CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE #2
Jackie could feel his attention on her now, before his hand came up.
His palm curved around the side of her neck.
The hold wasn’t as rough as she usually liked it.
Still, there was nothing gentle about it either.
It was restrained. Her chin tilted up, and her body followed before her mind could even catch up.
Suddenly she was looking at him again. And that’s when it hit.
The height of him. And the way she had to lift her gaze just to meet his.
It made her feel smaller without making her feel weak.
His grip tightened slightly. It didn’t hurt her.
If anything, it made her aware of who was in control at the moment.
Her back arched, as heat spread through her chest and her nipples tightened beneath the lace.
Jackie held his stare as her breath caught.
She didn’t look away. Couldn’t. Something in his eyes kept her right there.
Locked in. “You’re beautiful,” he said, low and certain, like he wasn’t asking her to believe it—just stating a fact.
Jackie turned toward him slowly, barefoot, and out of breath.
“I didn’t ask for this,” she whispered. “I know,” he said, brushing a knuckle along her jaw.
“But you needed it anyway.” She didn’t move when his fingers brushed the zipper again.
The cool air kissed her spine, and Jackie just stood there.
Barefoot. Corset dress folded around her hips, chest rising and falling beneath the delicate lace of her bra.
Jackie felt… undone. But not in a messy, desperate way.
But in that soft, vulnerable way she never let herself be.
A man like this ain’t supposed to want a woman like me.
That’s all she kept thinking. Men only valued her when she was sharp-tongued and unreachable.
Only touched her when she was half-dressed and fully pretending.
But Najee… he was touching her like he knew how rare she was.
Like he knew how many versions of herself she’d had to bury just to survive.
You don’t know what it took for me to be soft right now.
She wanted to say it. But instead, she just watched him.
Watched the way his eyes moved slow, taking her all in.
He wasn’t just staring. He was studying her.
His hand hovered at her hip but didn’t touch.
Like even his desire had patience. Was this how it was supposed to feel?
Jackie thought. For once in her life, Jackie felt like a woman worthy of praise and not just consumption.
Revered. Deserving. A woman men undressed slow and prayed over.
Najee’s voice came out measured. “Sit.” Jackie lowered herself onto the velvet bench, and he stayed standing, towering over her, eyes never leaving hers.
Then, finally, he knelt again. But not for her feet this time.
His hands slid over her thighs, thumbs brushing the soft inner curve, careful not to touch too much.
His face was so close she felt the heat of his breath when he exhaled.
“I want you to know something,” he said.
Jackie swallowed. Her heart was thudding so loud it drowned out the music.
“You’re beautiful, Jackie. And it ain’t ‘cause of your body or that pretty-ass face.” One side of his mouth curved up, cocky but quiet.
“Not that I don’t appreciate all of that.
” Then he softened, voice dropping into that honest register she hadn’t heard yet.
“You’re beautiful ‘cause you stand ten toes in every season life threw at you. You don’t fold.
You don’t flinch. You walk in rooms like God sent you.
” He shook his head a little, eyes steady on hers.
“That kind of strength? That’s the part I see first. That’s beauty to me. ” Jackie’s eyes stung instantly.
She wasn’t the crying type. But this level of seeing?
Of being worshipped without being stripped of her power?
It cracked something wide open. “Najee…” He didn’t speak.
He just slid her heels under the bench, picked up the champagne flute, and handed it to her with one hand while the other came to rest lightly on her bare thigh.
There was no pressure in his touch. Not once did she feel the weight of obligation or demand.
Jackie stayed seated next to him for a moment before he tapped his knee.
She stood and planted herself in his lap, nestled between his thighs, leaning back into his chest with the champagne glass in hand.
She was still half-dressed, but at least now she abele to relax for real.
Her nerves made her chatty, and before she knew it, words tumbled out faster than she could filter them.
“I feel like a damn call girl.”
Najee chuckled low in her ear, his palm stroking slow up and down her bare arm.
“A call girl though?”
“Not on no Pretty Woman shit,” she rushed out.
“But like… I don’t know. Like I should be performing or something. You sittin’ here all poised and presidential, and I’m undressed in your lap with my titties half out”
He didn’t interrupt her. Just ran his fingers through her hair from the nape, soft and slow.
“Oh yeah? Performing what?”
She glanced up at him, heat blooming in her cheeks.
“I don’t know. A dance… or something.” He smirked.
“Well, why don’t you?”
Her laugh bubbled out before she could stop it.
“Boy, please. I got two left feet. They used to clown me and say I had all this ass and couldn’t move none of it.” Najee raised a brow. “Wait. You telling me Jackie Brown can’t twerk?”
“I can’t,” she grinned, spinning around slightly so she was straddling his lap now, facing him. The movement made her dress shift even lower, just barely clinging to her hips.
His breath caught just a little. But he didn’t stop her.
“This place fancy as hell,” she said, peering around.
“Don’t strike me as the type that got lemon pepper wings, huh?”
He smiled again, this time lazy and warm.
“Nah. No wings on the menu. But if you want some, I’ll get you some.”
Her brows lifted. “For real?”
“Where you want them from?” he asked like it was nothing.
“David’s? Salt and pepper? Or you want Super House?” Jackie laughed, throwing her head back. “What you know about David’s on a late night?” He looked dead at her.
“What you know?” She was still laughing, as she playfully began bouncing in his lap.
It wasn’t enough to be obvious, but it was definitely enough to tease.
And then she felt it, the thick, growing bulge pressing against the front of his pants.
The thin lace of her panties was the only barrier now.
It hit her immediately, just how big he was.
Even through the fabric of his joggers, she could feel the heavy, solid length of him already hardening fast under her weight.
Jackie hadn’t been this close to a man in so long that the sudden, unmistakable heat and pressure made her stomach tighten and her pussy throb with a sharp, almost embarrassing rush of wetness.
Her breath hitched. She shifted her hips just once, experimentally, and the thick ridge of his dick dragged right along her slit through the damp lace.
The friction was immediate and electric, sending a jolt straight to her clit.
A soft, involuntary sound escaped her throat.
Najee’s hands stayed on her hips, steady, but she felt his dick twitch and swell even more beneath her, the outline getting thicker, harder, pressing up insistently against her core.
That only made her bolder. Her hips rolled again, slower this time, deliberately grinding her pussy along the full length of his print.
The lace was already soaked, the slick heat of her arousal making the slide smoother, hotter.
Every slow drag rubbed her swollen clit against the hard ridge of him, building a steady, pulsing pressure that had her thighs trembling around his lap.
She could feel herself getting wetter with every pass, the fabric between them doing nothing to hide how turned on she was becoming.
“I’m doin’ that to you?” she asked, voice lower now.
Jackie had become breathless as she looked down between them and watched the way her body moved over the impressive bulge in his pants.
“Since the day I met you,” he said as their eyes met.
It landed heavier than she expected. Sweet and dangerous at the same time.
She leaned into it, her movement deepening, hips rocking with more purpose now rubbing her aching pussy harder against the thick outline of his dick.
The stimulation was relentless, each grind pressing the head of him right against her clit before sliding back down the length, teasing her entrance through the lace without ever going further.
Her breathing turned ragged, small moans slipping out as the long-neglected ache between her legs started to build fast.