“Well, that’s no fun.” I wriggle off his lap and strip off my sweater. My nipples pebble under my bra. “Your move.”
He gets to his feet. The light from the bedside lamp hits his torso. Deep scars traverse his right shoulder. Half a dozen of them, at least. Burns wrap around his obliques and disappear into his jeans.
I press my lips to the deepest scar along his collarbone, and he shudders.
With each kiss, Jasper relaxes a bit more. At least until I score my teeth over one of his nipples. He hisses out a breath, followed by a whispered, “Goddamn, Emi.”
Swirling my tongue over the tight nub, I relish in his every reaction. In the hint of salt on his skin. His scent. The way his fingers slide into my hair and tighten around the strands.
“Off,” he grunts and tugs at my leggings. “I need to see you.”
I only pause my ministrations long enough for him to strip off my clothes—and shed his own pants.
Holy hell. Dark blue boxer briefs strain over his erection. He climbs onto the bed, straddling me. “What do you like, sweetheart?”
With a grin, I wrap my arms around his neck and pull his lips to mine. “To be on top.”
Jasper
Damn. Emi swivels her hips, and all the blood in my body heads south. I can’t remember the last time I was this turned on.
“You’ll get your chance,” I say as I kiss along her jaw. “But not until I’ve tasted you. All of you.”
Her pretty manicured nails rake down my back. The sensation lands somewhere between pleasure and pain. Fuck me. There ain’t a damn thing I won’t do for this woman. Closing my teeth over the shell of her ear, I bite down hard enough for her to shiver.
“You like that?” With one more tug, I turn my focus to her neck. Her pulse throbs under my lips, and my mouth waters from the slight hint of salt on her skin.
“God…yes. More.” Her voice takes on a low, raspy tone, and it might be the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.
My palm molds to one full breast, and her nipple rises to meet my thumb. She shudders under me, eyes half-lidded. I swirl my tongue around her other tight nub, then suck it between my teeth.
She clutches my shoulders hard enough, I’ll have bruises in the morning, but I don’t care. The arch of her back and the moan spilling from her parted lips are worth it.
I bite and suck and kiss until her skin starts to glisten. The scent of her arousal fills the room. Sliding down her body, I press my lips to a long, curved scar above her mound.
“Jasper…” The uncertainty in her voice is too much for me. “Don’t look at?—“
I lift my gaze to hers. “What was it you said a bit ago? ‘If you think I’m that shallow’?” To prove my point, I take her hand and press it to the bulge in my boxer briefs.
For several seconds, we’re frozen in time. How can she think there’s a single damn thing about her that isn’t beautiful? That isn’t sexy as hell?
And then it hits me.
The same way I can call myself a washed-up, broken-down has been.
“I wish this had never happened.” I punctuate my words with half a dozen kisses from one end of the scar to the other. “But only because I know you’d change it if you could. Not because it makes you anythin’ less than fucking perfect.”
A tear slips from the corner of her eye. “I don’t deserve you, Jasper,” she whispers.
“No, sweetheart. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you.”
Emi
Cupping the back of Jasper’s neck, I pull his lips to mine. I know the miscarriage, the infection, and the resulting surgery weren’t my fault. But the last man I slept with—more than five years ago—took one look at my naked body and turned off the light before he went down on me.
Jasper didn’t just look at my scar. He kissed it. And I can feel how hard he is.
My own arousal slicks my thighs. My breasts ache, heavy with need. The rasp of his chest hair against my nipples is almost too much. Slowly, I swivel my hips under him. A growl rumbles through him, deep and possessive, while his tongue does delicious things to my mouth.
