He replaced his finger with his lips. She felt the desperateness behind the kiss. His need.
He rolled her onto her back, broke the kiss, and leaned his forehead against hers. "I want to be consumed by you. Take your beauty and wrap it around myself, so I become a better man. The man you deserve."
Alexis was silent for a moment, collecting her thoughts. She didn't know why he felt this way. To her, he was perfect the way he was. "I don't understand. Why would you want to change? I love you just the way you are. I wouldn't change one thing about you."
"You're good, sweet and gentle." Jack ran the tip of his nose along the line of her jaw. He stopped when he reached her ear and whispered, "Adjectives I would not use to describe myself."
Alexis furrowed her brow. "But, you are good. You're always doing things for me and taking care of me. And sweet, You say the sweetest things to me, making me feel special. And, you're always gentle with me whether it be with your words or your touch."
"I'm afraid the world doesn't see me the way you do, Alexis. Nor do I."
"You are my world, Jack. And that's how I see you. I don't care what anyone else thinks."
"But you do care. Or you should."
"I don't. And no, I shouldn't. And neither should you. You should only care how I feel about you."
"So you shouldn't care what Janet or any other jealous women think about you. All that maters is what I think about you. Right?"
Alexis slapped her hand to her forehead. "Wow, I walked right into that one, didn't I?"
"With a little help." He smirked.
"I take it all back. You're a bad, bad man, Jack."
"But you love me anyway. Don't you, sweetheart?"
Alexis sighed in mock defeat. "Yeah, I do."
"Then show me," he said, grinding his hips into her pelvis.
Gladly.
Two weeks had passed since Mase's birthday extravaganza. Alexis stood in front of the full-length mirror in Jack's closet (or should she say their closet?), trying to fasten her diamond choker.
Jack stepped in behind her, breathtaking in his tuxedo. He fastened her choker, leaning over her shoulder to whisper in her ear, "You look good enough to eat. Shall we test that theory?"
Alexis looked at herself in the mirror. She wore a long, red evening dress that Jack had come home with two nights pryer. The gown was strapless and sleek with a long slit up the center to mid-thigh and was super sexy in its simplicity. "We'll be late. This charity is important to your mother." Barbara had worked tirelessly for the past ten years, raising funds and opening women's shelters all over the world. "We don't want to disappoint her."
"As long as I bring you, there's no way I'll disappoint her." He kissed her neck then straighten up. "Speaking of you—"
Alexis laughed, "Were we speaking of me?"
"Hush." He pulled something that Alexis couldn't see out of his front coat pocket. "I have something for you."
"You do too much for me already." She swept her hand down her body. "You bought me this dress."
"That dress was purchased for a function for my mother. These are for you." He held two teardrop diamond earrings alongside her ears.
Alexis reached up and fingered one. "They're beautiful."
"Not a fraction as beautiful as you."
Alexis turned and smiled up at him. "Now that's your corniest line yet."
Jack grinned down at her. "Sweetheart, that wasn't a line."
Alexis walked into the ballroom of the Hilton, Jack at her side. On their way in, the media had gotten a hold of them. They'd had their picture taken (Jack's mother as a co-founder and Jack being a major contributor to the charity was big news), and Jack announced Alexis's name, as his girlfriend, for the article. She felt strange knowing that tomorrow her picture would be in the paper.
Alexis heard an orchestra playing a soulful melody that couples danced to on the dance floor. Pockets of people were scattered about the room creating a din of conversation and laughter. Waiters carried trays of champagne and hors d'oeuvres.
Barbara spied them from the right side of the room. She was frantically waving her arm to grab their attention. Jack chuckled and pulled Alexis with him to his mother's side.
"My dear, don't you look lovely," Barbara said, pulling Alexis in for a hug before she was passed to Frank.
He gave her a tight squeeze before asking, "My son's treating you well I hope?"
She gave him a smile. "Of course."
Jack took her by the waist and drew her to his side. "If you two don't mind, I'm going to ask my girl to dance."
He steered her to the dance floor and wrapped her in his arms. "You know, you didn't even ask me," she said, melting into his embrace.
"You would've said yes." He gave her a cocky grin.
She didn't comment but gave him narrowed eyes. That was answer enough.
"So, now that I have you here, trapped on the dance floor, there's something we need to discuss." She gave him a quizzical look and he continued. "Our month trial is up. I want you to give up your apartment and move in with me permanently."
"Okay."
"Okay?" His brow furrowed. "That was surprisingly quick and easy."
"Do you want me to make it difficult? Drag it out? When we both know, you'll end up getting your way in the end. You always do."
Jack threw his head back and laughed. He leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the lips. "You make me happy."
"I'm glad." She softly ran a finger over his smiling lips. "You make me happy, too. And that's something I haven't truly felt in a long time."
"Then that will be my goal in life. Keeping you happy. Always."
Over the next week, Alexis went through everything in her apartment. She threw away some, gave things away, took some to Jack's but most went into storage. She couldn't part with any of her mom's belonging. Not now anyway. After she'd explained the sentimental value of the old furniture she wanted to keep, Jack had it delivered to a storage room in the hotel so she would know it was close by and safe.
It was Thursday night and Alexis had finally finished organizing and moving in her stuff. She hummed to herself as she padded around the kitchen barefoot, in jeans and a tank top, making dinner.
She was at the kitchen counter chopping vegetables when Jack came home. He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her middle and resting his chin on the top of her head.
"You know," she said, slicing a cucumber. "My side of the closet seems to get fuller every time I walk into it." She set the knife down and turned, butt against the counter, looking up a Jack. "Any idea how that might be happening?"
Jack reached around her and plucked a slice of cucumber off the cutting board. He popped it in his mouth and thoughtfully chewed. "Closet fairies?" He plucked up another piece of cucumber. "Wardrobe gnomes?" He popped it into his mouth and chewed. "Armoire elves?"
"Jack, be serious. You need to stop buying me things."
He went in for her neck and nuzzled placing small kisses between his words. "No. I. Don't."
Alexis sighed, melting against the assault on her neck. She forgot all about the closet and instead thought only about Jack and all the wonderful things he could do with his mouth.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
When Alexis came home from work the next night, she stopped by the hotel lobby to pick up the mail before heading upstairs. She's been waiting for the monthly bill for her mom's medical care and hadn't received it yet. She'd forwarded her mail a few weeks ago, finding it silly, stopping at her apartment every few days to collect it. She didn't want to be late on her payment. The fees th
ey charged were ridiculous.
"Hey Tammy," Alexis said, stepping up to the counter. "Any mail for us?"
"Let me go check." She walked into a back room and came out a minute later, a stack of mail in her hand. "Here you go."
"Thanks." Alexis thumbed though the envelopes. Nothing from the hospital. Damn. She would have to find an old invoice and call them. She stopped on an envelope addressed to her written in red cursive lettering. She looked front and back but saw no return address. She laid the rest of the mail on the counter to open the letter. Inside was a single sheet of white paper with the words 'HE IS MINE' written in red block letters across the page.
With a shaky hand, she refolded the note and put it back in the envelope. "Is Jack still in his office or did he go up already?"
Tammy looked up from her computer. "I didn't see him walk by, but I might have missed him. Is everything okay? You look a little pale."
Alexis tried to give her a smile. "I'm fine, just a little headache. I'll stop by his office before heading up. If you see him, let him know I'm looking for him."
"Will do."
Alexis's heels tapped loudly on the marble flooring as she rushed to Jack's office. She knocked on the door before opening it slightly, poking her head in. Jack was at his desk, on the phone.
He waved her over and when she got near, he put his hand over the mouthpiece and asked, "Everything okay?"
When Alexis shook her head, Jack quickly ended his call and put down the phone. "What's wrong?"
"This came in the mail today," she said, handing him the envelope. She set the rest of the mail on his desk.
Jack pulled the paper from the envelope, read it, and looked at Alexis a frown marring his brow. "This came in the mail?"
"Yes."
He scanned the envelope. "It's postmarked Las Vegas, so it was sent locally."
"You don't think Janet would do something like this, do you?"
Jack was still frowning. "I don't know her well enough to know." He took her hand and maneuvered her to his lap. "Whatever this is, I'll take care of it. I don't want you to worry. It's probably some prank, but, just to be on the safe side, I do want you to be extra careful. Okay?"
"Yeah." Alexis laid her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Come on, let's go grab some dinner."
* * * * *
The next morning Jack sat at his desk in his home office, talking calmly into the phone, feeling anything but calm. More than likely, like the PI he had on the other end of the line said, it was just a prank or a joke. Jack wasn't taking any chances, and he didn't think it was funny. Nothing was funny concerning Alexis's well-being.
"Just look into it and keep me informed," he said, before hanging up the phone.
His head of security had given him Stan Hoover's number. He'd told Jack, the highly skilled PI was well known in the business and had a reputation for working hard to get a job done. Jack wanted this job done fast. The thought of Alexis in danger made him all kinds of crazy.
Jack made his way back to the bedroom. He saw the bed was empty but heard the shower running. He stripped off his sweatpants on his way to the bathroom. He saw her silhouette through the frosted glass door. His dick hardened and like a homing missile, it guided him into the shower.
She jumped, startled, when he reached around her and cupped her tits in his hands. He gave them a gentle squeeze that elicited a small moan from her slightly parted lips. He slowly licked a bead a water that trailed down her cheek as he pushed with his hips gliding his cock through the crevice of her ass.
He lightly trailed a hand over her ribs and down her belly, coming to a stop when he reached her clit. He circled it with a finger, as his other hand pinched and rolled her nipple. This brought out a gasp and a long moan as she pushed back with her ass, rubbing herself harder against him, bracing herself with her hands on the tiled wall.
His mouth latched onto her neck as his fingers slipped through her folds. She was so wet and slick. He loved how fast he could turn her on. He angled her hips and bent his knees as he eased himself inside her. So tight. Pure heaven.
"Turn your head, baby and give me your mouth." He captured her lips, inhaling her heavy pants as he moved inside her. Her breathing stopped for a moment and a shudder overtook her body. Jack moaned as he clutched at her hips, impaling himself deep as his climax shuddered through his body.
He turned her, blocking the spray from her face, with his back. Her eyes were languid. Her cheeks were flushed. Her full lips, a deep rose in the muted light, parted as if begging for a kiss.
"Are you okay?" he asked, supporting her weight as she gained use of her limbs.
Her fingers trailed up his arms to his shoulders. "I will be," she smiled, "as soon as I regain my equilibrium."
He smiled back at her. "Do I sweep you off your feet?"
"Oh, Mr. Cole, you do more than that."
He reverently placed kisses across her cheek, down her neck back up to her lips. "I love you, Alexis." He whispered it across her skin. Felt it in his bones. His need for her, all consuming, almost bordering on obsessive. She was his life and if anything happened to her, he would be destroyed.
She pressed her body close to his, reaching up, on her toes, to get even closer. She circled her arms around his back, holding tight. She spoke into his ear, "I don't ever want to let you go."
"Sweetheart, I'll never let you go."
That night, Jack and Alexis watched as Gage gave an impromptu charity concert for a non-profit canine sanctuary he was helping raise funds for. Jack had volunteered Pulled for the locale so all the proceeds would go to the charity.
Gage was alone, without his band, sitting on a stool with only his guitar, singing songs shouted by the audience. The place was packed, and Jack was grateful to be up on the VIP dais were only about twenty people were allowed.
Supported on his arms, he leaned over the railing, slowly nursing a beer. As he half listened to Gage and half listened to Alexis talking with Cassie, the woman who ran the non-profit organization, he felt a body settle at his side.
"Jack, good to see you. It's been awhile."
Jack turned his head. Sabrina. This he did not need. He smiled tightly. "Sabrina."
Sabrina moved a fraction of an inch closer leaning on the rail like Jack, her upper arms pushing on her breasts, causing them to nearly spill out of her top.
She was looking at the stage, but she spoke to Jack. "Like what you see? I remember you found them quite entertaining."
Jack took another sip of his beer contemplating his next move. Sabrina was clingy. It took two months of constant rebuffs for her to finally leave him alone. She was a fuck he wished he could undo. "You need to leave the VIP section. If you don't, I'll have security show you out."
"Why so hostile? We're just having a conversation. Besides, I'm here with my date." She gave a flirty laugh. "Don't worry, I'm not going to throw myself at you. You've made it quite clear in the past that you were done with me." She stood from the rail. "I'm not that desperate."
He watched her walk away, hoping that would be the last of her. He kept watching to make sure she left the VIP section. He felt a hand on his arm.
"Everything okay?" Alexis asked.
He turned to her and smiled. "Everything's fine, sweetheart."
"Who was that?"
"A one-night stand that didn't want to let go."
Alexis looked over the sea of people, trying to find the woman. "There seems to be a lot of those."
"Too late to change my past now, but if I could, I would."
Alexis gave him a disbelieving smirk.
"Are you saying, if you could have changed things, you would've waited for me?"
He gave her his wicked grin. "I'm saying I would have found you sooner."
* * * * *
Alexis searched the crowd and spotted the woman Jack had been talking with. She was the woman from the bar that had been hanging all over Jack the night she'd been drugged. She was beyond beautiful, with blond hair, and a tall, slim body in skin-tight jeans and a red, cleavage inducing halter top. Janet had been right about one thing, Alexis was definitely not Jack's type.
She would have passed the incident off as another "Janet" themed event, except for one fact. Jack. And his long lingering stare. That stare made a strange weight settle in her stomach and a tight knot form in the back of her throat, making it hard to swallow.
Her voice was suspiciously husky when she replied, "I don't know, I think I would've been tough to find."
Alexis watched Jack's brow furrow as he tried to dissect her tone. Good luck, even she couldn't figure out her feelings right now. "Believe me, had I known you were out there, no rock would've gone unturned."
"This is a pointless conversation. There's no going back."
Jack gave her a tender smile. "You're right there's no changing the past all we have is the future. A fantastic future of you and me."
"And baby makes three." Alexis stopped breathing and her eyes widened. She started shaking her head and she opened her mouth but no sound came out. She watched as Jack's eyes got dark and smoky. "I didn't mean that. It's just a saying that popped into my head when I heard those words."
Jack stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "I think I like the idea of your belly swollen with my baby." He sighed, and she understood his look now, longing. "Yeah, I like that idea a lot."
Alexis swallowed, hard. Yikes. What did she say to that! Nothing to say. Time to change the subject, fast. "So what do you think the chances are for the Pursuers this year?"
Jack did a slow blink then tipped his head back and laughed.
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