Next to Never (Fall Away #4.5)

Her husband could walk in the front door, and I wouldn’t stop.

“Jase,” she whimpered, lifting her head up and her whole body going tense. “Oh, God.”

“You coming already?” I snatched up her lips, teasing her.

“Yes.” She slipped her hands inside my pants, grabbing hold of my ass to pull me deeper inside of her, and then bit my jaw, whispering against my skin. “More. Harder.”

I pushed myself up on one arm, sliding my other hand under her ass, and watched in fucking awe as her body moved underneath me and her face tensed up in pleasure as I rode her harder and harder.

Sweat glided down my back and glistened on her top lip. I felt her body clench up around me, and then she let out a scream as she moaned and took everything I had to give.

Her body shook and her neck arched back, opening for my mouth.

“You’re so beautiful,” I whispered against her neck, biting it. “Even hotter when you’re getting fucked.”

I thrust a few more times, harder and deeper, riding her like I couldn’t get enough. She spread her legs wider, and I sucked her nipple into my mouth again, groaning as my orgasm crested, and I finally spilled, sinking as deeply as I could and trying to feel every inch of her.

Her warmth surrounded me, and I couldn’t move anymore, savoring the feel of her body under mine.

“So what’s with the tattoo?”

I pulled my head up to see her calm, amused eyes as if we hadn’t just rutted like animals on her kitchen floor.

I glanced at my left arm, high up, just below the shoulder joint, seeing the tattoo.

“You don’t look like the type,” she mused.

I gave a weak laugh. “I’m not. It was a misspent weekend in Hong Kong when I was twenty-two,” I explained. “I’d just graduated from college, was headed off to law school, and my buddies and I did a lot of things we shouldn’t have.”

I felt her shake with a laugh. “But why a circle?”

I shrugged, not sure how to explain. It had made sense at the time.

The tattoo was a circle designed to look like it was painted with a paintbrush. However, there was a flaw. The brushstroke stopped just before it met the beginning of the circle again.

“It’s a perfect circle,” I told her. “The same diameter any way you measure it. Even, clean, perfect.” And then I dropped my forehead to hers, closing my eyes. “But it’s incomplete.”

I’d loved its one flaw. I’d loved the artistry and skill that it took to tattoo this perfect circle without a stencil, and I loved how it was left open and unfinished.

There was so much right about it, but still, it was incomplete. Still missing something.

I pulled out of her and stood up, disposing of the condom and cleaning up. Pulling my pants up, I zipped them and fastened my belt before leaning back down to help her up.

Taking her in my arms, I kissed her, her breast still exposed and her damp dress hanging off her body.

“Things are going to change,” I told her. “I want you out of here and away from him.”

ut she just fixed her dress and shook her head. “I don’t want money from you.”

“Do you want things for Jared?”

She darted her eyes to me, a small scowl on her face. “Stop using him against me.”

I let out a sigh, exhausted after the sex, and took her chin, tipping it back up so that her eyes met mine.

“A house in a better neighborhood—with trees and a front yard and friends?” I asked. “A car, so you can get him to school or the doctor or the grocery store.”

But she took my hand away and looked at me defiantly. “No,” she argued. “I liked this. I don’t want it to change. I don’t want to be your pussy-at-the-ready. I want to be surprised and carried away again. Nothing else between us. Just this, okay?”

I kissed her forehead, letting her have her way, because I was too tired to fight right now. I was happy she didn’t regret today, and I was even happier that she wanted more.

Things would change, though. I knew what I wanted, and I always got what I wanted.

One way or another.

• • •

The book shakes in my hand, and Dylan and I just stare at the page.

“Jared?” she says, sounding confused.

“Madoc?” I follow suit, remembering the names mentioned in the text.

Caruthers?

And then it seems to hit both of us all at once, and she scurries to sit up. “Grandma?”

“Mom?” I whimper.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God! I bury my face in my pillow and scream, every muscle in my body tightening with shock and distaste. “Oh, my God, no!”

She snatches the book away and turns the page, a devilish little grin of excitement on her face.

“Give that to me, you perv!” I grab for the book and throw it across the room, where it slams against the wall and lands on the floor. “I can’t believe we just read that!”

She busts up laughing, keeling over so that her forehead crashes into the comforter. “That was epic!” she screams, punching the bed with her fists.

“Ugh!” I groan and shiver at the same time, trying to rub the cooties off me. “We’re not reading any more.”

“Why?” She pops her head up and looks at me like a kid who wants candy.

“Because it’s your grandparents, and it’s my parents, and gross!”

“It’s not my grandparents,” she argues, trying to reason. “It has to be just a coincidence. I want to read more.”