“You don’t have to go,” Jess said softly as they prepared for bed. Scott had been cool and aloof for the last few hours, ever since their conversation with Angela, and she was fretting that she was pushing him too far.

 

“No, I’ll be there. If they snatch you back then this all would have been for nothing. But you know we’re taking a huge risk here, right? What if your mother thinks it’s for the best that you come home with her. Do you put it past her to not call on the Angels to make that happen?” Scott asked. He knew he was being pissy, but his mind was spinning with all the ways this meet could go wrong, and he couldn’t think of a counter for even half of them.

 

Jess stared at her toothbrush, the paste tube hovering over it unsqueezed. “I know. But I can’t just leave, Scott. I can’t! I have to see her this one last time. I have to try to make her understand. I owe her that, if nothing else.” She squeezed the paste onto the brush and set to work.

 

“You’re willing to risk your freedom for this? You know if you go back, Val and your mother will make sure you are never free and will run your life forever.”

 

Jess didn’t answer, scrubbing her teeth to give her a chance to think. Scott was right, and she knew he was right, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was something she had to do, and if she didn’t, she would regret it for the rest of her life. She had enough regrets already and she didn’t need any more. After a moment of furious brushing she spat the foam into the sink then rinsed her mouth and the toothbrush, delaying her response as long as possible.

 

“I know, but it’s something I have to do. If I don’t I will always wonder if I did the right thing.”

 

He nodded once before turning on his toe and striding out of the bathroom. It was obvious her mind was made up and there was no changing it. He could understand her wanting to say goodbye, but he wasn’t sure the risk was worth it. Hell, I’m not even sure getting the bike back is worth the risk. I wouldn’t put it past Val to gun me down in the parking lot just to make a point.

 

He shucked his pants, leaving his underwear on out of respect to Ron, and crawled into bed. A few minutes later Jess appeared wearing the shirt they had purchased earlier, a long light-blue sleep-shirt with the words “To Do List: Absolutely Nothing” emblazoned on the front.

 

“Are you upset?” she asked as she snuggled in close. It was amazing how cold an air-conditioned house felt after sleeping for years in a hot apartment.

 

“No. But this could go badly in so many ways, Jess. We’re going to be exposed in a big way. If your mother double-crosses us, we’re going to be fucked.”

 

“You’re the one who wanted to meet out in the open,” she protested.

 

“Yeah. That makes it tougher to ambush us, but it still leaves us with our dicks hanging out. What if your mother pulls a gun and gut shoots me? The Angels will be on you before you can do anything.”

 

“She wouldn’t do that!”

 

“Are you sure? Are you really sure? You’ve made it pretty clear you don’t intend to go back to the way things were. Do you think your mom is ready to let you go? What about your uncle? You think he’s going to just let me walk away now? How much pressure can he put on your mom?”

 

Jess’s first reaction was to protest that he didn’t know what he was talking about, but so much had happened in the last three days she was no longer sure. Her mother was one tough bitch, that much was certain, but would she go so far as to kill to keep her close? Jess didn’t think so, but she was no longer certain.

 

“What do you suggest?” she finally asked.

 

“I suggest we don’t do this. But failing that, you stay in the car until I pat your mother down. Then we take the bike and go someplace else. Your mother follows in the car. If we aren’t tailed, then you can have the meet…otherwise, we bolt. When you’re done, we take the car and leave.”

 

“And my mother?”

 

“We’ll leave her cell. She can call a cab, or Val, or somebody. But we take the car so she can’t follow us.”

 

Jess thought it over. She didn’t like leaving her mother alone, but if they picked someplace safe to leave her, she guessed she could live with Scott’s plan.

 

“Okay. We’ll do it your way. I hope this isn’t all for nothing.”

 

“Me, too,” Scott replied, and he meant it. He just wanted to get this shit behind him and move on with his life.

 

They lay quietly for a time, Jess’s hand drawing lazy patterns on Scott’s chest as his hand caressed her back, her fingers tracing the peaks and valleys of his body as a low level warmth spread through her. She wanted him, not only for the way he made her feel physically, but emotionally, as well. While the brain melting orgasms he gave her were unlike anything she had experienced before, the way she felt after the love-making was just as new. She felt connected and cherished in a way she never had before. Like all the men before him, Scott controlled her, but the way he did it was completely different. He took charge of their love-making, not to ensure his own pleasure, but to ensure hers.

 

She didn’t know if it was the release of oxytocin that made her feel safe or the fact that she was so mellow from having her brains fucked out, but she hadn’t been bothered with dreams since she and Scott had started doing the horizontal mambo. She wanted, no, not wanted, needed that feeling again tonight. She needed to know everything was still okay between them.

 

She allowed her hand to drift lower in degrees until she began to slide her fingers under the elastic waistband of his boxers. He didn’t move or react to her teasing and she worried that her insistence on meeting her mom was cooling his fire toward her. She touched his member, her fingers lightly caressing his manhood. He was only semi-hard, causing her anxiety to increase. Every time she had touched him in the past he was already steel hard.

 

She didn’t want to ask, but she had to know. “Are we okay? Is there something wrong?” she murmured, her hand becoming still.

 

“No, nothing’s wrong,” he whispered. “I’m just worried about tomorrow.”

 

Desperately wanting to believe him she rose up slightly to offer her lips and found his waiting. The kiss instantly began to deepen as they responded to the touch of the other, the flames of passion leaping higher.

 

As their lips parted he looked into Jess’s enormous eyes, her expression a mixture of fear and doubt that was just discernable in the dim light of the bedroom. “What’s wrong?”

 

“I’m worried.”

 

“It’ll be okay. We’ll just have to be careful.”

 

“No. Not about tomorrow, about us. I was afraid…afraid that you were tired of me or something.”

 

“Tired of you? I hardly know you.”

 

“I know, and that’s what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid that you will ‘get tired of my shit’ as Luke used to say. I know that I’m asking—”

 

Scott gave his hips a firm twist, cutting her off as he dumped her on the bed, rolling them over and pinning her down as he stared into her eyes, losing himself in their infinite depths. “Maybe someday…but not today. For now, I’m much more interested in learning all about your shit.” He watched her eyes and could still see the uncertainty there. “And your lips,” he whispered as he lowered his lips to hers.

 

Jess threw everything she had into the kiss, wanting to show Scott that if he would believe in her, she would never disappoint him. She held him to her, their tongues probing as he straddled her leg and then leaned into her pussy, the press of his thigh in her “V” promising much pleasure to come and causing desire to pour through her, making her feel hot and itchy.

 

“And your neck,” he whispered, pulling back from the kiss, his lips slowly caressing their way down her jaw and under her ear, making her want to squirm. As he nuzzled her he began walking her shirt up her body in slow measure, making her want to moan in anticipation. As she bit her lower lip, he slid her covering over her breast, the coolness of the room making the nipple come erect.

 

“Your breasts,” he rumbled as the shocking warmth of his mouth covered her nipple, her hand going to the back of his head to indicate her approval as she continued to twist and move in delight.

 

She was certain he was going to make her come as his tongue flicked and nursed her, his free hand gently stroking her most intimate area, teasing her with anticipation. He was setting her on edge, winding her tight as he nudged her toward an explosive orgasm.

 

“Your—”

 

“Stop, stop,” she begged softly as he began to move lower, each touch of his lips a flare of pleasure. “I want you inside of me. Please, I want to feel you inside of me.”

 

All thoughts of tomorrow were gone, replaced with his need for this woman. She continued to call to him at a deep level, her breathy begging for him making his heart pound and his blood roar hot in his veins. Just like the first time in her overheated apartment, he could feel his need to possess him like no woman before her. It wasn’t love at first sight, but it was damn sure something.

 

In a flurry of motion they removed their coverings, tossing the clothing haphazardly onto the floor. Scott wanted to plunge deep into her, to fuck her long and slow, but they had to be smart. Jess was already opening the condom as he moved between her legs, pausing long enough for her to sheath him.

 

“As soon as I’m able, I’m going back on the pill because this sucks,” she murmured as she fiddled with the packaging then unrolled the condom over his cock.

 

He couldn’t help but snort in amusement, the intensity of the moment broken by her comment. It had been years since he hadn’t used a condom, except for that one encounter in her bedroom when he had been so blinded by lust he wasn’t thinking straight.

 

Her task finished, she pulled him down to her as she slowly fell back, taking his lips again as they aligned. He entered her slowly, exhaling softly into her mouth as pleasure washed over him. He pushed in deep and held himself there, luxuriating in the warmth and tightness of her as their tongues danced.

 

He began to move, a slow thrusting motion that caused pleasure to flow through her, radiating out from the point of their joining like a warm wave. He pulled back from their kiss, bracing on his elbows as his hands slid up her arms, his gaze holding her until his finger interlaced with hers. He pinned her hands loosely above her head, his eyes never leaving hers as they moved together. She was helpless in his grip, held in place by his hands, but she had never felt safer, and she turned herself over to him, knowing he would never hurt her.

 

He moved, slowly, gently, drawing out their pleasure, watching her face as she relaxed under his soft restraint. She tipped her face up, her lips opening slightly in invitation, and he took them for his own. They moved together, their soft sighs joining the sound of moving bodies. He smiled, watching as her face began to slowly twist, her breathing becoming harder as she fought to free her hands.

 

She was going to come as Scott’s slow methodical stroking drove her crazy. In the past their hard, passionate, fucking had driven her headlong into orgasm, but this tender love-making was drawing her pleasure out, stretching her tight like a string. They needed to be quiet, but she could feel the approaching orgasm trying to give voice to the pleasure she felt. She tugged at her hands, trying to free them, but he continued to hold her. She pulled harder, the struggle ramping up her desire, making her back arch with pleasure and exertion as she strained to free her hands while holding her voice. Suddenly her hands were free and she grasped his head and pulled his lips to hers with desperate strength.

 

Scott released her hands as she began to appear frantic and she pulled his mouth to hers, shivering as if cold as she moaned softly into his mouth. His hands free, he wrapped her up, holding her tight, as he began to pound into her furiously hard. She pulled back with a gasp, her arms going around him and her nails biting into his back as she clung to him, her whimpers almost silent. He had control of his orgasm while they moved in a slow easy rhythm, but having Jess orgasming in his arms as he drove into her hard and fast was overwhelming his control.

 

Her orgasm washed out of her, leaving her breathless and panting in its wake. She held to him as he continued to drive into her hard and fast, sensing the strain within him, knowing he was close as he drove for his own release.

 

“Come for me,” she cooed into his ear.

 

Her words ripped his control from him as if he were but a kite in a hurricane and, with a deep grunt, he came in strong pulses. He wanted to keep thrusting, to plunge into her hard and fast until he was wrung dry of need, but he was afraid he would begin to roar his completion to the world if he did, so he pushed in deep and held himself there as he burned in orgasmic fire.

 

She smiled as she felt him relax in her embrace. “Another item to check off my bucket list,” she murmured as he lay against her, panting softly.

 

“What?” he whispered as he rose up so he could look into her eyes, those huge, beautiful, mesmerizing, eyes.

 

“Fucking in my dad’s house, with him just down the hall.”

 

Scott smiled and kissed her softly. “You think he heard?”

 

“Ask me if I care.”