“And, if you’re not too tired…” There went her thumb again, shooting tingles all the way up his arm. “I do have something to teach you.”
Felix swore under his breath and pushed on the gas pedal. Jo’s laugh boomed as the speedometer ticked up. She picked up his phone and changed the soft, acoustic music to his early 2000s mix. Missy Elliott’s encouragement to “Get Ur Freak On” accompanied them all the way into Ashville.
An eternity later, Jo stood in front of him at the top of the staircase outside her building, unlocking her door. He hooked his arm around her waist and kissed her neck. Fuck, she smelled so good. Like a piece of strawberry candy. He wanted to hold her on his tongue until she melted. He closed his eyes and inhaled, letting his exhale warm her skin even as the breath came out ragged.
“Relax, gorgeous.” Jo nudged him back with her hip, knowing full well she was brushing against his cock. He groaned into her hair. Without a backwards glance, she stepped delicately out of his grasp and into her apartment. “I have a cat to feed first.”
She switched on a light, and movement from the couch caught his attention. A tabby was curled up on a fleecy, orange blanket. He lifted his head, ears folded back, and blinked in the sudden brightness.
“Hi, Merry.” Felix waved. “Nice to meet you.”
“He says it’s nice to meet you too.” Jo deposited her purse on a hook beside the door.
“I’m honored.”
Merry responded by yawning hugely and tucking his face under his paws.
Jo turned toward Felix. She undid his collar button, then the next one. He had no doubt that she’d stop and tease him about his eagerness again if he so much as reached for her. So he stood there and took it, watching her fingers move deftly down his shirt. Jo untucked it from his slacks and then unbuttoned his cuffs, one at a time. He remained motionless as she pushed the shirt off his shoulders, leaving him in his undershirt.
“Take this off,” she said, glancing down at his chest, “and wait for me in the bedroom.”
Felix whipped the shirt over his head. Startled, Jo shifted back, her pupils going wide as she passed her gaze over his bare chest. Did she honestly believe he’d wait until he was in the other room, without her, to undress? Where was the fun in that?
Without a word, he winked, tossed his shirt aside, and went down the hallway, finding her bedroom easily. He lay on her bed, and oh, Jesus, her pillows smelled like her hair. It was almost too much, all of a sudden. He was in Jo’s bedroom, in Jo’s bed, and he could hear Jo tending to Merry, murmuring gentle words. It was one thing to have her in his room in Tito’s house; to be in her home was something else entirely. He was reminded of the way she’d given him her hotel room key in Indianapolis. No hesitation, no distrust, no worry. Just wanting him to be near, to share her space.
His eyes wandered, taking in Jo’s overstuffed bookcase, her dresser topped with discarded clothes and makeup, various MnM-inspired artwork, a massive photo collage of Jo and Aida over the years, and… her vibrator. It was just sitting there on her nightstand. Hot pink, with a wide, rounded tip, molded to fit perfectly in one’s palm. Was it always there, or had she left it out for them? Had she sent him in here alone knowing he would find it?
He knew that woman.
Of course she had.
He picked it up and turned it on. It buzzed. Loudly.
“I hear that!” Jo called from what sounded like the bathroom. There was no mistaking the glee in her voice; he’d played right into her hands.
“I’m waiting, cariño, don’t worry. Just seeing what my options are.” He clicked through the different settings, the vibrations reverberating through his hand in all sorts of interesting patterns. Slow, fast, long pulses, short pulses, mixes of various speeds. The sheer number of them boggled the mind. It made sense—everyone was different and liked different things—but Felix had never given vibrator options much thought before. A major oversight on his part, really. One he was only too willing to correct.
He turned off the vibrator, and the light clicked off too. Jo’s silhouette moved through the room, outlined by the nightlight in the hallway. She opened a dresser drawer and began pulling things out. A match was struck. She lit a few candles and set them on the dresser, shoving clothes onto the floor, away from the open flames. She turned in profile, pursed her lips, and puffed out the match, an act which had no right to be as sexy as it was.
He watched her skirt sway as she brought one of the candles over to the nightstand. A light, citrusy scent wafted over him, mingling with the sulfurous smell of the match. Jo’s auburn hair was the deep, rich red of pomegranate seeds. Her pale skin glowed as if lit from within with the same burning desire that coursed through him.
“Unzip me?”
Felix sat up on the edge of the bed. Inch by precious inch, he lowered the zipper of her lemon-patterned dress. He kissed along her spine as he revealed her skin, then set to work on her undergarments. When she stood naked before him, her entire body gleaming in the candlelight, he guided her to sit on his lap. Her weight sank into him, solid, soft, and warm.
He ran his hands over the lush rolls of her low belly and brushed the back of her shoulder with his chin. “I’ve never done this with someone before.”
“Neither have I,” she said over her shoulder.
Felix gauged her expression for any uncertainty or nervousness, but he saw only eager anticipation. Her breath fluttered when Felix kissed the top of her spine. She shifted from hip to hip, her tailbone skimming deliciously against his hardness.
“Let’s learn together, cariño mío.” He picked up the vibrator and traced its tip up her inner thigh without turning it on. Jo sucked her lower lip between her teeth. “Where do you like it best? Inside or on your clit?”
“On my clit.”
“Lie down for me.”
She lay on her back, and Felix stretched out next to her. Jo guided his hand where she wanted it and nodded. The instant he turned on the lowest setting, she moaned. Her head fell back against the pillow. She nudged his hand a little higher and cried out, writhing against him, her thigh granting him the sweetest friction against his dick. He pushed his hips forward for more as Jo buried her face in his neck.
“Right there, gorgeous,” she panted against his skin. “Don’t move.”
How he loved being called that. Felix had been called a lot of flattering things before—hot, sexy, handsome. But he’d never been called gorgeous, or even beautiful. Words like that carried a deeper meaning to him, spoke to him of something beyond the way he looked. And the way Jo called him “gorgeous,” with the same devotion with which she said his name, made him believe that’s how she meant it.
What an intoxicating thing, to be considered gorgeous by Jo. Jo, whose wild, creative mind had chosen that word for him. Jo, who liked the grays on his chin even more than his abs. Jo, whom he admired, whose opinion he respected. Jo, whom he—
Oh.
Jo, whom he loved.
He loved Jo.
There had been hints of it before, dancing around the edges of conscious thought. But the depth, the magnitude, the certainty of it was undeniable now. Felix loved Jo. With all his heart, with all that he was. He loved her.
“Turn it up,” Jo moaned.
He didn’t react. Couldn’t. His heart had overruled both his brain and his cock, and all he could do was stare into the flame of the candle on the nightstand.
“Felix, please,” Jo begged, clawing at his chest. The scrape of her nails brought Felix back to the moment with a gasp. He pressed his cheek into Jo’s forehead to ground himself here, with her, not lost to his own unfettered feelings. He clicked the button on the vibrator. She arched her back and whimpered.
