All Falls Down (25 page)

"Nonsense," she says. There's… something… in her voice. Something important, but I can't seem to catch hold of what it means. "Jared will stay with you," she decides before I can figure it out.

She hugs me hard before scooting away.

Jared's strong arms encircle me and he lifts me gently from the floor. His scent wraps around me as he tucks me against his chest like I'm a little kid, and for the first time since answering the phone, my breath comes a little easier.

I curl into his embrace with a soft sigh.

"Take care of her," Lexi says, and she sounds… sad.

I bury my face in Jared's chest and pass out.

I come to with a jolt when he lays me on my bed in the guesthouse.

It's completely dark in the room.

"Let go, beautiful girl," he says when I immediately tighten my hold on him.

I don't want to let go. He's so warm and he smells so good. Like home and safety and happiness. I think if he moves away from me, I may crumble into pieces too small to put back together.

"Let go for a minute, love," he says again, brushing my hair back from my forehead with one hand. "I need to get your clothes off."

I realize then that my shirt is damp.

"It's raining."

I didn't even know.

"Yeah," he murmurs, pressing his lips to my forehead.

I reluctantly let go of him. He kisses the inside of each of my wrists before easing my arms down to the bed beside me and sitting me up. He removes my shirt quickly. I want to help him, but my entire body feels like Jell-O.

He unhooks my bra, his lips brushing little kisses across my shoulder. Heat starts blooming inside, washing away the chill and lethargy that's settled over me. He removes my bra carefully, his lips never leaving my skin.

"Jared," I breathe when he leans away to toss the bra to the floor. My hands lift of their own volition and find his shirt. I curl my fingers into it, shifting my legs against one another.

He leans back in, pulling me up against his chest and holding me tightly. "I missed you tonight."

His breath is warm against my cheek, and heat pushes out a little more of the chill clinging inside of me. I still feel so small and scared though, as if hearing Toby's voice again has buried all the good parts of me deep inside. The other stuff – the bad stuff – is heavy atop those parts, suffocating them. Suffocating
me
.

"Please," I say to Jared. I'm not really sure what I'm asking him for. I just need him to help me find myself again. Need him to remind me who I am.

He doesn't even hesitate. His arms tighten around me and his lips skim across my cheek in search of my mouth. I turn toward him and our lips meet. Our kiss is soft and slow, completely different than it was in the conservatory hours ago.

I sigh into his mouth. He shifts us around on the bed, fumbling with the button and zipper of my shorts. Our tongues keep coming together and dancing apart as he helps me stand and pulls my shorts and panties down my legs. Cool air brushes across my bare skin, but it's not the same as the chill slowly beginning to unravel inside.

Jared stands with me and begins to slip from his own clothes, pulling his suit off the best he can. Our mouths don't stop moving against one another. The only sounds in the room are soft pants, sighs, and the rustle of fabric.

"Come here," he murmurs against my lips when he's completely naked. His erection presses insistently against my stomach, and I am so wet. Every time he touches me, heat kisses my skin.

He settles down on the bed, and draws me toward him with his hand on my wrist. I straddle him, and gasp when his length presses against my center. Everything but him bleeds away.

I'm a ball of sensation. Of scent, touch… of him.

I hover over him on my knees. His mouth breaks from mine and dips to my breast. His tongue is hot against my nipple, his teeth heavenly. My fingers clutch at his shoulders as he pulls first one nipple and then the other into his mouth, sucking hard.

"Jared," I moan, arching into him.

His arms are firmly around me, holding me close, his erection rubbing against my clit. My arousal drips down my thighs. I've never been in this position before, but it's so intimate. So intense. Like he's truly worshipping me, his mouth and hands caressing every inch of me.

"Beautiful girl," he whispers.

His fingers brush across the scars on my back and then down my sides. I try not to cry out when he slips his fingers between my legs and rubs my clit. The moment is so soft, so beautiful, that it seems almost sacrilegious to ruin it with anything more than a whisper.

He lines himself up at my entrance, his mouth working along my collarbones and throat.

"Savannah," he breathes into my neck.

I lower myself slowly down onto him, moaning. He slips inside, inch by inch.

All those little pieces of me that Toby's call managed to bury begin to swim toward the surface again. I'm Savannah and I belong here with Jared, and with the girls. They want me here. They need me. They're good for me.

"Oh, baby," Jared groans when my ass settles against his thighs, pushing him fully inside of me.

I don't move at all for a long moment. Instead I close my eyes, reveling in the decadent sensations whispering through me. At the delicious way he stretches and fills me, like he was made to be inside me. And at the way he holds me, his hands gentle as he pulls me closer, closer, until I'm no longer sure where I end and he begins.

His hands span my ribcage, his lips trailing reverently everywhere he can reach – my throat, my shoulders, my collarbone, over my heart, and across my breasts. I begin to move slowly atop him, barely breathing as I lift myself from him and ease back down.

Our movements are unhurried, and little by little, I begin to find myself. Every time he whispers my name into my skin, telling me again and again who I am, I feel a little more solid, a little more real. His groans reverberate all over, those soft sounds washing away every bad thing Toby's voice brought to the surface.

All that's left is me and Jared. It's so sweet, so beautiful, tears slip down my cheeks.

I begin to moan louder, my movements speeding a little. He helps lift me up and settle me back down, groaning every time my ass meets his thighs, pushing him fully inside me.

"Beautiful girl," he moans when his name breaks from my lips in response to the sensations buffeting my body. His hands tighten on my sides for a moment and his hips buck toward mine before circling.

He's so deep, I cry out, a shockwave of pleasure rolling through me.

He does the same thing again and I cry out again. And then again.

Within moments, everything but him and this moment completely dissolves. The only thing left is his cock inside of me, his hands on my body, and his sweaty skin beneath mine.

I ride him slowly.

His mouth settles on my nipple again, pulling and laving in turns.

"Jared, Jared," I chant, my body beginning to tremble.

"Come for me, baby," he whispers, his mouth over my heart. One of his hands dips between my legs and begins to rub circles against my clit.

I moan and my fingernails dig into his shoulders.

"I love you, Savannah," he whispers.

The world explodes around me the moment those words leave his lips, waves of ecstasy rushing through me.

"I love you," he says again as his body begins to jerk beneath mine.

He calls my name loudly, and we collapse against one another.

"
You don't belong here, Savannah," Toby whispers, wrapping his arms around my waist as I stand in the driveway, holding my bags. "You belong with me. I'll take care of you."

"
Toby…."

I don't want to go.

I want to go.

I'm so confused.

"
You're an inconvenience here, Sav. Your mom left you, and they," he lifts one big arm and points at the mansion before us, "feel sorry for you. You know this is true. You aren't like them. You don't fit here. If you stay, you'll ruin their lives."

"
Kit's my friend," I whisper, a lump forming in my throat.

"
Is she?" he asks. "Is she really?"

"
I…"

"
You belong with me, Savannah. Come to Italy. You can go to school there. It'll be good for you."

I nod as tears begin to slip down my cheeks.

"
Savannah! Savannah, wait!" Jared yells as Toby helps me onto his motorcycle after my bags are lashed into place.

I glance back to find him running down the steps toward us. "Toby, let me–"

"
No," he snaps and kicks the motorcycle to life. "You don't belong here."

"No!" I cry out, my eyes flying open. For a minute, I think Toby really is driving away while Jared races after us, calling my name and begging me to wait for him. For a minute, I see his torn expression clearly and I want to scream at the pain etched there.

My heart hammers loudly.

"Shh," Jared whispers in my ear. His voice is thick, sleepy.

"Jared," I sigh, the nightmare falling away when his naked body presses tightly to mine, his hands pulling me closer. Toby isn't driving away with me. Jared isn't begging me to wait for him.

"I'm right here, beautiful girl," he murmurs. "He isn't going to get to you."

"Please," I say, reaching for his erection, which is pressed against my thigh. I run my hand over him, pumping gently. I need him to remind me who I am. I need him to ground me in reality again.

His hips jerk, pushing his cock into my hand. He moans in my ear, hardening instantly.

I want him, so badly it hurts.

"Please," I say again.

He rolls on top of me, gently nudging my legs apart.

His mouth searches for mine in the dark.

I cry out when he presses himself inside of me. Toby, fear… all the bad things fall away again.

Jared makes love to me slowly, softly, whispering in my ear that he's here, that everything is okay, that he loves me. My orgasm this time is soft, a gentle breeze whispering through me.

It's heaven.