She swallowed audibly and in a soft voice said, “Please, Jig.”
Goddamn did he love the sound of her begging. He was sporting a raging erection once again, as though it’d been ages since he’d last come, not five minutes.
“Please what?” he asked. Sure, he was pushing her. She’d probably never asked for it in her life and would have knocked any other man six ways to Sunday. But he wasn’t any other man. He was the one who wanted to peel back her layers and reveal the core of what made her who she was.
In her presence, he was raw and exposed and would accept nothing less in return for however long it lasted.
“Please fuck me,” she said, voice rife with need.
Shit, he needed to see her. As though she was nothing more than pint-sized, he flipped her to her back. “Hands up,” he ordered.
She hesitated, but just for a fraction of a second before placing her hands above her head, giving him her trust, giving up her control.
“Keep them there.” Jig grabbed one of the pillows next to her head and shoved it under her ass. Next, he fished a condom out of the nightstand and rolled it down his cock, gritting his teeth against the pleasure his own hand brought. Then he fisted his cock, stroked twice, and ran it through her folds, making sure to tap against her clit.
She cried out and begged again. “Please, Jig. Now.”
“You sure you’re ready for this? You sure you can handle me, Iz?”
She lifted her head and looked him straight in the eye. “I can handle every single part of you, Jig.”
They both knew she was referring to more than his need to fuck hard. She was accepting his past, his pain, his fucked-up head, the dangerous present they were living in and maybe, just maybe, the future.
The need to possess her raged within him, and he slammed home in one powerful thrust.
“Yes,” Izzy cried as he gave her what she’d been begging for.
Jig completely lost himself in the woman who took him at face value and cast no judgment. The woman whose walls he was knocking down. The woman who was crawling so deep inside him he could feel her flowing through his veins. Never before had he felt so connected to another woman on such a raw, primal level.
Not even his wife.
And what the fuck was he supposed to do about that?
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“DID YOU MAKE the call?” Stephanie asked, her voice giddy with excitement.
Izzy smiled and spoke above the noise of her tattoo machine. “I did. I told Mav I locked myself out of the shop and couldn’t get a hold of Jig or Rip. He’ll be here in fifteen minutes, and I’ve got about ten left on your tat. You holding up okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good. I mean, it’s not like getting a massage, but it’s not as bad as I feared either.” She was face down on the table while Izzy inked the phrase Through every dark night, there is a brighter day onto her shoulder. The quote obviously held significance for Stephanie and Maverick. On top of that, the ink looked terrific on Steph’s tan skin. Instead of writing it straight across her friend’s shoulder, Izzy started the words at the outer edge, where her shoulder met her arm and followed the natural curve of Stephanie’s body in one long line.
Gorgeous.
Below the quote was a date. A few months ago. A large part of Izzy was dying to know what made that date so significant, but her personal policy was to never ask. Not all clients wanted to share the personal nature of their choice, and she’d never want to make them uncomfortable. Even if they were friends.
“Mav’s gonna lose his shit,” Steph said of her heavily tattooed boyfriend. The man would have to grow some extra limbs if he wanted any more ink. “I’m so freaking excited. We met under rather intense circumstances, both taken prisoner by the Gray Dragons on the date there.” She sighed. “Got pretty dicey for a while. Both of us were injured, Mav far worse than I was. But we wouldn’t have ‘us’ if it wasn’t for that experience. Today is definitely a brighter day even with Lefty’s shadow looming over the club.”
Wow. That was more than Izzy could have imagined. If the rambling was any indication, Steph was nervous about Maverick’s reaction to the tattoo. Izzy just grunted her agreement but was too much in the zone to carry on more of a conversation. She worked for another five minutes, then wiped the area she’d just completed. “All finished.”
“Yay!” Stephanie practically bounced off the table. “Can I look now? It’s been so hard to not be able to see it while you were working. Can I look?”
“You bet.” Izzy pointed toward the floor length mirror. “Have at it. I can take a picture for you too if you want to see it closer.”