This wasn’t anything different than when we used to bunk in the barracks together after a long hunt. There was no reason to make this more than it was. I was watching over her, guarding her. Yeah, that was it.
I took my glasses off and sat them on the coffee table before turning and clicking the side table lamp off. Laying back on the couch, I shifted around and tried to get comfortable.
My feet were hanging over the side of the couch if I put my head down flat. If I put it up on the edge of the couch, then the hard siding under the thin cushion stabbed me in the neck.
After a few minutes, I gave up. Sitting up, I grabbed my blanket and moved to the recliner, the only place that was going to be any semblance of comfort to me.
Before I could sit down, a crash that sounded like glass shattering echoed through the apartment.
I raced toward the bedroom, grabbing my gun off the side table on my way. I threw open the bedroom door, flicking on the light before I swept the room.
Jack knelt on the ground picking up the pieces of a lamp that had been on the nightstand. She lifted her gaze at my sudden appearance.
“Sorry, I forgot it was there and knocked it off the table.”
Fighting to slow my breathing, I sat the gun on the dresser before kneeling beside her. “It’s alright. Here let me—”
“No, no. I did it. I can clean it up. Oh fuck.” She gasped, holding her finger up where a piece had cut her.
“Here let me see.” I took her hand in mine and looked over the cut. “There doesn’t seem to be any glass in it. But I should...” I paused digging into my nightstand, pulling out a box. “Have bandages. Hold your finger out.”
Jack did as I asked for once, not arguing and letting me put the bandage on her bleeding finger. When I was finished, I pressed a kiss to the tip of it, not thinking much of it.
She smiled, staring at me.
“What?” I smiled back as I finished picking up the lamp pieces.
“You used to do that a lot before. Every time you helped patch me up.”
“If I recall, you patched me up more than the other way around.” I brushed her hair back from her face. “But I didn’t mind. It meant I got to spend more time with you.”
Jack stared at me. This was as close as we’d been since that incident in the shower. That didn’t have anything to do with the mission. Still, the memory of our kiss in the woods resurfaced.
My fingers brushed her jaw line. My eyes flicked down to her lips. I watched her tongue dip out, wetting them.
“Julian,” Jack breathed, and it was the longing in her voice, the desire for me, not anyone else, that finally did it for me.
I finally closed the distance between us.
Chapter 26
Jack
I had dreamed of this moment for months. It was almost surreal how it was happening now.
After everything, this was the breaking point. This was the moment that Julian stopped fighting what we had and pushed past whatever it was that had stopped him before.
His sense of duty? The notion that he was taking advantage of me?
Whatever the reason, it had kept us apart for far too long, and I wasn’t about to let it get in the way now.
Julian cupped my ass as we stood, my legs immediately going around his waist. Our mouths fused together like we couldn’t breathe without the other.
He made the two steps to the bed before I was falling. He used his hand on my lower back to slow my descent, his arm braced by my head as he pressed between my thighs.
Eventually, we had to breathe and release each other’s mouths. Julian wasted no time moving down my neck and pressing kisses to my collarbone. His fingers curled beneath my t-shirt, lifting it until it was just under my breasts before he paused and sniffed.
I stiffened. “It’s Kyren’s,” I supplied so he didn’t have to ask.
