Chapter Twenty-Six
When I peel my eyes open, I’m greeted with Jack caressing the side of my face—and a slight headache. I’m lying flat on my back, sprawled across his body, with both arms hanging over the side of the bed. A light sheet is pulled up only to my waist. The cool air pricks my nipples, reminding me that I’m still naked from last night.
“Good morning.” Jack twists his fingers in a strand of my strewn hair. “Have a little too much fun last night?”
“Mm-hmm.” I roll over, my bare breasts meeting the warmth of Jack’s hard chest. Wiggling my body into his, he brings both of his arms around me and clutches my hips, forcing me to straddle him.
“I had a wonderful time last night with you,” I purr, grinding against him slowly.
“You’re ready to go again?” His hand guides my waist, rocking me back and forth.
Pressing my palms flat on his pecs, I push myself into an upright position. “With you? Always.” The heavenly sensation of his heated length rubs against my clit. “Looks like you might be ready to go too,” I tease, arching my hips forward, easily sliding him in before he has a chance to answer.
“Damn,” he groans, dipping his head back. “You’re going to kill me.”
I lean forward, tucking into his chest, continuing to roll myself until I’ve taken in all of him. I bring my lips to his neck, trailing his delicious skin with wet kisses.
“Show me again how much your pussy needs me,” Jack’s voice is hoarse as he squeezes my ass.
Nibbling on his earlobe, I whisper, “It needs you to come for it.”
He swiftly responds by lifting to slam his lips into mine while simultaneously picking up his pace. Jack moves my body how he wants, directing it in motion with his—and I respond without a thought. I palm the sides of his face, holding his mouth to mine and letting him use me for his pleasure. With a stroke of his tongue on mine, I groan into our connected lips. Jack’s movements become rougher when he begins climbing to his climax.
After a few more rolls of our hips in rhythm with one another, I feel his entire body come to a still underneath me. My stomach flutters with tiny butterflies, knowing he’s about to give me everything I now desperately crave.
“Grab the headboard,” he commands, trying to hold me in place.
I do as he says, reaching up to the top of the headboard with both hands, continuing to ride him.
“Fuck,” he cries out as he begins to unload. “You want it all, don’t you? My good girl.”
“Yes,” I moan, “I need it.”
With his muscles still twitching, he raises his arms and wipes the palms of his hands down his face. “I cannot stop fucking you.”
“You don’t have to.”
Jack shifts our bodies, so I gently fall to the side. His arms are still around me while he’s buried inside as we both lie facing each other on the bed.
“How do you feel?” he asks.
Now that the sex buzz is wearing off, I’m starting to feel slightly hungover again. “I have a headache,” I complain.
“I’m sure.” He laughs. “I hope you had a good time last night, despite the hangover.”
“I had a wonderful time. Your speech was perfect, and I felt so proud to be with you.” I squint my eyes from the daylight. That’s aggravating my headache. “I hope you know that you can alter the universe with that smile and charisma.”
Jack places two fingers under my chin and lifts it to meet his thoughtful blue eyes. “What can I do for you?”
“Food?” I say, shoving my hand under the pillow.
“You got it.” He slides out of me and swings his legs over the edge of the bed. “I’ll be right back.”
I reach for the blankets and yank them up, covering my naked body. “Where are you going?”
Jack slips on his boxers and grabs his phone. “I’m going to get you some breakfast.”
My heart melts.
By midmorning, Jack and I are sitting on the back patio eating breakfast burritos from the little cafe down the street. Even though there’s a mild chill in the air, I feel cozy wearing Jack’s shorts and a white T-shirt with a blanket wrapped around me. It smells like him. If I could bottle his scent and bath in it, I would.
“As I laid in bed staring at the ceiling last night, I had an idea,” he begins.
My eyebrows furrow as I catch the fact that he had a hard time sleeping. “I didn’t even know you were awake last night. Did you get enough sleep?”
Steam seeps from the hot coffee in his hand. “I’m not surprised. You were passed the fuck out.”
“I know.” My cheeks redden, slightly embarrassed. “So, what was your idea?”
“Why can’t my mom and I buy out Preston and his dad?” he exclaims, his eyes wide as if in mid-thought. Jack’s face is bright. I’m sure the rush he got from the overwhelming support at the harvest dinner played a part in this epiphany. And I am so happy for him.
“That’s a great idea. Is it possible? Do you think your mom would be into it?”
Jack sets his cup down on the table and opens his arms. “Come here.”
I rub my lips together. Does he want to hug me or be close to me? Either way, I waste no time responding to his sweet gesture. Pinching the blanket’s edges, I hold it together and approach his chair. When I squeeze between his legs, his strong arms come around from the back and pull me onto his lap.
“I think she’ll be thrilled with the idea as long as she knows it’s something I want,” he says, resting his chin on my shoulder.
“Is it something you want?”
He lets out a weighted sigh. “I think I’m starting to realize that this is my path, and the sooner I embrace it, the more successful I can be.”
“When we went out to dinner with your mom, she mentioned that she wanted to step away, which is understandable after losing your dad. Do you think that will fit into her plan?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll need to speak with her about it first, but I’d be willing to take everything over if it meant her being happy and having some much-needed time away. It’s honestly the least I can do.” Jack slides his hand into mine. He forces my fingers to open and softly traces the lines inside my palm.
“That’s very considerate and kind. She’s lucky to have you,” I say, partially distracted by the tickle of his fingertips.
“Sometimes I forget that even though I lost my dad, she lost her husband—her best friend and partner.” Tilting my head to the side, I run my lips across his forehead as he speaks. “I could have been there for her more the last few months, but I was stuck in my own world of self-loathing. She’s been holding everything together while I’ve been complaining about what I wanted.”
“Trauma hits us unexpectedly, and no one really knows the right way to handle it, but look at what you’re doing now. You’re not only stepping into your family business, you’re fighting for it.” In our short time together, he has come a long way with acceptance. I smile, knowing that I’ve been a part of that.
“Thank you.” Jack’s arms hold me close around the waist with his hands folded on my stomach. “To offer a buyout is the right thing to do.”
Forget about pretending or the faking—or whatever the hell that we’re doing. This moment is real, and I won’t convince myself otherwise. I stay comfortably planted on his lap with my head resting on his shoulder for some time before Jack speaks. “Not having siblings never phased me growing up, but right now, I wish I had one to do this with.”
“Like losing your dad and someone to partner with on the winery?”
Jack nods.
“I know. It was hard for me growing up alone. I always wanted a sister when I was young. Now I have Lina, Bailey, and Avery, and I’m grateful for them, but it would have been nice to have a confidant and friend as a kid.” Would a sibling have helped? Or would it just have given Roxy two children to bully?
“Did you have any family around when you were growing up?”
“My grandmother.” She and I were very close. She and my grandfather helped Roxy for years. They had written her out of their will by the time they passed. I replaced her. When Roxy found that out, she demanded I give her the money, but there were very strict instructions in the will stating that I would receive the money when I turned thirty. I assume that my grandparents thought I’d be strong enough to stand up to my mother by that time. I still have a long way to go.
“Are you still close with her?”
I fiddle with the loose pieces of fabric on the blanket. “I was. She died not too long ago.
His posture shrinks. “I’m sorry. When was that?”
“Uh, it’s been about two years. I felt like she was the only person who understood me and the only other person who knew what my mother was like. It’s been hard since she’s been gone.”
“It’s difficult to walk through life without someone who understands you, especially when you feel like a part of you is missing or you can’t be who you want to be,” Jack adds, not truly understanding the depth of the relationship with Roxy.
“Yes, I know what that’s like.” I rise from his lap, deciding it’s time to get myself together for the day. I love this moment with him, but I’m also self-conscious about how I look and probably smell. “I’m going to hop in the shower.”
“I need to get in soon too. I have a few meetings this afternoon at the winery,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.
My stomach flutters when a surprising thought pops into my brain. Should I invite Jack to shower with me? He probably won’t want to. That might be crossing the line. Just because we’re sleeping together, we’re not a couple.
“Do you, uh, want to join me?” I stammer.
Jack bends forward in the chair, looking like he’s trying to hold back a smile. “I’d love to join you in the shower.”
I take a sharp breath. We’ve had sex multiple times now and slept in the same bed, but I don’t know why showering together sounds more personal.
I grin at him over my shoulder as I walk through the back door and into the villa. Jack is quick behind me, and by the time we get into the bathroom, he’s already removing his shorts and T-shirt. I yank his shirt off my back, then slide down my shorts—which are also his, piling them on the floor. Jack leans into the shower to turn on the water.
His hard body is flush with mine, and the heat radiating off his skin is grazing my nipples. They harden. Jack must have felt it because he dips his head down and sucks one into his mouth. I shudder from the sensation of the wet smoothness of his mouth.
After a few playful licks, he turns and steps into the shower. I quickly follow, closing the door behind me. The scorching water rains over our bodies as we stand facing one another. I take my time creating random patterns on the curves of his chest.
My nerves come alive with his hands exploring every inch of my skin. “We actually need to shower,” he mumbles into the space behind my ear.
“I know.”
We’re facing each other, surrounded by the thick steam that wraps around us. Jack twists his body around to grab the body wash and my loofah. I do the same, grabbing his soap off the holder built into the wall. While I’m turned away, I feel him begin to wash my back. He starts fast, scrubbing at a measured pace but then slows as he gets to the top of my thighs. The warm water from the shower head hits my pussy, making it throb.
I hear the loofah hit the ground. “I can’t fucking take it,” he growls before I feel him spread my ass cheeks, and with only enough time for me to suck in a gulp of air, the smooth, warm texture of his tongue licks at my puckered hole.
“Damn,” I whimper, losing my balance.
“Sit down,” he says, nudging me onto the marble bench inside the walk-in shower. Like always, I do as he tells me, backing into the heated tile. “Put one foot on the soap holder and the other on the shower door handle,” he tells me, reaching up and aiming the shower head directly at my open legs.
“Alright,” I comply, getting into position. He lowers to his knees between my spread legs. The water pressure hits my sensitive bud, forcing it to burn with pleasure. My clit is throbbing. I feel the slick moisture in between my thighs despite the water cascading over me. With a hungry need, I watch as Jack leaves lingering kisses on both sides of my legs until he reaches my core.
Trembling, I struggle to keep my legs in place. He hooks his arms behind my knees, bracing them. Jack’s mouth reaches the seam at my apex, but he doesn’t taste me yet. He waits with his mouth closed, letting the small puffs of hot air from his breath tickle me until my body takes over and opens for him. Without moving, he teases me, forcing me to beg for it. “Please,” I squeak out, my hips gently bucking at his face.
“What do you want me to do?” he murmurs, running his tongue along the outside of my pussy. This is fucking torture, but I can’t tell him what I want.
He senses my apprehension. “Tell me, or I’m going to get out of the shower.”
I wriggle in place, frustrated with him. Fuck. “Fine. I want you to fuck me with your mouth!” I call out, gripping the back of his head and pushing him into me.
“Yes!” He shoots his tongue out, sending it deep inside of me. Jack lets me guide his head where I want him to go, and with both hands threaded through his hair, he stays licking and sucking. With his head almost completely still, except for the purposeful movements of his tongue, he feeds on me like he’s starving and I’m the only one who can satisfy his hunger.
My legs are raised and securely pushed into the soap holder and the handle of the door as Jack continues to devour me. My body hums, my pussy tingles, and I keep Jack in place with both hands, demanding this powerful orgasm. My body begins to stiffen, and my breathing shallows. I curve myself around him, closing my legs with him comfortably tucked between them.
The heat and steam from the hot shower surround us, so I can barely see our bodies anymore. Like the darkness from the blindfold, I feel everything. Right as my stomach clenches, an explosive orgasm shudders through me. I desperately attempt to grab anything on the wall, but his hands are glued to me, and he stays through the aftershocks.
When he releases, Jack uses the flat part of his tongue to lick from the inside of my pussy to the outside of my clit. I stay slumped into the corner of the shower with my legs spread wide while Jack presses slow kisses on my skin from my belly button to my breasts and over the hollow of my collarbone. “I want to fucking die down there,” he says darkly into my lips.
Panting and laughing uncontrollably, I kiss his lips, the ones that still have me on them. “I think I can arrange that.”
His laugh rumbles inside his chest and mine. “Now I can focus on getting ready for my meetings.”
I stand on shaky legs as Jack and I finish showering together.
We were both getting dressed when he asked me about my grandmother again. “Tell me about your grandmother,” he says, looping his leather belt through his pants.
I stand in the closet, fastening my bra. “What do you want to know?”
“Anything,” he says, walking over to me shirtless. How is he so fucking sexy? Those chiseled abs and that perfectly smooth skin.
“She studied the universe and astrology for most of her life and often refused to make decisions that weren’t based on the positions of the sun, moon, and other planets.”
Jack finishes clasping the last button on his collared shirt. “That’s fascinating.”
“It is, isn’t it? Her mother studied astrology as well. Most of the women in my family have celestial names.”
“Like their first names?” he asks, sitting on the side of the bed.
“No, our middle names. My great-grandmother was Nova, which means new,my grandmother was Celeste, which means heavenly, and my mother is Luna.”
“And what’s your middle name?”
“Moon,” I tell him, shuffling over in my slippers to sit beside him.
“Piper Moon.” Jack rubs my cheek with the back of his knuckles. “Illuminating the dark for all who are hidden behind the shadows. Very fitting for you.”
His words hit like a thick, heady emotion, growing more powerful the closer we become. My eyes bounce back and forth, searching for a sign that this could be real. Does Jack see me—for me? I cannot be falling for him. This is all so crazy and so fast. It’s lust. That’s all this is.
“Keep talking.” He encourages me to open up.
“When I was younger, I hated it. I thought it was lame that we all had themed middle names.” I uncomfortably chuckle. “Now, I’m incredibly grateful to have a piece of them with me.”
Jack smiles.
“When I was a kid, she gave me a gold crescent moon necklace. It had a tiny diamond in the middle. I loved it.”
He takes the spot next to me on the bed. “You’re talking about it in the past tense. Do you not have the necklace anymore?”
The back of my eyes sting as I slowly shake my head. I still remember the day that Roxy stole it. We had just moved into our new apartment. She had asked me for some of my grandmother’s jewelry for some time, but I kept telling her I didn’t have it. She knew better. One day after I returned home from school, I found her sitting on the floor in the living room, staring at four stacks of cash. When I asked her where she got it, she told me she’d sold some of Grandma’s jewelry, including the moon necklace.
He lies back, propping himself up on his forearms. “What happened to it?”
I force a smile but look away, not wanting to share something utterly embarrassing and hurtful with him.
“Tell me what happened to it,” his voice firmer this time.
I pull my eyes away from him and onto the light of dawn breaking over the hills.
“Roxy sold it.”
“What do you mean, she sold it?”
“She sold it to a pawnshop. Then after, she said that I could have kept the necklace, but our electricity would be shut off.”
Jack falls to his back on the soft mattress and raises his hands in frustration. “Fuck. I’m so sorry. She told you that you had to choose between electricity and your grandma’s necklace. How was that even something you should have dealt with as a child?”
“That’s Roxy.”
From the corner of my eye, I see Jack’s arm come out, hook around me, and aggressively bring me down into him. His hold is tight, almost cutting off my oxygen. My tense muscles loosen, and I melt into his skin like it’s my own. “That shouldn’t have been put on you. How horrible it must have felt.”
“It’s weird because somehow it feels like it’s my fault. Like I could have no—”
He quickly shakes his head. “What? No. None of that is your fault.”
Despite the alarm bells going off, I sit with these emotions, living in them fully. I drop my eyes to his lips, part mine, and lean forward, meeting him for what feels like a connection to end all connections. Jack’s soft lips move slowly around mine. I slip my tongue into his mouth and expect him to devour me, but he draws back. He let his forehead rest on mine before raising his head to kiss mine—another simple gesture that crumbles my remaining walls.
“Do you want to come with me today to the winery?”
“I haven’t checked in with the girls in a while. We’re supposed to Facetime later.” I nuzzle his nose. “But thank you. I’ll be waiting here for you to get back.”