“Really?” Jack asked. “And how do I compare to that guy?”
Jessica craned her neck to study him. Truth be told, Jack was built like she imagined Cassian to be, though shorter and without the wings, blond where Cassian was dark-haired.
And there was the fact that Jack wasn’t an immortal being in a fictional faerie land, but he loved her like Cassian loved Nesta, and that was worth its weight in gold.
“You’re better,” she said at last.
“And why is that?”
“Because you’re real.”
Jack’s gaze softened, but he said, “Eyes forward,” and Jessica whipped her head away from him. A heartbeat later, the tip of his cock nudged her entrance. “Hold on, sunshine.”
He gave her no warning as he slammed into her, and Jessica’s grip on the bed frame tightened as he withdrew and pushed in again.
Jack set a punishing rhythm, giving her no time to adjust or prepare. All she could do was react, to press her ass back into him with every one of his forward thrusts, to clench around him like a vise.
Surprisingly, another orgasm stirred in her core. She’d never gotten off simply from penetration before. Of course Jack would find a way.
Only, he wasn’t done, and when he paused deep inside her, Jessica risked a glance over her shoulder, only for him to band an arm across her chest, his large hand cupping one of her breasts as he pulled her back against him. If she thought he’d gone deep before, she’d been mistaken. Seated on him like thiswas a whole new ball game, the angle and gravity allowing him to hit some impossible spot inside of her. And when he began to move, tweaking her nipple at the same time his other hand found her clit, well…Jessica could do nothing but hang on for dear life.
His breath was hot against her neck, his murmured, “you’re so fucking tight,” and “that's my girl,” and “holy fuck, Jess, I’m close,” in her ear only serving to coil that tension tighter and tighter inside her.
It was a whispered, “Come for me,” that broke the dam at last, and she threw her head back onto his shoulder, unable to do anything but claw at his arms as she came apart, begging him to stop but also never wanting it to end.
And Jack came a moment later, punching his hips up into her in fast, deep strokes, biting down on her shoulder, she knew, to keep himself from yelling loud enough to wake the dead.
Jessica went limp in his arms, and Jack tipped until he was flat on his back, Jessica spread eagle on top of him.
“I think we both won that round, too,” she said.
NOW: March 24, 2024
It was nearly twoa.m. by the time they rolled off each other, finally fully sated. They both rose to clean up and throw on some pajamas, but the moment they were curled around each other in bed once again, Jessica said, “Jack, I have to tell you something.”
“Why did you wait until after nearly two hours of mind-blowing sex to drop this on me?” he whined. “Why didn’t you do it before?”
“Because I wanted you too bad to ruin it.”
“And whatever you have to tell me is going to ruin it?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “And that’s what scares me.”
Jack tugged her closer to his side, anchoring her next to him in case whatever she said next had the potential to break him. His heart was a fragile little thing, and she had no idea she held it entirely in her hands.
“Whatever you tell me changes nothing, sunshine. You know that.”
“I got a job offer today,” she said. “Or, well, yesterday. Right before I came over.”
Fuck.
“I’m assuming you were afraid to tell me because it’s not in the continental United States.”
She shook her head, and he brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen over her eyes. “No. It’s in Saint Petersburg.”
Double fuck.
“And look,” she continued. “I know we’ve been avoiding this conversation, saying we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but…the bridge is here, Jack. And the water is rising.”
