awake, Jesse slid between Hailey’s legs, gently pushing them open. She’d needed the sleep, so when she’d crashed hard in his bed after their shower, he’d simply curled up around her and held her close.
“What are you doing?” she murmured, her voice thick with sleep.
“Tasting you.” Finally. They’d both slept naked, which was just perfect.
“Oh.” She let out a little moan as she slid her fingers through his hair. “You feel good.” Her voice was still sleepy, that in-between state, but as he slid his tongue along her folds she rolled her hips against his face, moaning louder.
Yeah, she was waking up.
And he’d missed doing this, missed all of her. They’d missed out on too many years together. And if she wanted to run again, fine.
He’d simply catch her.
“Jesse.” Her legs trembled around his head as he slid a finger inside her, working her up. Though she was already wet from his teasing.
He pressed her thighs open and continued stroking her, loving how reactive she was. With each flick of his tongue, then stroke of his fingers, he knew she was getting closer.
And when he sucked on her clit with no warning, she nearly jolted off the bed with a cry of pleasure. He grinned against her, sucked again.
She made an incoherent moan that sounded a lot like “please, more,” so he increased the pressure on the little bundle of nerves until she was climaxing against his face and fingers.
Her orgasm hit hard, the feel of it coating his fingers as she came down from her high. She stared down the length of her body at him, a soft smile on her face. “You can wake me up like that anytime.”
Oh, he was going to take her up on that.
“Now get inside me,” she murmured, already reaching for him.
And she didn’t have to ask him twice. He crawled up her body, reveling in the fact that she’d woken up in his bed. That she was here after all their years apart.
“I have morning breath,” she murmured, grinning at him as he positioned himself between her spread thighs.
“Don’t care.” He claimed her mouth even as he slid deep inside her. Didn’t care at all. After they left his bedroom, they’d be back at the investigation so he was going to take these stolen moments with her.
“You feel so good.” Her words were garbled against his mouth as she arched her back against him, meeting him stroke for stroke.
He wanted to tell her that he felt the same, but the words stuck in his throat as pleasure built inside him. She was so tight, her inner walls clenching around him with each thrust.
As they lost themselves inside each other, she clutched onto him with a ferocity he felt to his core. He gripped onto her hips, and as he told himself to calm down and hold back, she dug her fingers into his ass.
“I’m going to come again.” She sounded surprised, but he was glad.
Because he was about to come too. He nipped her bottom lip, bit down. “Come for me now.”
Her entire body jolted at his words, and he could feel her let go, just give in to the pleasure. So he did the same, coming hard inside her, the only place he ever wanted to find release.
As they came back to themselves, he hated to pull out of her but eased out and grabbed a washcloth from the bathroom. After he’d taken care of her, he slid back into bed, pulled her close.
They needed to get out of bed, to get moving, but he couldn’t force his arms to loosen as she laid her head on his chest.
“Only five more minutes,” she murmured as if she’d read his mind. Or in reality was on the same wavelength as him. Because they had shit to do.
Jesse had half a dozen missed calls on his cell phone from the special agent in charge of Easton’s investigation—likely because he’d boldly kicked in Beeker’s door in full view of the security camera. But no one had shown up on his doorstep yet. Or if they had, his security hadn’t told him.
Not that he was concerned much with the agent. No, he had something different on his mind.
“Why’d you leave me?” he murmured against the top of Hailey’s head, knowing it could destroy this small spell around them. But he needed the truth. If they were going to forge a future, it had to be based on truth. They had to put the past behind them.
To his surprise, she didn’t pull away. She simply sighed into his chest. “Because I would have held you back, Jesse.”
He blinked, then frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“That right there is why I left. Jesus, don’t you remember what I was like? I’d gotten arrested a few times. I only finished high school because you pushed me, and you were going off to Harvard.” She leaned back now, her expression unreadable. “I would have just dragged you down when you needed to focus on school, on your future. You’d already created some amazing stuff. You didn’t need me.” She looked away, but didn’t try to leave, thankfully.
Even though he was angry, he gathered her back against him as he tried to find the right words. “That’s bullshit,” he murmured, holding her close. “I believe that you believe what you just said, but it’s still bullshit.”
She sniffled once. “You say that because we were horny teenagers.”
“Well, I’m not a horny teenager now, and I can see with clarity that you wouldn’t have dragged anyone down. Because, yes, I remember exactly what you were like. You were the life of our group, Hailey. You forced Easton to make friends, to push past his comfort zone, and I still see that in him today. With Cash, you protected him even when he swore he didn’t need it. You were the perfect sounding board and knew when to give advice and when to just listen. And with me…” He swore softly, trying to find the right words. “You were my biggest supporter. I felt like I could do anything with you around because you were convinced I could do anything.” She’d given him the confidence he hadn’t had before her.
“You can do anything,” she muttered. “You’re basically a creative genius.”
“Don’t run from me, from all of us, again. Please, Hailey.”
“I’ll try not to. I just… you don’t know everything about me, Jesse. If I’d stayed, I’d have ruined things between us, trust me.”
Yeah, that sounded like a bunch of bullshit from her now-deceased mother’s mouth. But he didn’t say that. He had demons of his own in the form of dead, addict parents. “You wouldn’t have ruined anything, and I don’t need to know everything about you. I know the important stuff.” He kissed the top of her head, inhaled her familiar scent.
A short rap on the door made them pause.
“Yeah?” Jesse called out, even as he realized a small weight had been lifted from his chest.
“Breakfast is almost ready,” Cash said. “And Hailey, your computer is making sounds. Thought you might want to check them out.”
“Hell,” she muttered, pulling out of Jesse’s arms in clear regret. “We’ve got to get back to it.”
“I know. Just…talk to me if you’re feeling like running.”
“Okay.”
The anvil on his chest eased slightly but not fully as he watched her slide from his bed and gather her discarded clothes.
Because he wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth or not. Either way, he wasn’t letting her run again.