“This is mine,” he said against the skin of her neck, following his words with a nip of his teeth.
Jessica looked him dead in the eye, unafraid of the ferocity and possessiveness he knew she found there. “Always.”
Jack deftly undid his belt and fly and freed himself—already impossibly hard—from the confines of his boxers. Then he lifted Jessica off her feet and hooked those long, silky legs around his waist. Within moments he was buried within her.
Before he started moving, he kissed her, long and hard, both of them gasping for air when they pulled apart. He shifted, withdrawing until only his head was left inside her, then driving home with a swift pulse of his hips.
He slammed into her relentlessly, and Jessica met every thrust, grinding down onto him so her clit rubbed against the coarse hair that trailed down the lower plane of his stomach.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you,” she replied, her breaths coming harder and harder, matching his as they both raced toward that finish line.
“What if I—” he started.
Jessica’s hand covered his mouth, cutting him off. “No,” she said on a gasp. “We’re not ruining this with what-ifs.”
He wanted to tell her what he’d planned, but he didn’t want to get either of their hopes up if Darren couldn’t come through—if Russia no longer wanted him.
Plus, she was right. For right now, this was the last moment they had like this, their last chance to come together, for him to lose himself in the feel of her clenched so tightly around him he could burst at any second.
On his next thrust, Jessica tightened further, every muscle in her body pulling taught around him before she broke apart, stifling her moans by burying her face in the soft spot where his neck met his shoulder, quivering and panting as she rode out the waves of pleasure, her heels digging into the small of his back, her thighs quaking under his palms.
With two more pumps of his hips, Jack was following her down, biting down softly on her shoulder to keep himself from yelling himself hoarse—and letting everyone else know what they were up to.
When the aftershocks ceased for both of them, Jessica released her legs, and Jack dropped her to her feet. She grabbed a handful of paper towels and cleaned them both up, then righted her clothes and made sure Jack was presentable, too.
Before they left the bathroom, he pulled her close and kissed her again.
“I love you, you know,” he said against her mouth. “We’ll be okay.”
“I know, honey. I love you, too.”
Finally, they rejoined the party.
NOW: May 5, 2024
“Let me stay withyou tonight,” Jack begged.
“I can’t,” she said, not bothering to look at him. Instead, she buried her face in his chest, stamping his warmth and his scent on her memory.
They were on the street outside the loft, stretching out their farewell, neither of them willing to be the first to let go and walk away.
“Why not?”
“It’s too hard,” she said, finally meeting his eyes, if only because he tucked a finger under her chin and gently forced her head back.
“So you’d rather do this here?”
“I…” Jessica trailed off. “I can’t do the whole tearful farewell in the morning. It’s going to be hard enough saying goodbye to my family at the airport without adding you to the mix. Please, Jack,” she said. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
“It’s already too hard,” he said quietly. “But okay, if that’s what you want.”
She nodded. “It is.”
“Just…don’t say goodbye to me right now, okay? This isn’t the end for us.”
“You can’t know that.”
