by Skyla Madi
And he notices.
He drags his dark, hungry stare all over my milky skin, taking turns focusing on my breasts and my bare, pulsating core. The way he looks at me sends hunger, deep and primitive, rushing through my nervous system. Anticipation swirls too, and it’s painful. If he doesn’t touch me soon, I’ll do it myself.
He smooths his rough beautifully over-worked hands up my thighs and I shiver, squirming on his lap.
“You’re too fucking pretty for your own good.”
Heat blooms over my entire body.
“You think I’m pretty?” I tease, feigning disbelief.
Jai reaches around to knead my ass. “The prettiest.”
I lean forward slightly, pressing my breasts against his chest as he squeezes my pliant flesh, teasing me. I want more. I need more. I move my hands over his torso, feeling every hard inch of him, but it isn’t enough. My skin burns to feel his. His stomach tightens as I move my hand lower, where his ‘V’ shape leads into his pants, and I slip my cool hands under his shirt. When I touch him, flesh to flesh, tingles skyrocket over my body and my blood burns like hellfire.
I flick my tongue over his soft lower lip and slide my palms up his torso, lifting his shirt as I go, until the tips of my fingers brush over his nipples. They’re hard and taut, making desire pool between my legs. I want to lick them.
As if he’s read my mind, Jai whips off his shirt, and tosses it away like he did my bra. Seeing him like this…I blow air out of my cheeks as the craving to taste him blooms into searing pain.
He’s the epitome of male perfection.
Jai’s shirtless body attracts mine like a magnet and I snake my fingers against his chest up behind his head, squeezing his hair in my fists. I yank his head back and latch my mouth to his jaw, moving it down his neck, earning a groan that vibrates my lips. The first taste of his clean skin is incredibly delicious, whipping my hormones into a frenzy. He returns his hands to my backside and pushes and pulls me, grinding my hips into his, his hard length between my thighs.
I slide one of my hands from his hair, down his bare, hard torso, and stop between my legs, where the hem of his sweatpants begins.
“Take them off,” I whisper into his ear, brushing my lips against his lobe.
He sucks in a breath and shifts, moving his hands from my ass to his pants. He lifts his hips as I lift mine, and he pushes his sweatpants down far enough for his cock to spring free, his hot shaft slapping against my hot center. I gasp and roll my hips, sliding myself along the veiny underside of it. I kiss him deeply then, and between my legs, I feel his cock throb with his heartbeat, begging for relief.
I break the kiss with a sigh, moving against him once more, and press my forehead to his. Jai’s eyes are focused on mine and his hands grip me tightly, but he doesn’t take control of how fast or slow I move, so I keep going at my own, tormenting pace…
…until something snaps inside him and he throws me off his hips with a growl, pinning me flat on my back, his powerful body between my legs. Jai traps my hands above my head and shoves himself inside me.
Air is forced from my lungs, my back arches, and a curse tears from my lips, only to be devoured by Jai’s brutal kiss as he slams into me over and over. With his lone free hand, he pulls on my long hair, squeezes my breasts, and pulls my hip. His hand moves so often, I’m dizzied by the onslaught of his touch.
He bites, licks, and sucks at me—all of me—and my pleas for him to slow down and make it last fall on deaf ears. Like all the other times we’ve been together since reconciling after our year of longing and loneliness, he dominates me with his need, his desperation to come. Because of this, he’s beyond restraint, beyond my control, and it’d be a lie if I said I didn’t crave his madness. After a year apart, I crave to feel just how much he missed me both physically and emotionally.
And he shows me.
Always.
Every brutal, unrestrained thrust pushes me closer to the edge, an edge I only want to jump off with him.
Jai lowers his face to my neck and sucks my flesh between his lips, occasionally biting it with his teeth. I fall into a daze, overloaded by sensation with nowhere to go. He pins me down and I can barely move, not even to seek friction against him. The only thing strong enough to pull me out of my stupor is his ragged, raspy voice in my ear. Begging me to stop feeling so good, to stop making him want to come so soon. Each word that leaves his mouth sends spirals of sensation over my scalp. Team that with the fact I’m completely naked and he isn’t, because he couldn’t wait, and I’m good to go.
“Fuck, Kitten,” he gasps, releasing my hands. “You’re so goddamn tight.”
I open my legs wider and slide my free hands under the hem of his sweatpants to grip his firm ass, forcing him deeper inside me, even though he already reaches his hilt with every thrust. I love how he kept his sweatpants on, his shoes too. It shows just how bad he wants me.
I try to hold on as long as he does, but I sink deeper and deeper into the sensations coursing through my body. My entire body clenches. “Jai…”
“Don’t,” he begs. “God, Emily. Don’t.”
Pleasure builds up inside me like a game of Tetris, my breath coming quicker and faster as if I’m rapidly being submerged in freezing water. “Jai…”
Only the water isn’t freezing. It’s hot. Unbearably hot. He clamps a large hand over my mouth to stop his name from leaving my lips, but it does nothing to silence the moans that echo in my throat as my body begins to tremble. Pulses of pleasure spread from my core to the tips of my toes and Jai stills, gritting his jaw, trying to keep my orgasm from me. My orgasm is end game for him. It always has been.
I push my pelvis down, compressing the cushion under my ass, then I push it up, moving myself on his cock.
“Stop,” he orders, his mouth becoming slack as I continue to move my hips, grinding against him.
Jai hangs his head, his forehead to my breasts, but I don’t stop. I can’t stop. His firm hand falters on my mouth and I let a groan out into the air. Moaning, he dips his index finger between my lips. I lick it and suck it, making him shiver.
“I’m gonna come,” he murmurs, his breath hitting my chest.
He lifts his head and gathers my breasts in his grip. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? You want me to come?”
I nod enthusiastically, rubbing at his ass, at his back. “Yes. Yes, that’s what I want.”
He squeezes my tits tightly and thrusts hard. A single thrust that makes me half gasp, half moan, and he does it again and again, until I’m clawing at his back, arching off the couch, unable to contain the pleasure that explodes inside me as I come.
He follows immediately, his thrusts becoming stilted and shallow. A warmth spreads throughout my womb, a warmth I want to stay and develop into something more, something that’ll bind us together forever.
Jai peppers gentle kisses along my collarbone, his arms trembling as he holds his weight above me. He pauses where my clavicles end in the middle and lifts his head, making eye contact with me. “Are we ever going to get married?”
His question shows me just how in tune we are. While I’m thinking about babies and all I’ll have to do to make it possible—hopefully—he’s thinking about marriage which, I guess, is a good first step toward becoming parents.
“Yes.”
That I know for certain.
“When?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Tomorrow. Next week. Whenever you want.”
He kisses me and it’s soft, his tongue languid and sensual. Until it’s not. I groan as he thrusts his hips, slow ministrations that start off soft against my walls, but then he thickens and thickens, stretching me all over again.
I sigh as he sits back, pulling me into his lap. I rock my hips against him, making his breath hiss.
“Again, Jai?”
“Yes, again.” His kisses my neck. “And again. And again.”
He lifts his head and all I see are his beautiful ocean eyes and heavy
lids. All I feel is his heart beating wildly against mine, our bodies entwined like they were always meant to be.
There’s no one else on this planet for me.
There’s only him.
Thirteen
Emily
Wolfe
I’m humming again.
Last night with Pete is but a distant nightmare and Jai and I ended the night on good terms—the best terms. We even discussed getting married here in Joel’s orchard and honeymooning in Capri for a whole month. He mentioned children in passing, changing the subject the second it fell from his lips, seemingly to avoid hurting my feelings. I’m aware there’s a high chance Jai and I won’t be able to have children of our own, but I’m open to other options—like adoption. I didn’t get a chance to tell him that because he was onto a new subject quicker than I could blink, but maybe we can discuss it in length the next time we discuss our future.
I tug on my tight white long-sleeved crop top and adjust the laces that line my cleavage and expose tiny slivers of my white and gold bikini. Normally, I wouldn’t wear this crop out, but since Jai and I are going on a day trip to the Bagno Vignoni hot springs, I figure it can’t hurt to show a little skin.
I reach behind me and jerk on the waistband to my high waisted jean shorts, tugging them a little higher, before smoothing the palm of my hand against my belly button. I exhale, pull my long, dark hair around my shoulders, give my outfit one last onceover, and leave the bathroom. As I pass through my bedroom, I snag my handbag off the bed and sling it over my shoulder. Excitement bubbles in my stomach and I continue to hum. It’s a happy tune, an improvisation following no rhythm in particular.
It occurs to me that this will be our first real date. We’ll be outside and seen by other people instead of locked up in a house with only each other for company. It’s exciting, unexplored territory and I can’t meet him at Joel’s place fast enough.
I stop abruptly when I pad down the stairs and see the state of my sitting room. I rake my stare over the untidy couch cushions and the decorative pillows we—apparently—threw all around the place last night. One has hit my expensive crystal vase by my bookcase and knocked it over, snapping the lip. I set my handbag on the floor and rush over to the mess. I figure, if I tidy quickly, then I won’t have to when we get home and we can get straight into our movie marathon.
I straighten the cushions and scoop up my decorative pillows, lining them neatly along the couch. I pick up my vase and set it flat against the plush carpet again, dropping the broken lip inside and making a mental note to tell Jai to fix it.
I turn around and the only offending items to an otherwise tidy room is my black lace camisole and Jai’s hoodie. I stroll over and scoop them up. Exhaling, I throw my cami over the back of the couch and tuck Jai’s hoodie under my arm when something hits the carpet with a light thud and bounces against my foot. I peer down at the black smartphone and frown.
What the hell? I bend down and pick it up. It doesn’t look like Jai’s phone. If it’s not Jai’s, then who does it belong to?
I press the home button and the screen lights up, asking me for a pin code. I try the year Jai was born in.
Nothing.
I try the year I was born in.
Nothing.
I try a whole bunch of different dates and numbers that might be significant.
Nothing.
If this is Jai’s phone, what’s he hiding from me? Or am I just being paranoid?
I stare at the numbers on the keyboard, the pet name Kitten popping into my mind. If only it wasn’t six letters…then it hit me. I straighten my spine and type six-three-six-nine, translated by the old-school number/letter system to spell ‘MEOW.’ To my surprise, the screen unlocks.
My heart thunders in my chest at what I’m about to see. I slide up against the screen, pushing away a dark gray veil.
I frown at the message on the screen that reads:
1 NEW SIGHTING—UKRAINE.
Underneath, a little red box tells me to
“CLICK FOR DETAILED ACCOUNT” so I tap it.
I gasp and drop the phone to the floor, my stomach twisting painfully. Tears spring to my eyes and I squeeze them shut, slapping my hand over my mouth to keep from throwing up.
Once when I was young, I thought it was fun to walk along the tall, wooden fence at the children’s home I lived in. It’d just finished raining and I slipped, falling six feet to the ground, landing on my back. The impact of the fall knocked every wisp of air from my lungs. I couldn’t inhale, and I certainly couldn’t exhale. All I could do was lay there, clenching my sides, mentally begging my lungs to allow air in. That’s how I feel now.
I crouch low to get a better look. My heart thunders in my ears as my stomach becomes turbulent and my brain desperately scrambles to make sense of it all.
Ukraine.
Yesterday’s date.
It even has the current weather stats. To the left is a picture of Skull’s side profile. My mind pulls me through a horrible flashback of all the terrible things he’s done to me—done to us. I thought my nightmare was over. I thought Skull was dead.
Joel told me Jai killed him. Jai agreed.
He lied to me. They lied to me.
Rage replaces the sickness in the pit of my stomach. It boils like a cauldron over hot flames. I snatch Jai’s device in my hand and storm through my house, unable to move my legs quick enough.
I’ve been living my life without fear when I should have been on the run from a madman. Skull, the same crazy person who’s obsessed with me because I look like his dead wife, the very same man who tried to murder everyone I love, is out there looking for me.
He’s being misled now, but what happens when he figures it out? What happens when he finds me? I can’t go back to living like that. I can’t go back to living with him, in fear.
I shoot out my front door, barefoot and angry. Twigs and stones stab into the soles of my feet, but I don’t care. When I find Jai, he’s going to tell me everything and, when he spills all his secrets and begs for my forgiveness, I’m going to punch him in his handsome face and kick him in his beautiful dick. Then, we’re going to figure out what to do about it.
How could he do this? How could he look me in the face this whole time and omit something like this?
I storm down the track toward Joel’s place, and get there in record time. When I brought up Skull’s death in Beirut, confirming what Joel told me with Jai, all he said was, yes.
Yes.
A goddamn lie!
I squeeze Jai’s little stalker device in my hand so tightly, I’m surprised the screen doesn’t crack. The brisk walk here did nothing to quell my anger. If anything, it’s only increased it.
Asshole.
Asshole.
Asshole.
Angry tears sting my eyes and my skin is alight with goosebumps. Where is he? I storm around the side of the house, seeing the broad backs of Jai, Joel, and Ted. Each of them wearing tight, black tees.
“You lied to me!” I snap, shouting. The three of them tighten their shoulders, squaring, but no one turns around. I frown. Are they ignoring me? “Jai!”
I plant my hands on my hips. What the hell is going on?
Slowly, Joel and Jai step apart, neither of them looking at me. It happens in slo-mo, the reveal. My heart stutters and I drop the device in my hand to the grass at my feet. All I can see is baby Jake. The skin surrounding his eyes is red from recent crying, but he’s otherwise calm, calmer than he should be being held in those terrifying, inked arms.
My breath hitches painfully in my chest, cramping the muscles that line it, and I’m paralyzed. Completely immobile.
“There’s my girl,” Skull shouts, waving his handgun at me. “Cute outfit. I’m digging those jean shorts.”
By Skull’s long, black cargo-clad legs, Benji stands as stiff as a board, his watery stare on the porch where I’m sure Huss watches on in horror.
“Please,” I hear Monique cry and she inches ont
o the top step of the porch.
Her usual smooth blonde hair is disheveled and frizzy, her eyes red and puffy. The sight of her, a mother’s panic, stirs a thrumming in my ears, forcing a powerful stress headache to develop in my temples.
I close my eyes.
I don’t want to look at him. I can’t. I never thought I’d have to set eyes on him again. Not his pale skin or the inked skull that covers it.
The phone said Ukraine, but he’s here in Siena, Tuscany. Why, God? Why is this happening?
I lived my nightmare and I beat it. I don’t have the strength to go back into it. I just don’t.
I open my eyes, meeting his wide, wolfish grin and his black, volcanic glass eyes dancing with excitement. Fear sits on me like a pillow over my face. Enough air gets by, allowing my body to keep functioning, but it’s painful and my extremities tremble.
My thighs muscles twitch with the urge to step forward, to beg him to put Jacob down and let Benji go, but I don’t move. I can’t.
“I have to say,” he begins, bouncing Jake in his arms as he turns his attention to Joel, “I’m a little disappointed he doesn’t look like me. It’s surprising really, considering how often Monique and I—”
“Stop it,” I snap, surprising everyone, even myself. “We know what you’re here for.”
I’ve reached the end of my rope. The nerve of this vile creature, using two innocent children to get what he wants. I can’t think of anything more wicked or villainous than that.
He makes me sick—more than ever.
“Straight to the point. I’ve missed you Kitty-Cat.”
My upper lip curls. I thought I’d never have to hear that again.
“You’re boring,” I tell him, earning a scowl from Jai over his shoulder. I know I shouldn’t antagonize him, but I don’t want him to think for a second that he’s caught me off guard or that I’m terrified he’s here. “No grand entrance? You waltz in, pluck a baby from his playmat while his parents aren’t paying attention and wave a gun around? You’ve lost your charm.”
