Sweet Obsession: Windy City Kink, Book 1 (30 page)

Her cry was satisfying, exquisite. Her clit swelled and pulsed, her body shaking. “Oh my God, oh God…”

He kept his mouth on her, drawing out her orgasm. Then her fingers released their grip on his hair and her hands fell to the dresser at her sides. Hopefully she hadn’t yanked out too much hair. He gave her pussy more short, soft kisses, rubbed his whiskery face on her inner thigh, then looked up at her.

He felt her on his lips and drew his fingers over them, wiping them. He met her dazed eyes. Her chest rose and fell with quick breaths, the robe gaping open to reveal the round inner curves of her breasts. “Whoa,” she panted.

He smiled and stood, leaned over to plant a hard kiss on her parted lips, then helped her off the dresser. “Okay. Dinner. Get dressed, babe.”

She fell against him, burying her face in the side of his neck, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I can’t even walk,” she mumbled. “Need a few minutes.”

His smile deepened, his hand curving around the back of her head, holding her against him. “Okay.”

They eventually went for deep dish pizza at a little place that didn’t take reservations. There was a line-up so they sat outside and waited. The spring evening was mild and lovely, the lights of skyscrapers twinkling above them as they sat on the small downtown patio. They talked. And touched. Sasha seemed okay but he still sensed a tension within her. This was going to be harder than he’d thought. But anything worthwhile didn’t come easy, in his experience, and she was so worth it.

They got called to their table and entered the dark restaurant, a series of small connected rooms, some with booths, some with small tables, all with a low, tin ceiling and worn wood floors.

“Ines has the party all planned,” he told her, once they’d ordered. “Everything will be done by then? It’s two weeks away.”

“Everything will be done,” she confirmed. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“What’s left? It looks really good out there.”

She picked up her glass of red wine. “The furniture is being delivered next week and I have a lot of planting to do. We had to wait for the weather to get warmer before we could do some of that.”

“Right. Can’t wait to see it.” He drank his beer. “Are there people you want to invite to the party?”

“Like who?”

“I don’t know.” He hitched a shoulder. “Some of the people who worked on the patio? Suppliers? Contractors? Let them see what a great job you did?”

She smiled.

“How about Kevin? Although it wouldn’t surprise me if he comes with Emma. Other friends?” He hesitated. His gut knotted. “Your parents? Would they like to see your work?”

She sat there saying nothing, turning her wine glass between her fingers. “I’d love for them to see my work,” she finally said. “But…at your place?” She lifted tortured eyes to his.

“I know,” he agreed quietly. “I can handle it if you can.” He was ready for this.

She gave a soft snort. “But can
they
?”

Yeah, that was the question.

“Think about it. It’s up to you. Anyone you want to invite is included.”

“Thank you, Jack.”

As they ate, he told her who he’d put on the guest list and what Ines had planned for the party.

“Those are some important business people who’ll be there,” she commented.

“Yeah.” He reached for her hand. “I want them to see what an amazing job you did.”

“I might need to buy a new dress.”

He grinned and squeezed her hand. “Of course you do. Although if you come to the party wearing jeans and work boots, you’ll still look hot.”

Her mouth softened. “Thanks. But I’ll clean up for the party.”

“I like watching you work. When you’re out there ordering around those construction guys, it’s hot as hell.”

She choked a little. “Really?”

“You’re so…authoritative.”

She tipped her head. “And yet, I don’t think you want me ordering
you
around.”

“Nope.” He grinned. “I just like watching you do it to other people. I like how much you know about your profession. A woman who’s smart and good at what she does is sexy.”

“Even when what she does is dig around in dirt?”

“Yup. Although, I haven’t seen you digging around in dirt much.”

“Yet.” Her lips curved. “That’s coming. Some of the nursery stock is being delivered next week.”

“Will you do it all yourself?”

“No. I have Gareth who works for me full-time, and I also have a few college students I hire for the summers who help with a lot of the grunt work. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hire them this year, but things are looking up, so I called them last week.”

“Why didn’t you think you’d be able to hire them?”

“Oh.” Her gaze dropped to the table. Then she sighed. “Business wasn’t going very well. I ran into a bit of a cash flow problem. Remember I mentioned the job I’d done for James Eckhart?”

He nodded.

“Well, I never got paid a penny for that job.”

“What? You never mentioned that when we talked about it.”

“I know.” She met his eyes. “I didn’t want the whole world to know I was teetering on the edge financially. It was my own fault for not getting a down payment from him, or progress payments, but he was such a prominent businessman I let that slide. I used my own credit to pay for all the subcontractors and stock and furniture, and then he ended up in jail and bankrupt.”

“Jesus Christ! You should have sued his ass.”

“I talked to my lawyer about it. She said we could try, but there were all kinds of creditors he owed money too and probably lots more than me. Also, he apparently didn’t have much real money. I don’t know much about it, but she seemed to think it wasn’t worth even trying. So anyway.” She gave him a bright smile. “Business was slow for some reason this year and I wasn’t sure I’d need to hire college students to help for the summer. But the last few weeks, things have really picked up. I did a lot of promo work and I’ve landed a few sure deals and there are some I’m waiting to hear back on that seem pretty optimistic.”

“That’s good.” So when he’d offered her the job of designing his patio, she’d really needed the business. He hated to think of her struggling, but on the other hand, the fact that she might have been a little desperate probably worked in his favor.

After they’d eaten and he’d paid the bill, they walked out with his hand lightly on the small of her back. He paused on the sidewalk before walking to his car. “It’s the weekend,” he said.

“Yes it is.”

“Want you to spend it with me.”

She eyed him. “Oh yeah?”

He nodded. “I’ll take you home so you can get a few things and then I want you to come to my place for the weekend.”

She tilted her head. “I have plans for lunch tomorrow.”

He frowned. “Oh.”

“With my friends Lindsay and Germaine.”

His frown eased. “Oh. Well. No problem. You can still do that.”

“And I do need to do some work. I’ve been getting a lot of calls and I have some designs to work on so I can show them to prospective clients next week.”

“Okay.”

“But if I have my laptop, I can work on those anywhere.”

He smiled. “Okay. Good. Let’s go get your laptop.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

That weekend she spent with Jack was not only full of crazy sex where the things they did together in bed got hotter and more intense, but also times just lazing around in his condo, each of them working on their laptops. The gray, rainy weather had been perfect for having the fireplace on and curling up in comfy yoga pants and a hoodie and socks. Jack in loose sweat pants and long-sleeved Ts was just as sexy as Jack in a thousand dollar suit and tie. They’d gone out to Trader Joe’s to buy food and wine, the experience of picking out food together shockingly intimate. And they’d listened to music, discovering shared favorites, and cooked in his kitchen.

The next two weeks passed quickly. During the days she was busy not only meeting with new clients, showing off potential designs and getting started on project plans, but overseeing the last of the work at Jack’s place, and most evenings they were together either at Jack’s place or hers. Since she had a code that allowed her access to his home any time, she gave him a key to her place, after checking with Kevin that he was okay with it. And Jack used it, one night when he had a business dinner and meetings that had gone late, quietly letting himself into the condo and then her bedroom near midnight, sliding into her bed where she was sleeping. She turned drowsily into his arms and he made slow, dreamy love to her.

His new rooftop garden was all coming together in a satisfying way. She directed delivery people where to put trees and plants, big pots and bags of potting mix, and worked with Gareth and one of her summer students to fill those pots and planters. When the furniture hadn’t arrived the Monday before the party, she called the wholesaler and very nearly freaked out when they told her their shipment hadn’t arrived yet.

“My client is having a huge party on this patio Saturday night,” she told them, standing in Jack’s living room. “We have to have furniture for that.”

They promised to track down the shipment and do their best to get it there and she had a few days full of anxious knots in her stomach until she got the call on Thursday that the furniture had arrived at the warehouse and would be delivered the next day. She stayed to oversee that, making sure every piece she’d ordered had arrived and that it was exactly what she’d ordered, again directing the delivery men where to put each piece. When they’d left, she spent a couple of hours removing plastic from all the furniture and then the upholstered pieces that had been custom made and which had arrived the week before. The sky was clear and sunny so she set the cushions onto the furniture to get the full effect, although a large storage closet had been built outside where they would be stored when not in use.

She hung the drapery panels that separated the dining area from a living area and arranged the accessories she’d picked out, and by the time Jack arrived home around seven that evening, it was all in place.

He found her sitting on one of the couches out there, just looking around at everything. He paused in the open French doors, still dressed in his suit but his tie gone and shirt unbuttoned at his throat. “Hi.”

She beamed at him. “Hi. Come on out. It’s done.”

He stepped outside but his eyes never left her. “You look so happy.”

She spread her arms. “Look! It’s beautiful! I think.”

“I love seeing you look like that,” he said, dropping to a crouch in front of her.

“I feel such a sense of accomplishment. It’s always nice when a job is done and it all comes together. Look, Jack!”

A smile curving his beautiful mouth, he stood and turned to look around, walking across the floor of the main seating area to check out the smaller area off his bedroom, and then the bar and dining area. He turned back to her. “It’s awesome. So great, Sasha. Perfect.”

She leaped to her feet. “Everything turned out perfectly. I was pulling my hair out over the furniture, but here it is. And just in time for your party tomorrow night.”

“Yeah. It’s gonna be fun. Can’t wait to show it off. And I can’t wait to show you off.”

He pulled her up against him and with the adrenaline rush of excitement flowing through her veins, she hugged him back.

“Ines will be here in the morning to supervise the caterers and the rental company that’s supplying dishes and glasses and stuff.”

“I’m so relieved it’s done in time!”

He gave her a fast hard kiss on the mouth. “Me too. Had no doubt you’d pull it off though.”

“Thanks, but I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do if they didn’t get that furniture here.”

“Let’s sit and enjoy it. Beautiful evening, isn’t it?”

“Gorgeous.” The warm breeze smelled like spring as they sat side by side on one of the wicker couches. “Remember what this looked like a couple of months ago?”

“Butt ugly. What a difference. I brought home Thai food for dinner, by the way. It’s in the kitchen.”

“Oh, nice. I guess I am kind of hungry. Want to eat out here?”

“You bet.”

Jack changed into a pair of his faded jeans and a SJSU T-shirt as she filled plates with food, then he poured her a glass of wine and opened a beer for himself, and they carried their food and drinks out to the dining area. Sasha pulled a lighter from a cabinet and lit the candles on the table, sheltered from the breeze by big glass hurricane shades, and the flames flickered in the deepening twilight.

She pointed out some of the features to him as they ate.

“I love that bar,” he commented. “There’s a delivery coming for that tomorrow too. Cases of booze.”

She laughed. “There’s lots of storage space,” she said. “Although for the party you’ll need extra places for keeping drinks cold. There are a couple of tubs we can fill with ice.”

“Ines hired a bartender,” he said. “But I can’t wait to get behind there and bartend myself.”

“Bartending?” She lifted an eyebrow. “A frustrated career choice for you?”