He took her hard and fast, their flesh slapping together and her body jiggling deliciously from the force of his thrusts.
“Yes, Jacob.” She was choking on the words, still tossing her head from side to side in her urgency. “This is... this is what I want.”
“Yes,” he hissed through his teeth, his heart swelling as fast and deep as his physical pleasure. “Yes, Ria. Ria. Sweet. Heart.”
Her sounds were growing louder, more frustrated. He could tell she wanted to come and couldn’t do it.
He was on the edge of losing it, but something almost protective inside him wouldn’t allow him to do so until she’d come first. So with all the restraint he could muster, he stopped pumping. Pulled out.
“What... what?” She stared up at him bewildered.
He kissed her gently. Then kissed his way quickly down her body until his mouth had reached the cleft between her legs. She made a sharp sound when he found her clit, flicking at it with his tongue.
He adjusted her thighs to give him better access. Then he penetrated her with two fingers and moved them in and out as he teased her clit with his lips and tongue.
“Oh God! Oh God, that’s working.” She was almost mumbling now as her whole body tensed up.
He fucked her with his fingers and sucked at her clit until she came apart for him, crying out and arching up as the spasms of the orgasm broke over her. He stroked her through the shudders until she was gasping and still beneath him.
Then he finally lifted his head.
“Thank you,” she rasped, meeting his eyes and reaching down to stroke his face. “Thank you, Jacob.”
He nodded. Couldn’t form any words at the moment since he was torn between need and a tenderness he’d thought he wasn’t capable of anymore.
She pulled him back up so she could kiss his mouth, parting her legs again as she did so he could fit between them.
He slid into her again. She was tighter. Wetter. Hotter. Perfect.
He built up the rhythm between them, pushing one of her knees up toward her shoulder and bracing himself with a hand on the ground. This time there was no holding him back. He let go of the final threads of his control and took her hard.
She was with him, pumping up to meet his thrusts and clutching fistfuls of the shirt he still wore. They were both grunting like animals when he felt her clamp down around him hard as she cried out loudly.
Maybe she’d come again. He hoped so. His mind was a blaze of need and pleasure and long-needed homecoming as he fell over the edge with a loud bellow.
The pleasure swallowed him up. Took him over. Emptied him as he emptied himself inside her.
When the last of the spasms of climax had faded, he could no longer hold himself up. He collapsed on top of her, briefly afraid he was too heavy but relaxing when she wrapped herself around him and held him tight.
This was what he’d always needed.
This was what he’d spent his life wanting.
This was what he’d been missing for so many unsatisfying years.
He’d been running away from himself all the time he’d been running away from her.
But now he was with her again. She wanted him too.
And he wasn’t going to let her go.
THE FIRST TIME RIA had had sex with Jacob, they had both been virgins. So it had been good. Sweet and loving and fumbling and careful and good. But also a little awkward and occasionally uncomfortable.
She hadn’t regretted any of it. It had meant so much to her. But it hadn’t stopped the world the way the sex she’d just had.
Both of them knew what they were doing now. And it was like they were starving for each other after years of going without.
She hadn’t realized she could feel that way. She certainly hadn’t imagined it would happen again with Jacob.
But her first thought as they lay tangled up together afterward was that this was exactly what she’d needed for a long time. Her body had felt out of her control because it was desperately reaching for what it knew it needed.
And that was Jacob. Being with him this way.
It wasn’t a bad thought. Not at first. It made her stomach twist, but it also made her heart race in excitement. He’d been just as desperate for this as she was. He’d needed it just as much. She knew she wasn’t making that up. He’d been nakedly vulnerable in a way he hadn’t been since he’d returned to Azalea.
But things were different now. They weren’t the same teenagers they’d been before, clinging to each other, completely trusting the other.
Because Jacob had abused her trust back then. He’d abandoned her. She knew now he’d had reason, but the reasons weren’t good enough.
If he’d done that to her then, when he’d loved her completely, simply because he’d been hurt, then what might he do to her now? They no longer had the safety net of a pure and simple young love.
They had no safety net at all.
Life hurt you. Always. There was no way to make life not hurt.
Which meant if she started to trust Jacob again, then the same thing might happen.
And her heart would never survive a second breaking.
So instead of indulging in the desire to cuddle up in the protection of his big body and strong arms, she pulled away and reached for her bra as she sat up.
He was still stretched out on the blanket beside her, and his eyes were soft and sober as they rested on her face. “Y’okay?”
“Yeah.” She managed an easygoing smile that she didn’t really feel. “Fine. It was good.”
“Yes. It
