Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
Preston
Being this horny on a plane was a new experience for me. Thankfully, the only two seats left on the flight were first class, which gave perks of extra leg room and assured us our own row. Every step of the boarding process seemed to take twice as long, now that the motivation to make it through the short flight and whatever work session Mitchell had waiting for us sat beside me, smelling like a damn dream. I ached to get her alone again.
“So,” Jax said, turning to face me, her back against the window in the dim airplane light.
“So,” I responded, my eyes searching out the features of her face, eyes adjusting to the darkness.
“You wanted my ground rules. Do you have any of your own?” she asked, sipping the Diet Coke the flight attendant brought her after we reached cruising altitude.
“I might. Let’s hear yours first.”
Jax looked like she wanted to argue. “Okay. First, we keep the three-month trial end date. Getting more physical doesn’t change that.”
I nodded, urging her to continue.
“This doesn’t change what we are to each other. If someone starts to feel feelings, they say so and everything stops.”
I swallowed, reaching for my own glass of water. I had no experience separating sex from emotions. But I knew I wanted Jax, so if that’s what it took to have her, I’d agree.
“Agreed. Anything else?” I asked
“Foreplay goes both ways.”
I choked on my water. “Obviously,” I said.
“And communication is key. If you don’t like something, if someone isn’t in the mood or isn’t feeling up to it, speak up and no guilting anyone into anything.”
A look of horror had to be on my face, I was sure of it. “I would hope that’s a given. I can’t decide if I never want to know why you had to say that, or if I should go punch some guy’s face in.”
Jax shrugged. “Girls too. But when you have an invisible illness, sometimes people don’t always believe you when you speak up.”
I put my hand on her arm. “I told you before, you never have to do anything with me you don’t want to do. You’re safe with me.”
Jax looked me in the eye for a moment before answering. “I know I am.” She cleared her throat. “So, anything you want to add?”
“It might slot under that communication, but don’t lie to me. If you aren’t, um, getting there , help me help you. Don’t fake it. Okay?” I felt torn open, a part of my relationship with Diana my brothers didn’t even know about.
Jax studied me. “Now I feel the need to go punch some faces in.”
I laughed without humor. “It’s not worth it. But yeah. That’s my ground rule.”
“Shake on it?” Jax held her hand out toward mine. I took it, shaking once, before twisting our arms so her hand was on top. I brought it to my mouth, dropping a featherlight kiss on each of her knuckles, before turning her hand over, laying a kiss on her open palm and setting her hand on my leg. I rested mine on top, keeping hers there.
“You know.” Jax let out a shaky breath. “I think we’re going to be just fine. You seem to have a direct line to my groin with your mouth.”
I closed my eyes at her words, feeling my own groin tightening. This type of flight was not one to pass out pillows and blankets, so I needed to keep myself under control. Jax opening and closing her fingers where they rested on my leg did not help matters.
“The senator’s going to want to go right into a strategy session when we land,” I said, keeping my eyes closed.
Jax let out a sigh. “I figured. Well, anticipation makes the payoff all that much sweeter.” She removed her hand from mine, tucking herself into a ball against the window. “Wake me when we land.”
I knew I should try to catch a few minutes of shut eye too, considering it could be a late night with Senator Marsden and then hopefully a late night with Jax. I was too keyed up though. Instead, my mind raced between what we were flying here to do and what I wanted to do to the woman sitting next to me.
T he strategy session Senator Marsden dragged us to after we landed lasted until 2:00 a.m. He finally set us free with a parting shout to meet him for breakfast at the hotel restaurant at 8:00 a.m. sharp.
Jax and I walked side by side from the elevator to our hotel room. Waves of exhaustion radiated off her and I certainly fared no better. Each of my feet seemed to weigh fifty pounds on their own and the hallway looked never ending.
“Here we are.” Jax pointed to room 829. Hotel staff had brought our luggage up when we arrived, so we hadn’t seen the room yet. I held the key card against the sensor and pushed the door open when the light turned green. A standard mid-tier hotel room lay before us, with a bathroom to the right, a coffee bar and mini fridge to the left, and yes, only one king-sized bed in the center of the room.
“No couch for you to escape to,” Jax joked as she plopped onto the bed, spread out like a starfish. “On an unrelated note, I’m not sure I’ve ever been this tired in my life.”
I nudged her foot with mine. “Get up and wash your face. You’ll be happy you did in the morning.”
Jax leaned up on her elbows, studying me. “I will feel better in the morning with a clean face. But don’t you want to, you know...”
I leaned over the top of her, my hand on the mattress next to her head with my arm fully extended, very careful to be sure no part of my body brushed hers. “Adhering to rule number four, I want to crawl into this bed with you, pull you against my body”—I heard her intake a breath—“and sleep.”
Jax smacked my forearm as I laughed, straightening so I stood upright again.
“You’re probably right.” She rubbed her hands over her face. “Do you want the bathroom first?”
“No, you go right ahead.”
She heaved herself off the bed, making her way to her bag on a luggage stand. After she gathered what she needed, she walked to the bathroom, shooting me a smile over her shoulder before closing the door behind her.
I walked over to the sliding glass door and looked out into the dark night, overlooking the parking lot of the hotel. As amped up as I had been before, I didn’t want the first time Jax and I were together to be like this. Exhausted, dirty, and maybe a little hungover from brunch over twelve hours ago. At the risk of getting my emotions involved, I knew Jax was special and deserved more than that.
Seeing movement reflected in the glass from the room behind me, I turned around to see Jax sliding into bed.
“Bathroom’s all yours,” she said, plugging her phone in on the side table and propping herself up slightly on the pillows. I stopped by my bag and got myself ready for bed, returning from the bathroom to see Jax in the same position, with a concerned look on her face.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Huh?” She met my eyes. “Oh yes, fine. I’ve been told before I have a ‘concerned reading face’ that doesn’t necessarily match what I’m reading. In fact, a dragon and human woman are about to get it on.”
“Perhaps some concern is warranted though. Assuming the dragon is male, I could imagine some fit issues,” I said, folding the covers back on my side and sliding into bed next to her. I laid on my side, propping my head on my hand.
“Ah, but in this world, they have a magical salve to soothe any soreness created by a size mismatch. All bases are covered.” Jax matched my position, setting her phone down.
“You know, I’ve never read a romance novel. You seem to like them a lot.”
Averting her eyes, Jax said, “You could say that. They’re a big part of my life.”
“Maybe you could recommend one for me to read sometime,” I said, finding I meant it. “Maybe no dragons for my first go, though.”
“I could probably find something you like.”
I sat up and pulled my T-shirt over my head, leaving me in my flannel pajama pants. Jax’s eyes lingered on my chest as I settled on my back.
“What?” I asked. “I noticed you didn’t have any bottoms on. I thought I’d even us out and sleep without a top on. Honestly, sleeping in a shirt for the past few weeks has been killing me.”
“Same with me and pants,” Jax confessed. “I slipped them off every night after the lights went out.”
“Smart woman.” I reached over and tucked some hair that had come out of Jax’s ponytail behind her ear. “Speaking of lights out, it’s probably past time to get some sleep.”
“I got it,” Jax said, twisting toward the lamp to turn it off, her shirt stretching against her breasts, giving me a hint she wasn’t wearing a bra either. “Last chance for a pillow boundary for your virtue,” she said as she settled down next to me.
“I think I’ll risk it,” I said, rolling over, so I could sling my arm across her waist and nuzzle my face in her hair, breathing deeply. My eyes grew heavy as I felt her warmth against me and inhaled her lavender lotion, this time feeling the silky softness of her skin against mine.
“Goodnight,” she whispered into the darkness, her fingers tangling with mine where they rested at her side.
“Night,” I muttered into her neck. As the world faded away, the knowledge I was falling right to sleep on a first night away from home dawned on me, but the thought disappeared in the next instant as sleep engulfed me.
W e woke up much as we had those first mornings in my apartment, limbs tangled, Jax’s back to my chest. The knowledge that we both wanted to be here, touching, made all the difference. I picked my head up to spy the time on the bedside clock. Early morning light filtered into the room from where we had forgotten to draw the curtain. I knew we needed to get up and start our day, but found it hard to move from this bed.
Though I tried to keep my movements subtle, I felt Jax stir. “Mmm, whattimesit?” she asked, her voice muffled and heavy with sleep.
“A little after 6:30,” I answered. “I can get the first shower if you want to sleep a bit longer.”
Jax arched her ass back to meet my morning wood, letting out a sound of appreciation as I did my best to stay still and let her explore.
“We could shower together,” she suggested, sounding much more awake.
“What? Together? Now? But . . .” I spluttered.
Jax laughed gently and rolled over to look at me. “Okay, so no morning sex yet. We’ll work up to that.” She brushed her hand on my cheek, feeling the stubble there. Before I could react to her brief touch, she rolled herself into a sitting position, and stretched, her shirt riding up to reveal pink lace panties. “I’ll shower first,” she said as I flopped over onto my back, throwing my arm over my eyes.
I peeked as she walked past the bed and found her smirking. She knew exactly what she was doing. I’m not sure I could match her energy, but two could play that game. It’s on.
I was right, Jax’s game of seduction exceeded my own. How the senator didn’t fire us, I’ll never be sure. She leaned into my space more than necessary, distracting me with her scent and the feel of her skin on mine. I asked my boss to repeat himself more today than I think I have in the last five years.
He set us free right before dinner, telling us he had a dinner date and he supposed the least he could do after disrupting our weekend was set us free to do the same. I looked at Senator Marsden like he had two heads, which he didn’t appreciate, telling me he was happy to demand speech drafts for next week’s budget session by tomorrow morning if I’d rather do that. I schooled my face better after that.
“So,” I said, once we were alone in the elevator, headed to our room. “Dinner? Or...?”
Jax was across the elevator car in a flash, pulling my head down for a kiss. The door opened with a ding and had me pulling back in a daze.
“Sorry,” she said, biting her lip, looking anything but. “I’ve wanted to do that all day, especially after you took my teasing so well.”
A shudder racked my body at her words, a current of warmth trailing down my spine.
“Interesting,” Jax appraised me with curious eyes. “Preston, do you...” she trailed off, biting her lip as we passed a family with children in the hallway. We walked in silence until we got to the room, me eyeing her curiously.
“Do I what?” I asked, as soon as the door closed behind us.
“Do you like being praised in the bedroom?” I looked at her, feeling confused. She must have picked up on this, as she kept going. “What I mean is, do you like being told when you do something well? Being told you’re good at something, that you’re simply good?”
My cheeks got warm as I realized our rules meant I had to be honest in this moment. “I... I don’t know.” Jax kept quiet, waiting for me to continue. “My ex, you know, she wasn’t honest with me about my, well, my performance.”
Jax waved her hand, as if wanting to wave away the bad juju of Diana. “Okay, well, what about other women you’ve been with?”
I sucked in a deep breath. “I haven’t been with anyone else,” I said, having trouble meeting Jax’s eyes.
“Oh, Brandt,” she said, her voice compelling me to look up. “Are you sure you want to do this?”