I smiled into his back, glad to know that he was just as affected as I was. “I want to enjoy this. I want to take my time experiencing you.”

He caught my arm and pulled me around his body so that I was between him and the wall. He looked down at my soaked clothes and groaned. “You have all the time in the world. Tonight, tomorrow, however long you want.”

I pressed my body into his and tipped my head forward, into the water. I ran my tongue over his collarbone and tasted him. “I have a confession to make.”

Jack caged me in with his arms on either side of me. He lowered his mouth and pressed it against my ear. “Tell me.”

“I thought about you after that day in Jackson.”

He lifted his head and met my eyes. “You thought of me?”

I ran my hand down his chest and stopped just before I touched him. “I imagined what this would be like.”

“How was it?”

I met his eyes and brushed just my knuckles over the top of his shaft. “Smaller.”

He laughed and hooked his hands under my shirt. He peeled the wet material from my body and tossed it out of the shower. His eyes trailed down my naked upper body and he moaned. “Jesus, you’re beautiful.”

My cheeks heated and I looked away. My body wasn’t a secret, by any means, but having him see it and tell me that I was beautiful warmed me. I was embarrassed by how much it meant to me.

He dropped to his knees in front of me and pressed his mouth to my stomach. “Absolutely perfect.”

I gasped as he dipped his tongue into my navel and braced myself on his shoulders. Having a man as strong as Jack kneeling in front of me was surreal.

With ease, he slipped his hands into my pants and pushed them down. “Lift your foot, baby.”

I did and he helped me step out of them. Then, I was just as bare as he was. He looked up at me and zeroed in on my mouth when I licked my dry lips. I pulled my lower lip in my mouth and bit down on it, feeling slightly nervous.

Jack cupped my ass in his hands and kissed the front of each of my thighs. His stubble tickled but then his teeth lightly scraped over my sensitive skin and my giggle died on my tongue. Slowly and softly, he moved his mouth to my core and devoured me there.

I cried out and pressed my shoulders against the shower wall. I dug my fingers into his shoulders, needing him to slow down, but speed up all at the same time. I’d never experienced what he was doing and my brain wanted to overthink it, but it just couldn’t. My body was in charge. Jack was in charge.

He moaned into me and continued to taste me. His hands moved, touching me everywhere. My breasts were his favorite. He lingered there as he pushed me closer and closer to my first orgasm given to me by a partner. He had no clue what he was doing to me.

Above him, I was crumbling. Looking down at him, his face buried between my thighs, I started to fall into a million hot little pieces. When he opened his eyes and met mine, I was lost. I came apart. My body tightened and pulsed, greedily taking what he was giving me. I fisted my hands and my legs gave out.

Jack pulled back and caught me. He moved up my body and lifted me into his arms. While I was still reeling from the strongest orgasm I could ever remember having, he gently pushed into me. He kissed my eyes, taking away the tears that had come from what he was doing to me.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, clinging to him. “Jack…”

He kissed me, taking my mouth in a hot kiss. He held me against the shower wall and started a rhythm that drew out my orgasm. Little wisps of that blinding pleasure stayed with me as he moved in and out of my body, slowly at first and then more urgently.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and let my fingers rake over his scalp. I sucked his bottom lip into my mouth and stroked it with my tongue before releasing it and kissing him again.

We moved together, kissing and feeling each other until I felt the tingling start at my center again. I gasped into Jack’s kiss and let my head fall back. “I’m close.”

He kissed down my throat and flicked his tongue into the hollow at the base. “Let go.”

He nipped at my throat and it pushed me over the edge. I dug my feet into his back and arched into his body. Pulses of pleasure washed over me and then I felt Jack’s release. He growled into my neck as he came, his grip bruising. I cried out his name, feeling desperate to touch him even more in that moment.

He wrapped his arms around me and held me as we came down. His lips never stopped moving across my face and throat. Then, he put me down and slowly washed me. He even washed my hair while slowly kissing me.

It was something I never realized sex could be. I knew I was going to enjoy it with Jack. The chemistry between us was just too intense for it not to be good, but I hadn’t known it could be sweet and…romantic. We didn’t speak but I felt like we were connected in those moments.

When we finished cleaning each other, we dried each other off and then fell into the softest bed I’d ever been in and took our time exploring each other more.

*

Good things never last. I knew that from my life and history, but it still came as a shock to me when the soft glow I’d been feeling with Jack came to an abrupt halt. I woke up, tangled up with him, to the sound of his phone ringing. Brent was calm as he told Jack that there’d been another attack. One that hadn’t ended as well as the others had for one of their men.

Jack sat up and rested his elbows on his knees. “Who was it?”

Whatever Brent said didn’t sit well with Jack. He cursed and threw his phone across the room. It slammed into the wall and landed on the thick carpeting silently.

I moved behind him and wrapped my arms around him in a hug. “I’m sorry, Jack.”

He shook his head and rubbed his hands over his head. “Fuck! I have to go in. I have to notify his family.”

My arms broke free as he stood up and moved around the room, pulling his clothes back on. I stood up and went to my bag. “Let me get dressed and I’ll come to the office with you.”

“No, you stay here. I’ll have a couple of guys come over to keep guard.”

I pulled on a T-shirt and frowned. “I don’t want to stay here alone, Jack.”

He didn’t look at me as he yanked on his boots. “You won’t be alone. I just said that I’d have a couple of guys come over.”

“You know what I mean, Jack.”

“Raelyn! I don’t have time to argue with you! I have to go and tell a family that their son is dead because of your ex-boyfriend!”

The words cut deep. I stopped moving and blinked away the tears that appeared instantly.

“Christ. I’m sorry. I just… I have to go, Red. You’ll be safer here.” He walked over and tried to kiss the side of my head but I pulled away from his touch. “Don’t do that. I didn’t mean to yell.”

I nodded and moved to the bathroom. “It’s fine. I’ll see you when you get back.”

I closed the door and locked it before turning on the shower. I didn’t want to hear him leave. My chest ached as I glared at myself in the mirror. My body looked like it’d been ravished. Beard burn decorated my throat and parts of my chest, while my hair stood on end, pulled every which way in our last session of lovemaking. My lips were bruised from kissing.

My mind was instantly a wreck, though. Another person dead because of Snake. Because of me. Jack knew the truth. It was my fault that people were getting hurt. Jack was going to have to tell a family their son was dead because of me.

If I’d just stayed in Jackson, it wouldn’t have happened. Snake might not have even hurt Carly. Mark might’ve lived. Jack’s office wouldn’t be damaged. Brent’s home wouldn’t be destroyed.

After I was sure Jack was gone, I took a fast shower and got cleaned up. The sun was coming in strong through the many windows in the apartment and I figured it was sometime after noon. I dressed in jeans and a tank top before knotting my hair out of my face.

I moved to the door and opened it just as someone pushed it open. Jack stood there, frowning at me. My cheeks colored and I backed away. “I was just…”

“You were just leaving. What the fuck, Red? You have a death wish?” He stepped inside and slammed the door shut. “I got a few minutes away and realized that there’d be no harm in taking you back to the safe room. What if I hadn’t come back? Where the hell were you going?”

“I don’t have a death wish for me and I don’t have a death wish for anyone else. I want to leave.”

He grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “Too fucking bad. You’re not about to hand yourself over to Snake on some fucking silver platter. It’s not happening. Any slight chance you had of getting away from me ended when you came into that shower with me.”

I pushed his chest. “Fucking doesn’t mean you own me, Jack!”

He gave me a look that said he knew better than what I’d just said. He knew it had been more than that for me. “I don’t own you but I have a vested interest. I want you safe.”

“And I want you and everyone else safe. That’s only going to happen if I go somewhere else.” I angrily wiped away more tears. “You said it yourself. This is my fault.”

He walked into the bedroom, completely ignoring me, and grabbed my bag.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re coming with me.” He whistled to his dogs and then grabbed my arm. “Jesus. Are you always this panic inducing?”

“Another valid reason to let me go.”

He pulled me a little faster and then pressed me firmly into the wall of the elevator once we were in side. “Not letting go, Red. Sorry.”

I looked up at him. “You don’t look very sorry.”

With a shrug, Jack closed the gap between us and kissed me. “I’m not.”