I try not to overthink. Not now.
He doesn’t react with a look of disgust or shock, instead he lowers his head and kisses along the mark gently—like I’m made of glass.
Featherlight kisses.
As if he’s trying not to hurt me, even though it’s already healed.
“You are gorgeous, Ivy,” he says before returning to my neck.
His words feel like they’re being etched into my skin with his talented lips and perfectly placed hands.
I close my eyes and relax into his bed, taking a moment for myself before looking at him again. He kneels again and undoes his shirt, button by button. A sliver of flesh catches my attention before he shoves the material over his broad shoulders.
Tattoos litter his arms. Patchwork. Pretty.Unbelievably attractive.
But the sight of his toned stomach, beautiful smooth skin, and muscles over muscles takes my breath away.
Everything inside me tightens.
JJ takes my hand and places it against his rock-hard stomach. I tremble at the heat beneath my palm. “Oh, god,” I rasp.
He tilts his head and lowers down, caging me between his two large biceps. “Oh, god… what?” His breath tickles the shell of my ear.
I swallow down my pride. “I haven’t done this in a while,” I admit.
JJ’s head twists and catches my eye. “Do you want to stop? It’s okay if you want to stop.”
“No.” I let out a strangled cry of desperation. That’s thelastthing I want. “I just wanted you to know.”
He hums softly and presses a caress of a kiss to my pulse, and then my lips, leaving me breathless. “You are in control,” he whispers against me. “We stop when you want to stop. But if you want to carry on, I want to make you feel good, Ivy. So please let me.”
I raise my chest into his, grazing my nipples against his hardened torso. He claims my mouth once more, this time hungrier. He covers my body as I sink further into his mattress, into literal heaven.
My hand wraps around the back of his head, holding him to my lips as I kiss him deeper. “Please, make me feel good.”
CHAPTER 4
IVY THOMPSON
Asmall huff of pain escapes my lips when I shift beneath the soft sheets. My head pounds at the same time I try to dampen my mouth, but it’s drier than the desert.
Water.I need water before I burst into dust from the lack of moisture inside my body.
My eyes crack open as my cheek nuzzles further into the pillow. For a moment, everything is blurry, but when I blink myself into reality, I realise this isn’t my apartment.
I push myself back into the headboard and rub my eyes furiously for better vision, then I glance down at the bare-chested male beside me.
Last night. My date. My shoe. Sambuca shots. JJ. Unexpected orgasms.
I almost choke when I remember everything that happened. Oh fuck. I’m in his bed naked. Double fuck.
JJ is still sound asleep despite having moved around like an earthquake. I grab my phone from the bedside table and tap the screen to discover it’s barely nine in the morning. I run a hand down my face and lean out of the bed to grab my clothes as quietly as possible.
When the floorboards creak, I whip my head over my shoulder to look at JJ. His eyes are firmly shut, and he’s breathing evenly. I take another step forward and slip on my dress quickly, my bottom lip between my teeth.
I grab my bag and shoes and walk towards his bedroom door. I pause for a moment and look back, hesitating if I should say goodbye. But what’s the point?
It was a one-night stand.
