Chapter 27
I didn’t know what to think about my interaction with Jackson this morning. Just when I thought we were back on the strictly professional road, he veered off and told me he wanted to sleep with me. I was seconds away from agreeing when Trevor unknowingly saved me.
I busied myself in the office until Jackson was done training.
While I worked on him afterward, the only thing we spoke about was his shoulder, and as soon as I was done, I hightailed it out of there and disappeared into my apartment.
A part of me thought I should perhaps give up this job because things between the two of us were becoming complicated.
Abby’s name flashed across my phone. As I hovered over the Answer button, there was a knock on my door.
It could only be one person. Wrapping my fingers around the handle, I debated not answering.
I didn’t have it in me to engage in a back-and-forth with Jackson right now.
Or hear his apology, if he offered one. Or remind him that it would be a bad move to give in to temptation.
Knuckles rapped against the wood a second time. Would he use his key and enter if I didn’t answer? I didn’t think so, but because I was weak and couldn’t stop myself from wanting to see him, I opened the door.
“Hey,” he said. “I thought maybe you weren’t home.” He held a plate in his hand. “I made too much and thought I’d see if you wanted some.”
“Some of what?” I asked, my left brow rising involuntarily.
“My dinner,” he responded, the ghost of a grin crossing his face.
So much for not engaging.
My fingers brushed against his as I took the plate. “I didn’t know you cooked.”
“It’s just chicken, vegetables, and sweet potato. Nothing fancy.” He patted his stomach. “Have to keep regimented with what I eat.”
An image of me on my back and Jackson’s head between my legs sprang out of nowhere.
Before I made a fool of myself, which wouldn’t be the first time, I set the plate on the counter and removed the plastic wrap.
I swiped up a small amount of the sweet potato and sucked it off my finger.
“I wasn’t sure what I was going to eat, so thank you. ”
Jackson pointed at my mouth. “You have a little something there.” Before I could check myself, he pressed his thumb to the corner of my lower lip.
His action caught me off guard, but the second he touched me, all my earlier reasonings disappeared.
He didn’t get a chance to pull his hand away before I took his thumb into my mouth, swiping my tongue to catch the sweetness of the potato.
“Sophie.” My name fell from his mouth in the most seductive warning. “You shouldn’t do that.”
I finally released his thumb. “Why? I thought this is what you wanted.”
Seriously, every scrap of reasoning evaded me.
“I did. I do,” he corrected. “Bringing you dinner was only my excuse to come over. I really wanted to apologize for what I said this morning.”
“So, you don’t want to have sex with me?”
“No. I mean yes, I do. It’s just… I’m really trying to do the right thing here, but you’re making it so hard.”
“Am I?” My eyeline dropped to the area below his waistband, my sultry voice sounding foreign to my ears.
I could weigh the pros and cons of getting sexually involved with Jackson all day long, but the truth was, right now, I didn’t care about the cons. All I wanted to do was live in the moment and embrace a sliver of selfishness.
I leaned up on my tiptoes and brushed my lips over his. I’d barely made contact when he gripped my upper arms and pushed me back, mumbling something I couldn’t quite make out. With barely restrained passion, his gaze bore deep into mine, so heated it burned like an inferno.
But I wasn’t a quitter. I wanted him, and I was tired of playing the will-we-won’t-we game. Pressing my mouth to his once more, I released a silent prayer that he’d finally give me what I wanted. What we both wanted.
“What are you doing to me?” he growled against my mouth before pulling back a second time, the rumble of his words fanning the flames burning inside me. What felt like an eternity passed between us, but I wasn’t going to back down, and I hoped he didn’t either.
His stare intensified, promising me everything I didn’t know to ask for. Every breath I took was hijacked by eagerness and hope.
“You want this?” His voice dipped lower as he studied me. But he wouldn’t find a single doubt, not an ounce of hesitation. “You want me?” A flash of something I couldn’t readily identify swirled behind his eyes.
“Yes,” I barely managed to say, too enraptured with the possibilities of what was coming.
“Fuck the consequences, then,” he rushed to say, his words hanging in the air seconds before he slammed his mouth over mine.
The way he kissed me was far from tender and sweet. His passion was greedy, insatiable, and desperate, consuming us both.
My response was visceral. I returned his enthusiasm, sliding my tongue against his, hungry for more.
I’d envisioned this moment since the first time I laid eyes on him, even though I was hard-pressed to admit such a fact because of the way our first encounter played out.
But there was something about Jackson that called to me, and it went beyond simple desire.
I hadn’t been in the right headspace then, but over these past weeks, something inside me shifted.
Whether he felt the same, I didn’t know, but for now, I would give in and enjoy the ride.
Fuck the consequences, indeed.
He hoisted me on top of the counter as if I weighed nothing at all, and I wrapped my legs around him, shifting toward the edge so I could press my body to his.
“Do you have protection?” I whispered against his mouth.
He shifted to look at me. “Of course. It’s just not on me.
” His hand disappeared down the back of my shorts as he tugged me even closer, grinding his hips into mine.
“I have to go next door to get it.” As our lips collided once more, his teeth toyed with my bottom lip, and he glided the tip of his tongue over the sensitive area after he gently bit down. “I don’t want to stop yet.”
“Me either.” I could feel the tilt of his lips against mine as we continued to enjoy each other. “I want this to last as long as possible.”
“We have all night,” he said, the dominance in his voice sending shivers through me.
Five minutes passed as we toyed with each other, my longing to connect with him only intensifying.
While I loved kissing him, learning what he liked, I wanted more, so I tugged at the waistband of his gray sweatpants and slipped my hand behind the fabric.
His appreciative groans of encouragement had me wrapping my fingers around his girth.
“Keep doing that, and I’m going to fuck you right here.”
“Promise?” I asked, gently squeezing him.
“What are you doing to me?”
He’d asked the same question moments earlier, and the way he formed his words made me believe he wasn’t strictly referring to our current circumstance but instead to something more coded.
Jackson jerked his hips back, but I had a hold of him. He smirked and moved once more. That time I let him go, snapping his waistband as I removed my hand.
I gently pushed him back and hopped off the countertop. “You should go get the condom.”
“Okay.” He snatched my hand and led me toward the door. “But you’re coming with me. I’m not wasting another second.”
Once we entered his apartment, we moved toward his bedroom.
I barely had time to look around before he removed his shirt and tossed it to the ground.
Then he rid me of my shorts and T-shirt, leaving me as naked as the day he unexpectedly showed up in my bathroom.
Only this time, I wasn’t shocked or shy.
He looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time, and every cell in my being sprang to life. The warmth between my legs spread through my entire body, and all I wanted to do was touch him.
My eyes darted to the large outline of his arousal pushing against the fabric of his sweatpants. He briefly followed my eyeline, his seductive smirk fueling the ache that threatened to pull me under.
Jackson took a step toward me, his eyes pinned to mine, a primal need radiating from their depths. I was his prey, and I’d never been so excited to be consumed.
“One more chance, Sophie. Are you sure you want this?” His lids were heavy with the question, and there was only one answer resting on my lips.
“Absolutely.”
“Good.” He pointed toward the bed. “Get on the bed.”
The softness of his comforter caressed my skin as I watched him remove the last piece of his clothing. I’d seen him naked before, but this time I would enjoy every inch of him.
He reached into his bedside drawer and pulled out a condom, clutching it in his hand as he approached.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said as the mattress dipped with his weight. “I’ve thought about this more times than I want to admit.”
“Me too,” I confessed.
He knelt in front of me and held up the torn wrapper. “Do you want to do the honors?”
I didn’t have any experience in using condoms. Mitch had been the only man I’d ever slept with, and he never wanted to use them, which forced me to go on the pill. I’d gone off birth control one week before I got pregnant because I couldn’t deal with the side effects any longer.
Refusing to dwell in the past, I focused on Jackson and reveled in what was about to happen between us.
“I’d rather watch you do it,” I said, hoping he didn’t notice my sudden bout of nerves.
“Works for me.” A smile tickled the edges of his lips, and I swore I’d never tire of seeing this look on his face.
Once he’d sheathed himself, he nudged my legs further apart and nestled between them. He traced my excitement, his eyes alight with longing right before he dipped a finger inside me. No words were exchanged as he worked me into a fever, the way he teased me the most delicious torment.
“I love how responsive you are,” he said, the huskiness of his voice driving me wilder.