Secret Indiscretions (Carson Cove Scandals 2)

“Nah, I had my own place for a while.” He shook his head back and forth. “My dad decided not to stay in Carson Cove after he retired, so I came back home.”

“Where are they at now—your parents?” I lifted the glass and took a sip.

“When they’re not on their yacht?” he chuckled. “Italy—that’s where my mom grew up, and she always wanted to go back. I think she pressured my dad into retiring early so that she could while she was still young enough to enjoy it.”

“Wow, so you must not see them much.” I tilted my head inquisitively.

“A few times a year.” He shrugged. “My dad may be retired, but he still has a few investments in Carson Cove, so he has to come back from time to time.”

Hearing about his parents made me realize that Jon truly was alone before we met. His wife moved to the city with his kids—and they didn’t seem to want to visit very often, even though he was supposed to get to see them every other weekend. He was definitely looking forward to their next visit—and he told me that the reason he decided to drown his sorrows at Chateau Prime was because he found out it was going to be longer than he thought before they finally returned to Carson Cove.

The conversation had taken a turn for the serious, and we hadn’t done nearly enough teasing since we took a deep dive into the melancholy, so I decided to try and lighten things up with a soft caress of his arm. That shifted his focus away from the conversation, and I got the dark, piercing stare that always made my knees weak. It stirred emotions to life—emotions that had been trapped in my soul since I sat down across from him in his office. He put a hand on my inner thigh—gently pushed the edge of my dress up and moved closer. I no longer cared about the wine. I was buzzed enough to feel rather adventurous, and his touch was turning me on, but I needed more than just the passion that was obviously about to ignite between us.

“Are you always this soft and gentle?” I bit down on my bottom lip and met his stare with one of my own.

“Not always…” He squeezed my inner thigh, rolled his hand around to the back of my leg and jerked me towards him—it made my whole-body tremble. “Is that what you want?”

I don’t know how to tell you what I want…

“I’m not delicate…” I exhaled sharply.

There had always been something in Jon’s dark, piercing stare that made me think he had an edge to him—it seemed to linger below the surface, li

ke it was begging to be unleashed. I thought I was going to finally see it when I made the mistake at Alcott Inc., but the fire that could have destroyed me stayed hidden behind a look of disappointment. I had something lingering below the surface too—a desire that I didn’t know how to explain. I needed that fire. I would have never been brave enough to try and coax it out of him without the wine, but my inhibitions were just low enough to walk across the hot coals—just to see if there was a spark left beneath the smolder and smoke. I didn’t even know what I was asking for—not exactly.

“I’ve never considered you delicate,” Jon growled and kept his touch firm as he moved his hand back to my inner thigh.

“Then don’t treat me like I’m fragile…” I leaned forward. “I know you were angry with me at the office—why did you hold back?”

“Is that what this is about?” He narrowed his eyes. “Is that why you’ve been distant? I thought you were just busy with school and making plans for graduation.”

“I have been… I know you tried to make tonight really romantic, and—it’s been incredible so far, but…” The rest of the words just wouldn’t come out because I didn’t know what they were—it felt like a foreign language I didn’t know how to speak.

“What happened at the office is in the past.” He tilted his head. “I’m not going to hold it against you—I’m certainly not going to let it change anything between us. It was a mistake…”

A big one…

“A mistake with no consequences…” I looked down at the couch.

“There were consequences.” He put his hand under my chin and lifted my head until I saw his stare again. “You have extra permissions on your profile now—you’ll have to work harder to earn Damien’s trust—and if you make another mistake, it’ll be really hard for me to justify not taking action…”

“I realize that…” I nodded and sighed, then I broke away from his stare, even though he had forced me to look at him.

“I don’t know what you’re looking for here.” He let his hand fall away from my chin and pointed at the bruise which hadn’t fully healed on my arm. “I’m not the kind of man that would do something like that to you.”

“That’s not what I meant…” I covered my bruise with my other hand out of instinct—like I had been doing every time I was forced to wear something that didn’t hide it.

I’m ruining our entire night together. Why can’t I just move past it? Why does it feel like I can’t? I want him so bad—I shouldn’t have brought this up…

“You feel like you should be punished.” Jon seemed to pull my thoughts right out of my head and say what I couldn’t. “That’s the problem, isn’t it?”

Is that what I’m begging for? I don’t even know what he would do to me…

“That’s what normally happens to people when they make mistakes.” I felt a lump rising in my throat.

“What do you think your punishment should be?” His tone got a little firmer, and when I looked at him again, I saw a stare that was more intense than the one that normally made my knees weak.

It’s a good thing I’m not standing; I think my knees would have buckled…