I drop my head down and shake the water off my hair, and when I power back on my cellphone, I discover the photo of us. I stare at the lust in Mallory’s eyes, and the slight surprise in mine.
Reminding myself that fucking Mallory is a complication that I do not want, since Aria would likely kill me if I did so, and Aria is the sister I never had growing up so her opinion matters, I do what I planned to do. I attach the photo to an email, and once I add in Liam’s email address from my contacts, I type: You took what was mine. Now I’m taking what’s yours, and then I hit send.
Even if I’ve accepted that professionally we are often matched, personally he will always lose. I set my cellphone down on the side table, and there’s the creak of a floorboard, garnering my attention. When I lift my head, the world around me suddenly gets slow and quiet. I’m convinced that my eyes are betraying me.
Against the bathroom’s doorframe, Mallory leans, her head tilted slightly to the left, one hand on her hip. I allow my gaze to roam over her, from her face with pinkish cheeks down the long line of her neck to her teardrop-shaped breasts with those dark nipples I caught sight of earlier. My cock swells to the point of pain at the beautiful curve of her hip, the softness of her belly to her neatly shaved sex that I only see hints of as her legs are crossed. I slowly look into her eyes, which are screaming fuck me now, and I arch a single eyebrow at her. “It appears you have left your clothes in the bathroom.”
“Gathered that, did you?” Her mouth twitches. She stays put, tempting me, and adding seductively, “You paid money for me. Good money. A lot of money.” Her voice is so sensual and playful. It shouldn’t belong to someone who looks so innocent. “Might as well make it dirty money, and get your money’s worth.”
Amused now, I lean back in my seat, regarding her, slinging my arm across the top of the couch. “Mallory, what are you doing?”
“Playing a game.” She slowly begins to move toward me, swaying her hips like she’s done this a thousand times before. “Isn’t that what you wanted to do? Wasn’t that your plan this entire time? To play a game. Albeit, yours is a different type of game, but this is mine.”
When she stops directly in front of me, I openly scan over the body available to me. Oh, what a treat it would be. I focus on her face again, and even I hear the deepness in my voice. “What game are you playing, sweetheart?”
“Where I’m yours for the next two days.”
I hold her stare fiercely, and it’s then I see the slight flicker. The little worry that I’ll reject her. That split second of indecision where she’s wondering if she made a big mistake by doing something so bold. I’m sucked in, owned in this moment by her. I rise to my feet, closing in on her naked flesh, absentmindedly sliding my hand across her lower back, pulled by something I can’t control. “Since you’ve got this all figured out, what happens next?”
She presses against me, sliding her hands up my bare chest. “You get naked.”
Chapter 3
Mallory
My heart is banging against my chest when I slide my hands up Jackson’s face bringing his mouth to mine. He has his plan, I have mine. While I’ve never done anything this bold, this daring, I can’t stop myself. Sure, I’ve always been the girl who only sleeps with boyfriends. I’ve never even had a one-night stand before but in the seconds before I put on my clothes in the bathroom, I realized I have nothing to lose. It’s not like Jackson is of a high moral standard. He sleeps with anything with tits and ass. I should know, Aria tells me all about his revolving lovers. All I have to gain is to have the hottest sex of my life with the one and only Jackson Keller.
His lips are soft and his kiss is sweet, slowly pulling me in. God, he knows how to take my mouth and own it, until I’m melting under his touch. There’s a confidence in the way he kisses that I’ve never known before. It’s in the way his lips move in perfect rhythm with mine. When he wraps his strong arms around me, yanking me against him, everything inside of me wakes up, as if parts of me have been asleep for far too long, waiting for his touch.
Obviously decided to go ahead with this, he lifts a hand, threading his fingers into my hair, and deepens the kiss. That’s when I realize I don’t control shit. And certainly, most of all, not him.
His tongue thrusts into mine roughly, demanding I react to his passion. And as I do, heat comes alive between my thighs. Suddenly, he’s stepping forward, sending me back until my back hits the wall with little care if it would hurt me. This is what I want.
Him. Unleashed.
I could always see this side of him during meetings, simmering there beneath the surface of professionalism. All power, pure masculinity, total seduction.
When he presses his muscular body against mine, he proves the difference between his body and mine. Where he’s hard, I’m soft. I release a moan, lost in his intensity when he grabs my leg, wrapping it around his hip so he can boldly grind his cock against my sex. That’s the difference between other guys and this guy. He takes whatever he wants.
I want him to take it all.
Desperate for more, I shift my hips, grinding against him, and reach for more from his mouth.
He growls, pulling my lips away from his with his fisted hand in my hair. “I shouldn’t be touching you.”
I note the strain in his voice and reopen my eyes, and I’m momentarily stunned by the view. The intensity on his face catches the breath in my throat. Eyebrows drawn, his gaze is locked on me, and damn, it’s a powerful thing to have all of Jackson’s heady focus. “Why shouldn’t you be touching me?” I barely manage, wondering what I can do to get him naked.
That damn sexy eyebrow slowly arches. “You belong to Liam.”
“I belong to no one.”
He gives a quick smile. “Is that so?” His hand hasn’t left my hair, pinning me right to him. His rich, seductive eyes search mine before they scan over my lips. Somehow that long regard is the sexiest way anyone has ever looked at me. It’s like he’s seeing me for the first time, looking right into what makes me tick, and I can tell he likes what he sees.
When his gaze returns to my eyes again, his are smoldering. “A game, you said earlier,” he murmurs slowly, carefully almost. “Is that what you’re looking for, Mallory?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“Can you handle just sex?”