Jonas
Ialready hated being here, and if there was anyone else in my organization that I trusted to handle this, I wouldn’t be. As a Titan, I was used to attending various parties, but as my eyes moved over the crowd of chefs, I was used to seeing a hell of a lot more eye candy at those than I would find here. My suit was already scratchy on my skin, and all I wanted was to find a woman to warm my bed tonight, so I would have something to focus on. Seeing how daunting the task of identifying someone here would be, I was now glad I had spent a few minutes back in my room with one of the porn videos I had made with others over the years.
My friends often joked about my constant state of horniness, but even they had no idea how bad it was for me. Often times, I would bed someone and go through the motions because something inside of me craved sex, but the satisfaction would be short-lived. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had gone any substantial amount of time without a woman to occupy my time, but I might end up testing that this upcoming week.
Earlier, I had come downstairs to get myself a drink before the party started, but I ended up getting a rude awakening instead. There were twenty chefs already awaiting my arrival, most flocking to me as soon as I’d stepped inside the room. Knowing I’d be working closely with one of them, I spoke politely with those who greeted me before I was able to escape upstairs. The blonde on that particular video had been freakier than most, and if she had been in New York City, I might’ve gone back for another taste of her.
“Focus on work, man,” I reminded myself, then cleaned up and headed back downstairs. Even more chefs had joined the others, and I knew I’d need something a hell of a lot stronger than champagne if I expected to get through this party, so I opted for my favorite aged scotch. I had just gotten a glass in hand when a commotion across the room caught my attention. At the sound of shattering glass, everyone got quiet and looked in the same direction as me. A champagne flute appeared to slip from a woman’s hand. Color bloomed in her cheeks, the tinge of red so dark I could see it from here.
I took a few seconds to give the woman a quick appraisal. Whoever it was, she was gorgeous, apparently from my vantage point. I had a thing for blondes, although if being honest, I wouldn’t kick a woman with other hair colors out of my bed either if their bodies looked like hers. I tipped back my scotch and watched her closely. She was having an animated conversation with an equally beautiful woman, until she looked over at me. Our eyes met and something about her struck me as familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why that was. I narrowed my gaze, then watched as she bolted outside onto the lanai.
Cursing under my breath, I made a beeline for the same exit she’d just escaped to. I needed to make sure she was okay, plus it might help me understand where I had seen her before. It was likely that we’d done something with one another, and if so, she couldn’t have been very memorable if my mind was already drawing a blank. She either recognized me from somewhere, or she was embarrassed to have dropped her drink. If that was the case, I would be a good host and let her know there was no need to cry over spilled milk, or in this case, Dom Perignon. I weaved through the swaths of others before I finally made my way out the door. I saw her immediately. She was standing with her back to me as she looked out over the water.
Her small frame shook as if she was crying. Slowing my steps once I was a few inches away from her, I reached out to touch her, but I immediately drew my hand back. I sucked when it came to dealing with emotional females, and had for as long as I could remember. I shouldn’t be, considering I often encountered them on a more regular basis than I’d prefer, but unlike the awkward morning-afters with different one-night stands, I couldn’t just put my clothes back on and leave to make it all go away.
I didn’t want to frighten this woman, so I waited a few seconds. She was lost in her dilemma that she failed to acknowledge my presence. Finally, I manned up and softly cleared my throat. “Miss.”
At the sound of my voice, her entire body stiffened. She drew one of her hands in front of her, and a few seconds later, she turned around. Her eyes raised to mine, and I once again detected something familiar about her, but still didn’t know why. By the way she shifted nervously on her feet, something told me she recognized me, too. But from where?
“Have we met?” I finally asked as I reached out to try to help steady her.
She shrank away from me and said nothing, however, defiance now filled her eyes, but I had no idea why. If she would just speak, or even give her name, then I might be able to place those eyes with someone from my past. God knows I would hope I’d remember those luscious lips, but so far, I hadn’t. Most men didn’t have the same problem I did. Tonight was just a reminder of that. While it should’ve been obvious who she was and why she had such a volatile reaction to me, it wasn’t. The truth was, I’d been with a lot of women in my lifetime, and I traveled often, so she could technically be anyone from anywhere.
“My name is Jo—” I started to say before she cut me off.
“I know exactly who you are.”
Her voice seemed relatively familiar, too. “And your name is…”
The blonde hesitated for a moment before mumbling a single word, “Mackenzie.”
Mackenzie? As her name rolled around in my head, this time, I was the one to take a step back. I blinked a few times as her name continued to echo. It couldn’t be. Could it? “Kenzie Broderick?”
Her lashes dropped, and I didn’t miss her slight flinch when I said her full name. In that moment, all of my successes slipped away, and I was no longer the same confident man I’d been when I first stepped outside. As the silence thickened around us, I was now that terrified kid on the roof at Spencer Academy. After all, it’d been the last time we’d seen each another.
She’d found out about the dare and raced to the rooftop where others were afraid she was going to jump. I had played that off as foolishness, but when the teachers became concerned and I heard sirens, the magnitude of what I had done to her had sunk in. I rushed to the roof myself, hoping I would get there in time. I did, and the paramedics were able to get to her before she did anything crazy. The only other thing I had heard afterward was that she had been committed to a psych ward, before moving away completely. I’d been wracked with guilt, and it was probably the last time I had experienced that with any woman, but Kristopher and others had told me it wasn’t my fault. She obviously had some sort of underlying mental condition, so my playing her hadn’t caused the breakdown.
I had accepted that and left things alone, then I focused on graduation and college. Now, I was staring at her as she nervously fidgeted. Back then, she had long dark hair that was straight as a board, whereas tonight, it was golden blonde and hung in waves. She’d definitely had a glow-up, and my twisted one-track mind was now wondering how much better she’d be in bed, given she was a virgin that one night we’d had sex. Even though it seemed as if I had pushed her completely out of my mind, I supposed that I hadn’t after all because here I was, remembering more than I should have. As we stood close to one another, memories of the lanky girl I’d befriended came rushing back. She’d been the biggest challenge, and in a way, the biggest conquest of mine, too.
My eyes moved quickly down her now curvy frame, and my dick hardened painfully behind my zipper. She was fucking hot. She was no longer wearing large bifocals and baggy clothing. Now, she was in a dress that, in the front, barely went halfway down her toned thighs. There was a large slit on the side, and as if she knew where my attention was focused, she turned away enough to impede my view.
She’d once been a dare, and I wanted to be more ashamed, but I still wasn’t. “You think you’re so damn irresistible, Jonas. If so, you shouldn’t mind making a friendly wager with me,” Kristopher had suggested over winter break. When I’d asked what I had to do, the arrogant smirk on my friend’s face should’ve been enough to make me turn it down. Truth was, at that time, I truly did believe I could do anything.
“What’s the game,”I could still hear myself saying.
“We both take a zero and see who can turn them into a ten sooner,”came the response.
I’d never considered her a zero, per se, but she was the antisocial girl no one really knew anything about. She had no friends, and her style seemed to be stuck in a past decade. Kristopher had picked someone that’d pose less of a challenge, but not me. I thrived under pressure and believed my own hype when it came to my charm. I hadn’t been wrong either because she did eventually fall for me.
Kristopher had equal success when it came to his and instead of calling it a draw, my own arrogance wouldn’t let me accept a tie and I had taken it much further. “Will I win if I fuck her on prom night and show you the proof?”
Kristopher had laughed because he thought it impossible. It wasn’t like we hadn’t done similar type of things in the past. Even beyond the dare, I had wanted her especially after exerting so much energy in trying to transform her image. Fucking her would be an added incentive. That should’ve been my first clue that something was fundamentally screwed up inside of me, but I ignored the obvious signs. It’d all gone horribly wrong, however, and I no longer had to wonder what had happened to her. Now, I knew.
My eyes continued to trail lazily down her body. She left very little to the imagination in that particular dress, and I was happy to see I hadn’t destroyed her self-confidence the way I’d always feared I had. I was a very virile man, so naturally, my mind immediately went to the gutter. As my gaze lingered on her thighs, I couldn’t get the image of me burying my head between her legs out of my mind. Maybe, we could do it again for old time’s sake. I would taste her as I had on prom night, and see if I could draw out those same sounds from her. She’d been so responsive, the noises she made ingraining themselves into my memory long after.
“It’s been a long time,” I finally spoke once I forced my eyes to return to her face, one which had barely aged over the years. Her graceful features had become more pronounced, but she’d always had a very pretty face, and even more beautiful smile. It could’ve been my mere presence... my words... or it was entirely possible that she knew what I’d been thinking because she scowled, even it doing very little to mar her beauty. Annoyance mixed with the defiance I’d noticed earlier, the combination making me even harder.
“Not long enough,” she responded flippantly.