Page 34 of Boyfriend Maintenance

“Are you mad because you were only into me because you thought I had money?” She doesn’t yell this, but her tone is coarser.

“Fuck no! If anything, I want you more,” I hiss back at her.Shit. I can’t believe I just said that. But it’s out there now.

“What?” Her voice is now a near whisper.

“I refuse to be with someone who has the ability to make me feel bad about my upbringing. My childhood was hard, but I wouldn’t change it. I’ve dated one-too-many women who were never going to be happy with some poor maintenance man. Every high-society brat I ever dated couldn’t handle how everyone looked down on me because I worked with my hands and not with my mind in some stuffy business suit. But you … you come from money yet you walked away from all of it so you could be a normal person, which makes you more like me than anyone else I’ve ever dated.”

She ponders this for a moment. Her chest rises and falls with each heavy breath. I want to kiss her so badly right now.

“Then why are you so mad at me?” Confusion is thick around her words. I suddenly realize that we are standing nearly chest to chest in the middle of the room. I don’t remember us moving toward each other.

“Because you lied to me.” I have no anger left in me, my reply is only a matter of fact.

“Well you know everything now. There’s nothing more to lie about, my truths are all lying here in front of you.” She gestures, as if to show them all over the floor.

“Good.”

She bites her lip and I look down at her mouth. For some reason it’s even more enticing than it was all the times before.

“Now what?” Her breath is a whisper across my face, and I answer by doing the only other thing there is left to do.

I kiss her.

Chapter 15

Emmy

Standing there kissingin the middle of the dimly lit living room, everything that we just argued about melts into nothingness. It’s only Jake and Emmy in this moment. None of the bullshit that happened earlier with my brother, or Jake yelling and being angry at me for not telling him the truth about walking away from millions—none of that matters in this moment.

We’ve been dancing around each other for nearly two weeks now. I’m drawn to him even though we don’t know each other very well. Now that he’s made his move—or did I make the first move? No matter who moved first, this whole thing between us feels like it was inevitable from the start.

Jake’s hands grip my hair as my arms wrap around behind his neck. The air swirling around us crackles and shifts as our kissing becomes less needy and more passionate. His hands fall away from my hair and slide down my back, stopping at my butt. He pulls me into him then hoists me up and, once again, I find myself wrapping my legs around his waist. Jake pulls back from kissing my swollen lips but not far.

“Bedroom or couch?” His lips cover mine again, giving me no chance to answer his question. I pull my hand from his hair and wave in the general direction of my room, too addicted to his mouth to be more specific. I nearly moan in relief that he understands my nonverbal command.

Without ever breaking our contact, he walks us in the direction of my room. Before we make it all the way into the bedroom, he lowers me back onto my feet. Leaning back into the doorframe, I stare up at him. His eyes are hooded, his lips puffy from my own. A brief pang of panic surges through my veins that maybe he’s changed his mind. When his smile slowly drags across his face, the feeling evaporates immediately. He leans back into me, leaving only a millimeter of space between us. I can’t look away from his heat-filled eyes as he closes the gap.

His hands find my hair again, gently tugging at it—a feeling I like all too much. I reach down and pull his shirt from his pants, fumbling with the buttons. It’s not my finest moment when trying to undress a man, but I’m finding it hard to focus on the damn buttons while his tongue is dancing with mine.

Shit, why are there so many buttons?

The struggle is real, and he chuckles.

Finally freeing the last button, I slide my hands up his hot, bare chest, pushing his shirt away as he shrugs out of it. I admire him for a moment, standing there in only his slacks, then I reach for his belt buckle.

He shakes his head. “You need to catch up.”

I pull off my denim jacket with incredible ease, all while watching him slowly undo his belt. Once he’s unbuckled it, he pauses his progress and kisses me again.

Running my hands over the hard muscles of his arms and chest, I take in the soft but taut feel of his skin. My touch must trigger a shift as hands start roaming and kisses become more urgent.

Barely breaking the kiss, he reaches down and grabs the hem of my skirt in his fist. Pulling it up and over my head, the skirt and top coming off together, he leaves me in only my fleshy pink undies and matching strapless.

“You’re so gorgeous, Emmy.” His reverent voice is uneven as he takes me in.

This time when our lips meet, his hands also find my breasts.

My own hands clearly have a mind of their own as they drift down his body with a clear destination. Wasting no time, I pop the button and shove my hand down his pants, grabbing him firmly.

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