Ryn laughed. “Ya think?”

“Yes. I think the first law is no speeding and the second is no fucking in the driveway. Now strip.”

Using borrowed courage from some unknown place, she stood. It was a start.

“You’re mine for eternity, so you might as well get used to these eyes looking at your naked body—only these eyes.”

Her heart drummed against her chest in a terrifying yet exhilarating rhythm. In an unexplainable way, she both hated and loved how far out of her skin she felt when he looked at her.

“Let’s start with this … What part of your body have I not seen?”

The hint of a smile played with the corners of her mouth.

“Better yet, what part of your body have my lips not touched?”

Tugging off her shirt, she smiled. Gone were the compression bras; she didn’t burn them, but they were hauled off with the trash shortly after the infamous refrigerator sex. Lace, satin, and underwire took their place.

“What you’re doing right now feels more intimate than anything you’ve ever done to me with your mouth.”

“We’ll see about that.” He wet his lips, eyeing her white lace bra. Approval glimmered in his eyes.

She removed the rest of her clothes, eager to be in his arms. He took a step back as she moved toward him.

“Stop.”

She froze. Her hands searched for a place to be: hanging idle at her sides, covering her breasts, shielding her neatly-shaven pussy?

“Repeat after me.”

“What?” Her voice squeaked with disbelief.

He grinned as his ego gobbled up her confidence. “I’m beautiful.”

Ryn squinted.

“Say it.”

She sighed. “I’m beautiful.”

“I’m taking back every bit of confidence that bastard took from me.”

It would never happen like that, but someone who hadn’t been in her shoes could never understand. However, she loved the naked man standing before her for saying it.

“I’m taking back every bit of confidence that bastard took from me.”

“I’m worthy of happiness.”

That one hit harder than it should have. She’d never given happiness much thought.

“Say it.”

“I’m … I’m worthy of happiness.”

“I’m going to marry Jackson Knight and love him in spite of his multiple fucked-up personalities.”

“Jackson—”

“Say it.” His voice carried a rare pain and vulnerability.

“I’m going to marry Jackson Knight…” she stepped closer and rested her hands on his chest “…and I’m going to love Every. Single. One. Of his fucked-up personalities.”

“I’ve had a shit day,” he whispered, brushing his thumb along her cheek. “Until now.”

She nodded slowly, then looked up at him. “I’ve had a shit life … until now.”

“Touch me,” he said.

“Where?”

“Everywhere. Make me feel human again.”

She could do that. She could make him feel human. After all, he made her feel alive.

Jackson looked at her with complete surrender as they stepped into the steamy abyss. His breath caught when she touched him. He closed his eyes and let her move her soapy hands over the firm planes of his body. The pain in his face crushed her. What had happened to him? Could one human take the life of another and still feel whole? Or did he give away a piece of himself with every life he took?

The water washed over her like guilt. What if he needed to tell her? Ryn didn’t want to know everything. She loved Jackson Knight now and just like her past, she didn’t want to let yesterday taint today and steal tomorrow.

Water clung to his eyelashes as he blinked them open when she shut off the water. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he lifted her up and carried her to the bed, not stopping for towels.

“We’re drenched,” she shrieked as he threw back his comforter and tossed her onto the cold sheets.

Before she could protest with another word, he crawled up her body while covering them completely with the comforter. Ryn liked their private cocoon. She also liked how he wasted no time warming up her body with his.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered over her skin.

She closed her eyes as his tongue parted her folds, his lips soft on her sensitive flesh. Ryn grabbed his hair and let her legs fall open for him. Everything he did meant something so much greater than physical desire. The woman who survived years of abuse had learned to trust again, but more than that, he’d taught her to believe. When Jackson touched her she believed in herself and she felt truly beautiful.

“Jackson …” she writhed beneath him as he kissed his way back up her body, sinking into her as his lips claimed hers again.

Ryn turned her head to the side, relishing the feel of his teeth teasing along her neck.

“Tell me.”

“What?” he murmured over her skin.

“Tell me we’re not just fucking.”

He stopped. Ryn clenched her muscles around him buried inside of her. The fullness stole her breath as much as the intensity in his eyes.

“We’re having intercourse.” A smile crept along his face.

Ryn dug her nails into his ass.

Tags: Jewel E. Ann Jack & Jill Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net