Page 71 of Alluring

"I'd be a fool to trust you'll never leave me because when you do, it will destroy me. I need to keep a part of my heart hardened against you, or else I won't recover from you when you're gone."

He quickly whipped around, pinning her with his stare. "You're so concerned about your heart. What about mine?" he yelled, angrily thrusting a thumb at his chest.

"I'm not gonna be theoneleavingyou,Jack."

"And how do I know that? I'm just as vulnerable as you are. I'mjustas scared of losing you as you are of me. Hell, Ialmostdid lose you. Do you know what that felt like? Howscarythat was for me? You are my everything, Alexis. If I lost you, I would be broken. BROKEN!"

Alexis flinched at his last yelled word. Tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. Her heart ached at the look of anguish on his face. She wanted to rush over and wrap herself in his arms, but his next words stopped her.

"If you don't have as much faith in me as I have in you, this relationship will never work." He was speaking quietly now as if afraid speaking the words too loudly would give them the power to come true. "You can't keep a part of your heart from me. I want, need,anddeserve the whole damn thing.

"I made a promise to you, Alexis. I promised that I would never cheat. And I won't. Hell, if you understood the extent of my feeling for you, you wouldn't even question that. I also told you I would never lie. So I'm telling you now, that nothing about that text will ever cause you harm, and I need you to trust in me when I tell you that."

He walked to the bed and pulled her to her feet, standing her before him. He cradled her face in his hands and looked deeply into her eyes. "Can you do that for me?"

Alexis reached up, grasping his wrists, holding on tight, looking just as deeply into his eyes. "Yes."

He took a hold of her hand and brought it to his chest. "Do you feel that?"

"Your heart?" At his nod, she replied, "Yes."

"It's beating just for you. From the first moment I saw you, it was yours. And, until my last breath on this Earth, it will belong to you." He brought his hand to her chest and placed it over her heart. "Now I need to know if yours belongs to me. Not a part, but the whole thing. A person can't live with half a heart. I need your whole heart to survive."

Alexis brought her hand from his chest to cradle his jaw. She rubbed her thumb softly back and forth over his lips. In her heart, she knew she couldn't doubt him now. If she did, she would risk losing him forever. She'd told herself once before that she wasn't going to let her insecurities get in the way of her happiness. She had forgotten that, but she would not forget again.

Tears were still falling from her eyes and her voice was thick as she replied, "I'm giving you my heart. All of it. Right now, you're holding it in your hands. Please keep it safe."

"I will cherish it, protect it, and hold it close, always." He picked her up and deposited her gently in the center of the bed. He removed the towel from around his waist and stretched out beside her. Up on an elbow, he leaned over her, softly brushing her hair away from her face. He kissed her tenderly on the forehead, the tip of her nose, the apple of her cheek.

More tears fell from her eyes and he wiped them away. "Why are you still crying?" he asked, kissing her lightly on the lips.

"I love you so much and that scares me. I can't lose you, Jack."

"You'll never lose me. I'm holding on tight and never letting go."

She felt the promise of his words in his kiss. His tongue parting her lips. His breath breathing life into her. She greedily took him into her lungs, holding her breath, trapping him there.

Her T-shirt was gone in a blink, replaced by his hands and lips. She arched her body, trying to get closer. Needing to feel his strength surrounding her. Filling her.

He slid her panties down, and she cradled him against her body, tightly wrapping her legs around his waist. He purred in her ear, tracing his tongue along its curve. He kissed a line down her neck, stopping to suck in a pinch of skin.

Alexis's breathing was growing faster. "I need you Jack."

"Not yet."

"Please," she panted, barely getting out the word.

"Soon." He untangled her legs from his waist, spreading them wide, his fingers massaging her inner thighs.

"Please, I need you now. I want you close."

"I'm right here," he said, his breath tickling the skin of her lower abdomen.

"No. I need you closer. I want to feel you over me, around me, in me."

Jack groaned, surging up her body, wrapping her in his arms and plunging in. She gripped him with her legs around his waist, her arms circling his back, hugging him close.

He rocked inside her circling his hips, but he didn't pull put. "Yes," she sighed, "just like that. Don't let go."

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