Nobody had known about our relationship back in the day. Or that Jace was Sammy’s father. Or that we were together now. I had no idea who they could think Jace was getting the ring for, but I had no doubt that the rumor mill was going absolutely nuts. Maybe they thought it was Rachel. The thought made me snort with laughter.
Maybe it wouldn’t have, a few weeks ago, but I knew now that Jace was mine. People could think whatever they wanted—they’d know the truth soon enough. After all, in a small town like Greenville, nothing stayed private for long.
“I love you,” I told him. After he’d laid himself on the line for me, it was only fair that I tell him the truth stamped in neon lights on my heart. The truth that I never could’ve really denied even though I’d done my best.
Jace raised my hand up to his lips and kissed my knuckles, lingering on my ring finger, and then drew me to him completely, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me fully. It was far from an innocent kiss, his tongue hot and slick in my mouth, and I gasped into it. “I love you, too,” he promised me.
“Then take me to bed.” I wanted to feel him, everywhere.
Jace gave me this look of utter heat, and then I had to clap a hand over my mouth to hold in my shriek as he scooped me up, carrying me bridal style. I wrapped my arms around his neck, trying not to squirm too much in case that made us fall over. Jace was strong—I felt like I weighed nothing in his arms—but I was worried about his knee.
But Jace carried me just fine up into the bedroom, stepping carefully to see what spots on the old hardwood were creaky so that he could avoid them and we wouldn’t wake up Sammy. The last thing I wanted right now was him waking up. I loved my son, of course I did, but… I wanted Jace inside of me so badly I was aching all over with the desire.
Jace shouldered open the door to my bedroom and I couldn’t suppress a giggle as he shouldered it closed again, carefully leaning his weight back until we heard the door click into place before moving towards the bed.
“If you don’t mind,” he said, leaning down and laying me onto the bed, bracing his hands on either side of my head, “I’m going to take my time with you, now.”
As if I’d mind whatever his plans were. I was a bit impatient. I could admit to that. I wanted to feel him filling me up, spreading me, stuffing me. I wanted us to be joined together in the most primal way possible, now that we were joined together in our hearts.
“I’m all yours,” I told him, and I meant it. Not just now, not just tonight, but forever. I was his, and he was mine. The two of us joined, as we always should have been.
Jace spread me out and took my wrists in his hands, gently guiding them up to the slats of the headboard. “Hold on,” he instructed, squeezing them and then letting go.
I did as I was told, my breath catching as he started to slowly, carefully undress me. God, he looked so concentrated, like there was nothing more important in the world than revealing my body, exposing it to his gaze like a particularly special kind of present.
The temptation to beg him to hurry up was strong, but Jace had said that he was taking his time with me, and I wanted to trust him.
Jace started at my ankles, slowly kissing his way up them, along my calves, behind my knees where I was ticklish and I had to hold still so that I wouldn’t kick him or squirm, and then up my thighs. He scraped his teeth now and again, and I could feel heat building up between my legs and in the pit of my stomach.
And then Jace completely bypassed my pussy and moved up to my stomach, kissing along that instead, nipping and sucking in mouthfuls. I was pretty sure I was going to have a series of bruises all over my body from his mouth tomorrow—and I didn’t mind in the slightest. I wanted to look at myself in the mirror tomorrow morning and see the evidence of Jace’s claiming me, the evidence of our love.
He worked his way up to my breasts, where he spent plenty of time lingering. His hands massaged them and tweaked at my nipples, a smirk on his face as I gasped and arched underneath his touch. God, he knew my body so well by now. He knew just how rough to be, where to pinch, where to soothe and be gentle. I moaned and struggled to keep still as he sucked on my nipple, fluttering his tongue around it.
“You love it when I do that,” he said, his voice warm and loving but confident and teasing at the same time.
“I love everything you do,” I gasped, pushing myself up, trying to get more of my breast into his mouth. He obliged me, licking and sucking, and I gave myself over to the sensation. He was so completely in charge, and all I had to do was go along for the ride as he slowly worshipped me. What was so wrong about that? He would fuck me, I trusted that. All my impatience fled like strings unwinding. He would take care of me.
“Mmm, good girl,” Jace murmured as he kissed up my neck, like he could sense that I’d decided to be patient for him. He sucked what had to be a huge hickey into the side and I gasped and moaned, pressing myself up against him, letting him get away with it just this once. The whole town was going to know about our engagement, I supposed, so what was one hickey?
Jace kissed me properly at last and I chased his tongue, chased the sensation, before he pulled away again and dove between my legs.
It was all I could do to hold onto the bed and not cry out when his tongue scraped against my clit. He knew exactly what he was doing, the bastard, driving me to distraction.
And then he pulled away! And started kissing back up my body to my breasts and neck again!
It was good, so good, I couldn’t deny that. To have all of his attention on me, to have him touching me all over, worshipping me all over. “Can I touch you?” I begged him.
“Not just yet, sweetheart.” He kissed me softly on the lips. “But soon. I’m not finished with you just yet.”
He kissed me again and then moved back down between my legs, licking and sucking, and he certainly wasn’t teasing now. He was going to town on me, and I was helpless. It took everything in me to keep quiet as I writhed under his tongue, gasping and arching, pleasure flooding me like an ocean, drowning me, consuming me.
And then he pulled away, right before I could climax. I felt like I was balanced on the knife edge, right about to fall off into the waters of pleasure, and Jace pulled away. He didn’t have a smirk on his face, though. He looked utterly delighted.
Jace crawled up the bed, kissing me again and again, and I pressed up against him. I could feel how hard he was, even through the clothes that he was still wearing. I knew what his cock would look like, his thick gorgeous cock, and I wanted to see it, I wanted to feel it without any clothes between us. I wanted to get my hands all over his body, arching and grinding against him to try and encourage him to get inside of me.
And then he started talking.
“I can’t tell you how much I love you,” Jace murmured. “The way you stood up to Andy—the way you took care of Sammy—you’re courageous, Leigh. So much more than you know.”
I could feel myself flushing with embarrassed warmth. I wasn’t sure that I did know, or that I did believe him. But all that mattered was that Jace believed in it. Jace saw this in me and it made me glow, made me warm inside and out. I loved him, I loved him so much, and he loved me and saw this in me and—and that was all that I cared about. I wanted to find a way to keep being the woman that he saw, the woman that he loved.
I lost count of how long we kissed, losing myself in the moment, until Jace at last pulled back and kissed down my body a final time.
There was no holding back my climax now. I had to turn my head and bite down on my pillow to keep quiet as my hips shoved up against Jace’s determined tongue as he kept licking at me, over and over, until I was shaking with oversensitivity.
God, it felt so good. It felt comforting, almost, which was probably crazy but—but it did. It was a comforting orgasm, like sinking into a beautiful cloud, like breathing out a sigh of relief after holding my breath for so long.
Jace crawled up to me and kissed me again. “Can I touch you?” I begged.
&
nbsp; “Yes,” Jace promised. “Yes, you can.”
I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him immediately. “I love you,” I whispered.
Jace grinned against my mouth. “I love you too.” He kissed my nose. “But we’re far from finished.”
Oh, hell yes.
29
Jace
I loved getting to take my time with Leigh. I didn’t have to hold back or worry anymore. I could show my love for her, and I could relax, because I was going to be with her for the rest of my life. We were going to be together, we were going to be married, and I could take my time with her because I had as much time with her as I pleased. We both did.
Leigh breathed a happy sigh of relief as she let go of the slats of the headboard and at last touched me. She immediately started undoing my clothes, taking them off me with the same reverence I’d had when I’d undressed her. I knew she was impatient, I knew that she wanted me to fuck her, but at the same time I could feel her catching onto how I was feeling. This was the first night of the rest of our lives. Why rush it?
Her hands slid over my body, pressing, grasping, exploring, like she was seeing me for the first time. Leigh gently nudged me and I rolled over onto my back, let her kiss me all over as I’d done with her. She planted a soft, especially lingering kiss on my knee, looking up at me through her lashes with this earth-shattering expression of… of what I could only call love. It made my breath catch in my throat, made my heart flutter in my chest and I could hardly even breathe for a second.
God, I loved her so fucking much. And after all my damn mistakes, I finally got to be with her. Thank fuck.
I didn’t want her to have to wait any longer than she needed to—I didn’t need any special treatment—but Leigh insisted on going down on me, on taking my cock in her mouth and returning the favor, sucking at me until I thought she was going to take my damn brains out through my cock. She was so fucking sexy. I didn’t even have words for how sexy, how beautiful, how amazing she was. And I’d sound like an idiot if I praised her as much as I wanted to. Especially since I didn’t want to embarrass her too much. I could see and feel her blushing earlier when I’d said those things about her. So I did my best to keep some of it to myself. But God damn. How the hell did a poor son of a bitch like me land a loyal woman like her, a woman who was a wonderful mother and a talented artist and willing to give me a second chance?
I pulled Leigh off before I could come and turned her over. I wanted to hold her in my arms. I wanted to feel every inch of her pressed against me. I didn’t think I was ever going to win for being the sappiest guy of the year, but I wanted to be a little sappy right now. I wanted us to be completely connected.
Leigh laughed lightly as I kept leaning in, kissing her. Fuck, she felt so good. Her mouth was tight and sweet and working me just right, but her pussy was just as good, and I didn’t know which I liked better. I could still taste her orgasm on my tongue, and I knew that she could taste it too when I kissed her. I’d do that do her every day if she wanted. I loved the feeling of her thighs pressing in around me, loved the taste of her on my tongue, loved knowing I could drive her to distraction like nobody else.
“Harder,” Leigh whispered as I thrust into her. I grabbed her hands, interlocking our fingers, and pushed her hands down onto the bed, joining us and using it as leverage to keep fucking into her. “Harder, I want to feel you all tomorrow.”
“Anything you want,” I promised her, thrusting harder into her. I wanted to feel her, too. “Fuck, baby, you’re fucking perfect.”
“Dreamed about you,” Leigh admitted, her voice breathy as I kept thrusting. “All while you were gone. You were the only one. There’s never been anyone else.”
I just had to kiss her for that. I dared any man not to kiss a woman when she said something like that to him. “Same here, sweetheart. I kept dreaming about you—whenever it got bad, I’d think about you. My whole unit can tell you—how I mooned over you. It was ridiculous. They’d make fun of me for it. Loved you this whole time.”
Maybe someday I’d stop beating myself up for being such an idiot and leaving without a word. For thinking that Leigh was ready to move on and being such a cad because I’d thought it would protect my heart. But even if I couldn’t quite bring myself to do that yet, at least I had her. At least it had all worked out in the end.
“Fuck me like you’re going to get me pregnant again,” Leigh whispered, and fuck if that didn’t send a bolt of lightning straight to my cock. “Fuck me like you’re going to knock me up again, Jace, please.”
Fuck, yes, I could do that. I thrust into her harder, faster, imagining her swelling with pregnancy, imagining that there was another baby, our baby, inside of her. That I was planting the seed that would one day become a person, and this time, I would be there to see it. That Sammy would get a little sibling and I could be there every step of the way…
“I love you,” I reminded her, kissing her savagely as Leigh arched against me, clenching around me, starting to come. There was no way I was going to be able to hold back, not with all that I was feeling, not when she was orgasming around me.
I spilled hard inside of her, burying my face in her neck. This—this was perfection. I never wanted to leave this moment with her. It felt like all of my damn bones had been turned into soup. I was so wrung out. But in the best kind of way. That good, happy tired kind of way. I just wanted to collapse on her and curl up with her, forget the rest of the world, but I knew that was going to get unpleasant in a bit.
With a grunt and what felt like every sap of strength within me, I pulled away and sat up, looking around for some way to clean ourselves off.
Leigh must’ve realized what I was getting at, because she laughed softly, and got up out of bed. It looked like it took her some effort, too, and I smirked with pride knowing that I’d completely worn her out as well.
She went into her closet and grabbed a silky lavender colored robe that was hanging from the back of the door, then went into the bathroom, returning wearing the robe a minute later. She looked fucking adorable in it, the light purple a good color on her. Her hair was all tumbled down around her back and shoulders, and she’d tied the sash for the robe casually, making the front of it fall open just enough to let me see the curve of her breasts.
Dammit, if I’d only been a bit younger, I’d be ready to get it up again at the sight. Leigh smirked at me, as if she could read my thoughts on my face, and tossed me a warm, damp washcloth to clean myself up with. I put my boxers and shirt back on when I was finished. I was used to sleeping buck naked in my own place, but if there was a fire or some other emergency I didn’t want Sammy seeing me in my full glory, poor kid.
Leigh climbed right back into bed with me as I was tugging the t-shirt back over my head, crawling up to me like she was just waiting for me to open my arms to her. And, well, I was definitely going to do that.
I pulled her in close and curled myself around her, Leigh’s face tucked into my neck. I could feel her settling against me, getting herself comfortable. She smelled like me, a little, like a mix of the two of us. My heart swelled. It was the smell of home. It made it feel like—well we weren’t married yet, obviously—but it made it feel like we were already joined together in every way that mattered. Like we were already one.
I kissed her forehead. She was mine, and I was hers, forever. Just as it should’ve been all those years ago. I’d been a stupid kid then but not anymore. Now I knew better. I knew where I belonged, and to whom I belonged, and I wasn’t going to leave ever again.
Leigh made a contented noise against my throat as I kissed her. “I’m glad you came home,” she murmured, the edges of her voice starting to take on that sweet, soft tone of sleep.
“Greenville only really feels like home because you’re in it,” I admitted.
Yes, I’d been happy to get back here. Excited. I’d felt like I belonged here. But now I knew that I never would’ve been truly happy here without Leigh. That I would never be
happy anywhere without her. And that we could move anywhere, absolutely fucking anywhere in the world, and I’d be okay with it as long as she was there with me.
Leigh pulled back a little, just enough that I could see the dazzling smile she gave me. She didn’t seem… surprised, exactly, with my affection. I was glad of that. I didn’t want her to think so little of me or of herself that she was fucking shocked when I showed her love. It was more like—delighted. Yeah. She looked fucking delighted.
I wanted to keep making her look like that for the rest of her life. “I want to make you smile like that every day. Fuckin’ beautiful.”
“Oh dear.” Leigh pouted. “Well you’re going to have your work cut out for you.”
I could tell she was teasing me, so I played along. “And why’s that?”
“Because I’m not a morning person and I’ve got a temper in traffic.”
I snorted in amusement. Like there was hardly ever traffic in Greenville. “I think I’ll find a way to generously overlook these faults.”
“Oh, you’re so kind. Given that… I suppose I can generously overlook your glaring faults, too.”
“Ah, but I don’t have any. I’m perfect, didn’t you know that?”
Leigh laughed, tucking her face back into my neck and lightly smacking my shoulder. “You’re absolutely awful, did you know that?”
“Mmm why yes, I do believe I was aware. You’ve called me an awful tease a few times…” I sobered up, though, stroking her hair. “It won’t be overlooking or putting up with anything, though. I love every part of you. You’re not perfect, but neither am I. Nobody is. And if you didn’t have faults I’d be a little fucking scared that you were some evil alien queen come to take over the world.”
Second Chance with Brother's Best Friend: A Single Mom Secret Baby Romance Page 16