“Too sensitive,” she said.
But he knew that only meant she’d come even harder. He pressed her thighs to the blanket and loved her with his mouth, sliding his tongue up and over her sensitive flesh as she writhed beneath him. Her head shifted from side to side, hands fisting in the blanket. He sucked her clit into his mouth, earning himself another sexy moan, then pushed his tongue into her wet center as she came on his tongue.
He moved swiftly up her body and took her in another demanding, possessive kiss, because right that second, she was his. Only his. He sank his cock into her and gathered her against him, holding her tight, wanting to brand her as his own. He opened his palm and stared at the tattoo of the key, but it was too much. He had to close his eyes against it. He didn’t want to lose her to some other man. He thrust in at a frantic, greedy pace as she clawed for purchase, her nails dragging across his shoulders and back—branding him with her marks.
“I’m gonna—” Her eyes slammed shut. “Oh God, Jackson.”
She locked her ankles around his waist, and the next hard thrust sent them both over the edge. Heat seared down his spine with each ejaculation. He captured her mouth with his, swallowing her gasps for breath with every buck of her hips. Aftershocks rattled through them, until they finally—blissfully—collapsed to the blankets, utterly sated and spent, tangled in each other’s arms.
Chapter Six
THE NEXT MORNING Laney lay on her side as the sun trickled in through the umbrella of trees, sprinkling light through the tent’s little screen window. She loved early mornings when they were camping. On the occasions when she stayed at Jackson’s place or he stayed at her place in the city, Jackson almost always awoke before her. Sometimes he even went on a morning run before she got out of bed, but when they were camping and it was just the two of them, without work rattling around in their heads or commitments looming, he usually slept in. In sleep, the tension that kept his jaw tight and his brows a little downturned wasn’t there.
One of his arms was arced over his head and his other hand lay on his stomach. He had slept in almost the same position since he was a teenager, and she reveled in the familiarity of it. She knew that if she made a sound, he’d reach for her without opening his eyes and pull her in tight against him, making contented sounds she’d come to love. When she was alone at night she’d think of those noises and the feel of him spooning her.
She rolled onto her back and closed her eyes, conjuring up Bryce’s face. He was strikingly handsome, with hair a shade lighter than Jackson’s, mossy green eyes, and a lean, strong body. His laugh was infectious, deep and hearty. The kind of laugh that vibrated through her chest and made her laugh right along with him. She smiled at the thought, but as her mind drifted to last night, her smile faltered and her stomach knotted. Bryce knew that she and Jackson slept together. He’d never asked for specifics, but she’d been clear when they’d started dating. And when he’d asked her for a monogamous commitment a few months ago, she’d also been clear and said that she wasn’t ready for that—and she didn’t know if or when she would be.
Why had he done it?
Why had he proposed? Was it to finally tie her down? And why couldn’t she just say no? Her eyes shifted to Jackson again. He was the man she wanted to have forever with—and he was the one man she knew wasn’t an option. Jackson didn’t do commitment. Sure, he’d been with her for all these years, but he’d also been with other women, and he’d made no bones about not being the monogamous type.
Just as she had.
She heard birds take flight from a nearby tree and mistook it for the sound of her heart breaking. Cawing sounded in the distance, and she slipped from the covers, still naked from the night before, and quietly grabbed her backpack. She didn’t want to wake Jackson, and the way her mind was churning was making her too antsy to sit still.
Outside the tent, she stretched and pulled on a T-shirt and shorts, then grabbed a blanket and cooking supplies and went down to the water. The lake rippled in the morning breeze, mixing with the sounds of leaves brushing and birds singing. The sounds out here in the mountains were gloriously different from and more soothing than the sounds of the city. Sometimes in the early-morning hours in the city, she would sit outside on her balcony and listen to the cars and the people rushing about, breathing in the rancid city smell, and she wondered why and how society let the city replace this much natural beauty.