Chapter 16 Jake #2
The rightness of it takes my breath away. Fuck if Charlie and Beau would be pissed about it. I can’t fucking pretend.
“Jake—"
“I know you’re still pissed. I know you think this is temporary, that in two months we’ll all just walk away. But I’m telling you right now, that’s not happening. Not for me. Not for any of us.”
“But what if it isn’t what I want? What if I don’t want forever? What if I don’t want to be packed up and bonded?”
The possibility of that reality hurts so much that my Alpha wants to growl and protest. Fighting down the possessive urge to make her understand that she is mine, I look at her—the way her cheeks get pink in the cold, the fullness of her face and lips that I would give anything to feel right now…
“I’d let you go… but it would kill me. Because I’ve spent six years trying to get over you, and it didn’t work.
Because watching you with Beau the other night felt right in a way nothing else ever has.
Because when I think about my future, you’re in it.
Always.” I take her face in my hands. “I will never stop being sorry for leaving you. For hurting you. For taking away your choice. But I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere. Not unless you tell me to.”
A tear slips down her cheek, and I brush it away with my thumb.
“I don’t know if I can trust this,” she whispers. “Trust you. Trust any of this.”
“Then don’t trust it yet. Just… give me time to prove it. Give us time.”
She stares at me for a long moment, and I can see the war playing out behind her eyes—the want and the fear, the hope and the hurt.
Beau’s words from earlier remind me that she needs space. I bend down and press a kiss to her lips, and then I let her go.
We finish checking the fence in silence, but it’s a different kind of silence now. Comfortable. Like maybe we’ve turned a corner.
By the time we’re back on Pato and headed toward her car, the sun is starting to dip below the horizon, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink. Willa’s fully relaxed against me now, her head resting on my shoulder, and I can feel the steady rhythm of her breathing.
When we reach her car, I help her down but don’t let go of her waist. She looks up at me, her eyes searching mine.
“Jake—”
I don’t let her finish.
I kiss her.
It’s not what I planned, but the moment our lips meet, something spirals free inside me.
Sparks of need and awareness fizzle between her lips and mine, and when my tongue slides over hers, and I catch the almost-silent whimper, I pour everything I’ve kept locked away into that kiss—six years of longing, regret, and every unspoken thing that’s haunted me since the day I let her walk away.
She gasps softly, and the sound goes straight to my cock. Her scent flares, sweet and warm, rich with that honeyed undertone that’s always undone me. My Alpha instincts rise hard and fast, the urge to wrap her up and keep her pressed close nearly overwhelming.
Her Omega answers in kind—her body softening against mine, pressing into me. Her fingers fist in my jacket, and her scent deepens until it curls around us both, drowning me in need and in her.
The kiss turns deeper, needier, fire and tenderness all tangled together. It’s an apology and a promise, memory and future, all in one breathless collision.
She tilts her head, and my hand finds the back of her neck, right where her scent is strongest. The warm slide of skin under my palm nearly undoes me.
I reach up and fist her ponytail, holding her to me.
Every instinct screams at me to bite, to mark, to make her mine again, to reach in and feel if she wants me as much as I do her.
The smell of her slick is making me crazy, but I force myself to stay still, to let the moment be what it is.
As we continue to kiss, my hands roam lower, finding the button of her pants. I need to feel her, to feel the slick-soaked heat of her, like she’s water and I’m dying of thirst. I press her back against the car, letting my fingers slip lower, giving her time to tell me to fuck off.
But she doesn’t. Instead, she meets me with a needy whine that makes my knot start to swell.
“Let me feel you, Wildcat,” I murmur against her lips. Her answer is a widening of her legs, giving me better access to her heat.
I unbutton them slowly, my fingers brushing against her soft skin, sending shivers through both of us.
I slip my hand inside, feeling the heat of her, the curls that sit at her apex, and the scorching heat and slick that tells me she’s as turned on as I am.
My tongue teases her lips the way my fingers tease her, tracing the edge of her panties, feeling her shiver against me.
She moans into the kiss, her body pressing harder against mine, urging me on.
My fingers find her clit and circle it gently.
She bucks against me, and a gasp that sounds like a growl or moan escapes her lips.
She throws her head back, breaking our kiss momentarily, and I can’t fucking stop drinking her in.
Her breaths come in ragged gasps, her chest heaving as she grinds against my hand, seeking more friction. Her slick coats my fingers, her body begging for release. I increase the pressure on her clit, my fingers moving faster, curling inside her, hitting that perfect spot.
“Jake,” she gasps, her voice breathless and desperate. “More. I need more.”
I chuckle, low and satisfied. “You want more, baby? You want me to make you come?”
She nods, her eyes glassy with desire, her lips swollen from our kiss. “Yes, please. Make me come, Jake. Please.”
I increase the intensity, my fingers working her clit in tight, quick circles, my other hand teasing her entrance, sliding in and out with the rhythm of her breaths. I can feel her body coiling, her inner muscles clenching around my fingers, her orgasm building.
“Come for me, baby,” I murmur against her lips. “I want to feel you come all over my fingers.”
She cries out, her body convulsing as she climaxes, her inner muscles clamping down on my fingers, drawing out her orgasm until she’s boneless and sated. Her body trembles with the aftershocks.
As her orgasm subsides, I slowly withdraw my fingers, bringing them to my lips and tasting her. She watches me, her chest rising and falling rapidly, her eyes never leaving mine. I lean down to capture her lips in a soft, gentle kiss, sharing her taste with her.
“Good girl,” I praise, my voice low and approving. “You did so well. You’re amazing. I’m so proud of you.”
She smiles, a contented, sated smile, her body still pressed against mine, her heart beating in sync with my own. In this moment, I know that no matter how long we’ve been apart, I will never stop wanting her like this.
For a few heartbeats, we just breathe together, her body still trembling slightly in my arms, my forehead pressed to hers as she comes down from the high.
“I should—” She pulls back, looking around like she’s just realized where we are. Her hands move to smooth down her shirt and button her pants. “I should go.”
She’s moving away faster than I expect, already creating distance between us.
“I should go,” she says again, and this time there’s urgency in her voice. She climbs into her car, fumbling with her keys like she can’t get away fast enough.
“Willa—“ I start, but she’s not looking at me anymore.
I hand her bag over through the open window. “Thanks,” she mumbles, starting the engine immediately.
As she starts to pull away, I step in front of the car—not blocking her, but enough to make her stop. She hits the brakes, and through the windshield, I can see her watching me, waiting.
I walk around to her window.
“Jake, I really need to—”
“Tomorrow,” I say firmly. “Six o’clock. My turn for a date.”
She stares at me for a long moment. I can’t read everything in her expression, but I see the hesitation, the way she’s trying to decide something.
“Jake…” Her voice is quiet.
“Please, Wills. Let me do this right. Let me show you—” I break off. “Just… tomorrow. Six o’clock. Wear something warm.”
The silence stretches between us, and I hold my breath, waiting for her to say no, to tell me this was a mistake.
But then she nods. Just once.
“Okay,” she whispers.
“Okay,” I echo, and the relief that floods through me is almost painful.
She gives me one more look, long and searching, before she rolls up her window.
I step back and watch her drive away, my chest tight with hope and the absolute determination to prove to her that I’m not that scared kid anymore.
Tomorrow, I’ll show her what she means to me.
Tomorrow, I’ll prove I’m worth the risk.