Chapter Twenty-Four—Jace

I couldn’t control the rage coursing over me. I felt like a madman that would erupt at any minute. The nerve of Rebecca to hire someone to spy on us?

What was it to her? She wouldn't get anything out of it, would she? After leaving Mervin with a death threat, shaking in his alligator shoes, I stormed toward my car.

Once I slammed the door to my vehicle, Lidia slid into the passenger seat quietly. I was outraged for her. I'd never wanted to hit a woman in my life, but I wanted to lay Rebecca out on the tile floor of the gallery on Monday morning and then fire her once she woke back up.

My fingers clutched around the leather of the steering wheel, but I hadn't started the vehicle yet. I just stared into the dark space of the parking garage.

Lidia cleared her throat. "Jace," she said softly. I glanced over at her pretty face, and long dark hair. "Can I fire her?"

A bubble of laughter spewed up my throat. "I'm so sorry this happened to you. I can't believe she hired someone to follow us and take the picture—I mean I could kill her."

Lidia smiled softly. "I have a better idea."

I braced my elbow against the driver's side window and ran my palm down my face. "Oh yeah, what could be better than the afterlife for her?"

"Remember that paint I ordered?"

"Yeah," I said, not following.

Lidia chuckled beneath her hand. "You up for a long night at the gallery?"

"I can think of one hundred different things I'd rather do than go up to the gallery on my night off, Lambert."

Lidia smirked, reaching over, she pressed a kiss to my cheek. "You won't regret it."

I chuckled. "In that case. I'll order Indian."

***

I thought Lidia looked good in anything, which was true, but those paint covered overalls, with the strap sliding down her shoulder, and her hair twisted up on top of her head, made me feel like a teenager again.

She wouldn't tell me what she wanted to paint other than I needed to make sure I had an opened mind when she finished. I didn't care to be honest, not if it meant watching her paint all night, sneaking bites of her food while humming to nothing.

I would stay on this uncomfortable expensive white couch all night if she needed me to. "Do you plan to keep me here all night, Lidia?" I asked.

She swished her paint brush at me and smiled slyly. "It'll take me all weekend to finish, you can leave if you want, I don't need you to stay."

"I'm not leaving you here," I said, moving to a sitting position. "Where those caffeine pills you were taking?"

Lidia nodded. "Yeah, I took them in college sometimes when I needed to cram for a test. I can sleep tomorrow. I want to get this going."

I watched her look at something on her phone, and then slip it back into her pocket. "So," she cleared her throat. "What are we going to do about the marriage," she asked, turning to me with white paint on her face.

I had gotten the fake marriage license in my email during the wedding but hadn't told Lidia yet. Once the incident with Mervin happened, my mind went elsewhere.

"He sent it."

She turned to face me, he paintbrush dropped to the tarp covering the floor. "You weren't going to tell me that I'm a married woman now?"

I smirked and stood up. "Hold on." I rushed up to my office, printed it from my email and walked back down. I craned my neck as the bottom half of the mural began to come together. "Is that a thigh?"

Lidia smirked and pointed toward the paper I held. "Is that proof of our future together?" she asked.

I presented her the paper like a royal meal.

She looked over it with an approving nod. "Looks legit. Now, let's hope it tides your grandfather over. What's our next plan?"

I eyed the mural again, trying to pull together what she was painting, but shook my head. "I think we'll host a party."

"A ball?" she asked in a southern twang.

I chuckled. "A get-together downtown somewhere to celebrate our marriage."

Lidia smiled. "We could have it here."

My eyes shifted toward the mural. "What are you painting before I agree to that?"

"You said I could paint anything," she said, smearing paint on my cheek.

She squealed when I went to grab her, turning to make a run for it, I captured her against me. Her soft body melted into mine, and a soft sigh escaped her lips when I brushed her hair from her neck and kissed it.

"I did say that," I whispered into her ear. "You feel like playing a game?"

She turned in my arms, her eyes wild with excitement. "Sure. I'm down for a game. I wasn't sure you knew what those were at one point."

"Funny," I said, rolling my eyes. "How about hide-and-go-seek? Hmm?" I whispered, sliding my palm into the back of her overalls and down her backside.

Lidia stiffened against me but let out a shaky breath. "Why do I think hide-and-go-seek means something else?"

I nipped her bottom lip with my teeth. "It means whatever you want it to mean, but I'll give you ten seconds to go hide. I'm making the rules, so whenever I find you … and I will find you … I'll tell you my next rule."

"This sounds extremely bias," she said. "But I like it. Close your eyes and count."

I pressed my palms over my eyes and started counting, hearing her footsteps and a squeal as she took off. The room got quiet, and I felt my adrenaline spike.

Once I got to twenty, I dropped my palms and started walking around the lobby and behind Rebecca's desk. There weren't too many places to hide, so I checked most of the downstairs when I heard a snicker from below the staircase.

I stopped on the second step and walked back down, finding her curled up into a ball with her palm over her mouth. "You're terrible at this game," I said, making her jump.

She fell over into laughter and sat on her knees to look up at me. "I know. When have you ever known me to keep my mouth shut, Jace?"

"True story," I said, walking over to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. "So," I said softly. "I think for every time we're caught, we drop an article of clothing."

Something traveled over her face, but from the shadow of the stairs, I couldn’t make it out. Her throat worked as she swallowed but didn't lose eye contact.

It's been months since we started our … situation, and while things had heated up, we hadn't had sex. Not that I hadn't wanted to. I wanted to strip her naked and make her raw from me.

I wanted to be Lidia Lambert's first so bad I could taste it. The thought of another man being able to do it to her pissed me off. However, I knew her values and I didn't want to push it.

I wouldn't. I would just be there in case things changed. I wasn't man enough to stop it if she started it. No way in Hell could I. "Nothing will happen that you don't want to happen," I said into the silence.

She nodded. "I'm just thinking how unfair this is because I'm wearing overalls."

"Sucks for you," I said with a smile.

Lidia lifted a brow in a challenging way and took her hair down from her bun. "One."

I laughed, shaking my head as it echoed against the high walls of the gallery. "Touché."

She stood up slowly, still close to me, and tilted her head to the side. "Your turn."

I smiled. I listened to her count as I walked the stairs slowly, hiding in the closet in our meeting room. I felt somewhat stupid, being a thirty-five-year-old man playing this, but on the other hand, I longed to take her clothes off which would be the next rule—we had to take them off each other.

Fifteen minutes later, and an uncomfortable stiff neck, Lidia opened the closet and I jumped out at her. She stumbled back onto her butt, and I fell on top of her.

She laughed and shoved me in the chest, letting me maneuver my way between her thighs. "You jackass," she said. "I'm the one supposed to scare you."

Smiling, I nuzzled my mouth into her neck and bit the sensitive flesh, unhooking both her overall buckles and leaving them opened for when she stood up.

Lidia didn't protest as I sucked her flesh into my mouth, loving the moan that left her. She sank her hands into my hair while I ground against her as if we were back in high school. She hissed something out in a whisper and pulled hardly at my hair.

"Okay," I whispered, making my way to her mouth. "Your turn. Hide and I'll come find you."

I stood up, watching her do the same, her overalls slowly slid down her body and she kicked them off. The time on my closet floor surfaced and I remembered her saying she needed a release right before Rebecca showed up to my apartment.

I was going to give her one tonight. Lidia stood in a baby doll cute-off white shirt and her underwear in front of me. My mouth watered like a 90s cartoon, and my fist tightened at my side.

Lidia made eye contact, almost daring me to do something about it. With a slight smirk, she gestured for me to start counting. I began, watching her ass as she walked out of the room in only underwear.

Screw this game …

I started walking toward the door and she waggled her finger at me from the balcony. "No Sir," she said with a sly smile. "Count with your eyes closed."

I growled at her, making a smile cross her face. I started counting, thinking of a million and one different ways to give her some release after one hell of a week.

When I got to twenty, I almost raced toward my office, figuring we had exhausted our hiding places on the first floor. I checked behind the curtains of our glass windows and then saw a sliver of skin from underneath her desk.

Slowly, I dropped to my knees and crawled toward her, grabbing her ankle I pulled her out from underneath her desk and flat onto to rug beneath us.

She laughed, her hair splayed around her like a halo. "That didn't take long—"

I stopped her with a kiss, my body anxious to please hers. Lidia chuckled into our kiss, moaning when my palm found her taunt stomach and made its way to her breast, loving that she was braless for me tonight.

Lidia's back arched when I twisted her nipple in my fingertips. "Oh …" Lidia gasped, her fingers tightening against my shoulder. Her legs tightened against my waist and her breathing shallowed.

The scent of her perfume made my head begin to spin. I nipped her bottom lip while my palm traveled down her stomach to the top of her underwear.

Her eyes popped open, and she stared at me with a trembling bottom lip. "You never got your release because of Rebecca," I whispered. "I want to give that to you if you're ready."

Lidia opened her mouth several times before whispering, "No one has ever touched me down there. I mean … I have but not anyone else."

God that turns me on.

I kissed her deep before pulling back. "I'll be your first."

I let my hand slip beneath the lace fabric of her panties and down her mound. Lidia began to shake when my finger found her clit. An unsure sound came out of her, but she let her legs fall shamelessly open.

I pressed my middle finger down her slickness and into the heat of her core, my thumb massaging her bud while I pumped my finger in and out at a steady beat.

Lidia felt tight and hot, the way I imagined since the first time I realized how perfect she was. Moans circulated in the silence of our office, the only sounds beside our rough breathing.

I'd never gotten so hard fingering a woman in my life. The faces she made—not to mention the cries—I felt like I could have spent an entire night between her legs.

Lidia's fingernails dug into my flesh when I slipped a second finger inside. The world unfolded around me as I watched her climax rise higher and higher, until she was shivering against me.

I was the first man to bring Lidia Lambert to orgasm, and I'd be damned, if anyone else ever did.

Lidia's head fell back against the rug and a windless chuckle let her body. When she opened her eyes, I brought my fingers to my mouth and sucked them into the back of my throat.

Her mouth parted in a little 'o,' and she let out a shaky breath. "Oh my God, Jace, that was—that was perfect."

I smiled down at her, capturing her mouth with mine. When I pulled back, her eyes shifted above my head, and she titled her own. I pulled back and watched her reach up and grab something tapped to the bottom of her desk.

A tape recorder.

"You've got to be kidding me," Lidia said. "That … "

"Cunt," I finished for her.