"Dylan, please." PJ cradled my face as she bucked her hips off the bed to get me deeper. "I won't break. Faster. Deeper. Give me all of you.”
I blinked at the sweat dripping into my eyes, shaking my head.
"Any faster, I won't last, sweet girl,” I grunted, my breaths quick and shallow, "and I'll hurt you.”
"You aren't hurting me. This feels incredible." She peppered sweet, tiny kisses along my jaw before delving her fingers into my hair. “You’reincredible,” she murmured against my lips. "I'm right where I've always wanted to be."
My heart pounded against my rib cage as I thrust hard. PJ gasped but smiled wide when her glossy eyes met mine. My hand quivered as I cupped her neck and kissed her, sloppy and desperate as if I'd never taste her lips again. If I hadn't realized it years ago, it became crystal clear tonight. I was fucked. This girl owned me, and she always would. Losing her, letting her go, would never happen. It couldn't. She was ingrained in my soul. I guessed there was such a thing as soul mates. I could live without a limb before I could live without my PJ.
"I love you. God, I love you so much,” I whispered in her ear as I moved harder and faster inside her.
Her nails dug into my back as I felt her pulsing around me.
“I'll never let you go. Never, you hear me?” I wove a fistful of her hair around my hand and pulled so she’d look at me. “Do you hear me, Patricia?”
She nodded as her mouth fell open on a silent scream. That's all it took for me to come hard inside her, pins and needles prickling down my leg as my convulsing body slumped against her. I eased out and smoothed the sticky wisps of hair from her forehead.
“Are you okay?” I whispered as I kissed her cheek. “Let me get a washcloth for—”
“Shhh.” She pressed her finger to my lips. “Let’s just stay here for a minute. No … taking care of that, no crazy fathers or pissed off brothers, just us. Can it just be like that?”
I lay on the bed beside her and pulled her to my chest. We were sweaty, exhausted, and happy—happier than I ever expected was possible.
“I’ll make sure it is.”
23
Danielle
“Not bad, right?”Jack cast me a glance over his shoulder mid squat.
It wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it was goddamn astounding. Once Jack was able to get back on his feet, he wouldn’t stop. In fact, at times, I had to kick him out of the therapy room. I was both overjoyed at his amazing progress and devastated.
It wouldn’t be long now. Jack was on his way out.
“Fishing for compliments gets you ten more squats, Taylor.” My quip drew a sexy laugh from Jack’s lips.Everythingabout Jack’s lips was sexy. I’d crossed the professional and moral line I swore I wouldn’t, and all I thought about was doing it again.
We hadn’t kissed since that one night. I’d made up a ridiculous excuse about an off-site patient I had to see after hours to excuse myself from our usual cafeteria dates, but I was nearing my third day of the dopey white lie. Nothing physical had happened between us since my one glorious lapse in judgment, but the memory of our kisses was enough to shift our entire dynamic. Our gazes would stumble together and linger for a few awkward moments too long: a wink, a jolt of electricity when I’d adjust his leg for an exercise or massage it after we were done. Functional contact became … sensual. The crackling of embers between us made it hard to breathe.
Jack lay back on the table after we were done, a hint of a smile tilting his mouth. As he progressed, his attitude shifted. When he’d first arrived, he’d tried to cover up his vulnerability with a smart-ass remark, but it had been impossible to miss. Now, he was taking steps toward his old life and who he used to be. He wouldn’t need me anymore, and I loathed how much the thought stung.
I pushed the fabric of his sweatpants up over his knee, my greedy hands inching up the fabric so I could keep my fingertips on his skin for an extra second or two. I hoped he didn’t notice, but his sharp intake of breath told me otherwise. Scooping up a handful of lotion, I worked it up and down his leg, from knee to calf, as I’d always done. Despite myself, sometimes my eyes would travel to the bulge between his legs.
I peered up at him, making sure to skip over his torso this time. Jack’s hand rested behind his head as he focused on me. His crystal blue eyes filled with lust as he searched my face.
“Do you have that patient again after work?” he croaked out in a rasp. It was as if our session was some kind of foreplay, and the thought sickened me as much as it turned me on. I wanted to kiss Jack again more than I wanted air. “Can you meet me tonight?”
Say no, Danielle. You’re only stretching out the heartache and delaying the inevitable.
“Still have the Peanut Butter M&Ms?” My voice dipped to a seductive whisper, the words coming out of my mouth having no connection to what was echoing in my head.
His lips curved in a sexy, slow smile. “Just for you.”
Just for me. I wanted Jack to bejust for me, and even though I knew he wasn’t, the temptation to pretend for just a little while longer was impossible to resist.
Along with professionalism and any semblance of moral conduct, self-preservation also flew right out the window when it came to whatever it was between Jack and me, but I couldn’t stop.
The center was a ghost town and I seemed to be the only therapist left. That wasn’t completely unusual, but it didn’t usually happen this early. Jack wouldn’t expect me for another half hour, so I headed to the therapy room to kill time. I had an early session with a new patient and thought setting up the room would work off my nervous energy. Right before I inserted the key in the lock, long fingers wrapped around my elbow. I let out a tiny shriek before a hand covered my mouth.
