Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
J ACK
Annie is quiet most of the way home and I’m worried I’ve really upset her by not telling her it was my birthday. I’ve asked her twice already if she’s mad and she’s said no both times—but she’s not acting like herself. I hope I didn’t mess this up.
When we pull up to her house, she asks if Gracie and I can come in for a while. That makes me feel a little better, at least.
I park, we let the dogs out in the yard for a few minutes, and then we all make our way upstairs. Gracie and Bean find a spot on the sectional and snuggle up together, exhausted from the day of playing.
I decide I’m going to go crazy if I don’t figure out why Annie is acting oddly. I sit down on the couch and face her. “Please tell me if I upset you. I promise I didn’t mean to.” I reach for her hand.
“I’m not upset. I’m… a little scared,” she answers tentatively.
“I don’t understand. What’s got you scared? ”
She looks up at me with huge eyes and says, “I… I want pineapple and it’s scaring me a little.”
I’m totally confused right now. I’m trying to figure out what she means, but I don’t get it.
“Sugar, I’m going to need a little help here. I don’t understand.” I cup the side of her face with my palm.
She moves closer to me and nearly whispers, “I want the pineapple. From the hockey game… the boyfriend package.” She looks down, cheeks flushed like she’s embarrassed.
I lift her chin up so I can see her face. “Are you saying what I hope you’re saying? Please say you are.”
Annie smiles shyly but keeps eye contact. “Yes. I’m saying I know we’re not just friends. I don’t want to be just friends. Just… just please don’t hurt me, Jack.”
I lean in and kiss her softly on her lips. “Baby, I promise I’ll never intentionally hurt you. I won’t always be perfect, but I swear to you I’m going to do my damned best to make you glad we took this chance.”
Annie watches me for several long seconds, then nods slowly. “Okay, Jack, but never say never.”
She gets a mischievous look in her eyes, wiggling closer to me. “So, since we’re doing this, does that mean I can do this”—she climbs into my lap and kisses my lips before continuing—“whenever I want?”
“Hell, yes, it does,” I answer before claiming her mouth.
ANNIE
I grab the edges of Jack’s shirt and command, “Off.”
He lifts his arms and lets me take his shirt off him, then does the same to mine. His chest and abs are practically begging me to touch them, and I rake my hands down them, enjoying the firmness and ripples of muscle .
He kisses along my neck, and it drives me so crazy.
I move my head to give him better access and, in doing so, position my mouth right over his shoulder. I can’t stop myself from kissing him there, needing my mouth on him.
His kisses hit a spot on my neck, and the pleasure radiates all the way to my core. On instinct, I bite down on his shoulder as I moan.
He growls his approval and asks, “Bedroom?”
“Please, yes,” I answer, my voice breathy.
He stands up, holding me to him, and I wrap my legs around his waist as he walks us to my bedroom. He sits me down on the side of the bed and, not able to wait, I grasp his shorts and boxer briefs by the waistband and pull them both down in one fell swoop.
Holy. Shit. His cock is so hard and ready for me I can’t stop myself from leaning forward and taking as much of his very well-endowed length into my mouth as I can fit.
I love how it feels to slide him in and out of my mouth, while applying just enough suction to keep him moaning.
I’ve always known that men love getting blow jobs, but I can honestly say that having Jack’s dick in my mouth, feeling it touch the back of my throat, is a major turn on for me right now. I want to take more of him, so I try to make a swallowing motion while I’m sucking, and he nearly goes crazy.
“Fuck, Annie,” he says. “That feels so good, baby. But you need to stop or I’m going to come now and it’s too soon. I’ve got plans for you first.”
He pulls away, and I look up at him with a pout.
He grins the hottest smirk at me and gives me that sexy laugh as he quickly pulls me fully onto the bed and positions himself over the top of me. He goes to work on my body, kissing, licking, and nipping me from my lips to my neck and down to my belly .
“Lift,” he orders.
I lift my hips for him.
He swiftly pulls off my shorts and panties. He cups his hand over my pussy, and I’m ready to beg him to spread me and touch me.
Instead, as he keeps his hand stationary, he places kisses over my hip, and it feels so sensual. I’m pretty sure he just found an erogenous zone I wasn’t aware I had.
His kisses change from soft to gentle nips, and I nearly come off the bed when he slides his middle finger up and down between my warm folds. He pauses when he touches my clit and places just enough pressure over the bundle of nerves to make me buck up, lifting from the mattress with pleasure.
“God, your pussy is soaked. It feels so fucking good to touch you,” he says.
I can only whimper in response.
“Does that feel good, sugar? Do you like it?” he asks teasingly.
“Yes, Jack. God, yes. Please don’t stop,” I pant.
When I think what he’s doing can’t possibly feel any better, he scrapes the edge of his teeth over my hip and pelvic bone while he continues stroking my clit. I almost levitate I’m writhing with such pleasure.
“That’s it. Come for me. I want to watch you come,” he orders me, huskily.
As if his words set me free to let go, I orgasm, and my body is wracked with the most intense, pleasure-filled tremors I’ve ever experienced. Even as the rapturous sensations fade, I have this intense need for him to fill me.
I’m moaning and still thrashing from the pleasure when Jack says, “Tell me what you need.”
“Inside me. I need you inside me,” I pant. I reach over to my nightstand and pull out a condom to make sure there is no question what I’m asking for. “I need you to fuck me, Jack.”
He growls and I can tell my words have gotten to him. “Tell me how you want me to fuck you, baby. I’ll fuck your pussy however you want me to.”
Feeling emboldened and so turned on by how freely he talks dirty to me, I sit up and gently push him over to his back.
“I want to ride you. I want to be on top.”
Before I know it, Jack has lifted me onto him, so I’m straddling him and he’s rolling the condom onto his engorged cock. I can’t take my eyes off it, and I greedily climb over him when I know he’s ready for me.
We moan simultaneously as I lower myself and he slides into me, filling me like I so desperately need.
“Fuck, you feel so good,” he grits out through his teeth. He’s watching me as I ride up and down on his hard cock and he grips my hips possessively.
I go slow at first and he lets me control the pace. Each time, I lift off him leisurely and allow myself to fall back onto his shaft more rapidly, letting him deeper into my body. I can tell when the friction of his dick inside me is really starting to bring him near his climax, both by the look on his face and the way he fucks me back, thrusting up into me.
I’m so close and ready to tumble into ecstasy.
He reaches down and starts rubbing his thumb over my clit in perfect little circles of pleasure and I fall deep into the second fantastic orgasm of the night. Jack follows right after me and his dick spasms as it empties inside me.
Once we’re both spent, I roll off him and he pulls me into his side, holding me as I rest my head on his chest.
“Holy shit, Annie. I’ve never… It’s never been like that with anyone else.”
“Mhmm,” I respond, nuzzling into his chest.
JACK
I’m in the middle of one of those dreams where I know I’m dreaming but I don’t want to wake up because it’s so amazing. I’m reliving the best fucking sex of my life: As Annie is riding me, and I’m watching her amazing tits bounce up and down, she leans forward and kisses me.
Then it takes a weird turn when she gets aggressive with her tongue and starts licking me and slobbering all over my face.
I don’t remember this happening last night. Between that and the sudden sound of that laugh I love to hear coming from a few feet away, I’m jolted awake.
When my eyes pop open, a very big, very brown, furry head is invading my space and licking all over my face and neck.
“Ew, Bean,” I say, laughing. “Gross!”
This only encourages him, and now Gracie is joining in on the lick-a-thon. I look up for help and see Annie over by the bedroom door laughing so hard she can’t even talk.
When I’m finally able to extricate myself from the dogs, I sit up at the side of the bed and smile over at her.
“Good morning. How did you sleep?” I ask.
“Wonderful.” Annie smiles, still chuckling a bit. “I have coffee brewing if you’d like some. I’ve already taken the dogs out, so don’t worry about that.”
A few minutes later, we sit and have a cup of coffee on the small balcony off the back of her apartment. I’m relieved to find no traces of regret or awkwardness between us this morning. Oddly, it feels like the most natural thing in the world to be sitting with her, just chatting, with the dogs at our feet.
We decide to spend part of the day together today and Annie says she’ll shower, then make us breakfast while I run home to get Gracie’s food and some of my sweet-cream coffee creamer. Because, honestly, I don’t know how this woman drinks coffee without it. I had to add a bunch of sugar to mine this morning to be able to drink it.
We finish up our first cups and walk back inside together. I grab my keys and pull her in for a kiss before I head out.
“Thanks for taking this chance on us,” I say, kissing her on the temple. “I promise to be careful with your heart,” I whisper before kissing her again and heading out.
ANNIE
A few hours later, we are trekking through a secluded part of the park system with the dogs off leash, since we haven’t seen another soul for at least a half hour.
Jack throws Gracie’s tennis ball as far as he can, and she takes off after it. Bean follows her, his big lab ears flapping as he runs, just content to go where she goes. Gracie’s an excellent fetch player, always bringing the ball back as soon as she finds it.
“I really enjoyed meeting your family yesterday. Thanks for inviting me.” I smile up at him.
“I’m glad you came. They’re great. We can be a lot in a big group like that, so I’m glad it wasn’t too much.” He chuckles.
“The only bad part”— I pause for effect, and he tenses —“is that you didn’t tell me it was your birthday!” I give him a playful push on his shoulder.
He runs his hand through his hair, holding onto a fistful. “I know, I know. I’m sorry. I was afraid you wouldn’t want to come, and they rarely make such a big deal of it. I guess maybe because we turned thirty, it was a bigger thing. I hope you’re not really mad at me. ”
I decide to quit messing with him. I stop, lean up and kiss him, then whisper against his lips, “It’s okay, you made it up to me last night.”
We walk further, holding hands now, and I think to ask a question I’ve been wondering. “Tell me about your birthday presents. Ben got golf things and fishing items, but you got pens and journals. His didn’t surprise me, but yours did a little. What’s that about?”
He blushes just slightly. “I enjoy fishing. Not a big golfer, though. Ben majorly loves both things. There is no sport he doesn’t like. One thing about me you don’t know yet is that I like to write. Nothing profound or anything. I’m not a poet or a serious writer or anything like that. I’ve just always found it easier to write out my thoughts and feelings than say them.”
I sense he isn’t done getting out what he needs to, so I stay quiet for a moment to give him a chance if he wants to say more.
We continue to walk holding hands, comfortable in the silence, until Jack speaks again.
“I lost a close friend to cancer in my early twenties, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I was deployed when he died, and it got really dark for me for a while. My commanding officer at the time was a good man. He knew I wasn’t myself and insisted on me talking to someone. The counseling was where I learned about writing out my feelings if I couldn’t express them in other healthy ways. I credit my CO and the counselor with keeping me from going deeper into my darkness. Over the years, the writing has become a way for me to process things I’ve seen or gone through. Military things, the divorce, tough cases at work. It’s just something that’s stuck with me.”
I smile at him. “It’s sweet that your family cares enough to pick out thoughtful gifts like that. And I totally get needing an outlet for dealing with the tough stuff we see at work and in life. That’s one reason I run. It helps me let go of the hard things. When I’m upset or stressed, I feel like running faster, and feeling my feet hit the pavement helps me process and release what I need to. When my dad died, running was one of the few things that made me feel anything but grief—even if it was just exhaustion.”
“So, you don’t think I’m less manly, for it?” he asks half-jokingly, but I sense a real question in there.
I smile up at him, looking directly into those amazing eyes of his and reply, “I actually think you’re more manly for it. I think it’s sexy when a man can admit he has intense thoughts and feelings about things instead of trying to push them aside and pretend they don’t exist.”
Jack stops walking and turns to face me. He cups the side of my face in his warm, large hand and strokes my other cheek with his thumb for several long seconds. “Annie, I’ll always try my best to be open and honest with you about my thoughts and feelings, even when it isn’t easy for me to express myself. I can promise you that if I can’t find the words to say something, I’ll keep trying until I do.”
The sincerity in his words touches my heart and I reach up on my tiptoes and plant a few gentle kisses on his mouth.
We get lost in the sweetest, most delicious kisses for the next few minutes, letting our mouths communicate for us.
If kisses could talk, mine would tell him that even though I’m scared of how strongly I feel for him in the relatively short time I’ve known him, I’m so excited to see where this goes.
And maybe kisses can talk because, oddly, I feel like his are saying something very similar…