He slams his car door and runs toward me, worry written all over his face. He just catches me before my body gives, scooping me up into his arms and squeezing me to his chest. My arms hold him so tightly, my heart telling me this is right. Me and him. It’s so right.
“It doesn’t have to be this hard,” he whispers, walking up the steps and into my hallway, shutting the door behind him. Detaching me from his body, he brings his hand to my face, and when the heat of his touch meets my cheek, the warmth spreads throughout me. Those powerful, consuming feelings take hold. Just one touch. He brings his face close to mine, his other hand settling on my hip as we stare into each other’s eyes. I see so much pain behind his mesmerizing grays. And so much life.
“Don’t make me give you up, Annie,” he murmurs quietly, his voice broken with emotion.
My throat clogs, my eyes refilling with hopeless tears. “I have no fight left in me.”
“Good, because I’m fucking exhausted battling with you.” He dips his head and claims my mouth gently, sensing my fragile state, his hand sliding into my hair and fisting, holding me in place.
Falling.
I return his kiss, no questions, no fighting and no hesitation. It’s slow, it’s accepting, and it’s loving. And everything is better once again.
Then things begin to get desperate. Things start to get frantic. Jack moans, over and over, and I swallow them all. The pace of our swirling tongues begins to increase until we’re going at each other with a desperate urgency, ripping each other’s clothes from our bodies, stumbling down the hallway, banging into the walls and groaning loudly. Our desperation is spiraling. A trail of clothes is left in our wake as we cause a hurricane with our urgency to get to the bedroom.
Jack doesn’t push me to the bed as I expect. He slams me into the wall, our hands feeling everywhere they can reach. I’m lost in him, and I have no wish to find myself. I have to have him, and while he’s ravishing me with such conviction and confidence, I have no hope of stopping this. And no desire to.
The forbidden is too irresistible. It has a dangerous allure and a compelling magnetism. And it’s certainly going to inflict pain and anguish. It defies reason for me to willingly allow myself to be possessed like this. To surrender to a man who belongs to someone else. But I can’t fight my heart. I want him. My sanity will be compromised no matter which road I take. I’m doomed.
Jack takes us to the floor, our naked bodies rubbing in all the right places, as he holds me beneath him, pinning my arms above my head. I shout, I writhe, I arch my back violently. His mouth is all over me, every kiss filled with fire, every lick sending surges of energy through me. His lips latch on to my nipple and suck hard, licking and nibbling at the tip.
“Jack!” I scream, bucking desperately under him. I’m being tortured in the best and worst ways possible.
He doesn’t let up. Keeping my arms securely over my head, he crawls all over me, kissing me everywhere, his lips eventually finding their way to my mouth and devouring me. Deep plunges, wide swirls, harsh bites of my lips. I’m going out of my mind. Pulling the flesh of my bottom lip through his teeth, he opens his eyes and watches me coming undone as he releases my lip and kisses his way down the center of my stomach. Our eyes lock and he brings my arms down to my tummy, holding both wrists in one hand on my abdomen so his mouth can reach…
“Oh God!” I fling my head back and snap my spine into a harsh arch, trying to yank my hands free. They’re going nowhere. I try to relax, try to savor the indescribable pleasure. I look down at him, panting my way through it, the slick warmth of his tongue swirling far and wide sending me dizzy. I flop back and hold my breath, feeling the rush of pressure dropping fast into my sex.
“Jack!” I cry as my climax seizes me, tossing me into an oblivion of stars and white noise, my body violently vibrating under him. The pleasure goes on and on, ripping through me like the most powerful of tornados, knocking everything out of me. Everything—the guilt, the tormenting conscience, the ability to care about what I’m doing. It’s all lost in a haze of Jack.
My body liquefies and I go lax on the floor while he laps lazily around my clitoris, sucking gently, easing me down. I feel utterly useless beneath him, my arms flopping above my head. I exhale on a moan, feeling him crawling up my body, until his lips are level with mine and he’s exploring my mouth again, this time gently. I swallow his hums and breathe him into me, relishing in his weight spread over me and the feel of his cock pulsing against my leg.
“How was it for you?” he asks as he nibbles his way across my mouth. I can’t help but smile. It’s probably misplaced, but, good lord, I feel like I’ve had the pleasure of a million orgasms all at once, and during the process, my shaking world has aligned completely.
“Good,” I admit, nuzzling into the scruff at his neck. I’ve never felt so sated. Finding some strength, I drag my arms up and curl them around his shoulders, humming happily.
“Sounds like someone is satisfied,” he muses, pecking my lips one last time and pulling away.
“Is that a hint?” I ask, cocking an eyebrow at him.
“Speaking of hints…”
“Oh, your cute little note?”
He grins, the god-glorious grin that I haven’t seen for too long. A grin that I’ve never seen on his face when he’s been with his wife. I make him happy. “You didn’t take much notice, though, did you?”
“I was in shock.” My eyes fall to his neck, and my hand automatically lifts to ghost my finger across the faded marks.
Jack’s smile is now sad, and he takes my hand from his neck, pulling it to his mouth and kissing my knuckles. “She lashes out.” He looks so unaffected by it, and that’s the worst thing of all. It’s normal to him. This big, strapping man. I get a sudden, vivid recollection of me swinging at him last night in my drunken state, and how mad he was. Ashamed of myself, I vow here and now to never let that happen again, no matter how frustrated I am. “Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask.
“Because when I’m with you, I’m free, Annie. I’m not tearing myself up inside wondering what the fuck went wrong with my marriage and why Stephanie is the way she is. I’m not obsessing about blame and where it falls. And I’m not trapped and miserable. I’m me again.”
My welling eyes fall from his handsome face. “Why do you allow it?”
“What am I going to do? Hit her back? I’d kill her with one punch.”
“Leave her,” I whisper, my throat ragged and broken. The thought of her physically hurting him tears me up inside, no matter how capable he is. No matter how big and strong. He just has to accept it? “Just leave her.” Tears build in my eyes, and Jack rolls into my side, propping himself up on an elbow.
He tenderly wipes them away, bringing his face down to mine. “Don’t cry for me.”