Page 45 of Beneath the Hood

“It’s the girl who always calls you, isn’t it?” she whispers.

My chest unravels at her question, the ache coming back full force, my eyes closing at its strength.

I don’t want to feel this way anymore.

Nodding, my lips skim the top of Blakely’s head, the fruity smell of her shampoo comforting my senses. I take a deep breath, trying to suck in as much of it as possible, hoping it will purge Lee from my system.

“Well...” Her hand rests over my heart, rising and falling with each of my stuttered breaths. “I don’t know her,obviously. And I don’t know what your story is. But if this is hurting...” She taps her fingers against my chest. “I want to be the remedy.”

My stomach flips, a tsunami of emotion cascading over my body and capsizing me in their waves. The feeling is so overwhelming, so utterly consuming that I lean down and capture her mouth with mine, desperate to drown in the healing she offers.

As we lay beneath the stars, the ocean lapping at the shore, I let her kiss sweep me away.

And for the second time since being back, I don’t think of Lee the rest of the night.

23

Blakely

Ican tell something is wrong with Jackson from the second I get in the car. His eyes aren’t as bright, and even though he gives me that boyish grin, there’s something lurking, not letting the happiness reach his eyes. The entire drive, my stomach is tied up in knots, my brain racing with theories on why he’s acting so out of sorts. Wondering if it’s something I did. Worried that he changed his mind about us and is trying to figure out how to let me down easy.

But once we show up to the beach, there’s a shift. He goes from trying to appease me to staring out at the ocean with a tortured look in his eyes.

A look I often find in my own reflection.

And for some reason, that makes my anxiety ease, a need to help him heal taking its place.

I want him to know that I’m here for him, however he wants me to be. That I’m not just some youngprincessbrat who has a crush and enjoys his company.

He’s been there to catch me every time I’ve started to fall and I want to be the same for him.Hisanchor.

Jackson surges down to kiss me just as my phone vibrates for the hundredth time, most likely Lennox. I’m tempted to turn it off, but the way Jackson’s lips feel against mine—the desperation—is enough for me to ignore it.

I don’t want to ruin the moment.

His grip is surprisingly strong, his passion evident in every swipe of his tongue, but still, I can feel the restraint in all of his movements. He’s clearly holding back. Going slow, just like I asked.

But my favorite part of Jackson is drawing up his rawness. Shedding his relaxed, charming demeanor until he shows me the man underneath. A shot of adrenaline hits me in the chest, wondering what it would take to make him lose it now.

Then worry creeps in, tightening my stomach. I don’t know the first thing about pleasing him. And that’s what I want—allI want in this moment—is to please him. To take away his worries and his heartache, let him funnel everything he’s feeling into me, instead.

Maybe it’s inappropriate, our passion spawning from his obvious heartbreak, but if this is what he needs, I want to be the one to give it to him.

I shift into him, pressing my body against his, the blanket scrunching in the sand underneath us. His legs tangle with mine, his knee pressing between my legs, forcing a gasp from my mouth as his thigh slips under my skirt, pushing against my fabric-covered clit.

The need to touch him becomes unbearable, my hand reaching between us to rub against his length. It’s thick, and even over his jeans I feel it jerk against my hand, a spike of arousal shooting through me.

A groan rips from his throat and he pushes his thigh harder against my center, his palm coming up to cradle the back of my head. His fingers tangle in the strands of my hair and he tugs, bending me until my back bows, his other hand wrapping around my hip to move me against his leg.

The shift in position is sudden and the firmness of his grasp, the way he’s able to mold me so perfectly into exactly what he needs, makes my brain buzz with satisfaction.

A wave of something sharp and hot spirals through me at his control of my body, a ripple of pleasure cascading through every single nerve.

I moan, my eyes rolling back when his fingers tighten in my strands.

“That’s right, princess. Get yourself off on my leg.”

His words send pinpricks of pleasure skittering along my skin, all of my senses heightened with every pass of my clit on his thigh. Relief flows through me, knowing that he’s going to tell me what he wants from me.He’s in control.

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