by Alexis Anne
“I know how much you hate her,” I continued. “And as much as I wish I could erase those years that took me away, I don’t know how else I’d get to being this man. And like it or not, it took losing control, getting mad, and getting lost, to find my way out. In a weird way, she helped me see who I didn’t want to be.”
“I really think I need to stomp around or run a mile or something,” Eve said through clenched teeth. Every muscle in her body was tensed.
But there was no way I was letting her go. This wasn’t something I wanted stewing between us. I wrapped my arm around her chest and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “We have to be able to talk about the past, Eve. Otherwise you are giving it power it doesn’t deserve.”
She swore under her breath. “Fine.”
“All I wanted to do was tell you how much I appreciate the past for bringing me to this moment.”
She stewed while I massaged. “I understand what you are saying. I don’t like it, but I don’t want to argue about it either. I love that we’re where we are now, but if that woman is in our lives much longer we’re going to have problems.”
I couldn’t agree more. But as I was sitting there with her, it occurred to me, probably for the first time, everything about Eve that makes me so attracted to her was probably exactly what was going to drive me crazy. I loved that she was smart and successful. It was hot, actually. Eve could take care of herself, so the fact that she wanted me, and let me know all her insecurities, it made that male part of my brain go a little wild. And it made my overprotectiveness kick into overdrive because when Eve did need me, it was for a damn good reason. One I’d do anything to fix.
I’d done my time and made my peace with life, but that didn’t necessarily mean Eve was in the same place. She was successful, yes, but what if she wanted more? Her career was a huge part of her life, it was very possible she had big plans for what she still wanted to accomplish. I was ready to start winding down, but we could very well be in two totally different places. And that thought sucked.
I was so caught up in the dream of marrying Eve and getting the life I wanted, I didn’t really stop and consider what the next ten or twenty years would really look like. I was starting to realize the work wasn’t over—it was just beginning.
“Now,” I said, pushing aside my weird thoughts. “I really, really want to show you how much I love you. If you’re up for it.”
Everything about Eve’s mood changed in an instant. “Up for what, exactly?”
I had her. “I was thinking about those little words you whispered in my ear this morning.”
She gasped and craned her neck to look up at me. “Do you really think you’re up for the challenge?”
Chapter 21
~Eve~
There was a sparkle in Jake’s eyes. It could only mean one thing: trouble.
“Two minutes, Eve. I know I can get you off in less than two minutes.”
I arched a very skeptical eyebrow. “No you can’t.”
His answering grin was enormous. “Oh, yes I can.” He moved closer and leaned down so that our noses were touching. “And I’m gonna prove it…”
Then he ran the back of his knuckles along my cheek at the same time he lowered his eyes and kissed me. My whole body groaned for more of whatever the hell it was Jake had just done to me. Knuckles and lips… in just the right way, and just the right time, were apparently magic.
He smiled at me lazily and cocked his head so he could whisper in my ear. “Please. I want to do dirty, dirty things to you Mrs. Spencer.” He kissed the spot behind my ear and I sighed. “I want to bury my fingers inside you while you look out at the forest and moan so loudly every other person here on vacation wishes they were you.”
I was so wet it was ridiculous. Just words… they were just words… my body wanted all those words.
Damn body.
Jake trailed his fingers over my chest and stomach, stopping short of my bikini bottoms. “Please? Let me?”
I’m pretty sure my legs fell open. I was a puppet and he was the master. He said a few magical words and my legs did as he wished. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t thought about sex since I whispered in his ear that morning. It didn’t matter that two minutes ago I was as far from turned on as a person could get. Jake had worked me over and I wanted what he was offering.
He grinned and his green eyes flashed. I couldn’t help myself, I reached out and ran my fingertip through the dip of his dimple and kissed it a split second before his fingers pressed against my sex. “Two minutes, starting now.” He was holding up his wrist so I could look at his watch, not that I was really paying much attention to the hands on the watch. My mind was pretty fixated on the hands touching my body.
His fingers slid inside me without any effort at all. I was that wet. He groaned, “Oh, I’m gonna need to taste that…” He slid his long fingers in and out several times before pulling away and licking them clean. I could really care less how much he did or didn’t like the way I tasted, all I could think about was how empty I felt without him inside me. I was throbbing. I think that was exactly what the cocky bastard wanted too, because he waited for me to look at him before he pulled his fingers out of his mouth and thrust them back inside me with a wicked grin.
I gasped and threw back my head. He could do whatever the hell he wanted to me. And he could take as long as he wanted to—I wouldn’t give him any grief for going over his two minutes.
While Jake did magical things inside my body he ran his other thumb over the exposed parts of my breast, inching closer to my covered nipples, but not going near them. He was teasing me.
“Do you know what it does to me to feel how wet you are for me? Do you have any idea how much control you have over me, Eve?” I forced my eyes open because I knew he wanted me to look at him when he poured his soul out to me. His eyes locked onto mine. “I live for these moments. I will do anything you want. Ask me for anything, and I will give it you.”
He thrust deeper inside me at the same time his thumb ran over my nipple beneath my swimsuit. I couldn’t catch my breath. It was gone and my body was wound up, every muscle tensed, as I gasped for air. “You are so fucking beautiful when you let me have you.”
I shuddered as his breath danced along my neck and I came completely undone, coming around his fingers as he pressed into me. He kissed my neck up and down as I cried out his name, my toes curling and hips tilting into his fingers. “So beautiful,” he whispered, which only intensified the end of my orgasm. Knowing how Jake felt about me was always a huge turn on.
When I finally relaxed, he pulled his fingers away, licking and glancing down at his watch. “Two minutes on the nose.”
I sat up and grabbed his wrist, twisting his watch so I could see it better. “No…”
“Yes…” he chuckled.
Sure enough, as best I could remember, it had been exactly two minutes since he showed me the time. “That is some raw talent, Jake. I wish we could harness it for something useful.”
He used a towel to finish wiping his hand clean and leaned over my body, “I can’t think of anything more useful than giving you pleasure at any time and place.”
I think I may have blushed under his intense stare. It was probably the hottest look I had ever seen. Ever. “Well, then. When you put it like that…”
He nodded and kissed me. “Excellent. Now, your turn.”
My turn? What the hell did that mean? I hadn’t agreed to anything other than the two-minute challenge.
Jake laughed and shook his head. “Oh no. It’s not what you’re thinking.” He stood up and pulled the other chair over, positioning it so he was facing me when he sat back down. “Same deal. Can you get yourself off in two minutes?”
Me? “I just got off. That’s not fair.”
He crossed his arms and looked at me pointedly. “Don’t think you can do it, huh?”
Ass. “I’m just saying it isn’t fair. Round two can take time…”
“Or it can happen twice as fast s
ince you’re already hot and bothered.”
“Therefore, it is an unfair test.”
He shrugged his shoulders and looked away. “I guess I know your body better than you do.”
He did not just say that out loud. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” he laughed. “I am saying I think I know your body better than you do. I want you to prove me wrong.”
I stared at him for a full minute before I decided there wasn’t really anything to lose by proving him right. He knew my body better than I did and we both knew it but, in the meantime, I’d get another orgasm while I drove my new husband absolutely wild. I slid my bikini tops to the side, exposing my breasts as I spread my legs back open. “Start the clock.”
Jake swallowed hard as he barely glanced at his watch, “Go.”
By the time I was done moaning it had been three minutes. I wasn’t sad to lose that bet because in those three minutes I got to watch Jake lose his mind. He begged and pleaded and practically ripped the arms off the chair. He was torturing himself but, he’d asked me to do it.
Three minutes of exquisite torture later, I had two orgasms and he had none. But because I was feeling like having more fun, I stood up and stripped off my bikini before beckoning him inside to the bedroom where I let him have me hard against the bed.
***
I was a tangled mess in the white sheets and Jake was lying on his back beside me as the morning light began filtering through the open windows. By the rhythm of his breathing and the way he had his arms propped up behind his head, I knew he was awake. It had become a new favorite sleeping position for us—my back pressed to his side. Sometimes he turned and spooned me, but for the most part, Jake had been sleeping on his back.
I shifted and stretched, loving the feel of the strange sheets as they moved over my naked skin.
“Mornin’ darlin’,” Jake drawled sleepily. “Did you sleep well?”
“Mmmm,” I replied. My eyes were still closed and I wasn’t quite ready to form words.
He chuckled. His voice was deep and rough from sleep. “I think breakfast is waiting for us. Do you want it in bed today?”
I shook my head and stretched again before rolling over to lie on his broad chest. “No, just give me a minute. I like eating on the porch.”
Jake stroked his fingers up and down my back while I woke up. He was so quiet I had to wonder how long he’d been awake.
“How about you?” My voice was muffled against his chest.
“I slept great, actually. I think I’ve slept better here than anywhere I’ve ever slept.” He ran his fingers through my hair. “The longer we’re away from home, the more it feels like a different life. You’ve changed too, you know.”
“True,” I was calmer than ever. “How long have you been awake?”
Jake shrugged, “A while.”
“And what have you been doing?” I looked up at him with one eye open. He was damn sexy in the morning with stubble on his chin and messy hair.
“Listening to you breathe, and of course all your secrets. You really shouldn’t talk so much in your sleep.”
“I don’t talk in my sleep,” I scoffed. “I should know, I lived with the nosiest sister on the planet. She’d have told me if I unwittingly divulged secrets in my sleep.”
“Well, it’s that… or she just kept her best source of information a secret.”
I punched him lightly in the side and pushed up onto my elbow. “What have you really been doing?”
Jake ran his thumb along my cheek and brushed my hair over my shoulder all while studying me with the softest look on his face. “Honestly, nothing. I’ve just been enjoying this.”
I could see the lie in his eyes, but I let it go. Whatever was on Jake’s mind, it wasn’t worth pushing my new husband on our vacation. “Coffee?”
Jake grinned. “After you.”
I pulled the spare sheet off the chair where I’d been storing it each night, and wrapped it around my body. My hair was everywhere and I didn’t even bother to tame it before I followed Jake out onto the porch. Two trays filled with coffee, juice, croissants, and fruit were waiting for us, as usual.
I arranged myself on the chairs with my feet propped up while Jake served the coffee. It was the quietest breakfast and I think we were both dreading the next stage of our lives: going back to reality. Neither one of us wanted to talk about it, but we couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Everything up until that point had been easy, reactionary. Falling back in love was intense and left little time for worrying about anything else. We were going to have to think and plan, agree and compromise. What we were heading home to was a complete unknown.
Especially when I added her into the equation. Jake was true to his word. He hadn’t pulled his phone out once and Greg hadn’t called the house, so what was happening while we were away was a complete mystery. I was happy about that until I realized we were going home blind. Anything could be waiting for us. I hated surprises.
Jake was staring off into the bushes surrounding the porch, absent-mindedly pulling off strips of croissant and popping them in his mouth.
Where would we be in five years? Would he still be as handsome? Would he still love me or would I drive him crazy? Would one of us become so engrossed in work that we forgot how to have fun?
“Promise me,” I whispered.
Jake snapped his head around to look me in the eye. “Promise you what?” Then he reached out and slid his long fingers around my hand.
“Promise me you won’t let me forget how it feels right now. Don’t let me forget.” I knew myself well enough to know that once we got back to our lives I would let things like work and worrying about the future cloud my ability to simply live in the moment. I would get swept away.
He studied me intently for a minute. His muscles were rigid and his jaw was clenched. Jake’s instinct would be to do something tangible, to take immediate action to solve the problem. Except there was nothing to do. This was exactly why I usually avoided saying things like this, I didn’t want to ask him for something that would only frustrate him, but I was desperate. I needed him to understand how frantic and helpless I was feeling in that moment.
“Ok,” he said simply and squeezed my hand, but it was the conviction in his eyes that told me how seriously he took my request. “I’m putting it on my list of husbandly responsibilities,” he winked and grinned his cocky half-smile.
“My god, Jake Spencer. You may be the hottest husband on the planet,” I breathed.
He leaned in, pulling my hand so that I was forced to turn into him, and kissed me lightly on the lips. “I don’t even register on the same scale with you.” Then he slid his hands up my arms and grabbed my face, kissing me very, very intently.
I wanted to get lost in that kiss with Jake, but my mind was already betraying me. It was already back home, strategizing and worrying about the potential threats to my marriage, not the least of which was a redhead I needed placed on the first plane out of town.
Chapter 22
-Jake-
“Movie’s ready!” Eve called from the living room.
We were having a romantic night in and I was cooking. “Be there in two minutes!” I called back.
The spaghetti was done—I just had to serve everything up. It was hard to believe it was almost over. One more day… and then back to reality. I was dreading it. The last two weeks had been amazing. Nothing in our real lives would ever be as relaxing or fun. It just wouldn’t.
I dumped the sauce on top of the noodles, popped in some silverware, and joined Eve on the couch in front of the television.
“Thanks, babe.” The lights were off so we were eating by the glow of the movie and the couple dozen candles Eve had placed around the little house. Eve was wearing a t-shirt and not much else. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail over one shoulder and I was kind of hoping the movie sucked so I could strip her naked and make out with her on the couch instead.
“What’s it
about?”
She grinned, “Explosions and sex. I basically picked something where the words wouldn’t matter.”
The only movie choices were in French, and since I didn’t speak the language, Eve was trying to be helpful. Of course, there was the fact that Eve actually liked movies full of explosions and sex, but that was just nitpicking.
Unfortunately for me, the movie was actually pretty good. I was awake until the very end, while Eve was asleep in my lap. “Movie’s over, darlin’,” I whispered while I rubbed her back.
“Leave me on the couch, I’m comfy,” she groaned and burrowed deeper into my lap.
I sighed because, of course, that oddly felt nice. “I’m not leaving you on the couch.”
“You are such a pessimist.”
“How am I a pessimist because I don’t want to sleep without you?” Eve always came up with the funniest stuff when she was half asleep.
She sat up and looked at me with one eye open. “I don’t know. Maybe it makes you an optimist, then?”
I just shook my head and hopped to my feet. Eve took my hand and let me guide her toward the bedroom, which was pretty hard because she wasn’t looking where she was going.
“Ow.” She walked right into the wall leading to the kitchen.
“It would probably help if you opened your eyes…”
“You are so bossy.”
I just shook my head and scooped her up. “I think it’s best if I take it from here. You’re like a drunk driver, Eve.”
“Whatever,” she murmured and wrapped her arms around my neck.
She was asleep as soon as I laid her down, but I was wide awake with nothing to do. It was a dangerous combination and, for the first time since our wedding day, I thought about my conversation with my uncle. I’d successfully and very skillfully avoided it every other day. But it was always there in the back of my mind, haunting me.
Tom said a few things that I couldn’t get out of my head, the most important being I shouldn’t even bother with Ashley. I wanted to chalk up my desire to hear Ashley out to my manners, but I knew it was more than that. I felt an obligation to her, not because of our past, but because I knew what it was like to be haunted.
