Page 209 of Under Her Skin
‘Icould get used to this.’She caught a dribble of juice that ran down her hand and Theo leaned over to kiss the juice from hermouth.
‘Tastes like you,’ he murmured then took another peach from the bowl, splitting it into two with his long fingers. Keeping his eyes on her, he ran his tongue along the soft flesh and Jess’s stomach dissolved with desire. Theo knew exactly what he was doing, she knew, but she didn’tcare.
Theo casually reachedover to her and started to unbutton the bodice of her dress. She watched him lazily, spaced out with desire. He ran the peach down her skin, leaving a trail of juice down her belly then followed it with his tongue. Jess felt drunk and she was floppy in his arms as he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. He stripped her of the rest of her clothes thenstood.
‘One second,’he said before disappearing. He was back in an instant with the half empty bottle of champagne. ‘Lie still for me,beautiful.’
She gasped at the cold liquid as he poured champagne into her navel and then she giggled as he chased it with his tongue .as it dripped down her sides. Theo put his mouth over her navel and drank the champagne from it, his tongue delving deeply into the hollow of her belly. He took a swig from the bottle then and pushed her legs apart. Jess gasped as he took her clit into his mouth, the champagne bubbles bursting against it. She moaned at the feel of it, and of him as he traced every part of her sex as if it were that same peach, biting gently down on the soft folds of her labia then his tongue was deep inside of her. Theo poured more champagne onto her skin as he pleasured her and Jess knew she would do anything for this incredible man, her insatiable, skilledlover…
Jules tiedher to the chair, the bindings biting into her skin. Jess knew now it was hopeless. Jules was going to kill her, now, today, in the next few minutes and she would never see Theo again. Was it really only hours ago they had been in his bed, delirious with happiness, making love with carelessabandon?
And now she was about to be murdered. Stabbed to death by her own step-brother. Her tormentor. Her rapist. Now he was about to become herkiller.
Jules smiled down at her as he cut her thin shirt away from her body. ‘You can scream if you like. No-one will hear you here.’ He threw the scraps of material away then ran his fingers down herbelly.
‘Christ, you are perfect,’ he said, almost tenderly. He leaned over and kissed her and she felt the cold steel against her. ‘Oh, Jessica…my love, mylove…’
The blade slid through her flesh likebutter.
Jess screamed– not the sudden awakening from sleep in a shock type of scream, but a deeply visceral, desiccating howl of agonizing terror. She felt hands on her and incredibly the panic increased, a berserk fear ripping throughher.
‘Sweetheart, sweetheart it’sme…’
Jess struggled to regain her countenance, make sense of the world she had awokento.
‘Theo?’ Her voicecracked.
‘Yes, darling, it’s me, it’s me…you’re okay, you’re okay. You just had anightmare…’
All the adrenaline left her body and she slumped into his arms, weeping. ‘Sorrysorrysorry…’ she was babbling she knew but the dream had so real. She still felt the pain of the knife, of her skin being torn open, her insides cut to pieces, her blood gushing out ofher…
‘Sssh.’ Theo was rocking her and for the next few minutes, he just held her while she calmed down. Eventually, she wiped her eyes and smiled weakly athim.
‘Sorry. Stupiddream.’
His eyes were concerned as he brushed the damp hair away from her forehead. ‘Tellme.’
Jess drew in a couple of lungfuls of breath. ‘He had aknife.’
She knew she didn’t have to say any more than that. Theo’s arms tightened around her and he pressed his lips to hertemple.
‘I will never, ever, let him hurt youagain.’
She so desperately wanted to believehim.
Max haddinner done ready for when Josh came home – it was his turn and he’d missed the last few. So it was his turn and lord knew he wanted a quiet evening in with Josh after the day he’d just had. He poured himself a glass of wine, checking the chili was bubbling away nicely and headed into the living room. He flicked on the television, putting a comedy show on for backgroundnoise.
Max watched it for a couple of minutes, knowing he wasn’t taking it in then, sighing, he lifted the heavy file from his bag. The file on Julien Gachet. Since he heard what the old cop had said about Jules’ history, he hadn’t been able to get it out of his head. Max wasn’t stupid – he’d guessed that Gachet’s preoccupation with Jess hid something far more insidious, far more disturbing. He’d talked a psychologist friend of his who had run several ideas past him. The one he couldn’t get out of his head was that Jules had made Jess his sexualobsession.
‘Not when she was a kid?’Max had asked his friend, appalled. His friend had nodded, his eyes angry andsad.
‘Probably. Has she said anything of the kind to you orTheo?’
But he couldn’t ask Theo. Theo had expressly forbidden him to look into Jess’s background but without doing so, he wouldn’t have found out so much about that son-of-a-bitch Gachet. Max felt a roiling hatred inside of him for the Frenchman. How dare he treat Jess like that? He had to find out their family dynamic before he would risk going to Theo. He opened his laptop and found the map to Jules’ home. The house where Jess grewup.
Max decided then and there to go there – and find out just what sort of childhood his friend had… and what Jules had done toher.
The room was dark,just lit by the warm, flickering candlelight. The glass doors to the beach were open and a hot breeze blew the delicate white drapes into the room. Soft music played in the background, Lana Del Rey playing her Video Games and Theo and Jess danced slowly to the slow, sensual tune. Jess’s head was on Theo’s shoulder, his arm wrapped securely around her, his other hand in hers as they moved. A day of sightseeing, glorious sunshine and sea and delicious food and now the inky night outside had lulled them both into a sensuous fog of desire. Theo stepped away from her for a moment and picked up his tie. He wound it around her eyesgently.
