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Three
Just to look at Jalen,I wouldn’t know how much money he had. Even when he was in a suit or tux rather than his customary casual shirt and jeans, he still looked like he didn’t quite fit in with the caviar crowd. Then I pulled up to his house, and it was obvious that there was more to him than a handsome face.
Maybe it was a good thing that Jalen had already met Clay. I didn’t have anyone else I considered family, which meant there was none of the usual anxiety when it came to doing the whole ‘meet the parents’ thing. I couldn’t imagine what it would’ve been like if I had to figure out the best time to tell my parents I was dating a billionaire.
Dating.
Was that what Jalen and I were doing?
Our history was short and…odd. We met when he’d come to hire me for a case, and he’d argued with me when I’d gotten hurt working that same case. The argument had turned into a kiss which had turned into hot sex right there in the office. Things hadn’t gone smoothly from there, but after he’d been there for me during my father’s trial, we’d decided to see where things went between us.
We just hadn’t given it a name. Or a label. Which meant I was either walking toward the front door of my boyfriend’s house…or I’d dressed up for dinner and a booty call.
The biggest problem was, I didn’t know which of those options I wanted.
“Hey,” he said as he opened the door. He was smiling, but I could see hints of strain in his eyes, the way he fidgeted with the side of his pants.
“Hey.” I leaned in and kissed his cheek.
At least, I tried to kiss his cheek. What ended up happening was that he tried to do the same thing, and I ended up catching his chin while he kissed the tip of my nose. That awkwardness, combined with being nervous, made me burst out laughing. A second later, Jalen did the same, and just like that, the tension between us evaporated.
“This is weird, isn’t it?” he said as he led me into the kitchen. “I don’t mean in a bad way.”
“No, I get it,” I said. “We’ve sort of done things backward, and with all of the crazy shit that’s been going on, we haven’t had a chance to do anything normal like…well, like the dinner that smells absolutely amazing.”
“I hope it does.” He gave me that charming grin of his. “I slaved away in a hot kitchen all day.”
I laughed again. “I guess that means I should set the table then, since you worked so hard on the – what are we having again?”
“Stuffed-cheese pasta, Italian bread, and a fruit salad.” He went over to the oven and peeked inside. “And chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert.”
I breathed in deeply. “That all sounds amazing.” With a smile, I started looking through the cabinets for dishes.
A nice, normal date with my…boyfriend? Lover? Friend?
Well, whoever he was to me, I was certain of at least one thing. If the food tasted as great as it smelled, I would keep him around for just that.
* * *
This was…different.
We’d eaten dinner – and it had tasted as wonderful as it’d smelled – and then Jalen asked if I wanted to watch a movie. That was how I ended up on his couch, tucked up against his side, his arm around me, wondering what I should do now that Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks had found their happily ever after. I’d never done the whole dinner and movie thing with anyone except a group, and even then, it hadn’t been often. There’d been no expectations, no feelings to consider.
I was beginning to remember why I didn’t really do the whole dating thing.
Jalen shifted first. Not a lot, but enough to tell me that he was going to initiate whatever came next. Judging by the way things between us had gone from moment one, I would’ve been surprised if he suggested we end the night here.
He didn’t.
He hooked a finger under my chin, raising my head until we were looking right at each other. He’d dimmed the lights for the movie, but the lighting did little to hide the desire on his face. His thumb brushed across my bottom lip, sending a zing of electricity through those cells.
I stretched up to meet him as he lowered his head. The kiss started off gentle, lips leisurely moving together, a hint of tongue sliding across sensitive skin. As much as I knew he wanted me, there was none of the desperation that had characterized most of our previous encounters. Without the need to rush, we had the time to explore each other’s bodies, learn the subtler ways of turning each other on. I ran my hands over his broad shoulders and down his muscular arms. The man’s body was a work of art. I doubted I’d ever get tired of seeing him, touching him.
I’d never had this before, the freedom of being completely bared to a man’s eyes, his hands, not even with Clay. Jalen was the only man who’d ever seen me without a shirt. Well, sort of. After everything about my dad came out, I’d shown Clay my scar, but we hadn’t been sleeping together at that point, and it hadn’t been a part of anything sexual, so it was still different.
When Jalen lowered the side zipper to my dress, it was everything sexual. Without interrupting our kiss, I helped him remove my dress, leaving me in my favorite bra and panty set. Sexy, but not so much so that they weren’t functional.
His hands moved across my skin, fingers tracing my scar from where it ended at my spine around my right side. As his tongue breached my mouth, one hand pushed under my bra to palm my breast. His fingers brushed against the space between my breasts where my scar started before moving to my nipple. He touched the scar tissue like it was any other part of my skin, and it made something deep in my chest ache.
