Bursting With Love (16 page)

She grabbed his hand and pressed it harder against her head, helping him move her forward and back. Jack threw his head back and drew in a deep breath, turned on by her aggression. He did as she urged, and with both hands, he moved her faster. He drove deeper into her mouth, until he could feel the back of her throat against the tip.

“Savannah, no. Not like this.”

She looked up at him, her lips still wrapped around him, and he just about lost it. She released him slowly.

“I want to do everything with you, Jack.”

Her eyes were wide, innocent, but in the next second, darkness stole the innocence and translated as pure, sexual lust. He wrestled with his next move. God, he wanted to be inside her, but how could he turn down such a desirous plea?

“Explore with me. I’ve never explored my sexuality like this with anyone, Jack.” She rose to her feet. “I want you in ways I have never wanted anyone before.”

“Jesus, Savannah.” He took her mouth in a rough kiss, their teeth clashing, their tongues digging deep, hard. All hope of restraint shattered. He lowered her to the bed and climbed on top of her, pressing her into the mattress as he straddled her, his knees pinning her arms out to the side.

“Yes, Jack,” she urged, lifting her head so she could lick his balls.

His head fell back and his groin tightened. He’d do anything for her. With her. To her. Whatever she wanted, but this felt so good and so wrong at the same time. He wanted her to know how much he’d begun to care for her. He wasn’t brought up to believe that you treated the person you cared for this roughly—even if it was what she wanted. Even if it spiked all the dirty thoughts he’d ever conjured up. He couldn’t do it. He set her arms free, and as he lowered his body on top of hers, he saw disappointment in her eyes.

“I want more with you, Jack. I want to experience everything with you—sexually and otherwise,” Savannah said. “I don’t know why, but I do.”

He kissed her again. “So do I. But I want you to know how I feel about you. It’s not just sex for me.”

“For me either,” she whispered. “Love me, Jack. I know it’s crazy. We’ve only known each other a few days, but I can’t pretend I don’t feel it, and if you run the other way, you do. I want whatever I can have. A day, an hour.”

She said everything he felt and had been hiding from. “A lifetime.” The words came out before he could check them, and when he realized what he’d said, he knew he meant it. “I’m broken, Savannah, but I’m fixable. I know I am.”

She pushed him onto his back and ran her hands along his chest. He closed his eyes, drinking in her loving touch. Her lips found his nipples, and she stroked them with her tongue, caressing his chest with her small hands. Jack could barely breathe. His empty world was becoming full once again, and when she straddled him and lowered herself onto him, taking in every inch of his hard length, he opened his eyes and met her gaze. She pressed her palms on his chest as she moved in a quick rhythm against him. He grabbed her wrists and pulled her down to him so he could taste her lips once again. Her mouth was heaven—warm, wet, needy. Her slim hips moved in perfect time to his efforts, stringing his nerves into tight cords. She drew away and arched her back, moving faster, growing tighter around him.

“Jack,” she cried.

“Savannah.” He got the word out just before every muscle tightened, and he gritted his teeth against his powerful release.

Savannah moaned, loud and high-pitched.

Jack’s groans were deep and growly as pleasure tore through his chest, stealing his breath and flexing every muscle until they ached. He thrust hard as he filled her with his love, meeting her quick throbs with his own strong thrusts until blissful shivers replaced the urgency and she came to rest on his chest.

Savannah moved beside him, her hand on his chest, her head in the crook of his shoulder. He drew her closer, loving the feel of her bare legs over his and her breasts against his side.

She touched his cheek and turned his face toward her. His heart swelled with emotions he had ignored for so long that he’d wondered if he would ever feel them again. Instead of scaring him, it reassured him. He was going to be okay. His soul hadn’t died with Linda after all.

Savannah’s lips brushed his. “Any weird thoughts creeping into your head?” she asked.

“Not the kind I was worried about.” He rolled toward her and kissed her again, surprised when he became hard once again.

SAVANNAH PROPPED HERSELF up on her elbow and watched Jack sleep.
If only every Wednesday morning could look this good.
She’d noticed when they were on the mountain that he hadn’t slept much, and now his chest rose and fell in a peaceful cadence. His entire beautiful body was relaxed. There were no bulging veins or tense muscles, just six foot four inches of perfectly sculpted sleeping man. She thought about the scars she’d felt on his back and wondered how he’d gotten them. Jack was plowing through so many changes that she didn’t feel pressure to know all of his secrets at once. She had a feeling that there were some things Jack had to reveal when he felt comfortable and safe. For him, she could be patient.

She had the urge to run her finger along the sexy tufts of hair on his chest. Hell, she had the urge to put her lips on his and feel his desire lengthen against her again, but it was only five thirty in the morning and they hadn’t blown out the candles until three thirty. She lay back and stared at the ceiling, thinking about the hours they’d spent caressing every inch of each other’s bodies. A shiver ran through her. She could practically feel him inside of her again. A string of worry sifted through her mind.
Will he think I’m slutty because of the things we did? Was I too aggressive? Oh God. He said I was not at all like Linda. What if he wants someone just like her?
She closed her eyes.
Will Linda always be with us?

She felt the mattress move, and Jack’s large hand covered her bare stomach. He pressed a soft kiss to her temple.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he whispered.

Please don’t think I’m a slut
. She opened her eyes, and he smiled. Sleepiness hovered in his deep blue eyes, and just beyond, a spark flickered. A hungry spark.

“Morning.”

“What time is it?” He ran his hand down her ribs, over the arc of her hip, and squeezed her thigh.

Jack’s touch, his voice, his kisses—
Oh God, his kisses!
—nourished her in ways she’d never known she was missing.

“Five thirty,” she answered.

He sighed and lay back down. The comforter covered him from the hips down, and there was no mistaking what caused the tented fabric.

“I have to be somewhere at nine.” He rolled onto his side again and pressed himself against her.

She wanted to climb right back on top of him and forget about work and whatever he had to do altogether. She put her hand on his cheek, and the rough stubble added another wanton thought to her already horny mind.

“I have to be at work at eight,” she managed.

He kissed her lightly, then ran the pad of his thumb along her cheekbone, following the line of her jaw to her chin, and placed a kiss in the center of it. She loved when he touched her like that—like he was memorizing everything about her.

“About last night,” he whispered.

Savannah closed her eyes.
Don’t say it. If it was a mistake, please don’t tell me. Send me a text. Leave me a message. Just let me live in this amazing fantasy for a few more minutes, please.
She opened her eyes, readying herself for the kick to her heart that she feared.

“I meant every word I said.” Jack leaned his forehead against hers. “Every word, Savannah. I know it’s fast and maybe even crazy.”

She couldn’t breathe.

He brushed her hair from her forehead and kissed her there. “But what I feel for you runs so deep. All those things we did together…”

Embarrassment clenched her chest and squeezed.
OhGodohGod
.

Jack shook his head. His touch was so tender as he drew his hand up along her rib cage, and his thumb brushed the underside of her breast. Savannah gasped a quiet breath.

“I want to crawl beneath your skin and become one with you.” His gaze was a sensual caress, his voice a tether to her heart.

She put her hand behind his neck and pulled him to her, and she kissed him as she had so many times the night before. She’d memorized the way he stroked her tongue with a rhythm that was all his own, and when his hand found her breast, the weight of it had already become familiar, and she pressed in to him. She believed his words because every confession came with a touch of proof. Jack Remington was no longer hiding behind anger and guilt, and that was clear in his eyes, his words, his touch.

Savannah put her cheek against his and whispered, “Why did it take so long for us to find each other?”

His eyes narrowed as his hand slipped between her legs. “Fate. I wouldn’t have been ready before now.”

He stroked her lightly, teasing her until she swelled and became slick against his fingers. She closed her eyes, allowing herself to be spoiled by his touch. When she was with Connor, she’d always felt pressure to perform, and with Jack it was just the opposite. She wanted to touch him, to please him, and she wanted to be loved by him—but there was no rush, no feeling of mandatory reciprocation.

Jack kissed her lips, then licked a slow trail down her neck and dragged his teeth along the sharp edge of her collarbone. Savannah sucked in a quick breath, her insides tugging for him, needing him. His fingers moved in slow erotic strokes, never once entering her. She arched her neck back, then grabbed his wrist, urging him to enter her. Then his mouth was on hers, kissing her with such intensity that it spurred a rush of fire through her center. His fingers moved faster, his tongue devoured her mouth, and his erection pressed against her leg. She breathed in deeply through her nose, inhaling his masculine scent. His eyes blinked open, and the veracity in them sent her spiraling toward the edge. The muscles in her legs flexed, and her insides squeezed tight.

“Jack.”

In the next breath, he was inside her, loving her fast and hard.

“Ah,” she cried, grabbing his hips.

He slowed, and she knew he thought he’d hurt her. She pulled him toward her, urging him deeper.

“More,” was all she could say.

He groaned, and she knew by the tension in his body, as she’d learned the night before, he was just as close to coming undone as she was. She arched her hips to meet his thrusts and spread her knees as wide as they would go, allowing him to penetrate her deeper. His eyes widened and his breaths came harder, faster, as he quickened his pace.

She clenched the silky sheets in her fists and curled her toes under as the sensations heightened. She needed to come so badly—but she wanted to do it with him.

“Jack,” she urged. “Come with me.”

He thrust harder. Savannah dug her heels into the mattress to keep from inching up the slippery sheets. Sweat beaded their bodies, and Jack brushed his lips over hers. “Now, Savannah.”

With his next thrust, Savannah cried out his name, rocking her hips against his, turned on by the masculine grunts that sifted into her ears and clutched her heart. She felt herself falling for everything about him, from the muscles rippling beneath her fingers to the softness of his midnight confessions. The way he asked if it was okay to touch her in certain places and the way he forced control in others. Her body shook beneath him with the last sensual constriction of her climax.

Jack’s slick body came to rest atop hers, breathing as heavily as she was. He was so big. So heavy and strong, and when he looked down at her, she saw a gentleness that didn’t quite fit but stole another piece of her heart.

He leaned his forehead against hers. “Savannah, I want you to know something.”

“Sounds serious.”

“I don’t know if this is the time to talk, but I need you to hear this. I know I’ve got a long way to go in dealing with everything.” His eyes played over hers. “And I’m sure you’re wondering if I’ll ever get over Linda. I spent two years wondering if I would. Last night I realized that I’ll always love her, and I will probably always feel guilty about losing her the way I did. But the way you’ve touched my heart is one hundred and eighty degrees different from the way anyone ever has before. Everything about us—how we talk, how we touch, how we make love—it’s all different. Deeper. There’s no comparison between you and her, and I’ll do my best to try to keep from mentioning her name.”

She knew she could believe him, but she also knew the pressure that would put him under. She could already see the gears in his mind ticking away, worrying, preparing the guilt for when her name came up, and that’s not what she wanted him to live with.

“Jack, Linda was a big part of your life, and I don’t expect you to forget her or to pretend she didn’t exist. She did exist, and that’s okay. You are who you are because of everything you went through and everything you had together. I can’t imagine that getting over the hurt and dealing with the grief is going to be easy.”

“I can do it,” he said. “I will do it.”

“I know you can, and I believe you will. But please, you have to know that Linda is not a threat to me.” As she said the words, she realized it was true. “You’ll probably have times when you remember something about her and it makes you happy or sad, or when you just need to talk about her. I’m a big girl, Jack. I get that. I’ve watched my father grieve for my mother forever.”
Not that I’d want you having conversations with your dead wife.
“You’re not in this alone anymore. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” She brushed his hair from his forehead and cupped his cheek in her hand.

“I love you, Jack.” The words came without effort or thought, and she didn’t have any inclination to stop them. She didn’t care if she’d known him an hour, a day, or a year. She knew she should worry about scaring him off, but after the things he’d said to her, she couldn’t even hold on to that thought for a second. There were all sorts of things she should probably worry about, like if he’d ever get completely over Linda. If they’d ever be able to share a bedroom, or if the anger and guilt would come back and haunt him later that afternoon or the next day. But her father’s words came back to her loud and clear.
The strength and ability to survive comes from within.
When Jack looked down at her, she knew he had everything he needed to survive. He was stronger than any man she knew. He had to be to survive what he already had.

And when Jack looked into her eyes with so much honesty she wanted to make love to him again and he said, “I love you, too. I really, truly do,” she knew she could believe him.