Page 79 of Love Lies Bleeding

“I want to see you on your knees for me, Mr. Marshall.”

A glint shines in his eyes before he goes down on his knees for me. Jake is a man who relishes control, and who needs it. Even back when we were younger, he’d dominated me, and I loved every second, I still do. I want his hands in my hair, his fingers at my throat but, for this single moment, I need him to show me that I hold the power, even if it isn’t real.

Even now on his knees for me, he looks powerful, strong, indestructible. I reach out to skim my fingers over his cheek and his head turns, his lips finding my palm as he lays a kiss there. My skin flares with bright, hot desire as he looks up at me with all the adoration I’ve fought so hard to dismiss as his guilt.

His eyes remain on my face as I slide my foot up his chest, planting the stiletto heel over his heart. Strong fingers grip my bare ankle, before smoothing over the skin of my calf.

“Make me come, Jake.”

My chest feels tight as he smirks up at me with all the confidence of a god. His free hand finds my hands. “Hold this pretty dress up, Blossom.”

A small smile touches his lips as I do what he asks and then I feel his fingers skim over my panties before they are wrenched from me, the action causing the fabric to bite into my skin in the most delicious way.

Then there’s nothing but pleasure as his mouth finds me. His lips close over my clit and pull every sensation from me. He doesn’t stop as he takes, and takes, stealing every sensation from me until all I can do is hold on for the ride. My fingers thread through his hair, dropping the hem of the dress, so I can hold on. He moves his hands to grip my ass as he licks and sucks until my knees feel like they might give out.

My breathing is stuttered and my entire body shakes with little jolts of electricity. Jake pulls his mouth away and I want to scream as I hang on the precipice of the most powerful climax I’ve ever had.

“No.”

His lips and chin are covered with evidence of my arousal, and I’d never seen anything more erotic. Even now on his knees, covered in my juices, he holds me captive.

“Say you’re mine.”

My breath chokes in my chest. Fear of him, of us, holding me hostage. “No.”

A knowing smirk slips over his face. “There’s my girl.”

Then he buries his head against my pussy and bites down on my clit, forcing all the air from my lungs, as my body shakes, and pulses with the climax I’d known would change me and it does.

As I come down from my orgasm, Jake stands and holds me steady until my legs can do the job, then he wipes his chin with his fingers and holds my gaze while he licks them clean.

“I think I better buy this dress for you, Blossom. I want to do that again, and soon.”

A dry laugh falls from my lips and as I give him my back. “We’ll see.”

I say it but we both know the lid is off whatever this is between us and for as long as it lasts, I won’t let the past interfere. Or at least I’ll try.

26. Jake

I can still taste her on my tongue as I slide into the back of the town car that will take me to collect Cherry for the gala. Her perfume lingers in the air and I close my eyes as every second of our time together choosing that dress flits through my mind.

When she’d asked me to get on my knees for her, I’d almost caved and told her how much I still loved her, how much I regretted caving to weakness and fear instead of being the man she deserved. Looking up at her, I know that if it took every cent I have and every minute for the rest of my life, I was going to win her back.

Our lunch was easy, surprisingly so after the heaviness of the scene in the dressing room. We’d talked about the house and she’d asked if I had any designs she’d like me to incorporate. It had been easy like a tentative truce was in place.

Pulling up outside her house, I smooth a hand over my shirt, nerves attacking my composure in a way no other woman will ever be able to achieve because nobody else matters but her.

Walking to the door, I knock and wait, hearing voices from inside. I’m slightly taken aback when an older version of the woman I love appears. Petite but still taller than her daughter, Darla Baker has a timeless beauty and grace that will lead others to think she’s weak, but I’m no fool. She assesses me before stepping outside and pulling the door closed.

A ball of dread fills my belly, not because I fear this woman but because if she hates me it will complicate any hope I have of a relationship with her daughter.

“May I have a word, Jake?” We’d met before at the baby shower for Lex and Hunter and again as we all waited for news of Lexi and Theo after her ex-husband’s brutal attack, but we’d never really talked more than pleasantries. I have a feeling that’s about to change.

“Yes of course. What can I do for you, Mrs. Baker?”

“Let’s sit.”

Like a schoolboy about to be reprimanded for being caught with the coach’s daughter, I sit next to her on the porch swing my Cherry Blossom had set next to her front door.

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