Everybody Falls

by J. A. Hornbuckle

  "Stop, Lace. Please," he growled, dropping his face in the space between her breasts. "I won't last, Baby. I really won't."

  He felt her body still.

  Jax dragged a hand down her side before moving carefully away, very aware he was leaving a wet trail against the top of her thigh.

  As he rolled away, he felt her follow him, tucking herself against his body, tucking her head in that place that he already thought of as her place. However her hips thrust against the skin of his hip, still showing her excitement, her desire.

  "I need you to still, Lacey, please," he groaned and felt his own hips flex without conscious thought. His arm moved to capture her soft form against him.

  The quietness of the room was only broken by his deep breaths and he felt her stop all movement, her head tilted up to his.

  Quiet held as he got a grip on his body, yet molded her tight against his side.

  "Talk to me," he offered.

  "About what?" she whispered.

  "Anything, Baby," he replied, yet his mind was whispering, anything but about what we're about to do. "What's the 4-1-1 with your moms?"

  "Uhm," she started. "I was only five when I realized my mom had some issues. One day she'd be happy and on top of the world. The next day she'd stay in bed with the drapes drawn and crying for, what I thought, was no reason. She wouldn't check the mail and it wasn't until the mail carrier came to the door, when I was eight, that I learned about bills. He held a stack of crap, an eighteen inch stack of stuff that I had to sort through, when I discovered that she didn't take care of things. She didn't take care of me, she didn't pay bills, she didn't take care of anything."

  Jax heard her swallow deeply against him. He could swear her body heated as she spoke.

  "So I threw out all the circulars and stuff. Found there were envelopes with red writing on them. Electric, Gas and the like. When I read them, it took me a long time to sound out the words. I realized that the utilities were going to be shut off because they hadn't been paid," she said, as the tone of her voice touched a deep place inside him.

  She'd only been a kid for fuck's sake.

  "I called Grandma. I told her and she had me read everything off to her," she murmured. Jax felt her one hand, the one on his chest, trail around his stomach. "She paid them all, Jack. Every last one of them. We never told Mom."

  "I'm glad you had your Grandma, Baby," he said softly, and realized he was starting to gain some control at just the sound of her voice; at the sad story of her and her upbringing. Too much, too soon was what he heard.

  "Me, too," she breathed against him, her warm breath hitting and lingering over his stomach. "It wasn't too long before Mom was back in jail and I was back with Grandma Lilly."

  They were back to quiet, yet it was such a good kind of quiet, Jax couldn't find fault.

  "Your turn," he heard her say with a soft murmur and languid kiss to the sensitive center between his collarbones.

  "Me? Uhm, okay," Jax said trying to think of a memory that wouldn't shock the shit out of his girl but still connected to what she'd been talking about.

  "I've never paid a bill in my life." he admitted and felt the heat crawling up his neck to his face.

  "Never?" she asked quietly. There was no judgment in her voice, only curiosity.

  "No, Lace. Never," he affirmed, yet he was ashamed. What kind of person gets to be in their mid-twenties and has never paid a bill in his life? "By the time we hit it big, we had accountants that took care of shit like that."

  "But," she started. "You don't do that anymore."

  "Yeah, except now I have a court-appointed accountant that handles all the money stuff," he explained. "They, you know the court people, said I wasn't 'fit' to handle my own money. So they handle it."

  It bugged. Which he knew was a sign of progress. Before he hadn't given a good goddamn that others had to take care of him. Now? He wanted control over his life, in everything that even came near to touching him.

  "So, the big bad rock star doesn't have access to his millions?" He heard the teasing note in her voice.

  "I don't have millions, Lace," he admitted simply. "Denny plowed head-on to a semi on one of the back roads to Vegas. The kid driving was only nineteen, newly married with a baby on the way. The family sued and I settled out of court."

  "Oh, God," she breathed, her hand around his waist tightening. "I'm so sorry."

  "I'm not," he responded, his voice sincere. "She got a large chunk of change and will get it so long as I'm alive to help take care of her and the baby."

  His voice faltered. "It was the least we could do."

  "What do you mean?" she asked after a bit.

  "Denny was high, Lace," he admitted. "He was drunk and so fucked up before hitting, driving the nose of the Porsche into the cab of the truck. We took those young kids' dreams of a family, of something true and real, then turned it into a fucking nightmare. She almost lost the baby, she was grieving so hard for her man."

  Quietness fell as both of them seemed to think about a young woman, pregnant, losing her husband so hard, so young, that their baby was threatened.

  "Oh, Jack," he heard her breathe and felt her leg drape over his as she, again, tightened her arm around him.

  "I know, right?" he murmured, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.

  "Lace?" he whispered feeling her as she rolled up and onto him.

  "Jack," she murmured her lips hitting his, kissing him with heat and intent.

  Oh, God.

  He'd just admitted something he was so deeply ashamed of, something that showed the worst of him and Denny yet she still wanted him. That is if he was reading the message right, the one her mouth was sending.

  Healing.

  Her lips were so fucking healing.

  The feel of her pressing, rubbing against him, was soothing yet so arousing, had his insides in knots.

  Her body, that amazing writhing body, left no doubt in his mind he was exactly what she wanted at this moment.

  Not Jax Wynter, the rocker.

  But, Jack.

  Her Jack.

  Chapter 15

  I reached for the blank, white bag emblazoned with the receipt from the nightstand and ripped the damned thing open with my teeth, my eyes on his the entire time.

  I wanted him fiercely.

  My mind knew he'd tried to turn me away with his admission, but it'd done just the opposite. It'd cemented that he was everything I'd seen in my Bakery, even on the street when he'd ran.

  "Condom," I breathed at his raised eyebrow at my actions, his fingers flexing on my waist.

  "I need you inside, Jack," I tried to explain, my voice shaking, as I poured all twelve of the condoms out onto his chest, ripping one off with one hand and my teeth. I pushed the rest of them off and away.

  I know it was probably one of the most wanton moves of my life, but I held the edge of that one condom between my teeth as I ripped the freaking thing open. I wanted him that bad.

  Achingly bad, if I was going for truthful.

  I leaned back, my legs still on the outside of his as my ass hit his knees. He was spread out before me, just like on the couch.

  That chest.

  Those abs and the magnificent display of his arousal reaching up towards me.

  I pulled that little bit of plastic out of its foil wrapper that we were both supposed to trust and quickly copied the movements of my previous three lovers to drag it over his long, hot length.

  "Oh, God," I heard myself moan as I seated it down to his base. The evidence of his hunger pressed into my palm as I unrolled the sheathe over him.

  His eyes were hot, sizzling when I dared to glance up into his eyes.

  "Lace?" he questioned, and I felt his hands on my ass as I scooted up, dragging my wet core up that latexed heat; wetting it in a way that was somehow primal.

  I planted my hands on his hard chest before circling the swollen point of my pleasure over his hot, hard tip.

  "God, yeah," I he
ard myself purr and did another slow hip rotation, dropping my head back in delight.

  I reached between us and again grabbed the base of him, pointing him upwards.

  "Lace?" he repeated with a throb, his damn glorious eyes shimmering in the soft light, before they shot lower, watching as I poised above him.

  "Jack. Oh, Jack," I sighed as I slid myself, inching slowly downward, feeling him fill me almost to bursting.

  I could hear myself keen from way down deep inside me as I was finally able to seat myself fully on his velvet steel.

  "Please, honey," I begged, wanting him so much to be in the same space I was. A place filled with desire, with aching need. The zone where you're incomplete without that hard filling.

  I felt his hips tilt, finally, when I sank myself even deeper on him as I began to move.

  Up and back. Slewing my hips tenderly, accepting his length, his thickness before releasing.

  Such a smooth upward glide, followed by deep penetration.

  "Move with me," I pled. "Please, Jack."

  His hands tightened on my ass and finally, freaking finally, he began to move within me.

  Yes.

  Oh, dear God, yes.

  Perfectly placed, rubbing that deep, sweet spot inside as we moved. Grinding my hard swollen bump of ecstasy on his pubic bone as our bodies met.

  Then, without warning, he flipped me over onto my back, raising my leg as he began to drill me. Hard poundings I welcomed, that I cried out to him to increase.

  He had one hand planted on the mattress next to my head, levered up as he moved, his hips a driving force that I couldn't help to mimic.

  "Fuck, Lace," he growled, his hips never slowing. "Fuck me, Baby."

  And I did because it felt so good; because his eyes had never left mine.

  I was lost, since we never ceased the connection of our eye contact. Our eye-fuck only added to the pleasure of it all.

  Watching his face, I saw him take us in, his gaze dragging down my body. His eyes hot on the place where we were joined, the spot where our bodies met as he pounded, circled as he thrust hard against me. I realized he wanted me to come. His movements weren't for his pleasure alone.

  He wanted to watch me come.

  "Aw, damn, Jack," I wailed, since that last thought had me on the edge; ready, so freaking ready to hit it.

  Two strokes later, I did. Tumbling from that knife-edged crest, I climaxed hard, deep and sharp.

  "Oh, Jack" I sobbed, the magnificent delight crashing over me, but my eyes were still trained to his, now, unfocused ones. I heard his deep throated cries right behind mine.

  "I love you, Lacey," I heard him grind out seconds before his hardness pulsed within me.

  *.*.*.*.*

  She was going to be the death of him.

  She was so fucking sexy he almost couldn't stand it. He didn't know if he could handle the pure, the understanding, with all the heat and erotic delight she created.

  God, he didn't want to disengage from her and he felt his hips continue to slide in and out, his ass clenching languidly this time, as his body still shuddered with his release.

  So damn tight.

  Heaven in her wet delicious depths.

  Amazingly hot and the feel of her body wrapped around him was best thing he'd ever had in his life.

  He loved her.

  Jax knew this without a doubt.

  He dropped his face to her neck, still panting.

  If he had a ring on him, he would've dropped to his knees and immediately ask her to marry him.

  She was what his heart had been hurting to have for so long.

  A place to be, a place to belong.

  His alone.

  Which he knew she would've given to him in spades if today had been any measure of how she was every moment of every day.

  She didn't even know.

  He needed to tell her.

  "Lace," he breathed, the pants of his delight still evident in his voice. "This has been the best fucking day of my entire, sorry life."

  She didn't say anything back. At least, not out loud. Her hands, her smile spoke volumes, in his mind, as she caressed him.

  "Take care of the condom, honey," she murmured at long last.

  Huh?

  He'd only ever pulled one off and deposited it over the side of the bed, relying on the household or hotel staff to dispose of it in the morning.

  Shit!

  What were you supposed to do with the fucking thing, he wondered.

  Trash?

  Flush it down the toilet?

  She must've seen he was unsure when she mumbled, "The toilet would be good."

  He pulled away and smiled up at her as he gripped the base of the condom before slipping out of her, still watching her eyes. She smiled as he moved, raising himself up and out of her.

  Jax felt a warmth running down his lip as he flushed the condom down and away. He must have bit his lip and he grabbed a square of toilet paper to dab it.

  Walking back in the dark from the bathroom, his eyes were glued to her body as she moved from the center back to the edge of where she obviously liked to sleep. She'd turned toward the nightstand and he saw her caress the stalk of that flower from the bouquet he'd given her as she pulled the sheet up, tucking up underneath her armpits.

  That fullness hit him again. Right in the middle of his chest, filling him so completely he couldn't breathe.

  He was in love for the first time in his life.

  She was his.

  "Sleepy, Lace?" he asked, walking around to the other side of the bed.

  "Kind of, honey, she breathed, turning to him as he moved to glide his body underneath the sheet.

  He slid in next to her, unable to stop the hands that reached for her, pulling her yielding softness to him.

  "So if I said I needed you again…" he murmured, his voice trailing off into the scent of her hair.

  He felt her tilt her face up to his and saw her grin as it spread.

  "Well," she drawled slowly.

  "Yeah," he breathed, lifting, turning again to fit his chest to hers. "Well."

  The song in his head was Rob Thomas', "Ever the Same'. Each word standing tall, heart-deep, echoing the deep feelings that didn't seem to have words--the song only touching only the surface of what his heart was saying. What he wished he could express to her.

  But, at this moment, he only had his body. To worship her with, to imbue the essence of what was within him into the heart of her.

  His Lacey.

  Where the first joining between them seemed to reflect the want of their bodies, he needed her to know his heart desired her, too. Needed her even more than his physical yearning of a simple orgasm. He was determined to show her, had to show her how he felt.

  She followed him, echoing the strokes of his hands over her warm, soft skin, touching him in long slow, deep caresses that almost left him breathless.

  "God, Lace," he breathed against her, his mouth and hands hungry to touch her.

  "Baby, can I taste you?" he asked with almost what sounded like to a moan to his own ears.

  He heard her gasp.

  "I want to feel my tongue against you, giving you pleasure," he said, turning her over onto her back, his mouth gently laying against her lips.

  She took a deep breath that he felt against his chest.

  "I've never…" she began and he watched her throat move as she swallowed deeply.

  "Me either, and we don't have to if you don't want to," he assured her again running his hands over her soft skin. Her legs parted and his heart again began to race at her nonverbal affirmative.

  Jax moved slowly down her body, stopping at her breasts to use his tongue to swirl, to lap at her hard peaks.

  "Oh, God," he heard her breathe as her body started to move again, squirming as he continued his descent. He raised his head when his mouth reached her navel.

  "Love the piercing, Lace," he murmured, smiling before capturing the whole of the ring and jewel bet
ween his teeth to lightly pull. Her hips thrusted, her slickness rubbing against his chest as she writhed.

  He pushed himself down off the end of the bed and grabbed her behind her knees, dragging her with him. Sitting back on his heels, he released her knees only to press them open wider.

  Jax couldn't believe the vision before him. Her deep pink folds glistened with the dew of her arousal. He could see the swollen half-hidden pearl begin to make its appearance. Using his thumbs, he opened her before dropping his face into her cleft, to tongue and to taste.

  Her hips left the bed at his first long, slow lick. He glanced up to see her hands gripping and twisting the sheets. Her deep, throbbing moan echoed and his now fully-erect cock pulsed in reply. His tongue danced over her small bud before his lips surrounded the whole of it to suck causing Lacey to cry out in pleasure.

  "Is this okay?" he asked on a pause, raising his head just a bit, his eyes doing a slow roam up her body. She shifted herself up onto her elbows and their eyes met.

  "Oh, hell, yeah," she breathed with a slow, sexy smile.

  He dropped back down, yet kept up their eye contact as his tongue began to stroke moving further down to taste and tease her further. She reached and captured his hair with one hand as he went back up to feast on her now fully exposed button of pleasure. Her hips began to move with purpose and he realized she was rubbing herself against his mouth. His cock flexed again and he could feel his balls drawing upward as the zings of pleasure shot through his body.

  He used a finger to sink into her saturated depths, sliding in and out as his mouth continued to suckle and feast.

  "Yes," she hissed, pulling lightly on his hair, holding him tighter to her.

  He eased another finger in and her hips jerked hard almost loosening his hold on her as her panting turned into deep, throaty groans. His cock was leaking pre-cum and he experienced a full body shiver watching, feeling her react to his hungry mouth.

  Her insides were so wet, beginning to clasp as his fingers continued to pump in and out of her, keeping up a deep but slow rhythm. He felt her release the hold she had on his hair before she dropped herself back down to the bed.

  Her thigh quivered under his hand and lust shimmered through him at the sound of her sobbing his name, her hands again clutching, straining at the sheet. He gave a wrenching groan as he watched Lacey's orgasm exploded through her, her back arching, whimpering as she flexed.