Page 75 of Jake's Angel

“I-I don’t know.”

Jake grips both my hips, holding me still against him. Searching my face, he asks, “Have you ever been with a man, Angel?”

My cheeks flame. Turning away, I try to hide my embarrassment. Jake cups the left side of my face. “Look at me, baby.”

Our eyes meet and I feel like such a fool for the tears that I feel stinging my eyes.

“Answer me, baby. Have you ever been touched by a man?” His eyes are so intense. I shake my head.

“Not in a way that brought me pleasure. No.”

Jake’s brow creases. I pull my head out of his grip. Shame washing over me like a wave, threatening to take me under.

“We should go.” I move to get up, but as I lift off his lap, his hands grip my waist and force me back down. He growls.Fucking growlsat me.

“I don’t know what that means, but you’ll tell me later.” It’s not a question. “For now, give me that sweet mouth of yours and hold on to my shoulders, Angel.”

Unable to stop myself, I follow his demands and grip his shoulders, leaning in to kiss his lips. This kiss is softer, gentler than before, but it quickly heats up as his hands jerk my hips, causing even more friction than before. His tongue is licking, tasting, savoring my mouth.

I rock my hips against him, lost in the sensations building inside me. “That’s it, baby. Make yourself feel good. Let yourself go. I’ve got you.”

The tingling down below intensifies with every stroke of his length against my center. Jake bites down on my bottom lip. I feel the slight flash of pain, and Jake’s name comes out as a strangled cry—just before wave upon wave of pleasure like I’ve never felt before pulses through me.

Jake slows the movements of my hips, peppering soft kisses along my jaw. When I sit up, I find his cocky smirk and sparkling eyes staring at me.

“Welcome back.”

I lean in and kiss him softly. Not knowing any other way to express the gratitude I feel for what just happened.

He didn’t take. He gave.

Jake breaks our kiss, leaning his forehead to mine. “We should get out of here.”

We’re both panting and out of breath. All I can do is nod. Jake grabs his glasses off the ground, then lifts me to my feet. I follow as closely as I can while he drags me back to his bike by my hand.

Jake climbs on, putting his sunglasses back on his face, motioning for me to climb on. I get the helmet fastened as he starts the bike. “Hold on tight, baby,” he calls over his shoulder. My stomach does flips at him calling mebaby.

I grab hold of his body, leaning tight against his back, smiling as we tear off down the road together.

When we pull into the gravel drive in front of Liz and Caleb’s house, and are met by a scowling Gabe, and my stomach flips for a whole other reason.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

AVERY

I tryto walk past Gabe and into the house, but his hand gripping my elbow halts my steps. I glance down to where he’s holding me and immediately he lets me go.

“I know you’ve been through a lot, and you don’t trust me right now. But I’m asking you to come with me and let me show you something. Can you do that?”

My mind is screaming at me to tell him to fuck off and walk away. After everything Jake told me today, how he let a boy feel guilty for so many years over his lies, plus what he did to me, I have every right to tell him off. There’s something in Gabe’s eyes, though, silently begging me to give him the benefit of the doubt.

At my hesitation, he continues, “I’ll bring you right back here, I promise. But I need you to come with me. It’s important you see this. We’ll go have dinner and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

“You promise?”

“Yes. With the exception of …”

“Club business.”I roll my eyes.