jerked, engorged and aching to bury into her. Her hands were soft and small. She explored the tip, pulling on the shaft, cupping his tight balls. Enough! He’d cum right there in her hand if he didn’t stop her.

He pulled Claire from the water, turned it off and wrapped her in a large towel. The remaining stack, he pushed to the floor, making a quick nest with his feet for them to lie upon. Those eyes, pleading, wanton, undid Jace. He gave in to his body’s need.

He needed to get lost in her.

He laid Claire down, kissed her with force. Claire matched each kiss with her own, sucking and nipping Jace’s lower lip. A shockwave coursed down his body. That familiar primal urge to possess her took over.

Jace parted Claire’s legs and went after what he wanted head first. He delved two fingers into her swollen walls, parting the flesh. He licked each petal, tasting the salt of her skin, the creaminess of her sex. He watched and listened and felt each increase in pleasure. Claire gasped and moaned, writhing and clutching Jace’s pelvis to hers.

She was so close to cumming. He wanted her orgasm gripping his cock. Claire cried out. “Please, yes, please don’t stop.”

He had to stop. The very thought had Jace throbbing. Stopping this meant starting more.

He positioned himself at her soft opening eased out and pushed back in, quickening each snug stroke. Her body clung to his. She kissed his neck, licked his earlobe and every moan sent him closer to the edge. He held back, keeping in time with Claire’s body. Each nipple begged for his mouth. He rolled their bodies, giving her full access which she took.

Up and down, she ground her pelvis to his. He captured her breasts in his hands, tweaking the nipples. He sucked one.

“Harder,” she gasped, pulling his head closer.

He accommodated and
fuck
, her taut nipples in his mouth unraveled his final thread of control. He groaned, thrusting his pelvis up and praying her body would meet his because he was about to explode. His head dropped and he started to cum.

“Jace!” Her climax squeezed around his shaft.

“Claire,” he gasped, as he thrust into her again and again.

Claire collapsed on top of him, breathless. He wrapped his arms around her as his last shudders of pleasure quieted.

Love.

Speaking the words felt naked and dangerous. But he had to let her know. “My heart is yours now, Claire,” he said. “No matter what.”

Claire eased up to look him in the eye. Her gaze shone with unshed tears. “You forgive me then?”

Jace swallowed. The thought of his brother, of what he’d said, came rushing back and with it, the pain.

“And forgive me for six years ago,” Claire said. “Forgive me for being so chicken that I broke our promise. And for that letter. I was wrong. I wasn’t lying then when I said I needed you. I just didn’t realize how much I did, or how true the words were.”

Chest aching, Jace looked away.

Yep. This scared him. This ocean of feeling that could take him under. But that fear paled compared to the terror of losing her. Today, that terror had been real. “I wish it hadn’t taken years, I’ll be honest. But you were worth the wait.”

“I love you, Jace. And I need you. I know you don’t want to talk about it, but....”

What words could explain all the emotions running through him? “I’m the one who made
this
...
us
... a problem, a betrayal, when it might not have been. Did you know that Ashley suspected, even then, and Davis, too?”

Claire shook her head, her eyes widened. “Really?”

“Everyone knew, I think even my mother knew. Everyone except Tyler. And he thinks I should have just said something to him.” Jace laughed. The hollow sound echoed off the bathroom walls. “At first, I thought, yeah right. He would have killed me if I’d told him then. But now, thinking about it all ... he’s right.”

Claire frowned. “How?”

“I should have at least told him he didn’t see the real you. Or that I had a crush on his girlfriend. Instead, I created this secret. And fear cloaked it more and more all the while I missed you more and more.” She tossed her damp hair over her bare shoulder. “He told me once that I didn’t trust my family enough. He was right. But, also, not trusting them kept me safe from getting hurt again. When you left me, I thought I would die, it hurt so much.”

“I’m so sorry. I’ll never be able to tell you how sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. Not really. I didn’t fight for you. And if you weren’t ready, well...” His gaze fell away to the towels.

“I won’t leave again.”

Jace looked up. “I know.” He smiled. “I know you love me. And now I know that I was scared back then too. But, I’m not anymore.”

“What about Tyler?”

“He’ll get over it. He’ll have to. We’re family.” He smiled wider. “What about Oliver?” It was sick ego to ask now but he needed to hear it.

Claire shrugged. “Much like my mother, he was more worried about the wedding than the marriage. Oh and I got fired, too.” She shrugged. “He even asked me to go through with it, wait a year and divorce him, offered me half of everything.”

“Seriously?” Jace asked, feeling a twist of satisfaction with each word.

“Yes. He practically begged. Threatened my job, which I didn’t care hence the getting fired. And when I left, he said I’d be sorry.”

Jace tilted his head. “Are you?”

Claire scoffed. “Of course not. He’s dating! Him and that Trina chick.”

“Trina?” Not his Trina from the club...actually, probably. Better to find out later. For now, he ate up the glow.

“I’ll miss him,” Claire said, her hand trailing his chest. “We were friends. But not miss him the way I would if I was ever in love with him.” She shifted her head to his shoulder. “He was safe.”

“Hey, Claire?”

“Yes?”

He rolled over to lean above her. “Can I kiss you?”

A wide smile broke across her face as nodded. “Any time you like, baby. Any time.”

Now that was the exact right answer.

~~

Epilogue

“Jace, no. Jace, stop. We can’t.” Claire meant the words, she did. She just wished she sounded convincing. Instead her voice came out breathless and high pitched.

“Shhh. Someone’s going to hear you,” Jace said before running his tongue along the edge of Claire’s earlobe.

Claire sucked in a shuddery breath. Good God, she didn’t want him to stop and despite her protests, lifted her skirt higher. Her pulse thumped in her ears as she strained to listen for anyone approaching, but her body pulsed with excitement. “This is such a
bad
idea.”

“Liar.” Jace nudged her legs farther apart. “No one’s missing us right now. I promise. All eyes are on Tyler and the bride. No one even saw us leave.” Then he licked again, right on her ticklish spot.

Claire gasped in false outrage.

“Besides,” Jace said between licks, driving Claire mad with want. “I owe you this.”

She shut her eyes and bit her lip to stop the low groan of pleasure as Jace kissed down her neck, over her collarbone, cupping her breasts. This time her gasp was real. Her body zinged with heat. A dozen sane thoughts danced out of the way. Maybe a few stolen moments wouldn’t be missed.