The Freelancer – Chapter 60

“Damn it all straight to hell!” Jenna shouted, tossing her cell phone to the floorboard of the car.

Jackson gave her a sidelong glance.  “Everything okay?”

“No.  Chet left a message.”

“Chet?”  Jackson raised an eyebrow.  “Is that your other boyfriend?”

“No.  He’s my publicist and…My other boyfriend?  I didn’t realize I had a boyfriend in the first place.”

He placed his hand on her bare thigh and and gave it a light squeeze.  “Yeah, I guess we skipped that conversation.”

“So…you want the job, I suppose?”

Jackson’s hand drifted higher.  “It seems like a natural progression, you know, since we’re sleeping together and all.”

“Then you should know that Chet is my publicist.  He calls all the time and this time he called to say the release date for my new book has been moved up.  They want it out in time for Thanksgiving.”

He seemed unconcerned.  “That’s like a month away.”

Jenna sighed.  “Yeah, but with the illustrations and the press kits…I have a week until I have to have it to him.  I’ve never missed a deadline before and I don’t want to start now.”

“Why would you miss the deadline?  I thought that you were working on it all the time.”

“Well, I have been working, but not on this book.”  She could feel her cheeks flush.  “I thought I’d try my hand at some, uh, adult fiction.”

Jackson grinned and changed lanes.  “Am I in it?”

“Your ego continues to astound me.”

“It’s not ego if it’s true, babe.”

He had a point. “Do you really think I’d let you know if you were?”

“Sure, why not?” he asked, his fingers grazing the edge of her panties.  “You should let me read it.  I might get some new ideas.”

Jenna’s breath snagged in her chest.  “I doubt I’d be the one to give you any ideas.  Besides, I have to switch gears long enough to write a children’s book.”

“How much do you have left?”

“All of it,” she admitted.

“How long will it take you to write?”

“I can get it done in a week if I chain myself to the computer and ignore everything else.”

“Chains…hmm.”  He glanced at her.  “See?  You’re giving me new ideas already.”

Jenna groaned.  “You don’t understand, Jackson.  If I’m going to pull this off, I’ll have to spend every free minute working and…”

“Don’t worry about it, Jenna.  This is going to be a crazy week for me at work anyway.  You don’t know how much you’ll be helping me out.”

What an odd thing to say. Jenna turned to face him as he parked the car.  “How does this help?”

He cut the engine.  “If I knew that you were sitting at home with nothing to do, I would skip out of work early to get back to you and get myself fired.”

“I guess it’s a good thing I’m under a deadline.”

Jackson leaned towards her.  “Yeah.  I’d hate to disappoint millions of children.”

“You’re mocking me, Caldwell.  Keep it up and I’ll find another boyfriend.”

“No, you won’t,” he said, brushing his lips against hers.  “I’m a great boyfriend.”

Jenna grinned.  “I’m going to need some proof of that.”

“Proof?”  Jackson feigned shock.  “You don’t need proof.  Don’t you remember last night?”

Jenna blushed.  “No, not after we left the club.”

Jackson pretended to be mad.  “How can you not remember?  It was magic…”  He grinned.  “Okay, it’s just as well you don’t remember because I was too drunk to deal with the condom and we both passed out.”

“I might have had a bit too much to drink last night.”  Her blush deepened.

“I love it when you blush, Jenna.  You have no idea how much it turns me on.”

No, she didn’t have any idea how much it turned him on, but she started to get the picture when they could barely make it up the stairs and into her condo before they started pulling off each other’s clothes.  Jenna had to wonder if they’d even make it down the hallway to the bedroom.

They didn’t. They were already on the carpet.

For all of the passion of the moment, the fierceness of his kiss, the way his hands possessively claimed every inch of her body, Jenna was surprised by the tenderness of his lovemaking.  He moved with such an agonizing slowness that she could hardly stand the sweet torture of it.  She found herself trying to move her hips against him, to move in any way to speed him up, but he changed his position and her best efforts became useless.  She was helpless and was forced to let her body go where Jackson was taking her.  Out of frustration, she bit his shoulder.

“Hey!  What the hell was that for?” he asked, stopping to look at her.

“I don’t think a good boyfriend would be torturing his girlfriend this way.”

His eyes were full of mischief.  “He would if he knew it was going to make it better.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do so.”  He strained to look at his shoulder.  “That really hurt.”

“Whatever.  I hardly used teeth.”

“That’s definitely going to leave a mark.”

“Poor baby.”  Jenna kissed his shoulder in apology.  “Is that better?”

In lieu of a response, Jackson claimed her mouth.  He slid his tongue passed her lips and explored every inch of her mouth as he began his maddening rhythm again.  Jenna wound her fingers into his hair and felt a contented sigh somewhere in her throat.  She was utterly, hopelessly in love with him; even if he was an expert at pissing her off.  Despite her complaints, she could easily let him continue what he was doing for the rest of the night.

Maybe even for the rest of her life.

Jackson thrust deep.  No warning, just feeling. Jenna broke the kiss and screamed from the sensations that tore through her body.  “There.  That’s better,” he said, taking her hard and fast.

Jenna clung to his shoulders as the vibrations of ecstasy rolled over her, each more intense than the one before.  She thought she’d shatter from the building pressure.  She almost couldn’t keep her feelings in check.  She bit back the words just before she told him she loved him.  It was too soon.  It wasn’t the right time.  It was the quickest way to destroy the mood when he ran for the hills as a result.  Instead, she gasped, “Don’t stop.”

“Not a chance,” he replied, his voice breathless.

As Jenna began to tremble from her climax, Jackson fastened his lips over hers, never slowing for an instant.  She realized it was a good thing because she couldn’t be held responsible for anything she said at that moment.  She let the calm wash over her, only to feel the tension build again and break violently.

Long after she’d screamed out his name, he held her, kissed her softly.  She looked into his eyes and saw something in them, a look that went beyond what people who were mere lovers shared.

“So?  How about it?”

Jenna couldn’t remember the question.  “How about what?”

He smoothed her hair back.  “Do I get the job or what?”

She grinned.  “Why do you want it so much?  What’s the catch?”

“No catch.  I love…I just love being with you and I’m a possessive guy.  I don’t want to give you the chance to figure out you can do better.”

Jenna gazed into his eyes and knew he loved her.  He might not be able to say the words, but by the look in his eyes, his kiss, the way his body moved with hers, she realized she knew everything about this man she needed to know.  “Yeah, okay.  You’ve got the job.  Happy now?”

“Yeah, but now I’m supposed to leave you alone for a week.  Not fair.”

“Well, not right away.  I don’t have to start working tonight.  Do you have an early morning?”

Jackson raised himself up onto his elbows.  “Not too early.  What do you have in mind?”

Jenna pretended to look thoughtful.  “I haven’t had time to think it far ahead, but I’d like for my new boyfriend to help me up off the floor before I end up with the mother of all carpet burns.  After that, I could probably be talked into a quick shower.”

He grinned and helped her up.  “I’ll just bet you could.  What else can I talk you into?”

“I don’t know,” Jenna answered with a shrug.  Leading him down the hall, she added, “I don’t see a whole lot of sleep in your future.”

Jackson pretended to be annoyed.  “The things I put up with to have you as a girlfriend…”

Jenna pushed him into the bathroom.  “You’ll live.”

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