Page 61 of No Place Like Home

I grinned at her as I brought my face down once more. We were like magnets trying to fuse together. Her eyes were wide open as she pulled in closer to me.

Her lips touched mine first this time, and I smiled as I kissed her.

“What do you call this?” I said against her lips.

Everything about her was soft at this moment—everything but her eyes that had an inferno reflected in them.

“You looked like you were having problems breathing, so I gave you mouth-to-mouth.”

I laughed at her audacity. She was dead serious.

“Have you always been this cute?” The words slipped out, but how had I been so blind?

Jess sucked in a breath, and maybe she was right and I did need mouth-to-mouth because I couldn’t fucking breathe anymore.

“Jess,” I said her name like she was my lifeline because right now, she was.

I’d laughed more today than I had in the past few months.

She didn’t answer me. Instead, she looked at me, but were words really needed when you felt someone tell you everything they wanted with their gaze?

I didn’t know how I knew it, because it just clicked, but I knew I was about to do something that there would be no going back from, and Jess would let me.

My thumbs rubbed against her cheeks, and I felt how her body shivered against me. To have this much control over someone’s body was exhilarating, and I missed that type of excitement.

“Jessamine.” My voice was gruff. Her full name slipped out automatically.

She didn’t reply, but that didn’t matter when she was already pulling closer. When our lips met, there was an urgency that wasn’t there before. I was freefalling, or at least that was what it felt like.

My hands roamed over her small curves, and my body wondered why we hadn’t done this before. It was soothing and thrilling at the same time.

I pulled back again, both of us gasping for air.

“Room,” I demanded.

Jess scrunched her brows in confusion.

“Unless you want me to fuck you here in the living room.”

Her eyes went wide, but she pointed toward the hall.

“First one is mine.” Her voice was low, and a slight blush covered the apples of her cheeks.

Without another word, I picked her up, rushing to her room. Jess held onto my neck, and I liked the feeling. The way she clutched me—not because I was Quincy Hardwell, football star, but because I was just me. She had seen me at my lowest, and she was still here. Any other woman would have sold me out to the press to make a quick buck, but not her.

As soon as I opened the door, I was dumbstruck. It was probably the weirdest shit that has ever turned me on, but I couldn't help it. Being in her space made me realize that I didn’t know Jess at all. Her clothes and makeup all said tough as nails, but her room was very feminine, and I found it sexy.

It felt like I was in on a secret no one knew about.

The room was done in various grays, ranging from light to almost black. Fluffy pillows were perched all over her bed, and the most surprising was a small little vanity.

I gently laid her in the center of the bed.

“Do you need a condom?” Jess blurted out.

“Way to ruin the mood, mamas….” I chuckled at her randomness. “Why, do you have condoms?”

My tone sounded like a damn inquisition, but I couldn’t help it. My thoughts went to Blake, and I wanted to punch him.

---