“You have a cat?!”
I startle from my mellow state, scaring Johnny off as I twist my body to find Jamie marching towards me. An incredulous look on his face.
“Oh, where did he go?” He says as he reaches me.
“You scared him with your theatrics,” I claim as I place my mug down and grab his hips, so he is between my thighs. His height means having to look down slightly to meet my eye.
“He’s also not mine. He lives next door. His name is Johnny. I’m sure in time he will love you more than me,” I say as my fingers wander to his obliques, my eyes trained on his. Not trying to get ahead of myself, Jamie would not be here any longer than a month or two. Just until Jed is dealt with. But Johnny falls fast; it’s an awful trait for a cat to have if you ask me.
“You really are a big softie underneath it all,” Jamie states with a shy grin. I reach up and pull one of his curls playfully, a devilish smirk on my face as he scowls at me, swatting my hand away.
“What are you doing out of bed? You must be exhausted.”
“I woke up needing...” Jamie looks around unsure, “you. I considered lying and saying I needed water, but I didn’t. I woke up and realized I needed you close.”
My heart thumps in my chest, knowing that he still wants this with me despite my earlier revelations. I grab his hands, lifting them to my lips and brushing a small kiss to each of them.
“How are you? After what we did, the scene? Not too sore?” My caretaking instincts kick in and I nearly lift him bridal-style to put him back to bed where it’s not cold and he can recover between my bedsheets. Jamie lets out a loud laugh and shakes his head.
“You’re also a secret cutie, aren’t you?”
“I have no problem tanning your ass a second time tonight, so watch it, blondie,” I threaten. But he sees through my macho man act and falls to the side to join me on the wall, rubbing my thigh with his lithe fingers. He looks just about ready to jump me if I’m honest. But that might just be the solid erection that’s taken all the blood from my brain talking.
“I want to kiss you again. Is that allowed?”
“Yes, Jamie. We need to talk more in the morning, but yes, you can kiss me.”
He doesn’t hesitate, and once his lips are on mine, I feel the same desperation behind his bold decision to ask for what he wanted right now. I give it to him. We swirl our tongues together; him sucking on my tongue, which has me grabbing him until he is flush against me. His hands tremble as he touches my chest, caressing the intricate lines of my tattoos there. Needing more, I bite down on his lower lip, spurring him on. To take the lead right now, to show me that filthy, controlling side of him I know is in there. Buried deep, but with some prompting, I know it’ll make its appearance one of these days. Sliding my hands beneath his waistband, I grab at his ass, scratching over the hot skin I marked earlier. This elicits many delicious moans from Jamie and I can’t get enough of it.
His hands move to flick my pierced nipples, then he tugs... hard. He doesn’t ask if it’s okay; he just carries on flicking and pinching them hard and rough all the while I can’t stop my groans of pleasure. Being vocal spurs him on, and as hisconfidence picks up, he lowers me onto my back on the flat stone wall before putting his weight on top of me, grinding slightly.
The pain from the rock beneath me as it rubs against me is too good to stop him. He continues to kiss me fearlessly, uncaring if someone sees us in our passionate state; it would seem. Interesting. We rut against each other for what could be minutes or hours. Devouring each other before we pull our mouths apart, panting. Our hot breath, heavy with arousal, tickles at my cold skin.
As we kiss, something twists faintly in my gut. A flicker of unease that I can’t place. But I shove it aside for now, not willing to ruin this moment for either of us.
“Wow,” Jamie tells me, looking down at where I must look completely hedonistic.
“Yeah, blondie? What is it?” I ask him.
“Now I know why you’re a Dom. That feeling? The power of knowing that I’m causing you pain, pleasure? That I know with every fibre of my being right now that you clearly want me? Fuck, it feels good,” he says breathlessly. He leans back in, but I stop him before he can kiss me again.
“Just wait. Wait until you see your marks on me. What you’re feeling now is nothing compared to it,” I say, snatching his neck with my hand and roughly guiding him back to my mouth.
We kiss like that for a long time. Neither of us interested in taking it further at that moment. After a while, our kissing slows to brushes against lips, jaws, and necks. We caress each other with a delicate intimacy I’ve never experienced, and I let Jamie guide me back to the house. He doesn’t ask me to join him in bed. I don’t offer mine either. We kiss in the hallway's darkness, hand in hand before heading to our rooms in a mutual silence.
The feeling I’ve been chasing, the completeness of having a lover accept me. It finally fills me up, through every vein and into my heart as I lay down in my bed. I lay there until the thunderingof the blood making my heart pound slows to a steady thrum, the warmth of acceptance rocking me to sleep.
I wake up early the next morning with a smile on my face that I’m sure stayed there all night. Checking my messages to tell Simmons we will attend the Y2K party, my bubble bursts as I see instead his latest message, sent just 10 minutes beforehand.
People have seen Jed on campus.
Chapter 23
Jamie
I wake up to silence. It must be early if Arnie isn’t up and the coffee machine isn’t screeching. I have my meeting with the Dean at 10.30am. Arnie offered to take the morning off and stay for support if I wanted it, which I appreciated. Knowing I have someone here to depend on now, who won’t let me down, is everything I didn’t know I was missing.
Grabbing a vest and shorts, I get ready, then sneak down the hall hoping to make us coffee and surprise Arnie if he is still asleep. As the coffee drips, I gather two large orange mugs to place on one of his rattan serving trays. All the worries I had about Jed coming have gone.
