by Lili Valente
Jackson brought his hands to her sides, letting them skim the surface of her silken skin as she moved, so lost in her eyes he couldn’t think what else to do with them. They’d made love like this before—close and connected, with her gaze locked on his, telling him so much more than words ever could—but this time it was even more intimate, more intense. He was naked with her in a way that had nothing to do with their physical bodies and everything to do with trust and love and the indestructible energy they created together, something so pure and right Jackson wouldn’t have believed it existed before her.
Before Hannah, his love, his light, his everything.
“Everything,” she echoed as if he’d said the words out loud.
But he supposed he had. There were ways to speak without saying a word. Her touch, her kiss, the shine in her eyes as she began to move faster, carrying them both closer to the precipice, told him as much as her words. They said he was loved and seen and exactly what she needed, no matter what the rest of the world might have to say about it.
“Closer,” he said, bringing his hand to the small of her back. “I want to feel your skin against me.”
She leaned forward, breasts rubbing against his chest as her hips pumped harder, faster. He shifted closer to the edge of the cushion, giving himself more freedom to move, to thrust up into her as her rhythm grew frantic and her breath came in shallow gasps that puffed against his lips.
“Are you going to come for me?” he asked, loving the sob that hitched her chest as she nodded. “Then come, baby. Come on my cock, let me feel you.”
The skin around her eyes tightened as her pussy locked around him, but they didn’t close. She kept her eyes open, staring into his as they came together, riding the sharp edge of their pleasure until it became a gentler wave, carrying them home even as it eroded more of the shoreline that separated them.
Someday soon, there would be no separation at all, nothing to keep him from the kind of union he hadn’t known he craved until Hannah had proven to him that love was more powerful than anything that stood in its way.
“I love you,” she murmured long minutes later, her lips kissing his throat as she spoke.
Even in the middle of claiming her pleasure, she had been careful to collapse on his uninjured side, but Jackson wasn’t sure it mattered. He was suddenly feeling better than he had since the day he was shot, the bliss of union and release making him wonder if they needed to wait until tomorrow to attend to their other needs.
“And I’m so hungry I feel like I could eat all of the groceries we left out in the trunk,” she said, her stomach confirming her claim with a long, irritable growl that made Jackson smile.
“Then why don’t you go grab them,” he said, patting her ass. “And I’ll make you something decadent for lunch.”
“You?” She lifted her head, shooting him an incredulous grin. “You’re going to cook for me?”
“I’m an excellent cook,” he said with a sniff that she apparently found funny.
She giggled, forcing his softening length from inside her, sending a ripple of regret skimming through him and making him even more determined to have her again before the day was over. He hadn’t had his fill of her yet, not nearly, but he could wait long enough to prove that he had skill sets beyond those he’d proven in the bedroom.
“Get the bags, woman.” He delivered a more serious swat to her backside, loving that it only made her smile wider. “I’m going to make you a lunch that will make your mouth come.”
Hannah’s eyes darkened. “Is that right?” Her tongue swept out, teasing across her lips. “Is that even possible?”
“Haven’t you learned not to doubt me, yet,” Jackson said, his blood beginning to simmer all over again. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
She sobered, a tender expression softening her face. “No, you don’t. It’s one of the many things I love about you.” She kissed his cheek before slipping off his lap. “Let me get a cloth from the bathroom to clean up and I’ll get dressed and get the bags.”
“You don’t have to get dressed,” he said, admiring the sway of her hips as she crossed the room to the hall leading to the downstairs bathroom. “There’s no one close enough to see you run outside.”
“I’m not going out in twenty-degree weather naked, Jackson,” she called out. “I enjoy a little pain, not torture.”
He smiled. “But you’d look sexy wearing nothing but those furry boots you bought today.”
Her laughter echoed down the hall as she came back into the room carrying a damp rag in one hand, a dry one in the other. “We can live out that fantasy later. Indoors.”
Oh yes, they would. They would live out that fantasy and more.
Now that they’d reconnected and put the strangeness between them aside, it was time to make sure their other needs were met. There would be time to wonder what the hell he was going to do if he had a son he’d never met later. There would be time to sort out where he and Hannah went from here and what to do with his life now that he’d left his criminal past behind him.
But the rest of the day was his and Hannah’s, and he intended to make sure it was a Christmas Eve neither of them would ever forget.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Hannah
Jackson couldn’t chop vegetables one-handed, but he was excellent at telling her how to slice them to his satisfaction—big surprise. She teased him about being a control freak in the kitchen as well as the bedroom, but he only smiled and said—
“I want the carrots thinner, sunshine. I know you can get them thinner than that.”
—and returned to whipping up an exotic blend of spices and cornmeal that he said was going to transform his version of chicken and dumplings into something taste-bud-orgasmic.
Hannah kept sneaking glances his way as they worked, surprised by how sexy she found it to see him moving confidently about the kitchen, setting water to boil and the oven to preheat. But she shouldn’t be, she supposed. Everything about him was sexy, from the way he fisted his hand in her hair and pushed her out of her comfort zone to the way he held her gaze as she rode him, the look in his eyes making it clear there was nothing in the world that mattered to him as much as her happiness.
Whatever came next, they would face it together and they would come out whole on the other side. She believed that now. She’d made a stupid mistake, but instead of lashing out or getting angry, he’d simply forgiven her. As much as anything he’d said or done in the past that easy forgiveness made her certain she’d found the only person she wanted to share her life with.
It also made her wish he could see himself through her eyes. He shouldn’t worry about what he might have inherited from his father. Jackson was one of the best people she’d ever met, a fact he proved as he cooked her an amazing lunch, helped clean up one-handed, and tucked her in for a nap though she could tell he was interested in more entertaining bedroom activities.
But she was exhausted from the stress of the past week and the adventures of the morning and determined to keep him from putting any more weight on his wounded side until tomorrow morning.
Besides, it was the perfect afternoon for a nap.
Outside the floor to ceiling picture windows of their loft bedroom, a gentle snow had begun to fall, coating the mountains with another layer of white, blurring the edges of the world until it felt like everything outside of their warm cocoon of covers was distant and small. Everything that mattered was right here, lying beside her with his fingers running lightly up and down her back as she snuggled close to his chest and fell into the deepest, most peaceful sleep she’d enjoyed in days.
She slept hard, soaking in much-needed rest, and woke slowly, drifting back into her body with the nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right. Her skin was still warm from the flannel sheets and her head cradled by her pillow, but when she opened her eyes, the world remained dark.
She blinked, her lashes brushing against whatever it was that covered her ey
es. She moved to pull the fabric away, but when she tried to shift her arms, she realized what else had changed since she’d fallen asleep. Her wrists were bound together and tied above her head and the bra and panties she’d worn to bed were gone.
She was naked, blindfolded, and tied to the headboard.
She was also immediately, mind-numbingly aroused.
Her lips parted to call out to Jackson and let him know she was awake, but before she could speak, a large hand covered her mouth and a rough voice whispered in her ear.
“Relax, sunshine, it’s just me.”
They were the first words he’d ever spoken to her, all those years ago when he’d made love to the wrong sister and proven there was nothing more right than the way they fit together. And now, they were going to relive that first time, knowing exactly who they were making love to.
Hannah moaned against his hand, wanting to tell him how perfect this was, but he kept his hand firmly over her lips.
“Remember when I told you I’d do all the dirty things you wanted me to do, as long as you would say you were mine?”
She nodded slowly, all of her available senses on high alert, not wanting to miss a moment of what he had planned.
“Well, now you’re mine,” he said. “Are you ready to play?”
“Yes,” she whispered, lips moving against the rough skin of his palm.
“Good,” he said, in his deep, delicious Dom voice. “But from here on out, don’t speak unless you need to say your safe word.”
She nodded again and his hand vanished, the mattress dipping as it gave up his weight. She wet her lips and rubbed them together, finding it harder to stay quiet than she usually did. The fact that she couldn’t see what he was doing made her crave other forms of communication, but she forced herself to remain silent, listening to him move around the room.
She heard a rough scraping sound followed by a sizzle and a whiff of sulfur that made her think he’d lit the candle on the bedside table. A moment later she heard his footsteps at the bottom of the bed, but then nothing. She held as still as she could, straining for some sign of what he was up to, her nerves growing progressively agitated as more time passed and nothing happened.
He didn’t touch her, he didn’t talk to her, he didn’t give any sign that he was even still in the room, let alone in the midst of an erotic encounter.
Seconds became minutes and minutes seemed to drag on for hours as she lay tied to the bed, the sheets growing damp beneath her as she began to sweat. The air in the room was cool, but not knowing what the hell was going on was driving her crazy, ratcheting up her body temperature until she felt like she’d just come in from an afternoon on the slopes.
Finally, when her arm started to itch in a place she couldn’t scratch, the soft sheets began to feel rough and gritty against her sensitized skin, and frustration had tied her throat into knots, she let her breath huff sharply through her lips.
She had no idea what Jackson thought he was doing, but she didn’t like this game, not one bit. “Jackson, where are you?” she asked, her irritation clear in her tone.
In less than a second, he answered her.
Hannah cried out as his hand curved around her hip, flipping her roughly onto her stomach. She barely had time to lift her face from the pillow when his hand came down hard on her ass. She cried out, back arching as he delivered another stinging swat to her other cheek, alternating back and forth until her flesh began to burn.
Hands balling into fists, she fought to keep still and not to cry out—in pain or arousal—sensing her punishment for breaking her silence would be worse if she did. The spanking continued for twenty strokes and then thirty as Hannah’s teeth dug into her lip. Her bottom flesh flamed so hot she was sure her ass must be bright red, and her pussy grew slick and swollen, jealous of so much attention being paid to another part of her body.
By the time Jackson finished, she was breathless from a heady combination of pain, arousal, and uncertainty about what he was going to do next. They’d never played a game like this before and the newness of it was nearly as nerve-racking as it was arousing. Nearly…
Fortunately, this time she didn’t have long to wait.
“Trust means believing that I’m always there for you,” he said in a soft, controlled voice. “Even when you can’t see me. Even when your head tells you that my focus is elsewhere.”
His fingertips traced the valley of her spine, collecting the drops of moisture that had gathered there as he spanked her. “But I am always thinking of you, always focused on you. There is nothing that matters to me as much as you and your trust and obedience when I’m proving that you’re mine. Nod if you understand.”
Hannah nodded, her head buzzing drunkenly as he gently urged her over to lie on her back. She was already high on the scene and they’d barely gotten started. She had a feeling Jackson didn’t mean this encounter to be a mild one, and that she should do her best to hold onto her sanity as long as possible, but she didn’t want to stay sane.
She wanted to get lost in him, in the things he did to her. She wanted to fall and fall and know that he would always be there to catch her.
“I’m going to tie floss to your nipples,” Jackson said, his finger circling one tip and then the other, making her breath come faster as pleasure shivered from her breasts down to the hot, needy place between her legs. “I’m going to tie it tight enough to hurt, but not for your skin to go numb. If the pain is too much, use your safe word. If not, keep silent. Now arch your back.”
Hannah obeyed, arching into his fingers as he plucked and teased her nipples into tight points and then wrapped each one in a little knot of torture. But it was delicious torture, the kind that made her nerve endings sizzle and her sex even wetter.
She held still for as long as she could but finally couldn’t resist the urge to shift her thighs, restlessly seeking to ease the tension fisting between her legs.
“It looks like you’re ready for more,” Jackson said, a hint of amusement in his tone. “Spread your legs as wide as you can, sunshine. We’re going to see how you like pain in a more intimate place.”
Hannah slowly drew her legs apart, pulse leaping in her throat as she wondered what he was going to do next. Would he tie floss around her down there? And if so, how exactly would that work?
She was nibbling on her bottom lip, torn between eagerness and trepidation, when Jackson ran a finger down the center of her, making her entire body jerk in response.
“You’re so wet,” he said, his voice husky. “So responsive. I love seeing how much you want me.”
His finger moved to one side of her entrance, pinching one of her outer lips lightly between his fingers before something harder pinched more firmly just below it. “I’ll start with one clothespin on each side and give you a minute to adjust before I add more.”
Pressing her lips together to suppress a whimper, Hannah held still as he applied a pin to her other side.
Dreamily, she swam through waves of hot and cold, exploring the pain and pleasure drifting through her as, after a moment, Jackson applied the next set of clothespins. He waited a long, sizzling moment before bringing a finger to her clit and tapping gently.
“This is not to make you come,” he said, slowly, torturously tapping, hard enough to make her aware of how desperately she wanted release, but not enough pressure to take the edge off. “This is to remind you that even when I’m causing you pain, your pleasure is always utmost in my mind. I know you don’t like one without the other, but there are times when you need this more than you think you do. You need to be reminded why you gave me your trust in the first place.”
A second finger—or maybe a thumb, she couldn’t be sure—found the tight puckered muscle of her ass and began to exert a similar pleasure.
“And I need your submission just as much. Nothing makes me feel safer or more loved than to know you trust me enough to give yourself to me. Completely.” His thumb tested her hole, offering just enough pressure
to make her aware of how much she wanted him there, too.
She wanted him in her ass and her pussy. She wanted him so far down her throat she couldn’t breathe. She wanted him to fill her up, everywhere, in every way, because he was so exactly what she needed.
He was everything she wanted before she knew she wanted it. He was the mystery she would spend the rest of her life unraveling and never solve because he wasn’t that kind of man. He wasn’t a man you pinned down and sorted out; he was a wide, endless wilderness she could explore forever. He was the person she would keep falling deeper and deeper in love with until the last day she shared with this man—her lover, her master, her friend.
“I love it when you obey me without question,” he said, words thick with desire. “But I love it when you make me work for it, too. Because every time you push me, I’m going to push right back.”
He emphasized the words by slipping his thumb into her ass, drawing a soundless gasp of relief from her throat. It wasn’t his cock or even close to everything she wanted, but it was a small mercy, a little more of him, the one thing she needed above all else.
“And every time we push,” he continued, beginning to fuck her ass with slow, shallow strokes, driving her arousal even higher, “I see parts of you I’ve never seen before. And the more I see, the more I love you.”
Hannah spread her legs wider, relishing in how right it felt to be pushed to the edge of what her body and soul could take. Yes, she wanted pleasure, but she wanted this, too. She wanted deeper and closer. She wanted to be seen and loved in ways she hadn’t known were possible until she’d become Jackson’s.
“But I see more of myself, too,” he said, gently withdrawing his hand from between her legs. “While I was watching you sleep, I kept thinking about the ways people try to become the best versions of themselves.”
The mattress dipped and she felt his heat beside her. “Some people use religion.” He pressed a kiss to the side of her breast, bringing her attention back to the stinging pleasure of her bound nipple. “Some use a shrink or art or exercise or self-help books.”
