I paused, my hand still flat on her back and my cock as deep as she'd take me. I blinked down at her, ran my thumb over the bony ridge of her spine. This was how she did it, how she destroyed me. How I let her.
Leaning down, I licked a trail up her back, along those notches. Rested my forehead there, kissed her once—then again and again. Whispered into her skin, "Then let me show you."
I felt her nodding, felt her cry, "Yes, please," felt her clench around my cock like she never wanted to release me. Then, "For fuck's sake, Jed,please."
Once she spoke those words, we stopped having sex. It wasn't about anatomy or friction anymore. This was fucking, fast and frantic, as if we were trying to get away with something we knew was wrong but couldn't help wanting.
She thrashed beneath me, her eyes shut and her mouth open as I hammered into her. The bed creaked, scraped at the floor, pounded against the wall. She cried out; I growled. I flipped her on her back; she wrestled her way into my lap. She swore at me; I swore right back. Sweat clung to my brow, my hair came loose from its knot. We batted away pillows, blankets. The sheets were off, gone. She scratched; I sucked. Nothing was off-limits, and we pushed hard at those boundaries.
We were loud, messy, almost violent. It ended with shouts and roars certain to wake half this town, but I didn't care. I'd wake the whole fucking world to feel Brooke come apart on me again.
Without a doubt, I would. I ruined my life for her and I'd do that again too.
Chapter Six
Brooke
Break-Even: the level of revenues and expenses at which a project earns zero profit.
This was a mistake.
The wordmistakefelt inadequate for my current situation. Mistakes were buying bubble bath instead of body wash, or closing a spreadsheet before double-checking it was saved. Mistakes were not running down a hill, through a village, and along a side street at midnight and demanding sex not once but twice from a man who despised me—and doing it on my damn birthday.
But I wasn't prepared to call this a disaster, not even when he locked his arms around my torso and fused his lips to my neck. Knowing Jed, he wasn't cuddling so much as debating whether he wanted to smother me with a pillow or bite my carotid artery open. No, this wasn't a disaster. Those left damages in their wake. The only damages here were the ones to my vagina and I'd invited those.
Not a mistake but not quite a disaster meant this was a problem teetering into crisis territory. I'd breach that threshold if I stayed in this bed—in this man's arms—for more than five minutes. That was the limit, five minutes. Enough time to catch my breath and plan my parting remarks.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his words sleepy. Almost scratchy.
I managed a small shrug in spite of his straitjacket hold on me. "Nothing's wrong."
"No, of course not. Your ass is always tight enough to bounce quarters off it."
"As a matter of fact—"
"Save it, sweetheart. We have argued enough for one night, don't you think?"
Something about that roughly spokenwescratched up my spine and sent me scrambling off the bed. "I think this is never happening again," I said as I gathered my things. "And we're never speaking of it either."
JJ propped his head on his hand, watching as I plucked my bra off the curtain rod. "Would you care to explain to me what just happened?"
Stepping into my panties, I said, "This is how it ends, Jed."
He went on lazing in the bed, the sheets gathered at his waist and his head bent as if I was a great curiosity. "Uh huh. Sure, Brooke. If that's what you want."
I gave him my back as I pulled on my bra. "Let me explain a few things to you, Jed."
He barked out a laugh. "No explanations needed. You came here with one thing in mind and you got what you wanted. Now it's over. I got that loud and clear, sweetheart."
I stared at the wall, a bitter smile twisting my lips as his rough, faintly Mainesweethahhtwashed over me. It wasn't meant as an endearment. It wasn't intended to hit me in my hardest, toughest spots and I wasn't supposed to like it.
Whirling around, I said, "Again, we are never speaking of this or repeating these events. We have altogether too much shared past and more than enough shared present. There shall be no hookup routine between us. No future dick appointments."
He ran his knuckles down his jaw, frowned at the mattress. "That's unfortunate. I was really coming around to the idea of you making a reservation for my cock."
A stiff, slightly manic laugh shook my shoulders. "That's funny. Really funny, Jed. But let me explain the facts of this matter to you." I held up my index finger. "One, this town is microscopic. There's no room for secrets here and we both know they don't keep."
"They sure don't." He blinked at me, the kind of intentional, pointed blink that suggested we were talking about different things. "Doesn't matter how hard you try."
