She went straight to Jake’s after her confrontation with Courtney but she didn’t see Jason anywhere downstairs.

“Jake!” she called to the bartender.

The older woman sighed. “Aw, come on, Liz. Twice in one night?” She got a good look at the brunette’s bloodshot eyes and she sat up straight. “Something happen?”

Elizabeth licked her lips nervously. “Do you happen to know where Jason Morgan went?”

“Sure, honey, he’s renting room three from me upstairs–” Jake stopped talking as Elizabeth pushed away from the bar and headed for the flight of stairs to take her to the second floor.

—

He definitely hadn’t been expecting to see her again so soon but there Elizabeth
was–standing outside his room, her eyes bloodshot and her hands trembling.

“She lied to me,” Elizabeth said in a tiny voice. Recognizing the misery in her voice, he took her by the hand and drew her inside the room.

“I’m sorry,” he told her.

“I spent most of my life bouncing from place to place,” Elizabeth began in a trembling voice that strengthened as she continued. “I never had a real friend because as soon as you’d get settled in somewhere, you’d have to move and after a while, it all started to blur together.” She took a deep breath. “But when I was eighteen and I got to see my records for the first time…I found out that I had a mother. That I had a father a-and that I even had a brother.” Her eyes were glossy with tears but she kept them back. “I came here to find Michael and for the first time, I had a family. I–I had a brother and I had a sister. And this past year has been the best of my life so you have to understand that I believed Courtney because she’s my sister–”

“Elizabeth…” He took her hands in his and was a little startled to find them cold as ice. “I already told you–you had every reason to believe her and not me.”

“I just…” she sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Sisters aren’t supposed to lie to each other. They…they’re supposed to support one another and it’s not fair that I found it and lost it.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, softly. He touched her hair and then slid his fingers through it. “I know what it’s like to be disappointed in people you expected better from. And it sucks.”

“I wanted you to know that I really do like you,” Elizabeth said, changing the subject. “It wouldn’t have upset me so much otherwise.”

“Well, I like you, too,” Jason replied with a crooked grin.

“The reason I came clean with Courtney when I did is because I wanted…” She hesitated and licked her lips. Telling a guy she was sexually attracted to him was no new thing for her but it was more than this time. She was not only attracted to him physically, but mentally as well. She liked spending time with him–liked the way he smiled, and his no bullshit way of speaking.

“I planned on sleeping with you tonight and I didn’t want it feel like I was winning a bet,” Elizabeth told him bluntly.

He smirked. “Oh, you were, were you?”

She flushed. “Well…I was going to try.” She shrugged and looked away. “Would you have turned me down?”

“Well, that depends,” Jason remarked. He moved away from her and sat in one of the armchairs. “How were you planning to convince me?”

A saucy smile spread across her face and she nodded, taking the challenge. Elizabeth tugged off her leather jacket and tossed it to the side, revealing the outfit she’d been in earlier–with the almost indecent low cut tank top and barely there mini skirt.

She sashayed across the room and climbed into his lap, straddling his waist. Her breasts were almost level with his eyes but he lifted them to meet hers. “How am I doing so far?”

“Not bad,” Jason allowed. “Is that it?” he asked with amusement in his clear blue eyes.

She rolled her eyes. “Come on. Would you have turned me down?” she asked.

“Well, I don’t know. Seems to me we’re starting something here,” Jason told her. “Would sleeping together so soon be smart?”

“Why not?” Elizabeth shrugged. “Sex doesn’t to ruin anything. I like you, you like me.” She arched an eyebrow and moved her hips just…a little. “Feels like you really like me.”

“Lust is easy–comes naturally to everyone,” he told her. He brushed a piece of hair behind her ear, letting his fingertips trail down her jaw line. “Sometimes it’s just about waiting for the right time.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Fair enough. But how do you know when it is?”

Jason frowned, “Elizabeth…I…you’re not a virgin are you?”

She laughed. “No. I’ve slept with some…three guys to be exact. But they were one-night stands. And I think…” she hesitated. “I think you’re looking for something more.”

“I am,” Jason confirmed. “So you’re telling me you’ve never been in a relationship before?”

“No,” Elizabeth admitted. She moved her hands from his chest and scooted back a little so she wasn’t exactly sitting on his arousal.

“That’s not something to be ashamed of,” he told her. “You’re only nineteen. I’m just not sure we should rush this.”

“No big deal.” Elizabeth tried not to feel rejected and started slide off his lap but he caught the look in her eyes and gripped her hips to make her stay still.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked. He fanned his hands on her back, sliding some of his fingers underneath the stretchy fabric of her tank.

“You said we shouldn’t rush this so I was going to go…” Elizabeth hesitated. “Do you not want me to go?”

“No, I don’t.” Jason slid one of his hands down to the hem of her mini skirt, resting it just underneath. “I said we shouldn’t rush, I never said we shouldn’t do anything at all.”

That brought the sexy smile he loved back to her face and her hands returned to his chest or more exactly, his shirt. She clenched her fingers in the soft material and pulled his head to hers.

“So…what exactly are you up for?” she whispered against his lips.

Instead of answering her, he slid his hand further up the soft skin of her inner thigh, his finger tips brushing against her panties. Her breath hitched and she closed her eyes. “That’s…that’s good.”

He traced the elastic edge for a moment and watched her eyes closed, never moving her lips from against his. He could feel her shallow and fast breathing against his skin. Jason slid his fingers underneath the edge of the fabric and slid it up and down the wet slit of her core.

“Oh, God, please,” she breathed. She wiggled her hips around hoping to force him to touch her more.

“What do you want?” he asked. Elizabeth opened her eyes and glared at him.

“You’re kidding right?” she managed to say. She arched an eyebrow and moved her head away from him, breaking the contact of their lips and his fingers sliding from her center.

To his surprise, she climbed off his lap and moved backwards until she could sit on the bed. “Elizabeth?” he asked, confusion in his voice.

She crossed her legs and leaned back on her hands. “I got a few questions before we go any further.”

He grinned and slid forward. “Uh huh.”

“I figure they’re really just a formality but I tend to stick to routines. Got any diseases?”

He frowned. “No.”

“Girlfriend I should know about? Wife? Kids?”

“No, no, and no.” He stood and crossed the few between them, towering over her until he got on his knees. “How many questions are there?”

“Sometimes I make them up as I go along,” Elizabeth told him cheerfully. “Do you use protection as a rule or only when specifically asked for?”

“I use protection at all times,” he told her. “Unless specifically asked otherwise.”

“Good because I’m on the pill and I think it feels better with nothing between us.” She straightened and grinned down at him. “You should think twice about teasing me.”

“Uh huh. You done?”

“For now.”

“Good. Got any diseases?” he asked.

She glared at him. “Excuse me?”

“Hey, you get to ask, I get to ask,” he told her. “Got any diseases?”

“No.”

“Husband? Boyfriends? Kids?”

She shuddered. “God, no.”

“You don’t want kids?” he asked, a little disappointed.

“Well, sure, when I’m like twenty-five not when I’m nineteen.” She smirked. “I like my freedom and I’m just getting used to it.”

“How many kids were you thinking of?” he asked.

A wider smile curved on her lips. “At least two. So they’re not lonely.” She settled her hands around his neck and looked down at him. “Why?”

“Just curious.”

“Any more questions?”

He shook his hands and slid his hands up her smooth legs until he reached the straps of her panties. “You mind if I take these off?”

“Nope. Feel free.” She leaned back on her hands again and lifted her hips to help him. He tossed the red silk over his shoulder and spread her legs, resting one over each shoulder. “What’re you doing?”

He grinned up at her. “It’s not obvious?” he asked before he leaned his head forward and his tongue darted out to taste her.

“Um…sure,” she panted. He spread her open with his fingers and licked at her greedily before taking her clit in his mouth and sucking.

“Oh, son of a bitch!” Her body convulsed and she panted, spearing her fingers in his hair. “I can’t…you have…” Elizabeth closed her eyes and tried to force some rational thought into her cloudy mind but then she felt one of his thick calloused fingers enter her wet hot channel as he nipped at her clit again. She nearly blacked out and by the time she could focus on anything, she was on the bed and he was looming over top of her, nibbling on the soft skin on her neck.

“You okay?” he murmured.

“Jason, I–” She struggled to control her breathing. “That was incredible.” She reached for the hem of his shirt but he caught her hands in his and shook his head.

“Not tonight.”

She sighed. “That no rushing thing again huh?”

Jason nodded and rolled off her. She turned on her side and propped herself up on her elbow. “So, no nookie, huh?”

He laughed and shook his head. “I just want to take things a little slow, okay?” He touched her jaw. “Besides, I want you to work things out with your sister.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “If you’re going to withhold sex until I talk to her, we’re going to be here a while.”

“Look, I don’t want to come between you and your sister,” he told her.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she assured him. “Courtney is the one who lied and eventually I’ll forgive her but not until I’m finished with the violent thoughts okay?”

“Okay, fair enough.” He sat up. “You wanna stay the night? I got a shirt you could probably sleep in.”

“You’re still sticking with the taking it slow?” she sighed. “Jason, come on, that doesn’t seem fair. You didn’t–”

“No, but there’s time.” Jason slid off the bed and crossed to his dresser to pull out a green t-shirt. He tossed it at her. “I like you, Elizabeth. I want this to go somewhere.”

She tugged off her tank and pulled the shirt on before shimmying out of her skirt. “Well, how am I supposed to argue with that?”

“You’re not,” he replied. He leaned one knee on the bed and kissed her hard.

“Okay, you’re really not playing fair now.”

← Chapter Four |