And it was. He took her hard while she moaned and thrashed, giving as good as she got, making her explode again before letting go and coming himself.
He wasn’t sure how—heck he might have blacked out, but when he floated back to reality, they were both sprawled inside the boxing ring, bathed in sweat. His throat felt raw and he couldn’t move. Jesus, having sex with Elle got better and better.
“I know you don’t know shit about me, but you need to understand I don’t cheat. Ever.” He didn’t get cheating. Despised cheaters. A man who couldn’t pledge himself to a woman and maintain his promise was not a man, but a spineless moron. “If I had a wife, I would sleep every night by her side. I would never stray.”
“Good to know,” she whispered.
“I have experience with kids because since the day Ronnie was born, I cared for her. There wasn’t a responsible adult around, so I learned pretty fast.”
They were seven years apart. He’d fed her, clothed her. Read to her and corrected her homework. Looked after her. Taken all the beatings himself to make sure nothing happened to her. Stayed in that hellhole of a home for years and years so that he could protect her, until he’d been old enough and had enough resources to take her with him.
“You grew up together?” Elle asked, surprise and dread and fear marring her face. “In the same place where you got those burns?”
Jack nodded. “I made sure she never got any.”
“And your dad?”
“Small-time crook. Not better than the guys that came after, or Ronnie’s dad, who bailed out before she was born.”
“Bailing out on your pregnant woman. Very classy. A real stand-up dude.”
“Hate to defend the scumbag, but I doubt he knew. My mother found out when her water broke. She’d been too high to wonder before.”
She closed her eyes, grimacing. “God.”
Nope, God had been nowhere to be seen. “Ronnie is all I have.”
Elle was quiet for a long time before speaking again. “You ordered me to stay in the truck because you didn’t want me to meet her.”
“Yeah, I didn’t.” He didn’t want Elle in his life. Didn’t want to get used to her. That meant keeping her as far away as possible from his home, his bar, and his sister. And his heart. Especially his heart.
Her smile was sad and resigned. “I’m not used to the man I’m screwing being ashamed of me, but at least you’re honest.”
“Not ashamed, pet. Not by a long shot.”
She needed an explanation; he could see it in her hurt eyes, but he didn’t give it to her. It would just make matters worse.
It was very easy to miss things if one got used to having them and caring for them. He couldn’t afford that.
“Come on, let’s get dressed and go home.”
She didn’t fight him.
Jack parked in front of her place, turned off the engine, and looked at her. She’d been quiet during the ride back, like the rounds of sex and sparring had sucked the energy out of her.
“Do you mind if we sit for a second?” She didn’t seem in too much of a hurry to get home, as if she needed a strength she didn’t have now to enter that house.
Jack glanced toward the property. “Why do you live here?”
She shrugged. “I have to live somewhere, don’t I? Quite a place the V-2,” she added, changing the subject. “Rough crowd. It suits you.”
His snort was dry. “I wanted a bakery.”
“What?”
“I wanted a bakery. A local nice little shop in suburbia, where carpool moms could spend their afternoons eating pastries and drinking lattes. Ronnie was going to run it. I had everything planned, but I had to leave for work, so I left my sister in charge. When I came back Ronnie had opened a biker bar.”
Elle broke into laughter. “I like her.”
They hadn’t had much time to talk, and what little they had, Elle had spent apologizing to Ronnie, but he had no doubt they would get along.
Ignoring how in the open they were, and how unwise this was, Jack reached for her and lifted her onto his lap. He swept his thumb over her luscious lips. “In V-2, you were jealous.”
Elle nodded. “I am a very jealous person. You ought to remember that. Especially if you are emotionally attached to your dick and intend to keep it.”
“I’d like to keep it, yes.”
“Then it should stay in your pants. Or inside me.”
He barked out a laugh. So much sass.
“That made me feel ten feet tall,” she said, her eyes soft.
“What?”
“That honest-to-God laugh.” She caressed his face, as if trying get rid of the frown lines. “You don’t always need to be alert. You can relax.”
“If you want me to relax, then you should be caressing something else.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “I can’t believe you want more,” she said, gently pressing herself against him. “After the boxing ring?”
Jack didn’t need any recovery time whatsoever, not with Elle by his side. “Of this sweet *? Absolutely I want more.” Always. All the time.
“Next visit to the gym, I’ll be on top. I have boxing-ring burn in my back.”
“Sorry.”
She winked mischievously. “That’s all right. They match the scratches on yours.”