“Where are we?” I asked, my voice a little raspy as I tried to sit up.
“We’re in a parking lot, darlin’. Lie back down. You need to relax.”
He was right; I did need to relax. For now. Once I’d recovered from my fake near-murder experience, I was planning on giving him the tongue lashing of his life. And not the sexy kind. I squeezed my eyes closed, trying to summon some calm.
“I’m going to kill you,” I muttered, and he chuckled in response.
He continued stroking my hair. “You gave me permission to do this, Matilda. I gave you a choice, and you asked for a mind fuck. You can’t complain that I gave you what you asked for. If you’d chosen a simple scare, my zombie routine back at the hotel would have been it.”
I reached out and slapped him hard on the arm. “I was terrified, Jason! Some scary Halloween fun is fine, but that felt too real. I could have fallen down those stairs and really hurt myself.”
“You wouldn’t have. I was with you the entire time. You just couldn’t see me.”
“Are you going to tell me where all that took place and who all those people were?”
Jay gestured to the tall building in front of us. “It’s a film studio. The whole thing happened on a specially designed, climate-controlled set, and those people wearing the masks were all actors. They’re in a drama group that meets in a center near our hotel.”
“You took it too far,” I complained, some of my anger dissipating. Jay was right — after all, I had given him permission to do this.
He leaned in and kissed me softly. “I’m sorry. You know that when I set my mind to something I can get a little…extreme. But you felt fear. I saw it. That was the whole point. You wanted me to scare you, and I did.”
“You didn’t just scare me, you terrified me, Jay,” I said, and began to massage my aching temples. This whole thing was bringing on a migraine. “Seriously, if you ever get tired of magic, you should start making horror films for a living.”
“Nah, movies aren’t my thing. But I did have an idea to make this a whole experience next Halloween. You know, have people pay for me to scare the shit out of them. Could be fun.” He grinned playfully.
“You have a very warped idea of what fun entails.” I scowled. “And anyone who’d sign up for that needs to have their head examined. I can’t believe you hypnotized me! I mean, I’ve seen you do it to other people lots of times, but I didn’t think I’d be susceptible to it.”
“Most people are susceptible — you just have to tailor the technique to the individual. The cape was the trigger, and my voice was what put you under.”
I slapped him again, this time more in surprise than in anger. “I knew there was a reason why you were having me repair that old thing. That was sneaky!”
He grabbed my hand right after I slapped him and used it to pull me closer. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
I sighed. “You won the bet.”
He nodded and brought his lips to mine, tasting me leisurely. “I won the bet. But since you’ve been such a good sport, I’ll give you one concession and let you choose my outfit for tomorrow night’s show. I’ll give you carte blanche, wear whatever you want.”
A big smile spread across my face, all annoyance from his elaborate horror stunt wiped clean. “You will?”
“I will for you. Only for you, Watson, because I love you.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and planted kisses all over his face. “You’re the best. And I love you, too.”
The next night I was still smiling as I straightened out Jay’s Dickie bow. I’d paired it with a dark brown three-piece suit and a pair of Italian leather shoes. He hated it, and I adored it. After our confrontation at her party, Tina was skulking around, giving me the evil eye and then plastering on a sweet-as-pie expression whenever Jay was looking.
She sauntered by, swinging her hips as though hoping he’d check her out, even though I was standing right there in front of him. The woman was shameless.
“You know, I’d been hoping her behavior was something to do with your trick, like maybe I had to be pissed off in order for your hypnosis to work, but seemingly I don’t have that kind of luck,” I griped, and stood back to admire my work. Jay looked absolutely dashing. I needed to take a picture before he went on stage, because I knew by the end of his show, half the buttons would be undone and he’d have stripped down to the waistcoat at the very least.
He ran a hand down my arm and leveled his eyes on me. “Ignore her. She might as well be wallpaper to me, and besides, we’re stronger than that. Nobody else can touch us. I told you before — all I see is you.”
His words made me breathless. I ran my hands over the lapels of the suit, acting like I was dusting it off when really I was just taking any excuse to feel him up.
His mouth hovered over my ear when he whispered, “Hold that thought. After tonight, I have two days off. As soon as we get back to the suite, I’m cashing in on my winnings.”
Trust him to be able to read my desire. I wanted him badly. I’d been too exhausted for anything when we got back last night, so our week of abstinence was still going strong. I trembled with anticipation, licking my lips. He bent down for a quick, hot kiss full of promise, and then the house lights were dimming and it was time for him to take to the stage. I stood and watched him perform. Even though I’d seen the act dozens of times before, there was always some new detail that fascinated me.
After his show, we took the elevator up to our suite. The car was empty when we stepped inside, and the moment the doors closed, he was on me.
“I should get a fucking trophy for sticking to this sex ban,” he growled as he backed me up into the wall and brought his mouth to my neck.
I giggled and then moaned when his hand went between my legs and cupped me hard. Immediately, I was aching. “Oh, indeed, a medal at the very least,” I replied, my voice raspy.
He chuckled, and the deep sound reverberated through me, making me shiver. It felt like it had only been seconds when the door pinged open, and Jay was scooping me up into his arms and carrying me to our door. It seemed he didn’t have the patience for walking. I almost regretted putting him in the suit tonight, because it felt like it took forever for me to get his shirt off. Since it was tailor-made for him, it went against everything I believed in to tear open the buttons, so I summoned some willpower and forced myself to unbutton it carefully. He watched me the entire time, a wry, knowing smile on his lips.
When I had him topless, I ran my hands over his body, and he allowed me a moment to savor him. I loved that about him; even though he was desperate for me, too, he held back, letting me go first. He didn’t hold back for long, because the next thing I knew, he was scooping me up in his arms again and carrying me into the bedroom. I bounced when I hit the mattress, and Jay made short work of pulling my dress up over my head and off me in one fell swoop.
His mouth went instantly to my breasts, yanking down the cups of my bra so he could lavish my nipples with attention. I squirmed beneath him, and my hands fumbled for his belt buckle. We had all weekend to have our fill of one another. But it had been a while, and right then I just needed him inside me.
He seemed to sense what I wanted, because he came up for air. “No foreplay?”
I shook my head. “Later. Right now I need to feel you.”
His eyes darkened, and he practically growled in approval. Before I knew it, his pants were off, and he was plunging all of his hot, hard, silky flesh into my needy core. I cried out when I felt him, my walls clenching tight around him.
Our eyes locked, held, as he moved his hips, thrusting in and out, slowly building up a pace. Then he was out and out fucking me, giving me everything, not holding back an inch, and I took everything he had to give. We were frenzied, lost to each other. There was so much love in his eyes that I became breathless and hot all over. In that moment, I knew I’d been silly to think that anybody could ever threaten what we had together. Jay and I existed in our own little bubble, and we always would. We’d been through so much. He had fought hard to get us where we were right now, and I knew he’d never do anything to jeopardize that.