Chapter Thirty-Six
Mitch
Mitch didn’t consider himself a greedy man. He enjoyed a healthy libido, but it had always been more of a want rather than a need. Not now, though, not with her. Having Jackie in his arms again turned him into an insatiable monster.
His nails dug into her smooth stomach, his gaze catching on the inked outline of her tattoo.
Damn it, these eagles. He hadn’t expected her to remember that day, never mind getting a tattoo to commemorate it.
It was glorious. He hoped he’d have a chance to see it over and over again, until he’d be able to draw its exact replica from memory.
“Tell me what you want,” he rasped into her ear.
Jackie shivered, goosebumps erupting over her arms, as she slammed her eyelids shut. She put both of her palms flat on his chest, her back hitting the wall. “It’s your turn to choose.”
Desire skittered down his spine. “I want to go down on you. Then, right before you come, I want you to sit on my face and take my cock in your pretty mouth.”
Satisfaction crinkled her lips in a smile. “Good choice, cowboy. I approve. Control’s all yours.”
Damn him, he’d missed sixty-nining with her.
No one had ever quite measured up to Jackie in bed.
He had some great sex through the years, sure; but somehow, with Jackie, it was always right.
Their sixty-nine was never topped. Maybe it was because they were similar heights.
Or maybe it had nothing to do with anything other than the simple fact that it was them, and when they were together, it was always mind-numbingly perfect.
“I love when you say these three words,” he murmured.
Jackie laced her hands behind his neck, want illuminating her features. “I know.”
An unspoken “I remember” dispersed into the air between them.
He stepped out of her reach, raking his gaze over her naked body, pausing on her lips, plump from kissing. In one swift motion, he reached over to her and wrapped his hand over her wrist, guiding her to bed. “Come here.”
Jackie followed him, without saying a word, the room filled with lust so thick, one could crack it open.
Mitch caught her chin between his fingers, tilting her head back and kissing the corner of her lip. “You’re going to be a good girl, and do exactly as I say, understood?”
“Yes, Mitch,” she groaned, her chest rising and falling with rapid breathing.
“Good.” He kissed her, both his hands sliding under her ass.
She responded eagerly, her tongue embracing his like she couldn’t get enough of him.
Fuck, he couldn’t get enough of her. Was he ever going to be able to? He wasn’t sure.
Nudging her thighs open, he backed her into the side of the bed. Sliding one finger inside her, he growled with satisfaction. “Damn, how are you always so wet?”
“Not always. Just for you.”
He thought his dick couldn’t get any harder than it already was but turned out he was wrong. Grabbing her waist, he threw her on the bed.
Jackie gasped, her gaze catching his. “I missed your strength.”
Mitch growled and climbed over her, straddling her hips. “Now, do you want me to eat your pussy?”
“Yes, fuck, Mitch, yes,” she moaned, bucking underneath him.
A smirk curled his lips as he dragged his finger between her breasts, brushing their contour in agonizingly slow motion.
“What are you doing? This is too slow, I can’t …” She rolled her hips, grinding against his hard cock. “I need your lips on me now.”
He huffed, grabbing one of her breasts and squeezing it. “I told you to be a good girl. Good girls are patient.”
“I know, but I need you.”
“You already had me.”
“Not enough.”
Mitch lowered his head to her chest, sucking at her breast. “I’m admiring the view on my way, is that allowed?”
“I suppose so.”
He dropped his mouth to her neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses there, moving down her body all the way to her pelvis.
She moaned, her back arching. “So, you’re going to tease me, drive me to the brink of orgasm and leave me there?”
His chest pressed against her thigh as he took her lip between his fingers. “Never. What kind of man would I be if I did that?” He pushed himself up, kissing her and swallowing another groan that slipped off her tongue.
Jackie wiggled, rumpling the thin bedsheets underneath her, and his breathing grew hurried. “Mitch, I know I said control’s yours but I’m going to explode from all this teasing.”
His fingers ran over her calf, drawing circles underneath her knee. She’d always been very sensitive; not ticklish, but slow, deliberate touches drove her crazy. He hadn’t forgotten how he made her climax from touch and nipple stimulation alone, on multiple occasions.
He swallowed down the memory. “You know how much I enjoyed the taste of you,” he hummed under his breath, spreading her thighs. “I want to see if it’s changed.”
Jackie let out a strangled sigh.
Mitch smirked, sliding down the bed and kneeling in front of it. Pushing both of his hands underneath her ass, he grabbed hold of her and positioned his mouth at her entrance. “Hold on tight, love.”
His tongue stroked her center, soaking her as it swirled around her core. Every circle, every swipe, increased the sounds she made, turning the moans into gasps.
Her hands tangled in his hair, her hips bucked up and down as the pressure built inside her. “Mitch, I’m close,” she groaned, grabbing a handful of his hair and pulling his face away from between her legs.
He sat back, wiping his lips with his hand. His breathing was ragged, his cock so erect that he thought he wouldn’t last long.
Jackie pushed herself to a sitting position. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair a mess. Her lips pulsed with the need to be kissed, and her eyes were on fire.
Mitch lay back on the bed, his heart a thundering mess in his chest. He knew there were things they had to talk about. Important things. But somehow, all his logic was eclipsed. None of it mattered; it should, and he was certain it would. Soon.
He sucked in a breath through gritted teeth as Jackie climbed over him.
Tips of her flyaway hair tickled the inside of his thigh. “Is this good?” she asked, moving her lips up his cock, until she reached the tip and took it in her mouth, deep.
His head slumped against the pillow as he let out a guttural moan. “Fucking hell, Jackie. Going right in, are you?”
Her lips slid off his dick and she chuckled against his skin. “We’re way past slow, cowboy.”
She shifted her position so that her pussy was right above his lips, and she lowered herself onto his face. Without waiting for him to say or do anything, she took his cock into her mouth again, up and down, up and down …
His eyelids pinched shut. He brought his index finger to her clit, teasing her flesh just as his tongue did. She was so wet, so ready. Taking him so fucking well.
Mitch felt the exact moment before she tipped over the edge; it didn’t last long.
The scream she let out was electrifying. It unlocked something in him, like the missing piece of his soul slotted back into place.
She didn’t move off him, his cock still in her mouth; as the orgasm washed over her, she refocused her attention on him like she was on a mission.
His back arched, restricted by her body draped over him, and he stiffened moments later. Panting, his head dropped on the pillow.
Moments later, Jackie climbed off him, just as breathless. She kissed him, long and hard, then lay right next to him, nestling into his side.
Mitch pulled her closer; he couldn’t get enough of her.
They stayed there, frozen in a motionless, wordless, moment like they were trying to commit each other to memory all over again.
Mitch knew the night would come to an end soon, and then they’d have to talk, as they’d agreed.
He reined in his imagination that was conjuring every reason he’d ever thought of for her leaving, deciding now was the perfect time to remind him of all the pain.
They still had time to enjoy each other.
He pushed a strand of Jackie’s hair off her forehead, murmuring against her skin: “You taste even sweeter than I remembered.”
Air whistled through her throat as she sucked in a breath. “You’re going to ruin me, cowboy.”
“I think maybe that was my destiny. Ruining you, over and over again.” His thumb stroked her flushed cheek. Her semi-dried hair was a mess and she never looked more beautiful than right in this moment, drunk on ecstasy.
Jackie rolled away from him, pulled the thin sheet over them and stared at the ceiling, a satisfied grin spread over her swollen lips. “I’d be okay with that scenario, I think.”
Mitch turned to her, lying on his side, eyes not leaving her. “That’s a good start to the rest of this conversation.”
Jackie chuckled.
They lay there for a beat, their breathing heavy, coming off the high of pleasure.
Eventually, she worried her lip between her teeth, her gaze flicking to his. “What did your father say when he called you the other day?”
He groaned. “Do we need to talk about my father right now?”
“We don’t, but I want to know how you are.”
“You know how Tanner is. He’s only getting more bitter with age. Was frothing at the mouth about the press and making things difficult for him and his career. Such a scandal at his only son’s failed wedding.”
“I’m sure he wasn’t happy about me, either,” she said in a small voice.
Mitch gritted his teeth, anger flaring in his chest. “Fuck Tanner. I told him I’m done being treated like crap.”
Jackie blinked, wide-eyed. “You said that to him?”
He frowned. “Why is that shocking?”
She held his gaze. “Because he’s been treating you like crap for years and you never stood up to him, not fully.
I know you went away to college, and then vet school, but the things he said to you …
The way he made you feel … It was always like you took whatever crap he dished out, you just accepted it. ”
Mitch goggled at her. “Wow. Don’t hold back, then.”
They had been together almost four years, and she had never told him this.
She wasn’t wrong, he had let Tanner get away with awful behavior.
Always found an excuse or brushed it off, telling himself and others that no matter what he did, he was his father.
His family. And family, no matter how dysfunctional, was sacred.
At least that was what he used to think.
Jackie smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry. It’s a big thing, Mitch. Standing up to your father this way. How do you feel about it?”
He considered her question for a beat, digesting the words and trying to come up with an answer.
How did he feel about it? Tanner would no doubt continue being Tanner.
Mitch had stopped kidding himself he’d ever change.
There was no way he could influence Tanner’s behavior, but what he could control was his own reactions and expectations.
Knowing that, when it came to his father, the safer way—the only way—was not to expect anything at all.
“I’m fine, I think. I thought he wanted to check on me. But when he didn’t even ask how I was feeling after being left at the altar—he never asked, even on the day it happened—I knew that was it.”
Jackie smiled. “His loss.”
Mitch doubted Tanner would see it that way but maybe he was wrong.
She took a deep breath, and he knew what was coming.
“You don’t want to wait until tomorrow to tell me everything, do you?” he asked.
“I can’t.”
Mitch sighed, sliding a hand under his pillow, the other one resting across his stomach like he wanted to brace himself for what was coming. “I thought that’d be the case.”
Jackie mirrored him, her black hair a stark contrast to the white pillow. “I should’ve told you a long time ago. It was wrong and I’m sorry.”
“It was,” he agreed. There was no point in sugarcoating it.
“I can’t even put into words how finding that note instead of you next to me felt.
” Tears stung the corners of his eyes, as if on cue.
He swallowed. “At first, I was frantic with worry. I thought something horrible happened to you. I tried calling you so many times. I begged Brenda to tell me where you were. I even called your father. No one would tell me.”
A single tear fell off her cheek and soaked into her pillow. “I know. I asked them not to.”
“Why?” Mitch asked on a rough sigh.
Dim light from the bedside lamp glimmered in her eyes. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. Ten years’ worth of pain and loneliness etched on her beautiful face, trampling his heart.