Chapter 23
Bri
Hayden was gone for the weekend with her Aunt Bianca, and I had some plans for tonight.
In the months since Damon ruined his life and nearly ruined ours, Jace had stuck by me and Hayden like glue.
He’d been beyond amazing and Hayden adored him.
She’d quickly figured out we were more than just friends and had given her stamp of approval.
Jace moved into my apartment not long after that, though we were talking about getting a place near the water, close to Skye’s house.
We’d decided that living over the bar maybe wasn’t the best place for a young girl.
I’d been thinking about asking Skye if she’d sell us her place, since they spent most of their time at their house on clan land.
Once Jace’s apartment was available, Porter had asked if he could use it. He’d been making plans to move to Bluewater, and I couldn’t have been happier for Jace to have his brother nearby. They’d really bonded since Porter helped us with Damon.
After having a long talk with my girls last weekend at Kaylee’s apartment, I knew I was ready. We’d had a girls’ night and talked about commitment, and then Skye and I had a private conversation about mating and the bite after Kaylee passed out.
And I was ready. I was tired of waiting, of trying to convince myself to be patient and make sure the time was right.
It was right. Enough was enough.
Jace was due home from doing some admin stuff at his office at the bar, and it had run on late. I was on the bed in a new negligee and had a bottle of champagne chilled on the bedside table. I played a game on my phone while I waited to hear the front door open.
I’d dozed off and jerked awake when I heard him come home. I smoothed out the blankets and arranged myself as sexily as I could with one leg crossing the other while I reclined on the pillows. The candles had burned low, but they were still lit, so I was good.
“Bri?” he called up the stairs.
“Up here.” I tried to sound sultry while hollering, but it didn’t work so great.
As soon as he walked in the door and noticed me, all that didn’t matter. He smirked with fire in his gaze. “What are you up to?”
My planned speech went totally wonky. I forgot everything I was going to say.
So, I spoke from my heart. “I love you, Jace. Hayden loves you. I don’t want to be without you, and I want to be tied to you in every way.
I know we’ve talked about marriage several times, but more than that.
You’ve been patient and understanding. I know I only want you.
Forever.” I rolled over, spread my legs, and sat up.
He made a sexy growling noise deep in his throat. “Bite me, Jace.”
He made that unbelievably sexy noise again, that deep growl that made me wet every time. A high-pitched squeak escaped my throat when he suddenly tackled me to the bed, his weight settling over me without being suffocating. He stared deep into my eyes for a long, meaningful moment.
“I love you, Bri,” he whispered.
I pulled his face down to mine, meeting his lips in a slow, lazy kiss. “I love you, too, Jace. Make me yours.”
His voice was low when he replied, “I can do that.”
The gold silk negligee I’d chosen for that night didn’t cover much, but I felt utterly bare under his intense gaze.
He stripped away the awkwardness of my speech, my lack of confidence, my initial apprehension, and made me feel like the powerful woman he’d always told me I was.
My fingers slowly worked the buttons of his shirt loose and I pushed it off of his strong, muscular shoulders.
He chucked the shirt carelessly across the room, then ran his palm up my calf and across my thigh.
His kisses moved across my cheek and jaw, his teeth nipping at my earlobe before moving down to my throat.
I already felt the heat from him intensifying, which drove my desire for him up several notches.
Tugging the undershirt from his waistband, I stripped his upper body bare.
Bathed in the golden glow of his nightstand lamp, he was perfection incarnate.
I rolled on top of him without resistance, my eyes roaming appreciatively over his muscular figure.
While I wanted to be his mate—of that, there was no question—I also didn’t want to rush it just to get it over with.
I wanted to make everything about that night absolutely perfect.
We could take our time, go at our own pace, and he would be just as patient with me as he had been this whole time.
“Not reconsidering, are you?” he asked, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips.
Grinning, I leaned over him. “Not in the least.”
He slid his heated hands up my thighs and grabbed my ass. “Good.”
Wiggling out of his grip, I scooted down to rid him of his pants.
His cock sprang free, hot and fully erect.
I licked my lips, eager to taste him, to please him, to draw out that feeling of anticipation.
Jace’s eyes were half-lidded with lust and he hissed between his teeth when I ran my tongue from base to tip.
I traced my tongue around the ridge of his head, then swiped it across his slit. His head fell back, and he groaned.
Finally, I wrapped my hand around his base and took him into my mouth.
I felt his muscles tense as if he’d resisted the urge to thrust, which was just as well.
It would’ve been horribly embarrassing had I gagged on him, but he was exceptionally good at controlling himself with me.
My tongue molded to his shaft, increasing the suction, and his breath puffed out of him as my mouth and hand worked in sync.
Watching him react to my attention was addictive, having such a powerful man at my mercy.
I took him in until I felt him brush the back of my throat, humming a moan as the taste of him filled my senses.
That low growl filled the room again and his fingers brushed through my hair without latching on.
I released him slowly, swirling my tongue around his head again, and continued pumping with my hand.
Then I adjusted his leg and lowered my head to suck on his sac.
“Damn, Bri,” he gasped, his hips jerking.
I alternated between massaging his balls with my tongue and licking along his shaft.
His fingers dug into the comforter and his stomach muscles contracted irregularly where he was fighting not to take control.
The sight made the tightness in my own core nearly unbearable.
I took him into my mouth again, pumping him hard.
My grip on him tightened and he bucked in response.
The sounds he made and the delicious heat he put off had my hand wandering down into my own underwear. I was so wet that my fingers slid right along my folds with no resistance. Jace started to harden further in my mouth and I braced myself for him.
“Bri, I’m gonna—”
I moaned in response, encouraging him, and the vibration in my throat sent him over. Heat splashed against the back of my throat and I swallowed him down, pumping him for everything he had. That time his hands wound through my hair, but I pressed against his hips to keep him still.
He cursed quietly, head thrown back, and breathing hard.
I pulled away, easing him slowly out of my mouth.
His cock was still rock-hard thanks in large part to his nature, and my panties were off before I’d made the conscious decision to remove them.
I crawled up his body, kissing my way up his beautifully defined abs and pecs and throat and jaw.
His hands slid beneath the gold, silky material and pulled it off over my head.
“You are so gorgeous,” he said as his hands caressed my bare breasts.
He sat up, sucking one into his mouth. Turned on as I was, the electricity of the attention zipped right between my legs.
I positioned myself and sank down onto him, my body providing more than enough lubrication, and he squeezed my ass again.
He filled me up so completely that I felt whole like I could breathe properly again, and that was the feeling I wanted to capture forever.
Without breaking his contact, I used my hips and legs to start building a rhythm.
I tucked my hands under his jaw, forcing his face up to mine, and kissed him.
His strength steadied me as I thrust myself up and down along the length of his cock.
If he tasted himself on my tongue, he didn’t seem to mind.
Suddenly, I was under him again. I gasped in surprise at the movement.
He gave me a cheeky grin, then his warmth disappeared inside and out.
Before I had time to react, wild, wet heat slammed into my sex as Jace’s mouth settled there.
My back arched off the bed as the most incredible pressure built up and he ravished my swollen clit with his tongue.
The air had left my lungs and I could barely get a breath to vocalize my pleasure. Perhaps it was payback for my lovingly torturous care. If that were the case, I’d make sure to repeat that performance every night from then on.
His fingers slid inside me then and coupled with the feel of his fiery tongue sliding rapidly through my folds, I felt the end approaching. He curled his fingers every time he slid in, applying pressure to a sensitive spot that had me gasping for release.
“Jace,” I moaned. His name was the only coherent thought I could form. My body was on fire and he was stoking the flames higher and higher with each stroke.
Jace pumped his fingers faster and closed his mouth over me, sucking hard even as his tongue continued sweeping back and forth.
Euphoria crashed over me as my release came, but this time, he didn’t ease me down from it.
Instead, he immediately stood and slammed his cock inside of me, intensifying my orgasm even further.
The friction of his cock rubbing against my overly sensitive walls was too much and another one had already started to build up, my core tightening in anticipation.
He loomed over me, his gray eyes meeting mine, a questioning look in them.
I tilted my head to the side, giving him my permission.
That had been what this night was all about after all.
I wanted to be with him, wanted him to claim me as his mate.
When his teeth met my flesh, any pain there may have been was overtaken by another powerful orgasm.
Simmering heat rushed through me, filling me, spilling from me.
He kept his pace for a few more seconds, then grunted into my shoulder, hips jerking spasmodically.
Something clicked into place as if a single missing puzzle piece had been found and put where it belonged, making the picture whole.
It was a link, sizzling and electric like a live wire that ran between us.
He was mine. I was his. Forever.