Burned

by Gabrielle Gibson

  He knew she was trying to help. She was such an affectionate person. It had taken him some time to get used to that. It still caught him by surprise occasionally.

  “Jack,” she said softly, “I thought you said you were always really careful. You said you always wear condoms.”

  “I usually am. I do. It was one little slip. I fucked her one time without a condom. One goddamn time. I was fucking wasted. I didn’t even come inside of her… pulled out.”

  Jessie winced a little. She hated hearing the details of Jack’s sex life, no matter how long ago the encounter had been.

  “I feel bad for Brandy. All alone with such severe injuries. I wonder if she has any family,” Jessie mused, continuing to massage his neck and shoulders as he drove.

  Jack shrugged. He really didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Are you sure you don’t remember anything else?” Jessie asked.

  Jack nodded. “I’m sure.” Irritation had crept into his voice.

  “Well, maybe something will come back to you,” Jessie said hopefully.

  Suddenly he got angry.

  “Jessie, do you understand that I didn’t spend time talking to her? I didn’t even know her. I fucked her a few times, years ago, that’s it.” Jack’s frustration was obvious by his rough tone and raised voice. “You want to know what I remember? She had a smoking hot body. The lap dance she gave me. Watching her face down in some blonde’s pussy. I remember her sucking me off then bending her over my kitchen table to fuck her. We didn’t hang out and talk about our fucking feelings and families, Jessie. We fucked. That’s it.”

  Jessie stopped touching him. She pulled away and turned from him to stare out the window. She hated when he talked that way and he knew it. She was quiet then, not speaking again until Jack pulled up in front of her house.

  “Fuck, Jessie, I shouldn’t have fucking said all that. I don’t mean to take it out on you. None of this is your fault.” Jack sighed.

  He turned the car off and pulled the keys out of the ignition.

  “You’ve had a rough night.” Jessie glanced at him, her blue eyes understanding and forgiving.

  Given the night he’d had, she was willing to make allowances that she normally might not. Then again, when it came to Jack, she couldn’t seem to stay upset with him for long, no matter what he did.

  “Did you have dinner? Are you hungry? If you want to come in I can make you something to eat.”

  “Yeah? You don’t mind?” He hesitated briefly before agreeing. “Thanks.”

  He actually hadn’t eaten. Now that she mentioned food, he realized that he was starving.

  “Come on in,” Jessie said as she pushed the front door open. Libbie greeted her excitedly, her little tail wagging. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be right back. I just want to change and get comfortable.”

  “Oh yeah? Need some help with that?”

  She laughed as he followed her into her bedroom.

  “I think I can handle it by myself. Thanks, though.”

  “So this is your room, huh?”

  Jack looked around Jessie’s bedroom. Lots of pink, frilly looking stuff. A princess vanity in the corner with a ton of lotion and makeup and other girly things all over it.

  Jessie laughed nervously. She hadn’t expected him to follow her. “Yeah, this is it.”

  “It’s very pink,” Jack observed. “Pretty much exactly how I pictured it.”

  His gaze fell over the queen-sized bed with its fancy wrought iron headboard, light pink comforter and assortment of small fluffy pillows. He briefly envisioned Jessie spread out on this bed, her pretty blonde hair fanned out around her, that sweet little body just waiting for him to enjoy.

  Jessie didn’t ask Jack why he had pictured her bedroom, although the question did cross her mind. She grabbed a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt and slipped into the connecting bathroom to change. She closed the door behind her, leaving Jack to peruse her room.

  The closet door was open and he glanced inside. She clearly had a ton of clothes and shoes, but everything was neat and organized.

  The mirror over the dresser had pictures stuck in it, mostly of Jessie and Zoey, or Jessie with her dog and family.

  There was one of Jessie with some guy with blonde hair. She was smiling huge and he was kissing her cheek. Must be the ex-boyfriend. Was it weird that she still had his picture hanging in her bedroom?

  Jack shrugged off the thought. What the fuck did he care?

  On top of the dresser was a Magic 8 ball, a lava lamp, and a framed picture of her and Zoey in caps and gowns, smiling at whoever was taking the picture, Jessie’s hand held up in front of her in the universal symbol for rock n’ roll. He smiled at that one.

  He noticed a short, silky, pink nightie hanging off the bed post. He picked it up and held it out to look at it, and then pressed it to his nose, inhaling the sweet scent of Jessie that lingered on the soft material. His cock twitched against his jeans as the door to the bathroom opened and Jessie stepped into the room.

  He smiled at her as she grabbed the nightie from him.

  “Give me that, you pervert!” she laughed, stuffing it in a drawer.

  “Put it on. I’ll give you an honest opinion how it looks on you,” Jack joked, sitting down on the edge of her bed and watching her as she brushed her hair in front of the mirror.

  “Yeah, right, as if,” she laughed, her cheeks turning as pink as the nightie he’d just been fingering. “Your opinion isn’t very objective. Remember, I’ve seen the girls you hook up with. We can’t all be swimsuit models, Jack.”

  He didn’t say anything, just let his eyes trail up and down her body. He was always surprised that Jessie didn’t seem to be aware of just how hot she really was.

  Jessie left her bedroom and headed into the kitchen to fix him something to eat, as promised.

  Jack left her to it and went to sit down in her living room. He turned on the television.

  He glanced at the coffee table in front of him—a health and fitness magazine, one focused on celebrity gossip, and some other women’s magazine. He glanced at one of them, smirking and shaking his head as he read some of the ridiculous article titles splashed across the cover.

  14 Things He Wants You to Do to Him in Bed (And Why You Should Start Tonight!) and How to Tell If He’s Falling in Love With You.

  Seriously? Did women really read this bullshit?

  He picked up the remote control and flicked through the channels, settling on a sports show discussing fantasy football lineups.

  After a half an hour or so, Jessie called out to him. “Do you want to eat in there or come in here?”

  “I’ll come in there,” Jack answered as he got up from the comfortable, oversized sofa and took the few steps around the corner into her small but cozy eat-in kitchen.

  She set a plate down in front of him of shrimp fajitas with onions and peppers, rice and a salad. It smelled amazing. She opened a Corona, stuck a sliver of lime in it, and handed it to him.

  “Wow, thanks,” Jack said. “You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.” He started eating. “But I’m damn glad you did. This is really good.”

  Jessie sat across from him and sipped on a glass of iced tea, watching him eat.

  “You’re not eating?” he asked.

  “I ate earlier with my parents. Today was my mom’s birthday. We were supposed to take her out to dinner, but she got caught up at work, as you know. So we brought dinner to her.”

  Jack ate everything on his plate. Jessie asked if he wanted more and he nodded. After a second helping of the delicious meal she had prepared, he realized that it was almost midnight.

  After she finished cleaning up the dishes, Jessie found him sitting on her sofa, staring at the television. He didn’t seem anxious to go home anytime soon.

  She sat down beside him.

  “It’s going to be okay, Jack. If it turns out that Kennedy is your daughter, I can help you,” she said, rubbing her hand soothingly acr
oss his back.

  Jack sighed.

  “Jessie, as soon as I looked at the kid I knew that she was mine. She looks almost exactly like my sister, Sarah. Chris knew it right away, too.”

  “But you said you and your sister are twins.” Jessie looked confused. “Kennedy doesn’t look like you at all.”

  “Yeah, Sarah and I are twins but we don’t look that much alike. Fraternal twins look as much alike as any other brother and sister might. Sarah favors our mother and I look more like my… like him.”

  “What are you going to do?” Jessie asked, holding her breath. She knew that Jack didn’t like kids. “Will you take care of her until her mom gets better?”

  He shrugged. “I guess so. What else would I do?”

  “I don’t know. You always say you don’t want kids.”

  “I don’t. But I’m not a monster, Jessie. She’s my kid, she’s my responsibility.”

  They were both quiet for a few minutes.

  Jessie rubbed his back while he sat with his elbows propped on his knees, his hands pressed to his forehead. She could feel the tension radiating from him even as she did her best to massage some of it away.

  “Do you want to stay here tonight? You can crash here on the couch. It’s super comfy. I fall asleep out here all the time. There’s an extra toothbrush under the sink in my bathroom.”

  He didn’t answer her, but after a minute or so he stood up and disappeared into her bedroom. She heard the shower turn on.

  He came out a few minutes later, his hair damp and no shirt on, looking sexy as all hell with his jeans sitting low on his hips, the button left undone. Her eyes were drawn to him and all that hotness that was invading her living room, not to mention her whole damn life. She tried not to stare as she slipped passed him to go brush her teeth.

  She returned to the living room, bringing him one of the pillows from her bed. She found him lying on his side, his head resting on the arm of the sofa. He lifted his head and she slid the pillow underneath him.

  She wedged herself into the small space on the cushion in front of his large frame and leaned in to impulsively kiss his cheek.

  “Goodnight.” She reached for the blanket folded over the back of the sofa, intending to spread it over him. “Try not to worry. Everything will work out. Promise.”

  He reached for her then, slowly pulling her down onto the sofa and into his arms so that she was lying with him, her back to his front, spooning her.

  “Lay here with me for a few minutes.” His voice was low and strained.

  With one arm under her, holding her close, Jack placed his other arm along her side, his hand resting lightly on her hip. He buried his face in her neck and hair and inhaled. God, she smelled so good. His cock lengthened against his zipper, excited by the contact. He shifted that part of himself back a bit, hoping that she wouldn’t feel it pressing against her.

  Jessie was surprised. It wasn’t like Jack to want or need physical contact that wasn’t sexual. She supposed that maybe he was human after all. He hadn’t really been close with her like this since that night in his hot tub at the beach. That was well over a month ago.

  It felt good to lie close to him like this. His arms were so big and strong around her. She felt so tiny next to him, the hardness of his body contrasting so deliciously with the softness of hers.

  Arousal raced through her body and she shivered as she pressed her back tighter against his chest and snuggled deeper into his arms. She couldn’t help herself. She liked him so much. She suspected she might even be stupid enough to have fallen in love with him, but she wasn’t sure.

  She was surprised to feel his lips kissing and gently sucking against the back of her neck and his hand lightly stroking the top of her thigh. Her heart rate seemed to triple. After a few minutes he moved his hand lower and started very lightly touching her between her legs over her pajama pants.

  He felt her tremble as her breathing got heavier. He pressed his fingers to her a bit more firmly until she whimpered. He loved hearing that sound she made. His cock was rock hard as he felt the heat coming off her against his hand. His breathing became more erratic and his breath was hot against her ear. His lips sucked harder against her neck. She moaned softly as his teeth grazed lightly over her skin.

  “Fuck,” Jack murmured against her ear.

  What the hell was he doing? He shouldn’t be playing with her like this. It was beyond fucked up, but he couldn’t help himself. He’d held back every instinct he’d had around her for more than a damn month, but tonight he just needed a little bit from her.

  She knew she should tell him to stop. But it had been so long and it felt so good. With the slightest touch Jack could get her more turned on than she’d ever been in her life. He left her breathless, aching to find out what would come next if they ever took it to the next level.

  He hadn’t intended to start touching her like this. Hadn’t meant to get her so worked up that she was panting and whimpering as his fingers played lightly over her clothes. But it had been such a fucked up night. He’d just wanted to hold her for a few minutes, enjoy her softness, her sweetness. She felt so fucking good. He hadn’t meant to start anything.

  Fuck.

  He was totally taking advantage of her right now and he knew it.

  She rolled over so she was facing him, placing one hand on the warm skin of his hard, bare chest and her other hand in his hair.

  “Jack?” she whispered his name like a question, confused as to why he was touching her.

  Her big, trusting blue eyes looked into his longingly. When he didn’t answer, she pressed herself closer to him and boldly touched her lips to his, feeling his impressive erection through his jeans against her leg.

  Jack kissed her back, his hands settling against her perfect ass. Their kiss quickly grew more urgent, demanding. His tongue swiped against hers as he slid one hand underneath her t-shirt and cupped her breast, his fingers playing gently with her erect nipple.

  She moaned and he lifted her shirt up, breaking the kiss and pressing his face against her breasts.

  “Goddammit, Jessie,” he murmured, his frustration clear in his voice as he kissed and licked her breasts, his cock swelling even harder, so desperate for her that it was painful.

  Jessie slipped her hand tentatively over that intimidating bulge and rubbed softly, her pussy throbbing as she felt how enormous he was through the soft denim of his jeans. It felt like steel against her hand and she pressed her palm against it more firmly, clumsily trying to wrap her fingers around him through the material.

  “Fuck, Jessie… yeah,” Jack groaned.

  He pressed his forehead against her soft skin and gave himself over temporarily to the pleasure of her touch. He was breathing heavily now, caught up in the moment between them.

  “Should we go in my room?” Jessie whispered nervously, her hand still stroking him softly.

  Jack gently caught her wrist in his hand and moved it away.

  He murmured against her ear, “We should get some sleep.” He took a shaky breath and sat up. “Shit, Jessie, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…”

  It took all his willpower to stop what was happening between them. It would be so fucking easy to go to her room with her and take everything she had to give.

  Jessie looked hurt and confused. He felt his stomach twist with regret. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. He never wanted to hurt her. But from the look on her face, it was clear that he had done just that.

  His resolution to not use her for sex was strong, but tonight he was feeling unusually vulnerable, a situation he wasn’t very familiar with. Resisting his almost constant urge to sleep with her was hard to keep a handle on under the best of conditions, but especially difficult right now. He would like nothing better tonight than to bury himself inside of her and fuck her hard and deep. It would be the perfect distraction from the shitstorm that had gone down tonight.

  She was looking at him with those amazing blue eyes that made him want to lose hi
mself in her forever. It was hard not to give in to it. Since the day they had met he’d wondered what it would be like to get inside of her. He imagined burying his face between her silky thighs. Finding out how good that sweetness tasted, licking her until she came against his mouth. He had jerked off so many times to thoughts of her, imagining fucking her in just about every possible way his filthy mind could come up with.

  But she was such a sweetheart, way too good for someone like him.

  She had somehow become one of his closest friends. How the fuck had that happened? She was so much more than just a hot little body for him to use and play with.

  Tell that to his dick.

  She was smart, funny, beautiful, affectionate, and unbelievably warm and caring. He was determined not to use her for his own fucked up compulsions. She wasn’t the type of girl that could separate sex and emotion.

  Fuck all hell that was hard to remember sometimes. Like now, when he had her tight little body wrapped around his, her sweet little pants making him dizzy with lust. Almost driving him to the point of no return. Almost.

  Jessie disentangled herself from him and clumsily got to her feet.

  “Goodnight,” she whispered, looking down at the ground like she was ashamed and embarrassed, slipping off to her bedroom and closing the door behind her.

  She hoped that Jack hadn’t seen how incredibly humiliated she’d been. Could she have acted any more desperate for him? All that moaning she had done had certainly left no doubt that she was into him.

  Obviously he hadn’t been experiencing the same reaction to her, despite that rock hard erection. The one she’d had no idea what to do with.

  No surprise, really, that he had lost interest. Her fumbling attempts to excite and please him were probably just ridiculous. What else could explain the sudden change in his mood? One minute he was all over her and the next minute he acted like she was poison.

  She climbed into bed and snuggled under her blanket, confused, embarrassed, and more than a little hurt. All of the random girls he slept with, but when it came to her he acted like she had the damn plague.