Page 41 of Sins of Seduction
Her gaze held his, burning in challenge and a need that matched his own. They were two matches that burned brighter and hotter when they came together. “No one touches what’s mine unless I say so,” he growled low in his throat.
Her nails dug into his shoulders in response. “Likewise, Pierce. I think you finally understand it. There’s a heady power and thrill watching your person fuck someone else, but in the right setting, one where we both know our boundaries and limits. Watching you experience pleasure has always turned me on,” she rocked her hips against his, and Jax felt himself grow harder under her movements—under her words.
Watching her at Lush with another woman’s and man’s face in her greedy cunt had almost been enough to make him cum on the spot. Seeing perfect strangers get a glimpse of what belonged to him made him greedy for her. He felt like a king with the most coveted diamond only a select few were allowed to touch but never own.
Jax’s lips found her skin, trailing kisses down her neck and over her exposed shoulder before he sank his teeth into her. The need to mark her came from something primitive inside of him that hated that Danielle thought she could touch and take what belonged to him.
Raven shook in his hold, his name a plea across her lips. He looked up at her. Her eyes were half closed as she bit her bottom lip. She continued to rock her hips into him, chasing a pleasure that was becoming addictive to the both of them. He’d help her find her release but not yet, not when they still needed to clear the air between them.
Jax gripped her hips to stop her movements. The frustrated growl that left her mouth—he felt the rumble of it against his skin and it made him chuckle. “Not yet, Rave,” he murmured against her lips. “We’ve been tiptoeing around what we are to each other since I stepped foot into Lush, putting off the inevitable. I understand your hesitation, but I need you to understand me. I love you, Rave,” he confessed.
The love he shared for her had never gone away in all the time they’d been separated. He swore he loved her before he knew her. The dark parts of him he was told to bury had wept in pain, and she heard his call a million miles away—or some greater power did, putting her in his path and giving his dark parts the room they needed to breathe and finally be free.
“I’m all in, Rave. I’ve been all in. I just needed to get out of my own way first and I have.” His hands traveled up her sides, barely touching her until he cupped her face in his hands. “I need you all in too. No more half stepping or trying to put a wall between us, knowing that wall won’t stay up for long.”
When they met, Jax had wondered if they were worlds apart, too different in their viewpoints to make their relationship work. What he hadn’t known then was that his viewpoints had been a product of his upbringing; they weren’t solely his. It wasn’t until he freed himself from the binds that kept his mind closed off to the grey area of life that he saw the world the way Raven did. He was open, though not entirely. He was still battling what he was taught with what he knew about the world, but he felt like he now had a better grasp on how he saw the world and what he wanted out of it.
What he wanted was Raven, every aspect that made her who she was, he wanted. It wasn’t fair to try and clip her wings to fit into a life that would have felt like a prison to her.
“Jax,” she whispered. He held his breath while he waited for her to find her words, hoping they would be what he wanted to hear.
“You and I have always been on this ride together. We keep finding our way back to one another, even when it seems like the smart thing to do would be to cut our losses and be done with it.” She cupped the back of his neck, pulling him closer to her, and he went willingly. The moment he followed her into the Paradise room, he knew he’d willingly go anywhere she led because his heart demanded it and he knew the pleasures that were at the end of the road she led him down.
“We’re either insane or whatever this pull is that keeps us in each other’s orbit is too powerful to ignore. I want to protect my heart, but when it comes to you,” he felt her breath against his lips as her eyes seemed brighter than they usually were, “you already own my heart, Pierce. Make me yours again.”
Danny stood outside Raven’s house. The morning air was starting to cool, the signs of an early winter well on its way. The clouds were dark this morning, to match Danny’s mood. Raven was still inside with Pierce, going by the Mustang in her driveway.The man was on a mission, Danny thought. He was so desperate to get back in Raven’s life he’d become a permanent fixture in a matter of days. It was going to be almost impossible to get Raven alone now that Jax didn’t seem to be going away.
Danny walked up the steps, tempted to knock on the door and interrupt what was going on inside Raven’s cozy home. Danny didn’t need to peek into the window; the curtains hadn’t fully concealed Raven Jax exploring each other’s body like Raven hadn’t had someone else’s taste on her tongue not that long ago.
“Pretty little Raven, such a filthy whore,” Danny whispered under their breath as they dropped the box in front of the door. Danny had to mentally command their feet to move, the idea of ruining whatever fun Jax and Raven had planned was as potent as fucking, but it wasn’t time for the reveal. Raven wouldn’t understand if Danny showed up now. She wouldn’t know why Danny was here to make her pay.
Danny walked past Jax’s Mustang, running a finger across the hood of the car. An idea hit Danny, but the sound of the door opening at the home next door gave Danny pause. It was too early and too open of an area to get away with anything. This area wasn’t as small a town as some of the places Danny had lived in, but it was small enough that anyone out of the ordinary would cause suspicion, and Danny didn’t need that.
“I’ll be back.” Danny smiled, walking back to their truck. As soon as they got in, their phone buzzed, and Danny looked at the incoming message: Murray’s annual wicked bash.
Please RSVP by tomorrow, and if you’re bringing a plus one, please send the full name that appears on their driver’s license.
Danny smiled, already another plan in play. Danny looked over the guest list for Murray’s—access no one but the hosts had—and saw Raven’s name listed with a plus one. Danny was somehow surprised and not that surprised that Raven would be bringing Jax, but maybe when he saw what his life would be like if he stayed around Raven, he would leave on his own. It would save Danny the trouble of removing Jax.
Pretty little Raven
You never paid for your sins
Enjoy the pleasures you chase
They will be short-lived.
Your blood will give birth to a freedom
Your lovers never found.
This was an insanity that Raven was addicted to. Try as she might, she couldn’t ignore what she felt for Jax. He crept under her skin, slipping into her system like a thief in the night. He’d wrapped himself around every inch of her body that she’d forgotten what it was like to not know him. She confessed her love for him and felt a deep satisfaction when she heard him say he loved her.
Maybe they were two halves of a whole or two whole people that left parts of themselves behind in each other so no matter what lifetime they lived, they always found their way back to one another.
Fools in love, Raven thought as Jax lifted her up off his lap and placed her on her kitchen table. Their coffees and protein shakes were forgotten as a new hunger took root—a hunger to claim each other, to erase a turbulent past and give birth to a new future between them.
Heat coiled inside Raven as Jax loomed over her in between her legs. They hadn’t kissed yet, barely touched each other now, but the way Jax held her gaze and the way his breath teased her lips sent a wave of goosebumps across her body.
