He had her on her hands and knees facing the headboard a moment later, and he squeezed the flesh at her hips while taking her on all fours hard and fast.
Ohhh, she wasn’t going to last long in this position. He was the one playing dirty now. Her breasts bounced each time he pumped into her. Groans competed with growl-like sounds from him, and he moved one hand around to her center without losing his rhythm and played with her sensitive spot.
“One rule, actually,” he said while his chest touched her back, leaning into her. “My girl always gets off first.”
Her quads tightened, and an almost violent tremble seized her limbs as she rocked against the pad of his finger as he continued to take her hard. “I’m . . . coming,” she shared the obvious through gritted teeth.
“Thank God,” he murmured before she felt him find his own release, grunting hard.
He rolled her to her back a moment later and pinned her to his side, his arm beneath her body and his hand draped over her hip.
“Well, I feel, um, less tense. Do you feel a little better?” She peeked at him, a knowing smile on her face.
The dark, anguished look from earlier was gone. And she’d swear he looked ten years younger right now. Well-rested too. “I think you know the answer to that.” He smiled. “But give me a few minutes because I plan to make you mine all over again.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Tell me something, has anyone ever asked you how many people you’ve saved? Or do they just want to know your kill count?”
Jesse reached for his cup of liquid black fuel from the Keurig machine and faced Jack at his question. The boys had set up the coffee maker at the bar in the living room sometime overnight. No Red Bull on hand, but thankfully coffee had been left at the B&B.
It was ten hundred hours, and although Jesse had managed to get a few hours of shut-eye after he and Ella had made love that morning, he wouldn’t survive the day without caffeine.
Jesse considered Jack’s seemingly random question, knowing it was directed his way since they were the only two in the living room at the moment. Jack had popped in to warm up by the fire for a bit while Griffin swapped places with him outside, shockingly leaving Savanna alone in her bedroom. Jack better not get too comfortable because there wasn’t a chance in hell that Griffin would leave his fianceĢe alone for long.
“Come to think of it, I guess no one has ever asked me how many people I’ve saved.” Jesse shrugged and swiped his free hand over his damp hair. He’d managed to sneak in a quick shower without waking his sleeping beauty before coming down for the coffee pick-me-up and seeing if there were any developments.
“Weird, right?” Jack sat on the hearth of the fireplace and warmed his hands near the flames. “Every asshole’s life I take, I count that as a bare minimum of three saves.”
“Really?” Jesse smiled, probably for the first time in twenty-four hours, in light of what they’d all been through.
“Yeah, I figure the odds would be in my favor that the bad guy would’ve, at least, killed three people had I not taken him out. So, when you do the math, it adds up.”
“You a betting man?” Jesse held the lip of his mug close to his mouth, a swirl of steam hitting his face before he took a heavy gulp, welcoming the burn as it slid down his throat. It was the kick in the nuts he needed to wake up and get his head back in the game.
“I only place bets if it’s a sure thing, and never with Griffin. Learned the hard way.” Another casual shrug from the man as if they weren’t carrying the world on their shoulders.
Not that I even thought about the danger we’re facing while I plowed into my wife this morning.
Brian. Fucking Banker Boy Brian. He hadn’t slept with Ella. Never had his cock or his tongue between his woman’s thighs.
The moment she’d shared that news, he’d nearly lost his control and split Ella apart in his desire to have his way with her. He’d had to fight like all hell to calm down the animal inside him before he’d touched her upstairs.
“Wait, what?” Jesse blinked as he replayed what Jack had said. “Why won’t you place bets with Griffin?”
Jack’s smirk had Jesse thinking about Griffin’s coin toss. Heads or tails. Who’d stay back on the jet in Albania with the women to protect them, and who’d join the op with Sydney. Griffin had won the toss-up to stay. “Two heads on the coin, right?”
Jack nodded. “I haven’t told Gray yet that Carter borrowed the coin to flip for the Alpha One spot with Gray.”
The guys all had call signs, nicknames from their Army days, but they’d decided on their flight to Albania it’d be easier to number themselves. They’d gone with Alpha Team and ranked everyone based on their respective Army rank when retiring. Gray had served longer than Carter, but Carter had insisted he was still better qualified as team leader out on ops. After some back-and-forth, Griffin had casually tossed Carter the coin to flip for the spot.
“Well, hell.” Jesse smiled for a second time that morning. And maybe all that tension relief with Ella really had been what the doctor, aka his wife, had ordered.
Wife. He kept forgetting the ceremony wasn’t real. And worse, that Ella’s parents knew the truth. From what A.J. had said, Beckett’s daughter had been as broken-hearted at that news as Ella’s father. My dad, though, fuck my dad.
According to A.J., when he’d gone over to Jesse’s parents’ place to explain the situation and the danger involved, his father had hissed, Always causing trouble. Guess he didn’t change after all.
And Jesse’s smile quickly dissolved at the thought.
“You look spooked all of a sudden. You good?” Jack stood and began putting on his black leather gloves.
Jesse sipped his coffee and forced a nod. “Right as fucking rain.”
“Suuuure.” Jack came up next to him and slapped a gloved hand to his back. “And I’m not running on coffee and the bitter memories of my ex-wife hating my guts.” He removed his hand from Jesse’s back and stretched one of his gloves as if they were a tight fit. “At least Ella won’t be your ex-ex. Since the marriage isn’t real.” He peeked at Jesse as if checking to see if he’d hit a nerve. “Unless you two plan to stay together?”
Before Jesse could summon a response mentally or verbally, he spotted Ella coming down the stairs. Light-colored jeans that had a ’90s vibe to them and a nude-colored turtleneck tucked in at the waist. Once downstairs, her cowboy boots clicked against the wood floors as she made her way into the living room. “Morning, Jack,” she greeted, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears. It’d been in a bun at one point last night, but her locks now lay in soft waves over her shoulders and brushed the tops of her breasts.
Jesse’s attention remained on her full tits, grateful her nipples weren’t poking against the fabric since she was swiping her hands up and down her arms as though she was “nippy.”
“Morning, Ella,” Jack returned, suddenly pulling out his Texas roots by tipping his ball cap like a Stetson.
Did Jack even know how to ride a horse? Just because he was from Texas didn’t make him a cowboy, he supposed.