Chapter 49
BAILEY
I wake up under a wall of Jase and sigh happily at the evidence it wasn’t a dream. I’m on my stomach and he’s sprawled almost entirely over me.
And I feel safe. I feel like me. I think I’m more me than ever, thanks to fulfilling Fate’s plan. And I’m both elated and excited, because I really am mated to Jase. And I have a wolf!
What will today bring? We have no plans. Nowhere to be, other than together.
I want more of what we did last night. Lots more of that, though I definitely feel sore today.
And I also want to shift.
We ate our burgers while I went through the Skye Quinn mating basket and drank the mead, which I’ve drank before but never enjoyed as much as last night. Because it’s the honeymooning tradition around here, something I wasn’t sure I’d ever take part in.
I also opened gifts from Jase’s family. His parents gave us a generous gift certificate for a furniture store.
I can’t wait to buy new furniture! The card read from Mom, Dad, and “the girls” (I assume she meant all three but know better than to think Sherry had anything to do with gift-giving where I’m concerned).
Jase’s parents also gifted us a set of high-end pots and pans, which was nice, though it’s not like I can use them.
Taylor gave us a beautiful set of a dozen photo frames with a lovely note about setting up photoshoots so we can fill them with our memories.
She’s been hobbying at photography since she had kids and she’s very talented.
There’s one frame already filled. It’s a photo of us when we were kids, me as a toddler in pigtails and a pink dress, extending a melting strawberry ice cream cone in Jase’s direction, offering him some.
He’s sitting in the grass with a strand of wheat in his mouth, dimples popping while he looks at me.
“I love this so much,” I said, cradling it to my chest. “Where did it come from?”
And his dimples popped in response. “Mom had that in a photo album. Tay must have snatched and enlarged it.”
And he kept smiling the whole time I opened presents, didn’t want to open any of them himself.
Gwen gave us a beautiful cream and black quilt with matching pillow sham cases with an eclipse pattern on it with Creed embroidered in the corner.
The pillowcases read I love you on one and to the moon and back on the other.
On the reverse of the I love you says Mrs. B.
Creed. Mr. J Creed is embroidered on the other.
I know she made this set herself. I have no idea when she started working on it, but I’m sure that she likely finished it after finding out it’s a letter B to be added to the hers pillow.
The Skye Quinn mating basket was beautifully done, and as usual it was jam-packed with her handmade bath and body products as well as another bottle of the honey mead along with a bottle of Andy’s moonshine for Jase.
There were half a dozen jars of yummy stuff, including a coincidental apple and cinnamon butter as well as Jase’s favorite hot pepper-infused honey.
After our burgers, I took a shower and Jase slipped in with me, dreamily caring for me, washing my hair, conditioning it, and using the hers washcloth with Skye’s snickerdoodle bodywash.
And when I reached for the his washcloth to return the favor, he stopped me because he had an immense and urgent need to immediately mark me with his scent.
I leaned back against the tiled wall, avidly watching him quickly shampoo and scrub with vigor from head to toes, but he also put conditioner in his hair which made me laugh.
Because of course he did. I hear most men don’t bother, or use a three-in-one shampoo, conditioner, and bodywash combination, but this explains why his hair always looks so soft.
If I needed glasses to watch that show, they would most certainly have fogged up not just from the steam but also from how hot he is.
After walking me back to bed, Jase gave me a head to toe look that felt like an inspection I had just passed with flying colors.
“Towel off and lay on your back.”
I followed his instructions, squeezing the excess water from my hair into a towel, not loving that the fresh bedding was about to get wet, but since the bed had way more pillows than necessary, I decided I’d toss whatever one my hair drenched out of the way for sleeping.
I also noted with an internal squee that I needed to bring my hairdryer over, along with everything else I own.
“I don’t want you to think of this as degrading,” he warned, dropping his towel.
I had trouble paying attention to the next part because my eyes were taking in the miles of muscle and ink in front of me, not to mention the inked Bailey permanently written on his skin.
“Bailey?” he called.
“That’s my name,” I replied with a big smile.
“Did you hear a word I said?” There was humor rather than annoyance in his voice.
“Oh… um… not exactly…”
He laughed. “Feel the same about your nude body, but what I said was I need to mark you. It’s a need, baby. Having identified you and waiting so long for this, I need it. I don’t know if it’s just tonight or if I’ll need it for a while, but I don’t want you to find this demeaning, okay?”
“Find what demeaning?” I asked, still drinking in his perfect, nude form at the foot of the bed. Because he’s not only perfect, he’s also all mine. My name is on his skin. His mark is on mine.
“Marking you with my scent.”
“That’s not demeaning,” I denied. “It’s hot. I’ve wanted to smell like you for as long as I’ve known what it means.”
Jase groaned, and the way his head lolled back told me he was thrilled with my response. He then took his length into his grip and squeezed, running his thumb over the crown.
And while he did it and I watched him do it, his eyes devoured me.
“You open to touching yourself for me?” he asked.
I immediately reached between my legs and though I was tired and sore, I rallied, because Jase said, “You’re perfect, Bay. I love that you’re willing to do this for me.”
“Just putting it on the table right now: since I’m the only mate you’ve got and will ever have, you should know that I’m willing to do whatever you want … intimately… in order to make you happy.”
“Fuckin’ glad to hear that, beautiful,” he said. “And I feel the same. I expected you to be shy about sex.”
“I’ve waited so long for this, Jase. Fantasized so much. And all the sassy books I read? Not a shy bone in my no-longer virginal body.”
“Sassy?” he checked.
“Quite,” I confirmed.
“Might need you to read some to me. Maybe we can reenact some of those sassy scenes.”
“You’re on!” I exclaimed. “What a dream come true.”
He laughed.
“No, seriously. Do you know how many women wish their man paid attention to romance novels? I’m so lucky.”
“Well, on the flipside of that, putting this out there now that I don’t want you to hold back. Suspect a lot of men can’t give their woman what they want because she doesn’t have the nerve to ask for it.”
“Sometimes, men don’t listen.”
“I’m sure that’s true. But saying right now… you want something I can give you, make sure I know about it. You go ahead and sow all your wild oats with me, Bailey. I’m ready. And I’m very fuckin’ willing.”
During that conversation, he kept on stroking himself and dang, it was sexy.
But then I asked him if I could do it and his eyes went sexier than ever, with a bit of that amber glow, before he straddled me, giving me easy access to him, though this made it too difficult for me to touch myself, so I abandoned that task and took Jase in both hands, watching as I stroked him up and down, sometimes getting a little fancy, I think, and using both hands, squeezing in opposite directions, trying different degrees of grip to see what his reactions would be.
“Do you want me to suck you off?” I asked, giving him a two-handed squeeze.
But that question had him erupting all over my boobs, my neck, even my chin.
And the throaty moaning sound he made while he did that made me quiver. Everywhere.
When he was done, he grabbed me and rubbed the mess into my skin before he held me tight, kissing me deeply, purring for me.
I fell asleep with sopping wet hair and Jase-soaked skin.
And now here I am, covered by his body, sore, sticky, and excited, and…
I think… even more smitten. Though some would argue I had the biggest crush on Jase in the history of all time, I’m pretty sure it’s now worse.
I’m even more in love than I ever fathomed would be possible.
But now it’s okay to be obsessed with him, which makes me giddy.
He’s waking up, stirring, and now running his hand down my arm, threading our fingers together as his lips touch my mate mark, making me shiver with pleasure.
“Good morning,” he whispers against my skin.
“Hey,” I whisper, wanting to burst into tears because he’s so, so sweet.
“That offer you made before I marked you last night?”
“Mm hm?”
“Still stand?”
I laugh. Because waking up and immediately asking for a blowjob isn’t exactly sweet.
“Of course,” I say, “But obviously I don’t know what I’m doing, so if I’m bad at it, feel free to provide direction.”
“Mm. I’m beyond willing to give you direction. But I want you to start off doing whatever you think I’ll like.”
He rolls, bringing me with him so I’m now laying on my back on top of his body. He hikes me higher up on his torso so his mouth can close around my mate mark. One of his hands glides down between my legs and the other goes to my left breast.
“Oh wow,” I whisper as the sensations all kick in at once. “But I can’t suck you off from here.”
“Get you worked up first,” he tells me.
“I’m already quite worked up, waking up naked and tangled up with you, though… feel free to proceed.”
He fiddles between my legs and now he’s entering me slowly from behind.
I hiss at the sudden intrusion.
“Sore?”
“A little.”
“You want me to stop?”
“No, thank you,” I happily chirp.