Page 28 of Cupid's Beau

“Don’t what, Jack? Don’t leave? Don’t give up? Don’t expect more than whatever scraps of yourself you’re willing to share?”

His fingers tighten. “I don’t want you to go,” he grits out between clenched teeth.

“Then give me a reason to stay. A real one. Not ‘it’s complicated’ or ‘I’m protecting you.’ Tell me why I should stay when you’ve made it clear you’re not ready to let me completely in.”

His hand drops from my arm. The silence stretches between us, broken only by the sound of waves outside.

“That’s what I thought.” I adjust my bag on my shoulder. “Goodbye, Jack.”

“My mom. She was…” He swallows hard.

The words stop me at the doorway. When I turn back, he’s staring out the window, shoulders rigid.

“After she got sick, I promised myself I wouldn’t…” He trails off.

“Wouldn’t what?”

“Need anyone like that again.” He finally looks at me, and thepain in his eyes makes my heart ache. “But then you smiled at me in that lobby, you kept rambling all that nonsense, and you looked so fucking cute. And surprisingly hot at the same time…“ His lips twitch up.

I set my bag down slowly, a tentative smile on my own lips. “Jack…”

“I know it’s not an excuse.” He takes a shaky breath. “I know I hurt you. But the thought of letting myself need you, then losing you…” The ghost of a sad smile crosses his face. “Turns out I was right to be.” He gestures to my suitcase. “Because watching you pack that bag? It feels like I can’t breathe.”

I take a step toward him. “Then stop pushing me away.”

His voice breaks slightly. “I don’t know how to be what you need, Neneh.”

“I don’t need you to be anything. I just need you to be honest.”

“What if I mess up?”

“Then we figure it out. Together.” I move closer. “But you have to let me in, Jack. All the way in. No more walls.”

“No more walls.” He cups my face, thumbs brushing away tears I didn’t realize were falling. “I want to try. With you.”

“That’s all I’m asking.”

When he kisses me, it’s tender, almost reverent, like he’s finally letting himself believe in us.

“Stay,” he murmurs against my lips.

I’m distracted by how his hands span my waist, how the morning light catches the silver in his hair, the way his voice has gone low and rough.

His mouth finds that spot on my neck that makes me shiver.

“This is very unfair. Using your…” I lose my train of thought as his teeth graze my skin. “Your everything to win an argument.”

He laughs against my throat, and the vibration does ridiculous things to my insides. “Is it working?”

Jack slides his hands lower, cupping my ass, and tugs me into the warm cradle of his hips. The evidence of his arousal pressing against my inner thigh. I want him naked. Now. Want to feel his skin. His warmth. Be enveloped in his scent. His mouth travels down my body, lingering on sensitive places, and I gasp as his tongue laves the underside of my breast. He moves lower, his touch light and teasing. My knees buckle when his fingers slide between my legs. Sucking on one hard nipple and rolling the other, he pushes his thick middle finger inside my wet, quivering cunt.

I moan.

The need to come is so urgent.

It builds, and builds.

Just as the orgasm starts to peak, he stops.

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