He couldn’t imagine leaving the Seattle area. Whidbey Island was about as far away from his siblings and his parents as he could stand to be. However, he watched Levi leave the police force, a career he loved, for a woman he couldn’t live without. Sure, they could have done the long-distance thing with Starla’s career, but Levi wanted to be by her side.
He didn’t want anyone else protecting her on a daily basis.
“I’d consider it for you,” Jag said.
She kissed his chest. Her hot breath tickled his skin, sending goosebumps rippling across his body. “You’d be so unhappy anywhere else.”
“I’m unhappy here without you.” He rolled to his side, holding her close, looking deep into her dark-almond eyes. “Sure, I’ve survived. I’m going about my daily life. I put a smile on. I laugh. It’s not the worst life, but it’s not my best. That was always with you.”
“Jag, please don’t do this. I will always love you, and I know that will never change. But I’m not staying, and I won’t have you leaving your family or your career to come with me when I don’t even know what’s next, only I suspect whatever it is, it will happen in New York.”
He jerked his head back. “You want to live on the East Coast?”
“It’s the mecca of the publishing business. It’s where my editor and agent are, and this book is getting the attention of some true crime television shows.”
“And that’s what you really want?”
She nodded.
“I can be a cop in New York.”
“No. I’m not going to let you do that,” she said, jumping to a sitting position. “This.” She pointed back and forth between the two of them. “It’s a trip down memory lane. It’s a way for us to heal old wounds. It’s not a path to a future together. Maybe if we’d been in touch this past year. Or maybe if we hadn’t been so toxic when we broke up. But you and me, we’re over.”
“Are we?”
“Yes,” she said softly. “And if you didn’t think so before, you will after I tell you this.”
“I’m listening,” he said.
“I had a miscarriage a couple of weeks after I left last year.”
“You had a what?” He swallowed his breath. “You were pregnant? With my baby?”
“Our baby, but yes.” She held up her hand. “I didn’t know until about a week after I landed in San Francisco, and I lost the baby about two and a half weeks after that.”
His heart hammered in his chest. “Fuck, Callie. And if you hadn’t miscarried? Would you have told me?”
“Of course I would have, but that doesn’t change the facts. We’re not meant to be together.”
“That’s bullshit.” He shouldn’t use sex to prove a point, but it was all that he had right now. He tilted her chin with his thumb and index finger. “I’m sorry about the baby. I really am. I wish I could have been there for you.” Her lips parted, and her pupils widened. “But if our story ended, then why are we here in this bed about to make love?” He didn’t give her a chance to respond. His mouth took hers in a hot, hard kiss that had only one intention and that was to devour.
He pressed his body against hers, letting her know exactly the power she held over him and what little control he had when it came to being in her presence. Of course, if she pushed him away, he’d leave the bed like the gentleman that he was, but by the way her tongue commanded his and the way her fingers dug into his ass cheeks, he suspected she wanted it as much as he did.
“Jag,” she managed between raspy breaths.
“What, babe?”
“I’m a selfish woman.”
“Why do you say that?” He slipped his hand under her shirt, removing the cotton fabric. He inhaled sharply, staring at her perfect small round breasts with tightly puckered pink nipples. Her chest rose up and down, presenting them to him.
“Because I’ll gladly have sex with you for my own personal gratification, even though I don’t want to hurt you.”
He kissed the underswell of her breast. “What makes you think I’m worried about that? I’m a big boy, and you’ve made it clear that you think we’re over.”
She cupped his face. “Jag. We are. This is just sex. I’m sorry. If you can’t...oh, my God.” She arched her back while he slipped his finger inside her, curling gently, stroking tenderly. “That’s not fair.”
He chuckled. “First. When you and I are together, it can never be described as just sex. Second. Never be sorry about us. And finally, I want you to know that I will always respect your wishes, just as I did when you left the last time. You asked me not to chase after you. So I didn’t. If, when you leave again, and you tell me this is over, I’ll respect that.”
She blinked a few times, licking her lips. “I…can’t…respond,” she said with gasp. “When you’re doing that.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“Fuck no,” she said, grabbing his forearm and encouraging him to dive deeper, harder, and faster.
He smiled as he leaned in and sucked her nipple into his mouth. She’d always been a wildcat, and their sex life had never been boring. Even what some might consider mundane lovemaking could only be described as passionate and desperate. She made him want to please her first, and if he never climaxed, it wouldn’t matter.
Her desire was all that he cared about.
And his was all she ever focused on.
It was a sexual pairing made in what could only be described as a devilish heaven.
With sensitive hands, he removed her thong as well as his sweatpants and underwear. He made sure to take his time kissing every inch of her glorious body. He wanted to feel all her muscles twitch and shake under his touch. Perspiration dotted their
