I rest a hand on his back. He doesn’t flinch.
The water cascades down his back, hitting my fingertips and running over my skin. Slowly, I move my hand up his spine and rest it between his shoulder blades and down, tenderly rubbing his back.
My hand rises with his body as he breathes deeply, letting the tension go.
He stands up straight, running his fingers through his hair, pushing it back. I wrap my arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. My cheek is against his skin, and my hands are buried in his chest and torso.
A wise man once told me the way to win a game of poker is to know your opponents’ tells. Jesse can’t hide his sadness. Not with his eyes, his posture, or his heavy breaths. The reason he can’t hide from me is because he’s never wanted to.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “You said to never apologize, but I owe you one. I shaded you today. The shock of seeing my father and the fear of everything that’d happened blinded me. I didn’t trust myself. I didn’t trust you.”
His stomach muscles tighten beneath my hands.
I lift my head and speak into the back of his, “I don’t know why I did what I did today because the God’s honest truth is, you’re the only person I actually do trust. More than my parents, my friends, myself. I trust you with my life, Jesse, and that thought is powerful. I’ve never felt like this for someone before. I let my own insecurities get in the way of all the good you’re doing. Because that’s what you are. You’re good. Everyone should have a heart as pure as yours. And a smile as bright as the one that graces your lips. You have a way of making me laugh like no one else, and I feel so damn safe at the same time. You calm me and help me think clearly. And I’m failing you because I don’t know how to be that person for you.”
He turns around, and my heart jolts.
He’s crying, but it’s not a sobbing mess of tears. No, Jesse Davenport cries with his soul. His blue gaze is glass-like and red-rimmed while his mouth is downturned. The touch of his hands on my arms as he runs them up and down even has a sadness to them.
“I don’t know how else to ask you,” he breathes.
“For your trust? You have it. I swear to you, from now on, I will never falter in my conviction. Teach me how to live in your world.”
He closes his eyes. “All you have to do is believe.”
“In what?”
“Us, Amelia. I’ve only ever asked for you to believe in us. That means, you have to trust me. More importantly, you have to trust yourself.”
“I understand that now. My entire life, I was a lamb. You’ve turned me into a lion. I’m proud to be in this with you. I’m proud to be yours. And not only with my body, but also my mind.” I pause, running my hand over my chest. “And my heart.”
He takes my head in his hands and draws circles on my cheeks. “Sweet Amelia. If you mean what you say, I won’t be able to give you up when this is all over.”
“Jesse”—I can’t keep my voice from cracking—“you make it sound so romantic.”
“Isn’t it? The undercover agent posing as a bartender, trying to infiltrate a mob family, falls for the daughter of the man he’s trying to take down?”
I let out a laugh. “When you put it that way, no. It sounds like fiction.”
“It’s not, baby. It’s our life, and we just have to navigate it.”
I lean forward and kiss him tenderly. It’s a simple kiss. A closed-mouth one that opens up my body to wanting more.
More of everything. More of him.
My eyes flutter as I fight off the rain shower. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him.
My beautiful hero.
Kissing my face, throat, and lips, he runs his hands up and down my back. I lift onto my tiptoes, deepening the kiss, which only joins my core with his growing erection.
This isn’t what this was about. I didn’t come in here to seduce him, but now that his wet flesh is sliding against mine, I can’t help but want this from him. I want to be close to Jesse, and there’s nothing closer than having him buried deep inside me.
I slide my hand down the rigid planes of his torso and caress the slick rod of his erection. When I pump my hand, he throws his head back in ecstasy, and I kiss the underside of his chin.
Gripping my hips, he gently pushes me against the smooth tiles. The cold bursts against my backside, but it’s quickly dissipated when his heated flesh flattens against me, searing me with his kisses and the hardened promise of a cock that sits just outside my entrance.
He tugs my hair, pushing my head to the side as his mouth devours the tender skin of my neck. I moan as he sucks on the flesh; at the same time, his other hand parts my thighs and rubs against my sensitive core. When his mouth finds mine again, he is demanding as he kisses me, leaving me breathless.
He’s relentless in his actions, commanding my body with his mouth and hands. He flips me around, and my ass is pulled toward his groin. He’s about to enter me when he stills.
I turn to see him staring at himself, hard just outside my entrance.
“Take me bare, Jesse.” My words have his eyes shooting up to mine.
He weighs the options for a moment before sliding inside of me.
I arch my back up to meet him while staying on my tiptoes. Using the wall for balance, I revel in the sensation of Jesse inside me.
“You feel amazing,” he grunts as he pulls my mouth toward his. He kisses me while pumping into me from behind. He has to go
