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“James.” I watch her mouth move with her whisper. “James,” her voice is still soft. “Is that what you think? That you took advantage?” I hear her words, but her lips still have my attention. I thought I’d never see her again, and she’s here. Breathing. Moving. Whispering my name.
"James,” she says again. I shake off the spell and look at her fully. “The first time I stood in front of you, it would have been a transaction. You helped me, saved me, and I wanted to say thank you in the best way I knew how. I know how that sounds, and some of that is true. At least, at one time.” She drops her gaze to the table and breathes in and out.
Then she squares up and looks straight into my eyes. “The night you touched me, you gave me a gift. No one has ever been so gracious. Never cared about what I felt, if I even got off. I didn’t know sex could be... That!” Her cheeks are flushing again, and that flame burning inside me for her that I’d been throwing icy water on flared even higher.
The idea that someone, probably more than one someone, had touched her without the intent of seeing her whole body shake with pleasure pisses me off. And now I’m actually angry. How can she be looking at me like she didn’t know she should never have accepted less?
I dig my wallet out of my back pocket and toss a couple of twenties on the table. I get up and lift Lorelai by the hand. She stands, but her face shows confusion. I pull her toward the front door, giving Mr. Chen a two-finger salute as he peeks around from the kitchen.
“James, what...” I stalk down the sidewalk, still pulling her by the hand until we get to The Bliss. The revolving door is still unlocked, and I yank Lorelai in the small partition with me, practically lifting her off her feet to keep the forward motion.
I hold out the hand that isn’t wrapped around her waist. “Key,” I grind out. She rummages in her coat pocket, and hands over the old-fashioned brass key with an engraved 201 tag. I pull her with me to the elevator and punch the button. And wait. And wait.
“The stairs are fas— Oof.” She grunts as I pull her again by the hand to the gracefully curved staircase and up, and up. I know I’m setting too fast a pace, but I’m fucking angry.
I unlock the door with the brass 201 centered at eye level and pull her in, slamming the door behind us.
I yank off her coat, dropping in at the entry, and shove my hands up the back of her sweater, fusing her to my body in one motion. My mouth comes down on hers and I take it. I take it as if this is the last kiss of my life. My tongue dives into her mouth. I consume everything she gives me, and take even more. She whimpers a breath straight into me, and it makes me angrier.
I release her with no warning and she almost stumbles. Her hand comes up to touch her lips. She’s shocked, but I take one tiny but necessary second to note she isn’t scared.
“Never.” I pull her sweater over her head and send it flying onto her coat.
“Ever.” I unzip her jeans and peel them down to her knees, taking her tiny cotton panties along with the denim.
“Settle.” I push a finger between her legs, spreading her lips, spearing into her. She’s so fucking wet for me.
“For less than this.” I pump into her again and again, then I add another finger even though my hand hardly fits in the space the jeans leave. She gasps, and I push hard into her, wrapping my other arm around her back.
Her breath comes out fast, her head tips back, and she closes her eyes. It’s only moments before I feel her start to tremble around my fingers. “Look at me,” I demand. “Always look at me when you come.” Her eyes spring open and I see only blue around her pupils. Oceans of blue.
I push twice more and she screams my name, crumpling against me. Such a sweet fucking sound.
I disengage my hand and have to flex it a few times before I can lift her up and carry her to the perfectly tucked bed.
I lift one of the chairs tucked between the curved legs of a scallop edged table and set it next to the bed. “Okay. Fix your jeans, and let’s talk.”
“But...” she’s flustered.
“But what?”
“Wh—” she has to stop talking to regulate her breathing. “What about you?”
My anger had dissipated with her orgasm. Now... Now I don’t know what I feel, but I know we need to talk, and I know I love the way I see her hands shake trying to zip her jeans.
“That was about you. About showing you what you deserve.
“Why are you here, Lorelai? Since it obviously wasn’t for me.” I soften that last part since I don’t want her to think I’m upset about it now. And I find I’m not. But I am curious.
She sits up, pulls off her boots, and tucks her toes under her knees like Emilie doing “crisscross applesauce.”
She blows out a soft breath. “There was something magical in the way you talked about this town.” She tucks her hands under her legs, leaning forward a little. “I told you a little about how I grew up.”
Her lashes lower like she’s embarrassed. I want to tell her she shouldn’t be, but I want her to keep talking, so I stay quiet.
“The idea of a place where people look out for each other was like a Hollywood gimmick to me until you told me you lived it. I’ve been traveling for about a year, kind of looking for a place to settle. I knew I wanted to be by the coast, and the cold is so... Cleansing. Add in that magic on top of it, and I decided I wanted to try it out.”
I shake my head and chuckle at the same time. “I don’t understand this thing you have with freezing temps, but otherwise... What do you think? Are you liking it?”
