IMPULSE: Companion to The PULSE Series (2 page)

"Jessica," I say her name slowly and deliberately, wanting to pull her back from wherever her mind has wandered. I need her to understand that it won't change anything between us. "It's not a done deal yet."

Her eyes open slowly and I'm instantly pulled into them. I watch as a tear falls down her cheek, pulling with it a faint line of black mascara.

"What's wrong?" My thumb darts to curb the tear, pulling it into my flesh. "Jessica, tell me."

"I'm so proud of you, Nathan." A small smile pulls at the corner of her mouth. "I'm so proud of you."

"When will they make a decision?" Her tone is just as giddy as it was when I first told her about the potential partnership ten minutes ago. "I'm so excited."

"In a few weeks." I pull my thumb over her lip. "They're considering a few of the other attorneys for it too."

"Why?" Her brows pop up with the question. "Who could be better than you?"

I love her exuberance. I love that she sees the best in me now. The beginning of our relationship was a twisted maze of confusion. All of my past one night stands had clouded Jessica's perception of me. I'd worked hard to prove to her that I was honorable, good and completely in love with her. We're in a great place now and seeing how thrilled she is at my news only solidifies my need to get her to marry me.

"Marry me." I toss the words out so nonchalantly that her head almost snaps back.

"You didn't just say that." Her hands bolt to the arms of the chair. "Tell me you didn't just ask me to marry you again."

"I did," I say sheepishly. "I told you I'd ask you every day until you said yes."

"Nathan." Her tone is even and unreadable. "That's not romantic."

It's a weak argument but it's enough to move the conversation away from the one subject she's always avoiding. "I'll take that as a no?" I push my luck.

"When will you find out about the partnership?" Her eyes bore into me. "Will you tell me as soon as you know?"

I nod, soaking in the wide grin on her face. "We have to talk about something else too. I didn't ask you to come down here just to tell you about my work."

She scans my face quickly and I see the veil of disappointment that hovers beneath her gaze. "What is it?" The question seems genuine but we both know it's just a courtesy. She knows what I'm about to bring up. It’s a topic she's been hedging around skillfully for weeks. Time is running out though and I need to press this. Not just for her, but for me too.

"It's about the wedding." I tap my finger over the tip of your nose. "Your sister emailed me again last night. She needs an answer, Jessica."

Her cheeks go sallow as she hears the words. "I told you I didn't want to go, Nathan."

I've never met Jessica's family. I've loved this woman for more than a year and I've never had the opportunity to go to Connecticut to see the people who loved and nurtured her as she was growing into who she is today. I've listened to her talk with her sister. I've held her hand as she's given shattered glimpses into the pain of her parent's divorce and I sat idly by as she told her father that he couldn’t come to visit her over the holidays because of her work schedule. She won't share. I won't pry but this wedding is a ticket to her past, and I want to be aboard that train.

"Your sister really wants you to be her maid of honor, Jessica," I say gently. I've tried coaxing, being overbearing and manipulative. Today's approach is compassionate guilt. I'm hoping this will be the one thing that finally works.

"Julie has a lot of friends." Her hands drop into her lap. "They don't need me there."

I inch forward on my chair, pulling on the fabric of my pants to give me the room to maneuver myself closer to her. "I'll be right beside you the entire time. I won't leave your side for a second."

"What if Josh is there?"

I feel the vein in my neck pulse at the sound of her ex-boyfriend's name. This is the guy that calls her like clockwork every few months, trying to weasel his way back into her life. She knows exactly how to handle him. She wields masterful control over him on the phone like a professional lion tamer. I have to admit, the thought of seeing them together in a room isn't doing anything for my temper. I can't stand the thought of any man being close to her. The idea of her talking face-to-face with a guy she used to fuck is sending my stomach reeling.

"He's friends with Julie. You know that he is." She's almost pleading. I can hear her trying to make a new case for not attending the wedding. I'm not about to let her off the hook that easily though.

"Your sister wants you there." I run my hand over her exposed calf. "Julie loves you. She's your only sister, Jessica. This is the most important day of her life."

"What about Josh?" She pushes, knowing that his name scorches over me like hot coals.

I'm not giving in this time. After reading the email her sister sent me last night, I was bound and determined to get Jessica's pretty little ass to Connecticut. "Fuck him. It's not about him."

Her expression goes blank. "I don't want to go, Nathan. I don't."

"You're going to regret not going." I sigh. We've been dancing around the subject for more than a month. She has to make a firm decision now so her sister can choose someone else to be her maid of honor if Jessica can't get her shit together enough to get her ass on a plane. "Do it for her."

Her mouth falls open and I half-expect a litany of curse words to fly out at me. She snaps it shut before she finally speaks. "Okay, I'll go. But you can't leave my side."

"Never, Jessica." I graze my lips over hers. "I'll never leave your side."

"So this is him?" Her breath races over my face and I'm immediately assaulted with the unpleasant combination of a cheap domestic beer and even cheaper cigarettes. "Jessie, why didn't you tell me he was such a stud?"

Jessica's face flashes crimson as she grabs tightly to my hand. "I sent you a picture of us, mom."

"He didn't look this dashing in that picture." Her hand grazes over my forearm right before I sense her fingers trailing down my dress shirt towards my ass.

I edge to the left, pulling Jessica into my body. "We should get to the hotel."  The effort to avoid her mother's wandering hand does little good as I feel her grab a handful of my ass through my dress pants. Christ. She's not even trying to hide it. We're standing in a room filled with Jessica's relatives and her mother's making a beeline for my goods.

"Good idea." Jessica's expression is pained. I can see the discomfort there. I feel a brief sense of regret knowing that I'm the one who incessantly pushed her to come to this wedding. We arrived at her mother's house less than five minutes ago and I already wish we were back in our apartment in Manhattan.

"That's nuts," Hillary, Jessica's mother, practically spits all over me as the words fly off her lips. "I have lots of extra space. You two should stay here."

The vise grip that Jessica has on my hand only tightens. I don't need to look at her to know that staying here isn't an option. Hell, it's not an option for me either. I can only imagine what will happen to me if I wander down to the kitchen at night to get a sandwich. Hillary has made it clear by the continued groping of my ass that she wants whatever the fuck she can get from me.

"Mom, I don't think that's a good idea," she says in a sweet voice. No one in the room, including her grandmother can hear the veiled disgust woven into the words. Why didn't I listen when she said she didn't want to come back here? I feel as though I've stepped into a circus and my ass is the main attraction.

"Nonsense." The word is a slur. "I can fix up your old room. My sewing machine is in there now but your strong fellow can cart that out of there. I bet he has huge muscles."

Jessica tosses me a dazed look. "Nathan already booked the hotel. We're more comfortable there."

"She's right," I yelp. This time Hillary's finger got closer than the urologist during my prostate exam. "I'm tired. We're going to the hotel."

"You're coming to the rehearsal dinner, aren't you, Jess?" Julie, Jessica's sister, pokes her head around a corner and into the room. At first glance you'd never know the two of them were sisters. Julie's dark hair and eyes pair flawlessly with her olive toned skin. She's the exact physical opposite of Jessica. She hovers near my height and her body is elegantly toned and trim.

"I'll…we'll be there." Jessica looks to me for reassurance.

I slide my hand to her neck, pulling her head into my chest. "We will both be there."

"I can't wait," Hillary hisses into my ear.

***

"Nathan, I can't," she whimpers into the rough sheets on the bed. "I can't do it again."

I race my tongue over her folds again. "You need to come again, Jessica. I need it."

She pushes back and I suck her swollen bud between my lips, grazing my teeth over it. I grab tightly to her thighs, pulling them even further apart. I'm rewarded with a soft moan. I can tell by the way her body is moving that she's close again already. The moment we checked into the hotel and dropped our bags on the floor, I pulled her clothes off, made her get on all fours and my face dove between her legs. I wanted to taste her. I wanted to hear the beautiful sound of her coming under my tongue and touch. Seeing her so vulnerable and exposed is all the reward I need.

Her back arches as the orgasm floods through her. I lean back to watch the fluid movement of her body as it's overcome with pleasure. Her legs collapse, her ass wiggles and her hands grasp firmly to the sheets, pulling them loose from the mattress. My name flutters into the stillness of the air over and over again as she falls back down from the edge of her desire.

"Nathan, fuck me." It's a half whisper, barely audible. My heart is pounding heavily from watching her body reacting to my touch. "Fuck me hard."

I bolt to my knees, pulling open my pants and freeing my cock. I don't waste a moment before I push it into her, slowly at first. She's so wet, but it's still so much for her. It's always been so much and the exquisite tightness almost pushes me into a deep orgasm immediately. I have to pull back slightly to temper what I'm feeling.

She glances back, her hair flying over her face. The moisture settling on her top lip only makes her that much more seductive. It's not surprising that I couldn’t control myself the first moment I laid eyes on her at the club in Manhattan. I wanted all of her then and nothing has changed. I'm consumed with my need for her.

"Fuck, this is so good," I hiss through clenched teeth. I still while I undo my cuff links. I toss them on the bed. I slide the blue dress shirt off my shoulders before grabbing heavily to her hips.

"I love when you fuck me hard." She's a temptress and she knows it. The words she uses when I'm buried balls deep in her body push me into a place I've never been before. I've fucked hundreds of women but this is the only woman I've ever made love to. I need to feel her come again before I can release. I have to. My body won't allow anything else.

I rail back on my heels and pull tightly to her hips as I ram my dick relentlessly into her. "Christ, you're so fucking tight, Jessica. I'll never get used to it."

"Harder, Nathan." She pushes back against me, her wetness enveloping my cock like a slick, taut glove.  She raises her body, pushing her hands into the mattress to give herself more flexibility.

I take on the challenge, plunging myself further and further into her. "Goddamn," I scream. "I'm going to shoot my load in you. It's going to fill you up."

That's enough to throw her over the edge. She cries out as her muscles tense around my cock, pushing me into the middle of an intense and overwhelming orgasm.

"Christ, shit. Jessica," I call out from the sheer weight of the pleasure coursing through each and every one of my cells. "I fucking can't believe it." I can't. It's so good. It's only gotten better and better. We know each other's bodies so well. She knows how to make me come so hard.

"Nathan," she whispers my name only the way she can. "I loved that."

"I love you." I curl up next to her, pulling her warm, nude body into my chest. "I fucking love you."

"Your tits are way too big for that dress."

"I know," she throws the words at me as she stares at herself in the full length mirror on the back of the closet door. "I sent my sister the measurements but I feel like I'm going to have a nipple slip."

"I don't mind," I tease. Truth is I do mind. If that piece of shit ex-boyfriend of hers is at this wedding he's going to be drooling all over Jessica in that sad excuse of a dress her sister ordered for her. "Maybe your dress is mixed up with one of the bridesmaids."

"They're wearing a different color." She shrugs at her own reflection in the mirror as she hikes up the front of the strapless, navy blue, floor length dress yet again. "I look ridiculous."

She doesn't. She looks fucking breathtaking. She's pulled her hair up into a messy bun on the top of her head. She's wearing minimal make up and her hourglass figure is on full display in the dress. I can't fathom why her sister chose this dress for her. Any man in the church is going to fall to his knees and praise the heavens for this vision. "You look beautiful." I toss her a cheesy smile as I watch her tenderly try to fasten the clasp on the necklace I bought her for her birthday a few months ago. The chain is delicate, the single sapphire stone in the center of the silver pendant a constant reminder of the color of her eyes. I had my friend, Ivy, design it in her studio just for Jessica. She wears it almost daily and each time I see it around her neck, I'm in awe of how its beauty only adds to her own.