Safeguarding Kelly(29)
Author: Zoe Dawson

 

“Yeah, can I play, too,” Jason said.

 

“Yes, go,” she said with shooing motions. “I’ll let you know when the food is ready.”

 

Dinner was a laugh-fest and Jason took Kiko back out to the living room while she did the cleanup. Their continued laughter made her heartbreak bittersweet.

 

She closed her eyes, feeling stripped naked inside.

 

Taking a steadying breath, she opened her eyes, an ache snaking around her heart. Aching for all the time they had lost. She’d had to be realistic back when she’d made her decision. She had thought she couldn’t have Jason in her life, that it could never be.

 

He’d been her subordinate, with all the implications that went with it, and she could never forget that the burden of blame rested on her shoulders. She should have known better.

 

Hiding this had always been her psychological armor. To reveal this publicly—God, she couldn’t even imagine how that would affect everyone, including her parents.

 

How they would handle knowing Jason was the father and that she’d dishonored her Coast Guard career by sleeping with him, she didn’t have a clue. Couldn’t even hazard a guess. It was all so complicated and messy.

 

Her practical side told her she was simply going to have to move forward. Except telling her parents made her insides hollow out.

 

Determined not to start analyzing everything, she straightened her spine and grabbed the laundry basket by the stairs. She refused to spoil the time she had with Jason by feeling sorry for herself.

 

Fortified with resolve, she brought the laundry downstairs. She began stuffing clothes into the machine, then realized that she’d grabbed Jason’s T-shirt from her bedroom floor by mistake. The touch of the fabric was soft, the scent of him lingered in the cotton and she remembered the feel of Jason’s hands on her. Closing her eyes, she enjoyed the memory of his mouth, his body and his heart in his eyes as he’d moved over her.

 

She got such a rush of heat it made her insides turn over. Clutching it against her, she leaned her head against the cupboards above the washer, her heart flip-flopping crazily in her chest, her lungs jammed up and unable to function. It was as if last night was happening all over again. Phantom touches—at every pulse point she experienced phantom touches, and she clutched the shirt tighter. It had been so unbelievable. So intense. So…

 

A sound intruded, then a strong male hand cupped the back of her neck as Jason murmured something. He took the shirt out of her hand, then ran his hand down her back. Her heart struggling to keep on beating, Kelly turned into his arms, certain she was simply going to fly apart. He was dressed only in jeans, and the feel of his warm skin nearly took her down.

 

“Hey,” he whispered softly. “Hey.” Holding on to her with one arm, he closed the door and set the lock. Wrapping her up in a tight hug, his fingers tangled in her hair. He clasped her head against him as he brushed her forehead with a soft kiss. There was a trace of humor in his voice. “Wow,” he murmured, massaging her scalp. “If I’d known this was the kind of reception I was going to get, I would have come home sooner.”

 

Kelly tried—she really tried to speak, but there was just no way she could. It was as if his touch had uncorked an even more desperate need in her, and she hauled in a lungful of air and flattened her hands against his back. Closing her eyes, she turned her face against him and held on for dear life, a litany of need running through her.

 

Tightening his hold, he turned with her, folding her even tighter in his strength and warmth, and Kelly clung to him, her whole body vibrating with need.

 

His breath was warm against her neck as he pressed his face against hers. “Hey, it’s okay,” he whispered, his voice husky. Then ever so gently he angled her away from him, and his hand cupped the juncture of her thighs. The touch was so electric that Kelly jerked and tried to yank his hand away. But he cupped her even tighter. His voice very gruff when he said, “It’s all right. She’s asleep. She spilled orange juice on me, and I came looking for my shirt.”

 

Beginning to tremble, Kelly nodded, acknowledging what he’d said. Then Jason moved his hand, and she made a low sound and tried to disengage his arousing touch. Pulling her against him so his mouth was next to her ear, he whispered. “Lose the shorts, babe. I want you. You don’t know how badly I want you.”

 

Her mind filled with a red haze, she tried to respond. “We shouldn’t—”

 

“Yeah, we should,” he answered, his voice rough. Hooking his thumb under her jaw, he tipped her head and brushed his mouth against hers, telling her exactly what he wanted to do and how he was going to do it. His explicitness knocked the wind right out of her as her strength crumbled, and Kelly hung on to him, feeling as if she was about to disintegrate. Then he covered her mouth in a hot, wet kiss, and she relinquished conscious thought. She released the snap at the waistband and pushed her shorts and underwear off her. Then all she could do was hang onto the one solid thing in her spiraling universe.

 

He turned her so her back was to him, skimming his palms down her sides, his fingers brushing the plumped swells of her unfettered breasts beneath the crop top she wore, causing desire and liquid heat to spiral low. His touch dragged her down deeper, and she gripped his arm, her senses spinning out of control. He tightened his hold on her, his voice rough and ragged against her ear as he urged her on.

 

He stroked her sensuously, expertly, her body very aroused now and turning fluid under his hands. The hard ridge of his erection nestled intimately against her bottom as one hand slipped under her top and cupped her breast, pinching her aching nipple.

 

“I love how you feel here, so soft and wet.” She moaned as his tongue dipped into her ear, matching the slow, intimate swirl of his fingers. Her breathing quickened as he continued to drive her crazy. Then all that burgeoning need started to pull together and narrow, and with one last stroke, he took her over the top. She stiffened and sobbed out his name as the paralyzing release ripped through her, turning her into raw, exploding energy.

 

It took her a few moments to recover enough to wonder where he was. But before she could look, he was back. Jason covered her, gloriously naked, his skin searing hot, his body hard all over. Especially his thick erection nestling in the crease of her buttocks. He aligned his chest and belly against her backside and pressed her hips into the washer. He took her wrists and draped them around his neck as he pumped his hips, moving his shaft against her. He panted softly and dropped his forehead against the top of her head.

 

“Fuck, Kelly,” he whispered as his soft, warm lips touched down on her shoulder. His lips moved to the side of her neck, making her shiver against his damp mouth and hot breath rushing over her skin and teasing the shell of her ear.