“I still don't get it,” I heard myself saying.
Her brows hitched. “Get what?”
“Okay, Idounderstand what you said before, that some guys would get skittish about someone reading too much into being someone’s first. But I'm surprised nobody has locked you down yet.”
She pressed her lips together, laughing softly as she rolled her eyes. “Locked me down?”
“Yeah. You're gorgeous, you're smart, you have a good career, you're financially stable, and you’re fucking hot.”
Pink crested high on her cheeks as she stared at me. Her gaze flicked away, and she glanced at her wine glass before finishing the last swallow. When she leaned over to set it on the coffee table, my hand fell away from her neck. I wasn't to be deterred. As soon as she straightened, I shifted closer to her, pulling her toward me at the same time.
“What are you doing?” she murmured, looking flustered.
“I like being close to you,” I said bluntly.
“This was just a one-time thing,” she countered.
“Did we say it was a one-time thing?”
She bit her lip, sending a sizzle of fire through my veins. “I thought we had ground rules.”
“I didn't think we said it was only once.”
She twisted her lips when she nodded. I was being reckless, but I ignored it. It's just this was too good with Jane, and I wanted more. We hadn’t said only once, and I knew she knew that. Feathering along the edges of my thoughts was a subtle warning, pointing out this wasn't just about how good this felt. I was in no mood to entertain warnings.
“Nobody's here. It's snowing. We might as well enjoy the time.”
As Jane stared up at me, her lips parted. I didn't wait, dipping my head and catching her little gasp when I fit my mouth over hers. Our kiss spiraled out of control almost instantly. Before I knew it, I had pulled her onto my lap to straddle me, and my arousal swelled to an ache.
One kiss melted into another and then another. I refrained from burying myself inside her again after we’d tugged our clothes out of the way. I knew she could be sensitive, so I tasted the core of her until she came in a shuddering burst. She thoroughly disabused me of any notion that she hadn't had experience other than the full act after she left me nearly incoherent with her hands and mouth on my cock.
We fell asleep together. That was the first of every night together over the following weeks.
ChapterSixteen
Ian
Jane peered up at me, pressing her glasses up on her nose. “Ian, I don't know.” Her lashes swept down, and her toe tapped nervously on the floor.
“You don't know what?” I prompted as I reached for her hands.
“It just feels weird.”
“You’re going to spend Christmas with us. Thea will love it,” I pressed.
“Yeah, but then she's going to wonder.” Jane circled her hand in the air and looked back up at me.
“Wonder what?”
“If we're together.” The flush that rose swiftly on her cheeks set my heart to thumping hard.
“That's fine with me. Let's just have this conversation right now. This”—I gestured back and forth between us—“is not ending just because you're going to start your new job in Boston and I'm going back to DC.”
“That’s against the ground rules,” she said, her lips curling into a saucy smile.
I shrugged. “I don't care. We made those ground rules before we knew things were going to change.”
Her gaze was skeptical, and she let out a soft breath. “Ian, you have a whole life in DC.”