5
Doe
Ichanged Love Bug’s diaper and then rocked her back to sleep. I sat there for several minutes after her eyes had drifted closed and her breathing had evened out once more, needing a moment to wrap my head around what had happened in the kitchen.
If my lips hadn’t still been swollen and a little tender, I might have convinced myself that being kissed by Jenner had been a hallucination. But the way they continued to tingle was a reminder that it was reality. Jenner kissed me. And what a kiss it had been.
He’d devoured me, as if he were ravenous for the taste of me on his tongue. The way he’d picked me up, as if I weighed no more than Love Bug, had been even more earthshaking. I wasn’t the type of girl a guy could just pick up. I wasn’t dainty or delicate. There was meat on my bones. Yet he’d handled me without even breaking a sweat.
But then again, Jenner wasn’t the average guy. He was a match for Luca, and he was six-five with enough muscle to take on some of the biggest players in professional football. Jenner could probably bench-press a tractor, so picking me up was nothing to him.
That imagery made me smile. Shaking my head at my ridiculousness, I put Love Bug back in her crib and then went downstairs.
Jenner was sitting in the living room. The smell of popcorn filled the air, and the lights were off, the glow of the TV the only light for me to see to get to the couch where he was waiting. He snaked his arm around my waist, pulling me down so that I was practically on his lap. Pulling my legs over his, he pressed his nose to my neck, inhaling deeply before pressing a gentle kiss just beneath my ear.
“Your skin is my favorite scent,” he husked.
“Weirdo,” I teased, making him laugh.
“I know you’re not a horror or gore kind of girl,” he said as he picked up the remote and pressed play. “So, I found a rom-com. One, because I don’t really plan on watching much of the movie. And two, because if, by chance, we do see something funny and it makes you laugh, I’m rewarded with my favorite sound.”
I frowned at his second reasoning.
“Your laugh, little lamb,” he murmured, sliding his hand between my legs.
My breath caught, but he stopped halfway up the inside of my left thigh. Leaving his hand there, he placed the bowl of popcorn on my lap and took a few kernels. Feeding me one, he stuffed the rest into his mouth while I chewed mine.
The movie started, but I couldn’t force my eyes off his face to even see what the title was. Without thinking, I touched my index finger to the scar on his right cheek. “How did this happen?”
He leaned into my touch. “Caught the edge of something sharp in the cage during a fight.”
“Cage?”
He shrugged. “I did some amateur MMA before and after I was in the marines. This happened when I was first starting out. There was a rough piece of the cage sticking up, and I got pushed into it. Judge, the guy who runs the Underground, was pissed when he realized no one had done maintenance on the cage that week to ensure it was safe for that night’s fight.”
“Was it very painful?” I asked in concern, disliking the thought of him hurting.
Grasping my finger, he brought it to his lips and kissed the tip. “For a minute or two. Then I got stitched up and it was fine.”
“MMA fighter. Retired marine. And now a professional bodyguard,” I listed off. “Tell me more about Jenner Carling.”
He took another handful of popcorn, feeding me a few pieces at a time. Each time he did, he would rub his thumb across my bottom lip as if he were fascinated by the feel of it. “I grew up in the system. Foster care from the age of six to fifteen. Then I ran away, and I did a few things I’m not proud of. It got me put in front of Judge, who is an actual judge, by the way. He saw something in me and introduced me to his best friend, Howler. Howler became my mentor and taught me how to channel my anger in the cage. So, I became a Son of the Underground.”
While I listened, I watched his face. As he spoke about his past, I could see he wasn’t comfortable retelling it, but he did. Because I’d asked. When he mentioned growing up in the system, his eyes had darkened. But talking about Judge, Howler, and becoming a Son of the Underground lit him up. I didn’t know who those men were, but I wanted to meet them for no other reason than they could make my man glow simply by remembering them.
Jenner fed me another kernel of popcorn just as that last thought filtered through my head. My man. I liked the sound of that, but was he really? Kissing someone didn’t mean they were yours, but that kiss had felt like he was marking me as his. With how his hand stayed tucked between my legs, he wasn’t pressing for more, but the way his fingers and palm felt against my jeans-covered flesh seemed awfully possessive to me.
“Why did you pick the marines over all the other military branches?”
“Everyone I knew who was in the military was a marine,” he said after a moment of considering my question. “Your dad is a retired marine, isn’t he?”
“He is, but he doesn’t talk about it. And when someone who doesn’t know him does happen to bring it up, he gets this look in his eyes.” My heart clenched remembering the few times it had happened. “He was deployed for most of his active duty, and I suspect he’s seen some things he can’t get out of his head.”
Jenner’s hand paused halfway to my mouth with more popcorn. “I’m sure he did.”
Sensing the same hauntedness in him, I cupped his jaw. I liked the feel of his neatly trimmed beard against my palm. When he leaned into my touch again as he had when I’d touched his scar, I moved closer so I could brush my lips over his cheek. “Thank you for your service,” I murmured. “I’m sorry you had to do or see the things you did. Just know that I’m grateful. For what you’ve done for your country, but mostly that you made it home.”
“Baby, if it meant protecting you, I’d do it all over again.”
I picked up the bowl on my lap and set it on the table behind the couch before straddling his lap. There was no missing the huge erection straining against his jeans, and I rubbed over it intentionally. This was all-new territory to me. I’d never done anything so bold in my life, but with Jenner, I felt safe. As if anything I said or did, he wouldn’t make fun of me.
He slid his hands over my ass, squeezing. His touch was firm, possessive, making me shiver in anticipation.
Wanting to touch him, I stroked my fingers up the back of his neck before combing them through his short, dark hair. He groaned, his head falling forward slightly. “Your nails feel so good.”
Loving that I could make him feel good, I brought his head to my chest and gently scratched my nails up his neck, into his hair, and back again. His fingers squeezed and released my ass over and over again, while goose bumps popped up on his skin. The sighs that left him told me how much he liked what I was doing, as did the way his cock flexed against my inner thigh.
Unconsciously, I shifted until I was rubbing my core over his thickness. His hands tightened on me, but he didn’t try to stop my movements. He pressed me down into him harder, helping me find a rhythm that made starlight flash in front of my eyes.
My panties were unbearably wet. I was surprised I hadn’t already soaked through my jeans and left a huge spot on his leg.
“Baby,” he growled. He turned his head, biting at one of my diamond-hard nipples through my shirt and bra.
The pleasure was so intense I cried out. I cupped the back of his head in my hands, holding him against me, never wanting this feeling to stop.
“Fuck,” he groaned, pulling back.
A whimper left me before I could hold in the sound, but he wasn’t stopping. He pulled my shirt up, exposing my bra to him. It was one of my favorites, so it was well-worn. My breathing was labored, making my breasts practically spill out of the cups. The way he looked at me, like I was the most beautiful woman in the world, stopped any embarrassment I might have felt before it could even take hold of me.
Cupping me through the bra, he played with me, teasing the tips into aching little points that tugged at something powerful between my legs.
“Has anyone ever touched you like this, Doe?”
Something in his voice made me shiver. “No,” I whispered. “Never.”
“Good,” he gritted out as he lowered his head to lick between my breasts. “No one else ever will.”
“Mm,” I moaned when he nipped at the swells that were pushing out of my bra.
“Say it,” he commanded. “Tell me no one else will ever touch you, taste you, make you feel the way I do.”
“No one,” I whimpered, my breaths coming out in little puffs of air as my lower body pressed into his steel-like cock. “Only you, Jenner.”
“That’s right, baby.” He kissed his way up my chest while his hands moved south. He teased his index finger around my navel before moving lower. He tucked two fingers into the waistband of my jeans, his thumb playing with the top button. “I want you so damn bad. From the first moment I saw you, I’ve ached for you, sweetheart. But we should take this slow. I don’t want to rush you or make you think I’m only in this for sex.”
Even as my body cried out for relief, my heart melted. “I’ve wanted you for just as long,” I confessed. “That Christmas party at Aunt Emmie’s…”
“You were so beautiful,” he breathed. “That red dress…fuck, it’s starred in so many wet dreams.”
“I’d never seen anyone handle Luca like that. It was intense.” I covered his hand that was still playing with the top of my jeans, holding it while I used my other hand to undo the button and zipper. His gaze locked with mine as I pushed his hand inside my jeans, and we both cupped my sex through my dripping panties. “The strength it must have taken to hold on to that raging bull was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen up until then. I had to rush to the bathroom as soon as I went into the house because my panties had gotten wet. For the very first time.”
He skimmed his middle finger up my slit, causing little explosions to detonate inside my core. “Up until then?” He pressed into my clit, giving it a hard stroke before skimming downward again. “What have you seen since that has gotten these panties so wet, little lamb?”
“You,” I whispered. “Every morning when you run by my house.”
His fingers stopped and heat filled my cheeks, but I didn’t recant my confession. I wanted him to know my secret. “You’ve watched me run?”
“Watch is too tame of a description,” I muttered sheepishly. “More like…stalk.”
Something darkened in his eyes, but before I could question it, he shifted my panties aside and spread the lips of my sex. When he thrust his middle finger into me, I had to bite my lips together to keep from screaming, knowing it would most likely wake the baby if I did.
“How often?” he growled, holding his finger inside me.
“E-every morning,” I admitted shakily, rocking my hips against his hand. “I-I sit on the front porch, in the shadows so you can’t see me. It’s the best part of my day, getting to see you first thing, before the rest of the world descends on me.”
“I hate those runs,” he said, and I flinched. When I tried to pull away, he grasped one of my hips in his other hand, locking me in place. “I hate them because all I want is to see you, but I never do. I’ve tried so hard just to catch a glimpse, but I never got lucky enough.”
“Y-you really wanted to see me?” I whispered.
“Yeah, baby. And I’m jealous as hell that you got to watch me, but I didn’t get to see you.” His finger flexed inside me, rubbing against a spot that had my head falling back onto my shoulders, my moan filling the room. “You’re going to stop hiding from me. Tomorrow, and every other day that follows, you’re going to sit where I can see you.”
What he was doing felt so good that I couldn’t concentrate on what he was saying. He pulled his finger free, and I whined at the loss. Jenner grabbed the back of my head, pulling me in for a deep, hard kiss. “No more hiding, Doe. Say you will let me see you tomorrow.”
“Y-yes,” I promised. “Whatever you want.”
“Ah, baby, you shouldn’t have said that.” His lips lifted in a smirk. “Bra off. Now.”
I didn’t even hesitate. Reaching behind me, I unsnapped my bra then pulled it off through the sleeves of my T-shirt, leaving me exposed to him since my shirt was still pushed up over my breasts. He licked his lips hungrily, and then suddenly, I was on my back with him between my legs and he was greedily sucking one of my nipples against the roof of his mouth.
“Tastes so good,” he groaned against my flesh. “So damn beautiful. Need you so fucking bad.”
“Jenner!” I was so overwhelmed with pleasure I didn’t notice where his hands were until he thrust two fingers into my core.
“I just want to feel you come on my fingers, baby. Want to see your face when I make you fall over the edge. Have you flood my hand with all your sweet cream.” His words sounded so dirty, especially when he was still licking my nipples. No one had ever talked to me like that, but I quickly realized that I loved it. “I’m going to lick it all up. Need your sweetness on my tongue.”
I was so close, I could feel the orgasm building, my inner walls already clenching around his fingers. He had a spot he liked to focus on, the one that made me want to wrap my legs around his head and let him lick me as much as he wanted. I wanted him to touch me there always, make me feel this good, this wanted, this…sexy.
“That’s it, baby. I can feel it building. You’re almost there.” His voice was raspy, almost hoarse, and it caressed my spine, made me ride his fingers, silently begging him to do it faster, harder.
When the climax hit me, I felt as if I literally exploded. Not a star, but me. He was there, kissing me, telling me how beautiful I was when I came. He was breathing heavily, as if he was struggling to get air into his lungs. But he was still able to hold me together so I didn’t fall into the abyss he’d nearly pushed me into from the delirium of such pleasure.
Slowly, I lifted my lashes. He smiled down at me and stroked a hand over my hair. “Welcome back.”
“That was…” I shook my head, unable to find the right words to describe how incredible he’d just made me feel.
“I promise it will only get better.” He tenderly pulled his fingers out of my core and sucked them into his mouth. “Mm,” he groaned, his eyes closing as he tasted the cream I’d left on his fingers.
Heat filled my face, but lower, I began to ache all over again.
His eyes snapped open, locking with mine. There was something different in their depths, something…almost dangerous. “You’re mine, Doe. There’s no going back now.”
“I don’t want to go back,” I told him. “I only want to be yours, Jenner.”