JAXSON
ANGER WASN’T EVEN AN EMOTION I could feel.
Something sinister was in the works. I think she was right—Moon Island harbored secrets, and her old man and his two friends were part of those secrets. The thing was, secrets usually died when those who held them passed.
In this case, it was painfully obvious Simon was seeking revenge against Sadie. I mulled over the things she had said. At the time they hadn’t made sense, but things were becoming clear.
The one piece that didn’t fit was Riley Houston. It was way too convenient that Simon had been in her car that night.
I glanced at the time. It was past eleven. Too late to make a call to the States. I’d dial that number in the morning.
I looked down. Sadie had fallen asleep in the safety of my arms. It was the first night we hadn’t fucked or slept naked before going to bed since we started this illicit affair. One that came from being a mark, a victim, and turned into something so much more.
I was itching to go confront that motherfucker and find out what kind of sick game he was playing with her life, but I didn’t want to leave her alone. I was torn. In the end, I closed my eyes and decided to stay.
I’d find him tomorrow after the shoot I’d rescheduled from today. Finding a yacht, after all, wasn’t going to be that fucking hard.
I awoke with a jolt when I heard her questioning scream, “Jaxson?”
“I’m right here.” I tightened my hold on her.
“I think someone is in our room,” she whispered, her voice shaky and uneven.
Bolting upright, I flicked the dim light on beside me and searched the room with my eyes. No one was in here. She was dreaming, or rather, having a nightmare. I lowered my body back down and pulled her tight against me. “No one is in here. I promise.”
“Are you sure?”
I kissed her head. “Positive. You’re safe with me.”
She snuggled deeper into me. “Jaxson?” Her voice was soft.
“Yeah?”
“Do you think it’s possible to be both good and evil?”
“Sadie.” My voice was a warning.
“I don’t mean me. I mean in general.”
She was a terrible liar. “No, I don’t. If you’re good, you’re good. But if you’re evil, you’re truly evil. You don’t give a fuck about anything or anyone but yourself.”
“You can say that because you’re good.”
I stroked her face, which was nestled against my shoulder. “No, I can say that because it’s the fucking truth.”
She stayed quiet for a while and I thought she’d fallen back asleep, but then she slid her hand down my stomach and into the waistband of my pants to gently cup my balls. My cock went hard in an instant.
The way she held them in her palm told me she was waiting for me to tell her it was okay. I wanted to demand she use more force. Do it like she meant it. Better yet, that she get on her knees and suck me dry. And then order her to do it again, and again, denying her the sweet pleasure of her own orgasm for leaving me today. For making me worry. For putting herself in danger. “Sadie,” I warned instead, “you need some sleep.”
She shifted, lifting her chin to meet my gaze. “I want you.”
I shook my head. “Not tonight. You need to get some rest.”
Her hands trembled as she raised them to my face. “Why don’t you want me?”
I closed my eyes, inhaling deep as her dejected words washed over me. Denying her anything was difficult, but denying her sex was impossible.
Gently, I untangled myself from the sheet and pushed up to one elbow to hover above her. “I always want you, Sadie.”
Tears glittered brightly in her eyes, but I knew she was struggling to usher them away. “Then now is the time to prove it. I need you so much more than I need sleep.”
My chest nearly exploded as it tightened with a grief I had never known. After everything we’d been through, she couldn’t possibly think there would ever be a time I wouldn’t want her, no matter what she’d done. “Then we take it slow. You’ve been through too much today for anything else.”
She nodded and yanked her T-shirt up, exposing to me her naked body.
“My way,” I said.
She bit her lip and then a rueful smile graced her perfect pink mouth. “Your way, Frank Sinatra, always.”
I leaned down and claimed her mouth, my tongue finding hers in a heated rush that made me dizzy. I kissed down her neck and whispered into her ear, “I love you, Sadie.”
Her chest rose and fell with a gasp.
Those three words just came out. It wasn’t planned, but it felt right. She needed to know. There was no sense in trying to pretend I was okay that this thing between us would be ending very soon. I wasn’t okay with it. Not one fucking bit, and it took almost losing her to realize it.
“I love you, too, Jaxson Cassidy,” she whispered, a husky catch in her voice. “Now show me how much you love me.”
I wasn’t a man of many words. I’d said what needed to be said and showing her was so much easier than telling her, anyway.
Her hands tangled in my hair as I kissed my way down to her perfect tits. I licked and sucked them and felt an odd satisfaction when her entire body started to hum with excitement. I did this to her. Made her light up when I knew everything inside her right now seemed so dark.
I spread her thighs, opening her sweet pussy for me. I traced a finger down her delicate folds, opened her wider and stared at the way she glistened for me. I couldn’t imagine never having the taste of her on my tongue again. Didn’t want to. She was mine, and I was going to make sure she stayed that way.
I used the entire pad of my tongue to lick at her entrance and up her clit. Then I swirled delicately around her velvety soft nub.
She bucked beneath me and cried out.
I spread her thighs even wider and feasted on her like she was my last meal. She came with a cry, trembling and gasping. “Don’t stop, baby, not yet,” she whispered in a soft moan.
Baby.
It was a crazy thought, but I had never been anyone’s baby. Not even my mother’s when I was an infant. The affectionate term did something to my heart, and I swore that vital organ swelled right there.
I crawled up her body and hovered over her, holding my weight up off her with my forearms. “You called me, baby.” What the fuck was I, twelve? I wanted to take it back.
A beautiful smile curved her lips. “Yes, and you call me sweetheart and love and babe.”
I furrowed my brow. “No, I don’t. I call you thief.”
She lifted her head. “Yes, that too.”
That too? Did I really use those cutesy, ridiculous names when I spoke to her? Fuck, I really was too much, even for myself.
“Baby,” she whispered, pulling me down so I was flush against her body. “Make love to me.”
Make love.
Not fuck.
My head was spinning as I gently slid inside her, missionary style. I moved slow, my thrusts easy as I rocked, in and out, in and out.
Sadie hooked her ankles around my back and joined my rhythm. It was beautiful and magical and had every single one of my nerve endings firing up.
I found her mouth with mine, kissed her softly, sliding my tongue from one corner to the other, nibbling playfully at her lips as I did. She giggled into my mouth, and it was a sound I knew I’d never forget.
When her pussy contracted and clenched tightly around my cock, I went even deeper. I struggled not to plunge too deep inside her, but I lost the battle, my body taking over with the need and instinct to drive her wild.
We both came, and sweet euphoria had me whispering promises in the dark that I wasn’t sure I could keep, but knew I’d give up my own life trying if I had to.
We’ll be together, forever.