Page 82 of The Jaded Notes

A small smile tugs at my lips. “Control?”

That flicker in his eyes isn’t amusement; it’s a demand. “When it’s called for.”

“And when would that be?”

“When a firecracker needs to be defused.”

The way he says it slides over my skin like a slow hand. Heat billows low in my stomach.

“So…is this something you want? The—” My voice catches. “The obedience?”

His eyes darken, focus narrowing until the weight of it sits in my chest. “It’s not about that. It’s about knowing what you need when you can’t say it. Some people fall apart when they lose control. I don’t. I fall apart if I don’t take it.”

The admission pulls a thread I didn’t know was frayed. “You need the power to let your guard down?”

He gives a subtle nod. His hand glides higher, fingertips brushing the seam of my jeans at my hip. “If I’m in control, I can be vulnerable without bleeding. I can give you all of me without wondering if you’ll use it against me.”

“Oh.” My breath stumbles over the space between us. “And if I can’t give you that?”

His grip digs into my skin. Not enough to bruise, but enough to make my heart trip.

“Then I’m still yours, Livianna. But you’ll never get past the walls you’ve been dying to break through.”

The air sharpens. His fingers thread into my hair, palm anchoring the base of my skull, holding me in a way that feels more like protection than restraint.

His gaze drops to my mouth, then drags back to my eyes, desire and warning woven together in a single look.

“Let me lead, firecracker.” His voice dips low, almost desperate. “And I’ll give you a version of me no one else has ever touched.”

Every nerve in me is screaming to weigh the consequences, but I don’t. I lean in until my lips barely brush his, letting the question and the answer blend into the same breath.

His hand leaves my hair only to cup my chin, tilting it upward, guiding me back into his line of sight. The smallest shift of pressure tells me exactly who’s holding the reins now…and exactly how easily I could get used to it.

His fingers still cradle my face, the pressure a quiet command. “Tell me what’s circling in that mind of yours.”

“I think you’re used to people letting you have it your way.”

His thumb sweeps once over my lower lip, a slow drag that makes my heart rate spike. “And you’re used to men mistaking your defiance for strength instead of need.”

“And what need is that?”

“To feel safe enough to let go. Not in the world, not in your work but in me.”

The words hit somewhere deeper than they should. “And you want me to give you that…even though we’ve been together without it?”

“I want you to give meyou. The rest follows.” His touch drops from my chin to the side of my neck, his palm warm over my pulse point. “You’ll keep your voice. You’ll keep your choices. But when we cross that line, you give me the right to take the weight off you…completely.”

I swallow. A flicker of panic strikes, then a stronger wave of curiosity.

“Jax, what would that even look like? Help me, because I thought I could do it before, and I proved to both of us I couldn’t handle it.”

“It depends on you. I’m not interested in wrecking what I want to keep. But I am interested in pushing you until you see what’s underneath all that control you think you have.”

“That sounds dangerous. Like I’ll fail.”

“But danger isn’t the same as harm, and you won’t fail if you trust me.” His fingers flex slightly, not enough to restrict, just enough to remind me he’s there. “And I won’t touch you in that way until you tell me you want it.”

“And if I can’t?”