“Not a chance.” He kissed me as I slowly rode him, and he brought his hand up my back and leaned back with me, rolling me over until he was on top.
He kissed my breasts as he thrust inside of me, and I had never felt so good, so safe. Being with Jake was like coming home every time.
My breathing hitched as I felt my orgasm on the edge, and when it toppled, I cried out with pleasure, fresh tears flowing.
Jake smiled as I realized how loud I was being. “It’s okay. Make all the noise you want. I don’t care who hears.”
We were like an ebb and flow, a perfect song, and I never wanted it to end.
I just wanted to stop crying. You still love him, idiot.
Jake looked down at me, meeting my eyes, and that was all he needed to feed his hunger. He pounded me hard and steady, and then he thrust deep one last time as he found his release, emptying himself inside me.
He fell limp beside me, holding me close as if he wasn’t about to let me grab my clothes and rush out like before.
“I could stay like this forever, Kate.”
“You’ve got too much to do,” I said, trying to lighten the mood after my tears. “And I’m pretty sure we’d startle the maid.” I looked around at the strange room and wondered how long we had until someone noticed us gone. I had locked us in, so unless anyone had a key, no one was going to come into the room and bother us.
“Yeah.” He was so quiet, it was hard to figure out what he was thinking. I waited for him to continue until the silence became awkward, and then he rolled over and looked up at the ceiling.
I waited for him to do or say anything, but instead, he disappeared inside his head.
All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. Jake reached over and put his hand on my mouth before I could even think of making a sound.
He didn’t want anyone to know he was with me. In the heat of passion, maybe he didn’t care, but now that he’d had time to really think about it, he did care. His reputation was more important than being with me.
The person tried the lock, and I heard a giggle. “Fuck it, there’s a lot of rooms,” a voice from the other side of the door said. “Come on.” Footsteps sounded as they walked away, and then we heard the door next door shut, and the sound of soft laughter faded into quiet moans.
It hit me that anyone could have had heard us too. And that would have been bad for Jake, and he knew it.
I crawled out of bed and found my dress.
“Where are you going? You don’t have to run off first. I can leave, and you can come down a little after if it’s better.”
“Yes, I do have to leave. Right now.” I shook my head. I was fooling myself to think that we could ever have anything more than a casual romp. Jake had a whole future as a big star, and he was already in too deep to look back. His adoring fans wouldn’t want me in the picture, and I wasn’t going to reduce myself to mistress and be hounded by the tabloids.
I had a reputation to uphold as well, and if I was caught in a scandal, it wouldn’t be good for me either.
I slipped the dress over my head, and Jake got to his feet and grabbed my arm as soon as I’d put them into the straps.
“What’s wrong?”
I took a deep breath, hating that he had to ask. Why did he have to put that on me? “This.” I pointed at the two of us. “This is wrong, Jake. You don’t need me throwing a wrench in your life.”
“Why don’t you let me decide that, Kate?”
“You did. When you covered my mouth so no one would hear me in here with you. You don’t want this.” I grabbed my shoes and walked across the room to a chair to put them on as Jake gathered his stuff.
“Well you’re the one who finds it so easy to walk away, Kate.”
The remark went up my back like a bolt of lightning, setting off my fuse. And this time, there would be no sex at the end of this argument. “You’ve got some balls,” I said. “You’re the one who didn’t say goodbye.” I pegged him with a hard look. “You’re the one who drove all the way to California to start your life without a backward glance.” I covered my face and let the tears go.
Jake got up to console me, but I pushed him away.
“No,” I said. “You don’t get to do this to me.”