"Glad to hear you noticed," he replied in an amused voice. She could only see his outline in the darkness. He paced over to her chair and sat down, pulling off his boots. "I took a transport over to the space station for the day. I needed to send some messages to my family on Saurellia, and it seemed like it might be a good idea to give you and the kids a break from me. I hope you don't mind, but I picked up a doll for Mali, and a game for Able. They just sort of jumped out at me. We can say they're from you, if you don't want them to know I've gotten them a present. I got you something, too."
"Oh," she said, feeling deflated. It seemed so mundane, so normal. "Well, that was nice of you. But you should have left a message for us. We didn't know where you were."
"I didn't realize you'd care," Jax said quietly, sounding pleased. He stood and started pulling off his clothes. She gritted her teeth; the man was too damn confident in himself. "Do you want to know what your present is?"
"I had an inquiry about your room," she said, infusing her voice with sweetness. "If you weren't coming back, I wanted to rent it to someone else."
"Fine with me," Jax said, leaning over her and bracing both hands on the bed. "It's not like I plan to sleep up there any more. You might as well rent it out. I'll move my things into your room in the morning."
"No," she said quickly. He laughed in the darkness.
"Yes," he whispered back, his voice low and sexy in the darkness. "I want your business to be a success. If you can rent out another room and earn more money, I'll do whatever I can to make that possible. Oh, and it's a nightgown. To replace the one I ruined last night. Red silk…"
She tried to protest again, but then his lips were closing over hers. They were soft, warm. He smelled so good. She thought about her vision of him lying dead in the forest, and suddenly she was filled with joy that he'd come back to her. There was no floozy. He was here, and she could touch him all she wanted.
And he got her a nightgown. No one had ever gotten her anything like that before.
Touching him was a bad idea, of course. But she didn't care. She just reached her arms up around his neck and pulled him closer to her. She could feel the tensed strength in his muscles, but he was tender, carefully resting his weight on his arms to keep her comfortable. He deepened the kiss, and she felt him lift his legs onto the bed, until he was lying on top of her, straddling her. His hips pressed down against hers and she pushed back without thinking. Back and forth, they slowly allowed themselves to touch in a rhythm as old as time.
Then his lifted his head and whispered in her ear, "You're so beautiful, Sarai."
She laughed, and brushed her lips along his jaw. It was rough and stubbly—so masculine it made her ache.
"Thank you," she replied. "You're not so bad yourself."
He laughed, and started kissing her again, this time on the neck. She wondered idly if she should try to stop him, but it felt so good. Could it really hurt to let go of herself for just one night, to enjoy him for the moment without worrying about the future? She had worked so hard for so long; was it really that bad to give herself this one small freedom?
His lips moved lower, nudging aside her shift as he moved until he reached the valley between her br**sts. She shivered against him, ni**les hardening in anticipation. He moved his head to the side, swirling his tongue in circles around the stiff peak. Then he flicked it before catching it with his mouth. He suckled and rolled it back and forth between his lips, starting a fire in her lower body. The night before he had only touched her with his hands, but tonight she wanted his hard length inside. He'd thrust into her, stretching her most delicate spot open. The thought made her quiver in anticipation.
She pushed her hips up at him, and tried to spread her legs. She wanted to feel him between her legs, to cradle him with her body. A soft, tickling need was building, and she knew that if she could just capture his length between her legs he could take care of that need for her.
Without pausing in his ministrations to her nipple, he shifted his legs, allowing her to spread hers wide enough for him to rest against her. In doing so, he pushed the covers aside, but her shift still separated them. He was naked, she could feel his penis resting in the groove of her clit, and his hips moved slowly against hers. It slipped along that groove with agonizing slowness, tantalizing her but not doing enough to build toward anything bigger. She bucked up at him, trying to get him to move more quickly, but instead he stopped moving altogether, pushing down and holding her prisoner beneath him.
"What do you want, Sarai?" he whispered, lifting his head from her breast. He stretched himself out, laying his head down beside hers on the pillow. She pushed at him, trying to get him to start moving again.
"Oh, no," he whispered. "Not until you tell me what you want."
She sighed, frustrated. He was so close, so hard and warm against her. Why couldn't he just keep up what he had started?
"I want you to keep going," she whispered, straining up toward him with her hips.
"How far do you want me to go?" he asked, reaching out to delicately stroke her ear with his tongue.
She shivered, tingles running through her body.
"I don't want you to stop," she replied, her voice sounding raspy in the darkness. "Not tonight."
"Anything you ask, Sarai. I'd do anything for you," he whispered.
Before she could respond, his mouth had taken hers for the second time. Where he had been soft before, almost wooing, this was a kiss of possession. His tongue thrust into her mouth, and his hips pressed down between hers. Hard. She could feel the wide tip of his c**k pushing against her shift, searching for the wet slit between her legs. She twisted against him, clutching him close with her arms.
She wanted him in her, wanted to feel like he was hers, at least for now.
His hand reached down between them, grasping the hem and pulling it up to gain access to her body.
He lifted his hips and she whimpered, not wanting to lose that tantalizing weight that held her pinned.
Then his fingers were slipping into her cunt, feeling for her clit. He lifted his mouth from hers and grunted,
"You're hot and wet for me already."
"Yes," she murmured, and arched under his touch. "I need you to fill me, Jax. Please."
He answered by positioning his rigid c**k against her opening, then thrust into her with all his strength.
She was filled to bursting. His size was unreal. Having this man inside her was amazing, a curious mix of intense pleasure and stretching pain. She would adjust to his presence in a second, but for the moment she simply savored the sensation of him inside her body.