THREE
KITTY
My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. Either that, or it was going to be carried away by the butterflies flapping in my belly like they were about to compete in the damn Olympics.
Shit was traveling a million miles an hour in my head all while trudging through mud.
Jonas left me feeling like a damn goldfish. My brain couldn’t fully process what he’d just said. It was crazy how he’d shaken up my life like some kind of glittering snow globe in such a short amount of time. Even my cynical, jaded side was tightlipped because she wanted to believe in what he was saying.You’re mine.
Jonas sat down on the couch and placed me on his lap. I blinked, unable to believe where I was. Straddling the man who had been driving me crazy for the last couple of months.Finally, the softer side of me sighed, and the jaded one stayed tightlipped.
The memory of seeing him on this couch that first night popped into my head. I’d never thought anyone to be hotter. Wearing a dark suit with a darker shirt beneath with a couple of buttons undone, hinting at the muscular chest that lay beneath, his hazel eyes intensely set on me. It had made me not hate my job for the first time in my life.
Now here I was, straddling him.
My hands rested on his shoulders, and for a long moment, we just stared into one another’s eyes before he leaned forward and pressed his forehead against mine.
“Hi,” he said.Hi.He’d dropped thatyou’re minebomb only to sayhito me. So simple and sweet it made my lips twitch.
“Hello,” I whispered back. His gaze darkened.
“Fuck, you feel good like this,” his deep voice rumbled, and my body reacted. My nipples hardened beneath my bra. The set I had chosen to wear was sheer, and Jonas could no doubt could see or feel the effect he had on me.
“Hmm…” I murmured, not sure of what to say or how much to admit. My heart wouldn’t slow its thundering pace.
“Do you want to be here? With me, I mean?” he asked, and old habits died hard.
“You’re the boss, big guy,” I answered with way too much sass for my own good. Jonas’ head pulled away from mine immediately.
“What?” His greenish-brown stare studied me for a long moment.
“I just mean…” A knot formed in my throat. “It’s just that…“ I panicked.
“Okay,” his deep voice rumbled, and it felt like time slowed. “I’m sorry.” His apology did something to me. “I thought we were on the same page.“ His hands moved to my hips, and instead of gripping me to stay, I knew they were about to pull me up and off his lap.
I had no idea how I knew that, but I did.
And if I was honest, being off his lap was the last thing I wanted.
I didn’t care if I was the rule and not the exception in probably every universe. I had been playing it safe for a long time. Sure, dancing might not sound safe, but I had never done anything but dance. I’d never accepted any kind of tawdry offer thrown my way to make more money, whether it was if I went home with a customer or, hell, in the old owner’s back office. And I’d had plenty of offers.
I’d learned a long time ago that actions always spoke louder than words. It was one of the few things I remembered my mom ingraining in my head from when I was a little girl until the day she passed away.
Jonas, the man of literally few words, had shown me time and time again the kind of man he was.
And maybe because that realization hit me like a Mack truck mixed with how good he smelled and felt beneath me, I reacted without overthinking. My hands rose between us, and his brows bunched together. Before I could hesitate, I leaned forward and let my mouth touch his. Jonas’ body was frozen solid beneath me as my lips dragged against his. They were plump and firm and oddly and endearingly soft. Unable to stop myself, I swiped my tongue along his bottom lip, but when he didn’t react or make a sound, worry plummeted low in my belly.
He wasn’t kissing me back.
Shit. Maybe I misunderstood him?
I was about to pull away, ready to apologize, when one of his hands left my hip and tagged the back of my head with an open palm. His hand was so big it covered the back of my hair completely.
“Jonas,” I rasped, and he kissed me back.
Not a sweet tender kiss like I’d started with. Nope. This was voracious. Like he was starving and I was the only thing that could ever sate his hunger. My toes curled as warm wetness pooled between my thighs. Wetness I couldn’t hide from him considering how little I was wearing. He confirmed it when he groaned. The sound was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard, deep and guttural and completely and utterly male. It vibrated through him, resonating against his chest and mine. I gasped, and Jonas didn’t miss the opportunity to plunge his tongue into my mouth.
The kiss was passionate and maybe a little clumsy at the beginning, but soon enough, we fell into a rhythm. Matching one another stroke for stroke, giving and taking as good as we got. The hand that had stayed at my hip gripped me tighter. Possessively.
