Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jade
Axel wakes me with a kiss. Like he isn’t already dreamy enough. “I’m going to shower,” he whispers, kissing down my neck, “and make us coffee.”
Half-asleep, I reach out across the smooth linen sheets, but he’s already gone. I roll over, opening my eyes properly.
Axel’s bedroom is large, the ceiling vaulted timber, the walls covered in panels of pale fabric, contrasting against the dark wood furniture. A chest of drawers and two bedside tables. Simple, yet luxurious.
I slide out of bed, padding through a doorway, hoping it’s the bathroom.
No way I’m letting Axel shower by himself, not after last night.
But I find myself in the large walk-in wardrobe, the racks half-empty.
There’s a card on the dressing table, a photo of the New York skyline.
I pick it up, then put it down again. I want to know more about Axel, but I don’t want to force my way into his life.
I sense he’s spent a long time hiding away and putting up walls.
The last thing he needs is for me to overstep the boundaries.
I wander back out again, taking another door.
This time it leads me into a bathroom, tiled in smooth pale stone with black fittings, quiet luxury again.
There’s one of those large free-standing oval tubs, a counter with two sinks and a toilet.
But no shower. I relieve myself, then head back into the bedroom. Then I remember my own cabin.
I grab a towel from the bathroom, wrapping it around me, then push the sliding door open and step outside.
I can hear water running, a deep male voice humming.
It sounds like Rihanna’s “Diamonds.” I hold back a giggle, padding quietly along the wooden veranda until I come to a pierced timber screen.
I drop my towel and step around it.
“I do believe,” I say, pressing myself against his back, “that etiquette books mention something about hosts not letting their guests shower alone?” I slide my hands across his taut belly and downwards. “Something about scrubbing each other’s backs?”
“I don’t remember reading anything like that. But I’ll take your word for it. I do want to be a good host, after all.” He turns, pulling me under the warm spray with him and wrapping his arms around me.
I squeal as the water hits me, laughing. Then his mouth is on mine, and I can feel him smiling against me. His hands slide down my back, cupping my ass. “Hmmm. I was going to come back to bed, you know. With coffee.”
“Oh, I know. But I wanted a shower too. And this seems like the quickest way to do it.”
“I don’t know if I agree with that.”
“No?”
One of his hands slides around the curve of my hip, coming between us, his fingers brushing my clit. “No.” He kisses me again. “Because now that I have you in here, I’m going to have to fuck you, at the very least.”
“At the very least?” My heart is pounding, my clit throbbing.
I tense, briefly, wondering whether anyone can see us in here.
But Axel’s hands are getting to work and again there’s that sense of safety, of him being there to hold me.
He’ll keep me safe, I realise, relaxing again. And this is what I want.
“Yes. And I intend to take my time about it.”
“Or,” I say, pulling back from him slightly, “you could let me have a turn.” I drop to my knees, carefully. I look up at him, the rippling muscles, the huge heavy cock stiffening in its nest of hair. He is so fucking hot. I just want to devour him.
I take his cock in my hand. He hisses in a sharp breath as I close my lips around the head, flicking my tongue along the slit. Then I suck him, just a little bit of pressure. His hand comes to my head.
“Fuck, Jade, yeah. Like that.”
I suck again, then let the head slide out of my mouth with a little pop.
I lick the tip, the salty taste of him on my tongue.
At the same time I wrap my wet hand around the base of his shaft, squeezing and sliding it up and down as I wrap my lips around him once more.
My other hand comes to his balls, caressing and kneading them, as I take him deeper, sucking him harder.
He groans, bracing one hand against the wall of the shower.
I lick down the length of him, suck and nibble his balls, taking him in my mouth once more.
He hits the back of my throat and I hear him moan, a tremor running through him.
I do it again, deep-throating him, stroking him as I suck harder.
His cock is rock hard, pulsing in my mouth.
I reach down between my own legs, groaning as I rub my clit, as I suck on him. Such a goddamn turn-on.
“Oh fuck, fuck.” Axel is thrusting into my mouth now, and my own orgasm is building.
Then he spurts, filling me, lashing the back of my throat.
I drink it down, every last drop, loving how it feels, so close to the edge myself.
Axel throbs in my mouth a little longer and I hang on to him, wanting him to ride every last flicker of pleasure.
Then he pulls out, his hands coming to my shoulders and lifting me to lean against the carved screen.
My hand is still between my legs. Axel kneels, still panting, and moves it out of the way.
He opens me, holding one of my legs wide.
Then his mouth is on me, sucking and licking my clit, his fingers sliding inside me.
I come so quickly it surprises both of us, I think.
I shudder and moan, falling apart against his hand, grinding into him.
He reads my body like no one ever has, giving me all that I need to let go.
And I’m definitely rediscovering my love of oral.
Axel kisses up my stomach, his fingers still inside me as he stands, pressing his body against mine as he carries me through the orgasm.
“See what I mean?” He’s laughing, still kissing me. “I don’t know about this not letting guests shower alone thing.”
“It seems pretty good to me.” I’m laughing as well.
“Oh, it’s very good.” He slides his fingers out of me, then brings them to his lips. He holds my gaze as he sucks them, slowly, tasting me. Fucking hell. This man. “Just not much showering going on.”
“That,” I say, “is not my problem.”
A short while later we’re back in bed. And as I straddle Axel, moaning as he thrusts inside me once more, I realise there isn’t a gift basket in the world large enough to thank Anna for letting me stay here.
Axel
I should probably go to work. Or something.
But why the hell would I do that when Jade O’Connell is in my bed?
She’s curled up next to me, her slightly damp hair spread across the pillow. She smells like flowers and sex, and it’s the best damn thing I’ve smelled in my entire life. I kiss her forehead, breathing her in.
“Mmm.” She trails her hand across my chest, gently squeezing my nipple. “I gotta say, island life is pretty sweet. I can understand why you live here.”
I tense, slightly, unable to help it. There’s a lot that I need to tell her, want to tell her, I realise.
I’ve been drawn to her before I even knew who she was, when I heard her crying in her cabin, the first night she was here.
Something is building between us, and it’s not just sex, despite how mind-blowing that’s been.
But I have to remember that I’ve only known her a few days.
Less than a week. I also have to remember who she is.
Being in a relationship with one of the most famous surfers in the world, a regular fixture in gossip sites and magazine covers, is going to bring me back into the open. And I don’t know if I’m ready for that.
If I’m honest, I was already getting tired of the celebrity surfboard shaper thing before my life fell apart.
Tired of people telling me how to do my job, making demands, having tantrums if they didn’t get their way.
It all felt like bullshit. I’d always planned to stop doing it at some point, or at least reduce my orders to a point where I felt I had space to breathe.
Had always planned to come and live here one day.
It just happened sooner, and under very different circumstances, than I expected.
I was happy here alone. I thought I was content, that this would be enough for me.
But now I think about it, I don’t know if I was happy at all.
I think I was just glad to still be alive, even though alive was a painful state of being for a while.
Jade coming into my life has awakened something more in me.
Everything seems brighter. There’s a sense of clarity I haven’t felt in so long. I feel like myself again. Almost.
But there are still splinters of damage, deep inside. I don’t know if I’m ready to bring them all up to the light yet.
I realise Jade is looking at me, her green eyes wide. “You all right?”
“Yeah. Thinking too much.”
“About anything in particular?”
“Well, I haven’t made us any coffee yet. And I do need to check on Nimue.”
“Nimue?”
“My cat. I’m surprised she hasn’t jumped on us yet.”
Jade smiles, but her green gaze is thoughtful. “What weren’t you telling me, last night? About the land. I know there was something.”
I sigh. “I know you did.”
“It was only because I wanted to jump your bones that I didn’t press it.”
I huff out a small laugh. “Did you now?”
“Don’t change the subject.” She pokes me in the ribs. “Spill.”
I press a kiss to her brow, partly because I need the space to collect my thoughts. “Okay. So, here it is.” I stop, clearing my throat.
Jade sits up, clutching the sheet to her, a little line between her brows. “Axel, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
I sit up as well, pulling her to me so she nestles in the crook of my arm.
I like her there, like how she feels. I don’t like what I have to tell her, though.
It feels like another wall coming down, another piece of myself brought into the open.
I choose to let it fall. Besides, it’s not like it isn’t common knowledge with the council.
And if I want Jade to help me, I need her to have all the information.
God, though, I wish I didn’t have to tell her. I clear my throat again.
“The developer. So. The reason I know about what they want to do, is because … er, it’s my family.”