Suddenly His

Every inch of my skin is tingling as I roll over, frowning when the man himself isn’t in the bed beside me. Where is Jack? I was looking forward to waking up and seeing him messy from sleep, since he’s always so put together.

Yawning, I sit up and hear the ding again.

It’s my phone.

Trying to remember where I put it, I slip out of bed naked and search for my purse, which I find hanging from the ornate, golden knob of a chest of drawers. I take out my phone and blink at the alert from my bank.

Two million dollars has been transferred to account ending in…

The rest is illegible through my tears.

He did it.

He released his hold on me. Gave me freedom.

I press a hand over the pressure in my throat, imagining how hard that must have been for him. To give up his final trump card, leaving me free to choose. Stay or go.

I love him.

It’s so easy to admit that now. Now that he’s shown me who he is deep down. A man who might be a ruthless, driven, determined, but he’s also good.

A man who does the right thing. A man with a damaged, golden heart.

That’s Jack Lincoln.

I hear the roar of an engine outside and jolt. Is that Jack? Is he leaving?

In record time, I brush my teeth in the bathroom and run to the closet and find the short, blue silk robe he bought me yesterday, wrapping it around my nakedness and sprinting for the hallway. Barefoot, I fly down the staircase, changing direction at the bottom and running toward the door.

“Jack!”

Bonnie is closing the front door behind him, but without so much as a raised eyebrow at my sudden appearance, she reopens it—and there he is. Sexy as all get out in a royal blue suit, his dark hair wet from a shower, cleanly shaved. He’s climbing into the back seat of the limousine, but he pauses when he sees me. And that’s when I see the worry, the anxiety blanketing his expression, no doubt because he just handed me my freedom.

“Maisy?” He steps back out onto the driveway, his worry clearing, turning to hope when I take a running jump and land in his arms. “Baby, I’m sorry. Have to take a quick trip to the office.” He kisses my temple, saying hesitantly, “What…is it? Is everything okay?”

“I love you,” I whisper, then louder. “I love you. I can’t let you to leave without me telling you.”

He stares, as if trying to make sense of my words. “You love me.” A beat passes, his chest rising and falling. “You love me?”

“Yes.”

A choked sound leaves him. “Oh my God.” His rushing exhale bathes the side of my face, his arms turning to steel around me. “I love you, too.” Blue eyes race over my face, incredulous, hopeful, stunned. “Is this really happening?”

Too emotional to speak, I can only nod.

His mouth finds mine and we moan into a twining of tongues, his lips moving over mine with such reverence and care, heat blooms behind my eyelids. The kiss begins sweet, like a celebration, but like it always does with us, the temperature spikes. Jack’s tongue begins to delve deeper, one of his big hands dragging up my ribcage to sneak inside the robe, massaging my breast. As if he’s hit a secret switch, I open my lips wider and find myself being devoured hungrily, my body lifted off the ground by his forearm, my thighs securing themselves around his hips. One eager stroke of tongues later, I’m turned and pinned against the side of the limo.

We’re not alone. His driver is sitting in the limousine, engine still running.

The maid is standing on the porch, waiting to let me back in.

I’m too caught up to care, though, and so is Jack. I might even be urged on by the presence of others, and if that makes me twisted or bad, he’s the one who created the monster. And based on the enormous erection he’s pressing up between my legs, he’s more than happy to accept the responsibility. “I need you,” he rasps, humping me roughly against the vehicle. Once, twice, three times. Panting into my neck. “I need inside. Need it now. Let me in.”

“Yes, Jack.”

His tongue traces a path from my shoulder up to my ear. “No matter who’s around, it’s always just you and me,” Jack says hoarsely, reaching down to unzip his pants, the thick, round head finding my entrance immediately, guided by his fist. “Just you and the man who loves you, adores you, worships you.” He thrusts deep, rocking the limousine behind us. “Fucks you.”

My scream tries to remain trapped in my throat, but it breaks loose, carrying in circles around the driveway. And Jack’s groans of pleasure join mine seconds later when he begins pinning me to the limo with crude slaps of his hips, the running engine making the vehicle warm against my bare butt. Vibratory.