Tender. Giving. As if Pepper were using her fingers and lips to deliver some new kind of language, passing on a wordless message strictly with touch.
She jerked open his button, sliding the zipper down just far enough that she could ease her hands under the fabric of his jeans and cup his butt in both hands. Fingers massaging strongly as she continued to dance kisses over his torso.
She licked one of his nipples, grazing it with her teeth for a second, and Jack shuddered. “Are you going to eat me alive?”
“You’re giving me ideas,” she murmured, pushing the fabric off his hips and toward the floor. She moved with the clothing, waiting until he stepped out of his jeans. Tugging his socks off as he laughed. He was naked, and she was fully dressed.
“I don’t think this happens often,” he pointed out, swinging a finger between them.
Pepper caught his hands and pulled him with her down the hallway to his bedroom, walking backwards as her gaze ate him up. “Jackjack, you should live in a clothing-optional climate at all times.”
“I think you should join me.”
She pointed at the bed. “I still have plans.”
“And you can’t do those plans while you’re naked? Sad plans.”
“You’re so bad,” she whispered, pushing on his shoulders to get him to roll on his stomach.
Jack would’ve complained about the position except she was stripping off her clothing and crawling on top of him, a bottle of lotion appearing out of nowhere.
And then her hands were on him working magic. Rubbing and pressing, her strong thumbs digging into the muscles he’d clenched tight enough to leave knots.
“You know I’m never going to let you leave this room again,” Jack warned. “Morning to night all you’re going to do is give me massages.”
A sharp nip to his butt cheek sent an electric pulse raging through his system. “Is that all you want me to do?” she asked, innuendo dripping from her tone.
“Let me roll over, and I think you might find a few new things to massage.”
“In a minute.”
Complaints vanished, because even though he was lying on a cock sorely wanting attention, she’d turned around and focused on his feet. Never in a million years could he have believed how freaking awesome it felt to have someone else work out the aches.
He figured she would get tired eventually, but he’d forgotten how determined Pepper was. Every bit of him got thorough attention. His calves, the backs of his thighs, his butt muscles—and suddenly he wasn’t simply lying on top of a thick cock, he had to change position before he passed out.
Jack rolled, reaching down to capture Pepper before she could decide to try anything else. “You need to take care of me now.”
“That’s what I’ve been doing.”
He caught hold of her hand and lowered it to his groin, wrapping her fingers around his cock. “This bit.”
Her lips twitched as she pressed her breasts against his torso, wiggling in tight and slowly stroking him. The sadness was still there in the depths of her eyes, but the mischief was never far away. Not when they were together.
She licked her lips.
He tilted his head and leaned in so he could lick them, too.
A burst of laughter escaped her. “Jack?”
“Pepper?”
“Jack.”
This time she’d spoken in such a sultry, lust-filled tone, that with the accompanying hand motion it was damn near enough to make him spill uncontrollably over her fingers.
It’d been long enough. He dropped her to the mattress under him, pulling his fingers between her legs and testing her quickly. Fingertips soaking wet showed him she was just as turned on as he was.
He brought his fingers to his mouth and licked them clean, humming happily. “Mmmm, Pepper. My favorite flavor.”
She stared up at him, wrapping one leg around his hip as he settled between her legs. It was so perfect, and so familiar, and completely brand-new as he tilted his hips and pushed into her welcoming heat.
Those emerald-green eyes pinned him in place, passion-filled and dancing with life as he buried himself completely.
He wanted to go slow. To savor every moment as the rich connection between them continued to grow. Her fingertips skimmed over his shoulders and stroked the back of his neck, and he leaned down and captured her lips in a scorching-hot kiss. Bodies joined, rocking together with a growing fervor until there was nowhere to go. Nothing to do except become one.
Her eyelids fluttered as her body tightened around him, but she refused to look away. Refused to break the connection.
And Jack understood just a little bit more exactly what love was. He might not have been taught it by the people who had brought him into the world. But he’d learned it from his neighbors—a family kind of love. And he’d learned it from Parker and Dean—a brotherly love that would go to their deaths. He knew about sexual love in spades.
But staring into Pepper’s eyes he realized there was an entirely new kind of love that he was experiencing for the first time in his life. The kind of love he would give anything for, give up everything to have.