The Reality of Everything (Flight & Glory)

by Rebecca Yarros

  “It’s been four years,” I blurted. “And there were only two others.”

  His jaw popped once. Twice. The strain was evident in every line of his face as he lifted his hand to cup mine. “I’ll be careful. And I don’t care who came before as long as you’re mine now.”

  “Only yours,” I promised with a nod. “And don’t…I don’t want to know your number. Not right now, anyway.” Mercy, I was babbling. The hottest, most important moment of my life and I couldn’t hush up.

  His eyes flared with amusement, but the rest of him was tense. “No one who came before mattered as much as you do.”

  I swallowed, knowing there was at least one and hating myself for letting her into this moment.

  He brushed a soft kiss on my lips, as if he read my thoughts. “I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. I don’t want to just possess your body right now. I want your fucking soul, Morgan.”

  “Is that your way of saying you’re mine, too?” The pressure of him at my core made me adjust my hips slightly, taking him inside me just the slightest inch.

  There was that jaw pop again, but his eyes were still tender. “You already own my soul. I’m yours.”

  My heart threatened to explode; the ache was that sweet and strong.

  “I want this,” I assured him, hooking an ankle over his back. “I want you, Jackson.”

  He kissed me hard and rolled his hips, filling me with one long thrust. We both cried out. There was a slight burn as my muscles stretched to accommodate him, but it was nothing compared to the sensation of having him inside me.

  His mouth tensed over mine, and his eyes squeezed shut so tight that he looked like he was in pain as he fought for control. One breath. Two. Three. Four passed before his gaze met mine. His pupils were blown, and his muscles were tight under my fingers.

  “You feel so fucking good,” he groaned. “Are you okay?”

  “God, yes.” I clenched my core instinctively.

  “Good.” His mouth took mine as he pulled back and pushed in again, which had us both groaning. “I’m going to live here. Right here,” he promised, then set a rhythm with hard, slow thrusts.

  Every stroke felt like a higher degree of heaven.

  We moved together like this was our hundredth time, not our first. It was effortless and so damned good each time I met his hips with mine that I craved him in the seconds between, when he wasn’t deep inside me. He never faltered, never slowed, never shortened his strokes. The man used his body like a machine to draw every ounce of pleasure possible from my flesh. My nails dug into his back as sweat beaded on our skin.

  My breath caught and my eyes widened as I felt that same tight pleasure spiral deep within me. Oh God, was I really going to come again? Was it possible?

  “Jackson,” I whimpered.

  “God, Morgan.” He cradled the back of my head with one hand, pushed my knee higher with the other, and slid even deeper, changing our angle.

  Tight. Everything was tight. My skin, my muscles, my very bones stiffened as my cries came in time with his thrusts.

  He slid his hand down my thigh and slipped his thumb between us, then worked my clit at an alternating rhythm.

  “You have to come for me, baby. I can’t hold out much longer. You feel way too damned good, and I’ve wanted you for too long.”

  His words and the look in his eyes sent me to the brink, and then he pushed me right over it with his body.

  I cried out his name as the orgasm barreled through me, stronger and deeper than the first had been.

  “Yes,” he groaned with a kiss. “I love you.” His grip shifted, and his hips swung with abandon as his control snapped.

  I clung to him through the aftershocks of my orgasm, and he joined me with his own, my name on his lips as his face fell to the cradle of my neck as it took him.

  Moments passed while we struggled to catch our breath. He rolled to the side so he wouldn’t crush me, taking me with him so my leg still draped over his hip.

  His gaze flitted over my features, taking in everything before settling on my eyes. He reached for my face and pressed a kiss to my lips.

  “Mine,” he said softly.

  I could hardly deny it, nor did I want to. The man had just transformed my entire reality and tethered himself to my soul.

  “Mine.” I smiled and kissed him right back.

  “True.” He grinned.

  We both cleaned up, and neither of us put clothes on as we slid back between the sheets.

  He pulled me against him with a kiss. “I think you just changed the tides. That blew every fantasy I’ve ever had clean out of the water.”

  “Glad I could live up to the hype.” I kissed his chin. How different this night had turned out, and yet this was exactly where I’d imagined we’d wind up. A thought sobered me, and I pulled away to look at Jackson. “How is Hastings’s leg? I didn’t think to call Christina.”

  He swallowed and yanked his gaze from mine, blinking rapidly. “Oh, uh. I’m not sure. I think Garrett mentioned that he might need a screw or two so they can set it.”

  My face puckered. “That stinks. I’ll bake some cookies and take them over tomorrow.”

  “You are entirely too sweet.” He pulled me into another kiss, and this one deepened. “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “I only had the one condom. The rest are at my house, and I don’t want to leave you here, all warm and naked, but I also know we’re about three minutes away from starting up again.” His brow puckered.

  “Three minutes, huh? You’re certain about that?” I teased.

  He lifted a brow, took my hand to his groin, and my entire body liquefied at how hard he already was again.

  “Hmm. Good thing I’m a big girl and bought a box myself, because that feels more like two minutes than three.” I stroked him with a pump of my hand.

  He groaned, then rolled me to my back with a heart-stopping grin. “Thank God. I knew I fell in love with you for a reason.”

  He didn’t make me wait three minutes or even two.

  That box was short more than just one condom by the morning.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jackson

  I hated working nights. It meant less time with Morgan and Fin because I was always asleep when they were awake and vice versa. But tonight was my last night shift for another month, so I’d just have to suck it up.

  After zipping up my flight suit, I checked Fin’s room, but it was empty. The laughter coming from downstairs explained it. I found my girls in the dining room, Finley in a chair with her new cat perched on her lap and Morgan behind her, weaving her hair into another crown of braids that happened to match the very one she was wearing in her hair, but Finley’s had red, white, and blue ribbons threaded through it.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked, leaning against the bar. God, I could get used to this. Having Morgan here with Fin made everything seem complete—whole.

  “Morgan had a cat, too! He spilled glasses of water on her mama every day!” Fin exclaimed, stroking Juno’s fur.

  “Batted them right off the end table,” Morgan added with a smile and threw a wink at me.

  Fuck, I loved this woman, and it was okay that she hadn’t said it back yet. Eventually my charms would wear her down.

  “Oh? So just as people-friendly as Juno over here.” I eyed the tabby and kept my distance. Finley had dragged the thing out of the rain a little over two weeks ago and worked her magic on her…and me. A trip to the vet later, we now had a cat that despised me and hissed at every opportunity.

  “Hey, Juno likes people!” Finley argued.

  “Sure, people who aren’t your father,” I countered as the cat stared me down.

  Morgan pressed her lips together to keep from laughing and finished Fin’s braid. “You’re all set, my dear!”


  “Thank you!” Finley sang, already headed to the nearest mirror.

  “Make sure you’re packed for your mom’s. We’re leaving in ten minutes!” I called after her.

  Morgan walked straight into my arms, laying her cheek flat just below the patches on my chest.

  “I hate that I have to work tonight,” I said into her hair, breathing in her scent as I held her close.

  “Me, too.”

  “You sure you’ll be okay?” I tipped her chin up to look in her eyes and got knocked on my emotional ass just like I did every time.

  “I’m fine,” she insisted, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather sneak over and spend the night in your bed, but Sam and I are good. Mia and Joey are coming down. Figure between us, we can get the battery changed in the truck, too. Turns out all that opening and closing of doors wears that sucker down if you don’t crank the engine.”

  “I can do it if you want,” I offered, already knowing the answer.

  “I’ve got it. Once we get that done, we’re headed to the fireworks, and we’re meeting up with Christina, too.”

  “Out on the town with Mia, huh?” My eyebrows rose. “Does that mean I can expect a call from Sam to come use my stellar rescue moves?”

  She crinkled her nose. “That was one time.”

  “Hmm.” Her lips looked so damn kissable. They always did, but it had been a good hour since I’d kissed her, and I was already going into withdrawals. I’d had her in my bed for the last three weeks—whenever we managed alone time—and I could never get enough. I always wanted one more touch, one more kiss, one more…everything.

  “Jackson Montgomery, I know you’re not looking at me like that with your daughter in the next room,” she whispered with a little grin.

  “Looking at you how?” I teased, sliding my hand down the small of her back. This sundress was going to be the death of me. It was the same one she’d been wearing the day I met her, and I was dying to know what underwear she had on under it.

  “Like you’re not thinking wholesome thoughts.” She arched an eyebrow but lifted her hands to twine behind my neck.

  I lowered my head so I could whisper in her ear. “Wholesome? I’m thinking of a whole lot of ways to get you out of that dress, if that counts.” I ran my teeth along the shell of her ear, and she shivered.

  “Jackson,” she warned in that breathless way that wasn’t a warning at all.

  “Morgan.” I pulled her hips against me and kissed the spot just beneath her ear.

  “Mmmm.” She tilted her head so I took the spot just beneath that one, which happened to be ultrasensitive on her neck. Her breath hitched, and her pulse picked up beneath my lips.

  “You smell incredible. What is that? Vanilla?” I took another nibble.

  She gasped, then pushed out of my arms and made a fuss over her dress as her cheeks tinged pink. “Cookie dough.”

  “No wonder you taste extra sweet today.” I smirked, knowing she wasn’t as unaffected as she tried to look. “Get over here and let me kiss you.”

  Her eyes widened as her gaze darted to the living room. “Finley is going to be back down here any second.”

  “And?” I moved forward, and she danced backward, just out of my grasp.

  “And she’ll see!” She pulled the dining room chair between us, like that flimsy little thing would keep me away.

  “And?” I restated as she backed her way around the table, toward the sliding glass door. I skirted the chair, and she made a mad dash for the other side of the table, putting her right back where I’d started.

  “You cannot be serious.” She folded her arms across her chest, which lifted the swells of her breasts to her neckline and made me groan.

  “I happen to think it’s pretty healthy for a kid to see her dad madly in love.” I held her gaze so she knew I meant every word. I had no problem with Fin seeing me kiss Morgan. It wasn’t like we were getting hot and heavy, but Morgan had kept a five-foot distance from me whenever Fin was in the room after the whole bursting-in-post-orgasm thing Memorial Day weekend. “And I am deeply, madly, wickedly in love with you, Morgan Bartley.”

  Her lips parted, and her posture softened just like it did every time I told her that.

  I pounced, swinging onto the table and sliding straight across to land in front of Morgan. She gasped as I caged her, putting my hands on the bar on either side of her.

  “You aren’t human.” The spark in her eyes was the stuff dreams were made of.

  “Kiss me.” I dropped my voice and leaned my body against hers.

  She melted and her head tipped up, but she didn’t make her move.

  “I don’t care if Fin sees you kiss me. Hell, it would probably give her the only example she’s ever had of what a healthy relationship looks like.” I ran my lips up her jaw as Finley stomped around above us in her room.

  “Is that your reason? Or your excuse?” she questioned, her hands fisting in the fabric of my flight suit.

  “The only reason I ever need to kiss you is because I want to. And I always want to. You consume an inappropriate amount of my thoughts.”

  “My thoughts about you are usually inappropriate, so I think we’re well matched.” Her head fell to the side, and I pressed an openmouthed kiss against her throat, listening for footsteps. Kissing Morgan in front of Fin was one thing, but getting caught in the act of seducing her was another.

  “How inappropriate?” I asked against her neck. “Are we talking R rating or NC-17?” I lifted my head slightly.

  She turned her face so our lips were a breath apart. “I’ll let you use your imagination.”

  My heart rate kicked up. “You’d be surprised at the things I can imagine.”

  Her gaze dropped to my lips.

  Nearly there.

  “You drive me to distraction,” she whispered.

  “Pot meet kettle. Kiss me, Kitty.” I was going to lose my mind any second.

  “So impatient,” she teased, then closed the inches between us and kissed me.

  I kept my groan in check, listened again for Fin’s footsteps upstairs, and sank into Morgan’s mouth.

  She gasped and pushed at my chest even as she kissed me back.

  “I can hear her upstairs,” I explained against her lips.

  Her hands stopped pushing and grabbed instead. I gladly went where she tugged, pressing us against the half wall as I kissed her breathless. The problem with kissing Morgan was that I lost myself in the process. There was no calm control or suave moves. There was just the consuming hunger between us and my insatiable need to please her.

  Fin’s footsteps thudded down the stairs, and I slid my tongue from Morgan’s mouth with more than a little regret that we weren’t alone. She whimpered quietly, and I gentled the kiss to a brush of my mouth as Fin came around the corner.

  “There you are.” She huffed like she’d been looking everywhere. “Morgan, can Juno spend the night at your house?”

  I reluctantly lifted my lips from Morgan’s and grinned.

  She blushed bright red and gave me a good glare before turning a sweet smile on Finley. “What, honey? You need me to watch Juno?”

  “She bit Mama last week.” She scrunched her face as she hefted the cat into her arms. “And then she peed in Dad’s shoe.”

  Morgan stifled a laugh.

  “It’s true. That cat hates me.”

  “Sure, Fin. Just grab her carrier and her bowls and stuff, and I’ll take her home with me.”

  Just when I thought I couldn’t love her more.

  “Thank you!” Fin put Juno down and ran for the cat supplies, her unicorn backpack bobbing right along with her.

  “You must really love me if you’re willing to babysit Satan’s personal feline.” I grabbed her hips and twisted her to face me.

  “I
must really love your daughter,” she countered with a smirk, pressing up against me. Her eyes dropped to the current situation in my boxer briefs.

  “Can’t help it,” I said with a shrug. “If Finley wasn’t here, I’d have you on your back on the dining room table and your ankles on my shoulders right now.” Fuck, just the thought of it spurred my unruly dick on.

  She shook her head and stepped backward, retreating. “Serves you right for kissing me in front of your daughter.”

  “You kissed me, actually.”

  “Semantics,” she teased with mock shock. “You’d better do something about that. Wouldn’t want the boys at the station to think you’ve got a going-away present for them.”

  “Cruel, cruel woman.”

  She leaned over the bar, hauled back two giant Ziploc bags, and dangled one. “Take it back.”

  “Oh shit, if those are half as good as you smell, then I’ll take back anything you want me to.”

  The gold in her sea-glass necklace sparkled in the light as she laughed. “Remember to share.”

  I let my gaze drop to her breasts. “Never.”

  “The cookies, you insufferable man.”

  “Right. Cookies.”

  Once Finley reappeared with the cat carrier, Morgan cajoled Satan’s mistress into the contraption and packed up the food Fin forgot into a spare bag.

  She walked us out, and once Fin was in the car, I kissed Morgan good-bye long and hard outside the garage. “I love you.”

  “You’re just saying that because I’m taking Juno so she doesn’t pee in your shoes.” She grinned against my mouth.

  “I’m saying it because it’s true.” I cupped the back of her neck and lamented my work schedule for the hundredth time.

  “Be safe tonight, okay?” Some of the light died in her eyes. She did her best to lock down the fear, but it was always there, a nail scratch from the surface.

  I kissed her hard. “I will. I’ll text you if I end up flying.” She did better if I sent a before and after message, which we’d learned the week after my storm call.

  “Okay.”