Jake threw his head back and laughed. “Does that mean you love me?”
“Nope.” Char winked. “That means a woman scorned isn’t a pretty sight.”
“Oh.” His face fell.
“But.” She shrugged. “I guess since we’re confessing.” She dropped the rest of her clothing to the floor and stepped out of it. “I’ve loved you since I first saw you.”
“You loved me when I was five and hid in my parents’ bedroom because the fireworks were too loud during Fourth of July?”
“You had blonde hair.” Char remembered aloud. “It’s dark now, but when you were little, you had the blondest hair. I remember thinking I wanted to touch it because it was so pretty.”
Jake smiled, saying nothing, as his eyes drank her in.
“I wanted you to be my first kiss,” Char admitted, crawling onto the bed and straddling him.
Jake leaned up and whispered across her mouth. “How about I just be your last?”
“What are you—”
“I love you… I am in love with you.” Jake gripped her face between his hands. “I want everything with you, all of you…”
He swept her up in a hungry kiss and ran his hands down her hips, tugging her toward him. His lips blazed a trail down her neck as he worshipped her body, eyes closed. He did everything by touch as he slowly moved down her hips to her legs and then back up again until he was cupping her breasts.
Licking his lips, he removed his hands and pulled away from her.
“Jake?”
“Not like this.” he walked over to the lights and flipped them on.
Char moved to cover herself. “Don’t.” Jake shook his head. “I want to see all of you, I want this…” He watched her lips. “I need this to be different.”
“Jake—”
“You aren’t a notch,” Jake said. “Char, you’re not a damn notch in my bed post, you’re not just some girl. This isn’t a drunken moment we’re going to share. This isn’t another one of my playboy nights. I have nothing to offer you but me, and I want nothing in return but every piece of your heart.”
Char gave him a slow nod.
“Say it,” he said in a hoarse voice.
“You have it,” Char whispered.
“What do I have?” He walked slowly toward the bed.
“My heart.” Char leaned up on her knees. “Me, all of me, every damn piece. I want you to have it all.”
When he reached her, he closed his eyes. “I swear, I’ll never let go.”
“When did you turn so romantic?”
“I don’t know.” Jake pulled her into his arms. “When did you get so damn beautiful that it makes me want to spout poetry?”
“Kiss me.”
“Nope.” Jake gently pushed her away. “I’m going to take this slow.”
“Please take it fast,” Char whined, feeling the loss of his touch like a cold wind against her body.
“No.” Jake’s fingertips grazed her chin. “I want to savor you.”
Char gasped as Jake tugged her face to his and licked her lower lip, then sucked on it, his tongue slipping past her teeth to taste her. “God, you’re amazing.” He mumbled against her lips as he nipped at her mouth and explored every single crevice of her face. Hands roaming all over her, it was impossible to think or do anything except respond to him as he coaxed her, touched her, loved her.
With a sigh, he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed, gently laying her across it. He pulled away, and watched her, his eyes darkening with need, yet he held himself back.
Smiling, he dove his fingers into her hair and fanned it out around her head, combing through it over and over again as if hypnotized by the way it felt around his fingers.
“I’ve dreamed of this you know.” Jake said. “of the way your hair would look against this bed, against satin sheets, against anything really. It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
Char opened her mouth to speak but he shushed her with his finger.
His head descended as he kissed her neck and then moved up to her ear, licking the tip and then blowing into it, causing goose bumps to flare across her body.
“So responsive.” His lips moved across her jaw and down her neck to the other ear. He repeated the process, and then placed a wet kiss in the middle of her chest, and blew softly across the wetness as her body once again flared to life, every nerve on edge, waiting in anticipation for his next move.
His hands were warm as they cupped her butt and slid her down on the bed. The heat from his body scorched her as he hovered over her, and his eyes never left her face as he moved his hands from her hips to her thighs. “Tonight, it’s not about me. It’s about you, only you.”
“But—”
And then all conscious thought left her as Jake’s hands worked their magic with her body. When she cried out, he placed a kiss on her forehead, and then her eyelids, and then his hands massaged down her thighs to her calves, and back up to her shoulders. It was like living in the best erotic dream of her life; every kiss, every sensation was like a drug.
When he finally pressed into her, she was so on edge that she couldn’t help but scream his name.
And that’s when his self-control, aching slowness, and all around patience snapped and in its place there was a wild, possessive man in love, who was doing everything in his power to claim her as his.
“I love you,” he whispered as their bodies moved together, sweat causing them to slide against each other.
Char’s world exploded—it changed. Colors were brighter, feelings were tighter, and her soul joined with his.
“Forever,” he whispered, out of breath. “Mine forever.”
Chapter Fifty-one
They must have fallen asleep. Jake hadn’t been able to stop after the first time, or the second. Damn, he was lucky to have enough energy left to lift his head. The rest of the wedding party probably assumed he was pouting. That couldn’t be further from the truth: he was elated, sated, still aroused—hell, how was that possible? He drank in the sight of Char’s creamy skin, the way her chestnut hair fell over her shoulders. Incredible, she was incredible. He sighed and looked out the window. The sky was dark. Jake bolted out of bed when he heard voices coming down the hall.
“Char!” He nudged her. “Wake up!”
The sheet fell from her.
War raged inside him. Take her again or chance that the door was unlocked and his grandmother would see firsthand what happened when he was sent to his room with a dead sexy girl.
Grandma yelled something.
Fear won out. “Hurry!” He jumped out of bed and threw her dress at her.
Jake grabbed his pants and shirt and put them on as fast as he could. By the time the knob turned he was trying to straighten the bed.
The door opened.
Char sat at the edge of the bed and folded her hands. Jake joined her and exhaled.
Grandma burst through the door. “Where have you two been?”
“Here.” Jake cleared his throat. “You’re the one who sent us here to begin with.”
Travis and Kacey followed Grandma into the room. Oh great. Jake tried to keep the guilt from his face, but Travis’s knowing glance told him he was doing a really crappy job of looking innocent. Was it his fault that he couldn’t keep himself from smiling like he’d just won the lottery? He felt his smile widen; well hell. May as well embrace the fact that he wasn’t hiding anything from his brother.
“What were you two doing… alone?” Grandma folded her arms, her bracelets jingling on her wrists at the contact. “No hanky panky, right?”
“No, ma’am.” Jake shook his head and cleared his throat. “We were just playing—”
“Charades.” Char nodded.
“With two people?” Grandma’s eyes narrowed as she looked behind Char toward the bed.