Chapter Seven
ABBIE
Turning on the shower, I let the water get hot as I strip out of my clothes.
I gaze at myself in the mirror, studying my reflection, and I can’t help but wonder if Jake still likes what he sees when he looks at me.
I’m not the same toned, slim girl I used to be.
Not since Lilah. My hips are wide and my breasts are bigger and droop slightly.
I have stretch marks on my stomach and thighs.
As I study myself, I cringe. Ugh, how pathetic am I?
The guy ghosted me, making it clear he has no more interest, and I ran away when I found out I was pregnant rather than confront him.
Yet, a part of me can’t help hoping he’s still attracted to me.
Whatever. I’m not going to think about him anymore. I love my body. I still work out, but I’ve embraced the softer curves and stretch marks.
Stepping under the shower’s spray, I sigh as the heat melts the tension in my muscles. I didn’t realize how tight the day had made me. How stressful being around Jake really is.
I wash my hair and take my time scrubbing myself from head to toe, as if I can erase the awkwardness of the day and somehow prepare for the night to come.
When I finish, I get out, dry myself off, and get dressed. I pause to listen to hear if Jake is out in the room, and when I don’t hear anything, I open the bathroom door.
At the very same time, the hotel room door opens.
I freeze and stare at Jake, who gazes back at me in clear surprise.
For several moments, neither of us moves.
My gaze drops and I scan his body from top to bottom.
He’s so tall…and his shoulders are still so broad.
My hand itches to reach out and touch his chest to see if it’s still as chiseled and solid as it was three years ago.
I meet his gaze again and only then realize that I’m all but gawking at him. However, he slowly drags his eyes up and down the length of my body, not hiding the fact that he’s checking me out. He raises a brow and clears his throat, the corner of his mouth curving upward. “Going to bed?”
I bite my lip and look away, my cheeks warm. “Uh, yeah… excuse me. Sorry.”
Why am I apologizing? Shaking my head, I slip out of the bathroom and scurry to my suitcase to shove my clothes and toiletries inside.
Jake shuts the hotel room door, and I can hear him moving behind me, but I don’t turn around or acknowledge him in any way.
I go to grab a blanket off the bed and a few pillows and begin setting them up on the floor.
“What are you doing?” Jake asks, his deep voice startling me and sending warmth flooding through me.
Whirling around, I try to give him a nonchalant look, but I’m afraid I don’t quite pull it off.
“Obviously making a bed on the floor,” I answer. “For you.”
He rolls his eyes and scoffs. “Come on, seriously? You’ve been telling Sophie all day that we’re both adults and don’t have to make this weird. We can share a fucking bed. It’s not like we haven’t done so before.”
I clench my teeth, irritation burning away my nervousness. This fucking asshole has the nerve to act like nothing has changed. Like he didn’t ghost me and then proceed to not even try to reach out for four fucking years.
Arching my brow at him, I don’t say a word as I throw back the covers and climb into the bed.
“Sleep well,” I tell him as I tuck myself in.
He stares at me, clearly baffled by my response and it actually makes me want to laugh. His pouting face is a lot like Lilah’s when she throws a fit.
As I curl up under the covers, he just stands there slackjawed. After a long moment, he bends down and starts messing with the floor bed I’ve created. I glance over, and while the clear worry in his eyes cracks me up, I start feeling bad. There’s no way he gets a good night’s rest on the floor.
Rolling my eyes, I huff and give in. “Fine. Get in.”
He grabs one of the pillows from the floor and throws it back on the bed. When he starts to undress, my cheeks heat, and I bite my lip, unable to tear my gaze away. He takes off his shirt, and at the sight of his broad chest and rippling abs, and my mouth goes dry.
Fuck, the man is a work of art.
“Like what you see?” he teases.
Damn it, I’m gawking again. I lift my chin and give him a bored look.
“It’s not like I haven’t seen it before.” I shrug. “Just good to see you’re staying in shape. Must take a lot of work. You’re getting kind of up there in pro-athlete years, after all.”
His nostrils flare and he clenches his jaw. “Cheeky as ever, aren’t you?”
He moves to climb into the bed next to me. Sinking further under the covers, I pull the blankets up to my chin and stubbornly stare up at the ceiling as he gets comfortable. I try not to think about the last time we were in a bed together, but I can still feel desire pooling deep in my belly.
He turns off the light, and I try to relax and will myself to fall asleep quickly, but I’m too aware of him. His heat. His size. The mere inches between us.
“Do you still sleep like a starfish?” he asks, surprising me.
When his words fully settle in, I roll my eyes again. “Are you still a clingy cuddler?”
He lets out a low growl. “I’m only a cuddler out of self-preservation. I’d fall off the bed otherwise, especially with you—you hog the whole thing.”
Irritation pulsing through me, I sit up and turn the light on so I can glare down at him.
“Why do you have to be such an asshole?”
He sits up as well and meets my gaze. “At least I’m not a bed hog.”
“God, you’re insufferable! You haven’t changed one bit, have you?”
“Well, neither have you! You’re still a brat!”
I lean in closer. “You can always sleep on the floor, you know.”
He leans in closer as well. “Why? Afraid you won’t be able to keep your hands to yourself all night?”
I let out a derisive snort. “Oh, you wish. I have no desire to touch you whatsoever.”
He smirks and taunts me. “Really? So if I stuck my hand down your shorts right now, you wouldn’t be soaked?”
I gasp. The audacity. “Fuck you!”
“Fuck you!” I cry out. “And… and…” I stare at his bare chest..
The next moment, his mouth is crashing into mine and we’re kissing. It’s rough and demanding, and our tongues tangle and battle for dominance. I wrap my arms around his neck and we fall back on the bed, his body covering mine.
“Fuck, you still taste so good,” he growls against my lips as he shoves his hands up my shirt to cup my breasts.
I moan and arch my back, pressing myself more firmly into his palms. This is such a bad idea, but I don’t want to stop.
I don’t want him to stop. I’ve missed the feel of his hands on me and his lips against mine so much that I’m not willing to push him away even though I know I’m going to regret this in the morning.
He brushes his thumbs over my nipples and I hiss in a breath, pressing my thighs together as I grow wetter and wetter. I grind my hips up against him, not bothering to hide how badly I want him.
His mouth moves along my jaw and down my neck, his hot breath on my skin making me shiver.
When he reaches my belly, he shoves my shirt up, baring my breasts.
He wraps his lip around one nipple while pinching the other between his thumb and forefinger, and I lose my mind, pleasure pulsing through me.
My blood feels hot in my veins and I want more.
I want him to touch me everywhere. To taste every inch of me.
I want to lose myself in this man the way I used to.
“Jake,” I hiss, pushing against his shoulders. “Don’t make me wait!”
He looks up at me and grins. “Impatient, are we?”
I narrow my eyes at him and growl, “I just know how much you like to torment me.”
Chuckling, he shakes his head but slides down my body. He raises my legs, grabs the waist band of my shorts, and yanks them off so hard they nearly rip.
“No panties.” His voice goes deeper. Hungrier.
I clench my thighs together.
“No, no.” He clucks his tongue, grabbing hold of my knees. “Open wide.”
Before I can obey, he goes ahead and shoves my legs apart, holding them open. I let out a squeak of surprise that dissolves into a low moan when he drops his head and drags his tongue along my folds.
“Fuck,” he rumbles. “You still taste as good here too.”
He begins licking and sucking me in earnest. I throw my hair back and cry out, undulating my hips up against his mouth.
“Oh, God!”
His fingers press into my thighs so hard, I have no doubt he’ll leave bruises in my skin.
I reach down and grab hold of his hair to keep him in place. I don’t want him to get away from me before he finishes what he’s started.
My body is overwhelmed with sensation as he continues to feast on my sensitive flesh.
The room seems to spin around me, blurring until the only thing in focus is him.
He’s always had this power over me. This ability to make me melt for him and forget about everything else but the pleasure he can give me.
When he wraps his lips around my clit and begins to suck, I jerk so hard I nearly come off the bed. It’s almost too much stimulation. It’s pleasure bordering on pain, but it’s so intoxicating that I don’t want it to end.
My orgasm starts to build up inside me, like a tightening coil. I thrash my head back and forth as I whimper and moan.
“Jake, please…” I beg. “I’m so close… so, so close…”
“Come for me, baby,” he snarls against my clit. “Do it. Now.”
As if my body was just waiting for his permission, it seizes, my release exploding through me. I cry out as I’m dragged under the waves of pleasure, but I’m not afraid of drowning in it. I revel in it.
Before my orgasm has subsided, Jake raises his head and leans back, shoving his boxers down his thighs and freeing his hard length.
He strokes himself with one hand and reaches over the side of the bed for his pants with the other, fishing his wallet out of his pocket.
When he pulls out a condom, I watch as he opens it and rolls it down his shaft.
Taking himself in hand again, he lines up with my entrance and holds my gaze as he sinks inside me.
I whimper at the sweet invasion, my body adjusting to him — I swear, it remembers the shape of him, even though it’s been so long. It’s so ready for him. Once he’s seated fully inside me, he takes hold of my hips, pinning me to the bed, and starts to drive himself in and out.
“Fuck,” he grunts, moving his hips faster. “So damn tight. So damn perfect, Abbie.”
I claw at his arms in desperation. Even though I just came, my body is hungry for more of him. Deeper. Harder. I want our bodies to become so entwined that I no longer know where he ends and I begin.
His lips find mine as he fucks me with abandon and his kiss is fierce and bruising. I love that he doesn’t hold back with me and gives me everything he has. He trusts me with his strength and need to dominate, and I trust him to push me to the edge but stop me from falling and breaking beneath him.
“I’m going to come, Abbie,” he hisses, his face red and veins straining along his forehead. “I’m going to come so fucking hard.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” I wrap my legs around him and hold him tight. “Do it, Jake. I want it.”
He reaches down between us and finds my clit with his thumb, rubbing it in hard, tight circles.
I scream as I shatter again, clutching him as tightly as I can while I ride out my release.
He tenses, then buries his face in my neck and roars as he follows me with his own orgasm, pumping his hips into me again and again as he comes.
I don’t know how much time passes before the room comes back into focus and my body is my own again.
My limbs are heavy and fall limp to the bed as I fight to catch my breath.
Jake moves off of me, removes the condom, and collapses on the mattress, his own panting breaths filling the otherwise quiet hotel room.
“Fuck,” he murmurs and I can hear the exhaustion in his voice. “That was so good, Abbie. So fucking good.”
I turn my face to look at him, but his eyes are closed and he’s falling asleep. All I can do is continue to stare at him as his breathing grows even and steady, dread pooling in my stomach now that the lusty fog has lifted from my mind.
I turn my gaze to the ceiling and stare up at it in silence.
Shit. What have I done?
This was so, so, so stupid.
How could I let this happen? I refuse to stick around and find out.
This time, I’ll be the one to disappear, because after tonight one thing is certain — he hasn’t changed, and my secret has to stay my own.
My body might crave Jake — and oh, it craves him, and is shuddering for him even now — but he’s still the same selfish asshole he always was, and I’m putting him in my past.