Page 29 of King of Jokers

With the pressure of my hands against his back pulling him into me –I want you.

And when our bodies came together on the floor, on the stairs and eventually in my bed when we finally made it up there –I love you.

Winter

Chapter 14

“Butyoucanonlyhave one.One.As in, singular.”

“Narrowing it down to just one seems fairly strict.” My brows creased as the multiple things I’d offered filtered through my mind.

“Oh, I apologise, ‘Miss I have rules for everything other than when we talk about our goals for the year’.” His chuckle from behind shook through me and I felt my lips curl, my fingers absently drawing patterns on his forearm laced around my stomach. If I turned to look out the window I would see the sun slowly peeking over the horizon, the start of another day. The unbidden signal for us to revert back to our non-sexual companionship. But I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving the warmth of this bed and spending each moment looking for ridiculous reasons to brush past him so my hand couldaccidentallygraze his skin.

“Maybe it’s okay to break the rules this one time.” The words felt foreign leaving my mouth.

“Are you asking me or telling me?” He said incredulously, noting my unfamiliar lilt at even speaking such blasphemy. “Could you go the entire day without rules? A day where anything went and spontaneity was the word?”

I raised my chin so I could show him my scrunched face and his eyes lit up, excited by the prospect or what he thought I would say – I couldn’t be sure. Even thinking about a day where I didn’t have each minute at least tentatively mapped made my skin feel tingly, my hands reaching for the sheet draped over our bodies, my fingertips rubbing circles on the edges.

“Absolutely,” I lied, my mouth pressing into a thin line.

Jack laughed loudly this time, sitting up as he began coughing from the sheer propensity of the unexpected intake of breath. I took the opportunity to leap out of bed and race into the bathroom, desperate for a second alone.

We fell asleep late last night and woke up coiled like a twisted chain. Even in sleep we reached for each other, subconsciously knowing our time was reaching its expiration date. Immediately commencing where we left off, he again brought me to climax with his tongue and teeth, eliciting an elixir of dual intoxication – pain and pleasure swirling until my vision blurred and I lost all control. I’d reciprocated with an eagerness I’d never experienced. With Jack, I found pleasure in the art of giving, and watching his face as he emptied himself down my throat was the single hottest moment of my life.

“There is no way you could go a day without mentioning the word rule, let alone actively choosing not to follow them.” I felt my lips tug at the mockery in his tone through the open doorway as I finished hastily brushing my teeth and returning to bed.

“I’m certain Icango all day without following a rule. In fact, I will not follow a single rule until you leave tomorrow night. Legalities aside – I will not break the law, even for you,” I huffed.

He raised his blow contemplatively, his mind ticking as his dimple popped with the cheekiness of his grin.

“Let’s make it interesting,” he said conspiratorially.

I raised a brow of my own waiting for an explanation I was confident would make me twitch. My eyes narrowed as I drew out my reply. “Okayyyyy.”

“You last until tomorrow night without following or mentioning rules and I will stay another week.”

“Done,” I agreed confidently, willing to do anything if that was on offer.

“Wait, silly. You haven’t heard the rest!” He held up his hand to stop me, my conviction instantly evaporating. “But if you mention rules or you refuse anything I suggest based on or because of them, then tomorrow night, you leave Willow Bay with me and come to the city – for an entire month.”

I felt the colour drain from my face, the immediate refusal on the tip of my tongue like a snake ready to strike the second I opened the cage.

I never took unplanned leave because the guidelines stated unless it was an emergency, your supervisor required three months notice.

I never even used sick days because working from home made pushing through much easier. There was no need to disrupt the company.

I followed rules because they were there for a reason. Hell, I created my own in situations where they didn’t already exist, because it meant circumstances were predictable and measures were controlled.

Two whole days without them with the consequence of failure an impromptu month in a big city was enough to make my gums itch. And the haughty manner in which Jack was shaking his head from side to side told me he had zero confidence in my ability to say yes let alone do it. He thought I would refuse because I was so damn predictable. Devoid of any form of flexibility or spontaneity.

Big black letters sprayed across my locker in high school –Robot Princess Bitch– resurfaced and the humiliation was as raw as the day I discovered the slur. The pain of being exactly what they all said I was, knew I was, as fresh as all those years ago.

“Deal.” I said, a sick sense of pleasure overshadowing the jitters at the way his eyes widened for a nanosecond before his big, confident smile returned, dimples on full display.

“Are you serious?” I couldn’t help but giggle at his incredulous tone. He was as excited as a child on Christmas morning.

“You underestimate me, Grant.”

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