“Jax!” I called out, stopping him before he reached the door.
“Yeah,” he said as he turned back to look at me.
“Could you…” I asked, worried that he might think this was some kind of pick up line. “Could you help me…”
“With the zipper?” He asked, watching me try to grasp the zipper behind my back.
“Yeah,” I replied with a stupid giggle. I didn’t know what it was about this man, but he turned me to jelly so easily.
“Sure,” he said, giving me a nervous smile before he walked back towards me. I turned my back to him, slowly pulling my hair over my shoulder so that he could access the zipper.
“I don’t know why they make these damn things so hard to reach,” I laugh nervously, as I feel his fingertips against my skin. Instantly, my stomach clenched, and a feeling of longing formed in the pit of my stomach. As he eases my zipper down, I could feel his warm breath dance on the back of my neck.
“Damn!” He grumbles suddenly, surprising me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I began to turn, but Jaxson quickly stopped me.
“The zipper,” he sighed. “It’s stuck… um… I’m sorry…”
For a moment, I had no idea what he was talking about, but then I felt his hand against the small of my bare back. Instantly, I sucked in a sharp breath, and Jaxson froze.
I breathed out slowly, and he moved once more, trying his hardest to get the zipper to budge.
“I never told you what I was thankful for!” I called out, trying to make this a little less awkward. He stopped for a moment, and I knew he was confused by my comment.
“What are you thankful for?” He asked, pulling at the zipper once more.
“It’s Thanksgiving,” I replied by way of an explanation. “When I was little, my parents and I always said over dinner what we were thankful for. Jacob hated that I liked to do it. He wouldn’t let me do it at dinner tonight…”
“I see,” he replied as he tugged my dress once more, and the zipper finally budged. “Got it!”
“Thank you,” I said as I turned and smiled at him. I don’t think my heart ever raced faster than it was, right at that moment.
“So, what is it?” He asked, giving me a questioning look.
“What is what?” I breathed out, my heart thumping so fast, I could barely think straight.
“What are you thankful for?” He asked, giving me a nervous smile as his gaze suddenly drops to my lips.
“Oh,” I whispered as I took a deep breath, then leaned forward so that my lips were barely inches from his. “I’m thankful for you.”
Before he could respond, I pressed my lips against his softly as my hand pressed gently against his chest. When I did, I could feel that his heart was racing as fast as mine was.
“Ally,” he breathed out slowly against my lips, and I knew he was going to do the right thing. Or at least, what he thought the right thing was. So, I quickly kissed him again before I looked up into his eyes.
“Please don’t think,” I pleaded softly as I reached up and softly pressed my hand to his cheek. “I need you.”
In a moment of what could either be called bravery or stupidity, depending on how it turned out; I stepped back, and slowly let my dress slip down my arms and my body, then down to the floor, leaving me standing there before him, wearing nothing more than a black, lace thong and sheer, silk stockings.
Jaxson stared at me for a moment, and for the briefest second, I thought he was going to tell me that he couldn’t do this. But he didn’t. He didn’t say a word.
Finally, just as I was about to begin rambling on nervously as I was fairly sure I was being rejected once more, Jaxson leaned forward and kissed me. Softly at first, but then it grew deeper as he wrapped his long slender finger around my waist and pulled me closer to him, before finally picking me up and quickly moved us to the bed.
As he lay me down on the bed, he climbed over me, his lips still dancing with mine.
Finally, he broke his lips free, as he kneeled up on the bed, between my legs. He smiled at me before he pulled his shirt over his head, discarding it onto the floor, then he quickly found my lips once more.
This time, his kiss was even deeper and filled with so much passion; I could barely catch my breath. As he kissed me, he allowed one of his hands to glide down along my body, his fingertips barely making contact with my skin as they hovered, moving delicately downwards, but just enough to send a shiver of excitement through every single muscle and nerve ending.
“I fucking love you, Ally,” he gasped, finally breaking his lips from mine. “Since the first day I saw you, you’ve filled my every thought. Every ounce of my soul has longed for you. I think I loved you before I even met you, because the moment I saw you, my heart told me that you were the one.”
“I love you too,” I whispered as I reached up and gently touching his face. “You make me feel safe, Jaxson. More than that, you make me feel free.”
“Let me make you happy, Ally,” he breathed against my lips, before kissing the side of my mouth. “Let me set you free.”
“Yes,” I cried breathlessly before he kissed me once more. This time the kiss was different. It was filled with hunger like his body craved to consume me. Right at that moment, I knew I would never love anyone more than I loved Jaxson Stone.
I needed him. I wanted him so much; it almost hurt. I quickly reached for his trousers, but stopped suddenly, remembering that time last time I did, he pulled away from me and rejected me.
“What’s wrong?” Jaxson asked, as he leaned up and looked down at me, clearly sensing my reluctance.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked, terrified of what his answer might be.
“Of course, I do,” he assured me, giving me a surprised look, but then a look of understanding filled his face, and I knew he understood my uncertainty. “Ally, walking away from you that night, it was the single, hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was wrong.”
I stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say or do next. So, I did the only thing I could think to do. I leaned up and claimed his mouth once more, as my fingers made short work of his belt and zipper.
Jaxson moved suddenly, climbing up from the bed. For a moment, my heart almost stopped. I was sure he was running again. But instead, he pushed his trousers down, then reached over to turn off the main light in the room, leaving just the lamps beside the bed on, making the whole room seem a little more intimate.
I watched him as he reached down towards me, taking my lace panties in his fingers, then slowly easing them down my legs. As he did that, I took in his beautiful body before my eyes fell to his rock-hard cock. I smiled to myself, any doubts I had that he didn’t want me were instantly dispelled. He wanted me, almost as much as I wanted him. That much was very clear.
Slowly he climbed back onto the bed, kissing my body as he moved.
“There is… so much… I… want… to… do… to you,” He said, each comment punctuated by his lips against some different part of my body until he was face to face to me once more. “But right now, I just want to touch you. I want to feel you come apart while I’m inside you.”
His words made me gasp as a wave on anticipations contracted in my stomach. I needed him. I needed him to claim my body the way he has claimed my heart.
With one thrust, he filled me, and I instantly cry out in pleasure, but Jaxson quickly caught my cries with his mouth, kissing me deeply as he continued to thrust into me.
I held my breath as I stared up into his eyes, almost afraid this was all a dream, and I was going to wake up any second.
“Oh, God, Ally!” He groaned when he finally picked up his pace. I knew he was close. I could feel his cock swell inside me with each thrust.
I closed my eyes and held on to him so tightly that we almost became one, as I gave myself to him, mind, body, and soul.
“Jaxson, yes. JAXSON!” I cried out as I began to fall apart. Deeper and
deeper, he filled me until I came hard, crying out in sheer pleasure.
“Oh, fuck!” Jaxson cried too, and he pounded me hard, every ounce of passion, frustration, anger, and sadness we’d both felt these last few weeks, pouring from his body. “ALLY, YES!”
He erupted inside me, his whole body shaking as his climax thundered through his body. Then he collapsed onto the bed, gasping for breath, both of us lost in our own moment of pure, unashamed pleasure.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Jaxson lifted his head and looked down into my eyes.
“Are you okay?” He asked, giving me a worried look like he might have hurt me in some way.
“I’ve never been better,” I replied, giving him a sleepy smile, and instantly, I was rewarded with the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. But then, a look of worry settles on his face, and I knew there is something on his mind.
“You are amazing, Ally,” he breathed out, his breathing still a little ragged. “Promise me that whatever happens, that you will always remember just how much I love you. And just how happy you are at this moment.”
“I promise you,” I assured him as I reached up and pressed my hand to his face. “I will never forget.”
“Thank you,” he breathes against my lips, before kissing me once more. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do to make you happy. I never want to cause you another moment's pain.”
“I know,” I replied, giving him a worried look. Something was bothering him, and something told me it was less to do with Jacob and more to do with his past.
My eyes fell to the scars that were on his body. The one that was at the side of his neck, then the one that ran down from just below his rib cage, all the way down to his groin.
Suddenly, I recalled the last night we’d spent together. The night he slept next to me because I was too afraid to be alone. He’d had a bad dream. One he didn’t want to talk about. That night, he was afraid he’d hurt me, which of course he hadn’t, and something told me, that was what he was scared of now.
“Jaxson,” I began cautiously. “Is this about the dream?”
The moment I said it, I regretted my question. The look of fear of his face almost broke my heart.
“I’m sorry,” I quickly said, not knowing what else to do. “It doesn’t matter.”
“No,” he said as he rolled away from me, onto his back. “I need to tell you if you and I are to have a future.”
“Okay,” I replied, turning onto my side, having no clue what he was about to say.
“You know I was in the Marines, right?” He said, glancing at me for a moment before he returned his focus to the ceiling above us.
“I remember,” I said, recalling the photo in his apartment and also what Travis has said about Jax winning a medal.
“On my third tour in the Middle East,” he said, suddenly looking more unsure of himself than I had ever seen him. Instinctively I reach out and take his hand.
“It’s okay,” I whispered as he turned to look at me. “It’s me.”
“There was a roadside IED that hit the Humvee I was travelling in,” he continued, then went on to tell me about the worst day of his entire life. As he spoke, I held my breath as tears burned my eyes. I wanted so much to hold him, but I didn’t want to stop him, now he was talking. So, I continued to hold his hand tightly.
“When I came back,” he said, finally turning to look at me. “Something had changed in me. I was angry, distant, just different; I had these nightmares that would paralyze me… But I tried to pick up the pieces of my life; I didn’t want to be that person anymore. Then I met Christina.”
He paused for a moment, as if unsure if he ready to tell me this.
“I thought I was going to spend my life with her,” he finally continued. “Christina helped me put myself back together bit by bit. And for the most part, we were happy.”
“What happened?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer. “While things got better for me during the daytime, the night was still hard. Sure, the nightmares were happening less, but when they hit… they hit hard. One night, I woke up and found Christina on the floor; she was screaming.”
“What happened?” I asked, a sickening feeling in my stomach instantly formed.
“I’d had a particularly difficult day at work,” he sighed, dropping his eyes from mine, pushing up to sit up in bed. “I was upset, and I drank a lot. The perfect storm for my dreams. That night it was a bad one. Christina had tried to wake me, but I was too drunk to wake, but I wasn’t too drunk to lash out at her. When I swung out, I hit her, knocking her back from the bed. She fell, hitting her head on the bedside table before she landed badly on her wrist. She broke her wrist and needed three stitches in her forehead. She, of course, forgave me. She knew I hadn’t meant to hurt her. But she was scared of me. Every time I woke from a bad dream, I would find her hiding in the corner. In the end, it just got too hard. I couldn’t live with the fear that was constantly in her eyes.”
“And you’re afraid you’ll hurt me?” I asked as I sat up, too, finally understanding why he was so worried.
“If I ever hurt you, Ally,” he said, turning to look at me. “I could never forgive myself. I loved Christina, but that is nothing to what I feel for you.”
“You listen to me, Jaxson Stone,” I said, moving so I was now kneeling in front of him on the bed. “You could never, ever hurt me. I’ve lived with a monster. I know what they look like. You are no monster, and I could never be afraid of you.”
“You don’t know that,” he said, giving me a sad smile.
“But I do,” I said, leaning forward to kiss him once more. “I know you in your heart. I feel more myself with you than I’ve ever felt. You are the one I want. Ghosts and all.”
He smiled, then reached out, pulling me to him, before pulling me down onto the bed then climbing over me once more.
“Thank you for trusting me,” he whispered, then added with a smile. “Now, about those other things I wanted to do to you.”
He claimed my mouth, and I gave myself to him once more.
Chapter 22
Jaxson
I woke early and smiled to myself when I found Ally fast asleep with her head on my chest, her fingers laced with mine.
I still couldn’t believe she was actually here with me. Or that she loved me as much as I loved her, even after I had told her about my past. She’d looked me in the eye and said that there was no way she could ever be afraid of me.
As her eyes gazed into mine, I knew she meant every word she said, what’s more, I could feel something change inside of me. For the first time since I returned from Afghanistan, I could actually imagine a future where I could be happy again.
But I also realised, for Ally and me to be truly happy again, she needed Jacob out of her life for good. She needed to know that she was safe from him, and there was only one way to make that happen. He needed to pay for what he had put her through. I needed to call Richie.
I carefully untangled her fingers from mine, before I slowly slid out from beneath her warm, amazing body, setting her head down as gently as I could on the pillow as not to wake her, before I climbed from the bed.
Once I was up, I pulled on my boxer shorts before I grabbed my phone, then headed for the door that led to the adjoining room so I could talk to Richie without waking Ally.
Once I was in the other room, I pulled up Richie’s number and hit dial.
“Jaxson!” Richie exclaimed the moment he answered the phone. “Where the hell are you? I’ve been calling and calling you.”
“I’m in a hotel room,” I replied, surprised by his question, and instantly I knew something was wrong. I looked at the screen on my phone and saw several missed calls from Richie. Checking the phone, I realised I had somehow turned the volume down on the phone, which was why I missed the calls. “Damn, my phone was on silent. What’s happened.”
“Thatcher Jones is in the ICU,” Richie said, and instantly I felt the hairs on the back of my
neck stand on end as a sickening feeling settled in my stomach. “He was found in the underground parking garage of your building. We’ve pulled the video footage, but there is nothing on them.”
“What do you mean there is nothing on them?” I asked, my mind now racing. “There are plenty of security cameras in that garage, just as there are on the front door. Surely one of them picked up something.”
“The building manager said that the surveillance was down last night,” Richie sighed, and I knew he wasn’t buying the manager's story either. “There was some kind of computer issue, and the CCTV was down for several hours.”
“Is Thatch going to be okay?” I asked, knowing that whatever happened to him, Ally was going to blame herself for it. If I was honest, I blamed myself too. Thatcher was my friend. He had retired from the game eighteen months ago. He only took the job as a favour to me. Now he was badly hurt, and it was all my fault. I should have never left him behind the night before.
“I don’t know, Jax,” Richie sighed. “There is swelling to the brain. Only time will tell.”
“This was Wallace,” I hissed, feeling a raging swell inside me that I hadn’t felt for a long time. I knew right at that moment; he was not going to let Ally walk away. In my heart, I believed he would rather see her dead than allow that to happen.
“Jacob Wallace was at a party in his house last night,” Richie sighed, and I could hear the certainty in his voice. “He has at least a dozen witnesses that can place him in his home. However, he did say that Mrs. Wallace disappeared with Thatch at some point in the evening, and he hasn’t heard from her since.”
“That’s because she is here with me,” I replied, knowing that Richie was going to freak out. I knew then that I should have called him the night before, but with everything that happened with Ally, I never got around to it.
“Jesus, Jax!” Richie groaned, and I knew I had fucked this up. “We have half the department looking for her.”
“Because you think she is in trouble?” I asked, almost feeling disappointed in Richie. “Or because you think she hurt Thatch?”
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