Page 106 of Most Likely to Deny Love

My thumb traced the delicate bones of her wrist as I brought her hand to my lips. The playfulness in her expression shifted to something questioning, curious.

“Jack?” Her voice was a soft whisper, shivering over my skin.

Instead of answering, I slid my fingers into her hair, drawing her down until our lips met in a kiss that was nothing like the ones we’d shared before. Not desperate or hungry, but achingly gentle, like she was made of spun glass and might shatter if I wasn’t careful.

She melted against me with a soft sigh, seeming to lose herself in the kiss.

When she pulled back slightly, her eyes were hazy with desire, but there was confusion there too. I knew she could feel the difference in my touch, but thankfully she didn’t ask.Instead, she reached for the buttons of her pajama top, undoing them one by one while holding my gaze.

The silk parted to reveal skin touched gold by firelight. I swallowed hard as she shrugged the garment from her shoulders, letting it fall forgotten to the floor. My hands stayed at her waist, thumbs tracing small circles against her skin.

“Touch me, Jack,” she whispered, taking my hands and bringing them up to cup her breasts.

I stroked my thumbs across her nipples, watching as her eyes fluttered closed, her head tipping back. The trust in that simple movement almost undid me. Here, now, she wasn’t performing. She was just Mia, giving herself over to the moment, to me.

I bent my head, taking her nipple in my mouth, glorying in the gasp of pleasure she gave me.

Her hips began a gentle rocking motion against mine, and the friction sent heat rushing through my veins. We moved together unhurriedly, savoring each point of contact as we shed the rest of our clothing.

When she positioned herself above me, our eyes locked. She sank down slowly, taking me deep inside her, and we both stilled, drinking in the perfection of the moment. My arms wrapped around her, pulling her chest to mine as she began to move.

“Jack,” she breathed against my ear, making me shiver.

Words failed me. All I could do was hold her tighter, press my lips to her throat where her pulse raced beneath my mouth. She set an easy rhythm, rising and falling with languorous grace. No urgency, no performance, just the two of us chasing pleasure together in the flickering firelight.

I buried my face in the curve of her neck, breathing her in. Her scent, clean from her shower but with that underlying sweetness that was purely Mia, filled my lungs. Somethingprimitive in me wanted to mark her, claim her, make sure that everyone who came near her would know she was mine.

The thought should have alarmed me. Instead, it felt inevitable.

I slid a hand between us, my finger circling her clit.

“God, Jack. The things you do to me.” Her hands tightened on my shoulders as she rode me harder.

“Look at me,” I murmured , needing to see her face. Her eyes fluttered open, locking on mine. I could drown in the endless silver sea of her gaze and die happy. “You are beyond beautiful, Mia.”

Her arms tightened around my shoulders. We moved together like we’d been doing this for years, not weeks. Like our bodies had been made to fit together just like this.

The pleasure built gradually, a slow burn rather than wildfire.

When she shattered, I watched in awe. The way her lips parted when she cried out, the flush that spread across her chest, her complete surrender to me. I cataloged every detail, filing them away like precious artifacts.

She pulled me over the edge with her, my body jerking as I came inside her. For a moment, the boundaries between us seemed to blur completely.

Afterward, she collapsed against my chest, her heart racing against mine. I kept her close, unwilling to break the connection, my fingers trailing up and down her spine.

That’s when it hit me. Not in a thunderclap of revelation, but in the quiet certainty that settled into my bones: I didn’t want this to end. Not tomorrow, not next week, not ever.

My arms tightened around her. This wasn’t part of the plan. This wasn’t what we’d agreed to. But my heart knew what my mind was still scrambling to process. Mia had somehow become essential to me, like oxygen or water.

Maybe she felt me tense, because she pulled back slightly, her eyes searching mine. There were questions there, but she didn’t voice them. Instead, she brushed her lips across mine in a kiss so tender it made my chest ache. I kissed her back, pouring into it everything I didn’t know how to say, everything I was still trying to understand myself.

Whatever this was between us, it was real. More real than anything I’d known before. Now I just had to figure out what the hell I was going to do about it.

MIA

The plane had started its descent into Esperance Municipal Airport, that final tilt downward that always made my stomach drop. I’d never minded flying, but landings always got me. Jack’s hand tightened around mine, his thumb tracing idle patterns across my knuckles the way it had for the entire flight.

He’d been like this since we left Colorado. Constantly touching me, his fingers skimming my arm, settling at my waist, finding my hand whenever it was free. Like he couldn’t bear to break contact. Yet he’d barely spoken twenty words since we’d boarded, spending most of the flight staring out the window or at our intertwined fingers with an intensity that made me nervous.

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