Page 43 of Capitally Engaged

“Do I what?” I asked, as soon as the door closed behind us.

“Do you like being praised in the bedroom?” I looked at her, feeling confused. She must have picked up on this, as she kept going. “What I mean is, do you like being told when you do something well? Being told you’re good at something, that you’re simply good?”

My cheeks got warm as I realized our rules meant I had to be honest in this moment. “I... I don’t know.” Jax kept quiet, waiting for me to continue. “My ex, you know, she wasn’t honest with me about my, well, my performance.”

Jax waved her hand, as if wanting to wave away the bad juju of Diana. “Okay, well, what about other women you’ve been with?”

I sucked in a deep breath. “I haven’t been with anyone else,” I said, having trouble meeting Jax’s eyes.

“Oh, Brandt,” she said, her voice compelling me to look up. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Chapter

Eighteen

Jax

I held my breath, waiting for Preston’s answer. I’d never have proposed a friends-with-benefits scenario if I knew he had only been with one woman. I wanted to wring that bitty’s neck earlier when I thought she simply dented his confidence, but now that I knew she comprised his only frame of reference? I’m not sure this was a good idea anymore.

“Yes,” Preston exhaled, his sincerity apparent in his open body language.

“You’re sure? We can go back to pillow walls, or see if we can get a different room with two beds or a couch. I can’t offer you the real deal, Preston. This is two consenting adults having sex because they’re in a situation I previously thought only existed in books.”

Preston nodded. “I know. Part of the reason there’s only been Diana is because I’m so focused on my goals, on running for Congress. I don’t want anything more. It only distracted me before.”

Even though I set the boundary, I said it first, hearing Preston tell me he didn’t want more created an ache in my chest.I shook myself, moving past it. Remnants of feeling like I’d always be alone. I was better off on my own, but a girl had to eat, and Preston was, apparently, ready and willing.

“All right then, if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure,” Preston’s voice wavered. “But I’m not convinced how good it’ll be.” I raised my eyebrow. “I mean, I know it’s going to be great for me. But if she had to fake it all the time, that must mean...”

I held up a hand to cut him off. “That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe she didn’t know her own body well enough to guide you or didn’t trust you enough to be vulnerable. Or some other explanation that you should not hold on to as your fault. I told you I feel safe with you. Do you feel safe with me?”

He nodded, his eyes wide.

“Then we’ll be just fine.”

Preston closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and nodded again. He took a step toward me, one hand in my hair and one on my waist. And then Preston Brandt kissed me—he kissed me like he meant it.

It was the type of kiss that knew it was leading to more. His lips moved like he had something to prove, like he was ready to give me his all. I answered in kind, trying to tell him he could take the lead, I would follow him.

Preston pushed me back toward the bed as his tongue traced the seam of my mouth, asking for entry. I opened, and the kiss deepened, no longer sending a message of anything except “I want you, I want this.” That was okay by me.

The back of my legs hit the bed, and we fell back in a heap. My fingers were tangled in Preston’s hair as he peppered kisses down my neck, pulling at the top of my button-down shirt to get at my collarbone.

“You know, business attire is hot, but really restrictive,” I said, moaning the last word as Preston found a sensitive spotwhere my neck met my shoulder. Would he make it a point to search for more? Shuddering against him, I hoped so.

He chuckled against my skin, shrugging out of his jacket and throwing it across the room before returning to his path, tracing up to my other ear. “Yeah, in the movies there are always a lot more flying clothes.”

“We got a bit distracted by all that talking,” I said, working his tie loose and untucking his shirt. Preston pulled back a bit before I realized my mistake. “Very necessary talking. Anything else would have been jumping the gun.” I started at the bottom of his shirt, taking one button at a time.

“You know, in the movies there’s a lot more shirt ripping and buttons flying too,” he said, as I slid one shoulder down, and then the other. He kneeled upright to finish taking it off himself.

“It’s true, but I love that shirt on you. It’s one of my favorites. And honestly, the ripping is harder than it looks,” I said, starting to unbutton my own shirt.

“Wait,” Preston said, stopping my hands immediately. “I want to do that.” His eyes had darkened to a color I had never seen on him before. He reached down to take over where my fingers left off.

The heat of his gaze seared each inch of skin he exposed. The intensity in his eyes felt like he wanted to remember every single frame of this moment. He leaned down to kiss the exposed skin, pulling down one bra cup, and then the other. Moving to my nipple, he took it in his mouth, licking tentatively while his hand worked my other breast.

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