“I feel like I haven’t made things clear. I want to knoweverything,” he murmurs, his forehead against mine. “Whatever it is. If it’s important to you, I want to know.”
My chest goes tight. This right here feels like he’s taking a wrecking ball to the walls I’ve spent my whole life building. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I know there is a lot we need to talk about—my parents, Wes, Elliot, the potential for disaster that is still lurking. But all of that can wait.
“You’re kind of wonderful, you know that?”
“Yeah?” A slow smile curves his mouth.
“Yes.”
It’s terrifying how easy he makes this feel. Every time I think I should pull back and protect my heart, he gives me one more reason to lean in.
When we’re ready for bed, he follows me to my bed, flicks off the light, and folds the blankets down on my bed. I slide in first, then he crawls in behind me. His arm curves around my waist, his nose brushes the curve of my neck. A soft kiss lands on my shoulder.
“Happy birthday, Mads,” he whispers.
I sink back into him, letting the warmth of his body and the weight of his arm settle over every place inside me that still feels fragile.
“It was one of the best,” I breathe into the dark before I drift off to sleep.
THIRTY-FIVE
Madeline
Jesse drives into me from behind, the edge of his desk digging into my hips as I brace both palms on the cool surface. My other hand is fisted around the diamond pendant resting against my throat—my birthday gift that he gave me two nights after dinner at Cara’s place, still new enough that the weight of it makes my breath catch every time it shifts against my skin.
His name slips out of me on a broken exhale, half-moan, half-plea. It’s late and the office is empty, silent except for the low thud of our bodies meeting and the scrape of wood across the floor each time he thrusts a little harder.
The second the last person left the building, Jesse caught my wrist, pulled me into his office, shut the door, and dropped to his knees. One swipe of his tongue against my clit and my whole body lit up.
If anyone were to walk in here, I would die of mortification on the spot. Knowing we’re in the Cove office and there’s a chance we could get caught still doesn’t seem to be enough tostop me from arching my back and widening my legs a little further.
Over the last two weeks, since my birthday, Jesse has been feral for me. Whenever we’re alone, his hands are all over me. He’s on me or in me. Every opportunity he gets, he’s stripping me out of my clothes and making me come. It’s like something in him snapped loose. Or snapped into place.
Every time I melt for him. And right now, is no different.
He bends over me, his chest fitted to my back, his breath skating down my neck as his fingers lace with mine on the desk. “Mads…” he groans against my shoulder like he’s unraveling right along with me.
I squeeze the pendant harder, feel the cool metal bite into my palm as heat coils deep and fast in my belly. Now his hands are on my hips, dragging me back into every brutal thrust, the desk biting into my thighs as papers slide to the floor. I’m trying to keep quiet, biting down on the inside of my cheek, but each time he slams into me, a sound escapes anyway.
“That’s it, baby,” he whispers, rubbing tight circles over my clit that make my thighs shake. “Let me feel you come. I want to feel you milk my cock until I lose it.”
I don’t stand a chance. The orgasm rips through me, fast and helpless, white-hot and overwhelming. I cry out, choking on the sound as I clamp around him so hard he swears into my shoulder.
He doesn’t stop. Not even for a second. Jesse grabs my waist and drives into me with a new intensity.
“You’re gonna make me come so hard,” he pants. “Fuck, Mads…I’m right there?—”
And then he breaks. His hips slam into mine, holding me pinned, buried deep as he groans my name against my back.
He doesn’t pull out right away. Instead, he drags me up against him, my back pressed to his chest as he turns my facetoward his and kisses me. It’s messy and consuming—his mouth claiming mine, his tongue sliding against mine with a heat that makes my knees weaken all over again. I kiss him back just as hard, tugging at his hair, biting at his lower lip, stealing the breath straight from both of us.
When he finally breaks the kiss, his forehead drops to mine, our breath tangling in the quiet of his office.
“Mads,” he pants, “I completely lost it.” His hands tighten on my hips, keeping us joined, his body still trembling with the aftershocks. “Every bit of patience I had just…snapped. All day, I needed you. I couldn’t wait another minute.”
Jesse eases out of me with a soft groan, his hands steadying me before he reaches for my skirt on the floor. I’m still shaky, thighs trembling, when he crouches and slides the fabric back up my legs like it’s something careful, something reverent. He brushes a kiss to the inside of my knee before standing and tucking my shirt into place, smoothing it down my sides with palms that linger a beat too long.
“You good?” he murmurs, thumb skimming my cheekbone.
