Page 114 of Into the Dark
As always with Jake—and with life, I suppose—things are never quite as clear-cut as my rigid mind first thinks. How coddled my life must have been that I think in such perfectly straight lines. Lines that have been drawn by privilege and luxury.
I nod. “Okay.”
He takes my hand and squeezes it tight, a soft smile on his mouth. Something else floats to the front of my mind—something I need to get out or it’s just going to live there permanently.
“You slept with her, didn’t you? Gemma,” I ask.
The change of direction takes him by surprise. He blinks, and his eyes widen.
“Before me, I mean.”
A flicker of what looks like guilt moves over his eyes. “It was one time, months before we met, and there’s been no one since you—you know that. That’s not what any of this is about, I swear to you.”
“I know.” I nod. “I just wanted to hear it.”
I can see he’s considering his next words carefully. “She’s twenty years old, Alex, and she works for me. She thought this kind of bullshit—mine and Kev’s bullshit—was…glamorous. They all do. And I encouraged it, him and her. I wanted her off my back.” He looks extremely sorry about it. “So I feel like it’s my fault. I feel…”
“Responsible,” I finish.
He gives me a look of uncertainty but then nods. I stare at his face, perfectly unmarred despite the violence earlier, and drink in the smooth tanned skin of his cheeks, the soft arch of his full mouth, the wide, glittering green eyes that stare back at me with with need. I lean in to press my mouth to his, and he curls his hand around to the small of my back to pull me close. The kiss is slow and gentle, almost chaste, our tongues only lightly grazing each other’s.
“I love you so bloody much, Jake Lawrence,” I tell him in a whisper.
In response he captures my mouth again, harder this time, and urges me onto his lap so I’m straddling him. With his hand still on the base of my spine, he grabs a handful my dress and slides it up so the material bunches at my hips to expose my behind. His touch is rough and hot, and his breaths quicken exponentially as he drags his mouth down to my neck and throat and sucks at my skin. He moves me over his growing erection, and I chase the friction it brings, moaning softly as his mouth works at my jaw and neck.
“Jake…” I pant as I reach between us to wrap my fingers around him, squeezing the thick length of him through his pants.
He lets out a low growl against my throat. “Baby,” he whispers.
My blood feels as if it’s on fire, and my body moves in slow, sensual, needy motions against his. I’m desperate for him now—desperate for him to be inside me, spreading me open as I ride him hard. I have the sudden overwhelming urge to bite him somewhere, mark his skin and leave an imprint of myself on him. I don’t analyze the thought too much; I just turn his head and scrape my teeth down his throat and then around to the crook of his shoulder, where I sink them gently into the hard rope of muscle there. He tastes salty under my tongue and moans loose and raw as I grip his hair and pull his head back with it. I tighten my grip on his cock, twisting my wrist around the head. He curses.
“Yes, baby, like that…yes, fuck…” he breathes, his teeth scraping along his lower lip. His eyes burn dark with desire as he pushes up to meet my mouth, his taste exploding over my tongue. The blood feels aflame, my skin vibrating with need. I feel drugged. Intoxicated. Strength courses through his fingers as he grips the back of my neck tightly and traps me against his mouth, as his hips thrust up into my hand, against my body. Power. I always knew he had it, that he was exhilaratingly strong, but now I’ve seen it. The dark tornado inside him.
I hear the sound of ice being dislodged—he kept his knuckles in the ice bowl this entire time?—and gasp when I feel his freezing fingers stroke me over the outside of my panties. An instant later, he shoves the delicate material aside and pushes them inside me—hard, freezing fingers pushed deep.
I almost scream at the strange relief it spreads through my heated body.
Jake sucks in a breath. “Jesus Christ, Alex, you’re so fucking warm here. Are you ready for my cock inside you, baby?” His kisses are languid and rhythmic like his fingers.
“Yes. Now,” I almost shout, reaching to unbuckle his belt.
He huffs out a half-laugh as I free him from the confines of his pants. The room is warm, but he’s warmer, the hardness scalding-hot in my hands. I want to feel it in my mouth, but that would require too much work now and I want him inside me more. As he slides his fingers out of me he strokes one deliciously over my clitoris, circling the little knot of nerves for a few seconds while I try not to lose my mind.
As I do, my eyes land on a bloodmarked reminder: the color of Kevin’s blood on the left-hand side of his shirt. It should scare me, the ease with which I’m able to push all thoughts of it from my mind. To focus on this, on him, on what I need.
As I angle the head of him against me, he pulls my panties aside, eyes wide and focused now as he watches me reposition myself a little. When I begin to sink down onto him, he lets out a low sound from the back of his throat, raw and unhinged, and his eyes seem to ignite completely, green fire sparking bright. He’s thick and scalding-hot, and I feel every rigid part of his cock as it slides all the way home. I let out a long, breathy moan of pleasure. It feels divine. Perfect. He’s bloody perfect. Nothing and no one can ever change that.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he says softly. The look on his face is one of awe and love. “I love you. Tell me you know that.”
“I know you do. I know,” I whisper, my breath dancing across the space between us as I begin to move.
“Fuck yourself on my cock, baby. Show me how good it feels.”
I can only moan in response. Moan and obey.
“That’s it, baby. Fuck, look at you…” Jake says, watching me intently.
My orgasm rushes up quickly, almost without warning, and I cling to Jake’s shoulders as it washes over me. I can feel his body trembling beneath mine, power restrained, but only for a moment before he pulls me hard against him and thrusts his hips up into me a few more times, spilling hot and violently inside.