Idon’t know what makes me do it. It’s nothing like the kiss downstairs, all teeth and tongue, vying for control as we tugged and pulled each other's hair and clothes. This was something else entirely. Soft, swollen lips pressing together in a sweet embrace after fucking hard and rough. Maybe I’m thanking him. Maybe it’s my body taking over to keep him sweet so it can get more of what he just gave me. More of what I’ve needed for the past year.
He breaks apart our kiss, the tip of his nose still pressed against mine. He’s watching me, staring so intently into me, it’s like he’s trying to commit this moment to memory so he’ll never forget what we just gave each other. There’s more to it than that. He’s searching for any sign that I’m hurt or upset, but I give him nothing to worry about.There is nothing to worry about. I have a delicious ache between my legs for the first time since this madness started, and I feel the pinch in my shoulders loosening.
I stroke his damp hair back from his face, the ends starting to curl. “That was amazing.”
He nods, his boyish smile creeping through his severe expression. “Yeah, it was certainly something.”
“Would you...I mean, obviously, I wouldn’t expect anything. But maybe, if you liked it too—”
“Liked it?” he interrupts.
“Yeah, I mean, you liked it, right?”
Oh God. Had I read this completely wrong?
He pushed his cum back inside me.
He spoke absolute filth in my ear, perfectly in character.
Was that just to help me?
My lungs seem to shrink like a deflating balloon, sagging and wrinkled. I want to escape, but my body is stuck. After the absolute workout it just got, it’s refusing to move out of sheer exhaustion or maybe hope. I can’t confirm.
“Princess...that was the best time I’ve ever had. Ever. I actually can’t think of a single other time at all to make a comparison. They’ve all blurred into one endless boring fuck. But this...us. This is something good. We should have been doing this for years, Katie.”
My cheeks flush. He’s not wrong. That was hands down the best time of my entire life. The fear, the adrenaline. Everything closing in on me as I hid under the bed and waited for him. He wasn’t gentle at all. He didn’t treat me as if I were going to break at any moment. He honoredwhat I asked for and trusted that I knew what I wanted. Despite Jonesy’s flaws, I like that about him. He trusts me to know my own mind. It means so much, given how much I’ve been questioning my judgment lately.
“So you’d want to do it again?” I ask eagerly.
“Yeah, just give me time to grab a cigarette first.”
“You don’t smoke.” I laugh, pushing at his chest until he grabs my arm, dropping a kiss to the inside of my wrist.
“After that, I think I need to take it up. Only a cigarette could revive me now.” He winks before slipping out of the bed, zipping up his pants that never fully came off.
Why is that so hot?
He remains bare-chested, leaving his shirt on the floor where he dropped it. “I’ll be back in a minute. Get cozy, okay?”
I nod, lingering heat pooling in my lower belly as his eyes dip down my naked body. He slips out of the room, muttering something about being dead because this can’t be happening in real life.
Grabbing some clothes out of the closet, I stop as I see myself in the mirror. Red marks litter my body, his fingers imprinting onto my skin in some kind of ownership that makes me feel giddy. I run the tips of my fingers over my neck and across my breasts, watching them heave after being slapped and pulled. I wonder if it willbruise. A sick part of me hopes it does. I want to feel his touch long after he’s gone.
Whacks and clangs travel up the stairwell as I hear him rustling around downstairs and as the first step of his heavy tread hits the bottom stair; I slip into a fresh pair of panties, some sleep shorts, and a baggy T-shirt, sliding back under the covers before he strides through the door, a makeshift tray resting on top of both his laid flat palms.
“I might need some help,” he says as I sit up, ready to take the plates of food off what looks to be leftover MDF from the kitchen. There are grapes, some cheese and crackers, two bottles of water, and a sliced-up apple. I can’t believe he did all of this.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to.”
“Figured you’d be hungry.” He shrugs.
My stomach gurgles, and we both laugh. Jonesy slips back under the covers and pulls me toward him, tucking me under his arm as he reaches out to grab an apple slice, the crunch right by my ear. It would normally annoy me for someone to be so close to me when we’re still sweaty from sex. But at this moment, I don’t want to be far from him at all. Even the few minutes he was in the kitchen were too long. I just want to lie back, close my eyes, and let him hold me all night.
“Eat something, princess,” he commands.
I roll my eyes but do as he says, picking up thesliced grape and popping it on top of the cheddar, letting the juice mix with the sharp tang of cheese.
“I need to tell you something,” he says, gripping me a little tighter.
