30. Jake
CHAPTER THIRTY
jake
PRESENT DAY
That’s not…that can’t be,” Caitlin stammered as her brows pinched together. “What do you mean you wanted to tell me?”
Heart heavy in my chest, I hung my head, taking a long, deep inhale before raising my gaze back to hers.
“Before the ceremony. When we saw each other in the hallway.” Swallowing the lump in my throat, I continued.
“I wanted to tell you not to do it, but you looked so beautiful and so happy at that moment.”
“How long?” When I didn’t answer other than a brow raising, she elaborated. “How long have you…had feelings for me?”
“Cait.”
“No, Jake. I want to know. I need to know.”
I shook my head, knowing the truth would only hurt. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.” The pained whisper fell from her lips.
Unable to meet her eyes, I turned my head away. “Since freshman year of college. At that house party. I-I didn’t know you had a boyfriend, and…”
She sucked in a breath, and I looked up as hurt flared in her eyes. I wasn’t sure if it was for herself or for me. Maybe both.
“Say something,” I pleaded when the silence that had fallen between us became too much.
“I wish you would have told me.” Her words tickled my skin as a tear fell from the corner of her eye. I reached out, catching it with my thumb, my hand lingering on her face.
“You had a boyfriend! You were building a life for yourself. I didn’t want to get in the way of that.”
“You wouldn’t have been in the way, Jake.”
“All I’ve wanted is for you to be happy. Even if I wasn’t the person who was giving it to you. Even if I wasn’t the one for you, you were always going to be the one for me.”
I’d done my best to move on since she married him, tried to distract myself with other people, but no one measured up to her.
It wasn’t fair—would never have been fair—to Caitlin, to any other woman, to myself.
The proof was right in front of me all along.
I hadn’t needed to be with Caitlin, to feel her lips on mine, to lose myself in her body, to know that she was the one for me.
“Jake?” she murmured.
“Yeah?”
“Will you just shut up and kiss me?”
Our hands moved at the same time, hers tangling in my hair and mine cupping her jaw, as I crushed my lips to hers.
This kiss wasn’t soft or slow like the one we shared earlier. No, this one was desperate, hungry, maybe even a bit angry for what we’d lost. What we could try to make up for, but would always come up short because she’d spent nine years married to a man who didn’t love her as much as I could have.
Her teeth scraped against my bottom lip, and I tasted the tang of copper on my tongue when I licked the sting away.
Caitlin’s grip on my hair tightened as the kiss deepened, our tongues clashing and exploring. One of my hands drifted to the back of her neck as the other gripped her chin, tilting her face up to me.
“I’m still upset with you,” she mumbled before her lips met mine again.
“I know, darlin’.” My hands roamed down her body, tracing the curve of her breasts and hips. “I’ll make it up to you, though. I swear it.”
“Good. You better.” Her gaze swept up from my lips to my eyes, and our foreheads pressed together.
“Where do you wanna go, Cait?” I mumbled into her neck, pressing kisses against her skin. Every so often, I’d nip at the sensitive flesh, soothing the sting with my tongue.
“Inside. Bedroom,” she moaned as she threw her head back, granting me easier access to the column of her throat. “I need you right now.”
“I can do that,” I rasped in response.
In one fluid motion, I wrapped my arms around the backs of Caitlin’s thighs, lifting her. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and my aching cock pressed against her.
If I thought I couldn’t get any harder, I was dead wrong. My cock twitched against my jeans with every little moan and whimper that came from Caitlin’s mouth.
Wasting no more time, I carried her through the front door and down the hall to the bedroom, gently placing her on the edge of the bed.
After stripping off my T-shirt, I admired the way Cait looked, sitting patiently, waiting for me to make a move.
I knew she’d always been a people pleaser, a Goody Two-shoes, but I wanted to see more of her reckless side.
“God, you’re fucking beautiful.” I leaned down to give her a kiss, placed my palms on the bed on either side of her thighs, then lowered myself down onto my knees. “Take them off, darlin’.” I gestured to her jeans.
Teasingly slow, she unbuttoned her jeans, wiggling out of them until the denim lay on the floor in a heap.
My hand skimmed down her calf before I lifted one of her legs, placing it on my shoulder. Caitlin sucked in a breath right before my lips made contact with her skin, leaving a wet trail of kisses from her knee up to her inner thigh.
“Stop teasing, Jake.” She bit out a moan when I pulled her panties to the side and swiped a finger up her center, arousal glistening on the pad of my fingertip when I pulled it away.
Lord, help me.
I stifled a groan, looking up at her. “Fuck, you’re already so wet.” When I slid my finger inside her, she bucked her hips, grinding them against my hand.
Her hands dug into the comforter, gripping the sheets like a lifeline. “More. I need more.”
Removing my hand from her heat, I hooked my fingers in the band of her underwear.
She lifted her hips, and I slid them down her legs, bending her knees toward her so I could gently slip them off her ankles.
I wrapped my hands around her legs, gripping her thighs to pull her to the end of the bed.
Her knees were still bent, and I pushed her thighs apart to make room for my face.
Cait tangled her fingers in my hair as I kissed the inside of her leg, licking a line up to her slick entrance.
“Y-you don’t have to do that. It doesn’t do much for me.” She stumbled over her words, her face flushing pink.
“What if I want to?” I challenged, eyes meeting hers. “What if all I’ve been thinking about since we kissed was tasting your sweet pussy?”
Her breath hitched and a whimper fell from her lips as I licked a broad stroke up her center. My tongue flicked her clit as my finger traced her entrance before plunging inside.
Caitlin reached for my head, fingers tangling in my hair while she pushed my face farther into her pussy.
Sucking her clit into my mouth, I stole a glance up at her face. Her head was thrown back and mouth agape, pleasure wracking her features. Tears beaded in the corners of her eyes, but she didn’t cry out for me to stop. The opposite, actually.
“You’re so good for me. You taste so fucking good,” I mumbled between strokes of my tongue, nose pressed against her center. I wasn’t sure if she could even hear me, but her moans spurred me on.
When her cries increased in pitch and volume, I knew she was close.
One of my hands held her hips in place, preventing her from squirming, while the other continued in tandem with my mouth, my thumb circling her clit and my index and middle finger thrusting inside her.
My cock pulsed in my pants, hot and aching.
Her pussy clenched around my fingers as she came, wet arousal dripping out to soak her thighs. Greedy, I licked up every drop of her orgasm, continuing to pull pleasure from her as she writhed on the bed.
Both of us panting, I emerged from the space between her legs, rising to kiss Caitlin.
“No one’s ever made me do that. I’ve never been able to…” she mumbled, dazed from her orgasm.
“That’s just because no one’s ever taken the time to do it right. But now you have me.” I winked, and it pulled a giggle from her.
She began to reach for the button and zipper on my jeans, but I stopped her.
“Don’t you want me to return the favor?” she asked. “You made me come, don’t you need to—”
“Already did.” I cut her off.
“You…”
“I already came in my pants.” As if the hot, sticky mess in my boxers wasn’t enough proof, my eyes darted down to the wet spot forming on my crotch.
Caitlin’s gaze followed, and her mouth gaped into an O.
“If this”—I gestured between us—“is any indication, I’d say I’ll have plenty of time to fuck you properly. I don’t need to get my dick wet to feel good about this, about us. This was about you.” Lifting her off the bed into my arms, I carried her to the bathroom. “Let’s get you cleaned up, yeah?”
Her head had settled against my chest, but she still nodded with a small yawn. “You take such good care of me.”
I set her down on the counter and started the water, letting the spray fall over my hand until it was a temperature I was happy with. Then I stripped off my soiled jeans and boxers, tossing them to the side.
Standing fully naked in the bathroom, I turned around to see Caitlin still with her shirt on.
“What’s wrong, baby?” I approached the counter, standing between her legs. I placed my hands on her thighs, rubbing them up and down her legs in comfort.
She looked away. “I can take a shower on my own.”
“Now, why would I want you to do that?”
Refusing to make eye contact with me, she rolled her lips instead. “My stomach…it’s, uh…it’s rough. The scar.”
“May I?” I reached for the hem of her shirt.
“You don’t want to…”
“Cait, I just gave you an orgasm from eating out your pussy. I came in my pants from that alone. Please don’t tell me what I do and don’t want to see.”
She sucked in a breath then offered me a small nod.
Lifting the hem of her shirt to where the scar was visible, I ran my thumb over the delicate flesh. With one hand holding her shirt up, I lowered my mouth to her stomach to press a gentle kiss over it. Then another. And another.
“This scar is proof that you are stronger than anyone,” I murmured between kisses. “Proof that you brought a human into this world. One of the smartest, sassiest, and most beautiful humans, in fact, second only to her mother. Don’t hide from me, baby. I…” I swallowed the words before they came out.
I love every part of you, scars and all.
Clearing my throat, I pulled the shirt over her head. “Come on, before the water goes cold.”
When I stepped back, she unclasped her bra, letting it fall to the floor before hopping off the counter. She’d seen all of me, and I’d seen all of her.
“Beautiful,” I whispered, tucking a strand of hair that had fallen in her face behind her ear.
The minute she stepped under the hot water, her eyes closed, a content sigh falling from her lips.
I reached for the shampoo, squirting a drop in my hand and lathering it. “Turn around.”
She faced the water, and I massaged the top of her head, working the shampoo into every strand. When I was done, she gestured for me to spin so she could do the same.
We took turns washing each other and exchanging kisses in the steam, and when we finally came out of the shower and got dressed again, I pressed a gentle kiss to her lips and slipped out the door to go back to my own house.