His tempo picked up and his thrusts became faster. Deeper. Harder.
“I don’t think I can—” He moaned deep in his throat as he found release. She enjoyed watching ecstasy play over his beautiful features. When he relaxed against her, she wrapped her legs and arms around him, holding him close.
“Thank you, Jax. That was amazing.”
“I wish I had made it better for you.”
“You’re right. Only two mind-blowing orgasms? What a disappointment, Jaxon Hennessy?”
He growled and nipped her on the neck. “Smartass.”
She giggled, but sobered quickly. “Seriously, I think I’ve always wanted you to be my first.”
He pushed up to his forearms, his handsome features confused. “The town bad boy?”
She brushed back the strands of hair that had come out of his ponytail. “You aren’t a bad boy. You’ve never been a bad boy. You’re a caring brother who watches out for his siblings. A loyal son who worked his butt off for his mama’s beloved dancehall.” She caressed his bottom lip with her thumb. “A gentle lover who made sure I was satisfied twice before he took his own pleasure.”
A look entered his eyes, but before she could read it, he got up and headed to the bathroom. When he returned, he had a warm washcloth that he used to gently clean her. On his way back from putting the washcloth in the bathroom, he opened the door to let Dumplin’ in.
Which made her heart swell even more.
The cat joined them on the bed, eyeing Jaxon with a skeptical look before stepping over Tully and plopping down on his stomach.
Tully laughed. “I hope you’re not allergic to cats.”
“Nope.” He reached out and pulled Tully closer, then proceeded to caress both of them with his hypnotic hands. Dumplin’ got backstrokes while Tully got light little circles drawn on her upper arm. “Don’t you remember our old cat, Scratch?”
“Oh my gosh. I forgot all about Scratch.” She paused. “Did y’all really tie a firecracker to his tail and blow half of it off?”
She felt his muscles tense beneath her. “Is that what people thought?”
“That was the rumor going around town. And I know for a fact Huck tied a tin can to your dog’s tail, making the poor thing ran in circles until my daddy caught him and cut it off.”
“Huck didn’t tie the can on Tom Sawyer. Huck dropped the tin can telephone he was trying to rig up in the treeboat and Tom got tangled in the string and raced into town like the hounds of hell were after him before Huck could catch him. As for Scratch, I’m not sure what happened to his tail. When Dawson found him on the bank of the river as a kitten, he was tailless.”
She snuggled closer to his chest. “I guess that’s the reason you should never believe rumors. I bet y’all didn’t do half the things the townsfolk thought you did.”
“I wouldn’t say that. We were pretty ornery kids. But we never mistreated animals . . . well, except for the goldfish Poppy won at the county fair when she was four. She thought Goldie would love to join her in the bathtub. I don’t know if it was the bubble bath that killed her or the thorough soap-scrubbing Poppy gave her.”
Tully giggled. “I just overfed mine and Mama flushed them.”
“How is your mama?” He paused. “I was surprised when I heard your parents are separated. They seemed like the perfect couple . . . perfect parents.”
This was a topic she hadn’t talked about with anyone. But somehow, she knew she could talk about it with Jaxon.
“They were perfect parents. I guess that’s why I was completely blindsided when Mama told me she was leaving Daddy. I totally blamed her . . . but after what he did after the gas station robbery and how he’s acting now, I guess my daddy isn’t the perfect person I thought he was.” She lifted her head and looked at him. “I’m so sorry for what he did to you, Jax.”
He caressed her arm in a soothing back and forth motion that almost made her purr as loudly as Dumplin’. “Hey, you’re not responsible for what your daddy does and it’s not like he didn’t have just cause to believe it was me.”
Her brow knitted. “Just cause? Just because you were a little bit of a troublemaker as a kid?”
Jaxon stared back at her for a long moment before he returned his attention to Dumplin’, scratching the cat’s ears and making her close her eyes and push more firmly against his hand. “Just make sure you have all the evidence before you arrest someone.”
She didn’t know if it was the after effects of her orgasms or Jaxon’s soothing caresses that brought the epiphany on. Or maybe it wasn’t an epiphany. Maybe she’d known it all along and just now felt safe enough to tell the truth.
“I don’t want to be a deputy.”
Jaxon looked back at her. “Tully, if this has something to do with you being mad at your daddy for arresting me, you need to rethink that. Yeah, he made a wrong assumption and should have never arrested me with so little evidence, but everyone makes mistakes. You shouldn’t let what happened years ago affect your future.”
