Drive (One Night Series Book 1)

by Megyn Ward

  From the corner of my eye, I see a large hand shoot past me to slap against the door, snapping it closed in front of my face, the bulk of him looming over me.

  “Stay.”

  He says it softly, the breath of it falling across my bare shoulder, his free hand sliding along in its wake, brushing my hair over it to move down my back. “That’s what I want.” I feel his lips against the back of my neck, a soft, languid press that leaves me reeling. “I want you to stay.”

  I feel my breath catch in my throat as his hand slides into my hair. His fingers tightening, he turns my head, angling up, my chin tipped over my shoulder. “Will you...” He skims his lips across my wet cheeks, his hand falling away from the door to turn me toward him. His mouth hovers over mine, his gaze locked on my face. “Will you stay with me? With us?”

  I nod, pulling his face to mine with a smile as I whisper the word I’ve been waiting five years to say to him.

  “Yes.”

  Thirty-three

  Jaxon

  I can’t get her upstairs fast enough.

  Truthfully, I’m not even sure how I managed it. All I know is she said yes.

  I asked Claire to stay and she said yes.

  Yes.

  After that, everything was a blur.

  I must’ve picked her up because I’m holding her. I must’ve carried her upstairs because we’re in my room, the dim light from my bedside lamp shining softly, standing at the foot of my bed.

  I turn, setting her on her feet to stand in front of me before I sink down, sitting on the edge of the bed. Enthralled, I watch her reach down, taking off one shoe and then the other before dropping them on the floor.

  “No,” she says softly, her hands reaching for the small of her back so she can work down the zipper of her dress.

  “No?” I can feel my brow furrow, worried about what she’s about to say, even while I can’t look away from the sight of her undressing in front of me.

  “No,” she says, a slight smile playing at the corners of her mouth as she works her hips to shimmy out of the tight, black dress she’s wrapped in. Baring her breasts. Her soft belly. The whisper of lace between her thighs. “I’m not getting married.”

  Unable to take another second of not touching her, I nod, even as I’m reaching for her. “That’s good,” I tell her as I close a trembling hand over her breast, giving it a gentle squeeze as I lift it to my mouth. “I was wondering if I was going to have to kill someone.” I look up at her and she pushes he hands through my hair with a gasp when I draw her nipple into my mouth to give it hard, greedy pulls that tighten it instantly against my tongue.

  “Don’t you mean worrying?” she says, her voice thin and soft.

  I snake an arm around her waist, pulling her closer, turning and falling until I have her under me, stretched out across the bed. Even as I move her, I can’t take my mouth off her. My fingers digging into the soft, yielding flesh of her hip while I devour her, my tongue licking its way over feverish skin. Between her breasts. Across her belly to dip into her navel. The place where her leg meets her hip. Trailing slowly along the inside of her thigh until I’m there. Right where I need to be.

  “No, I mean wondering, because there’s no use worrying about something I can’t change,” I tell her grazing her tender pink flesh with my teeth. “I’d kill any other man who tried to claim you.”

  “Jax—” The rest of my name gets snagged on a sharp, ragged gasp when I drag my tongue up the center of her and she sighs, her hands cradling the back of my head, even as she’s lifting her hips to press herself against my mouth, rubbing herself against my tongue.

  “Still greedy,” I growl against her, nipping and sucking at her with my lips and teeth, slipping my hands under her ass to lift her, pressing her pussy against my face so I can fuck her with my tongue.

  “Yes…” she moans softly, her hips rocking in my hands, my shoulders pushing against her thighs, opening her even further so I can taste every part of her I’ve been missing.

  Needing.

  “Jesus Christ, Claire.” My breathing is harsh and shallow, every push and draw of my lungs against her like torture to us both. “As warm and sweet as I remember,” I say, circling her swollen clit with the tip of my tongue.

  Closing my mouth over the top of her, I slip a finger inside, long and slow, and start to suck her off, matching each stroke I’m giving her to the pulls of my mouth until she’s writhing and bucking on the bed underneath me, her soft cries and grasping hands pushing me so close the edge, I’m about to come just from the feel of her against my tongue. The taste of her in my mouth. Her hands in my hair.

  She lets out a sharp, shuddering gasp and her thighs slam closed around my head even as her pussy locks around my finger, each pulsing clench of it trying to draw me deeper. Keep me inside her.

  I let out a groan of my own, suddenly so eager to get my cock inside her that I’m shaking. Strung out. It doesn’t matter that I was buried inside her only a few hours ago. It doesn’t matter that we have a lifetime together. That I asked her to stay with me and she said yes. I need to fuck her so bad I can feel my bones cracking under the weight of it.

  I lever myself up and over her enough to yank my pants down around my hips before settling between her parted thighs, the head of my throbbing cock pressed against her.

  “Wait,” she pants out, eyes wide. Small hand pressed against my shoulder.

  Shit. Right. “I don’t have a condom.” I squeeze my eyes shut and let out a long breath, instantly backing off. “It’s been a while since I—”

  “That’s not why I stopped you.”

  My eyes pop open and I look down to see her staring up at me, her hand still pressed against my shoulder. “Did I hurt you?” I feel my face fall into a scowl. “Did I do something to—”

  “No…” The hand on my shoulder slips down, skimming down my pec, fingers bumping along the tight muscles in my abdomen. “It’s my turn,” she says, her lids lowering over blueish gray eyes as her hand wraps around my cock. “I want to know if you taste as good as I remember.”

  Holy shit.

  My eyes slam shut again and I groan. Push myself into her grip, pumping my hips against her hand. “Claire…” I growl her name, the muscles at the base of my spine tightening so hard and fast, it almost hurts. “I’m struggling here.”

  She lets go of me to throw her leg over my hip and turns, pushing me flat on the mattress to straddle my stomach. “Then relax,” she says, bending over me to press her mouth to my throat. “And let me do what I want.”

  “What’s that?” I groan softly because I want to hear her say it. I like the blush that spills across her cheeks when she talks dirty.

  “I want your cock in my mouth,” she whispers in my ear before licking her way down the taut cords of my neck. My collarbone. My pecs. Abs. Teeth scraping against my hipbone. My dick jerking every time her a part of her brushes against the base of my shaft. Pre-cum leaking from the tip at a steady pace, faster and faster the closer her mouth gets to where she’s going.

  If she keeps it up, we’re not going to get that far.

  She goes still. Stops touching me. Stops teasing me and somehow that’s worse. “Claire?” I crunch upward, drawing my elbows up and underneath me so I can look down at her. She’s looking at my scar. Raised and pink over the place where one of my kidneys used to be. The one I gave to my son.

  The reason I left her all those years ago.

  I open my mouth to say something.

  Claire.

  I’m sorry.

  I love you.

  If you’ll let me, I’ll spend the next seventy years making it up to you. Every day, for the rest of our lives.

  Whatever it is, she doesn’t give me the chance.

  She leans in, pressing her lips to the scar, kissing it so reverently, it feels like worship.

  It feels like forever.

  It feels like fate.

  Thirty-four

  Jaxon

  I k
new, even before I opened my eyes.

  Claire was gone.

  I lay there for a while, eyes closed, thinking about the night before.

  Stay.

  I’d finally said it. Finally told her what I wanted. I told her the truth, I told her everything and she stayed with me. Let me take her upstairs. Get her naked. Take her to bed.

  We talked for hours. Kissed and laughed. I held her until my lids grew heavy and I followed her into sleep.

  I love you.

  That was last thing I said to her before I dropped off.

  I love you too.

  That’s what she said.

  Then she left.

  And it’s no less than I deserve.

  Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I sit on its edge and stare out the window while the pressure in my chest crushes the air from my lungs.

  I hear noises coming from downstairs. The refrigerator opening and closing. The slide of silverware in the drawer. Someone rifling around in the pantry.

  Simon.

  I’ve tried to make Sunday breakfast a thing but he sabotages me, every chance he gets. If I’m not up and cooking before he comes downstairs, he slams a quick bowl of cereal so he can tell me he’s already eaten.

  I guess I deserve that too.

  You know what? Fuck that.

  Yes, I’ve made mistakes, but I was a kid. A kid who was a father. Scared shitless, just trying to keep my head above water. Yes, I could’ve done better but I tried.

  I’m still trying.

  I stand, stalking my way across the room. Pulling a pair of jeans from my drawer, I jerk them up, barely closing the zipper before finding a T-shirt. Jam my feet into boots without socks.

  Claire said she was going to stay.

  I told her what I want and she said yes.

  If she changed her mind, I deserve to know why.

  Even if I don’t deserve it, she’s going to look me in the eye and tell me anyway.

  Even if I don’t like the answer.

  I take the back stairs into the kitchen where Simon is. I’ll call my mom. She’ll come over and stay with him. I’ll take my bike. Fuck, I’ll walk if I have to.

  I’m going to get her.

  I’m bringing her home.

  Because, Simon and I—we’re her home.

  Always have been.

  “Hey, Simon, I—”

  I stop short, what I’m seeing in front of me rooting me in place.

  Claire.

  She’s standing at the stove, her back to me, swimming in a pair of my pajama pants and an old T-shirt from my drawer. Simon’s at the kitchen table, making his way through a stack of pancakes.

  When I speak, Simon looks up from his plate and Claire turns around, both of them looking right at me.

  “Where are you going?” Claire says, her brow scrunched.

  “I’m going to find you.” I probably look like I feel. Disheveled. Insane.

  Her lips twitch. “Do you have time for breakfast before you leave?”

  I rush her, crossing the kitchen in a few long strides to pull her into my arms. Lifting her off the ground, I crush her against me. “You’re here,” I say against her neck, breathing in the smell of her.

  “I am.” She laughs, pulling back just enough to see my face. “Where else would I be?”

  Nowhere.

  Because this is where she belongs.

  Where she’s always belonged.

  “Hey, Simon—” I lift my face and turn to find him watching us. “Should we ask Claire to stay?”

  “For dinner?” he says, a goofy grin plastered all over his face. He has questions, I’m sure, but he looks happy. Happier than I’ve seen him in a long time. For the first time since I’ve been home, I don’t just hope. I know we’re going to be okay.

  I look down at her and smile. Taking her face in my hands, I smooth my thumbs over her cheekbones, reveling in the feel of her soft skin. The color of her eyes, a soft, muted blue, aimed up at me. I lean down, lowering my mouth to brush it against hers and she sighs, the breath of it skimming across my lips as hers stretch into a smile to match my own. “Dinner could work,” I say without looking away from her. “But I was thinking more along the lines of forever.”

  The End

  ۝

  Dear reader ~

  I hope you enjoyed, Drive, the first installment of my standalone series, One Night. If you did, please leave me a quick review. It might seem like a small thing but to a writer, a review means everything.

  Happy Reading ~

  Megyn

  Also by Megyn Ward

  The Gilroy Clan

  Pushing Patrick

  Claiming Cari

  Having Henley

  Conquering Conner

  (coming April, 2018!)

  Destroying Declan

  (coming August, 2018!)

  The Kings of Brighton

  Book 1: Tobias

  (coming May, 2018!)

  Book 2: Grayson

  (coming July, 2018!)

  One Night

  Drive

  Grind

  (coming June, 2018!)