Chapter 34
Teddy was going to take his time.
He set Jessica on the fluffy bed before kneeling to remove her shoes and socks. She started to lift her jumper over her head, and he shook his head. “Let me,” he said, sliding his hands up along her calves, past her knees.
“Teddy,” she whined, and it was official. He was never going to stop smiling.
“Something the matter?” he teased. Sex had always been fun and enjoyable.
Teddy had always prided himself on making sure everyone had a good time, but if he stopped to think about it, that’s all it had been.
There hadn’t been much consideration of what happened after, and that’s where he’d got lost. How he’d tricked himself into believing he wasn’t ready for more.
He just hadn’t met the right person yet.
Jessica huffed, arching her hips, her hands twisting in the soft, cotton quilt.
“I thought you didn’t want to think? That you wanted someone else to take the lead?”
She watched him through hooded eyes. “That’s exactly what I want.”
Then that’s what she’d get. Only, Jessica would be giving him the gift.
Teddy rose slowly, pleased with how her eyes tracked his movements, her chest rising and falling with each breath.
Carefully, Teddy climbed over her body, settling a knee on either side of her hips.
He beckoned for Jessica to lift her arms, let him remove her jumper.
Dropping down onto his elbows, Teddy whispered in her ear, “Hands on the headboard, Starshine.”
“Oh my God,” she moaned, perfectly positioned underneath him.
Teddy guided her hands upwards, curling her fingers around the wooden posts. His cock hardened even further when her eyes widened with anticipation.
“Okay?” Teddy asked because Jessica’s comfort was more important—and always would be—than any of his fantasies.
Her curls rustled across the pillow as she nodded.
“What do you do if you want to stop?”
Her lips parted, her tongue ducking out to wet them. “Say so,” she murmured.
“Exactly.”
He slipped down her body, coasting his hands over the shape of her, committing everything to memory.
“But, Teddy,” she murmured, and he lifted his head, met the challenge in her gaze, “I’m not going to want to stop.”
“Good.” Teddy pressed a kiss to her hipbone, revelling in her sharp intake of breath. “I don’t want to, either.”
Teddy guided her jeans over her hips, loving how the moonlight cast shadows across her skin.
“These are pretty.” He slipped his fingers under her lacy white panties.
Jessica shivered.
“I’ve been wearing pretty things ever since we started this whole thing. Bought them especially.” Her confession was hushed, but Teddy heard it like she’d shouted it across a field.
Jessica had wanted more as long as he had.
He traced the seam of her sex, fingers skimming along the lace. “I like this. A lot.”
The pleased hum that fell from her lips made him dizzy.
He leant forward, burying his face between her thighs, pressing his mouth to the lace.
“Teddy,” Jessica whined, one hand finding its way into his hair, tugging until their eyes met. “Please.”
He lifted his head, letting his breath warm where she was most sensitive. Teasing her might be the best thing Teddy had ever experienced. He didn’t even have to say anything. The simple lift of his eyebrow had Jessica rolling her eyes, a quiet laugh slipping past her pouty, red lips.
“I forgot for a second,” she whispered, removing her hand from his hair and grasping the headboard. “But you know what I need.”
Correction: this was the best thing Teddy had ever experienced.
Being what Jessica needed would sustain him forever.
Teddy slipped her panties off, guided her legs apart and did his best to give it to her.
Jessica was going to combust. With each stroke of his tongue against her pussy, Teddy pushed her higher, towards the kind of pleasure she’d imagined every time she’d pictured this. She moaned when he sucked on her clit and whimpered when he stopped.
“Fuck, everything about you is perfect,” he mumbled, pressing a kiss on the inside of one of her thighs, then the other, before sealing his mouth over hers. When he pulled away, he whispered in her ear, “The way you taste. The noises you make. I want it all, Starshine.”
Teddy’s hands pushed the material of her shirt upwards, skimming her ribs, exposing her small breasts, and he dropped his head, placing a gentle kiss below each breast. “Also perfect,” he murmured, and she squirmed.
Jessica’s breasts had never been impressive—well, maybe except for when she was breastfeeding Sam and they’d finally become a reasonable size, but he’d literally sucked the life right out of them.
What if she disappointed Teddy?
Or wasn’t enough?
“Teddy,” she said sternly, trying to convey that he didn’t have to pretend.
He paused, confusion twisting his lips, his eyebrows. “Starshine.”
She avoided his gaze.
“Have you noticed that you regularly use my name as a way to tell me different things? Like when you’re happy? Or sometimes”—there was that cheeky grin of his again—“when you’re exasperated with me.”
She pouted before her determination not to respond gave her control over her face.
Teddy’s chuckle sent a rush of warm breath over her chest. “You want to roll your eyes, don’t you?”
The man was infuriating. And endearing. And ugh, he knew her so well.
“You don’t have to pretend about my boobs, okay? I appreciate what you were trying to do, but it’s not necessary.”
Teddy’s playful expression disappeared, replaced by a frown. “What exactly am I pretending about?”
Jessica let go of the headboard and covered her chest. She swallowed and opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“Jess?” Teddy rolled to the side and sat up. Jessica mimicked his position, smoothing her top back into place. “What’s going on?”
“N-nothing,” she stammered. Oh God, this was mortifying. Humiliation stole her words and made her throat all itchy.
“This doesn’t seem like nothing.”
“I’m ruining it.”
Teddy hoisted her into his lap and tipped her face towards his. “I don’t understand what happened. ”
The bulge she was sitting on suggested he was still keen.
“I always say or do the wrong thing. I was just pointing out that I know my breasts are small and unimpressive. But now it’s become this big thing and I’ve ruined our night.”
Jessica looked everywhere but at Teddy.
“Hey, hey,” he said.
God, his voice was so gentle.
She sniffed as quietly as she could, but Teddy noticed, pressing his lips to her forehead.
“Oh, no, no, no.”
His niceness was going to make her cry.
“I don’t know why I’m like this,” she whispered. “I always stuff things up. We’re supposed to be having fun.”
“You haven’t stuffed anything up.”
“I’ve killed the mood.”
“Jess. I mean this with every fibre of my being, when I’m with you, I’m always in the mood.” Teddy winced. “That sounded better in my head. But you haven’t ruined anything. Can I let you in on a secret?”
She nodded.
“Everything about you is spectacular. I wasn’t teasing you. Well, not like that. I was trying to drive you crazy with desire, but I think your breasts are beautiful. Just like the rest of you.”
It was the sincerity in his eyes that convinced her.
“I’ve been dreaming about you for so long now. Even before all this started. The first time you walked into the pub, I noticed your eyes and your hair. I fucking love your hair.”
She flushed.
“And your mouth? Don’t get me started. Even when you were telling me off for talking too much at work”—he tapped her on the nose—“which I regularly deserved, I’d get distracted by your lips and wonder what you tasted like. How you’d sound saying my name if we were together like this.”
His hands moved down to her hips, and Jessica relaxed, their pelvises colliding.
“Careful,” Teddy warned.
“Huh?”
“If you keep that up, I’m going to have to show you all the other things I like about you. In fact”—Teddy encouraged Jessica to straddle him and then hoisted her up so they were eye to eye—“I’d like to do that anyway. If you’ll let me.”
“You don’t have to. I get it. I was being silly.” Call it a brain fart or a momentary lapse of executive function because she couldn’t quite believe that they were finally here, finally doing this.
“I don’t want you to ever feel self-conscious with me,” Teddy said, his hands sliding into her hair, lifting her curls away from her neck.
“I’ve wanted to kiss this spot here for a while now.” His lips danced across her skin. “Have you ever noticed how, when you get flustered, you scratch behind your ears?”
“Do I?” she breathed.
Teddy kissed her neck. “You do.”
“I think I only do that when I’m around you.”
He pulled back. “Do I make you flustered?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She rolled her eyes. She couldn’t help it. “Because you’re Teddy James.”
“So? You’re Jessica Sonoto.”
She scoffed. “That’s hardly the same thing.”
“I beg to differ.”
Teddy’s arms banded around her middle. “You’re a big deal, Starshine. Don’t ever believe anything else.”
“I’m nothing special.” She’d heard that her whole life. It was going to take more than a few kisses from Teddy to change that.
“Right, this calls for a serious intervention.” Without warning, Teddy flipped Jessica so she was lying on her back. He crawled over her body, caging her in with his arms and legs. “Repeat after me: I’m a big fucking deal.”
“Teddy.” She laughed.
He leant forward and kissed her neck. “I can’t hear anything,” he teased.
“Teddy …” She grabbed at his hands.
His next kiss landed on her collarbone, right near the hollow of her throat.
“I’m a big fucking deal …” he repeated, pressing each word into the fabric that covered her shoulder, her side, and then over her breast.
“I’m not going to stop until you do,” he warned, using his nose to push the bottom of her shirt higher, exposing the bottom of her ribs.
When she sighed, he blew a raspberry on her stomach.
“Teddy!” Jessica screeched before collapsing in a fit of giggles. Life with him would never be predictable.