Beneath This Man (This Man Trilogy)(38)

I kneel and collect up all of the pieces, taking them to the bathroom and depositing them in the bin before I start running a bath. Picking up the calla lilies that are in desperate need of some water, I make my way back downstairs.

I get halfway down and hear the front door shut quietly, and I’m halted in my tracks as I watch Jesse come into view. He stops at the bottom of the stairs and looks up at me, his handsome face expressionless and his usually bright eyes a little glazed. He removes his suit jacket and reaches up, undoing his shirt buttons slowly as he watches me. His shirt gets removed and dropped to the floor to join his jacket, as does his shoes, socks, trousers and boxers. My eyes are pulled to the red marks around his wrists when he removes his Rolex. He throws it on top of his pile of clothes. I’m never handcuffing him again.

‘You’re not laying a finger on me until you tell me who that woman was.’ This might take all of strength, especially if he starts the countdown or hits me with a Jesse style fuck, but I’m not backing down here.

‘I don’t know.’ His face is completely expressionless.

‘So you’ve not asked Clive to stop me from looking at the CCTV?’

He almost smiles, but he must know because Clive would most certainly have mentioned me prying. ‘My beautiful girl is ruthless.’

‘My God is evasive.’ I retort quietly.

‘Ava, if I didn’t need you all over me right now, I’d be challenging you.’

‘But you do so you’ll tell me.’

‘I slept with her.’

I’m not looking surprised because I had already figured that much out. ‘So why was she here?’

‘Because she heard I was missing.’ He doesn’t hesitate.

‘That’s it. She was worried?’

He shrugs. ‘Yes. That’s it. Now I get you all over me.’

Oh. Okay. What do I say? I asked, he told. ‘Why didn’t you just tell me this before?’

He shrugs. ‘Because it was no big deal until you made it one.’

He starts up the stairs slowly, completely naked and stunningly spectacular, and scoops me up without stopping, prompting me to drop the flowers and wrap myself around his body. ‘You made it a big deal by evading my questions.’

He doesn’t reply. I also want to rip strips off him for trampling my day. I want to stamp and scream in a temper, but I can’t seem to find the strength or the inclination to do it. He talked, and now I just want him all over me. My mind is fuzzy, but my body is fizzing…for him.

He places me on my feet and starts slowly undressing me, watching his hands work over my clothes as I stand quietly and let him do his thing. Why is he so forlorn? It’s me who has endured his challenging ways all day. He’s like a lucky bag of emotions and moods. I would have put my money on a retribution fuck after my performance this morning, but instead, I’m confronted with gentle, soft Jesse. I don’t mind. I need soft and loving right now.

My bra is removed and my ankles tapped in the usual fashion so he can remove my knickers. Once we’re both naked, he takes me down to the thick, cream carpet and swaths me in his body, burying his face deep in my neck and breathing me into him. I mirror him and take my own hit of minty fresh water loveliness, wrapping my arms firmly around his back to pull him closer, eradicating any space that may have been between us.

We lie on the floor in the middle of the bedroom and hold each other for the longest time. I stare up at the ceiling and stroke his hair, taking all of my comfort from his strong heartbeat thudding against my chest.

‘I’ve missed you.’ he mumbles into my neck.

I shudder when I feel his hot tongue running circles around the delicate flesh under my ear. We’ve been apart for less than five hours. I would say he was unreasonable, but I have missed him too. Even though I was mad at him, I still found myself back here instead of Kate’s.

‘I missed you too. Thank you for the flowers.’

‘You’re welcome.’ He kisses up to my lips and scatters light pecks all over me before brushing my hair from my face. He gazes down at me. ‘I want to drag you to a desert island and have you all to myself forever.’

‘Okay. With the absence of other people, there will be no need for any trampling like behaviour.’

His lips twitch at the corners and his eyes regain a bit of twinkle. He drops a kiss on my lips and rolls us over so I’m straddling his hips. I can feel the evidence of his mood wedged between our bodies and it triggers all of the usual desperate needs for him. My nipples pucker under his watchful eye and his grin widens into his signature, melt worthy smile, reserved only for women. I want it to be reserved only for me. An unreasonable pang of possessiveness assaults me.

‘I fucking love you.’ he sighs.

‘I know you do.’ I circle my palms over his chest and pinch his nipple. ‘I love you, too.’

‘Even after today?’

Oh good. Is he acknowledging that he was a challenge today? This is progress. ‘You mean after you stalked me all day?’

He pouts playfully and shifts his arms under his head to elevate it slightly. I dribble as his muscles bunch and flex. ‘I was worried about you.’ he protests, and I raise a mocking eyebrow at him. ‘I was.’ he argues.

He wasn’t worried about me at all. He had an unreasonable and unwarranted attack of possessiveness. ‘You were over-the-top and stupidly possessive. My challenging man needs to relax.’

He scoffs. ‘I’m not challenging.’

‘You’re challenging and in denial.’

His brow furrows. ‘What am I in denial about?’

‘Being challenging and unreasonable. Your performance today was way off the scales of unreasonableness.’ I need to know he won’t hijack every business meeting I have with a male client. He said it would be only Mikael, but then followed it up with and all other male threats. His idea of a threat is a million miles away from my idea of a threat. He’s going to trample all of my male clients, I know it. My work diary is going to be padlocked and so is my mouth. I’m not telling him anything.

He looks at me with a little scowl. ‘He would have made a move on you and then I’d really have to trample him.’

I laugh lightly. Like he didn’t make a good enough job of that already? He doesn’t need to know that Mikael has already made his move. I will be keeping that snippet of information to myself. ‘Well, I think you made your point pretty clear. It was embarrassing.’ I grumble.

‘It was necessary.’ he mutters, and I roll my eyes, making a dramatic display of my exasperation.

‘You should run more.’ I say. ‘Oh, the bath!’ I jump up and run into the bathroom.

‘No, I need you more.’ he calls to my back.

‘Don’t you have me enough?’ I flip the tap off. He’s had me here all week. He calls me, texts me, sends me flowers and gets John to drive me to work. It’s all some form of contact or control. I bet he couldn’t go a whole day without some form of trample or intrusion on my working day. Would I want him to not interfere? I like the flowers and the messages; it’s the tramples I have an issue with. Would he be tempted to have a drink to try and get through the day? Could I risk it? My relaxed brain begins to ache…again.

I make my way back into the bedroom, finding him still sprawled on the floor. He is just too delicious. I walk over and settle myself back on his hips.

‘Have you enough?’ he asks. ‘No, I don’t. I need you every second of the day, just like you need me.’ He reaches up and pinches my nipple, and I jerk on top of him, catching a full on rub from his erection. He gives me his roguish grin.

‘What if you couldn’t have me all day?’ I ask. There will be times in the future when he might actually be on a real business trip. Or, perhaps, I will.

His grin disappears instantly and is replaced with a glare pointed straight at me. ‘Are you going to try and stop me?’

‘No, but there may be situations when you can’t have instant access to me. I might be unobtainable.’

A fleeting look of panic flies across his face and his bottom lip disappears between his teeth. He’s considering what I’ve suggested, and it’s now I realise that he absolutely meant it when he said he’ll have me wherever and whenever he wants. Now that really is unreasonable. I’ve seen the result of a few missed calls on my part – he was frantic.

‘Would you make a grab for the vodka?’ There, I’ve said it.

He laughs, and I frown. What’s so funny?

‘I promised you I will never have another drink. I meant it,’ he says surely. He sits up and rests his hands on my hips. I jerk, and he smiles. ‘Bath, I want your wet slippery skin all over mine.’

‘Your confidence is commendable.’ I mumble sarcastically as I ease myself up and put my hand out to him.

He looks at me with narrowed eyes and reaches up to take my hand, yanking me forward and spinning me onto my back. He rests his big body all over me and drops his lips to mine in a long, lingering kiss. ‘It is all very easy because I have you. Unravel your knickers, lady.’

Ha! Easy for him to say. I’m dealing with a neurotic madcap. ‘So, tomorrow I’ll be undisturbed all day?’ I ask. He will never be able to leave me alone all day, I know it.