Page 41 of Laying His Claim
“My engagement ring. Did you keep it?”
The question blindsided him, leaving him momentarily speechless. God. A ring. How stupid could he be? How could he have forgotten? With her eyes were on his, curious and waiting, he had to answer fast.
He swallowed. “Actually, there isn’t a ring.”
Her beautifully shaped brows shot up. “We were engaged, and I didn’t have a ring?”
“We didn’t have time to get one. I proposed only days before your accident. Just days before you found out about—”
“My pregnancy.”
“Yes,” he hurried on, not wanting to linger on that point, lest everything else fall apart. “You’d said yes, but we agreed that we’d go shopping over the weekend for a ring, so you could pick out what you wanted.”
“Oh,” Jalissa breathed out. “I guess that makes—”
Stop,he thought.I need to stop this right now, before this conversation goes down a rabbit hole we can’t escape from.Justin drew her close, planting a kiss on her lips. It had the desired effect. The ring was forgotten and Jalissa pressed back against him, opening her mouth softly under his.
The excitement of the day translated into increased desire; he could feel it flow through her body like a high-pitched vibration. Her hands slid under his shirt, seeking his nipples through the crisp hair on his chest, finding them already tight. Brushing against them with her thumbs, drawing a groan from him.
“I love how broad and strong your chest feels,” Jalissa murmured as she helped him remove the shirt.
“You make me feel strong,” he replied. “No. Wait… When you touch me like that, you make me feel weak.”
The smile she flashed at him made his heart, and other parts of him, swell. Then she pressed her lips against the closest of his nipples, sucking on it gently, then with increasing cruelty; causing him to harden further down below. He felt her short, sharp nails scratch lightly against his straining biceps. This was a woman who wasn’t afraid to give as good as she got during sex. He loved that about her.
Justin wanted her so badly. The smart business dress, which he had so admired when she’d dressed to go to the restaurant, had become nothing more than an annoying barrier between him and what he needed. He tugged impatiently at it until Jalissa laughed and removed his hands from the unwilling buttons.
“If you pop one of my buttons, I’m going to have to punish you,” she joked.
Punish him…? Not a bad idea. He watched with hungry eyes as she peeled off her dress and wriggled out of her bra and panties. Then she lay back on the bed, the cream sheets contrasting sharply with the warm glow of her dark skin.
Starting at the crown of her head and moving downward, he pressed gentle kisses, deliberately avoiding her lips even though she struggled to capture his. Down past her jaw and delicate throat, down her shoulders and missing her breasts completely, which caused her to howl in frustration. “Justin!”
When he arrived at her belly, Justin lingered, slipping his tongue into the hollow of her navel, then traveling a few inches lower to that barely visible scar. The place where they had cut into her flesh to extract their precious little boy. He kissed it reverently.
Justin noted that her pelvic bones, which had been so stark and sharp after she’d left the hospital, were now nicely cushioned as she’d begun to fill out again and regain her former, glorious curves. As he pressed his face against her left hip, his hands slid around to grasp her firm, but equally resilient, cheeks; enjoying their smooth roundness.
Jalissa’s hips arched, and she pressed her mound toward his lips in an unspoken plea, but he chose instead to prolong her agony. Forgoing that valley of delight, he moved even lower, kissing her thighs, leaving a trail along her legs, until he arrived at her beautifully pedicured feet. As with her fingers, the polish on her toenails was a brilliant red.
Each toe received a kiss before he sucked the littlest one on her left foot into his mouth. Jalissa bucked like a marlin on a hook.Enough,he thought. He was done torturing them both. It was time to bring her true pleasure.
Justin shifted his body so that the light puff of soft curls was directly before him. They were beaded with a fine dew of moisture, proof of how aroused she was, and how much she wanted him.
Gently, with both thumbs, he parted those lips, feasting his eyes on the dark folds within; imagining them to be some exotic, fragrant orchid. Flicking at her with just the tip of his tongue, he rejoiced in the way she writhed and the noises she made. Without warning, he increased the pressure; soaking up the heat and moisture. Justin loved the way she tasted. He wished he could feast on her like this every day until the day he died.
Instead of feeling her hands pressing his head closer as he’d come to expect, she grasped him by the hair and tried to drag him up to face her. “I need you inside me. Now. Justin, please!”
He complied without complaint, positioning himself between her legs and pressing the tip of his erection against her willing opening. A single swift movement sent him plunging into her with enough force to rock her back against the mattress.
Now, they were locked in a dance choreographed by nature; moving against each other, in a tempo that grew faster and faster until there was nothing left in the universe except the two of them and their need for each other.
When they finally collapsed into each other’s arms, both of them had forgotten about the ring.
Chapter 16
They say that if you can’t stand the heat you need to get out of the kitchen, but Jalissa thrived in the heat. It made her feel energized, creative… Alive. It was her first night atMelanie’sand she was in the kitchen yelling instructions at her new crew. She was one staff member short tonight. Not a great place to start, but she was determined not to let it slow her down. All she needed to do was work both faster and smarter. Right?
Melanie herself had no problem buckling down and chipping in behind the line to help pick up the slack, but most of the time she was out front, welcoming her guests. Many of whom had heard she had a new chef and had come in to satisfy their curiosity as to whether she was a keeper.
