She was a better woman than he deserved.
“Have your parents reached out?” he asked as they walked home together, both of them quiet, although he sensed that Ada was more contemplative than concerned.
He had to admit that playing tonight had helped him overcome some of the desperation he had felt the day before, both at the danger Ada had faced and at his inability to make everything right in that moment, at having to wait to see what could come of this.
“They have not,” she said with a resigned sigh. “They probably don’t know where to find me, although they could try through one of my friends’ parents. That they haven’t says a lot. If they can’t use me to merge the companies, am I any use to them at all?”
Jonny had never been one to provide any false reassurances, so he answered her as best he could. “I don’t know your parents well, so I couldn’t say,” he said, releasing a breath. “But I still cannot get the scene out of my head in which they were all just going to let Sharpe take you.”
“He would have killed them if they had tried to stop him.”
“I would risk that for you,” he said, stopping and facing her. They were outside of his home, their breath frosty in the cool night air, lit by the gas lamps.
She took a swift intake of breath as she stepped forward, taking his hands in hers and interlacing their fingers together.
“You’re a good man, Jonny Tate.”
He closed his eyes briefly. “I am not.”
“You are,” she insisted. “You have proven it to me time and again, no matter what I first thought of you.” She tugged at his hands. “Come inside.”
He couldn’t help but follow her in, enjoying the feeling of them coming home together.
“Ada,” he said as they climbed the stairs to the second story. "I cannot sleep with you again. Not without… without touching you the way I want to.”
She turned around, her lips curled into a smile that caused a joy that he had never known before to race straight to his heart. She placed her hands on his shoulders, the stairs making them the exact same height.
“I want you to,” she said.
“To… what?” he had to clarify before he got ahead of himself.
“To touch me,” she said, her voice and her head droppingfor a moment as though she was embarrassed by her words. “In any and every way you’d like.”
It was all the invitation Jonny needed as he took her mouth with his, kissing her like he was a man starved.
Which he was. He had known that. He just hadn’t realized how much he had needed this — neededher.
He traced the seam of her lips with his tongue, delving in and taking, wrapping her in his arms, with his body, pulling her in close, shielding her from everything else but what was within this room, between the two of them. She was all he had been missing from his life and more, and he would show her with his actions, even if he couldn’t yet tell her with his words.
She let out a breathy moan that shot straight to his groin as he kissed her deeper, demonstrating with his tongue what he’d like to do to her if he could — when he could.
He laid her out on the bed, not taking any time to fully undress her as he lifted her skirts, providing him with access to that beautiful, responsive body beneath. He cursed as he pushed up the voluminous layers, finally stopping his fight and sliding underneath them, taking a minute to get used to the lack of air around him.
Letting the fabric settle about his shoulders, he took her drawers in two hands and pulled them down until he found what he was looking for — his own personal treasure.
He took her thighs in his thick hands, ordering her to relax. She listened, allowing her legs to fall to the side, before he bent his head and began to feast.
She cried out as his tongue found her slit. She was the best thing he had ever tasted. He ran his tongue over her, swirling that tight bud of nerves before he pressed it flat against her, moving up and down in a rhythm she seemed to enjoy as she moved restlessly against him.
They found the pace together, back and forth, up and down — and while Ada was receiving, she was certainly asmuch an active participant as he was. She was restless in her movements, and Jonny gave her more, reaching two fingers inside and crooking them against her inside wall — causing a keening cry that had her coming apart around his fingers, and he continued to work her until she sank into the mattress, her legs completely falling open as she breathed hard, sated.
Jonny made his way out of the tunnel of her skirts, lying on the bed beside her, until she recovered enough to turn to him.
“Jonny,” she said breathlessly, her eyes glassy, her cheeks pink, as beautiful as she had ever been. “That was incredible.”
“I’m glad,” he said, unable to stop staring at her. When she moved to slide over top of him, he stopped her.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “You don’t have to do that.”
