Jack frowned. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into this?” he asked.
“I’m sure,” she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him down next to her. “But we can make out for a while if you want.”
“I like the way you think, Daniels.”
He bent and pressed his mouth to hers, then his entire body, pushing her into the mattress. His weight was a comfort on top of her, and though his hands roamed across her sides and thighs, cupping her breasts and burying themselves in her hair, he never took it any further than that. Though, by the time they finally broke away, Jessica was beginning to question why she hadn’t already welcomed him inside her body. Her pulse throbbed heavily in her clit, and when Jack shifted so his thigh was between her legs, she ground against him, desperate to relieve that pressure.
Jack chuckled. “You sure you don’t want me to take care of that for you?”
“Just…hold still,” she gasped, and Jack shifted so the hard muscle of his quad pressed right where she needed it. With reckless abandon, Jessica writhed against him, swirling her hips,each circle around coiling that pleasure tighter and tighter inside her until, finally, she shattered, and Jack clamped a hand over her mouth as she loudly gasped his name over and over again.
“Fuck,” Jack said when she came back to herself. “That might be the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“You say that every time we do something new.”
“I mean it every time, too.”
Sated, though her chest still rose and fell a little faster than normal, she sat up and reached for Jack’s pants. “Let me take care of you.”
Jack grabbed her wrists and held her hands away from him. “No chance,” he said.
Jessica frowned. “Why not?”
“Because if I let you touch me right now, I will come unhinged, and nothing will stop me from fucking you into this mattress until the entire house hears you screaming my name as you come.”
Jessica’s toes curled in response, and she let out a heavy breath. “I already can’t wait to be back in EL,” she said.
Jack shucked his pants and laid down beside her, drawing her into the circle of his arms. “Don’t wish this away yet, Jess,” he said quietly into her hair. Jessica was surprised to find herself already teetering on the edge of consciousness, and dazedly allowed Jack to peel her out of her jeans and take her bra off. “We don’t have too many days like this one left. Savor them.”
“I will,” she promised right before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.
NOW: May 4, 2024
Unbeknownst to Jessica, forthe past several weeks, Jack had been colluding with her family to throw her a surprise going away party, and today was the big day.
The best part was, the entire thing wasn’t costing them a penny. Jack supposed it paid to be surrounded by professional hockey players, because Mitch Frambough, who happened to be Brent Jean’s best friend and was dating Berkley’s best friend, Lexie, owned a loft in Greektown, Detroit, and offered it and the bar he always had fully stocked up to the Daniels family for free.
Brent, for his part, offered to pay for the caterer—though Berkley put up a fight and ultimately lost.
“She’s my little sister, too,” Brent had said. Berkley, in her postpartum hormonal state, had softened and acquiesced.
So on Saturday afternoon, the day before Jessica was set to fly out, Jack found himself at the loft with Berkley, Brent, Logan, Nate, Mitch, Lexie, both sets of Daniels and Jean parents, plus Aiden, Asher, Luke, and a whole slew of other various Warriors and Michigan State hockey players, setting up for the evening. The loft really was stunning in its own right without any added frills or decoration, so the boys were really just there to stock the beer cooler, lug boxes of liquor upstairs from the street, and move furniture around until it was arranged to Berkley’s liking.
Jack hadn’t noticed before how bossy she was, and he choked back a laugh when Lexie called her out on it.
“Berk, we’ve hosted hundreds of parties in this place over the years,” Lexie said with an exasperated sigh. “There’s never been a problem with the setup of the furniture before.”
“I want everything to be perfect,” Berkley pouted, brushing a hand over the top of Brooks’ fuzzy head where he was wrapped against her chest.
“It will be,” Lexie said. “You know Jess would be happy with dinner at Five Guys as long as she got to spend her last night with you guys.”
“She’s right, you know,” Jack said to Berkley.
He couldn’t believe Jessica was leaving so soon, that this time tomorrow, Jack would be adjusting to life with her halfway across the world. He didn’t know what he would do when he could no longer drive five minutes up the road, wrap her in his arms, and bury himself in her body. He couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that in less than twelve hours, she’d be physically out of reach.
Jack shook off those thoughts. They still had a whole night of celebrating ahead of them, and he refused to bring the mood down with thoughts of how he was going to live without her.
“When is she getting here?” Brent asked as he and Mitch once again hefted up a couch and moved it a few feet to the left until Berkley deemed it perfect.
