Tied to the Tycoon
By: Chloe Cox“‘Course you do. It’s what you are.”
She started to speak, but Jackson decided it was better to show her what he meant. He spun her around and pushed her up against the cool, thick glass, grabbed her thin wrists in one large hand, pinned her hands above her head, and kissed her.
She tasted just as he remembered. Sweet. Her lips were just as soft. They parted for him as he crashed into her, and Jackson Reed felt himself begin to slip under, swept away in every remembered touch, every remembered sensation of Ava Barnett. He kissed her like he might not get a chance to do it again for another ten years, and then he wanted more.
So did she. Her tongue met his, hungry as he was, and her back arched, chest pushing up towards him. He ran his fingers down her arm, the side of her face, her neck. He wasn’t gentle. He pushed aside her flimsy dress and grabbed her whole breast in his hand, wanting to feel the full weight of it, all of it, his once more.
He heard himself growl.
He tightened his grip on her wrists and ran his hand down the length of her body, reminding himself of every curve. Her body reacted to his touch in shuddering waves, her muscles betraying her each and every time they made contact. He felt her come alive under his hand, her breasts, her belly, her hip, all rose, fell, breathed. Suddenly there was nothing more offensive to him than her dress, than that thin, stupid piece of fabric. He leaned down low to grab as much as he could, decided to let her keep it on at the last minute, and slipped his hand underneath instead. The skin of her thigh was hot and smooth, and when his hand found her panties, he was glad to find something he could take.
He ripped them off, vaguely aware of how absurd that was, but not giving a damn. He felt powered by some inescapable force, his momentum almost unstoppable, so close to what he’d dreamed about for years. She moaned into his mouth and raised her leg tentatively against his and he pushed on, his mouth moving to her nipple. He felt her rise against him, and then, a moment later, felt her begin to shy away. He didn’t think; the most primal part of him felt her slipping away and reached out to catch her. He had her pinned against the window, and his hand was already at his belt when she pulled her hand free of his grip.
“Stop,” she said, choking on her own voice.
She brought her free hand to his chest, turned her face away. He was stunned.
“What’s wrong?” he said, his words pulled tight over his panting breath. His cock strained against his pant leg, and Ava…Ava…she looked so sad. Ashamed.
What had he done?
“You said it’s what I am.” Her own breath still came fast, and she wouldn’t look at him. “But I’ve never done it—not properly, not the right way. Any of it. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
Jackson shook his head. “It’s been ten years since I was a total fuckwit, Ava. In all that time, you never told anyone else what you wanted?”
“No,” she said quietly.
If he’d known that was really the answer, he might not have been so incredulous. He might have been a bit more fucking thoughtful. Because in that one admission was a whole knotted, seething mass of deeper, sharper, more painful admissions, the most important of which was surely this: she’d never been that close to anyone ever again. She’d lived her life alone since then, never being fully herself.
It was worse than finding her married to someone else. It meant he’d hurt her more than he’d imagined.
She squirmed under him, trying to get free. He held her fast.
“Ava, wait,” he said. “Please. Just…ten fucking years.”
She stopped. They were still pressed tight together, her face hovering below him, blue light creeping across her saddened cheek. All he wanted to do was make her happy. He had always been the smartest guy in the room, but now he couldn’t figure out how to make the woman he’d always loved happy, even for a goddamn moment, even when he was trying. Some fucking genius.
“Is this who you are now?” she eventually said, smiling a little, trying to break the tension. “A guy who buys things? A rich guy who just…”
“I would pay to make you come,” he said, without hesitation.
Her eyes grew wide.
