by Linda Verji
He broke the spell. “Why don’t I take a shower while you finish up, then I’ll come deal with the dishes?”
She only nodded, mostly because she suspected that if she spoke, her voice would come out as a squeak.
Lucas left the kitchen and headed towards the dressing room. Meanwhile, Jasmine finished eating. As soon as she was done, she started on the dishes. He was tired enough as it was without making him do the dishes too. Her theory about him being exhausted was proven accurate when he didn’t show up even after one and a half hours. She left the living room where she was catching up on reruns of Supernatural to go see what he was doing.
When she walked into the dressing room, she found Lucas lying supine on the green loveseat. It was obvious he’d showered by the faint smell of his cologne and the fact that he’d changed.
“Poor guy,” she whispered as she tiptoed closer to him.
He was absolutely knocked out. Even when she waved her hand in front of his face, he didn’t stir. With a grin, she moved towards the closet and opened it to grab a blanket. When she set the blanket over Lucas, he shifted onto his side but kept sleeping.
She closed the door softly behind her then padded to the living room. To be honest, she wished he wasn’t sleeping. After a night of being all alone in this apartment, she’d hoped that they could spend some time together even if it was just watching TV. That’s how much she’d missed him. With a sigh, she turned off the TV then headed to her bedroom.
Sleep was hard to come by especially knowing that only a wall separated her and Lucas, but somehow she managed it. It could have been an hour or more later, but the feeling of an arm slipping around her waist dragged her from slumber.
At first she thought she was dreaming; that the warm, hard body shifting around behind her was imaginary, and that the hand slowly rubbing her tummy was just an illusion. But when she felt that hand crawl down to the hem of her t-shirt, slip beneath the fabric then slowly climb up to her breast, she realized that it wasn’t a dream. It was all real. Still, the scent of the person was behind her was so familiar that all she could do was smile even as she pretended to still be asleep.
The pretense didn’t last for long. When he squeezed her breast, she couldn’t help her sharp intake of breath. And when he pinched one nipple, she couldn’t help the way the tight bud pebbled or the way her whimper echoed in the room.
“Are you asleep?” he whispered as he caressed her breast and pressed his cock into her ass.
She didn’t answer, but the moan that slipped past her lips when he pinched her other nipple outed her. Lucas’s silent chuckle echoed in the darkness. Still, she was determined to keep pretending to be asleep. However, that was hard to do when his hand moved slipped down her body again. It slid past the elastic band of her cotton shorts down to her pussy.
“Ah!” she moaned when he cupped her mound and shifted around, grinding her ass into his cock.
“Wake up,” he urged as his finger slid between her already moist nether lips.
She shook her head. However, that shaking turned into an arch and whimper when he pushed that finger deep inside her. When he drew moisture from her core up her slit and straight to her clit, all she could do was turn to her back and spread her legs so he could do his magic.
He leaned closer and kissed her so deeply, it left her breathless and aching for more. So hot and distracting was the kiss that she didn’t even feel him push down her shorts. Not until those shorts were at her knees. When his hand came back to her pussy again, a whimper tore past her lips.
The way he was touching her, the way he was rubbing. The way he was circling her button in slow figure eights. The way he was dragging his fingers over her flesh in little circles and movements that made her shiver and gasp. Goodness!
She opened her eyes only to find the room bright and lit by her bedside lamp. That didn’t matter though. Not when he was killing her with his lips and hands. He moved his kisses away from her face down, down to her breasts.
There was no way to describe the pleasure that rushed through her when he suckled in rhythm with the stroke of his finger at her clit.
“Luc…. Luc… aah…. Ahhh,” she moaned his name over and over again.
By the time his mouth started to move again, she wasn’t ready for it to stop and tried to drag him back to her breast. But Lucas was a man on a mission, he determinedly kissed his way down her torso, swept his tongue around her navel. Pressing light pecks on the skin just below her navel, he settled between her legs.
“Oh!” She nearly jumped out of her skin when he set his mouth on her mound.
The heat that swept through her was indescribable, unlike anything she’d ever felt before. It scorched any thoughts she had until all she could think of was getting more, more, more… By the time he added a second finger, she was ready to erupt. She moaned, head back, her fingers burrowing into his hair. He paid her no mind, kissing her over and over again, until it was too much, until she broke.
Her orgasm hit her so hard, she thought she fainted. She saw black. And blue, and red, and yellow. All the colors of the world seemed to gather behind her eyes as pleasure swept over her like a wave. She trembled and shook. She jerked and arched upwards. When the waves finally started to retreat, all she could do was grab Lucas shoulders and urge him to come back up to her. He did.
The kiss this time was slow and leisurely, but beneath it she could feel his desperation, his need. Even better, she could feel his cock pressing into her tummy. Despite the shorts he was still wearing, she could feel how long, hard and swollen he was. Still kissing, she urged him to lie on his back. He moved willingly, and she came over him.
She kissed his neck, his bare chest and tummy on her way down. Lucas watched her all the way. She could feel the tension in his body as she reached for the waistband of his shorts, see the darkening of his eyes to an almost velvet storm as she slowly dragged the shorts down.
His cock popped out and up, like a mast waving for attention. She’d never seen him quite this close before, and he was a sight to behold. Thick at the top, almost purple with his arousal, and veins throbbing angrily along it. Delicious! Licking her lips, she took him in her hand.
The strangled noise he made in his throat and the way his hips arched a little when she touched him made her smile. Then she lowered her head.
CHAPTER 20
Holy Hell! The things she was doing with her hands and mouth…
She was trying to kill him, wasn’t she? Lucas couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t even say a word. All he was capable of was groaning and watching her through half-hooded eyes as she tortured and pleasured him in equal measure. Every time she stole a glance upwards as if to confirm that she was doing alright, he wanted to yell ‘yes’, but the only sounds he was capable of emitting were growls or groans.
He cupped the back of her head, winding his fingers through her braids as he helped her up and down his cock. This was nothing like anything he’d ever experienced before. Certainly not when he was with her. All he recalled was a shy girl who giggled every time he even tried to get her to touch him intimately. But now… Fuck!
Her hot, wet mouth was like a furnace, scorching him. The sight of her pleasuring him so enthusiastically, so passionately was more erotic that anything he’d ever seen. Soon even the edges of his sight blurred. He cupped his face with his hands to keep from screaming.
When it got to be too much for him, he grabbed her arm and dragged her up his body. As soon as he did, she set her lips over his in a scorching kiss that left him barely able to remember his own name. He was so ready for her, so beyond any stage of desire he’d ever felt before that it almost felt like he was dancing on a live wire.
Only a shred of common sense kept him from pushing into her right then. He shifted her to the side of his body so he could reach into the top drawer of the nightstand. The rubbers were right at the top, and it took him barely a minute to strap up. Then she was straddling him, pushing him back
down until he was lying on the bed.
When she positioned herself over him, he let her. When she grabbed his cock then lined its head with her pussy, he held his breath. The groan that echoed from his chest when she finally lowered herself, echoed in the room loudly. The only competing sounds from then on were her whimpers and moans, and the slapping of their bodies as they met over and over again.
Her riding was as fevered as the heat racing through him. Lucas ran his hands up her thighs to her ass. He squeezed and spread her buttock, pushed her down firmly then helped her rise up.
“Fuck!” he groaned as his grip on her ass tightened.
Pussy had never felt so good. She was tighter than a glove, warmer than fire. Like a fist stroking him over and over. He lifted her slightly so he could shove himself up into her in quick fast strokes. He needed more. He was boiling, on fire, about to break…. No not yet. He couldn’t come yet. He wanted to drag out this moment for as long as he could.
With one deft turn, he flipped her until she was on her back on the bed. Staying beside her, he lifted up her leg and hooked his arm underneath it before forcing his cock back into her.
“Oh… oh… Luc!” Her screams rang in the room, like chimes of pleasure that only made him want to push deeper into her, tattoo his whole body into hers.
He slanted his mouth over hers to swallow her cries as he kept pumping into her with long, strong strokes.
In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.
She was trembling now. So was he. He could feel her convulsing, her insides gripping him tighter as her body signaled her release. Her whimpers of pleasure were torture. They stoked the fire in his blood until it felt like he had a bomb inside him, like he was on the verge of explosion. He sped up.
Faster. Faster. Faster
“Luc!” Her keening cry rang in the room to meld with his growl of satisfaction.
The pleasure that raced through him was so sharp that it almost felt painful. He closed his eyes tightly and held on to her as the pressure rushed from the bottom of his spine into every cell in his body. When his release came it was like a volcano exploding and shattering his whole being. It took his breath away and left him panting beside her.
It took a while but eventually he floated down back to earth. When he regained his senses, he left to get rid of the rubber then came back to the bedroom. Jasmine was back in her sleep clothes but still in bed. He put on his shorts before getting back into bed.
When Lucas slipped in beside her, she automatically cuddled into his body. He smiled. They stayed like that for quite a while. In silence. Though Jasmine didn’t speak, he could tell that she was awake by the way she was running her hands over his chest and playing with the few hairs there. He turned his head and kissed her forehead slightly before going back to staring up into the darkness.
Sometime later, she broke the silence. “You’re not leaving today?”
Her question startled him. And for a moment he didn’t know what to say. He was silent for a long moment before asking. “Do you want me to leave?”
He wanted her to say no, to beg him to stay. But she didn’t. All she did was turn her back to him and murmur, “You can go if you want to.”
He could have left then, as he always did. But every cell in his body refused to move. He hated the fact that she took his leaving her bed right after sex as a given, as if she didn’t expect any better from him.
“I don’t want to go,” he said. The words were so low that he thought she might not have heard him. But when she reached forward to turn on the bedside lamp before turning to him, he realized that she’d heard him.
“Why not?” She turned to watch him. “You always leave.”
How could he tell her that the reason he didn’t want to leave was the very reason why he was supposed to leave? That he loved her. After everything that had happened between them, it seemed ludicrous to blurt out that he loved her.
So he just shrugged. “I just don’t want to leave.”
Jasmine watched him for some time before she scooted towards him and set her head on his shoulder. “Okay. You can stay.”
It was funny, wasn’t it? That just four words could make his heart beat faster. That they could make his whole body feel warmer. An odd tightness in his chest, he curled his arm tightly around her then held her close to himself. Close to his heart.
Her finger circled his chest in small loops as they lay in silence. But suddenly, her finger paused right over the scar that ran along the left side of his chest. She lifted up slightly as if to see the scar.
Frowning, she met his eyes. “What happened here?”
“An old army injury,” he said. “It had happened back in Iraq. One of my fellow officers had a psychotic break and attacked me with his knife.”
Most soldiers came out of war with injuries like gunshot wounds or disabilities caused by explosive devices. Lucas was one of the lucky few who’d gotten away scot-free, only to get his injury in the most unexpected way – from a close friend. The worst part was that he’d had a hard time defending himself because he didn’t want to hurt his attacker.
Wincing, Jasmine traced the scar. “It must’ve hurt.”
It had hurt like hell. And he’d been in the operating room for over three hours. Still, Lucas didn’t want to scare Jasmine so he said, “It wasn’t that bad.”
She wasn’t fooled. “It looks like it was bad.”
But she didn’t press for more information. All she did was lean forward and press her lips to that scar. That small action went straight to his heart. Whenever he’d gotten scraped as skateboarders tended to do, she’d always been there to clean his wounds. Afterwards, she’d always kissed the wounded area. She’d said that it was a prayer for him to heal faster. Even now, after how he’d hurt her, she still wanted to make him feel better. It was just another reminder of how much she’d loved him, and how he missed being loved like that.
Jasmine’s father was the first person who’d thought that Lucas could do much better than his father. However, Jasmine was the first person to believe that Lucas was nothing at all like his father. She was the only person who’d bothered to dig past his bluster and bad behavior to find the person hurting beneath. It was only after he met her that he actually began to believe that he could better. She was the one who’d made him want to be better, to be more than what everyone thought he was.
“Luc?” She broke into his thoughts.
“Hmm?” He shifted so he could see her face better.
She was looking up to him. “Was I really that boring?”
“What?” He frowned in confusion.
“When you broke up with me you said that it was because I was boring,” she reminded him. Worrying her bottom lip, she asked, “Was I really that boring?”
He wanted to lie, but seeing those shadows in her eyes tore the truth from him. He shook his head. “No, you weren’t boring.”
“Really?” Confusion shadowed her gaze. “But you said-”
“I lied.”
She watched him for a long silent moment. “Why?”
He just shrugged.
Jasmine lifted until she was seated on the bed. Looking down at him, she repeated, “Why? Why did you lie? Why did you break up with me?”
Lucas didn’t want to answer, but the look in her eyes said that she wouldn’t give up on the topic until he gave her the truth. Well, he could give her a morsel at the very least. She deserved that. With a sigh, he sat up too.
When they were both leaning against the headboard, he said, “I broke up with you because I knew that if you stayed with me, I’d ruin you.”
She frowned. “What do you mean you’d ruin me?”
“Don’t you remember how much of a wreck I was back then?” he reminded her. “And I was a bad influence too. When you were with me, you got hurt too.”
“What are you talking about?” Her frown deepened. “When did I get hurt?”
“The accident. How could you forget? Even now you’re still afraid of ge
tting into a car.” A sharp pain spread through his chest at the memory and he had to take a deep breath to ease it. His voice was softer as he added, “It was my fault. I forced you into the car-”
“I’m sorry.” She stopped him. “I think our memories of that accident are very different. You didn’t force me to get into the car-”
“Yeah, but I kept on pushing you.”
“Only because you had good intentions,” she countered. “You wanted me to learn how to drive so my parents would buy me that car I really wanted. Don’t you remember?”
“Yeah, but-”
“But nothing. My accident wasn’t your fault. It was the other driver’s,” she reminded him. “If he wasn’t drunk, he wouldn’t have rammed into me. And the courts agreed. That’s why they made him pay me money afterwards. How in the world did you decide that it was your fault?”
Because it was his fault. If he’d let her learn how to drive at her own pace, she never would’ve been on the road, never would’ve gotten into that accident. Back then he’d been devastated and filled with guilt. It had left him feeling like he was like a bad omen to her. That if he stayed close to her bad things would keep happening to her.
She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him with narrowed eyes. “So are you telling me that the reason you broke up with me was because of that accident?”
No, that wasn’t the whole reason, but the accident had certainly played a big part.
When he didn’t answer the question, Jasmine took his hand and squeezed. “It wasn’t your fault, Luc. And if you’d let me know back then that that was what you thought, I would’ve let you know that it wasn’t. I’ve never even once thought of it as being your fault. Never.”
“The accident is just one thing. Even if it hadn’t happened, we still shouldn’t have been together,” he said. “I would have ruined your life.”