Page 188 of Under Her Skin
Theo smiled and sat down on the sofa bed that took up a great deal of the room. He looked around the small living area, dominated by books and art prints, paper, soft pastels and watercolors in small tubes spread across the table, pencil sketches Jess had been toying around with. He picked up a couple and studied them. Jess watched him nervously. He smiled ather.
‘These are incredibly good. Do you sell yourart?’
She shook her head. ‘I just play around, really. My work is mostly in art restoration; not that I’ve been working on anything big, just a few minor pieces at the university. But no, to answer your question, I’m not nearly good enough to sell.’ She patted Stan as she spoke, suddenlyshy.
‘I disagree,’ Theo said softly and sheflushed.
‘Thankyou.’
He took her in his arms. ‘And I love your place. Reminds me of mine onBainbridge.’
Jess looked askance, disbelieving. ‘Uh-huhokay.’
Theo laughed. ‘I will take you there and you’ll see what I mean. You and Stan. There’s a good-sized garden he can run around to his heart’s content – and he’ll have a pal. I have an English Cocker spaniel. She’s calledMonty.’
‘She’s calledMonty?’
‘Blame my four-year-old nephew.’ It was the first time he’d mentioned any of his family and Jess wanted to ask him more but then he kissed her, sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her down onto the sofa and she forgot everythingelse.
This timeshe didn’t stop his hands as they slid under her dress but just as he began to slide two fingers in and out of her, her gasps of pleasure brought a bout of barking from Stan which made them both collapse into laughter but when he’d calmed down, they tried again Instantly the dog started barking. Jesssighed.
‘Moment’s over,’she giggled as Theo defeated, sat up, shaking his head in mock disgust. Stan, unrepentant, and triumphant went to curl up in his basket, a huge doggy grin on his face. Theo swept a finger down Jess’scheek.
‘So, you know how I was telling you about my place on Bainbridge… yeah, the bedrooms have doors.’ He pretended to scowl at Stan, which made Jess giggle again. She wrapped her arms aroundhim.
‘Well, Mr Billionaire, if you have fancy things like doors, how can Iresist?’
He caught her lips with his, kissing her until her head spun. ‘And when we get there, Miss Wood, I’m going to begin your education in love-making the Stormway…’
She moaned with pleasure as he kissed her throat and Theo chuckled. ‘The sooner we get to my place and I’m inside you the better as far as I’mconcerned…’
She gave a breathless laugh. ‘You are a machine, TheodoreStorm…’
He satin the car parked across the street from her apartment and watched her leave with a tall guy he didn’t recognise. Jealousy, rage curled in his gut as Julién Gachet watched his step-sister, his Jessica, as she talked and laughed with this stranger. When the man bent his head to kiss her, Jules’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. Whore. She knew what happened when she dared to defy him, betray him. Jessica had belonged to him the moment that his father had introduced him to her and her mother, back when Jessie was a kid, just a teenager. Jules always got what he wanted and he had wanted her from the start. Her frightened eyes when he crept into her room at night and put a hand over her mouth. Shhh shhh, littleJess…
Now,watching her kiss this other man, this stranger, this bastard, her glorious body against his, Jules’s anger consumed him. She would be reminded, he decided, reminded who she belonged to, who owned every cell in her beautifulbody.
And if shewould not fall in line, then she would have todie…
Play With Me PartTwo
Theo watchedher from the door. Christ, she was so beautiful, he couldn’t get enough of just looking at her. There were the times when her hair brushed his arm, or she’d reach up for something and her t-shirt would ride up, revealing a long expanse of her soft belly. His cock would harden and it would all that he could do to stop himself taking her there andthen.
Now,though - and he grinned to himself - the other patrons of the coffee house where Jess Wood worked might object to the live sexshow.
‘Hey again.’Her voice broke through his reverie and he realised he had been blocking the door of the coffee shop. He stepped aside to let an elderly couple in. They smiled and nodded theirthanks.
Jess smiled at him from behind the counter. She was already fixing his coffee the way she knew he liked it – Americano with an extrashot.
‘Hello to you, beautiful. Thank you.’He leaned over the counter to kiss her as she slid the cup over to him. He took a sip, the hot liquid burning his tongue. He enjoyed the quick wash of pain. He put the cup down. ‘As always, perfect.’ He smiled. ‘How are youtoday?’
‘Much the same as yesterday,’ she grinned. ‘Can I persuade you to try a muffin today?’ She always asked and he always politely refused. He liked the fact she was trying to make a joke between them, it felt strangely intimate, even if it was just about baked goods. It was their ‘thing’. Theo chuckled at the thought and toldher.
‘Funny,’she murmured and leaned over to whisper in his ear,’ I thought our thing was fucking each othersenseless.’
Theo laughed, caught her mouth with his. ‘You shouldn’t say stuff like that when we’re notalone.’
Jess glanced up at the clock on the wall. Ten of seven. The coffee house would close at seven and then they could go back to his place or her place and get very, verynaked.
