Page 57 of Mind Pucked

“Hayden is going to be so happy,” he says as he pulls back from our kiss a little to look me in the eye.

“You think so?”

“That kid loves you, Amelia,” he says softly, taking my face in his hands and tilting my head to look up at him. “I meant what I said about her not getting close to anyone. Even the guys and their wives…all of them. She’s known them since she was born and ever since the accident, even though she was so young, she just hasn’t taken to anyone like you.”

More tears are falling as I struggle for words. All the layers of this man are beginning to fall away. First, he talked to me about his wife, and now he’s admitting that Hayden cares so much for me. I want to be happy—I want to allow this to be good, but even as my heart pounds for him and my body needs him in every way imaginable, my brain is still trying to make me see reason.

How could Jackson have anything to do with my brother’s death?

I don’t say anything else as his lips brush mine again. All my reservations crumble as I melt into him.

His body tenses as he pushes me a little until my back rests against the countertop. The towel from my shoulder falls to theground with a lightwhooshsound and I giggle, a true and happy kind of giggle.

“Damn, how I love your laugh,” he says to me through kisses.

I giggle again like a schoolgirl because my body seems to think that’s all I can do under his touch. Something about him makes me feel so good.

He moves his hand from the back of my head, letting it trail down my neck, between my shoulder blades, and down my spine, sending tingles through me and making my mind spiral. His fingers brush down, down, down, down, until they tap the top of my tailbone teasingly. I jolt forward a little, as if my body not only wants his touch but is welcoming it with open arms.

“What about Hayden?” I wonder as he kisses my lower lip.

“She’s asleep, isn’t she?” he asks with a teasing grin on his face.

“Yeah…for now,” I say teasingly.

“There you have it,” he says, moving his fingers under my waistband at the back of my leggings.

His fingers brush my bare skin, sending lightning through me. The tingles that were there moments ago have turned into a forest fire of want and desire as they coil in the lowest pit of my stomach.

I reach up and brush the stubble on his chin. I hadn’t noticed that he seems to be growing it out a little, and it makes his already insanely hot features even more intensely sexy, if that’s even possible. My thumb trails down his chin, resting on his Adam’s apple as I press in a little, letting my fingers wrap around the side of his neck with the passion that flows through me.

I pull myself closer to him as my lips part, making way for his tongue to enter my mouth. I let my hand slip around his neck, cupping the back of his head and pulling him closer still. I let my fingers twine through his locks.

In this moment, everything feels right. I’ve forgotten the real reason I’m here, and I’ve shut down the part of my mind that’s screaming that I’m betraying my brother…no, this is so much bigger than all that.

His hand, now resting on my bare ass, slips further down until his he’s kneading my flesh, sending more than lightning through me. Oh, how I love this, and yet I hate it at the exact same time. What is he doing to me, and what did I just agree to?

“Jackson,” I breathe through uneven breaths…but I don’t remember what I was going to say.

Using his free hand, he skims the hem of my sweater, sensual in all the right ways. I don’t remember ever feeling this when we slept together before. There’s just something about the unadulterated lust flowing through me, mixed with need, and the fact that I amhis. It makes everything more intense.

Jackson’s fingers skim up my side, over my rib cage, his thumb hooked in the fabric of my shirt, bringing it up my body. I snake my free hand around to the small of his back and press my breasts against his chest, my nipples growing harder and tighter.

Jackson leaves my flesh alone for the moment to tug my shirt up over my head. Apparently pleased to find I don’t have a bra beneath all that cotton, he smiles at me mischievously, and in one quick motion he lifts me so I’m sitting on the lip of the counter.

He steps closer, closing the gap, and again I feel his hardness pressing against me, but this time he’s pressing against the apex of my thigh, so incredibly close to the spot where I need him the most.

Damn the material that divides us, I think as I fiddle with the hem of his shirt, pulling the white T-shirt up and over his head, revealing the most amazing set of abs I have ever seen. There is literally no one who compares to this.

“You are so beautiful,” he says as he runs his hands up my sides, allowing them to rest on my breasts that are crying out for his touch.

“You,” I breathe for a moment as I try to think of the words to say. “You are perfect for me,” I admit, still forgetting the screaming in my mind that’s currently attempting to override my heart.

I have never let my heart rule my choices, but this feels so right—even if it’s wrong. At this moment, I don’t care that my parents want me home. I don’t care that I’m here for a whole other reason, and I don’t even care that there’s a little girl sleeping upstairs who could wake up and find us in here…though I’m thankful for the monitor that sits on the counter next to us that still gives no indication she’s awake.

I smile through our kiss and push myself off the counter a little, just enough to allow room for him to slide my leggings off. I giggle again as he tickles me and pulls at my lace panties until both leggings and lace hit the ground at his feet.

Using his foot, he scoots them out of the way, and suddenly I realize I am completely bare here on this counter. I smile as I reach down and tug at his sweats. With little to no effort, theyfall down, exposing him to me…he was going commando under there.

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