Page 49 of The Player + The Pact = I Do

She grabs my arm and squeezes me, like I just told her the manager job at The Mayfair is hers permanently. “Tell your driver to meet us in a couple of blocks. Let’s walk for as long as these shoes will let me. I love these late summer nights. We haven’t got many left.”

I chuckle. She gets an unrestricted promise from me and walking home is what she asks for?

Just as I press send on a text to my driver, asking him to follow us in the car, a boom of thunder sounds above us.

Jules’ eyes widen and she bursts out laughing. “Looks like we’re getting wet.”

I expect her to change her mind about the walk, but she just slides her hand into mine and we begin to stroll. It’s late, but New York doesn’t want to sleep tonight. There are people everywhere and the traffic is rush-hour heavy. Quarter-sized drops splat onto the pavement as we head west. I peek up at the sky, wondering how quickly we’re likely to be drenched.

“Why don’t we just drive with the windows down?” I suggest.

“Because we’ll be home too quickly and I’m not ready for tonight to end.”

Something pulls in my gut. I’m not sure if it’s because Jules just called my place home or because she wants tonight to continue some more. Maybe it’s because I feel the same way.

“We can do a circuit of the park,” I suggest.

She grins and her eyelashes flutter away the rain. “You promise we can keep the windows down?”

I nod and put a hand out to my driver, who’s just behind us.

As soon as we slide into the car, Jules lets down her window and glances as me. “Come on,” she says. “We need New York turned up to full volume tonight.” It’s exactly how I felt when New River’s first fix was complete. This is a city of so many possibilities. We just have to open our arms.

I stare at her, completely unable to reconcile thegrumpy assistant she was in my office with the fresh, light, complex woman sitting next to me.

“A promise is a promise,” she says, reaching across me to hit the button that lowers the window. Our faces are so close now; she looks up at me, smiling, and all I can think about is how beautiful she is. I catch her wrist and I let the window down myself, but I don’t release her or take my eyes from her.

The light must change because the car jolts and Jules gets pushed even closer to me, her arms on my chest, her lips an inch from mine.

“I’m going to kiss you,” I warn, giving her plenty of time to object.

When she doesn’t, I cup the back of her head and press my lips to hers.

The scent of New York ebbs away as we kiss, the chatter of tourists on Broadway being accosted by street sellers turns to whispers, competing music from bars and restaurants and the inevitable honk of impatient New York drivers all fade into the distance. All I can think about is how she’s the calm in this storm—the light in this darkness, the sun to my frozen heart.

I slide my hand up Jules’ thigh and pull her onto my lap, our lips never parting. She tastes of honey and heat and evening jasmine. Her fingertips skim my cheekbones as my hand travels up her skirt. Not all the way, because that’s not how I want this to go. Not in the back of a car like this. But enough so I feel more of her, am surrounded by her.

Tonight, things have shifted between us, although maybe it’s not just tonight. Maybe this has been threatening for a while, like the storm waiting to break over the city. The more I get to know Jules, the more I want to know. The more every inexplicable thing about her becomes not onlyunderstandable, but compelling, the more I’m drawn in. I feel like Igether. And she gets me.

The car is stopped for a while and I glance out the window. We’re outside my building. We break our kiss and Jules goes to slip out of the car, but I grab her hand as she exits. I don’t want to let her go.

The big drops of rain have all merged together on the pavement, and the humidity has shifted up a gear. I’m not sure if that’s the entire city or just this stretch of sidewalk, where Jules and I are building heat.

We cross the pavement, ignoring the rain, and I press Jules up against the wall of my building. I kiss her again, relishing the way she gasps underneath me. My body begins to throb. I want this woman. I want her in the rain. On my lap. In my bed. I growl, deepening our kiss, frustrated by the lack of privacy on the street.

“Take me upstairs,” she whispers as I work kisses down her neck. “Please, Leo.”

Thepleaseis all it takes to make me shift gears. There’s no more holding back.

I march us across my building lobby, her hand tucked firmly in mine, and straight into a waiting lift. Our kisses are increasingly frantic, desperate and wanting. Her hands slide up my shirt, pressing against my stomach.

What happened tonight? Should we think this through?

Jules slides her hand over my dick. Thoughts about anything other than her hand and what it’s doing to me dissolve. She wants this just as much as I do.

There will be consequences. We both know it. But right now, I can’t think of anything besides sliding into Jules and feeling her tighten around me.

The elevator doors open, and we fall out. My mind is a blur of feeling and need. Our kisses are frantic and passionate.Her teeth graze my neck. My fingers pull at her dress. I want everything now and I want it to last all night.

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