18. Jedd
JEDD
The sound of splashing water from the bathroom is the only sound in the room.
Well, water and my racing thoughts.
Today was my definition of perfect. Every second of it. I got to marry my best friend in the backyard of my childhood home with all our friends and family.
The memory of Andy walking down the aisle toward me is one I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.
Little pieces of the day run through my head and embed themselves in my memory.
Cutting the cake with Andy and feeding her a piece. The sound she made when the lemon cream hit her tastebuds.
The feel of her skin under my fingers as I pulled the garter down her thigh, until I inadvertently tickled her and she giggled.
And then doing it again on purpose before shooting the scrap of lace into the waiting crowd of my single brothers and friends.
Finch catching the piece of lace and staring at it in his hands like it was a snake about to bite him.
Piper kissing me on the cheek before bounding off to find more cake after slow dancing with me.
Dawn telling me how proud Mom would be of me.
My dad offering me a handshake and an insider’s smile.
Shots of whiskey with my brothers before more dancing.
Touching and kissing Andy any time the urge hit, or when people tapped their glasses.
There was a lot of glass tapping. If I could kiss every single wedding guest smack on the mouth for each of those tinkling commands tonight, I would.
I’ve never thought about what a perfect day would look like for me, but if I had to now, today is the clear winner.
What happens now?
Andy’s going to walk out of that bathroom, and I don’t know if she’s going to want to talk or face plant in bed and sleep for the next nine hours.
I know what I want to do.
I want to pull her back into my arms and kiss her again without the public affection excuse to fall back on.
Feel the silk of her skin under my fingers as I peel off whatever pajamas she’s wearing.
Get her under me on that bed and learn what sounds she makes when I touch her the way I’ve been dreaming of since I discovered pleasure.
But I can’t do that. At least not yet.
Slow. Slow and steady.
When the water in the bathroom shuts off, I grab my bag, ready to change out of this suit into something more comfortable. There’s a muffled curse but before I can move closer and make sure that everything is okay the door opens.
And the clothes bundled in my hands fall to the floor at the sight of Andy.
She’s in a tank top and sleep shorts. Nothing I haven’t seen her in before. She sleeps hot—except her feet—so she’s usually in something light for bed.
The number of times she’s slept over and I’ve had to hide an erection from her is no joke. I’d win an Olympic gold medal if there was a competition in hiding desire.
But the day, and all its emotions, hit me like a blast of artillery to the face.
She’s mine. She’s finally mine, standing there in nothing but green silk. Any thought I had of “slow” disappears.
I want her. I want her down to the marrow of my bones and so badly there’s an ache of repressed want in my chest.
“Jedd?” Her voice is small, and she hugs her arms around herself.
“Andy.” My voice breaks on her name, but it doesn’t embarrass me. This woman has been breaking me down to the bone for years. I want her to hear what she does to me. What she’s always done to me.
“I’m sorry. The girls …”
I hope she realizes that I’m not mad that she’s standing in the doorway to the bathroom in thin wisps of clothing.
“Why are you looking at me like that? You’ve seen me in less.” She tries again. Her voice is as unsteady as the feral desire roiling in my gut.
“Not like this.” I growl.
“Like this?”
I prowl closer. A single slow step at a time. Goosebumps erupt along her arms, prickling her skin, and I want to feel the ridged bumps across my lips. Taste them along my tongue.
“After today.”
Another step.
Her breath hitches in her lungs, and her eyes go heavy.
Another step.
“As my wife.”
Another step.
I trail my fingers up her forearm. We’re impossibly close now. The heat of her skin under the tips of my fingers like the first hit of something illicit to an addict.
I reach up and wrap my fingers around the side of her neck, my thumb tracing the pulse racing there. I tilt her chin so she’s looking at me instead of my chest.
“As mine. ”
She gasps, and I swallow the sound with my mouth as I devour her lips.
Like pieces of today, the taste of her embeds itself deeper in my memory. The spicy vanilla goes straight to my head. If she bottled the flavor of her kisses, she’d be a millionaire.
My other hand snakes around her hip and pulls her into me. The soft cushion of her stomach against my cock sends me reeling. Her hands come around my neck to thread through my hair, making it hard to maintain control.
She’s here. She’s in my arms. She’s kissing me, and I will never get enough.
Enough of her.
Of us.
Of this.
I slide my hand up her waist, under the hem of her tank, greedy to feel her skin under my touch. The swell of her breast teases my thumb, and I gently drag my fingers across the underside.
She arches into my touch, permission to keep going.
And I do.
My tongue presses to her lush lower lip, pleading—no begging—for her to open for me, and she does.
My heart thumps in my chest like a wild drum.
Wispy gasps and breathy moans emerge from Andy with my rough grunts and growls to create our own passionate music.
I drop my hands down to Andy’s hips. Through squeezing grabs and deep rubs, I memorize the texture, the feel, the smell of her under my touch.
She all but purrs into my mouth. Her fingers scrape my scalp as her tongue tangles with mine.
Gripping a handful of her ass, I pull her onto my hips. Her center lines up perfectly with my aching cock, and I thrust into the heat. Andy wraps her arms around my neck, pressing her breasts into my chest, the two of us entwined.
Three short steps and I lay her down on the bed. The sight of her against the white sheets, a look of lust-drunk want on her face, is more than I can bear.
Her chest—like my own—is heaving for air. I drop down on top of her, crowding her, while my mouth finds her neck. She moans, the vibration a rumble against my lips.
Noted, Mischief.
Trailing kisses down the column of her throat and over her collarbone, I worship her like a disciple to his deity.
“Andy,” I groan against her breast bone.
“I want you naked. I want to feel your skin go slick against my touch. I want my mouth on you, here.” I run my fingers over the tips of her breasts.
Her mouth opens, but I cut her off. “I want to taste you. I want to know what you sound like when you go over.” I drop another kiss to the swell of her breast. “Can I have you?”
I don’t bother trying to keep the vulnerability from my voice. It would have been impossible to try. Impossible to hide what I’m feeling.
After years of feeling for Andy, I’m not hiding anymore. She’s going to know what she does to me, what she’s always done to me, even if I have to tattoo it across her skin with my mouth.
Her heavy-lidded gaze finds mine, and there’s less than a fraction of a second after my question before she’s nodding. The swish of her braids against the sheets is a confirmation that has my control raging against its leash. But I hold back.
“I need the words, Mischief.” I need the verbal confirmation that I can have her. That I can have her how I’ve been wanting her longer than I can remember.
“Yes, Jedd. You can have me.”
There’s no tremor in her voice. No hesitance. Nothing to stop me from taking what’s finally mine.
“Mmm. Good girl.” The praise shoots out of me, and I watch as her nipples bead harder against the silk of her tank.
Finally free to touch her however I want, I skim my hands down her sides and up under her tank, pulling the material over her head.
Rosebud nipples, peaked high and tight, greet my gaze and my mouth waters. I dip my head and swipe my tongue across the first tip.
“Oh fuck,” Andy gasps as her hands fly to my shoulders, fingers digging in through the fabric of my dress shirt.
“Harder,” I say before nipping at her nipple and then soothing it with my tongue.
Her fingers dig deeper into my shoulders, and my dick pulses against the zipper of my pants.
But if they come off, it’s all going to be over. I’m going to go for that sweet spot right between her thighs, and I’m not ready for this to end.
I move to her other breast, unable to choose a favorite as she writhes under my tongue. My fingers lazily cup the full weight of her breasts, plumping them, massaging them, and lifting them for my waiting mouth.
“Jedd. Fuck.” Short curses and shifting hips guide me, telling me what she likes, and I let the excitement take over.
“You taste like pure fucking sin,” I say against the side of her left breast.
“You feel like it,” she breathlessly parries, and I chuckle against her skin.
Just has to have the last word.
That’s okay. Actions speak louder.
I dip my hands under the waist of her shorts and lean back enough to slide them down her thighs.
Before my gaze can stray, before I get lost in her again, I find her eyes with mine. “I love you.” The declaration is stark, vulnerable, and lays bare my very soul.
Her brows pinch, but I keep going. “I’ve been in love with you for what feels like forever. I never said anything because I was waiting for you.”
She tries to sit up. But I’m not done yet.
“I was waiting for you to give me some sort of sign that you’d want me the same way. I’ve spent years thinking about the ways that I want you.”
“Jedd …”
I shake my head, not ready to talk about what this all means. Not ready to take the chance that she’s having second thoughts about us. Even if she regrets this in the morning and tells me it can never happen again, I want her just this once, uncomplicated and mine.
“So you better hold on tight.” I press a kiss to the skin above her belly button, then trail kisses down her stomach, imprinting her skin with my love for her, until I reach the soft triangle of curls that hide her femininity.
Her center glistens with arousal, and the sight rocks me to my core.
She wants me. She wants this. She wants us.
I dip my tongue for the first full taste of her, swiping through her folds and my eyes roll back in my head at the flavor of her. Her plump, smooth skin against my tongue is a revelation.
“Fuck. Andy. Never going to get enough of this.” I suck at her clit. “Of you.”
“Oh sweet merciful god ,” she groans. Her abs tighten and her thighs tense against my cheeks.
I wedge my hands on either side of my head—not moving from this place for the rest of my ever-loving life—and shove her thighs, splaying her open and giving me more room to work.
My thumb dips toward her entrance, and I run it in circles around the outside of her slit, barely slipping in before retreating.
Andy’s hips shift, chasing my finger as if she wants more.
And fuck me if I don’t give her exactly what she wants.
My lips close around the bud of nerves at the apex of her sex, and I suck while thrusting my middle finger inside of her.
Tight wet heat grabs at my finger as her core tightens around me.
Goddammit, the second I get my cock in her, it’s all over.
Have to make this good for her.
My thoughts run in a frantic jumble as I work her with my mouth and tongue. The little stings of her fingers in my scalp drive me mad with wanting her.
“Oh fuck. Oh fuck.” She chants like a prayer as I feel the walls of her cunt tighten around my finger. I slip a second one inside her and curl them searching for the spongy spot on the front wall of her pussy.
Gotcha.
I press hard against the spot and swipe my tongue along her clit. Her hips jump, and my name is a plea and demand all in one gasping breath.
My fingers and mouth work against her as she shifts and grinds on my face.
Pulling back, I blow lightly against the swollen bud.
“Get there, Mischief.” I place a sucking kiss right against her clit and feel the thumping pulse of her.
“Come all over my face. I want to smell you in my beard and taste you on my tongue when I fuck this tight little cunt.” I growl as I press harder against her g-spot.
She shatters. Her legs tremble as she sobs out her release. Lightly lapping at her clit, I slow the motion of my fingers so she can ride out her climax.
Stark. Raving. Mad.
That’s what her orgasm tastes like—the end of my sanity.
I lever myself up to kiss her. I want her to taste herself on my mouth. To remember that I’m the one who brought her this pleasure. To decadently crow my victory and crown it with the feel of her lips under mine.
I hold onto my control. Barely. I want nothing more than to strip off my clothes and thrust into her.
But then it’ll be over.
And I’m not ready for that.
A piercing ring fills the room.
Andy flinches, and I whip around to my phone. Harlan’s name is rolling across the display. I am going to murder my brother in what the courts will determine is justifiable homicide after I plead my case.
I swipe to answer the call, knowing that he wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t important.
“What?” I bark into the device.
“Hey, man, I’m sorry. It’s Piper. She’s really upset and needs Andy right now.”