Chapter Forty-Two
Ria
“Oh, my God, I am never leaving this place,” I say, sinking lower into the bathtub, bubbles overflowing, and the scent of lavender and eucalyptus filling the bathroom from the bath oils and candles we”ve lit. The bathroom is a stunning off-white with gold hardware on the cabinets and has that luxury farmhouse vibe. This bath could happily house a family of four and I need to work out how to fit one of these in my bathroom at home.
We had the most incredible two days at his parents’ lake house. We even FaceTimed them to catch up. I hadn’t spoken to his parents since I was a teen, but Jayne and Andy were just as sweet and kind as I remember. My heart melted when they asked about the girls, and it was very clear from their questions that Jack had been updating them.
He massages the balls of my feet and I lean over to take the glass of champagne. The cold rim of the glass is a welcoming feeling against my hot mouth. I drink it down, the condensation from the champagne flute trickling down my fingers as I place it back down on the bath tray.
“That feels good,” I hum, my eyes fluttering closed, as I rotate my foot in Jack”s hands.
“I”ve got something else that would feel good,” he murmurs in a low, husky voice. I open my eyes to his gaze is fixed on me. I know that look.
God, did it just get 100 degrees hotter in here?
“Come here,” he says, his voice low, gesturing for me to sit in between his legs. I turn round in the bath, position myself between his legs, and lean back against his firm chest. My head falls slightly to the left, and he presses soft open mouth kisses to my neck, while his hands come up to my shoulders and massage my tight muscles.
“You are so tight, sweetheart,” he says in between kisses.
My body tingles at his words. I press myself into him harder, his erection pressing into the small of my back.
His hands slide forward and begin kneading my breasts, filling his large hands. His expert fingers rub and tease my nipples and my body starts to writhe beneath his touch.
“Touch yourself,” he whispers, and without a second thought, my fingers find my clit.
“Fuck,” he grunts, tweaking my nipples a little harder, earning a gasp from me. I quicken the movement of my fingers on my clit as I rotate my hips.
Without warning, his hands leave my nipples, and in one quick motion, are on my hips, lifting me so I’m standing. He rises out of the tub, trickles of water rolling down his golden torso, his abs flexing as he wipes a hand over his face and through his wet hair. A wave of cold air hits my skin from the open window, a slight shiver rolling through me.
“On your knees,” he growls. I lower myself back down into the tub. “Hands on the edge of the bath.” His breathing is uneven as he settles behind me. Goosebumps scatter across my body, excitement surging through me.
I grip the edge of the bathtub, looking out the window, out across the lake to the neighboring house.
God, I hope they can”t hear us.
“Good girl,” he says and slaps my ass cheek. A jolt of pleasure pulses through me.
The water sloshes around as Jack adjusts his position in the bath. My breathing quickens as a hot flush creeps across my skin as I wait impatiently for his next move. I wiggle my hips in a silent plea for him to touch me. When it doesn’t come, I turn my head just as he sips the glass of champagne, his throat working with a quick swallow. The clear liquid clings to his lips as his tongue slowly swipes across them and heat pools in my belly. My eyes scan down his muscular frame, watching the tiny beads of water roll down his toned abs down to his Adonis belt. He takes another gulp, draining the glass and my eyes meet his as he places it back down, giving me a wink.
His calloused hands grip my hips, tilting them, the cool air hitting my sex. Before I register what’s happening, cold liquid trickles in the crack of my ass, rolling down my thighs and coating my folds just as cool lips press against my warm center. I gasp, the sensation from the steamy water beneath me and the champagne cooling my skin, makes me feel dizzy with pleasure. My body involuntarily rolls forward, seeking pressure, causing water to spill onto the tiled floor. He stills my hips with a firm grip and begins to suck and lick at my clit. I’ve never done this at this angle before and holy shit, it feels all kinds of dirty and hot.
The warmth of his tongue has my eyes rolling, and my hips grinding down onto his face.
“Holy shit,” I gasp, and I can feel him smile against my entrance.
The fucker. He knows what he’s doing to me. His tongue pushes inside me and his hand leaves my hip, sliding in between my thighs. It’s a sensory overload. Firm fingers rubbing my clit, his expert tongue in and out of my pussy at a deliciously punishing pace. I grip the edge of the bathtub with white knuckle force as my orgasm builds.
“Jack, I’m almost there,” I pant as his tongue swirls inside me, making my legs feel weak. I don’t know how much longer I can hold this position. Just as my orgasm almost reaches its peak, he swipes his tongue over my asshole and I cry out in surprise at the move and at how good it felt. My ass has always been an off-limits area, but I think I’d explore that with Jack.
The water splashes again as he gets on his knees. His mouth presses kisses up my spine, making me shudder in pleasure. He reaches my shoulder and grips my chin, turning it to face him. Crashing his lips to mine, biting down on my lower lip, I groan. Breaking the kiss, I inhale sharply, like he’s just sucked the air from my lungs.
“You are so fucking perfect, Ri.” His voice is gravelly and low and I swear I could climax just from the sound. Before I can respond, he slams into me from behind and I jolt forward. The more we’ve had sex, Jack has got a little rougher with me and I am not mad about it. I don’t want to be treated like I’m breakable. I want it like this and he’s giving that to me.
My core tightens around him with every punishing thrust he gives me. My back arches as I throw my head back, screaming in pleasure, begging for more so loudly, I am sure the entire lake hears me.
“You like that, baby?” he teases.
“Oh, my God, Jack, they’re gonna hear us.” I sound hysterical, clearly teetering on the edge of pleasure or insanity. I can’t decipher which.
“Good,” he grunts. “I want them to know who you belong to. I wanna hear you scream my fucking name.”
Holy shit, where did this Jack come from?
He reaches round, cupping my breast, tweaking my nipple and I go off. That familiar wave of pleasure crashes through me, but more intense than ever before. My vison blurs, my toes curl and it”s more than I have ever experienced.
“Jack… Oh, fuck I’m…” My body shudders and firm hands grip my waist, keeping me from collapsing into the water as my orgasm surges through me. His firm chest presses against me, his mouth latching onto that sensitive spot on my neck as he finds his own release.
“Hearing you scream my name as you come is the sexiest sound,” he purrs in my ear.
“What… the hell was that?” I pant.
“That sweetheart was me just letting the neighbors know who you belong to.”
After our bathroom antics, we made our way back downstairs to cook; I say cook. I sat on the kitchen island drinking more champagne as Jack worked his way round the kitchen like a five-star Michelin chef, chopping vegetables like a pro, and then tossing them in the wok with such ease.
Seriously, is there anything this man can”t do?
I wasn”t expecting our little break away, so I didn”t come prepared for the trip. I’m dressed in yoga pants and an oversized jumper. At the beginning of our relationship, I’d have been embarrassed to be seen like this, but I feel so relaxed around Jack I know he wouldn’t care if I was sitting here wearing a trash bag.
An idea pops into my head. “Do you have Scrabble here?”
“I think so. You in the mood to get that sexy ass beat at a game?” he says, his tone low as he settles in between my legs, slowly grazing his hands up my thighs.
“No, I was thinking I would bring down the Scrabble champ.”
He laughs. “I don’t think so, sweetheart, but I’m going to enjoy watching you try, but yeah, I’m sure there’s a board up in one of the boxes upstairs. I’ll go look after dinner,” he says, walking over to the stove to stir dinner, which smells incredible.
I jump down from the kitchen island. “It’s okay. I’ll go look.”
“It’s upstairs down the hall, third door on the left.” I give him a little nod before I make my way upstairs. Photos adorn the walls up the staircase of Jack over the years as a little kid, playing in little league, high school football right till he enlisted.
He was a cute kid.
I stop and smile at a photo of Noah with Jack. The day they passed out of basic training. I remember this day so well. I was the proudest sister and friend, but memories of how my heart ached to be Jack”s ,come flooding back.
I kiss the pads of my fingers and press it to the photo of Noah. I haven’t spoken to my brother in so long. I move on up the stairs and make my way down the long hallway. This house is stunning. I can imagine my girls growing up somewhere like this, filling the rooms with their laughter and music and for the first time in a long time, that dream feels like it”s within touching distance.
I open the door to the room and I’m met with a sea of boxes, all with Jack”s name on suggesting this must have been his room once.
I turn to start opening boxes, most filled with clothes, sporting equipment, and board games, but no Scrabble.
I move to a box that’s in the open closet. I reach in and pull out Jack”s Marine Corps uniform. My thumb grazes over the patch where his surname is stitched.
I set it down on the floor next to me and look back inside to find a metal box, a little bigger than a shoe box. My curiosity gets the better of me and I open it.
Inside, I find his dog tags. I pick them up and hold them in my hand. Staring at his name and number engraved on the metal. I clutch them and bring them to my chest. Closing my eyes. Thanking my lucky stars that he is one of the lucky ones that came home.
A stack of photographs catches my eye. I pull them out, laughing at the photos of him, Noah, Brad, Harry, and Scotty. Various countries they visited and deployments they did. I only met Scotty once at Noah and Jack’s passing out parade from basic training, but he was the type of guy who left a lasting impression.
I wipe a tear that”s rolled down my cheek, continuing to flick through Jack”s memories and I feel like I have got to know the side of him I didn”t get to see when I was with Alex. I stop my flicking when my eyes land on a photo of me. I must be about eighteen or nineteen and I’m wearing a USMC t-shirt, one that, if my memory serves me, was Jack’s. The one he gave me when my shirt got wet when we spent a bonfire on the beach.
The next photo is of me and Jack. His arm is draped over my shoulders as I laugh into the camera, eyes closed and happy. But it”s the look on his face that stops me. He”s staring at me with so much affection that I don”t know how I ever missed it. The softness etched into his easy smile, the glisten of something in his eyes. The way he looked at me like I was his everything, just like he looks at me now.
I put the photos back into the box and find a stack of letters all addressed to Jack and every one written by me.
He kept them.
So many emotions run through my head. I flick through the letters—too many to count—when I come across one that’s not marked with a stamp and is unopened. My heart stops, a lump forming in my throat when I read handwriting that’s not mine.
My last letter, for Maria Jones
I place the remaining letters back in the box and slowly open the letter addressed to me.
A tear hits the letter and smudges the ink on Jack”s name. He loved me, wanted me, the same way I wanted him.
My chest feels heavy, my heart thumping so loudly it fills the room.
My brain is a tangled mess of thoughts. Every look, every touch, every smile, every kiss, flashes through my head like a photo book. Were the signs there? Were we just na?ve to what was in front of us all along?
If we had both been brave enough to say something, our lives could have been so different, but maybe this is how it was meant to be. We had to fight our battles separately to find our way back to one another and eventually heal.
“Ri… you okay?” Jack”s voice echoes from downstairs, but I can’t respond. I’m trying to process all this. I rise to my feet, my hands still clutching the paper.
“Ri, did you find the—” He freezes in the doorway, his eyes scanning the room.
”You wrote me a letter,” I choke out, barely above a whisper, but I know he heard me.
He looks down at the paper I’m holding and the look that flashes in his eyes he knows I’m not just holding a letter, I’m holding the letter; the one every soldier writes in case they don’t make it home. Jack chose to write one for me.
“Yeah,” he says, his voice quiet.
“And you kept the letters I wrote you?” I glance at the box of letters and then back to him. “Why?”
He takes slow, steady steps towards me, taking the letter from my hand and settling it down on top of the still-open box.
“You really wanna know why?” My eyes meet his.
He strokes my cheeks with the pads of his thumbs and I see his throat bob as he swallows like he is preparing to say something.
“Because I have been in love with you from the first day I met you. I”m so in love with you. I was just too scared to admit it. You were Noah’s sister, and I didn’t want to ruin anything, and maybe I was a little scared how you would react.” He sighs, regret shining in his eyes.
“And then you met Alex, and I thought he was the better choice for you, that he was going to give you the life you deserved, but I wrote that letter because if I didn”t find my way to you…” His voice cracks, my heart somersaulting behind my ribs. I reach up and stroke his face.
“...and it was my time to go, I couldn”t have you go through life believing that you didn”t mean anything to me, that I didn”t love you.”
He moves even closer. Our lips are almost touching. I can”t imagine what he went through emotionally, writing that letter.
“Because, sweetheart, you were and still are everything to me.”
My chest expands to its fullest. He loves me. He”s always loved me. My lips tip upward into a smile as I stare at him, his eyes searching my face for something, anything. I kiss his lips briefly. ”I love you too,” I whisper.
He blinks with surprise. ”You do?”
I nod. ”You make me feel like I”m worth loving, and Jack, you are everything to me. I never want to lose you.”
“God, Ri, I love you,” he says in a whisper and then he crashes his lips to mine, and I kiss him back like he’s the only thing keeping me alive. I have dreamed of being loved by Jack Lawson for as long as I can remember, and it is more than I ever could have imagined.