by Ava Claire
Knowing what I knew about Sadie, she’d slap me across the face before she showed any sign of weakness.
I hedged my bets and leaned forward, flexing my arms as I gripped the counter and let my lips hover above hers. I swept my eyes from the sexy crown of her head to her mouth. It was hard to believe I'd ever found lipstick sexy. Her lips were bare and it was more than enough to make all the blood in me rush to my groin. I wanted to feel her lips on my lips, her want matching the want that blazed in me.
This was a new thing for me. Proceeding with caution. I had a feeling that if I went to her, took her in my arms, and initiated the kiss that we were literally a heartbeat away from, that she wouldn't leave me hanging. The wait, the not being completely certain, was the hardest part—and the hottest.
"What do you say, Red?" I murmured, our breath mingling and stoking the heat in her emerald eyes. "Do you forgive me?"
Her nostrils flared and she wet her lips. "I..."
My gut twisted and I braced myself for the worst and dared to hope for the best. I bet on her eyes and the fact that her nipples were piercing through her thin t-shirt, all but whispering, ‘Take me’.
She let out a groan that echoed in the back of her throat and leaned in, turning her head so her lips skated across my jaw and rested at my ear. "Just shut up and kiss me."
Finesse and gentleness be damned, I fisted her red locks and snatched her mouth to mine. She moaned into my mouth with abandon. I faded into her taste. Lost myself in the softness of her lips against mine.
I grinned on the inside as her tongue playfully circled mine. I could stay there forever, but I was pulled to more visceral places, falling into the hunger in her touch when she took my bottom lip and tugged.
I slid my hands down her body, finding the curve of her ass and lifted her up, trying to downplay the thrill that fluttered through my chest when she roped her arms around my neck and grinned from ear to ear. The table was set, but the only thing I was interested in eating was her.
I dropped to my knees. The need to devour her dueled with the memory of how we began.
Back at The Tower, two strangers crossed paths. Our beginning was grounded in urges. I wanted to fuck. I wanted to get lost in someone. My motives were singular.
Meeting her, seeing the fight in her eyes that wouldn't be denied or snuffed out, I couldn’t treat that session like every other, even if money was exchanged. Looking back, unafraid to delve deeper and stare at what lied beneath, I wished we could have met some other way. Not because what we did was wrong or dirty—I just wanted her to know that for me, she was so much more than a possession to be bought. More than something to be owned.
I wanted her to know that she was priceless.
The first time I’d been this close, fingertips digging into her milky skin, looking at the delicious beauty between her thighs, I’d feasted. I’d dove in head first (well, technically mouth first), like a man who wasn’t sure when he’d get his next meal. I thought only of myself. I thought of the orgasm that I was going to give her, because I was the one in control. I was going to make her body mine.
For all my talk about being different than Crowe and the standard The Tower member, I’d still made that first encounter about me.
“Is something wrong?”
The muscles in her thighs tightened and when I peered up at her, that fight, the Sadie that first roped me in, was replaced by a nakedness that I couldn’t look away from. Despite my selfishness back then, and let’s be honest, now, she was still here. The tremble in her chin spoke to me loud and clear. It said, ‘God don’t let me be wrong about this guy...’
I swept my thumb over her knee, lifting my lips into a smile. “You didn’t kick me out and I have the best view in the house. Everything is perfect.”
She was too tough to let me see her sigh with relief, but her body relaxed and she scooted a little closer to the edge. Her hooded eyes were filled with lust as she gazed down at me, biting her bottom lip. “My view isn’t half bad, either.”
Her words had a direct line to my balls and I felt her tugging, massaging them with her playfulness. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt like a woman wanted me. Not my money. Not to be seen with me. Sadie could care less about all of that.
She wanted me.
"Do you like to watch?" I asked, excitement flaring inside me. I knew the answer. I hadn't even gotten started yet and she was already quivering beneath my fingertips. Her eyes, eyes that lesser men would have found intimidating, were watching my every move. I saw things I didn't deserve. A wide eyed trust that whatever came next, her answer would be 'yes'. She wouldn't stop saying yes. In the flutter as she took me in from behind her hooded eyes I saw that she'd been dreaming about this too.
I showed her that her dream paled in comparison to my real life touch, easing forward. I took my tongue and traced the inside of her thigh and her quivers raced through her skin and rippled through me.
I saw the cotton of her black shorts, still remembering her taste, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't make her writhe and beg for it a little. I stopped mid thigh, retracting my tongue, blowing gently on the trail I made.
"I asked you a question, Red."
"Don't-"
I almost got the shot in the dark that would have made me forget all the progress I made and just bury myself in her pussy. If she would have finished that statement, Don't stop, I would have been through. Not liable for my ferocity. Luckily for us both, she was as stubborn as me, and much too proud to beg. I'd find the buttons, just like I had before and I would make her croon for more of me. All of me.
"Don't what?" I smirked, leaning back in and pressing my lips against her thigh. I brushed her skin with my lips, soft and warm and supple.
"Oh my God," she whispered softly, gripping her knees.
“I'm flattered, but my name is Jax.” I teased her with my words and because I could taste her anticipation on her skin, I picked up where I left off. I drew toward the apex of her thighs and stopped at the hem of her black shorts.
Her body went utterly still and she squeaked, "Don't stop. I said don't stop."
"Hm," I hummed behind my closed lips. I gripped her hips and pulled her a little further off the counter. Her long legs dangled off the edge and she should have felt off balance but she stayed where I put her. I covered her hands with my own. "You must want it bad. I know that it isn't easy for you to not be in control." To demonstrate my point, I slipped my hand between her thighs and stroked her pussy with my fingertips. The heat coming from her, the wetness that kissed the fabric of her shorts, gave me a preview of what lied beneath. It should have had me snatching the shorts off. Tearing them to pieces like Christmas morning because the real treat was so close I could taste it.
Just as she started to gyrate, ready to take matters in her own hands, I went back to the tease, my tongue tracing the inside of her other thigh.
"Don't act like we're not cut from the same cloth," she hissed, her fingers sliding through my dark locks. This time when I crept closer to her core, she didn't wait for me to go where we were both dying to go. She gripped my hair and held my mouth against her crotch, her scent like something wild and feral. Like the sounds that her body was making, pleasure falling from her lips as I gave her what she was asking for.
I could make her beg. Deny her until she'd completely soaked through her shorts, then pull them to the side, but I was just as in need. Just as eager to get to her juicy center.
She lifted off just enough to slide the shorts down. Like we'd done this dance before, she slid off the edge into my waiting hands and I buried my mouth inside her.
How was it possible that she tasted even sweeter than I remembered? How could it be that I just couldn't get enough of her?
My body was on fire for Sadie, every swirl of my tongue, flick of her clitoris, pump of my finger taking her over the edge. Just breathing on her made her shake uncontrollably, a new climax seizing her body and sending me spiraling toward bliss.
&nb
sp; I wasn’t sure what I'd done to deserve this beautiful, delicious woman, and I’d be damned if I was gonna perseverate on my good luck for too long. Just when I was ready to scoop her off the counter and bend her over she beat me to the punch, sliding off the counter. Ponytail askew. Eyes wild. Before I could even things up and start removing my clothes, headed toward putting the throbbing, rock hard part of me deep inside her, she shook her head and licked her lips.
"I'm not done with your mouth yet."
Stunned and turned way the fuck on by her brazenness, I watched her shove the kitchen chair out of the way. She gripped the front of my shirt and snatched me back to her, thrusting her tongue into my mouth. Tasting herself. Tasting my lust. She dropped one of her hands to my groin and stroked my cock, moaning as she stroked every throbbing inch.
"On the floor, Jax."
She bit her lip and my cock and heart pulsed at the same time. My nickname had never sounded so sexy. And I didn't hand over the reins to anyone...except her.
Back against the floor, cock at full attention, I reached for my right pocket again.
She clucked her tongue. "Don't worry, I'm going to fuck you. But like I said a minute ago, I’m-"
She tore off her t-shirt and I thanked God for whatever good deed I'd done in a past life so her perfect body was mine. I gazed at her blush colored nipples. Drank in the crimson hair she freed from her ponytail holder. Salivated at the place between her thighs that I could devour and fuck for days.
“Not-”
She squatted down beside me, freeing the aluminum square from my pocket.
“Done-”
She unzipped my pants and reached in my jeans, wrapping her fingers around me.
“With-”
She took me in her mouth, pumping me in and out until I was having problems remembering my name or any reason why falling for her was a bad idea.
“Your-”
She slipped a condom over my length, then crawled toward my-
“Mouth.”
She straddled the sides of my head and lowered her wetness onto my mouth. Her essence, her sweetness, the taste that was uniquely Sadie, consumed me. She rode my tongue like a woman possessed. Like she was using me in the best possible way, because she was just as insatiable.
She couldn't get enough.
“I need you inside me, Jax,” she moaned. “I need to ride your cock.”
She didn't wait for permission, lifting off my mouth and straddling another part of me that loved the feel of her. She braced herself and lowered her body, slowly, deliberately taking every inch.
I tasted her and now I got to feel her, stretch her, the folds of her body squeezing my cock as she bounced up and down. Her hair spilled into her face and she didn't push it away. She was a woman on a mission. I couldn't help but sweep it away though, bringing myself up to an angle, but keeping the rhythm. I wanted to see her face when she came, and I wanted her to see mine.
Her climax came roaring from her mouth and she threw her head back, still gyrating, telling me to join her. Pulling me to a place where I lost control and was wild too.
Gripping her.
Ordering her to not stop.
Holding on to the moment until we were both struggling to catch our breath.
Still locked in our embrace, we drifted back down to reality.
I didn't run this time. I didn’t even feel the urge to run.
I brought us up, her arms still wrapped around my neck, her legs roped around my waist. Her hair was trying to spill back in her eyes and I tucked it behind her ear, letting my fingertips linger. I pressed a kiss on her lips, then the tip of her nose.
“So,” I began, my voice still thick with sex, “If that was the appetizer, since you dropped my salad on the floor, I can't wait to find out what the entree tastes like.”
“Ugh!” She slapped my chest playfully, looking down at the two of us. Her, completely naked. Me, naked, but still in my t-shirt. Both of us were too ravenous to get to taking it off, apparently.
“I should let you starve,” she said, feigning disgust. She extricated herself slowly, like she wasn't quite ready to let me go.
The feeling was mutual.
“Luckily for you,” she continued, holding out a hand to help me to my feet, “My sister would kill me if she knew I just fucked your brains out and sent you packing without dinner.”
“Sounds like I should give those flowers to Rose,” I winked, headed toward the bathroom. The silence that passed after my comment wasn't awkward. When I looked at Sadie, I saw the first smile that reached from her lips to her eyes.
“I'm glad you're here, Jackson.”
My throat felt like it was being held over a fire and I felt like my heart would float right out of my chest. I almost made a joke, but I didn't trust that my voice wouldn't snap in half before I got to the punchline. Even that was bullshit. I wanted her to see the ‘me’ beyond the tough, wisecracking, never taking anything seriously guy. I took this seriously. I wanted this, whatever it was, to flourish.
What if's and caution thrown to the wind, I smiled right back at her. “Me too.”
~
“It smells like sex in here.”
I didn't know much about Rose besides her catfish tendencies and that she had the same doll-like features as Sadie, but her brash observation told me that we were going to be fast friends. After all, she was the reason I was sitting across from a woman I was sure I'd never see again. Her meddling was just that, and when she marched right over to the dining room table and plucked a crouton out of her sister's salad, I was officially ready to let bygones be bygones.
Sadie was still holding on to her grudge.
“I couldn't stand you messing in my food when we were kids, and it's even less endearing now,” Sadie huffed, swatting her sister's hand.
Rose pointedly stuffed the crouton in her mouth and leaned in and pecked Sadie's cheek with a kiss. “You'd think I'd get a warmer welcome considering I'm pretty much the reason you get to live happily ever after. Or whatever brand of 'happy endings' you guys prefer.”
Sadie's gasp was a prologue to a more physical response to her sister's antics, but Rose had already darted out of the line of fire. From the things I'd witnessed as a foster kid re: sibling interactions, it was always best to stay out of it until you were invited in, so I just repositioned myself in my chair and smirked as discreetly as I could, twirling my spaghetti.
“So, you guys clearly got reacquainted, what else have you been up to?”
Rose grinned from ear to ear, dodging her sister's glare with such skill that I knew that she'd played that annoying kid sister card every chance she got. The thing that made my chest knot and a warmth settle over me was the not-quite anger that Sadie was hurling her sister's way.
“Enjoying our dinner before you made your entrance and spoiled my appetite,” Sadie rolled her eyes, pushing back from the table.
She made Rose a plate that was unique to the plates we'd been working on while making awkward small talk about work. Instead of the hearty helping of noodles and the perfectly portioned drizzle of spaghetti sauce, she dumped a couple of noodles on a plate and poured two spoonfuls of tomato sauce on top. Rose had to be sixteen, maybe seventeen, but when Sadie slid a plate in front of the empty chair on the other side of me, Rose’s face was that of someone much younger. Filled with glee and child-like wonder at something as simple as spaghetti.
But it's not that at all. It's because they have a bond. They know each other and have a connection that comes with being forced to share things; road trips that seemed to last forever, parents that drove them up the wall. They were family.
It was a beautiful thing to witness, but I still felt a pang of jealousy. Sure, Joe was like a brother to me and definitely the longest connection I had growing up, but we were separated when we turned 14. He moved in with a distant aunt and I was left with people who cared more about a paycheck than an angsty, bitter teen. Family was an abstract concept to me. Something I saw on
television and movies. Something I glimpsed when I ended up in foster homes where the parents had their 'real' children and made it clear that I was something...other. It was a club I'd never be a part of, thanks to sheer bad luck.
“Does it taste okay?”
I blinked, a little disoriented as I climbed out of my head and tuned back to the now. A much happier time, which should have been reassuring, but it just made the fear creep back in. If there was one thing I knew, even as a man who was in a completely different reality than the poor, lonely, forgotten foster kid, it was that if something seemed too good to be true, guess what? It was.
I didn't let myself linger in that darkness, taking the forkful that I'd been twirling absentmindedly and stuffing it in my mouth. I pretended like I was one of those judges on a culinary competition show, taking a bite and putting my fork down. I chewed it slowly, tapping my chin like I was contemplating the meaning of life, then I swallowed.
“Well, Rose, I'm pretty sure that's the most delicious spaghetti I've ever tasted.”
Rose blushed as deeply and as adorably as her sister. “You're just messing with me.”
“There are three things I don't mess around about.” I counted out each one on my fingers. “The first one is my business.” I quickly went on to the second, since my recent distraction in meetings was because I was so tied up with wanting to fix things with Sadie. It was proof that I messed around a tiny bit. “The second one I'll have to share with you when you're a bit older.”
“Jackson!” Sadie hissed behind me. I couldn't even see her face, but I knew her cheeks matched her sister's darkened hue to a T.
“The third is food,” I finished, pausing to take another bite. I wasn't blowing smoke up her ass. The spice and tomato ratio was as good if not better than dishes I'd tasted at restaurants with Michelin stars, world renown food critics and waiting lists to even get in the door. "This sauce is incredible, Rose."
“It's just canned sauce that I doctored a little,” she said peevishly, slumping a little in her oversized sweatshirt. “And the doctoring recipe is all Sadie.”
