Chapter Forty-One
Linden
Hearing those three words from him cracks something inside of me. After years of putting on a brave face for my daughter and fearing what each new day would bring, being loved by Jack makes me feel safe enough to believe that everything is going to be okay.
I never thought I’d get my happily ever after. I assumed I missed my chance and I’d have to be content pouring all of my love into Avery. But I’m still just a girl who wants to be loved.
Jack loves me. The tears pool in my eyes as he cocoons me in his arms, kissing my face gently between his murmured admissions of love.
“We wuv you, too, Mr. Jack,” Avery’s quiet voice says from the bed, and my head whips to the side to look at her.
Her head is resting on her hands as she looks at us with a smile on her face.
I expect amusement to rumble in Jack’s chest, but when I look at him, his face is hard like he’s struggling to steady his breathing.
“We love you,” I whisper, forcing him to look at me, and he nods stiffly. “Are you feeling a lot right now?”
He nods again, tightening his arms around me. I don’t know if he’s going to burst into tears, or laughter, or combust altogether.
“Get some sleep. We can talk about all of the heavy stuff tomorrow.” Nothing about our situation is going to change in a few hours. All the gory details about what happens next with the Scotts will still be the same.
None of that bad needs to shadow the good that just transpired.
“Night, night, Mr. Jack,” Avery says, yawning.
“Goodnight, princess,” he forces out through gravel in his throat. It makes me smile.
“Have sweet dreams, Jack.” I kiss him softly. “I love you.”
“Ah, fuck,” he utters under his breath, rolling over until his face is buried in my neck. Our limbs are so entangled, I don’t know where he ends and I begin. His hand is buried in my hair, cradling me closer, and I’m not sure if I’m the koala or he is, the way we’re clinging to each other.
It’s perfect.
I rub his back until my big scary man’s breaths deepen, and he finally lets himself be as safe in my arms as I am in his.
I’ll protect him, too. In all the ways that I can.
* * *
“Well, this is the silliest thing I’ve ever seen,” Kay’s voice startles me awake from the doorway.
I raise my head, squinting at her in the morning light. “Good morning,” I mumble. My neck and back are stiff as I glance to the side.
Jack’s on his back, waking up slowly and taking in his surroundings. Avery is curled up beside him with her head on his chest, opposite me. All three of us are in a big pile on the floor.
His arms tighten around us easily. “Morning,” he mumbles.
“There is a perfectly good king-size bed in the other room,” Kay chuckles as I sit up like a stiff board.
“Yeah, definitely going to skip the floor tonight.”
“I’ve had worse,” Jack says, sitting up after Avery does. “I slept on an air mattress a few nights in a row once, and that was terrible.”
I cut him a hard glance, and he scrunches his face, holding back a laugh, and looks anywhere but at me.
“I wike my sailboat bed,” Avery says, jumping back up onto the mattress.
“Then why did you end up on the floor?”
She shrugs. “I watch cartoons now?”
“Only if Ms. Kay isn’t watching anything.”
“Come on down, sweetheart. I’ll turn on PBS and let your mommy get going for the day.”
“Thank you,” I sigh in relief. I’m not used to having any minutes to myself.
“I also need to talk to Linden about some… serious things,” Jack says, glancing towards Avery so Kay knows what he means. Adult things. Heavy things. “If you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. I love having a little one in the house again.” Her hands squeeze together in excitement. “I’ll make her breakfast. What does she like?”
“Probably something plain. Muffins, pancakes, or maybe cereal,” Jack answers before I can, glancing to me for confirmation, and I feel my throat tighten.
He’s so attentive to Avery’s needs already, and it’s overwhelming. Loving me is one thing, but seeing how he loves Avery is everything.
“Yeah, anything like that would be perfect,” I squeak.
“Okay, take your time. You know where to find us,” Kay says, taking Avery’s hand.
“I need to make a phone call if you want to meet me in the other room when you’re fully awake.”
“Fully awake or fully prepared to hear the bad information you still need to tell me?”
“Both.”
“Ugh. Fine.” I get to my feet, and he follows, moving a lot more easily than me. It’s like his body is always ready for action, built for stealth. And I’m a troll crawling out from under a bridge.
When I look at him, he’s smiling at me with his eyes.
“What?”
“You’re cute in the morning. I always liked getting glimpses of you wrapped up in a blanket when Avery dragged you outside to play at the crack of dawn.”
“This.” I point to my crazy hair and rumpled sleep shirt. “You like this.”
“Mhm.” He saddles closer to me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “You have no idea,” he whispers against my neck, leaving a kiss behind.
“You’re going to make me cry.”
“What?” His head snaps up in shock.
“No one is ever this nice to me. I still can’t believe you even like me.” I cover my face with my hands in embarrassment. “No one ever has.”
“I’m in love with every little thing about you.
” He backs me up to the wall. “I love your wild hair. I love your golden eyes, and the way you smile with your entire soul. I love the way you sing with your full body, and shake your ass in your jean shorts. I love your heart, and how selfless you are. I love your sweet tooth at midnight, and the way you whimper when you cum.”
“Jack,” I gasp as his hand rubs me over my panties.
“I love how strong you are. And how fucking brave you are,” he grits out as his finger slides beneath the fabric, getting soaked by my arousal.
He pulls his hand back to the surface and raises it to his mouth, sucking his fingers between his lips. “I love how you taste,” he growls, taking my mouth in a forcefully searing kiss.
I’m powerless, pinned to the wall as he consumes me. Sex is something I’ve dreamed about more than I’ve partaken in.
After Avery was born and Turner turned into an entirely different person, I never slept with him again. Jack was the first man I had sex with in years, and now he’s mine, and I want him every chance I get.
I shove his sweatpants down his thighs, and his erection bobs free, catching both of our attentions. When his eyes find mine again, they have to follow me south as I lower to my knees.
I raise a finger to my mouth, demanding his silence, before I lick the underside of his steel length from the base to the tip. His mouth drops open in a silent gasp.
My eyes stay on his face as his cock disappears into my mouth, and I hum in appreciation when he bites his forearm to stay quiet. His other hand tangles into my hair on the back of my head, gripping me desperately as I fuck him with my mouth.
I memorize every ridge and vein with my tongue, already obsessed with the tool attached to the man I’m in love with. I never understood when women said that blowjobs turned them on… But I get it now.
My pussy is on fire as I choke on his cock, and my fingers blindly find my clit. His eyes flare as I play with myself, and his hips jerk in response, rocking in time with his cock hitting the back of my throat.
I gag slightly at the end of one deep thrust, and he wrenches his length away, holding my head taut. My tongue flattens against my bottom lip, ready for more.
His gaze rakes over me, from the saliva dripping from my mouth and my fingers between my legs. His chest rises and falls rapidly before sliding his cock back in my waiting mouth.
He controls it this time, sinking to the depths of my throat before pulling all the way out and slapping my tongue with it. He does it again, sliding his cock into my mouth, but I don’t relent. My hand claws his backside, forcing him down my throat as I swallow all of him back.
His eyes squeeze shut, and a silent “fuck” escapes before he rips me off the floor and spins me until my chest hits the wall.
“This is what I wanted to do to you when I found you snooping at the mansion, putting yourself at risk,” he grits into my ear before he shoves my panties down my thighs and shoves his cock inside of me, making me gasp.
“Don’t make a fucking peep,” he demands, and I nod frantically with my cheek pressed to the wall.
He doesn’t wait a second longer, fucking me brutally until my feet are off the ground and my palms are planted on either side of my head.
I can’t contain the noises escaping my lips as he rails me from behind, and when his hand covers my mouth I cry out in relief, letting myself feel all of it. And his other arm, anchored around my waist, holds me steady, ensuring that I feel every single inch he’s giving me.
He’s not even touching my clit, but his thrusts are applying the perfect amount of internal pressure that sends me–
“Fuck,” my scream is muffled by his palm as my orgasm rips through me. My pussy clamps down on his cock so hard tears are streaming down my face.
He gasps, flattening me against the wall as hips jerk, and his release floods my insides.
Our heavy breathing fills the room, and I only feel slightly guilty for defiling his childhood room.
“I swore the next time I fucked you was going to be in a bed like you deserve,” he states breathlessly.
“Mmm, beds are overrated.”
“I need to love you properly, Linden.”
My cheek is still pressed to the wall, and his nose carves a path along my jawline.
“You already do that so well, Jack,” I whisper.
“I haven’t even started,” he insists, closing his lips over the pulse point in my neck.