CHAPTER 15
Jakob
Six months of iron restraint and sleepless nights shattered over a cup of coffee at a hotel cafe.
Jakob had forgotten how to breathe the moment he sensed her. When he turned and looked at her, the bond had snapped tighter than ever.
Mate.
Heat had slammed into Jakob’s chest so violently it made his vision blur. His dragon had surged forward with a feral roar, triumphant and possessive.
He had locked down every instinct with brutal precision and stood perfectly still while his pulse thundered in his ears.
She hadn’t expected to see him and had been as shocked as he was.
Good. She hadn’t come back for him. He ignored the part of him that regretted that detail.
If he kept his distance, maybe this could remain controlled and survivable.
Of all nights, he had chosen that particular café.
After his interrogation with the Ruecrag prisoner, he had needed to do something.
The kid had finally convinced him that he had no idea why Mallory had been their target.
Jakob had no choice but to accept that Lars was low on the totem pole and had no part of plans.
This wasn’t his first trip back to the hotel.
The café was usually quiet at this hour, and he would sit alone with a cooling cup of coffee and think of Mallory without being interrupted.
It was the one weakness in himself he allowed, and most times, only when he was there where his memory could still sense her.
If he was ever asked, the fact it was where Mallory had stayed meant nothing. He just liked the coffee.
And now that she was back, he needed to get her out of there.
The Ruecrags were tightening their net. Lars had been useless beyond confirming the ransom would be massive enough to secure them for years. He had simply heard Mallory’s name in passing but had no idea who she was.
Jakob had planned to finish his coffee and decide how to go to her with the news while using distance and guards and carefully chosen words.
He had planned restraint.
But now, the moment their eyes met, restraint became a lie he could no longer afford. He started to speak, stopped, and then tried again. Nothing would come out.
And now the niceties of civil conversation were over and they just stared at each other. He could see the longing and fear in her eyes, along with the pain he had caused her by pushing her away, and he could barely breathe.
His control was no longer steady. Rather, it was brittle and quickly cracking under pressure. He also knew that it was highly possible that she was no longer safe out in the open. If the Ruecrags knew she was back, there would be trouble.
He caught her arm gently but firmly and steered her into the hallway that led out to the lobby. He positioned his body as a shield. Heat radiated through him from his hand on her body.
“Jakob,” she breathed.
“Six months,” he said in a low voice as they walked. “Six months of hell.”
Even now, he didn’t touch her more than necessary. He didn’t allow himself the comfort of her warmth. Every inch of space between them was deliberate and painful when all he wanted to do was sweep her into his arms.
“I tried to forget you,” he said. His words were stripped of softness. “I tried to make our time together insignificant. Just something temporary.”
She reached up and her hand on his chest shattered that illusion.
The contact rocked him, but he didn’t move closer. She looked as trusting as she ever had. He stared at her lips but he didn’t kiss her. He didn’t even let himself breathe her in properly.
When he stepped back, it was abrupt. Almost harsh.
“I can’t,” he said. “I won’t do this to you.”
And then he spun around to leave. Not because he wanted to, but because if he stayed another second, he would lose everything. Her cry at his sudden withdrawal almost killed him.
He made it three steps. Three.
That was all the distance his restraint could manage.
The bond surged again, raw and panicked this time, and Jakob understood with brutal clarity that control was no longer protection. It was a liability.
She wasn’t safe. And neither was he.
“Come with me,” he said when he returned to her side. His voice was no longer steady. “Now.”
The corridors were hushed with night pressing close through the tall windows. His grip on her hand was firm and urgent and completely stripped of pretense. This wasn’t restraint anymore.
This was a retreat.
She pulled out her key when they reached her room. “How did you know I was in the same room as before?”
“Lucky guess on my part.” He didn’t tell her how many times he had walked by the room over the last several months. Truthfully, he hadn’t considered that she would have a different room.
The door closed behind them and the sound echoed.
For a single, suspended heartbeat, Jakob stood utterly still with his hands at his sides, his jaw clenched, and breathing hard. The silence was deafening after the discipline he’d enforced on himself all night.
She reached up and touched his face. “Jakob…” she whispered.
That broke him.
Before he could think, he pulled her to him and kissed her like restraint had never existed. He drowned in the sensations as she kissed him back with the same lips he had spent so long dreaming about.
Like six months hadn’t passed. Like he’d been holding his breath the entire time and only now remembered how to inhale.
The kiss was desperate and unguarded. His hands framed her face as if she were the only solid thing left in the world. Every ounce of control he’d wielded in the café and in the corridors collapsed all at once.
Mallory’s fingers curled into his coat and grounded him while she was completely undoing him at the same time.
Jakob knew, even as he kissed her, that this was the moment everything tipped past recovery. There was no careful path forward anymore, only the truth he had tried to outrun.
This was no longer a matter of choice. It was simply a matter of time. And that was one thing that he knew he had to take slowly. Even in her eagerness to return his passion, he could feel her uncertainty and hesitancy from inexperience. If he moved too fast, he would lose her altogether.
Slowly, they helped each other remove their clothes. Her cheeks were flushed as they stood in front of each other naked. A log crackled in the fireplace in the moments he waited for her to adjust. Finally she met his eyes in encouragement to continue.
She was beautiful and so soft as he rubbed his hand across her shoulder and then down to cup her breast. He knew he had to move slowly but his restraint was being sorely tested. He pushed her back onto the bed and ran a finger up her belly.
Take her, his dragon demanded.
All in good time. Her hand ran through the hair on his chest, and she leaned over and kissed his shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered with her face hidden.
He stroked her hair out of the way. “For what?”
“This. You’re used to women who know what to do. I’ve never…you know. Done this before.”
He kissed her softly. “It’s okay. I much prefer you to anyone.” With her next to him, he couldn’t even remember any of the other women who had shared his bed.
She shifted against him and ran her hand over his chest. Primal urges took over, and he rolled enough that she was under him, looking up with those beautiful eyes and he saw the same desire he felt reflected in them. She reached up and traced his face while his hand fondled her breast.
A little gasp escaped as he gave her hardened nipple a little tweak between his fingers.
Passion flared, and he lowered his mouth, suddenly anxious to taste her in a way he hadn’t yet.
One with pure want. Her mouth was warm and needy, and she returned his kisses with the same urgency and need that he felt.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in closer.
Their kiss deepened, and he lost himself in the passion he felt all the way to his dragon.
His dragon roared with need, but Jakob fought back the urge to claim. Mallory needed finesse, not just the primal act of sex.
His hands caressed her hips and thighs as he continued to suckle on her breasts. She tried to pull him up so she could kiss him again, but instead he pushed her back against the bed. He caught her ankles and pushed them up against her thighs before he lowered himself between her legs.
Little butterfly kisses placed all the up her inner thighs drove her crazy.
His tongue touched her most sensitive spot as he took his first taste of her.
She writhed on the bed as his tongue teased and explored each nook and valley of her womanhood.
Every time he swiped across the sweet spot, her breath would hiss as waves of sensation passed through her.
“Jakob! I…oh…” Her body stiffened and her fingers pulled at his hair.
He moved back up beside her and he teased her with his fingers until her breathing was no more than heavy pants. “I need you to be good and wet so I don’t hurt you.”
“I’m…oh…I’m…wet…” she begged.
Her legs wrapped around him and pulled their bodies together without breaking contact. He was already hard against her, and instinct took over at her insistence. He guided himself to her opening and paused. He could feel her heat, but he knew this was the moment.
He kissed her, gently at first, with his tongue teasing hers. When she deepened the embrace, he moved. She was hot and wet as he entered her, and she let out a slight moan at the initial pain before she went back into the kiss.
He moved in and out slowly at first, until she bucked her hips to give greater access. Their kisses became more hot and needy, and she clung to him like a woman drowning. Faster and deeper he plunged until they climaxed together, and their cries of pleasure echoed through his chambers.
When their breathing finally calmed, he pulled her close and held her as she relaxed against him.
“That was beautiful,” she murmured. “I’m so glad my first time was with you.”
He wanted to correct her and say every time was going to be with him.
He couldn't remember sex ever being better or so fulfilling as he buried his face in her hair.
She mumbled something before she snuggled down, and he didn't even feel the need to know what she had said.
He knew they were both satisfied. They were complete together, and he never wanted this night to end.
She spooned against him and pulled his arm over her. He pulled her tight against him, and they both sighed happily as they drifted back off to sleep. Even in his sleep, Jakob found a sense of contentment that he hadn't even known was missing from his life.
Even his dragon sighed with happiness.
He wanted the feeling to last forever, and he never wanted to lose the woman at his side.