Something in me loosens. “Like I may hold a grudge because I was denied the big O,” I tease, pressing my fingers into his rock-hard bottom.
Jet lets out a roar of a laugh before covering my body with his molten wet kisses. He leaves a hot trail straight down to my hips before pressing my knees to my shoulders and getting straight to work.
No need to hold a grudge after all. Jet Madden makes sure my big O is bigger and better than anything I’ve ever felt before.
What Jet and I have is bigger and better than anything I’ve ever had before.
I never believed for a minute that I needed anyone to complete me. Heart-shaped romances were for other people. My life was plentiful and perfect without all of that nonsense. Only now, it’s my past that seems like nonsense. That big gaping hole I kept trying to fill with pricey materialistic things seems to be flooded with the affection of this insanely beautiful man. I’m beginning to think that hole in my heart was the shape of Jet Madden all along.
After a long nightof grafting our bodies onto one another, we rouse to the late afternoon sun already cresting the western part of the house.
Jet and I raid the kitchen, making any and everything we can get our hands on. We’re as ravenous for food as we are for each other. We hit the shower and enjoy a wet round of satisfaction with me on my knees ready to please, and I do.
Once we’re through, Jet helps me dry off, taking his time as if I were made of glass, and his sole responsibility is to make sure I arrive safely to his bedroom.
He carries me back, and I flip on the TV as the two of us lazily cuddle, still stoned off the high from gorging off one another’s affection.
“Tell me about these.” I trace my fingers along each and every delicious curve, line, and merging shape that creates the artwork that is Jet Madden. “Did it hurt?”
“Yes, it hurt.” He thumps his fingers over mine. “It hurt like hell. That’s why I did it.”
“What?” I offer up a friendly slap to his chest and laugh at the idea. “That’s not why you did it.” I shake my head. “Don’t these have meaning or something?”
The ferocious scaly dragon that ropes around his neck, trailing down to his arm where it breathes a wall of fire. The eagle spread over his chest, the arm sleeves of intricately filled floral designs that blend into tribal art. The bare tree with two blackbirds seated in it at the base of his abs, the black bear buried at the roots.
“They do mean something.” His voice runs bare and jagged. “This is Luck and me.” He touches the birds in the tree in turn. “Our family.”
My hand covers the breadth of the branches for a moment before exposing them to the afternoon light. “Lucky is indeed lucky to have you. I can tell that when you love, you love with your entire soul.” I trace the heart at the base of his abs. “You’re rock solid, you know that?” I try to change the subject in an effort to rescue us from awkwardness after I tossed the L word out like that. This is how I’ve always envisioned my friends’ relationships, lying in bed, fully satiated after a long, strong, affectionate session that involved many condoms and spanned more than twenty-four hours. This is the part where Rex and Scarlett, Cassidy and Cade, Piper and Owen would exchange those sacred, heartfelt words that my ears have never heard before. My family didn’t throw that word around. I’m not sure they understood the importance of doing so. Some families just don’t sayI love you, and mine is one of them.
“I do love Lucky.” He pulls me up a bit until our eyes are comfortably settled on one another. “I love her so damn much I’ve rearranged who I am, who I could have been, to make sure she has the best in life. And you’re right. When I care about someone, I make sure they know it.” His lips expand ever so slightly. “That’s why I need you to know I care about you so damn deeply that it caught me off guard at first, scared the hell out of me. But I love you. My heart has filled with the need to care for you and make sure you were safe from day one. From the moment I first saw you, Iknewyou were the one I was meant to be with. Believe me, those weren’t my plans. But as soon as we met, I fell in love with you. I loved you and cared for you as much then as I do now. The strong feelings I felt for you had only ever been matched by Lucky or my mother. But with you”—he tangles his fingers in my hair—“I want it all.”
“You don’t have to say those words just because I’m in your bed.” I can feel my face heating the way Scarlett’s does at the drop of a hat. But, unlike Scarlett, it’s a bit tougher to ruffle my feathers. Which can only mean I’m feeling things, challenging myself in ways I’m not sure I’m ready for. In some ways, it feels as if Jet and I are already on the lip of a dreaded rejection, and sometimes it’s just easier to push one another off the ledge than linger.
“Hey.” He pulls me over his stomach until I’m lying on his steel cut body, our mouths a breath away from one another. There is an earnestness in his eyes that suggests he’s about to get real, get tough all in one, and that tender zone between my legs begs to have him do just that. I don’t think there is a sexier beast alive than Jet Madden, especially when he’s about to get riled up in a fantastic sweaty way. “I have had a lot of girls in my bed.” He winces and mouths the wordsorry. “But I haven’t felt compelled to say a damn thing to any of them that I didn’t want to. I have never in my life uttered those words to anyone outside of my family.” He swallows hard, the muscles in his jaw jump as if it’s taking Herculean strength to get out the rest of his thoughts. “You are my family, Daisy. That’s just how I see you. I don’t know why it is.” His eyes fill with moisture as he softens into me. “I don’t know why I broke all of my rules for you. I can’t explain how I came to think of you as more than a girl who hated me—I’d say more than a friend, but I think the former is more accurate.”
We share a gentle laugh, and now it’s me mouthingI’m sorry.
“But I love you.” He shrugs, and those enormous shoulders rise up and down. “I simply do. You stole my heart when I wasn’t looking, and I wouldn’t take it back if you giftwrapped it for me. I need you to keep it. It belongs to you now.”
“Jet.” I pull him in tight and sob over his chest. For the first time, the little girl in me lets go of all the anger, all the rage, the pain of never hearing those words. All of the trauma and drama of my childhood melts away in one soothing stroke of this man’s voice. “I love you, too. I really do. I love you for taking me in, for making me feel safe in a rabid world that is out to get everyone for sins they never committed. And mostly, I love you with all my heart for gifting me with words and actions that I never thought I would hear, feel, experience. I can’t think of another person in the world I’d rather lean on, pour my soul out to, than you. Deep down, I feel as if you’re the one true person I can trust with my words, with my heart. I never thought about giving my heart away. I thought I could take on the world with my nose to the wind, pounding my way to my own personal freedom, which I always believed was money. But right about now, I hate money. I hate that it disappointed me every single time and never made me feel as free as I once believed it could. The more I had, the more it seemed to cost me.” I pinch his chin between my fingers. “I love you, Jet Madden. With all of my heart, my soul, right down to my trembling thighs. I love you. My heart belongs to you. Don’t give it back.” A shy smile comes to me as I repeat his words to him. “Keep it always. It’s safest with you.”
Jet leans over and kisses me with an outpouring of affection as our bodies morph into a physical manifestation of our heartfelt words. Jet and I make love—something I thought only old people did. And now that thought is laughable.
All I want in the world is to grow old with Jet Madden.
I’ve changed.
Jet changed me for the better.
The weekend melts away, and as much as I’ve soaked in Jet’s company every second of every hour, I’ve pretty much ignored my cell phone and the flurry of messages my friends have sent. I read the first few to satiate my need for indulgence.
Cassidy -What the hell was that kiss?
Scarlett –Let me tell you. I called it a year ago when you ran out of his tat shop. That kiss was months in the making. I’m sure it was a good one. Don’t tell Rex, but it melted my bones!
Piper –Holy shit. Do you need a fire extinguisher? I think you singed the hair off every cheerleader. They were drooling with envy. You got quite the beefy prize! Enjoy the hell out of him and then call me ASAP!
To my amusement there’s even one from Tiffany Ikeman, although I’m sure this one is more interested in discussing Legal Eagle business and not so much my heated kisses with Jet.
