by K. A. Linde
Their eyes locked on to each other, and it was like she didn’t even have to speak. It felt like he knew every thought in her head. This was her Jack.
“Lex,” he whispered.
“Can I come in?” she asked, her chest rising and falling in rhythm with her increased heartbeat.
Jack opened the door wider without a word and let her pass before him. It took everything she had not to just grab him, but she needed to talk to him first. She wanted to be rational about all of this…before he made her lose all her senses.
“I didn’t…I didn’t think you’d come back,” he said honestly.
Jack could never hide anything from her.
“I know,” she said.
It hurt her to think about what he had thought when she had left…when she hadn’t come back. She didn’t want to hurt him like that again.
“You issued an ultimatum last night…”
“I can’t keep doing this, Lexi,” Jack said immediately. “I want you. All of you. I want you so bad right now that I’m shaking to find control.”
Lexi smiled faintly. He still thought she was deciding.
“Jack, you’ve never made me decide. You always just…wanted me however you could have me. Why is this time any different?”
Jack closed his eyes and shook his head, walking a pace away from her. “I thought I explained last night. When you walked out of the wedding, I knew it was the end. I knew I had finally pushed you away…irreconcilably broken. But you broke me that day, too…in the best possible way. When I said I never wanted to hurt you again and I just wanted to see you happy, I meant it. I’ve been working for that these past couple of years. I’ve been giving you what you wanted. But I’m officially getting divorced in a few short weeks, and the thought of not fighting to be the person who makes you happy, to be the man who you come home to…well, I couldn’t live with myself. Because you’re what I want.”
He took a deep breath, and their eyes met again.
“And if I’m not what you want, then…just put me out of my misery.”
“Oh, Jack,” Lexi groaned, closing the distance between them and wrapping her arms around his waist. “You’re what I want. You’re all I want.”
Jack stood frozen, like he couldn’t believe what she had just said. She pulled back to look into his eyes, which were clouded over.
“What about Ramsey?” he asked, his voice hoarse.
“I already talked to him,” she said, letting Jack go and showing him her left hand. “I told him it was over—that I couldn’t keep the ring because I already had one.”
He stared down at her hand, blatant shock on his face. He had thought that last night was the last one they would have together. He had clearly believed that that it was over…that the woman he had loved for ten years was going to walk out of his life forever. And he had been willing to let her go…if that were what she wanted.
He drew her left hand into his with a smirk and planted his lips ever so softly onto her ring finger. “Damn right, you do.”
She closed her eyes with a sigh right before his lips crashed down on top of hers. Their lips melded together with the ease of two people who had spent ten years fighting to be together. He tasted and smelled and felt exactly how she remembered. Every sense was heightened, and she knew then that she could drown in this right here. This was right. It was sweet perfection, hypnotic energy, euphoric adrenaline pumping down through her veins.
Her hands moved up to tangle into his dark brown hair, and she tugged on the strands, pulling him closer to her, trying to feel all of him, as his tongue explored her mouth. He groaned into her mouth as she yanked a bit too hard, but his grip just tightened on her waist where he had moved aside her shirt and dug his fingers into her warm flesh.
“I love you,” he got out between kisses. “I love you so much.”
She pressed their bodies further together, and she could feel the heat coming off his body, superheating her skin and leaving her body aching.
“I love you, too. I always have…”
“And I always will,” he finished for her.
He slid his hands over her ass and down the backs of her thighs before hoisting her legs up and around his waist. He started walking back to the bedroom without even breaking their kiss…and she damn well was not going to stop him.
Her back collided with the hallway wall, and the breath left her lungs in a whoosh. He grabbed her shirt in his hands and started unbuttoning each button as his lips landed on her cheek, her neck, her collarbone.
“Fuck,” he groaned as the buttons didn’t give easily.
He grabbed the front of her shirt with both hands and yanked, the buttons popping off all the way down to her navel. She shrieked in surprise, which immediately turned into a giggle.
“God, you’re beautiful.”
“And I’m not even angry,” she said.
His hand trailed from the base of her throat to the curve of her breasts and dipped under the thin lace material. She arched her back against his touch and felt her body demanding his attention.
“But I’m going to be if you don’t get me to the bedroom.”
“What? I can’t take my time?” he asked, pushing aside the bra and bringing his lips to her erect nipple.
She moaned openly, wanting nothing more than for him to do whatever the hell he wanted. But her body was not agreeing as it pulsed all around her.
“Take your time on round two,” she got out breathily.
Jack looked up at her with a smirk. Those blue eyes were crystal clear and devilish as sin, and they were all fucking hers.
“I love the way you think.”
She bit her lip as he moved her farther down the hallway, and with his toe, he kicked the bedroom door all the way open. He dropped her down onto the bed, and his body covered hers immediately. She felt every inch of their bodies pressed together. He was hard through his thin shorts, and she demandingly wiggled her hips against him. She wanted to feel him buried deep inside her. She wanted him to take her, to claim her. She wanted to be his…all his. Her mind was lost in this moment, knowing that they were here and together and had a future. It was everything she could have asked for and more.
He stripped her out of her clothes and tossed his shorts and boxers to the floor before returning to her. She ran her hands down each and every ab to the V that trailed even lower as he settled between her legs.
“Lex,” he whispered as he dropped forward on his forearms and kissed her lips softly.
She slid her tongue along his bottom lip and lifted her hips to touch herself against his dick. He leaned forward at the movement and pushed against her but not quite in. She moaned, her eyes fluttering closed, with desire for this moment…this man.
“Hey, look at me,” he said.
Lexi opened her eyes and stared up into the blue depths of the man she loved.
“I want to watch you. I want to see your heart when I’m inside you,” he whispered huskily.
“My heart belongs to you,” she told him. “You took it a long time ago and never gave it back.”
“And I’m never going to,” he said. He kissed her lips again softly before burying himself deep into her.
She groaned at the feel of him as he stretched and filled her. Her eyes started to close, but he shook his head and kept staring down at her with so much love and affection she thought her heart might burst.
He loved her. Jack loved her.
Their pace matched each other like they had never been apart…like the years hadn’t changed a damn thing. And in that moment, as their bodies met again and again, it felt like nothing had changed. They were still very much in love, their bodies completely and perfectly in tune, and the years of separation seemed like a lifetime ago. It felt like this was exactly how it was always supposed to be, and they would do everything in their power to keep it just like this.
Lexi’s breathing picked up, as Jack thrust into her. Her walls tightened all around him, and she tossed her head
back, desperate for the release teetering on the brink.
“Lex, you don’t have to ever hold back with me,” he whispered into her ear as his pace quickened. “I’m always going to come with you.”
She pushed against him, harder and harder, until she knew that she couldn’t hold on to anything for another second. He groaned and thrust into her one more time as they both exploded, and her world seemed to shift out from under her.
All along, she had thought that Jack tilted her world off axis, but maybe she had been wrong. Maybe the rest of the world was off axis, and Jack was absolutely, perfectly right. Because nothing else on this world or any other could ever make her feel so utterly wonderful, could shatter every notion of what she should be feeling, and could leave her in a puddle of delirious happiness.
He pulled out and collapsed onto the bed next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and not letting her move an inch. “You…are the most…amazing woman I have…ever met,” he said as he struggled for breath.
She snuggled into his chest and rested her head on his arm. A sheen of sweat coated both of their bodies. Her hair was a rat’s nest of messy curls. And she was the happiest she had been in as long as she could remember.
“It was always different with you,” she whispered.
“Always,” Jack agreed.
“Better.”
“Definitely.”
He buried his head in her neck and kissed across the sensitive skin. Goose bumps broke out across her arms and down her chest. He laughed lightly and brought his hand up to follow the bumps down between her breasts. Her skin flushed under his hands, and she felt her heart rate picking up.
God, she loved him.
He adjusted her, so she was facing him, and their lips found each other again, slow and sensual. In that moment, she felt like she could kiss him forever. There was nowhere else she would rather be than locked away with Jack right now.
Before releasing her, he nibbled lightly on her bottom lip, sucking it into his mouth and drawing it back between his teeth. She pushed her hands back into his hair, loving how his breathing hitched when she grasped on to him.
“Tease,” she whispered.
“I said I’d take my time on round two,” Jack said, running his mouth down the hollow of her throat and nipping at her skin lightly.
Their bodies melded together, and she felt him stiffen against her stomach.
“You’re ready already?” she asked eagerly.
She was surprised but excited. It wasn’t like Jack was always a one-and-done kind of guy. But already? Without even a break?
“Love, I’ve been missing out on this for years. I have a lot of catching up to do.”
And so, they savored each other’s bodies and the reuniting of their love.
Jack rolled Lexi over, on top of him, and she laid her chest across his body, feeling heated skin against skin. His hands moved up into her hair and tugged it as teasingly as she had. It was bliss.
She might have been on top, but when he moved up into her, there was no question that they were sharing control over the situation. She temptingly circled her hips in figure eights around him, causing him to groan, and his grip on her hair tightened.
Not able to take her teasing anymore, his hand landed heavy on her ass, and he started working her hips up and down on him until she felt herself losing control again. She couldn’t slow down or stop what was beating through her body, and if they kept up this pace, then she was going to lose it sooner rather than later.
Jack saw it in her eyes, and the smirk on his face told her that there was no way he was going to keep her from the orgasm about to rocket through her body.
“Oh fuck,” she said, burying her face in his chest, as she came unhinged all around him.
He waited for her to finish before rolling her onto her back and burying himself into her once more. He hoisted one of her legs up onto his shoulders, leveraging her body to get deeper.
“God, my little gymnast’s body,” he murmured into her ear.
She smiled through her satiated haze as he pumped faster and faster, bringing her blissfully to the brink again. She couldn’t believe that she was already there, but with the way he was pushing, she knew that she wasn’t the only one. They came together a second time, soaring far, far away and crashing back down into each other.
Lexi closed her eyes, letting the moment wash over her.
She let her breathing even out. “I thought you were going to take your time.”
“Are you complaining?”
“Definitely not.”
“Good. I’ll take it slow for round three,” he said, pushing her hair back out of her face.
“I might not be awake for that,” she said groggily.
“I’ll wake your body up,” he whispered seductively.
“You always do.”
She could feel herself slipping into a sex coma of record proportions. All of the exhaustion and anxiety had been wiped away and had been replaced by this incredible peace. And she knew she could sleep away the next couple of days, wrapped in Jack’s comforting arms.
“Hey,” he whispered, brushing his nose against hers.
“Mmm…”
“I love you.”
Lexi smiled and opened her eyes to stare up into the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. “I love you, too.”
“I still can’t believe you’re here,” he admitted.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“I didn’t think you were going to be coming back.”
She trailed her hand down the side of his face and gave him a soft kiss on the mouth. “I can’t live without you. It was you. It was always you.”
“I’m going to spend every day of my life proving you right,” he told her.
His eyes were completely serious, and she believed him. They had been through too much for him to start lying to her now. He loved her, and he wasn’t going to give her up again.
After a short break, they indulged themselves in the feel of each other again before sleep captured them.
She didn’t know how long she had been out when she heard a banging coming from somewhere far off. She thought that she was dreaming for a second, and the disorientation of what had happened and where she was didn’t help anything. Then, it all came rushing back to her. She had broken off her engagement with Ramsey, then slept with Jack…and now, she was wrapped in Jack’s sheets.
Yawning wide, she rolled over and saw him sleeping peacefully next to her—his hair a mess, his eyes closed, his body rising and falling softly with his steady breaths. For a second, she didn’t know if she had overslept and was going to be late for work, but with one glance at the digital clock across the room, she knew that it was only seven o’clock—a full hour and a half before she had to be into work.
Then, the banging started again. This time, she was sure she hadn’t imagined it, and it definitely wasn’t a dream.
“Jack,” she murmured, rocking his shoulder, “wake up. I think someone’s at the door.”
“Hmm?” he asked as she slowly pulled him out of his slumber. He slung an arm around her waist and pulled her into him. “You smell like me.”
Lexi giggled. “I wonder why that is.”
“I had a dream that you came home to me, and we had sex all night.” He still hadn’t opened his eyes.
“That wasn’t a dream,” she said, pressing her lips to his lightly.
“Mmm,” he groaned. “Another round in the morning? Fuck, I love you.”
Lexi laughed aloud that time. “I love you, too. Maybe another round after you answer the door…if you’re lucky.”
“I have you, Lex,” he said, opening his eyes. The crystal-clear orbs stared wide-eyed up at her. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
Lexi sighed softly while she looked down at Jack. He smiled lazily up at her before cupping her face and pulling it down to meet his lips. She laughed as the banging started again and then pulled away.
“Go a
nswer the door. Jesus,” Lexi said.
“All right. All right,” Jack said, rolling out of bed, completely nude.
She admired his gorgeous backside as he searched around for his boxers, shorts, and a discarded T-shirt that he hadn’t even bothered with last night.
“Don’t go anywhere. I want to think about you lying around naked in my bed.”
She laughed again, but he waited for her to nod before walking out of the door and down the hallway.
“Coming!” she heard Jack yell.
The banging on the door finally ceased.
Lexi stretched her arms up over her head as she waited patiently for Jack to return and ravish her body. She heard the door open, and soft voices echoed down the hall toward her. She hoped Jack would just tell whoever was there to get lost, so he could come back to her. She would give him a couple of minutes, and then if the person wasn’t gone, she would be happy to help him get rid of whoever it was.
The door closed again, and Lexi smiled until she heard the faint click of high heels on the hardwood floors. High heels. Huh. Lexi sat up, listening harder to try to make out what was going on in the living room.
Then, she heard what she had been dreading. That voice.
“Jack, please…”
Oh, fuck no!
Lexi swung her legs out of bed, and she pulled on a pair of Jack’s boxers and one of his T-shirts. She thew her hair into a high ponytail and walked down the hallway as if she were oblivious to what was going on.
“Jack!” Lexi called. “Is someone here?”
She crossed the threshold into the living room where she saw Bekah standing next to the couch with the coffee table between her and Jack.
“Oh, hey, Bekah,” Lexi said with a smirk that spoke volumes.
“What is she doing here?” Bekah snapped, her eyes shifting to Jack.
“She’s here with me,” Jack told her, leveling her with a serious gaze. “She’s with me.”
“She’s with you?”
“Yeah,” Lexi said evenly.
“I bet Ramsey would be very interested to know that you’re here,” Bekah said, turning up her nose snootily.
Bekah thought that she had Lexi then. It actually made Lexi smile.