Climbing into my car, I knew I was making a mistake going back, but I’d stayed away too long and soon my so called fiancée would hopefully come to her senses and realize there was more to life.
Chapter 24
Thalia
It was five-thirty in the morning and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I needed the bathroom for one, but didn’t want to wake Jack up. Jack. He’d come home last night while I was sitting on the porch with Liam. If it hadn’t been for Liam, I would have gone running to him. He’d climbed out of his car and walked towards me with a grin to match mine until Liam had made him aware that he was sitting with me, witnessing how happy we both were to see each other again.
I couldn’t get enough of him and my eyes ate him alive. He’d seemed to pull himself together and then walked straight past us both and into the house. I hadn’t seen him since and wasn’t sure what to make of his behavior.
The wedding was still on as far as I knew, and I was sure the whole town would know if it had been cancelled.
Every time I thought about Jack, my heart would pound and my stomach would flutter with butterflies.
My bladder desperately needed to be relieved so I threw back the covers and slowly made my way to the bathroom, hoping Jack was still asleep. He gave me enough heated looks when I was fully clothed. I had on my favorite baggy sleep shorts with teddy bears printed all over them; they hung from my hips and a tank top in pink. So basically my outfit didn’t leave anything to the imagination.
I slowly pushed the door open and sighed in relief when I didn’t see Jack, although I did feel a slight disappointment, which was stupid. Annoyed with myself, I quickly, walked across the bathroom and slid the lock into place on Jack’s door – I sure as hell didn’t want him to catch me having a pee.
With my bladder finally relieved, I washed-up then opened the lock on his door. Before I could move his door flew open and there he stood, in his practically naked, tattoo, pierced glory. Oh my God. I couldn’t take my eyes from the tattoo on his chest or the ones on his arms, but my eyes kept straying back to his chest, and his pierced nipple.
There wasn’t an inch of fat on him. His shorts hung low on his hips and I mean really, really low. He was bare, and his erection, which was straining for freedom, tented his shorts. I gulped and moved my eyes back up his body, hovering around his pierced nipple, which I wouldn’t mind playing with, and finally met his eyes.
His eyes were like molten liquid. He looked ready to eat me alive. His breathing was about as choppy as mine with his hands flexing at his sides.
I licked my lips.
“Thalia,” he whispered, “you’re driving me crazy.”
My nipples pushed against my top while my stomach fluttered with need. He inhaled when he noticed – his hands shaking. His eyes finally moved from my erect nipples down to my stomach. He froze and dropped to his knees in front of me putting his hands on my hips.
“You have a tattoo?” he asked me this question, already knowing the answer. I had a circular tattoo around my belly button of strawberries, my favorite fruit. Silly, but I loved it and from the sound of awe in Jack’s voice, so did he.
He leaned forward and placed a kiss to one of the strawberries. Without thinking I reached out with my hands and ran them through his hair – he shuddered and tightened his hold on me.
Between my thighs, I was wet and throbbing, where I wanted his lips.
“This is wrong.” He moved from one strawberry to the next leaving a trail of kisses in his wake. By the time he’d finished his hands were on my naked butt, having smoothed them up my legs and up past the bottom of my shorts. His cheek was resting against my stomach. I was falling for this guy.
I stroked down to his neck and the top of his shoulders. He let out a sigh as I continued to – soothe him, I guess. Jack seemed to need some comfort. Darn it, but he probably never got any from his family or even his fiancée. In fact the latter seemed more like an arranged marriage than one of love.
Jack started to pull back, standing he met my eyes, and then reaching out, he caressed my face. “You have me tied in knots. I’ve missed you so damn much these past couple of weeks. I don’t know what the fuck to do about it.”
He took a deep breath. “I’ve tried keeping my distance, but here we are. I’m getting married, Thalia, nothing can happen between us – it would hurt us both too much in the end.” He laughed. “Hell, what am I saying? You’re my brother’s girl. I shouldn’t even be touching you. There’s just something...” He shook his head and rested his forehead against mine.
My hands quivered as I placed them on his hips. “I’m not his girl,” I whispered.
His eyes met mine.
“We went out a few times, but prefer to be friends. He asked me to pretend to be his girl while I’m here.”
He smiled. “Probably so Mom doesn’t start throwing every available woman at him. She can be such a pain in the ass. You probably shouldn
’t have told me that.”
I took a deep breath and reached up to run the back of my hand along his cheek to his jaw. “I better go back into the bedroom.”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed.
Neither of us moved.