Chapter 5
Jet
As Abby perused the wine in the storeroom, Jet sat on the stool she’d offered him and watched her elegant fingers skim the necks of the bottles. God, every time her hands moved over one of them, his breath caught in his throat. He imagined what it’d be like to be one of those bottles right now.
He shook his head to clear the image. Attempting to distract himself, he did what he normally did when he was around Abby– teased her.
“So, you’re honestly telling me you don’t even have one news alert set up to keep tabs on me since I became a big rock star?”
She turned to face him, eyes twinkling with mischief. “See, I don’t see you as a rock star. I just see you as”—a wicked grin grew on her face—“Jet Valentine, salutatorian.”
He groaned. “Oh, man. You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“Now, wait. Who was valedictorian again? It’s so hard to remember these things.”
He snorted. “Unless someone won’t let you forget.”
Continuing on as if he hadn’t spoken, she put a finger in the air, as if she’d just had an epiphany. “Oh! That’s right! It was me. I was the valedictorian.”
“You beat me by less than a tenth of a grade point.”
“You could’ve ended that sentence after ‘you beat me’ and still have been just as accurate. Hey, you know what? They came up with a word for coming in second. Know what it is?”
“What?” He knew he was being set up, but he couldn’t help himself. He had to go along with it. She was just so fucking adorable when she was feisty.
“Losing!”
Jet studied her face, still shining from laughing at her own joke, and lifted his hand to her face. Her eyes widened, and she sucked in her breath.
His own breath was suspended as he gently, so very gently, trailed his fingertips along her jaw. Her skin was so soft and smooth, exactly as he’d always imagined it would be. And it was warm, as well. Again, exactly as he’d always imagined it would be.
What was a surprise, though, was the explosion of electricity that burst through his fingertips at just that simple contact. It almost knocked him right off his feet.
Of course, he’d always known that touching her would feel incredible, but he’d never imagined that even a slight, feather-light brush of his fingers against her skin would be powerful enough to nearly take him out.
Of course, he really should’ve. Considering how special she was, how she always pushed him, both consciously and unconsciously, to be his best self– yeah, he should’ve known that being with her would be utterly spectacular.
“Jet,” she breathed, “Is this real?”
He nodded. “It’s more fucking real than anything in my life.”
She stepped forward. Just a tiny step, but it carried her close enough to him that he could feel the heat from her body radiating out to his. Even through their clothes, the sound of her heartbeat thundered between them.
A groan escaped his throat. “God damn, Abby, I’ve wanted this for so long.”
She closed her eyes and her head dropped back. His eyes locked onto her pulse throbbing in her neck, mesmerized by how fast her heart was beating. And he was the one who’d set it racing like that. Pride swelled through him, deeper and more satisfying than anything he’d felt, even at selling out Madison Square Garden.
He wanted nothing more than to grab her to him, tear off her clothes, and claim her right there– but he exercised every single bit of will he could muster, holding back until he could get the answer to one question.
“Abs,” he croaked, spitting the words out between ragged pants, “are you sure, abso-fucking-lutely sure, that you want to do this?”
She grinned. “Are you kidding me? I’ve been abso-fucking-lutely sure I wanted to do this since we were in, like, tenth grade.”
For some reason, he found the idea that she’d been carrying around unconsummated desire for him as long as he had for her to be not only extremely fucking hot…but also kind of comforting. Like, through all the years, the time and the distance, they’d been experiencing this powerful thing together. This thing that only they had in common, like an invisible but powerful thread that spooled out over the miles, connecting his heart with hers.
It made him feel just a little less alone in the world.
He planted his hands on Abby’s waist, squeezing her tiny frame in his strong grasp and pulling her against him. He felt the outline of her shapely body against his taut muscles and his dick jumped in his pants.