Page 19 of Echoes in the Night

“A friend set me up in college. The guy didn’t know who my family was, which was a plus. So, I said okay. There was very little foreplay. Afterward, I wondered if he may have been a virgin too, or close to it. He, we, neither one of us really knew what we were doing. But I had at least read some romance books that said there should be pleasure for both parties. Not just a release for one.”

“Oh, babe, I can promise you pleasure and several releases.” I run a hand down my face and beard. “I don’t do relationships.”

The light in her eye’s dims, the excitement on her face disappears.

“I’ve never been tempted. Until now. Until you. I’ve had hook-ups that repeated over the years, but they were just that. Mutual agreements on both sides to scratch an itch.”

Cupping my fist under her chin, I lift her gaze back to me. “You are making me want things I didn’t expect to have. I spenttwenty hard years in service to my country. I’ve got baggage. We’ll have to learn to work through that together.

“You’re young. Way too young for an old man like me. Think about it. When you’re in the prime of your life I’ll be old. I’m a simple man. Not into a lot of highbrow shit and parties. And I do not fucking share what is mine.”

She slaps a hand on my chest. “Now you listen. My parents were two years apart in age. They’ve been alone the whole time. Each going their separate way, doing their own thing with whomever they pleased. They didn’t even try to hide it.

“I want a partner I can be with, share with, someone who wants me and understands me. I don’t care about the number of years. I care about the quality and the love. I want what my grandparents had. Can you promise to give me that?”

What the hell am I thinking? What am I doing? She’s young. Inexperienced. I come with a shit load of baggage. I’ve done things. Seen things.

I’ll protect her, support her, worship her, every day she gives me. And when the time comes that she realizes I’m not worthy of her, I’ll walk away.

“This is fast.”

“For you too,” she adds. Slipping her hands under the hem of my T-shirt, she slowly slides them over my abs. “We work well in the kitchen and barn. Maybe we should try the bed and see how you feel after.”

Chapter Twelve

Maura

I am not a lightweight. But the way Jax surges off the chair with me in his arms makes me feel like a feather. He has us at the bed, quilt and bedding thrown back, me sitting on the edge, my shirt off before the fact he moved us fully registers.

“You are so fucking beautiful.”

He drops to his knees in front of me. In total contrast to the speed with which he got us to the bed, he slowly runs his eyes over my exposed breasts. Raising one hand he gently brushes his thumb over my lips before leaning forward to run his tongue over the same area. Gently he breaches the seam and engages with my tongue. It’s a dance of back and forth, testing, teasing, getting to know one another. Learning who bends and who dips. It’s earth shattering. It’s coming home.

“May I touch you? Are you ready?”

Lifting one of his broad palms, I place it over my breast. He’s warm and his slightly calloused and scared fingers, gently stroke my softer flesh. My whole body reacts. My skin tingles with anticipation, my clit throbs. “Yes, Jax. Oh yes. More.”

Keeping one hand on my hip he plumps and strokes my breast. Teasing the hardened nipple with a gentle pinch then a soothing, stroking back and forth with the ball of his thumb. When he lowers his head and suckles the nipple, I can’t hold back my cry of pleasure. “More, Jax. More. Harder.”

I want to take it all in. The feelings and sensations are more than I can comprehend. I don’t ever want to forget this moment.

“Just feel, babe. Just enjoy.”

I’m lying on the bed, my legs draped over the side of the mattress. Jax is suckling one breast and plumping the other, gently pinching my nipple. A need is growing in my womb. I want more. To feel him, all of him. Everywhere.

He’s kissing, licking a path over my belly toward my clit. His beard is soft against my flesh, it is its own aphrodisiac. “Oh Jax, it feels so good.”

“Humm, it’s about to get better.”

Sliding my legs over his shoulders, he lowers his head between my legs. I cry out with the first swipe of his tongue on my nubbin. “Jax!”

“Give it to me, babe. I want to feel you explode.”

I’m strung too tight to reply. He suckles and teases, building a volcano of need inside me. Carefully, he fills me with two long fingers, easing them slowly in and out.

One hand plumping my breast, he continues to stroke in and out of me, his lips on my clit. “You’re gonna come for me, babe. You’re gonna come, now.”

He laps his tongue over my clit and sucks hard. My body shatters into a million pieces. I’m floating.

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