“Yes!” Shaw pumps his fist. He looks at me, cocking an inquisitive eyebrow “What’d she say just now?”
I swallow hard, ignoring the warmth building in the pit of my stomach. “She told me to come by.” I look back and forth between both of them. “I don’t want to hear a single word out of either of you.”
“Hey, if it helps you get your groove back,” Theo says with a shrug.
“We need you distracted in the way only she can provide,” Shaw adds with a wink
“I hate you both,” I mutter, shaking my head as I head for the washroom to take the fastest shower of my entire life.
I’ve waited four days for Jade to reach out.
I’m not wasting another damn second.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
JADE
“He caught me staring and he smiled.” - Clara Foss, Painted Inferno
Matteo’s quiet as he walks into the building, falling into step with me as we walk over to the elevator shaft. The tension is palpable and thick in the air around us. My heart races and I glance at him from the corner of my eye.
“Is everything okay?”
He pushes his hand through his hair as I press the button to call for the car. “No, Sunny. It’s not okay.”
My stomach twists with dread and falls onto the floor.“What’s wrong?”
The elevator’s on the top floor and stops a few floors above us.
“This,” he rasps, waving between the two of us. “We have a pact. A deal. We laid down rules and I can’t seem to find the fucking willpower to keep following them.” He shakes his head and looks down at the floor.
I swallow hard. We drew lines in the sand, specific ones we said we wouldn’t cross. When we first made this pact, I told him I wouldn’t be trading sexual favors for him helping me. That’s not what this is. God, this is the farthest thing from that.
“So, don’t.”
His eyes flick to mine. The elevator starts to descend toward the lobby. “Don’t what?”
“Follow the rules.” I pinch my lips between my teeth and my heart hammers harder. This is probably a mistake, but I’m done worrying about that. I’m done worrying about how I might feel in the future, when I can feel and experience so much in the moment. “Sometimes they’re meant to be broken.”
“Jade…” his voice is hoarse, his eyes hooded. The elevator dings as it reaches the lobby. “You said no sexual favors.
I lift a brow. “It’s not. We have an agreement to help each other outside of that. This is more like an added benefit.”
A smirk tugs on his lips. “I like added benefits.”
The elevator doors slide open. He reaches for my hand and I slide my fingers through his, tugging on his arm as I step through the doorway. “So do I.”
Matteo walks in after me, pulling on my arm as he spins me around to face him. “Fuck the rules,” he murmurs, stepping into my space, until my back hits the wall. His eyes search mine, as if he’s silently asking for my permission.
A ragged breath slips from my lips and I repeat the same three words back to him. “Fuck the rules.”
His fingers slide through my hair as he cradles the back of my head. “Fucking elevators,” he murmurs, his face dipping down to mine. “I’ve been waiting to do this in here.”
His mouth claims mine, his lips hard, yet soft as he kisses me with a fervent need. He steals any words I could have possibly spoken in response. I kiss him back, my lips moving with his, tasting, teasing, melting. We cease to exist separately.
He groans, his hips pushing against my torso, tearing his mouth away from mine. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
“Yes,” I murmur, tugging his mouth back to mine, sucking his bottom lip between my teeth. “You said you need to get me out of your system.”
