One Week With You (London Lovers #1)

by J.R. Jenner

A smile bloomed wide across my lips. Knowing that Rafe Scott, purveyor of scowls and frowns, wore brightly coloured cartoon socks underneath his dark designer suits and Amiri jeans made me stupidly happy for some reason. No one ever would have guessed, and yet I knew that small, secret part of him. Few people had that privilege.

“So here’s the thing.” Shifting forward on the sofa, I focused on picking at the label on my beer bottle. “I might’ve mentioned I had a girlfriend… called Talia.”

I did. As much as I’d fought my attraction over the years, something about Talia spoke to something in me. A kinship, a mutual awareness, I wasn’t sure. But a connection was there, and it had lingered long enough to make a mark. Long enough that I thought about her. A lot. Sometimes I’d go weeks, even months, without seeing her and still felt like I knew her to her bones, like we could pick up exactly where we left off. Any time Leo mentioned his sister, I absorbed the information like a sponge, needing any sign that she was okay, happy. It didn’t help that I knew what she tasted like, how incredible her body felt beneath my hands. Which was why I was in this mess in the first place.

The last time I’d asked for Talia’s help we’d drank too much and shared an unshakeable kiss forever seared into my memory. “You have no idea,” I mumbled.

But when I caught sight of the name on the screen my pulse quickened: Sunshine. I glanced at Leo; his own phone silent beside him on the sofa. Why is she calling me and not her brother?

privacy but still close enough that paranoia kept my voice low. “Is everything okay?” “Heeeyyyyy,” she sang. “Who’s this?” “It’s Rafe,” I said slowly. “Rafe! Hi. How are you? Why are you calling me?” The way her voice brightened around my name had me pressing a fist against my smile. “You called me, remember?”

She inhaled so deeply she hiccupped. Fucking adorable.

Somehow, this phone call would’ve made more sense at 2 a.m. I’d definitely hovered over her name in my contacts on more than one occasion in those early hours, especially after a night of drinking. Loneliness hit harder when it felt like the world was asleep. “Are you okay?”

She thought of me. Fucking hell, I felt ten feet tall.

I ached to hold her. Take her in my arms, crush her to my chest and whisper that everything would be okay. I rarely felt helpless, but I had no idea how to give her the comfort she needed. I scowled at nothing and everything, all at once.

background. “They’re ready!” A smile broke out across my face. If anyone could make me smile, it was her. “You know what would go great with those fries?” I suggested. “Oooh, what? Tell me.” “Water. Drink some now. I’ll wait while you do it.” “You’re so bossy.” I rolled my eyes but felt pretty satisfied by the sound of running water. “Now fill the glass again and put it by your bed. Maybe grab some paracetamol too. Tomorrow’s Talia will thank me.”

Leo shouted when he noticed me paused at the gate, loud enough to shake me from staring longingly at his best friend with his stupid broad chest and arm muscles perfectly filling out a black cashmere sweater. With his dark jeans and leather jacket, Rafe looked especially scrumptious today. I stifled a groan.

“Hi, my little worker bee,” he said with a knowing grin.

“What are you doing out in the cold?” he asked, the accusing demand alleviated by the soft kiss he pressed to my cheek.

“It’s good to see you,” he admitted a beat later, and the warmth of it flooded fizzy joy into my veins. “Ditto,” I said with a smile. Our eyes met and held.

“I don’t know. You were pretty adorable, if you ask me.”

My gaze darted to Rafe sitting opposite. Something fluttered in my chest when I found him staring, but I grimaced, mouthing sorry. This couldn’t have been the most comfortable conversation to witness, even if he was used to it. Rafe shook his head, his smile soft enough to settle the tension that had climbed into my shoulders two days

“Here, let me,” Rafe said softly, nudging my hands away from where I was trying to tie the apron behind my back. “Thanks,” I said, my breath quickening at the feel of him behind me, slowly looping the strings into a neat bow at the base of my spine. Hyper aware that he was likely staring at my ass.

My swallow was more than a little ragged when he settled his hands on my hips, gave me a soft pat and said, “All done,” right against my ear in that low, gruff tone that always made me shiver.

Rafe turned to me fully, fist braced on the counter. “And the way I feel about you is the complete opposite of terrible, Talia.”

“So,” he began, clearing his throat. “I’m aware that now isn’t the best time, but I have a favour to ask and I’m realising there’s a way we can both get what we want.” “Colour me intrigued. I’m listening.” “How do you feel about being my girlfriend?”

screwed. From my car I watched Talia glide down the front steps of her building in those spiky heels she loved as much as I loved what they did to her ass. Tonight the ribbon ties matched her dress, winding her ankle the way I’d like to wind my fingers around her wrists. Maybe the strands of her hair as I tugged her head back to kiss her full, lush mouth. I remembered that mouth… “Fuck,” I whispered roughly, clutching the steering wheel in some semblance of calming the fuck down.

But that dress… As red as cherries, modest as it reached past her knees but utterly obscene in the way the silk slid like syrup down her curves. And Talia had those in abundance. I swore under my breath again. Get it together, Rafe. Just get it together. Eventually, I remembered my manners and jumped out of the car, charged with a lethal cocktail of adrenaline and nerves. Excitement.

“Nothing. You look… You’re perfect,” I managed, voice croaky with disuse. I couldn’t admit she’d taken my fucking breath away.

“Well, Party Rafe is grateful but doesn’t think you should hide your feelings. So if it’s a shoulder you need to cry on, mine’s free.”

My pulse liked the sound of that, maybe too much with the way it throbbed at the base of my neck.

“Stop.” I touched her hand, drawing her eyes back to mine. “I want to.” I stared at her long enough that she stepped closer and lifted the tie over my head, smoothing it under the collar of my black shirt. I wore ties usually, so Party Rafe had been going for a more relaxed, open-collar look tonight – per Henry’s request – but right then I would’ve worn anything she’d given me. Fucking Party Rafe. What the hell.

“I’m thinking more a brief conversation where I highlight all of my charms.” “Oh really? What would those be?” I grinned down at her tucked by my side. “It’s a long list. You might want to jot this down.”

She set her face with a bright, easy smile and nestled closer, enough that her breast pressed against my arm. I clenched my jaw, gritting out a smile that probably looked as awkward as it felt.

The music switched to something slower, smoother, meant for not much more than swaying. I couldn’t take my eyes off Talia’s face as she watched the couples partner off, moving in their own worlds. “Would you like to dance?” I found myself asking. What the fuck? She looked like she’d had the same thought. “I… I didn’t know you could dance.” “I’m not sure I can,” I admitted with a wince. “Wing it with me?”

Talia’s giggly gasp of delight as I spun her out before twirling her back into my arms. She wasn’t expecting the manoeuvre and collided with my body with a breathy, “Oh!” that went straight to my cock. My mind jumped to all the other ways I could draw that sound from her, maybe something that would have her neck thrown back in ecstasy, clutching at my hair. I’d run my tongue down that arch too because Talia’s neck was prime for my mouth, my hands, a necklace of diamonds and definitely pearls…

But it felt like a big deal with her in my arms. The generous swell of her breasts and the soft slope of her lower belly pressed up close, all made a million times worse by the scent of her perfume. She’d intoxicate even the sternest of men. Even me.

We wondered why it’s taken all these years to meet you.” “Years?” she repeated, throwing me another startled look. Shit. “I’m sure it hasn’t been that long,” I bit out, knocking back the rest of my scotch.

Talia folded her arms and sent me a fierce, challenging look. “How long have you been telling everyone I’m your girlfriend?” “Oh. That.” “Yes, that,” she said flatly. “How long?” I blew out a breath. How the hell could I answer this and come out unscathed? Impossible. “I don’t know? A few years maybe.”

“Well, Michael’s a fucking idiot,” I snapped, furious she’d even mentioned his name. I didn’t need the blatant reminder rubbed in my goddamn face either. “And he’s irrelevant. Don’t mention him again.” Talia turned sharply. “Don’t tell me what to do.” “Okay. Please don’t mention him again.” “Oh, much better,” she said, rolling her eyes. “The please really softens the blow.” “I thought so.”

The wind sent her hair fluttering behind her, and I closed my eyes when I caught all that floral scent that was just… Talia. I’d once followed that scent around my local supermarket convinced it was her even though she lived nowhere near me. My

When she looked up at me, all I could think about was how close she was, how beautiful she looked, how much I wanted her to be mine. It must’ve shown on my face somehow, in the way I inhaled or maybe it was the step closer, right up into her personal space. I’d never know what gave me away.

Our mouths collided. A roughened groan left my throat as Talia curled her tongue against mine. Finally. I grabbed her face, my fingers a hard bite against her cheek, harder than I’d ever imagined, but I couldn’t help that fierceness if I tried. Desperation burned in my chest as I moved her head exactly how I wanted it, a better angle for our mismatched heights, and licked into the shuddery gasp that bled from Talia’s mouth. If she wanted to be handled, I’d fucking handle her.

and clutched greedily at the delicious swell of her ass, more than a handful. More than two handfuls. I was an ass man and Talia’s filled out her skirts and jeans in a way that made me want to pray on my knees as if I did that sort of thing. Maybe bite down on my fist instead of the bite I’d like to print into one fleshy cheek, and not the ones on her face. Fuck.

She clutched at my sides, my belt, then around to my ass, like she couldn’t make up her mind where to start, what to brand first. Everywhere. Touch me everywhere. It doesn’t matter. It never did. I’d take anything. Everything. Just don’t fucking stop.

“Talia,” I breathed out, shaking my head slowly. “What am I going to do with you?”

I’d only ever seen from afar, always look, but don’t touch. An overload of wanting, years of it, flooded my senses as I brushed my fingers back and forth, and Talia made a throaty sound that screamed more, I need more. The world darkened. Nothing else existed but this moment, this woman, right here and now.

I followed the elastic path all the way back until it reached between the cheeks of her ass all bare for the taking. “You wore this to drive me out of my goddamn mind tonight, didn’t you?”

I grabbed the thong and tugged it to one side. How I resisted the urge to tear it off her, I didn’t know. My restraint felt as taut as an elastic band and any minute now… Snap. “Admit it,” I demanded, loving the shiver that rolled through her limbs.

“Liar,” I whispered, bringing our lips together in another frantic kiss. For a second, a lifetime, we were nothing but a breathy mess of grunts and groans. Everything buzzed and hummed. I was more adrenaline than man. I couldn’t wait. Crowding her against the wall, I settled one arm above her head and dipped my fingers into the wet of her sex, gratified by her harsh inhale. I swiped around her clit a few times, teasing, before cupping her fully. I didn’t intend for it to feel like a claiming, but it felt like one anyway as she sank into my touch and all I could think was… Mine.

everything I’d imagined and more. “Look at you clenching down on me already,” I murmured in awe, groaning at the sensation. How great that would feel around my cock. One more roll of my thumb over her clit, and she came, barely making a sound except for a stilted garble in the back of her throat. “Fuck yes. Beautiful.”

“You can,” I gritted out. “Fucking come for me.”

It was the whispered please that did it. Pure, unfiltered need that fired something in me. Redoubling my efforts, I thrust into her with three fingers now, circled her clit with my thumb over and over, until she screamed silently into my chest. She scrunched my jacket in a white-knuckled grip as she shuddered and soaked my hand for the second time in as many minutes. Hottest thing I’d ever seen. Bar nothing. I was hard as steel, sweating patches through my shirt. I groaned as I pulled my fingers out and stared down at

and the whole thing was so obscene I wanted to go again and next time it would be more than my fucking hand.

likely another hotel guest – but any one of my employees could’ve walked out and seen me fucking Talia against the wall, because that’s where it was heading.