Then he paused, still staring down at her, his eyes oddly tender. “All I know is that when I looked across the room that night at the party and saw you, everything changed for me. There was instant recognition. No, I didn’t know anything about you at that point, but what I did know was that you were going to be mine. As for that bullshit about me not wanting you after you told me about your past, well, it’s just that. Bullshit. We all make mistakes, baby. Nobody is perfect. I’m not. You’re not. It would be boring as shit if we were.”
Tears pricked her eyelids and he kissed the corner of her eye before any could spill over the edge.
“Don’t cry, Bethany. Not here in our bed. Not with me inside you. I want you to shut out everything else except me and you and the way I make you feel. Forget everything but this.”
He pulled back and then eased forward, pushing gently until he was all the way back in again.
His voice changed, becoming more serious, but his gaze never left her. “I’m not saying this is going to be easy. I’ll make mistakes. You’ll make mistakes—mostly about trying to draw attention to the differences between us. I realize it’ll take time for you to get over this mind-set that you’re somehow not good enough for me. It pisses me off but I get that you can’t change a lifetime of seeing yourself the way you do overnight. But I’m going to work on it and I’m going to wear you down, so just be forewarned. I’m a persistent bastard and I never walk away from something I want, whether in business or my personal life.”
She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck, and pulled him down to meet her kiss. He seemed surprised by the sudden gesture and he let her take control of the kiss.
“Shut up and kiss me,” she whispered against his mouth.
He smiled, his lips curving against hers. “Now that I can do, baby.”
They went silent as their tongues tangled and clashed, twisting and rolling until she was breathless and panting. He groaned low in his throat and pushed his arms underneath her so he could gather her closer against his body.
His hips arched fluidly, his cock sliding in and out of her body until she was dizzy with pleasure. And he was so close. There wasn’t a part of her that he wasn’t touching in some way. His body was pressed against her and she could feel every twitch, every time his muscles coiled and bunched with the effort of his movements.
It hit her as he tore his mouth from hers and pressed a line of kisses down her jaw to her neck that this was nothing like the meaningless sex she’d experienced. There was nothing dirty or emotionally bereft about this.
It wasn’t even like the threesome she’d had with Jace and Ash.
For the first time in her life, she was making love.
And it sounded absurd. It sounded trite and cheesy and a whole host of other words that escaped her. It made her sound like a silly twit who couldn’t separate feelings from sex.
But the simple truth was, the only feelings she’d experienced previously were of shame, self-loathing, embarrassment, hopelessness . . .
She didn’t know how to process the bombardment of emotion Jace evoked. She was overwhelmed and not in the way she’d said the day before. He surrounded her, touched her, filled her. Filled places that had long been left hollow and aching. He reached into the very heart of her and spread warmth and contentment.
She hugged him to her, not wanting even the barest of inches to separate them. She clung to him as he rocked into her, deeper, harder, penetrating to her very soul.
Overwhelming? Definitely. Everything about Jace rocked the foundations of her existence. He’d upended her life in a matter of hours and yet she didn’t feel panic. Maybe she should. She was back in his bed—after only hours of being back with him—and yet it didn’t feel wrong. It didn’t feel cheap. And wasn’t that what was important?
She closed her eyes, still clinging fiercely to him. She was utterly wrecked by the enormity of what was happening even if she didn’t fully comprehend it.
“Baby.”
Jace’s tender voice pulled her from her scattered thoughts.
“Look at me, baby.”
She opened her eyes to see him staring intently down at her. There was concern in his expression and a look of tenderness that matched his tone.
“Are you all right?”
She nodded, not trusting herself to voice her response.
“You sure?”
Again she nodded and hugged him tighter. “Kiss me.”
“You never have to ask for that.”
He kissed her. Fierce. Possessive. She shivered and arched her body, only wanting to be closer to him.
“How close are you?” he whispered.
“Almost there,” she whispered back.
“Tell me what you need to get there.”
“You,” she said. “Just you.”
His eyes flashed and his jaw clenched. Then he was kissing her again. Harder. Hot. Until she was breathing his air and he was breathing hers.
They were locked together so tightly that she didn’t even know how he managed to keep thrusting. Her release built low and deep—so deep that it felt like she was being turned inside out.
It was scary and huge, overwhelming in the best possible way. This she didn’t fear. Not this time. It felt so very right. That should have scared her too. It was then she realized that no matter how ridiculous it sounded, she trusted him. She trusted him to take care of her. No matter that she didn’t really know him. That they’d only been together twice and only for a matter of hours. She knew he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. She just knew it.
“I trust you,” she whispered.
She had to give him this. Knew how important it was. He wanted her trust and at the same time he acknowledged that it would take time. But she wanted to give this to him now because he was giving her so much and this was all she had to give him. Nothing else. There was nothing she could give him that he didn’t already have. Except herself. It wasn’t enough but it was what he wanted—what he said he wanted—and it was the only thing she had to give.
“Ah, baby,” he groaned. “You undo me.”
He began to move faster, harder. It was as if her words sent him right over the edge. His control was gone and she reveled in the ferocity of his possession.
She went slick around him and he moved easier, pushing into her until she gasped at his depth.
And then she began to unravel. Everything she’d held so tightly within for so long began to loosen.
It was too much. He’d said she undid him, but in truth she was the one coming completely undone.
She squeezed him tight, never wanting to let go. She wanted to live in this moment where nothing could touch her, where nothing else mattered. It was so easy to forget her life, her circumstances. Because in his arms she was strong. She was worthy.