After Today (The After Series Book 1)

by Jacqueline Hayley

  “Slow down, babe,” he said into the crook of her neck, licking the sensitive skin.

  “Slow down?”

  “We’re standing against a door,” he said, his eyes hungry but resolve clear in his tightening jaw.

  “This isn’t going how I thought it would.” She pouted.

  “None of this is happening how I thought it would.” He laughed, relieving the tension. “I told you I loved you when I thought you were with someone else. You don’t remember our first kiss…”

  “I didn’t say I didn’t remember!” she protested.

  He smiled, his fingers gripping her chin gently and tipping her face up. “Babe, our first time together will not be against a damn door.”

  “Are you worried I’ll think you don’t respect me?” She looked up at him through lowered lashes. “Because I’m totally okay with you disrespecting me, Jake.” His groan reverberated through her, making her nipples pebble tighter—begging for his touch. “And if you’ve waited for me as long as you say you have…”

  “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for you,” he ground out, grabbing her ass and turning her, guiding her palms above her head to rest flat against the door. “You still want this?” His whisper was hot in her ear, and he used his knee to nudge her legs into a wider stance. “Because I can give you slow and sweet in a bed.”

  “I want this,” she managed, her heart too large for her chest. The hard length of his body crowded her, dominant and assertive.

  She’d never wanted anything more in her life.

  His hand wound through her loose curls, tugging her head back so she could meet his smoldering eyes. “Say it again.”

  She licked her lips, delighting in the way his pupils dilated farther. “I want this. I want you, Jake.”

  Between one breath and the next, he was biting her neck, pawing roughly at her breasts and pinching at her taut, aching nipples. She arched her back into his chest as his other hand delved low, pushing aside her top to expose her stomach and then gliding down. Down.

  She hadn’t realized he’d been holding back. She’d never have guessed behind his easy-going personality he harbored such dirty, beautiful desires.

  Her pussy clenched in frustrated anticipation.

  His palm was so large she had to spread her legs wider to accommodate him, allowing him access to her slippery heat. Growling, he tugged at her yoga tights, pushing them and her panties down as far as her position would allow.

  “So. Fucking. Wet,” he praised, when his finger finally dipped into her folds, causing her to shudder uncontrollably. “I need to taste how sweet you are.”

  Through hooded eyes she watched over her shoulder, fascinated, as he withdrew his hand and brought it to his mouth, sucking the finger inside.

  It was the hottest thing she’d ever seen.

  Locking their gaze, he dropped his hand to reclaim her, stroking assertively as his thumb circled her clit with agonizing gentleness.

  Rocking into his palm, her eyes fluttered closed, only to have him still. Groaning, she shifted on her feet.

  “Eyes on me, baby girl,” he instructed.

  “More.” She panted. Pleaded.

  “Of this?” he asked, thrusting one thick finger, and then two, deep inside her.

  “Yes. Yes!”

  The eye contact was just as effective as his talented fingers at opening her wide, exposing her vulnerabilities. He was in total control, watching as her orgasm gathered momentum and tightened, tantalizingly close.

  “Jake!” she yelled as she teetered on the edge, desperate to fall.

  Dex howled from the laundry room.

  Shifting, Jake braced himself against the door, leaning on a forearm and allowing his weight to press her forward, engulfing her wholly.

  “Shh, baby. Bite me.”

  Tensing at the pleasure-pain of imminent release, she bit down on the corded muscle, muffling her cries as he pumped his fingers sure and deep, quickening the pace until she didn’t know if she could stand it any longer.

  Just as she was sure she couldn’t be strung any tighter, his fingers curled and stroked and the orgasm crested, before crashing violently through her. She shook, and when she opened her eyes, her vision was momentarily black. Turning, she sagged into Jake’s arms, breathless and not entirely sure what the hell had just happened.

  “You were worth the wait,” he whispered into her hair.

  God, this woman. She wrecked him.

  Jake was finding it hard to concentrate on anything beyond balancing his primal craving with the need to hold his sated woman close.

  Her breathy cries. The way her tight pussy had clenched around his fingers. The connection as he’d looked into the depths of her eyes.

  And when she’d come, biting deep into his forearm, it was a wonder he hadn’t exploded right along with her. As it was, his cock was painfully hard and his balls hung heavy and demanding.

  Chest heaving, Jake held Mac close, trying to distract himself from the need running rampant through his veins. He’d meant what he said—he fully intended their first time to be slow and sweet. In a bed.

  He hadn’t been able to restrain himself from kissing her and couldn’t comprehend how it had escalated so quickly. But he really needed to slow things down. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her off.

  To not have Mackenzie when she was unaware of his feelings had been unbearable. To not have her now—when he knew the intimate taste of her, when he knew the way she became lost to sensation—that was beyond unbearable. It was excruciating.

  He didn’t realize he’d groaned until she lifted her head, her small hand palming his cheek.

  “Your turn?” she asked, reminding him of a satisfied kitten licking its lips and looking for more cream. Lifting the bottom of his shirt, she skated her hands over his abdomen and up, rubbing her thumbs over his nipples and making his own breathing catch.

  “Jesus.” He closed his eyes and prayed for strength. “Let’s make it to the bed this time.”

  Taking her hand, he led her to the bedroom, where he shrugged from his shirt, exposing his chest. Her eyes were fixed on the light sprinkling of hair that dipped into the waistband of his jeans, and she watched as he slowly unbuckled his belt. Popped the top button. Slid down the zipper.

  “Like what you see?” He chuckled, but there was no mirth. No, it was dark and dripping with sexual intent, desire sitting low in his belly.

  She didn’t answer, enthralled at the sight of the jeans and boxers dropping down his thighs, pooling at his feet until he kicked them off to stand naked before her.

  His cock, thick and proud, jutted against the defined planes of his stomach and he swallowed, mouth dry, as he ran a hand casually up its length.

  “Is that even going to fit?” she blurted, finally raising stunned eyes to his face.

  “Yeah, baby girl, it’ll fit,” he promised. “Your turn. Lose the clothes so I can finally update my mental image of you wearing that yellow bikini.”

  “No pressure. I don’t have the body of a teenager anymore.”

  “Thank fuck for that. Because back then I wouldn’t have known what to do with all these gorgeous curves.”

  Under his blatant adoration, she shimmied out of her jeans and pulled off her T-shirt. His groan of appreciation, low and rough, filled the room.

  “Strip, Mackenzie.”

  The coarse timbre of his order seemed to dissolve the last of her hesitancy. With fumbling fingers, she unclasped her bra, letting the straps slide down her arms and the cups fall away, revealing her full, high breasts and attention-seeking nipples.

  His tongue flicked over his bottom lip, his gaze devouring every inch of her. He was so done with slow.

  Shoving at the sides of her panties, Mac pushed them—letting them slip down her legs as she stepped forward to press against his front, tilting her head up to entice his head down. Obligingly, his lips captured hers briefly.

  “Don’t distract me,” Jake said. “I need to
see you.”

  “Well, I need to kiss you, and I’m not in the mood to compromise.”

  Grinning at her sass, he pulled her onto the bed with him.

  His erection pressed hard against her belly, and he wrapped his arms tight around Mac as he gave into her demand and kissed her senseless.

  “I want to hold you tight and love you slow,” he whispered with gravel in his voice.

  Flattening her palms against his chest, she pushed away, sliding down his body until she was kneeling over him, eye level with his straining cock. Bottom lip caught between her teeth, she gazed up at him with a wordless promise.

  His body corded with tension, the sound of raw need ripped from his throat as she descended, her mouth closing over his shaft and sucking deeply.

  Jesus fucking Christ, he was going to blow his load right now. Mackenzie Lyons had her lips wrapped around his dick. Her head bobbed down and slick warmth encased him, a rhythmic sucking causing his vision to darken.

  Tangling his hands in her curls, Jake tugged gently.

  “Back up here, babe.”

  His engorged flesh popped from her mouth with a smacking sound, and he had to breathe through it. He would not come. This was his every fantasy come to life, and he was going to make it eclipse every clandestine late-night wank session he’d ever indulged in.

  Pouting at his interruption, she crawled back up his body and nipped at his bottom lip. “You’re no fun.”

  “Oh, babe. You have no idea how fun I can be.” Jake rolled her onto her back and settled between the nirvana of her spread thighs. His skin was pulled taut with anticipation and he couldn’t stop running his hands over every inch of her body he could reach. She was so smooth and soft and warm and everything.

  She was his everything.

  The realization this was actually happening halted his exploration.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, blinking up at him.

  “I love you.”

  “So you say.” Mackenzie turned her head to break their eye contact.

  Grabbing her chin, he repeated his statement. “I love you, Mackenzie Lyons.”

  “Can we get to the sex part yet?” She sighed.

  “Fuck yes.”

  Dropping his lips to hers, he kissed her, tongues tangling as he reached between them to find the wetness between her thighs. His fingers delved into the slick folds and she arched beneath him, her moans breathy.

  “Condom?” she asked.

  Jake pulled away long enough to snag his jeans from the floor, grabbing a condom, and rolling it on in one smooth movement—the tremble in his hand exposing unacknowledged nerves. Mac didn’t know it yet, but he was about to become the last person she ever slept with. And damn if he wasn’t going to make it perfect for her.

  Swallowing at a suddenly dry mouth, he reached for her, tugging her reclined form to the edge of the bed where her splayed legs bracketed him. Marveling at his rough hand traveling up the smooth whiteness of her inner thigh, he reveled in how plump and inviting her pussy was.

  Goddamn, she was gorgeous. “Are you ready?”

  “Are you seriously asking me that?”

  “Mackenzie.”

  “Jake. Would you please just fuck me?”

  Grinning, he fell onto the bed, one forearm holding him steady as he guided his cock into her tight, welcoming pussy. He threw his head back, groaning, as her inner muscles tightened and her legs wrapped around his hips.

  Holding against the urge to thrust and claim, he rocked his hips, entering gradually until he was fully seated within her, every synapse in his body threatening to burn out.

  “Oh. My. God,” she whispered, eyes wide.

  He leaned forward to run his lips down the side of her neck, sucking at her sensitive pulse and inhaling her erotically spicy scent. When she bucked her hips, hands clutching his shoulders, he lost it.

  Lost any semblance of control he’d been holding onto.

  He drove into her, lost to the bite of her fingernails in his skin, the indents of her heels into the small of his back, the incredible tightness of her pussy. Guttural grunts tore from him, overlaid by her gasping pants.

  “So good. So good,” she chanted.

  Both Jake’s fists pressed into the mattress above her head, bloodless with strain, as he pounded his devotion into her. The pressure was building at the base of his spine, that intense tingle that had his balls drawing tight.

  “Touch yourself. Rub your clit,” he growled, dropping his head to the crook of her shoulder.

  Mac shifted to accommodate his demand, throat elongating as she threw her head back into the pillow on a cry of pleasure. The powerful clasp of her pussy as she climaxed had his own release barreling upon him, his cock jerking in an almost painful orgasm, as his vision blackened and his heart skipped a beat.

  When Jake slumped, spent, draped over her shuddering body, she was murmuring incomprehensibly and running her hands through his hair. A surge of contentment had him closing his eyes, wanting to stay in this moment—their sweaty skin pressed together, breathing uneven and legs entwined.

  “You were worth the wait.” She smirked.

  Chapter Eight

  They’d fallen asleep in a tangle of limbs and awoken in the late afternoon, warm and sated. Jake’s hands roved over her every inch and his soft sucking kisses were drugging her. Tugging at her heart. Making her fall in love.

  “Dex!” She jolted out of her stupor. “Is he still locked in the laundry room?”

  “He has food and water.” Jake said, nudging his erect cock into her hip.

  She rolled away, giggling at his exaggerated groan.

  “I’m getting cockblocked by that dog again.”

  Tugging on Jake’s abandoned shirt, Mac headed through the house to the dog, who was happily curled up on a haphazard pile of what looked like freshly laundered clothes, pulled from a nearby basket.

  Sorry, Quinn.

  “Come here, boy. Who’s a good boy?” she crooned as he leaped to his feet, pushing his head against her palm. “Come on, let’s go get Jake.”

  Dex padded behind her as she made her way back to the bedroom, heading straight for a tidy pile of Quinn’s clothes folded on a chair. Nosing them into a heap onto the carpet, he circled three times and settled down, his eyes already closing in contentment.

  Jake was sitting on the edge of the bed clad only in his boxers, his feet planted wide on the floor. Shaking his head at the dog, he motioned Mac closer. “Come here, baby girl. I missed you.”

  “I was gone for two minutes,” she said, but obligingly straddled him to snuggle into his lap, her arms wrapping around his shoulders and her lips finding his.

  She could definitely give Dex a run for his money in the contentment stakes.

  At that thought, she stiffened.

  I’m fooling around—with my best friend’s little brother—and the world is falling apart.

  “Hey, where’d you go?” Jake murmured into her neck.

  “This is… wrong… when everything…” She gestured to the window, at a loss for words. Succumbing to the desire between them had been successful at blocking out reality, but now?

  Those with symptoms were diverted onto school buses and taken to the hospital, that’s where they’ve set up quarantine. Rachel’s words swamped like murky water. “I didn’t ask if they’d seen my dad.”

  “They would’ve said if they knew anything.”

  “I don’t even know why I care. It’s not like I even speak to him anymore.”

  “When did you see him last?”

  She shrugged, not meeting his eyes. “What do you think is going to happen?” she asked quietly.

  His arms tightened around her waist. “We’re going to stay safe, and eventually, the virus will run its course. Or they’ll come up with a vaccine.”

  “Why do you think we didn’t get it? The virus? It was everywhere. I still can’t believe how crazy it was out there.”

  Soft tears were tracking down her che
eks, and Jake pulled back to look directly at her when she sniffed.

  “I guess we got lucky. Or we’re immune. Who knows?” he answered. “You know what I do know? You need a hot shower.”

  Mackenzie sniffed again. “Is that your way of telling me I smell?”

  “It’s my way of looking after you. Come on, I’ll get it started for you.”

  “You’re not joining me?”

  He got to his feet, hoisting her easily with his hands beneath her ass and her legs still wrapped around his waist.

  “I’m pretty sure I could be persuaded.” He grinned.

  Closing her eyes under the cascade of water, Mac gave herself over to Jake, over to the idea of them. Her hands roamed his wet skin—tracing the veins in his biceps, the tight curve of his ass, the dip in his navel.

  She wanted him. All of him. And she wanted to forget.

  Dropping to her knees, she thrilled at his hands tangling desperately in her wet hair.

  He was hot and salty, and Mackenzie worked her mouth over his hard length, stopping to swirl her tongue at his sensitive tip and lap at the pearling pre-cum before swallowing as deep as she could. Jake’s hips bucked in response and she gagged, pulling back only to bob down again, sucking feverishly.

  Pumping her fist in rhythm with her mouth, she set a punishing pace, unable to get enough of the absolute power she brandished—she might be the one on her knees, but the knowledge he was completely within her control was dizzying.

  “Fuck, Mac. Babe. I’m going to…” His hands tugged in warning, but Mac grinned around her mouthful. This man was hers, and she wanted every part of him.

  “Mackenzie Lyons, get your ass back in here,” Jake demanded gruffly, watching her through the doorway from a sprawled position on the bed.

  “Patience is a virtue, you know,” she said, drying her hair.

  “A virtue I’ve used up. And Mac? Ditch the towel.”

  Mackenzie halted in the action of wrapping the towel around her body and smiled slowly. Shaking back her hair, she turned to hang it up, before letting it slip from her fingers and glancing over her shoulder to catch his eyes.

  “Oops.” Bending from the hips, she wiggled her butt as she picked up the towel, smirking at the strangled groan coming from the bedroom.