The words settled over Hollyn, turning over in her head, as she decided how she felt about that. Maybe Jasper’s ego really was off the charts. But then, something clicked into place. Why he might like that idea. She’d bet everything she had that the fantasy wasn’t about ownership for him. It was the permanence. A tattoo wasn’t going anywhere. A ring could be tossed. A foster kid could be moved. Jasper hadn’t ever had anything that was one hundred percent his. He probably had never been able to even write his name on a toy until he was adopted. Everything was always temporary or shared. Transient.
She looked at him, saw vulnerability flash through his eyes.
“You think I’m a complete egomaniac,” he said with a laugh. “Or a sociopath. I promise I’m not here to serial-kill you.”
She smiled, an idea sparking. She moved her hand away from him for a moment and twisted toward her nightstand. She pulled open the drawer and rifled around inside. When she found what she was looking for, she grabbed it and turned back to him.
“What are you doing?” he asked, trying to see what she’d gotten.
She lifted up a black Sharpie to show him and then handed him the marker. “It’s not a tattoo, but it’s going to take a few days to come off.”
His brows dipped. “What?”
She sat up. “I’m going to explore you. And you, you’re going to sign your name anywhere you want on me.”
His eyes widened, his gaze turning almost black. “Hollyn.”
She pulled her T-shirt over her head, loving the way he watched her every move, and straddled him. “You can even touch it up or replace it whenever we’re together. Your name will be on me. Marking me as just for you, at least for a little while.”
He closed his eyes and his body shuddered beneath her thighs. “You’re going to fucking kill me.”
The pleasure that rushed through her at his response warmed her through and through. She could make this man shudder and twitch beneath her. She couldn’t make him fall in love with her, but she could unravel him in bed. That was something. “You game, Jasper Deares?”
He opened his eyes, his gaze colliding with hers. Her nipples hardened at the intense stare, the feel of his warm, bare abdomen beneath her spread legs. “You have no idea.”
He clamped the marker between his teeth and then grabbed her by the waist and rolled her onto her back. She gasped at the sudden movement, her body hitting the mattress with a bounce.
He stared down at her, his gaze hungry, his lips in a half smile. “You better not be bluffing.”
She inhaled deeply, feeling a rush of confidence, and cupped her breasts, offering them to him. “Not bluffing. Mark me.”
Jasper’s teeth pressed into his bottom lip, making him look feral, but he shook his head at her offering. He leaned down and flicked his tongue over her nipples before sucking each briefly into his mouth and making her whimper with the erotic circling of his tongue. But just when her body started to rev, he released her flesh with a soft pop. “Not there,” he said, his breath hot against her sensitive breasts. He shifted down and kissed along her belly, making her toes curl with the tendrils of sensation snaking out from the contact. “Not here either.”
She arched beneath him, her body going restless and overly hot. She needed him to touch her, to taste her, to do something to relieve the growing ache between her thighs.
He reached the waistband of her panties and tugged at them with his teeth. The little snap of elastic against her skin made her tip her head back, her clit now throbbing for his touch.
He kissed down the front of her panties, pressing his tongue against the already damp fabric, making her moan.
“Not here,” he whispered.
Then he slid down further and licked a trail up her inner thigh. Her fingers grabbed at him and curled into his hair. All worries and concerns she had earlier evaporated in her mind, all her attention zeroing in on Jasper’s touch.
“Yep,” he said with satisfaction. “This is the spot.”
He kissed her where her leg met hip and then he pulled the cap off the marker with his teeth. The pungent scent of the marker filled the air, and she pushed herself up onto her elbows, needing to watch. Jasper spread her legs, hungrily taking in the view, and then with careful precision he wrote on her upper inner thigh with his slanting script.
The tip of the marker shouldn’t have felt so erotic, but the skin there was tender and hypersensitive. Those nerve endings seemed to have a direct line to her core because she felt a rush of hot, slick need between her legs. Jasper dragged the tip over her, making goose bumps chase up her leg, and finished his name with a flourish. When he was done, he gazed at his handiwork and then looked up at her like she was the most delectable meal he’d ever laid eyes on.
She swallowed past the dryness in her throat. “How does it look?”
He shook his head as if he couldn’t speak yet and then he crawled up her body. “It looks perfect. You look perfect. Feel perfect.” He braced himself above her, his hardened cock rocking against the front of her panties and making lightning spark through her. “Do you know what it’s going to do to me at work the next couple of days, knowing you’re walking around with my name on your fucking thigh?”
“Tell me,” she whispered, her hips rocking against him without her conscious control.
He bent his head close to her ear. “I’m going to get hard every time I see you. I’m going to think about dragging you into the nearest office, shoving up your skirt, and sliding deep inside you until you’re soaking wet and screaming for me. And if I can’t have you, I’m going to go home and put my slick fist around my cock and come, imagining you with your legs spread and my name there on your skin.”
Holy. Shit. She’d never thought she’d be one for dirty talk or even if Jasper would be the type to use it, but holy hell, she was so here for it. Her inner muscles clenched like he was already making good on the promises. “God, Jasper.”
He reached for the marker and set it between her breasts. “No one else gets to see me naked either.”
Her heart was beating hard against her ribs. “Yeah?”
“Promise.”
She let her hand trail down and close around the marker. “Can I?”
His gaze flared with fire. “You want to?”
She was surprised by the answer that immediately popped into her head. “Yeah, I kinda do.”
He smiled a satisfied smile. “I’m all yours, Hollyn Darling.”
If only that were true. But she dismissed the unhelpful thought. He rolled off of her and she stared down at him. “Lose the boxers.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said, a pleased note in his voice. He reached down and tugged off his boxers, revealing the impressively thick erection he’d been corralling. The smooth, flushed head was shiny with arousal. Hollyn’s tongue pressed to the back of her teeth. Have mercy. Maybe she wasn’t as dumb as she’d thought. In fact, maybe she was fucking brilliant. Yes, she had developed the feels and was going to have to deal with that. But right now, she was looking like a genius. She had made this happen. She hadn’t settled for some awkward one-night stand to break her dry spell. She hadn’t chickened out and decided to live the life of a nun. She had taken a risk and asked for what she wanted. She had gotten this gorgeous, funny, smart guy in her bed, where they had no awkwardness, no pressure. Just fun and sex and heat. Gold star, Hollyn.