Chapter 37
Thirty-Seven
XANDER
Normally the night after a big tour leg finishes, the label throws us a party. This time we passed, including Tobias, which was unexpected but probably the right call. I’ve never been happier to walk into my own house than I am right now. Especially with Jade’s hand in mine.
In my opinion she should just move in. She can keep her bungalow, maybe rent it out or sell it. Whatever makes her feel most comfortable. We’ve already lived together, doing it again will feel completely natural for us.
I close the door behind us and flip the deadbolt. She slides her coat off her shoulders and looks around.
“Do you have a place I can hang this up?” she asks.
“Yeah.” I take the coat and toe off my shoes. “I’ll put it in my closet and then bring the bags back, too.”
The sound of her high heeled boots dropping to the floor follows me down the hall. I get her coat hung and turn to see her in the threshold with both of my suitcases. She smiles at me, and the love I feel for her nearly knocks me to my knees.
“I guess I’ll need to clear space for you in here.”
She tilts her head. “Why?”
“So you can move in,” I freeze as the words fall unbidden from my lips. I didn’t mean to say that yet.
“We’ve been fucking for a few weeks, and you want me to move in?” she asks with a teasing smile. “Must have a magic pussy.”
“It’s more than fucking.” I close the distance and cup her face. “Don’t reduce us to just sex when we’re so much more.”
She turns her head and kisses my palm. “I know. I’m just scared, I think.”
The confession kills me. Partly because it’s made without being able to make eye contact, but also because, at the end of the day, her fear is partially my fault.
“I’m scared, too.” Her eyes flit up to meet mine. “Scared of hurting you again. Losing you. It wouldn’t just hurt this time; it would kill me.”
“It wasn’t just your fault. We both played a role in hurting each other because we were too prideful to communicate.”
“And what are we doing now?” My lips brush hers in the ghost of a kiss.
“Communicating.” Her arms wrap around my waist.
“Exactly.” I drop my hands from her face and skim them down her body. “Communicating about the scary stuff.” I unbutton her jeans and lower the zipper. “This is going to work, no matter what. We’re not running this time.”
She pulls her sweater over her head and throws it to the side, leaving her in a sexy lace bra that begs to be ripped from her body.
I walk her back and gently guide her onto the bed.
She laughs when I playfully push her onto her back.
Her hips lift for me when I hook my hands in her jeans, tearing them and her panties down her legs.
I drop to my knees between her spread thighs and cover her with my mouth.
She braces herself on one arm, so she can watch me devour her pussy.
The deep green of her eyes swirl with lust as I pull back enough to give her one lascivious lick from pussy to clit.
With one hand I press her thigh open wider and with the other reach behind her, releasing the clasp of her bra.
The lace drops down her arms, and she bats it aside until she’s left deliciously naked in front of me.
I reach up and palm her breast while worshiping her cunt with my tongue. Her hips rock toward me like an offering at our own carnal altar. She moans as I pinch her nipple, rolling it between my fingers with just enough force to give her a bite of pain.
“Fuck, Xander,” her head falls back as her fingers dive into my hair. She hooks a foot around my back and pulls me closer.
My cock leaks inside my pants. Without breaking contact with her, I unbutton my own jeans and work them down my hips with one hand. I fist my dick, the few strokes only adding to the frenzied need growing inside me.
She comes first, though. So, while I circle my tongue over her clit, I hook two fingers inside her.
The sound she makes as her back arches off the mattress shoots straight to my cock.
My fingers match the tempo and rhythm of my tongue until she shatters.
Her fingers tug at the roots of my hair, and she moans through her orgasm.
I slow my ministrations as the waves of pleasure fade to ripples in her body.
We’re both panting when I pull away. I run the back of my hand over the mess she left on my mouth and chin. She sits up and tears my shirt over my head. I push to my feet and kick my jeans and boxers the rest of the way down my legs.
She looks fucking perfect spread open at the edge of my bed, her hair fanned out around her in silky, red waves. The small patch of curls above her pussy is just a shade or two darker. Her pussy, still swollen, glistens with the remnants of my saliva and her juices.
Our eyes lock when I grasp her hips and line her up with my aching cock. I watch as my length disappears inside her wet channel. It’s nearly hypnotizing to watch my dick slide in and out of her with achingly slow strokes.
Her eyes, heavy lidded with pleasure, lock with mine. “Harder, Xander. Unleash yourself on me.”
With a growl of desire, I lift her legs until her ankles are resting against my shoulders.
She wants me unleashed, that’s what she’ll get.
I wrap an arm around her thighs, closing and tightening her body.
I fuck her with feral abandon, every thrust making her tits bounce while her fingers dig into the duvet for purchase.
I turn my head and lick the delicate arch of her foot.
There’s not a single inch of her body I don’t want to taste.
Her pussy clinches around my cock, squeezing and milking it with each building tremble.
Just as I feel the telltale quivering squeeze of her cunt around me, I drop her legs to either side of me.
She releases a startled gasp when I lift her into my arms. She wraps her own around my neck and presses her mouth to mine. I carry her to the nearest wall and rut into her against it. She moans into my mouth as she rides my dick, her nails digging into the back of my neck.
My cock jerks inside her as she surrenders to her climax. I fall over the edge with her, my cum painting her walls as we pant against each other’s lips in a messy, wet kiss. My head drops to her shoulder as we both come down, still clinging to each other through the ebbing bliss.
“Marry me,” I say breathlessly, only half kidding.
Her body shakes with laughter. “You’re crazy.”
“Crazy about you.”
She drops her legs to the floor as I pull out of her. Her forehead rests on my clavicle as she continues to hold me close. I press a kiss to the back of her head.
“We might actually be crazy doing this,” she murmurs.
“No,” I say with absolute certainty, tilting her head back until we’re looking in each other’s eyes. “We’re not. There’s nothing that makes more sense than you and I together.”
She goes to use the bathroom and start a shower for us while I order dinner.
After traveling and fucking, we’ve both worked up an appetite.
When I go to join her, the glass has already steamed up, revealing only a glimpse of her profile as she works shampoo through her hair.
I snap a photo, wondering if she’d be pissed if I had it enlarged and hung above our bed.
She might have reservations about us lingering in her mind, but I don’t. I’ve known since we were eighteen that she’s meant to be mine. I won’t stop until she believes it just as surely as I do.
A series of incessant notifications rouses me from sleep. I blink the sleep out of my eyes and toss my arm to the side, finding the other side cold and empty. My phone rings with an incoming call.
“Yeah?” I ask without even looking at who’s calling. It’s too early for this shit.
“Have you spoken to Jade?” Darren asks.
“No.” I swipe a hand over my face. “What time is it?”
“Six-thirty.” His voice holds an edge which puts my hackles up.
“Why the fuck are you calling so early?”
“I don’t know, probably because there are photos of you and Jade kissing all over the internet.”
My stomach drops to my ass. “What?”
“Is she with you?” he asks sharply. “Because she’s not answering my calls and her location has been turned off.”
I toss the covers off and walk over to grab a pair of underwear from the dresser. “She stayed here last night.”
“Great. How long has this been going on?”
I ignore the question as I walk out into the living room, my eyes scanning the space for her. She’s nowhere to be found. Her purse, bags, and shoes are gone, too. My heart lurches at her absence.
“She isn’t here.”
“Well, you better help me fucking find her because the conspiracy stories about you two rigging the paternity test results are already spinning out of control in the comment sections. I can’t release a statement without her. This is a fucking nightmare.”
“Relax,” I snap. “It isn’t a nightmare. We know I didn’t rig anything.”
“You better hope Ashley knows or we’re in for a legal battle.”
“Send me the link to the article,” I say before hanging up.
My own anxiety is overflowing; I don’t need to add his agitation to the mix. The link comes through, and as soon as I click it, a photo of the two of us kissing at the airport yesterday fills the screen. Who even took this? The entire terminal was a ghost town.
I skim the attached article, rolling my eyes at the sensationalized story.
The author refers to us as step siblings, which is such a stretch as that lasted less than two years.
Then I see it, exactly what Jade was so scared of.
A line suggesting she slept her way to her position.
The last bit of the article even suggests she might have slept with all of us.
Fucking damn it.
I barely resist the urge to throw my phone against the wall. Tossing the closest clean clothes on, I grab my keys and race to her house. There’s no way she didn’t see the article and freak out. It has to be why she left without saying a word.
I make it to her place in record time, throwing my Jeep in park and jogging up to the front door.
There’s no sign of her inside. I hit the bell for the Ring camera, and when she doesn’t answer, I rap my knuckles on the wood.
Nothing. Crouching down to eye level, I jam my finger against the bell again.
After a few seconds of silence, I look directly into the camera.
“Jade, this isn’t the end of the world. It’s definitely not the fucking end of us. I’m coming for you.”
I get back in my Jeep and peel out of the driveway. If she isn’t here, there’s only a handful of places she’d go. As I drive to her condo, I call Stone.
“Miss me already?” he croons as soon as he picks up the phone.
“Ha, no.” I look over my shoulder as I merge onto the freeway. “Is Jade with you and Hazel?”
“She’s not,” his tone changes from teasing to concern. “Why?”
“Someone caught us kissing yesterday and sold the photos.”
“Fuck.”
“Yep. Darren is freaking out. Jade left without saying anything this morning and isn’t at her Malibu house. I’m on my way to her condo.”
“I’ll ask Hazel if she’s spoken to her.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
I hit end on the call and turn the radio up to drown my thoughts. If she’s not at the condo, I’ll have to hunt down addresses for her friends. Not that it matters, I’ll chase her to the ends of the earth if necessary. We didn’t come this far for the opinions of anyone else to stop us now.