Chapter 46
BAILEY
Backing up, Jase’s truck slams into the front bumper of my car.
“Oops. Shit. Fuck!” he clips. “Damn it!”
I bust up laughing as he pulls forward and maneuvers us out of the way. It’s as if a stress relief valve just popped and I’m doubled over, laughing hard.
First, I smash his truck and then he does the same to mine.
“This is something we’ll laugh about, telling our grandkids one day,” he says.
Our eyes meet and his are now filled with humor. No, with pure joy.
He looks happy. So happy, I want to cry happy tears.
We get to his house in not much more time than it took me to get to the cabin last night. Not because of the supernatural moon determined to put me in the same space as my fated mate. Nope… this time it’s because Jase’s pedal goes to the floor and he drives like we’re escaping for our lives.
This is about to happen. It’s really about to happen. Jason Creed is taking me home to claim me.
My heart thunders in my chest. It’s beating so hard and so fast, I can barely think.
I’ve been wishing for this for so long. Wishing but never believing it would really happen.
And it’s happening.
While my brain isn’t functioning on all cylinders, the part of me Jase is soon to be acquainted with is working overtime. My vagina is a furnace. A soaking wet furnace with its very own heartbeat.
He jumps out, hurries around, and opens the passenger door.
“You’re okay with the chivalry now, Bay? Why didn’t you run for the house? We could be in there already!”
I’m laughing as he grabs me and lifts me up in his arms, eyes twinkling. The dimples have popped and it dawns that he’s not wearing a shirt or shoes. Just the jeans he put on when he came back from his run.
He carries me to the front door, opens it, and blows out a breath before asking, “Ready?”
I gaze into his eyes. “I think so.”
He kicks the door shut and locks the deadbolt.
I gulp down a swallow.
All the humor is gone as he climbs the stairs looking serious. Very.
He stumbles a little when we get to the bedroom, looking surprised. This is because before I left, I put the bedspread with all the petals on top of his comforter. I also put the stuffed fairy on the mantle over the fireplace.
It took some work to fix them into a heart shape. The petals miraculously still look fresh. I wondered if it was a fool’s errand going to that trouble, but looking at Jase’s face right now, I’m glad I made the effort.
He gently lays me on the bed of petals and is immediately caging me in, hovering over me.
“Say it,” he whispers.
“Say what?” I ask.
His eyes coast over my face. “Tell me how you feel about me. I’m so, so ready to hear it.”
I pull in a fortifying breath and immediately give him what he’s asking for.
“I saved myself for you,” I tell him. “I had no interest whatsoever in anybody but you. Every romantic hero in every romance book I read looked like you. Even if they were described differently. Every fantasy I had, I saw you.” I swallow and continue.
“I lay in my bed countless nights while staring at the drapes, willing them to part revealing you’d climbed the trellis to tell me you couldn’t wait another minute to make me yours.
I could not imagine giving my first kiss, or my body to someone else, Jase.
I could not imagine spending my life with anybody but you.
In fact, if it wasn’t you, it would probably be nobody.
If you’d been destined to identify somebody else, I’d still see you in every romance book, every fantasy, and I’m sure I’d feel awful for lusting after another girl’s mate, but I wouldn’t be able to help myself. ”
“Bailey. Baby,” he says in a velvety voice, looking like he’s savoring my words.
I hesitantly reach up and put my palm to his cheek. He leans into my hand and smiles with his eyes closed.
I continue. “Do you know how many times I wanted to reach out like this to touch you? How many daydreams I had about you? But it all makes sense now, Jason. Why I’ve felt this way for so, so long. It’s because I’ve been yours since the day I was born. Since before then.”
He’s soaking these words in like they’re the best thing he’s ever heard. He turns to kiss my palm before he moves in and our lips touch briefly before he pulls back just an inch.
“I’ve never had to fight so hard for something,” he tells me.
“And I know it’ll be worth it. I’m never gonna stop dating you.
Never gonna stop showing you that you were right to want me all that time.
Never want you to regret a minute of it.
You can sow all your wild oats with me, Bailey.
I have so many fun dates planned for us. ”
“Really?”
“Well, one or two. But I’ll think up a bunch more.”
I laugh.
“One more time… I’m so sorry I hurt you.”
I cover his mouth and shake my head.
“I am really, really looking forward to forever with you,” I tell him, then take my hand away from his mouth and thread my fingers into his soft hair before trailing them down to his neck, running my fingertips reverently over the ink he put on his skin for me.
“I love that you put my name on your skin. I love it so much.”
Our lips touch again briefly before I take some of his body weight as he deepens the kiss. I feel his erection. It’s massive. And it’s about to be inside me, fitting us to one another in a bond that will last for the rest of our days.
I’m trembling with both nerves and emotion as I kick my shoes off. Jase’s hand glides from my jaw down my shoulder, until finally, he’s cupping my breast, thumb gliding over my hard nipple. He’s staring at my chest with the sexiest grin.
I arch into his touch and lightning fast, he whips my shirt up and off, leaving me gasping in my bra and jeans.
His eyes are heated as his hands span my ribcage while he moves back, getting on his knees on either side of my hips.
I can’t believe this is happening. All my fantasies. All that longing. He’s looking at me with so much possession in his eyes. Possession and adoration. Jason Creed wants me.
Me. Nerdy little Bailey Blackwood is about to be mated to the most beautiful male in the universe.
He yanks the cups of my black bra down and groans.
“Absolutely gorgeous,” he says, leaning forward and taking one nipple into his mouth while caressing the other. His tongue swirls around before he looks at me for a reaction, and I’m certainly reacting, arching my back, feeling tingly all over.
“Nobody’s tasted these but me,” he says.
I nod.
“Nobody’s even seen them,” he says softly. “Thank you, baby.”
I feel him undo the button and zipper of my jeans and they’re being shimmied down. Now my black underwear are sliding down, too.
Whoa. I’m completely naked, lying on Jase’s bed, on top of rose petals.
Damn, this feels right. This is who I’m meant to give myself to. I’m not afraid anymore. This isn’t just what I’ve always wanted; it’s also how it’s supposed to be.
And it helps that his expression is fiery hot.
“Bailey,” he whispers, shaking his head as he drinks me in with emotion in his eyes. “Fuck, you’re breathtaking. Beautiful. I’m so fuckin’ lucky.”
I bite my lip and watch as he backs up to undo his jeans. He stands at the foot of the bed and drops them before he crawls back up and palms both my knees, parting them.
I’ve never felt beautiful before. I’ve only ever wanted to be beautiful to him, and it feels so good to not just hear him say it but to believe wholeheartedly that he means it.
The lights are on. I should be embarrassed to be lying here naked under a spotlight like this.
I’m far from looking like a supermodel. But I know, to the depths of me, that I’m precisely where I’m supposed to be.
That I’m giving my body to the person who is supposed to have it. And that he’s ecstatic about it.
My eyes widen as he moves up with a dangerous, mischievous gleam in his eyes.
The expression on his face says I’m in trouble. The expression also says that everything is about to change for us.
My heart is beating way too fast, but I’m so, so ready for this.
His mouth touches down between my legs and he licks, spearing me with his hot tongue before he sucks, hard, making my back bow.
Oh! Okay. This first. I’m surprised he’s not going right for the…oh! Wow. Perfection. Absolutely amazing. I knew it would feel great, but I had no idea just how incredible.
He goes from sucking hard to doing it even harder and things escalate way too quickly. I’m being shuttled through the sky, crying out, my soul soaring toward the moon. I grab a handful of his hair and scream as a massive climax tears through me, ten times more powerful than last night.
This? This! Wow.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
“Wow!” I verbalize the only word I can currently remember, breathless as my soul slowly floats back into place.
He laughs and slides up, cradling my jaw in a gentle hold while staring into my eyes.
“That was flippin’ awesome,” I whisper.
“It was a matter of ten seconds, Bay. Just you wait…”
I giggle.
“Bailey?” he whispers.
“Jase,” I reply, tears springing up in my eyes at the soft, sweet look in his eyes.
“You’re mine,” he says, wrapping one of my legs around his thigh, moving into position.
I gulp down a swallow. I was about to ask him to say that. And I love that I didn’t need to.
“Hold onto me, baby. This might hurt for just a second, then I promise I’ll make it better. Okay?”
Fear is back, gripping me for a split second, but I nod quickly and squeeze my eyes shut tight.
“Look at me, Bailey,” he requests gruffly.
I open my eyes.
And at the look on his face… wow.
“I love you so much, Jason,” I tell him as he lines up.
Because he needs to know how important this is to me.
His teeth sink into his bottom lip and his eyes flare with the same light I saw last night. Slowly, he advances, looking as if he’s going as gently as he can, looking like he’s in physical pain.