Page 30 of Malice and Surrender
“So no one else is involved? You’re not going to come home with someone from the bar, and Jace isn’t in another relationship on the road?”
I swallowed hard, and my heart pounded in my chest. “No, just us three from now on,” I said.
Jace was going to kill me for suggesting that. We’d agreed on an open relationship until he was done touring. He could have those one-night stands, and I could date whoever as long as there was no permanent attachment of any kind. My prepping for this moment hadn’t just been to make sure Raine wouldn’t run for the hills, but that Jace would be okay with closing off the open portion of our relationship.
The only thing was, I hadn’t mentioned it to him yet. He had no idea I wanted to make us exclusive. He was gonna be pissed—I knew he would be pissed—but I opened my mouth, and the words tumbled out.
He was gone for months at a time, with women and men throwing themselves at him constantly. I didn’t doubt that he loved me, but I understood the temptation when isolated and alone, which was why we’d agreed to this type of relationship.
“Permanent…oh, wow. That’s…that’s definitely a jump from friends.”
“Is that really how you see me? Nothing more than a friend?” My gut ached at the idea that the feelings I’d had for so long weren’t reciprocated, and I’d built this entire moment up in my head to be more than what it was.
“Well….” She went a bright scarlet, her fair skin showing the blush spreading to the tips of her ears. She looked away from my eyes, sighing, and I stood like a statue, waiting for her to respond. “I have thought about us as more than friends, but Avro, can we please be real for a moment? You are not someone who dates someone like me. Other than admitting to myself that a girl can dream, the train stopped there.”
“Girl, I am tired of hearing you put yourself down. Rule number one if we are going to be together.” I held up my finger to make sure I had her whole focus. “You will no longer be allowed to talk shit about yourself. You’re amazing, understand? Come on,” I said, not giving her the chance to respond.
I tugged at Raine’s hand, and she didn’t resist as we wandered into my bedroom, and I closed the door. Jace wasn’t completely naked, which was shocking, but he was only in the black, silky boxers I’d given him, sprawled out on the bed like he didn’t have a care in the world. The shiny material did nothing to hide how hard he already was.
My eyes trailed over his body. I never got sick of the sight of him. Hard abs that made my mouth water and long, muscled legs with tattoos running down his thighs. He had his arm behind his head, which only accentuated his chest. Never mind the face. He was currently holding a chocolate-dipped strawberry above his mouth, tracing the bottom with the tip of his tongue. My cock jumped and was instantly hard.
I smirked as I glanced down at Raine, her mouth hanging open at the sight of Jace. I always had the same reaction to him, and it was comforting to see that it wasn’t just me he affected.
“Keep drooling, Raine. I like it when girls make a mess of my cock,” Jace drawled, his eyes intense with the same challenge as downstairs.
Raine’s mouth snapped shut, and I quickly intervened. “Fuck, Jace,” I growled, my eyes pleading with him to rein it in. “Why don’t you go shower,” I suggested.
“Huh?” Raine looked up at me as I pulled my T-shirt off and tossed it aside. Her eyes roamed over my body, and she bit her lip. All the pent-up energy I tried to control went straight to my cock, begging to be touched behind the fly of my jeans.
Instead of repeating myself, I guided her to the bathroom and pulled a couple of massive fuzzy towels off the stand, handing them over. “Have a shower and try to relax. We’re not going anywhere, and I won’t barge in on you,” I said.
“Are you sure about this? I mean….” I laid my finger on Raine’s lips to stop the litany of reasons she came up with to stop this from happening. I was sure she already had a thousand and would come up with a thousand more if I let her. Some may even be legitimate concerns, but I didn’t want to hear about them right now. Whatever they were, they could all be worked out later.
“You’re safe. This is a safe space. Now go shower,” I said and closed the door as I walked out.
Jace and I already shared a secret shower together at the club. There was a changing area that was never used upstairs, and while everyone else was cleaning, he’d talked me into taking the edge off. Honestly, he could talk me into doing it anywhere. That was one of his superpowers.
Magazines everywhere would’ve killed for a photo of Jace Everly lying like this, mostly naked, with a bottle of champagne in one hand and a strawberry in the other. Tattooed sleeves lined his arms and looked dark against the creamy-colored sheets. The barely contained bulge had my mouth watering, but he just couldn’t resist and took it an extra step. I watched as he tipped the bottle of champagne to his chest. The liquid looked like gold as it dribbled out and left a trail down his abs before it was caught by the black silk material. I groaned at the sight.
No matter how many times we’d been together, my reaction was always the same. How did I end up being the chosen one? Was this even real? When was the dream bubble going to pop?
“Oops, I’m making a mess. You better lick it off,” he teased, eyes shining with mirth. There were two things Jace never lacked: arrogance and a sarcastic sense of humor. He used both very well to hide the softness of the man underneath.
“Asshole,” I muttered as I kicked off the flip-flops I’d worn home.
“Maybe,” he said, as his hand slid down to the front of the boxers to grip his cock. He groaned, and the sound called to me like I was on the end of a rope and he was pulling me in.
My feet moved of their own accord, and I barely remembered moving as my eyes remained locked on him.
I knelt on the bed, and my mind registered that the shower had turned on, which was good. It meant Raine was fighting her fears, and that made me very happy for her.
“Well?” Jace asked as he dribbled more of the champagne on his skin. I licked at his body, not wanting to miss a single drop, and smirked when a new line of goodness traveled down and into my mouth.
“Don’t think I forgot you cornering Raine in the storage area,” I said, then drew a wet line up his chest with my tongue.
“I don’t expect you to. I wanted to see how she’d respond. You know me.”
That I did all too well. He loved pushing all the boundaries, every single one of them. Drawing gasps and moans from Jace, I moved up and down his body until I was satisfied I’d gotten all the champagne. Swirling my tongue, I finally reached his lips, and this time I was the aggressor and made sure he remembered why he missed me. Why he didn’t want to board the plane and fly off. We were both breathless before I finally broke the kiss.
