Author: Olivia Cunning

“Not once in two years?”

Her nostrils flared. “No! I said I haven’t. What? You don’t believe me?”

He took the bowl from her and set it on the table before wrapping both arms around her and hugging her against his chest.

“I should have never let you go, Jess. I should have gone after you. I should have fixed it. Whatever I had to do, I should have—”

She pulled back to look into his eyes. His watery gaze drifted to the ceiling as he tried to get a handle on his emotions.

“I have plenty of regrets of my own, Sed, but I’ve decided to let them go. You should too. We can’t change the past, but we can move forward.”

“So much wasted time.”

She shook her head. “No regrets.” She grabbed his chin to gain his attention and gave him a stern look. “And you’re talking way too much. If you say one more word, I’m cancelling our trip next week.”

That shut him up, but it didn’t stop him from expressing his feelings with his hands and lips. He suckled the pulse point beneath her ear and she gasped, her body instantly igniting with need.

“Before you get me too worked up, I should warn you that I have the first draft of a paper to write this weekend, so you’re going to have to entertain yourself while I hit the books.”

He pulled back to look at her, scowling.

“You’re the one who insisted I go back to school. Remember?”

He sighed and nodded.

“But tonight, I’m yours.”

He grinned and reached for the dry erase board. You don’t want to be a nurse anymore? he wrote.

She flushed and shook her head. “I was just afraid to go back to law school. The way Dean Taylor made me feel and that whole failure thing… I’m over it.” She grinned at him. “But I can still be your nurse. Tell me how I can make you more comfortable, Mr. Lionheart.” She ran a finger down the center of his chest.

Feed me, he wrote. Not the request she’d had in mind, but okay.

“What would you like? Mashed potatoes? Cheese soup?”

Something cold.

“Your throat’s really bothering you, isn’t it?”

He nodded. She shouldn’t have let him talk as much as she had. She would be a more attentive nurse from this point forward.

She scanned the table for something cold and soothing. “Gelatin? Or I can get a Popsicle out of the freezer.”

His hand tightened on her hip, telling her he didn’t want her to get up.

Jell-O is fine.

She claimed the bowl of orange gelatin cubes and fed them to him with her fingers.

Tell me about school today, he wrote and set the dry erase board aside.

“Um, okay. I found out I’m not the only one the dean has propositioned sexually. I also found out how Dr. Ellington gets her way and the reason she probably hates me in the first place.”

Sed lifted an eyebrow in interest, his tongue teasing her fingertips as he accepted her offering of gelatin.

“Ellington sucks the dean’s cock in his office. And I’m pretty sure it pisses her off that he calls my name while she does it. I heard him.”

Sed choked on the jiggly orange cube he’d just slurped down his throat. Before he could vocalize a protest, Jessica covered his lips with her fingers.

“He’s no threat to you, sweetheart. And now that I know what a slime ball he is, I’m no longer intimidated by him. I’ve dealt with his kind before. He can’t get to me. I won’t give him that power ever again.”

She could tell Sed was struggling with his strong protective instincts. He probably wanted to pound Dean Taylor into the ground which, honestly, she wouldn’t mind watching. After several deep breaths, Sed nodded at her to continue. She smiled and offered him another cube of gelatin.

“So I’m building a sexual harassment case against him. A big one. You might call it huge. His secretary knows all kinds of things that go on behind closed doors and she was happy to share information. She told me about a student who graduated a few years ago who is now a practicing lawyer. Apparently, Taylor harassed a friend of hers until she dropped out of school. Sound familiar?”

Sed cupped her cheek, sympathy in his blue eyes.

“Anyway, I went and talked to her lawyer friend this afternoon. She agreed to take on the case pro bono. I’ll be doing a lot of the leg work—building the case, contacting witnesses and stuff—because she’s so busy with her current case load, but I cannot wait to get to work on this. Taylor is not going to get away with that kind of behavior anymore. I wish I was done with school so I could cross-examine that bastard on the stand. One more year and I can put slime balls like him in their place. I had planned to become a defense attorney, but this is what I want to do. Protect women from jackasses who use their positions of power to sexually harass them. It pisses me off to no end.”

Sed surprised her by kissing her until she was breathless. When he pulled away, he gazed into her eyes with a new awareness.

“You get off on this shit,” he murmured.

She laughed. “Well, yeah, I guess so.”

“I get it now.” She could practically see the light bulb go on over his head. “God, baby, I’m sorry I ever asked you to give it up.”

He kissed her again, starving for her mouth. And she didn’t have to wonder if he kissed other women like this. He didn’t kiss other women at all. Only her. The bowl of gelatin slipped from her grip and landed with a ploppy-clatter somewhere on the marble floor. She didn’t care. She had to keep kissing him. Kissing him and holding his handsome face while she sucked at his lips.

She rocked her hips against him, rubbing her mound against the hard bulge in his pants. Too many clothes. Too many. She needed him. Inside. Desperately. Now.

Thank God he was a mind reader.

Sed reached between them, unfastened his pants, and released his cock. She cried out against his lips, unwilling to separate their mouths even when he slid the crotch of her panties aside and directed his rigid member into her throbbing flesh. She sank down, shuddering with delight as he filled her. Her feet found the rails under the chair and she used them for leverage to rise and fall over him. Faster, she rode him. Faster. Fueling her need. Still kissing him.

His cock, hard and thick, rubbed her in exactly the right spot each time it plunged into her body. He felt so good inside her. Perfect. Her pleasure built quickly to its climax. Pulsations of sheer delight rippled through her insides. She cried out into his mouth and shuddered against him.

Jessica stopped, unable to move. After a moment, Sed wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her onto the edge of the table. She cried out in protest as his cock fell free from her body and their mouths separated. He stood and pushed his pants down to his knees. She slid her hands beneath his shirt and lifted it to expose his tight abs.

“Nine more?” he murmured as he directed his jutting cock back into her eager body.

She wrapped her legs loosely around his hips. “I think I can handle five more. Tops.”

He grinned at her and slowly pulled out. Slowly. Slowly. In complete control. His fingers sought her clit. A spasm gripped her body and she shuddered.

“Only five?”

She chuckled. “Don’t wear yourself out. You have to go to the studio tomorrow.” Her hands shifted from his belly to his back and he shuddered. He surged forward, burying himself deep. Her back arched in ecstasy.

“Why?” he said breathlessly. “I can’t sing anyway.”

“You are too much of a distraction and I have to write my paper. I have to pass that class.” And she would pass. Failure was not an option. But she had other reasons to send him off to the studio. She had to make plans for Friday. The day she was going to ask Sed to marry her.

Chapter 49

Sed awoke knowing today would be the day. The day he would ask Jessica to marry him. Which would be a challenge since he wasn’t supposed to talk. She wouldn’t have a hard time convincing him to remain silent today. Yesterday, his throat had hurt. This morning, it burned and ached so bad he hesitated to breathe. But he could tolerate the pain. What he couldn’t tolerate was the idea that she might refuse to marry him. He couldn’t really blame her if she did. He’d been a selfish ass the last time they’d tried forever, but that didn’t change how much he wanted her to be his wife.

He watched her sleep for a moment, struck by her beauty and reveling in the knowledge that she slept in his bed—their bed—and she’d be there every morning for the rest of their lives. They would make it. Failure was not an option.

Sed leaned out of bed and scooped his pants off the floor. He removed her engagement ring from his pocket and held it up to the limited light filtering through the curtains. He didn’t have a plan. He just wanted the ring back in her possession as soon as possible. Like, right now.

He lifted her left hand and started to slip the ring onto her ring finger. She gasped and flung her hand to her forehead as she regained consciousness. The ring went flying.

He heard a tiny ping on the opposite side of the room before she said, “Why is the sun up? What time is it?” She lifted her head from the pillow to check the clock on the nightstand. Her eyes widened and she jumped out of bed. “Oh crap, it’s late. Why didn’t the alarm go off?”

Well, they hadn’t exactly been thinking about alarm clocks when they’d finally made their way up to bed the night before. An amused smile on his lips, he watched her dart around the room.

“Sed, get up. I’m going to hop in the shower.”

“I’m up.” At least that’s what he meant to say. His words sounded more like a bunch of rusty nails rattling around in a tin can. Sucking dry air all night? Yeah, not so good for the healing process.

Jessica climbed up on the bed to kneel beside him. She kissed his forehead tenderly. “Oh sweetheart, your poor throat.”

He remembered a time when he wished he were injured so she’d show him the affection he craved. He was rethinking that wish right about now.

She kissed his eyelids. The tip of his nose. “I know the guys need your input to record, but maybe you should stay home and rest.”

He reached for the dry erase board on the nightstand. He’d used it the night before to give her instructions on his care. He erased Lick my back, and replaced it with Keep me company?

She pouted. “I want to, sweetheart, but I can’t. I have to get to the library.”

Well, he didn’t want to stay home by himself all day. Drop me off at the studio, then.

“You sure?”

He blinked, meaning yes. She kissed him. Just the motion of his lips as he returned her kiss sent pain shooting through his throat. He produced a pained whine, which prompted Jessica to cup his face in both hands.

“I’ll be right back,” she murmured against his lips, drew away, and headed out of the bedroom, not towards the bathroom.

He puzzled over where she was going for a moment and then remembered her ring now lay somewhere on the other side of the room. He climbed from the bed and searched for it on his hands and knees. His fingers brushed over the plush carpet in a widening circle as he made his way toward the far wall. He couldn’t find it. His heart thudded with panic. He didn’t even realize Jessica had returned to the room until she straddled him and sat on his back. The heat between her thighs against his lower back sent his senses spiraling out of control.

“Are we going to play cowgirl and stallion?” she asked, rocking slightly and making him even more aware of the endless delights at the apex of her legs. “Can I take you for a little ride?”

He glanced at her over his shoulder. “I’ll give you—” Pain cut his teasing reply short. He winced. Jessica leaned over his back and shoved an orange Popsicle in his mouth.

He damn near had an orgasm as he slurped the cold liquid down his burning throat.