XLIII

The irritating sound of a phone ringing weaved its way into Jordan's dreamless sleep, chasing away the darkness that had cloaked his mind. Jordan's eyelids flew open with a start, before immediately shutting again at the sight of the blinding lights coming from the half-risen sun outside the glass door leading to his personal balcony.

With a loud groan, Jordan placed an arm over his eyes in attempts to block out some of the light from the balcony as the irksome phosphene danced in circles behind his closed eyelids. He let out a sigh when his phone went silent and the peace and serenity of his room was finally restored, but only momentarily before his ringtone went off again. The caller seemed persistent.

Irritated by the lights and noise and perhaps, everything in sight, Jordan aggressively sat up and reached for his phone sitting on the nightstand. Prepared to throw it out the glass door, he came to a halt when he glanced at the caller ID and saw his friend's name illuminated on the screen.

He let out a grunt before answering the call. "J!" Keelan shouted over the phone. "Where did yo-" Before he could complete his sentence, Jordan had hung up on him. Persistent, Keelan called again and Jordan once again, answered it.

"Jordan!" he shouted again and yet again, Jordan hung up on him, settling into his bed as he rested his back on the headboard of his king-sized bed. Silently, he watched his phone, waiting for it to ring again and a millisecond later, it did.

"Jordan, st-"

"If you want me to stop hanging up on you, then for fuck's sake, stop shouting over the phone," Jordan gritted out, his voice low and menacing. "Believe me, I could play this game all day." He relaxed into his bed, satisfied with the silence on the other side of the phone.

"What the hell crawled up your ass and died inside?" Keelan grumbled.

"Why did you call?" Jordan went straight to the point.

"Yes, about that." The excitement was evident in Keelan's voice as he spoke. "I went by your new site this morning. The one you intend to use for the new club?" Jordan gave a grunt in affirmation. "And I absolutely love the new layout plan you went with. This wasn't Ridwan's idea, was it?"

Jordan closed his eyes with his hard expression easing into a smug look. "It wasn't. Ridwan kept bringing up old and outdated ideas and most of the modern ones he suggested were just copies of other clubhouses, so I found a new architect," he explained, his mind wandering to his gemstone and her amazingly talented family.

Emerald's younger sister, Armani had outdone herself with the layout plan she had designed for his clubhouse and rather than pretending to be amazed by it just so she could earn a high score, Jordan had truly been immensely pleased and had decided to use her designs rather than his old architect's, Ridwan's.

"Well, I must commend him. Who is he? Do you think he would be willing to work with me? Or is he too upscale?"

"It's a 'she' and she would have to be the one to decide that since she's still in college." Jordan explained as he stood to his feet and gave a little stretch, hearing a satisfying pop emanate from his shoulders and back.

"A college stud?" Keelan asked, surprised. "I didn't know you started scouting for young, ungroomed talents now, J. Did you organize some sort of youth empowerment programme?"

Jordan rolled his eyes before walking into his bathroom to brush his teeth. "Very amusing, Mars. I just helped the girl out with her university project and I found her ideas very promising and modern, so I used it although, I do plan on offering her internship and hiring her to work with my building committee."

Standing in front of the mirror slash cabinet mounted against the wall above the sink, Jordan couldn't help but stare at himself, his image reflecting on the spotless looking glass. Although he had been rudely awakened and was left slightly irritated by his pest of a friend, the happy glint in his chocolate orbs remained unmistakably conspicuous despite his usual grouchy morning mood.

He and Emerald had spent the majority of the night and earlier hours of dawn chatting about everything and nothing at the same time. They had left the twenty questions game for another time and had rather talked about general topics, some relating to their crazy friends and their shenanigans and needless to say, Emerald was more than excited to meet Keelan Mars, much to Jordan's misfortune.

"Helped out with a school project?!" The obvious disbelief and astonishment was evident in his voice as he mildly shrieked. "Who the hell are you and what did you do to Jordan Calix Kale?!"

Letting out an aggravated groan, Jordan pulled open the mirror, revealing the shelved cabinet hidden behind it before reaching for his toothbrush and toothpaste.

"Don't blow things out of proportion, Mars. Armani is just Emerald's younger sister," he clarified as he placed his phone between his ear and shoulder while he squirted some toothpaste on his toothbrush.

"Armani? Emerald? Who the hell are they?"

In total exhaustion, Jordan ended the call before peeking half of his body through the bathroom to toss his phone on his bed just as it rang again.

▬▬▬▬▬

Half an hour later, Jordan walked down the stairs and into the kitchen as quietly as he could with nothing but a pair of black sweatpants on and a little towel hanging around his neck. He stopped short at the unbelievable sight before his very eyes.

Unable to blink for fear of the image before him being unreal and only imaginative, Jordan stood transfixed, his only movement being the heavy and rapid rising and falling of his heaving chest. His Adam's apple bobbed every so often as his eyes remained glued to Emerald's carefree movement in his kitchen.

She was currently wearing a fluffy light pink robe - one of Carol's stray clothes which Jordan had found in one of the guest rooms Carol used to stay in whenever she came over to his house after her many quarrels with her husband, Leonardo.

With Carol being more of the svelte type than Emerald, who was more bountifully endowed, the robe was quite small for Emerald, stopping mid thigh and making her ass pop as she had her back facing Jordan. Her ombré hair appeared to be wet as the strands stuck to the part of her neck and the side of her face that was visible to Jordan.

The sight of her seeming so comfortable enough to make breakfast in his house even though this was her very first time visiting made the fiery sentiments in Jordan's aching chest run wild. A yearning, which he didn't know ever existed in the depths of his being, overwhelmed him and on impulse, Jordan marched towards Emerald with whimsical determination.

On hearing the rapid footsteps coming from behind her, Emerald spun around just in time to be pulled into Jordan's sudden embrace. All her words or squeals of surprise were silenced when Jordan's lips met hers in a fervid, passionate kiss.

This kiss of his was nothing like the ones before. It held a tinge of urgency yet gentility to it, a combination of two sentiments so different yet so harmoniously alike.

The incandescence of the kiss fueled Emerald's body and the intensity with which Jordan's lips moved against hers stripped her of every rationality and she held onto his shoulders for dear life as she tried to keep up while trying to prevent her knees from buckling from beneath her.

Aware of the heady effect he had on Emerald and her inability to stand erect, Jordan gently grabbed onto her ass cheeks with his big hands, eliciting a quiet moan from her before maneuvering them around the sink and in no time, Emerald found herself seated on the cold marble top of his kitchen counter, her legs locked around his hips with her hands wound tightly around his neck, fingers stretching to caress his silken locks.

They remained tangled up in each other before they both pulled away, breathing heavily. As they both caught their breaths, Emerald subconsciously caressed Jordan's scalp as he in return, fondled her hips and smooth bare thighs, which had come into view when her skimpy bathrobe had ridden up her legs.

Jordan reluctantly peeled his eyes open to stare at the flushed face of the enchanting woman in his arms. She was still catching her breath and he couldn't deny that he loved the effect he had on her, how he seemed to always leave her breathless, just like she always did to him and so much more. He couldn't seem to control himself at the sight of her and what just happened now was the perfect proof of that.

She slowly opened her emerald eyes to meet his chocolate ones, gulping at the intensity of his gaze on her. "Well, good morning to you too, Mister," she whispered, trying to ease the sexual tension crackling dangerously between them.

Jordan, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, ran both his thumbs across the swells of her ass, eliciting a shudder from her. He grinned at her reaction.

"What was that for? The whole surprise kiss."

Jordan only shrugged in response, to which Emerald rolled her eyes before pulling her hands out of his hair and running them along the crest and nadir of his biceps and triceps, tracing every one of his tattoos before moving her attention to his naked chest.

Her cheeks and neck immediately turned pink when she finally registered that Jordan was half naked and the man only laughed at her reaction before placing his palms against her cheeks and applying slight pressure to the sides of her face so her lips would protrude into a pout.

"Oi," Emerald made a sound of disapproval as she swatted Jordan's arms softly but he only rewarded her with a quick kiss on her puckered lips before releasing her.

She pushed him off to the side as she hopped off the counter, her movement making her full boobs bounce against the flimsy material of the robe. Jordan's eyes went wide and his mouth ran arid when he caught sight of her jiggling bosoms.

Busy with straightening out the length of the bathrobe, Emerald was oblivious to her almost spilling breasts and Jordan was too nervous to utter a coherent sentence as his eyes hurriedly looked away from her in attempts to stymie his carnal urges - he could already feel his little demon stretching against his sweatpants - but not before spotting the appearance of a black mark on the swell of her left breast.

Before he could confirm what he had seen, Emerald looked up at him, finished with adjusting the material and for fear of being caught ogling, Jordan hurriedly looked away from her.

"What is it?" Emerald voiced out in confusion when Jordan appeared to be avoiding her gaze and his entire neck, ears and face was rouge as though he was having some sort of serious allergic reaction. He stuttered, still refusing to look at her.

"Jordan, is something wrong with you? Are you alright?" She was starting to get worried as his face got redder by the passing seconds and she moved closer to him.

"Y-your uhm. . ." he flailed his arms around his chest area before pointing a finger at Emerald, seemingly trying to make a gesture at something. With furrowed eyebrows, Emerald looked down at her chest area and finally noticed her spilling breasts, which were almost completely out of the faux confinements of the gossamer robe.

A loud, horrified shriek escaped her mouth as she immediately turned her back to Jordan to fix herself up. Her heart hammered against her ribcage at the thought of Jordan almost seeing the hideous scar on her breast. Her eyes slightly watered at the terrifying thought of what his reaction could be.

Emerald shook her head, trying to clear the image that appeared in her mind, portraying the look of disgust and hatred in Jordan's eyes directed at nobody else but her. She shook her head vehemently in attempts to drive away her looming insecurities.

She flinched and jumped when she felt warm arms wrap around her shoulders from behind. "Hey, are you okay?" Jordan asked in a whisper to her ear, his soft voice providing the reassurance and solace Emerald craved.

Turning around to hug him, she muttered a small "yeah" against his chest while he rubbed soothing circles on the nape of her exposed neck as he held her close.

"I'm sorry, Gem. I didn't mean to look. I just-"

"No, there's no need to apologize, Cal. I'm fine, I'm totally alright. There's really nothing to worry about," she assured, staring into his eyes, which were full of shame. "Stop chastising yourself, Cal. I'm fine, really."

Jordan sighed, running his hand through his hair, his formidable muscles flexing with every movement. "I don't want to rush or overwhelm you, Eme. I know this is new to you, but sometimes, I just can't seem to control myself around you," he confessed.

"Hey. Listen to me, Jordan. This is new to me but I assure you I was not overwhelmed by your surprise make out session," she smiled. "This whole thing isn't overwhelming me in any way and I know that this whole feelings thing is new to you as well, but we can both go at our own pace. You aren't rushing things, Jordan, honestly. And truthfully," she seductively traced one of his pink nipples, gauging his reaction with hooded eyes, "I can't seem to control myself around you either," she whispered.

A little growl erupted from Jordan as he swept her off her feet and returned her to her earlier position on the countertop before taking her lips in another heated make out session.

Emerald kissed him back with the same amount of fervour and vigour. This was the only way she could successfully chase back her rising insecurities and this was the only way she could prove to herself that this beautifully gorgeous man shivering underneath her teasing touches and invoking such unfamiliar and heated emotions in her, was indeed hers and hers alone.

This was the only way she could prove to herself that he wasn't disgusted by her; to prove that he hadn't seen the hideousness she hid behind layers of clothes; to prove to herself that he was still there with her, for her and that he wouldn't abandon her. He would be her distraction and she would be his distraction.

"Well, I'll be damned."

The couple jumped apart, suddenly interrupted by echoing words from an intruder or might I say, intruders.