Chapter Twenty-Two
November, fourteen years ago
Mitch
The moment Jackie’s dress hit the floor, the monster that had been growing in strength over the past weeks from within him escaped to the surface, growling and prowling, urging him to stop thinking and start acting.
Damn, she was so beautiful. Perfect.
His.
The sofa bed had a thin comforter spread over it and two pillows, but there wasn’t much else up here. Not that he needed anything else in this moment, when she was lying naked right next to him, their bodies as close as they could be without him inside her.
Jackie propped herself on her elbow, resting her head on her palm. “What are you thinking about?”
Mitch reached for her face, smoothing a frown from her forehead. “Nothing. Just admiring you.”
“I’m not the Mona Lisa.”
“She couldn’t hold a candle to you.”
Jackie threw her head back in laughter and lay on her back. Her black hair, released from the confines of its ponytail, fanned around her head like a halo. “You truly know how to hype a girl up.”
“That might be a new skill you uncovered. I’ve never been a smooth talker. Couldn’t even ask a girl out for prom. She asked me out after losing patience.”
“The burger date with your lab partner?”
Mitch chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Yes.”
Jackie rolled onto her side. Her breasts were right there, so perfect and inviting him to put his hands on them …
He noticed her nipples hardened; if he was more fanciful, he’d think it was because she wanted him, too, not because there was a faint chill in the air.
“I don’t think we have any burgers, but we can have some more lasagne later, if you want,” she teased.
Mitch laughed, shaking his head. “Are you trying to lighten the mood so I’m not nervous?”
Her expression softened. “Are you? Nervous, I mean?”
“A little,” he answered honestly.
What if he was no good at it? All his friends made it sound like the most natural thing in the world.
Instinct. But they also only ever talked about themselves, their pleasure.
Mitch wanted to learn how to pleasure Jackie.
He knew guys were much simpler in that respect.
Truth be told, he was so hard just from lying next to her and kissing her, that he was a little afraid he’d finish in record time.
That’d be embarrassing.
“Why?” Her fingers skimmed the inside of his elbow.
Mitch wasn’t sure if it was the stillness of the night around them, making it seem like they were the only people on Earth, with nothing but dust flecks glistening in the streaky luminescent light and their breaths stirring the November air; or maybe it was the fact they were both bare, literally.
Either way, he didn’t want to pretend or brush this conversation off.
He wanted to be real with her, share things he had never wanted to share with anyone else before.
“Because I don’t think I’ll be able to satisfy you. And I want to, so badly,” he uttered.
Jackie tilted her head, understanding dawning on her features.
“You’re underestimating yourself. Do you think I’m a sex goddess or something?
All the times I had sex before were quick and uneventful, with an emphasis on the quick.
I’ve never …” She swallowed. “I’ve never had an orgasm from penetration. Not once.”
“So, how—”
“Oh, oral and skilled fingers.” The shadow of a challenge darkened her face. “And toys, of course, when I’m on my own. But never penetration.”
Mitch gulped but the band across his chest relaxed a bit. “Will you show me? How you like things, I mean?”
“Of course.” Jackie smiled.
Clearly, she thought he meant right now, because her fingers wove around his right wrist as she kneeled in front of him. Bringing his hand to her chest, she put his palm over her nipple. “You can touch me, you know. That’s for a start.” She let go of his hand.
Mitch’s breath hitched. Her skin was soft and warm. Tentatively, he moved his fingers down, cupping her breast and squeezing it gently. His gaze, though, never wavered from her face; he wanted to see the kaleidoscope of emotions and expressions, trying to understand what felt good to her.
Her eyelids fluttered, and she let out a low, wispy moan.
Such a small sound, yet it struck him breathless. Enveloping her other breast with his left hand, he picked up both pace and confidence: kneading, massaging, squeezing.
Jackie arched her back, throwing her head back, her hair spilling down her spine.
His chest seized up, lungs frozen, as he pinched her erect nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, on both sides.
Jackie gasped, the sound part surprise, part ecstasy.
“Are you enjoying this?” he rasped, his heart in his throat.
Her body shook with a tattered breath. “Yes,” she moaned. “Don’t stop but come here and kiss me.”
He kneeled, too, letting go of her breasts for a moment to cup her face in his hands and kiss her.
Kissing Jackie was like submerging in the empty pool.
Nothing else mattered in those moments; his head was completely clear.
There was only his body buzzing with the sweet sensation of their joined lips, tongues knowing every step to a fiery tango.
The tips of their noses brushed against each other.
Jackie pulled away from his lips and looked deep into his eyes. “Did you bring condoms?”
Damn him, he did. After all the innuendos she’d been throwing for the past two weeks about this weekend, he’d been expecting they were going to end up here. Well, not necessarily in a hayloft, but in this moment.
“Yes,” he replied.
She dragged her teeth over her bottom lip, her eyes sparkling in the threadbare light. “Good. Get them.”
Mitch thought he was fast when he was in water, but it turned out he could be speedy as well on land, when given a good enough incentive. He dove to the floor, grabbing his discarded trousers and taking out a foil package from the front left pocket. He came back onto the sofa bed.
Wordlessly, Jackie took it from his hand and put it between them. Then, she looked down, right at his erected dick, and a self-satisfied grin widened her lips. “You seem ready.”
“I’ve been ready all evening,” he muttered, smiling when her cheeks pinked up. “But what about you …?”
Jackie took his hand in hers again and guided his fingers between her thighs, right to her core. Her lashes shaded her cheeks as he pressed his forefinger to the spot she led him to.
Fuck, she was so wet.
“Is this all right?” His question was a mere whisper, and she nodded, not opening her eyes.
He pushed his finger inside her, and she braced herself against his arms.
She stiffened. “Put another one in. Then, move them in and out,” she rasped, resting her chin on his shoulder. “You’ll find a rhythm.”
His pulse quickened its throb as he withdrew his hand for a moment and pushed both his forefinger and middle finger inside her.
Her fingernails pierced the skin at the back of his arms as she drew in a sharp inhale. Once she stilled and relaxed against him, he started moving, the way she told him to. In and out, never fully removing his fingers.
The sounds she made hardened him even further, if it was even possible.
Spurring him on, they put him into a rhythm that quickly became as natural as breathing.
He wasn’t sure what he was doing, exactly, but he must’ve been doing something right, as the pressure of her fingers digging into his skin intensified, her jaw tensing up against his shoulder, her moans pitching higher, higher, and louder.
Finally, as he picked up the pace so much, he thought his fingers were going to break off, Jackie’s neck snapped back, her spine arched; it was like before but ten times tenser.
Her entire body shook against him, and his free hand pressed into the small of her back. Her nails dug into his skin so hard that he was sure he’d have bruises tomorrow. But he didn’t care.
Her muscles clamped against his fingers, holding them hostage. She opened her mouth and released a scream so melodic, so full of everything he couldn’t name but felt deep in his bones.
Was this what pure ecstasy always sounded like?
Or was it how she sounded when she came?
Whichever it was, he folded this sound into the library of his memories, filing it under the category of “most important”.
He vowed to himself that from now on, he would elicit this sound from her as often as he could.
Moments later, when her body stilled, Mitch slid his slick fingers out of her core. He lay down, pulling her next to him.
Jackie put her head on his chest, and he kissed the top of her head, tangling his fingers into her hair.
“Was it all right?” he asked, and he cursed himself for ruining the moment.
“It was amazing,” she said against his skin, drawing lazy circles around his nipple.
His jaw tightened at the new sensation.
She laced her fingers on top of his chest and put her chin on top, staring into his eyes with a smile so mischievous that his heart sliced in half. “Your turn.”
Before Mitch could protest, she picked up the condom, still enveloped in its package, and opened it.
He was already fully erect. How could he not be, with her sitting there, naked, all disheveled from an orgasm? She was holding a condom that she would slide on, so he could enter her and get as physically close as two humans could.
The light hit her eyes, and the wordless question shimmered in their depths: ready?
He nodded, once. He wasn’t sure he was capable of more than that, too focused on keeping his heart from jumping out of his ribcage with sheer willpower.
The condom sheathed his dick.
Mitch thought she’d lie down, but instead she pushed him down, climbed up and straddled his hips.
She pinned his wrists above his head, flicking her hair over her shoulder. “I know you want to be a cowboy, but you got yourself a real cowgirl. So, tonight, I’ll show you my favorite position. Hold on tight, handsome.”
Then she sank on top of his hardened length and his breath caught.
Jackie started moving in a way he wasn’t sure if one could learn or if it was instinctive. But soon, he stopped thinking about anything at all; it all became too much … too much sensation, too soon, too hard.
His eyes slammed shut, fire consuming his lungs from within.
He put his hands on both of her breasts, and massaged them, eliciting another one of those gorgeous moans from her well-kissed lips.
The pressure building inside him was like nothing he’d ever experienced before. It was both weightlessness and all the weight of the world pushing on his stomach. His soul and lungs caught fire, the flames searing cauterized holes right through his consciousness.
His eyes flew open, and he looked at Jackie, who despite what she’d claimed earlier, looked like a goddess of passion.
He pulled himself to a sitting position, his hands enveloping her calves, heat coursing through his veins. “Look at me,” he rasped, more of a plea than a command.
She locked eyes with him and he saw the rest of his life.
Moving his hands up to her knees and thighs, he placed them on her back and pulled her close. Then, they started moving again, together.
It didn’t last long—might’ve been seconds rather than minutes.
Breath escaped his lungs; his heart constricted into a ball of lightning and lust, erupting into fireworks as he found his release, punctuated by his heavy breaths and groans.
Surely, the stars fell from the sky. Surely, the moon got blinded by their overwhelming joy and happiness.
It was like wearing glasses for the first time after needing them for ages.
Three words, eight letters pressed urgently at the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them down, kissing Jackie instead. There’d be another time when he could tell her. So many more times.
They had their whole lives ahead of them.