Page 86 of Hot for the Jerk

While I didn’t know what hell the other three women escaped, I’m sure parts of it mirrored Raina’s life, if they all had run away.

And now, after all this time, her brother-in-law thought he had a claim on Marco?The man was clearly delusional.Drunk on the Kool-Aid his “congregation” served up, with probably a heavy dollop of misogyny, narcissism, and maybe even sociopathy.

I was just about to turn off the small table lamp and try to get to sleep when there was a soft knock at my door.I didn’t have a chance to get up and answer it before it opened, and Raina’s green eyes appeared through the crack in the door.

I sat up, the covers sliding off my bare torso to pool at my waist.“Everything okay?”

She slipped into the room wearing a pair of light-purple pajama shorts and a dark-gray, off-the-shoulder, baggy long-sleeve shirt.She closed the door, and the slightclickof the lock surprised me.“I couldn’t sleep,” she said, climbing onto the bed on her knees.

“Was the light bothering you?”

She shook her head.“No.I can’t see it from my room.”

“Are you all right?”

Her throat moved on a hard swallow.“I was just laying there, staring at the ceiling, thinking about how great my life is.”She blinked a few times.“Because my life is pretty great, Jagger.I’m free of that man, that life.I have an amazing kid.A thriving business.Cousins who I would do anything for and who would do anything for me.”

“And you deserve all of it.”

“I’ve changed a lot since the day Josiah died.Since the day Marco and I were free of him, and we fled Idaho and moved to Seattle.I wasn’t sure I wanted to move to the island, you know?Naomi was the first to come here, then Gabrielle, then Danica, and finally, me.I thought I wanted to live in the big city.I grew up and lived in this rural part of Idaho, and I didn’t think I wanted that kind of a life again.I wanted the hustle and bustle of the city.”

I nodded.“It does have its appeal in some ways.”

“I realized after I ran out on you in the café that I still had a lot of growing to do, and the city wasn’t the place for that.Not if I wanted to find myself, while also having someone I trusted look after Marco so I could find myself without a baby on my hip.So I moved here.And I’ve grown so much since coming to the island.”She huffed a humorless laugh.“I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you I wasn’t this confident or … sassy, growing up.Or when I was with Josiah.I was a shell of a person.I cowered and shrunk myself so small, just to avoid getting berated or abused.I did what I was told.I never argued.I never stood up for myself.I was taught that my voice didn’t matter.”

“It very much matters,” I said softly.“It matters to me.”

Her smile was small and sweet.“I realized as I lay there in bed that the only hold Josiah still has on me is sex.Sex and relationships.He’s the only man I’ve ever been with.”Her cheeks grew even pinker.“Except for the other night at the B&B.”

I didn’t want to smile too wide, but it was more of a challenge than I expected.

“I don’t want to be scared anymore.I like the person I’ve become—or that I’m becoming.I’m tired of letting a dead man stop me from going after what I want.From asking for what I want.I want to enjoy sex, and I want it to be with someone whoIchoose.WhoI’mattracted to.”

I wasn’t not an idiot.I could pick up on her wavelength, but at the same time, I needed to make sure she knew what she was saying.“What exactlydoyou want, Raina?”I asked gently, my cock thick and eager in my pajama pants beneath the covers.

A cute, shy smile tugged up on the right side of her mouth right before she reached down and pulled her top over her head and tossed it to the floor.“I wantyou, you jerk.”

It was impossible not to zero in on the tight, perky points of her nipples.They were a dusky pink, hard, and just begging for my mouth.She crawled up toward me, her hair piled high on her head in a sexy, messy bun with ginger wisps coming down around her face and behind her ears.On her knees, with her hands on either side of my thighs, she leaned in and gently bit my bottom lip.

“Do you want me?”she whispered, moving her mouth down to my neck.

I groaned and shut my eyes.“More than you could ever know.”

“Show me what it’s really like, Jagger.What it’s supposed to be like.”Lifting her gaze back up to mine, her eyes hooded, she blinked a few times, unease washing across her features for a moment.“Touch me … please.”

It required every ounce of restraint I had within me not to go feral on this woman.She didn’t deserve that, not for her sort-of-first time.Sure, I wasn’t herfirstin a technical sense.But I was the first person she was consenting to.I was the first man sheaskedto touch her.And that came with an immense amount of responsibility.

Carefully, slowly, my hands came up, and I cupped her breasts, swiping my thumbs over her nipples and feeling them harden in my grasp.She moaned a little as she played with my mouth, nibbling and biting, sliding her tongue across my lips, sucking and exploring.

All I wanted to do was grab her by the back of the head and devour her.But I didn’t want to scare her.She’d had enough fear for the night.

I cradled the back of her head and guided her down to the bed as I hovered over her.“You’re beautiful,” I said, staring down into her eyes.“You really are.”

Her arms came up around my neck and she pulled me down for a kiss.I let her lead at first, but then she stopped and moved her head away for a second.I pushed back enough to meet her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Am I kissing okay?”

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