“Never let it be said I don’t pay my dues.”
Grateful for the blinds they’d dropped at each of the windows, he pushed the shorts down his thighs and let them fall to the floor.
Chapter 35
Leah
Damn, she loved seeing him like this—open, playful, confident, undressed. He needed more silly in his life. She really, really wanted to believe he needed more her, because at that moment she needed a lot more of him.
Leah unwound herself from the cushions and stepped closer. Jackson’s nakedness set everything inside her humming. Fuck, he was tall. And hot. So very hot. The warmth of his skin seared her palms when she braced herself against him to stand on tiptoes. Tilting her head as far as she could, she pressed soft kisses along the length of his jaw.
Both of Jackson’s hands remained by his sides; he stood perfectly still except for his chest rising and falling beneath her fingers.
Raw electricity fired Leah’s central nervous system. She touched her lips to the hollow at the base of his throat and felt him swallow. Jackson gripped her hips, pulling her closer, trapping her hands between them. His hardness pressed like steel against her stomach. She licked at the pulse in his neck, addicted to his taste, and he groaned.
His body was rigid, muscles quivering, his hold on her bruising in its strength. Leah freed her hands and ran them over his smooth, tight biceps, teasing him further.
“You should always wear t-shirts and wetsuits. You were born for it.” She spoke her thoughts aloud.
Jackson’s huff tickled the top of her head. “Wouldn’t go down so well in board meetings.”
“If I had my way, your arms would never be covered.”
He let go of her hips to tug lightly on the sleeve of her sweater. “You don’t think this situation is a little unbalanced right now? I’m feeling a bit... exposed.” His eyes danced.
“What can I do to make you feel better?” Leah’s whole body was tingling, all her attention on Jackson and his heat and his skin.
“So. Many. Things.” Flames licked around each word. He bent his head, lips hovering above her mouth. “Starting with this.”
The kiss was a slow burn of fire and intensity. He cupped his hands around her face, lifting her chin, thumbs pressed to her cheekbones. Leah was surrounded, consumed, and entranced by him. She pressed closer, her palms sliding down his sides and behind him, gripping the tight globes of his ass like handholds on a climbing wall. Jackson growled something filthy against her mouth.
He pushed her away to reach for the hem of her sweater. When he pulled it up and over her head, it caught on her glasses, which snagged in her hair. Leah squeaked and Jackson halted. She was stuck, arms in the air, half in and half out of the soft fabric, eyes watering from the sudden pain of yanked hair, and she couldn’t see to untangle herself. One arm of her glasses had poked through her sweater, holding fast in the knitted material.
“Wait a minute.” Jackson’s hands were clumsy but gentle. “I’ve got you.” He extracted a curl from the hinge of her glasses and freed them from her sweater.
“Thanks,” Leah said, tugging it over her head. “Smooth maneuver, Jax. Have you practiced that one before?”
“I’m so sorry.” Laughter bubbled from his chest and he reached for her again, kissing her temple where her hair had pulled. His erection brushed the curve of her hip, calling to her eyes and her hands. “I only wanted to even the playing f— Ah... fuck—”
Leah’s fingers closed around his length and the humor fell from Jackson’s face. He pulsed, hot and rigid, beneath her touch. She slid her hand from his tip to the root and back again. Once, twice, three times. Her eyes followed the movement, her lip caught between her teeth. Dear God, the feel of him. That tortured sound he made in the back of his throat. The way his head dropped backward, his body straining toward her. She was drunk on the control she had over him. He was hers to explore.
Without conscious thought, Leah leaned in to touch her mouth to his chest. His nipples pebbled near her nose and she turned her head to circle one with her tongue. Jackson’s pecs bunched, his hands curling into fists by his thighs. She kissed down toward his navel as he stood, frozen, the muscles beneath his skin as tight and tense as a mainsail in a gale. His erection jerked inside the circle of her fingers.
Lowering herself to her knees, Leah tracked the happy trail that led to his cock and her mouth hovered over the blunt end protruding from her fist. Jackson caught and held his breath. When she closed her lips around him, his ragged moan was a tormented combination of pleasure and pain. Her tongue swiped the underside of his shaft, her hand tightening.
“Leah.” Jackson’s fingers wound into her hair.
She took him deeper; he filled her mouth. His naked quads strained against her breasts, as solid as slabs of stone, and she wished she could feel the rub of his body hair on her bare skin. She was burning hot. The urge to consume him fought with the need tohave him possess her. She ached with it. Yearned for it. Even as she took him into her throat again and again. He pushed the hair back from her face; she looked up and caught his eyes. It was a raw and painfully intimate moment of connection. Leah swore she could see through the brilliant blue right into his soul. And it was beautiful.
“Wait.” Jackson was shaking as he pulled gently on her curls. “Leah, wait. Stop.” He shifted his hips and his cock broke free from her hands and her mouth. They were both breathing hard. “I want to finish inside you.” His eyes were glazed. “I have to be inside you.”
He dragged her to her feet and they headed for the stairs. The tiles were warm beneath her toes, the air still and humid around them. Jackson’s grip on her wrist was punishing but Leah relished it. In the bedroom, he tugged her down on top of the covers; they were cool against her shoulder blades. Bunching her sundress up around her waist in double fistfuls, he lowered himself onto his forearms, a piratic grin twisting his lips.
His breath on her panties, he whispered, “Payback.”
And his mouth dipped between her thighs.
Chapter 36
