Chapter Twenty-two
Ellie expected urgent, maybe even rough. Jack didn’t seem to be in a hurry, though. If anything, it was as though he had all the time in the world. Time and care.
It was the care that threw her. Soft, open-mouthed kisses along her shoulder. Caresses across her ribs that she’d swear took days.
Ellie tugged at Jack’s hair, willing him to hurry up and fuck her already. But he didn’t seem to get the message. Or he did and took his sweet time anyway. Like she was something precious to cherish. To revere.
“Please,” she said, knowing the effect that usually had on him.
“Please what?” He’d ventured somewhat south, posing the question between lazy tongue swirls around each nipple.
“Please take me. Be inside me. Fuck me.” Not exactly distinct options, but hopefully he’d get the picture.
“I will.”
“Soon?” It was almost comical at this point, how desperately she needed him and what she was prepared to do to have him.
“Eventually.”
She worked her fingers into his hair again, scratching lightly at his scalp and the back of his neck. Perhaps a taste of his own medicine might do the trick. Jack merely hummed his pleasure, sending the vibration from her nipple right to her clit.
Ellie squirmed. She writhed. She thrust her hips up to meet him, rubbing herself against his thigh.
Jack made his way down her body with a slowness that proved both excruciating and erotic. While she so often relied on urgency to drive herself to the edge, Jack’s attentiveness had her coming apart at the seams. She was everywhere and nowhere, mind racing and yet disarmingly still.
When Jack’s tongue pressed into her center, she fully expected to launch from the mattress into orbit.
But he seemed to ground her instead, tethering her to the moment and awakening every cell, every nerve ending.
She’d never been so aware of herself, and yet she was so overwhelmed with pleasure, she didn’t have the wherewithal to feel exposed.
Time spun out. Minutes could have passed. Hours. She succumbed to Jack’s will, followed wherever he beckoned.
After a while, his fingers joined his mouth. Slow, come hither strokes with each pass of his tongue. Ellie moved against him, with him. Climbing ever higher but no longer seeking the peak. It would come, eventually. It wasn’t about that anymore, though.
The pleasure was the moment. The fact that no one had ever been attuned to her body the way Jack was now. As though he knew her inner workings, her wiring. As though he knew how to bring her to life.
When the orgasm started to build, Ellie didn’t chase it or try to keep it at bay. She simply let it come to her, like a gift. Like so many gifts Jack had given her in the short time they’d been together.
It might have started out effortless, but her climax exploded, like being shot from a cannon, zipping through her like lightning and setting every nerve ablaze. Ellie rode it, powerless to do anything else. The exhilaration left her breathless.
It took ages to even begin to come down from the high.
But instead of the satisfyingly wrung-out feeling that usually came with orgasm, Ellie felt energized and full.
Like she’d had the full tune-up after having her systems flushed, and every muscle and joint hummed like a beautifully designed and well-oiled engine.
She rolled to her side and slung a leg over Jack’s thighs, using him to leverage herself on top. The room spun and dark splotches peppered her vision. “Whoa.”
Jack’s hands came to her shoulders. “You okay?”
His grip steadied her. She blinked a few times. “Yes. It appears normal blood flow to my brain hasn’t happened yet.”
“Lie down. Relax. Dizziness is the worst.”
There were lots of things worse than getting dizzy.
Nausea, for example. Or a killer headache.
In this moment, though, the only point of comparison in her mind was not being able to touch Jack.
And it was no contest. She needed to feel him, taste him.
She needed to give him at least a fraction of what he’d given her. “I’m okay.”
“Ellie.”
The sternness in his voice had the opposite effect Jack intended. Or at least what Ellie assumed was his intent. Rather than sending her scrambling to obey, it turned her on even more. If she didn’t do something with that, she honestly didn’t know what would happen. “I’m good. Trust me.”
His hold on her remained, but he didn’t force her away. She slowly started to rock. Back and forth, back and forth. It was almost soothing at first, but with each shift of her body, she grazed his cock.
“Ellie.”
The sternness was gone. In its place, that same sort of reverence she’d sensed before. Like he was in awe of her. Headier than any drug.
She braced a hand on each of his shoulders and used the leverage to increase the pressure and pace. Despite teetering on the brink of overstimulation, her clit began to pulse, and she’d swear she could feel Jack’s cock doing the same.
Just like when he was going down on her, her grip on time wavered.
Sensation was all that remained, along with this expansion in her chest that made it difficult to breathe.
But unlike the scramble for oxygen that sometimes came with chasing an orgasm, this fullness was pure joy.
And even as Jack’s fingers dug into her thighs with his own tumble into release, the thing coursing through Ellie felt like an entirely different kind of falling.
* * *
Ellie set down two plates of French toast and joined Jack at the table. “Bon appetit.”
“Woman, you’re spoiling me.”
“You deserve to be spoiled,” she said.
“No more than you do.” He did his best to reciprocate, but he’d need to up his game at the rate they were going.
“Okay, well, I wanted French toast. I probably wouldn’t have made it for just myself, so I’m technically spoiling both of us.”
“You wouldn’t?” he asked around a bite bigger than he should have taken.
She lifted a hand. “Not on a workday, I mean. Weekends deserve French toast at the very least. Weekends deserve waffles.”
He chuckled at the vociferous tone. “Agreed.”
“What’s on your agenda for the day?”
A simple question, but it had this cute, domestic vibe to it. It felt weird to admit, but he was digging that vibe more and more. Like, have this exact conversation over coffee every morning kind of vibe. Was it too soon to say that? Or was she right there with him?
“Are you having a brain fart right now?” Ellie reached across the table and grabbed his hand. “Because I was starting to think you never did and it was making me kind of nervous.”
It wasn’t not a brain fart, right? Just in a very specific direction. “Oh, no. I have them all the time. You should see me trying to put together something I took apart literally ten minutes ago.”
She laughed. “I feel better about life now.”
“Happy to oblige. So, to answer your question, I’m starting the electric on a house Maddie’s taking lead on.”
“Let me guess. Taking out walls to make an open concept.”
“Ha! The opposite. This couple is overwhelmed by the fact that their entire downstairs, save the half bath, is one big room. We’re putting up some walls so they have an office and guests can’t see whether there are dishes in the sink the minute they walk in the front door.”
Ellie sipped her coffee. “I wondered when that would start to happen.”
He thought about the chopped-up spaces that had come before. “I’m hoping we land somewhere in the middle.”
“Why does it not surprise me that you’d say that?”
Jack shrugged, not bothered by the prospect of being predictable. “What about you?”
Ellie blew out a breath. “I’ve got probably three days of work left at Hampstead House, but today I need to head down to Springfield.
My mother has been struggling. Having delusions, yelling at the staff.
I’m going to visit her today so I can help her care team assess whether she needs to be hospitalized. ”
“Wait. What?” He understood the words, but they didn’t mesh with her almost casual delivery.
Ellie took what appeared to be a fortifying breath. “It happens sometimes. I think now is one of them. I don’t need you to do anything. I just wanted you to know that I might need to spend some extra time down there.”
“I mean, yes. I absolutely want to know. But I want to help, too.”
She shrugged and smiled. “You’re sweet. There really isn’t anything to help with, though. Her facility will handle the transport if that needs to happen. I’ll need to talk with her doctors and go and visit her and stuff, but it’ll all be handled.”
They hadn’t really talked about the specifics of Ellie’s mom’s condition, only that it was mostly managed.
But he didn’t think it was overreacting to consider being in the hospital a big deal.
Sure, a psychiatric condition might not be life threatening the way cancer or a heart attack would, but it felt no less intense.
For Ellie’s mom or for Ellie herself. “What can I do for you, though?”
“Don’t make me talk about it too much?” She laughed. “I’m kidding but not.”
Jack shoved away the little red flags that waved in the periphery of his mind.
This wasn’t about him, or even about them.
This was about Ellie. And figuring out how to support her through an obviously stressful time.
“No pressure. Truly. But I’m here if you need to unload or process or anything.
I can even drive you if that would help. ”
She sighed again and stared at her food. “I don’t mean to sound like a jerk, but it’s actually less stressful to do it myself.”
Since she’d let go of his hand, he grabbed hers. “I want to lower your stress, not add to it.”
She looked into his eyes. Hers seemed a little glassy, but she kept her smile firmly in place. “I know. I also know that if you’re there, I won’t be able to stop myself from worrying about what you’re thinking or how you’re feeling.”
It made sense, for now at least. He hadn’t even met Ellie’s mom.
He’d have a problem being shut out by a wife or even a long-term girlfriend, but Ellie wasn’t that.
Not yet. Hopefully, they’d get there, and they’d figure out how to be there for each other.
For now, he’d respect her wishes and leave it be. “I’m tougher than I look, but okay.”
She dropped her head to the side, an affectionate look on her face. “You’re an outstanding tough guy. I’m glad you’re in my corner.”
It was a small concession. “Don’t forget you can tag me in sometimes. It’s not just for show.”
“I know,” Ellie said.
Did she? Now probably wasn’t the time to press. “What’s her name?”
Ellie gave him a quizzical look. “Donna.”
“Donna.” Jack nodded, committing it to memory. “I hope she feels better soon.” He tried for a reassuring smile, though it struck him he didn’t even know if that was the right thing to say.
“Thanks.” Ellie cut a large bite of French toast and stuffed it in her mouth. She tipped her head back and forth as she chewed, like doing so took all her concentration.
Jack took the hint and did the same. He might not be able to help, but he could at least follow her lead.