Back to the Start (Dangerous Love Book 4)

by Elle Keating

  “You want to know what I think? I think you want me to make you beg again. That you want me on my knees in front of you, my face between your thighs, your clit aching to be licked. I think you’re wet right now thinking about me drinking you, tasting you as you fist my hair and grind against my tongue. I think if you touched yourself right now you would come hard and fast. But you won’t touch yourself. You will wait for me. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  Morgan didn’t respond to his text. She just stared at her phone and let his naughty words sink in. She thought she knew every side of Jake, but she had been mistaken. And she couldn’t be happier.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jake

  Jake adjusted his tie and was about to ring her doorbell again when the door suddenly flew open. Dressed in a black dress with spaghetti straps and black stilettos, Morgan looked fucking incredible and ready to be taken.

  Not yet.

  There was something he had intended on giving her for years but they had never gotten around to it. Something had always stood in their way. Like football, college, and Owen.

  Motherfucking asshole. Not tonight. He wasn’t going to spoil their first date by thinking about Morgan’s ex-husband.

  “I didn’t know where we were going… so am I dressed okay?” Morgan asked while giving her dress a once-over.

  “You look beautiful… perfect for our first date.” He held out his hand and she took it without hesitation. Morgan smiled, accepting the compliment, and walked beside him as he led her to his car.

  Five minutes into the drive, Jake looked over and caught Morgan staring at him. She didn’t look away; in fact, she reached over and rested her hand on his thigh. Her touch was comfortable, and he covered her hand with his and smiled. They arrived at the restaurant about ten minutes later, but it took another ten to find a parking space on the cramped one-way South Philly street.

  “Where are you taking me?” she asked.

  “A place that rivals my mom’s cooking.” Jake exited his car and rushed around to open her door, but Morgan was already on the sidewalk waiting for him.

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” she said, taking his arm.

  They entered the corner restaurant and were immediately greeted by Joseph Mennio himself. Up until a year ago, the feisty sixty-five-year-old had manned the kitchen and produced some of the best authentic Italian dishes Jake had ever tasted. But since the man’s heart attack his two sons had taken over the cooking, leaving Joe to play host to his guests. Jake thought that Joe’s reassignment out of the kitchen would have left him disheartened because he was no longer doing something he loved, but Jake couldn’t dismiss the genuine smile on Joe’s face every time he came to dine at Mennio’s. Joe seemed to enjoy his new role… and flirting with the women who walked through his door.

  “Ah, Mr. McGinnis. So nice to see you again. Your table is ready, of course.” Joe escorted them to their table and handed them each a menu once they were seated. “I will see that you and your beautiful lady friend are well taken care of this evening.”

  “Thanks, Joe. Morgan and I appreciate that.”

  Joe left and within seconds a waiter appeared and had taken their drink order. Once they were alone Morgan asked, “So you come here a lot?”

  “Yes. The food is good. The customers and staff typically mind their own business. It’s off the beaten path, so I don’t have to worry about paparazzi all that much when I’m here.”

  Morgan looked around at their intimate surroundings.

  Mennio’s was a quaint restaurant with maybe fifteen tables in the whole place and a small bar with no more than ten stools. Soft Italian music poured through the hidden speakers in the walls every night, but on the weekends a piano player serenaded the crowd as they dined.

  Jake followed Morgan’s gaze as it landed on a couple sitting at a table in a darkened corner of the restaurant. He looked back at Morgan and saw the traces of a wince and her sudden intake of breath. He recognized that look immediately as he had witnessed it frequently growing up.

  “I come here a lot. But mostly alone or with family when they’re in town.”

  “How did you know what I was thinking?” she asked. Her cheeks turned a delicious shade of red.

  “The way you looked at that couple just now… that was the same look you gave me when you found me in that pizza place with that girl.”

  “Emma,” she said. Morgan reached for her glass of water and took a sip. “Her name was Emma.”

  Their waiter returned with their drinks and left just as quickly. Jake watched Morgan take a hearty sip of her wine before she sat back in her chair and finally looked at him. He stared at her for almost an entire minute before he said, “You tried so hard that night to keep it together, to not let it show that seeing me with another girl bothered you.”

  “Yeah, I kept it together… until you came to my bedroom later and found me crying.” A small, knowing smile slowly formed on her face and she chuckled.

  But there was nothing funny about the events of that night. Did she not know what she had done to him? That despite her being twelve years old she had ruined him with that kiss? That kiss had been burned in his mind, always there, even when he had been with other girls, reminding him, torturing him.

  “Do you know why I ended our kiss, Morgan?”

  Morgan took another sip of her wine and said, “Yes. You said you were too old for me. That the kiss was… wrong.”

  Fuck. She remembered.

  “I ended that kiss because I was scared to think where it was going to lead. I know you felt me beneath you. I wanted you so much I could barely breathe.”

  Morgan’s lips parted and her cheeks flamed, not from embarrassment this time but with arousal. Jake leaned across the table and whispered, “I promised myself that I would take you to dinner, to give you the first date you deserve, but if you keep looking at me like that I will be forced to end dinner, take you home and fuck you until your neighbors know my name.”

  Her sudden intake of breath told him that he had surprised her. But it was the heat in her eyes and the way she licked her bottom lip that told him that she was just as turned on as he was. “If you don’t want this night to be cut short then you better switch the topic of conversation… now,” she said.

  She was fighting to keep composed. Luckily, the waiter came back and provided Morgan with the distraction she needed. She ordered the eggplant parm and he went with his usual, Mennio’s famous lobster ravioli. As she requested, under duress, he shifted the conversation to something innocent and they spent the remainder of dinner talking about things that could not get either of them heated. She told him how she had landed her job at the vet clinic in Old City, how Reagan, a friend she had met in her sophomore year of college, had taken over her father’s vet practice when he had retired last year, and now that it belonged to her, was eager to have her two close friends from college working with her and building the practice together. He spoke of his family and his upcoming games. There were few lulls in the conversation but when they occurred, the silence was comfortable.

  Jake decided to stop off at his favorite ice cream place on the way home. There was a risk that he would be recognized at The Franklin Fountain but he didn’t care. He was enjoying their easy conversation and their occasional trips down memory lane. Jake ordered one sundae for them to split because the portion was enough to feed a family of five and found a table for two outside the shop. Although it was ten o’clock, the Old City street was alive with people of all ages. Couples were spilling out of the restaurants while singles were piling into the numerous taverns along the streets.

  Morgan scooped a pile of whipped cream into her mouth and he was about to do the same when he heard his name being shouted from three tables away. Reluctantly, he forced a smile and waved at the two women at the other table. He returned his attention to Morgan, but she was now looking at the two women. “I think they’re coming over here,” she said.

  “Shit,” he mutte
red.

  The women were already on their way. Each had an ice cream cone in one hand and a pen in the other. “Can we get your autograph?”

  One of the women handed him a pen. She pulled a napkin from the dispenser at his table and laid it in front of him. He quickly signed his name and handed the pen and napkin back to her. The woman was cordial and thanked him. The other woman, however, was not as polite. She handed him her pen and said, “Can you sign right here?” Jake watched her trail her finger from her neck to just above her cleavage. Morgan shot the woman a nasty look and then looked at him, as if she was wondering if he was going to comply.

  Was she serious? Did Morgan really think he was going to sign this woman’s chest?

  Jake took Morgan’s hand in his and raised her fingers to his lips. He kissed them softly and said, “I think it’s time we go home.” Morgan was still seething over this brazen woman’s request, but his kiss settled her a bit and she was able to get control of that green-eyed monster he was intimately acquainted with.

  “What about my autograph?” the woman asked with an exaggerated pout.

  Jake stood, grabbed a napkin from the table, scribbled his name on it and handed it to her. “Now if you two ladies would excuse me, I need to get my girlfriend home. You see, it’s been twelve hours since I’ve been inside her and that’s way too long if you ask me.”

  The obnoxious woman’s jaw dropped to the floor as his words sank in. Morgan just giggled and allowed him to take her by the hand and lead her away from the shop.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Morgan

  “That wasn’t the first time a woman has asked you to autograph her chest, was it?” Morgan felt Jake’s hand slide to the small of her back as he led her up her front steps. “You know what? Forget I asked. I really don’t want to know.” Morgan withdrew her keys from her purse and unlocked her front door.

  She was just within the doorway when she felt Jake’s hands around her waist. He pushed her farther into her foyer, kicked her front door closed with his foot and slammed her up against the wall. “I will never tire of that,” he said, cupping her cheek.

  His sudden movement had caught her off guard. His pupils were dilated, his face strained as his gaze found her lips. “Tire of what?” she asked.

  “How jealous you can be… how territorial you can get. I used to love watching you stare down my girlfriends back in school. With your arms folded, your brow raised, you silently dared those girls to take what rightfully belonged to you.”

  His fingers left her face and crept lower. She felt him encircle her neck and her skin sizzled beneath his touch. He stepped closer, putting his body flush against hers. “But I suffered from the same affliction, Morgan. Every time a boy looked at you a little too long or smiled in your direction or had the balls to hold your hand, I wanted to pound that fucker into the ground. That night at the carnival when that kid Logan grabbed your hand on the Ferris wheel, well, it took everything I had not to ditch my own date, yank Logan’s ass off the ride and beat the shit out of him. Because no matter what bullshit I was spewing at the time, that I was too old for you, I always considered you mine.”

  She couldn’t believe he remembered that night. That he remembered the name of the kid she had gone to the carnival with over a decade ago.

  “I was telling the truth earlier. It’s been too long since I’ve been inside you.” His hand slid beneath her dress and between her thighs. His fingers brushed along her soaked panties and she pressed into him. “You’re so wet.” He stroked her clit through the thin silk cloth and she bucked in his embrace.

  “More,” she begged.

  His breathing quickened and she felt her panties being ripped away from her body. The sound of her clothes tearing because he couldn’t take it anymore, because he wanted her just as much made her crazed and she quickly reached for his belt. With her mind only on one thing she was able to unbuckle, unzip and yank his trousers and boxer briefs to his knees in seconds. His cock was smooth and hot in her hand and she stroked him. He groaned as she worked his cock, but he didn’t abandon her. He inserted a finger into her heat as his hips swiveled restlessly against her. But it wasn’t nearly enough.

  As if hearing her dirty thoughts he removed his suit jacket, pulled her dress to her waist, and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around him and in one determined move he slid into her. “God, you feel… right,” he said.

  Not tight. Not good. But right. Just like their first kiss this was right. Everything about it… how it felt, how her heart swelled in her chest, was perfect.

  He shifted his hands until they were firmly cupping her ass. She threw her arms around his neck and she rested her forehead on his. She locked eyes with him. Nothing broke their gaze. Not his thrusts which continued to caress and kiss each inch of her pussy, not his heart, which raged against her chest. He took her slow and hard and she welcomed him in. A growl crawled from his throat. The pace was excruciating. She needed to come. Right fucking now. “Jake, I can’t hold on anymore.”

  “Let go, Morgan. Give it to me… give me everything.”

  Didn’t he know he already owned her? Her body, her soul, her fragile heart? She was his to do with as he wanted, to possess, to claim. There was nothing she wouldn’t give him. If she could somehow turn back time, to make those years she had lived without him disappear as if they had never happened she would. Her orgasm came out of nowhere. She clamped her legs around him even tighter, locking him in as her pussy pulsed around his thrusts. “Jake… I… I...”

  I love you. That’s what you want to say. That’s what you want to scream at the top of your lungs. That’s what you want your next-door neighbors to know. Not his name. But the fact that the man between your thighs right now owns you.

  He closed his eyes and claimed her mouth. The sounds he was making between kisses. His breathless pants. His murmured praise and the phrases he could barely utter brought tears to her eyes.

  So fucking beautiful.

  Made for me.

  Need you.

  You’re mine.

  Always been mine.

  She was his. She would always be his. Morgan squeezed her eyes shut.

  Don’t cry. Don’t. Fucking. Cry.

  She cried. She trembled… and came again. She was in an emotional freefall. Screaming. Sobbing. Shaking. Her back slammed against the wall as he drove into her. His heart raced, his breathing hitched. She wrapped her arms around his neck and forced his face to her chest. He moaned against her heated flesh as his cock jerked, and he came deep inside her.

  New tears mixed with the old ones. She was just about to wipe away the evidence by pressing her cheek against her shoulder, but he looked up and cupped her chin. “Did I hurt you?” he asked. His words and concerned expression were sincere… and gut-wrenching. His eyes followed her tears, which only made her cry harder.

  “No… I… ”

  Tell him. Tell him you love him. Tell him… everything.

  She sucked back a sob and shook her head. “No, you didn’t hurt me.”

  Still pinned against the wall, his cock deep inside her, Jake waited for the truth. But she couldn’t deliver. She was so fucking selfish.

  “Morgan, I know you’re hiding something from me. I can feel it whenever I look at you, hold you. But as much as I want to know what it is you think you can’t tell me, I’m going to wait. Want to know why? Why I’m not going to force it out of you, demand that I know your secret?”

  She didn’t answer him. Because she was too busy choking back tears.

  “Because I’m afraid I’ll lose you again. And if that happened, if you walked away from me, from us, I wouldn’t survive it a second time.” There was nothing malicious in his tone, no daggers being thrown her way, just the truth. Morgan nodded through her tears and then she smashed her lips against his. She needed him, his taste, his strength.

  “Take me to bed,” she said between kisses, between pants. She felt him slip out of her and he placed her back on the
ground. He pulled up his pants and boxers, tucked himself away and gathered her in his arms.

  “I’ll wait for you, Morgan.” He kissed her, not with urgency or some animalistic need, but reverently, and she fell deeper into his embrace. Once in her bedroom he laid her down on the bed and undressed her. He completed the task in silence, which she was grateful for. Her mind and her body were exhausted. She was on the brink of sleep when he removed all his clothes and slid into bed next to her. He covered them with her down comforter and held her with her back to his bare chest. Although she was already fading she heard him say, “I’ll wait for you. As long as it takes.”

  ***

  Jake

  Although she was sound asleep, nestled safely in his arms, fear took hold of him and his thoughts raced. What was she keeping from him? What could bring her to tears and make her unravel before him… while he was still inside her? What? There was only one other time Jake had seen her so broken…

  “Morgan’s sleeping, Jake. I’ll give her the message that you called when she wakes up.”

  Jake looked over at his alarm clock. “Sleeping? But doesn’t she have class in twenty minutes?”

  “Um… yeah. She wasn’t feeling good last night and she told me that she was planning to sleep in. I think she has the stomach flu,” Allison said. “It’s going through our dorm.”

  Jake may never have met Allison in person, but he had spoken to her enough on the phone over the past two months to know that something in her tone didn’t sit well with him. She sounded nervous… as if she was hiding something from him.

  Was Morgan even home? Did she sleep somewhere else last night? Was she passed out somewhere in some fuck’s bed?

  No!

  He had no right to even allow those thoughts to enter his mind. Morgan had never given him a reason to doubt her. Although she must have been hit on already by every straight guy on campus, Jake knew her heart belonged to him. She would never cheat on him or betray his trust. They had worked so hard to get to this point. They were finally together and nothing was going to break them apart.