Page 103 of Love Beyond the Illusion
Jack’s slick body wraps tightly around mine, so much so that I can’t tell where I end and he begins. My lungs sync into his inhale rhythm, only allowing me to exhale when he does. This is what it’s like when your soul finds its match in another.
He slips himself on top of me, caging me in with his broad shoulders. “Open your legs.”
I stare into his flaring eyes. Before I have a chance to move, he shifts one of his knees between my legs, spreading at the same time.
The corner of his mouth quirks up, making my stomach flutter. When he enters the wet heat of my core, chills span my body, and a shiver zips up my back. My head falls and a husky moan releases.
“I know you didn’t take the money,” he says between breaths, lowering his hard chest on top of mine.
I bring my hands up to his face, my fingers feeling the light stubble of his five o'clock shadow. “I couldn’t.”
“It’s a lot of money.”
“I don’t care.”
He stops his slow, deep thrusts, pinning me with his blue eyes. “I would have given you any amount you’d have asked for.”
“I fell in love with you, and that’s not something you can pay for.”
Jack and I make love in my bed for the first time. We forget about the world around us, the logistics of me moving to Dupara, the fact that his house still isn’t ready, and how I will tell my best friends that I’ll be leaving them.
Existing with him in my space makes everything so real. I still hear my mother’s words in my head, but I have to try with Jack. Life is short, and if I don’t take a chance on love, am I really alive?
Later at night, I wake from a deep sleep to a cool, gentle breeze on my shoulder. Rolling over, I notice that the covers have fallen to my waist, and Jack isn’t lying beside me. I notice a small light seeping through the bottom of the door to the bedroom. He must be in the kitchen. I lean over to turn on the lamp beside my bed, alerting him that I’m awake. I’m too tired to get up.
He walks back into the bedroom with an apple in hand.
“Midnight snack?” I sit up, taking the blanket with me.
“Always.” He grins, taking a bite of a bright red apple. “I was thinking—”
“It’s one in the morning. Seems like a good time to have meaningful thoughts,” I say.
“That’s what I do. You know that.” He lowers himself onto the bed and scoots his back to lean against the headboard.
I crawl to him and rest my head on his lap. “That’s my husband.”
“That’s only the second time I’ve heard you call me your husband.” He smiles. “You should do it more.”
“I will.”
“So, when my dad passed away over the summer, I was looking to buy a home in Scottsdale,” he picked up from our conversation from earlier.
I prop my chin in the palm of my hand, now more interested in what he’s about to share. “Okay.”
“What if we bought a house out here—together?” he suggests, with optimism in his voice.
“Buy a house here?” I arch a brow. “In Phoenix?”
“Or Scottsdale.” Jack hands the apple to me from over the top of my head. I sink my teeth into it, then hand it back to him. “A condo would be great too. It’s up to you. This way we can visit whenever we want. Northern California gets cold during the winter. It would be nice to fly here for those few months out of the year.”
“You want to be snowbirds?” I tease.
He chuckles. “Exactly. And an added bonus is that you’ll get to visit your friends anytime you want and have a place to stay.”
I slide myself over Jack’s straightened legs, straddling him. “I love you, and I think that’s a brilliant idea.”
“Yeah?” He sets the apple on the nightstand and grips my bare ass. I fall forward into his chest while a giggle slips out. Jack let out a full belly laugh, and it thunders through my ears.
