I’ve just pulled my sweaty shirt over my head when she says simply, “No.”
I look at her in surprise. “No?”
And again, there’s that mischievous smile. She’s looking at me like she’s proud of herself and excited about her secret, all at once. She nods and says again, “No. We’re not going to your house.”
Finally, understanding dawns. A grin slowly slides across my face even as pure joy spreads through my chest. “Yes, ma’am.”
She gestures at the clean shirt in my hand as if to sayhurry up.I just shake my head, feeling both amused and proud of this bossy side of her. “We’re going to my place,” she declares. “I haven’t christened my new apartment yet.”
The comment is immediately sobering. I swallow roughly, forcing myself to meet her eyes, even though I’m nervous as fuck about what I want to ask.
“You weren’t, uh… with anyone else?” I ask quietly.
The smile drops from her face as quickly as it did mine, though where mine was replaced by what I’m sure looks like terror, Hailey’s morphs into tender affection.
She doesn’t even hesitate before she steps up to me and wraps her arms around my waist, her chin tilting up so I can see the truth in her expression. I hesitantly place my hands on her waist, waiting with bated breath for her answer.
“There wasn’t, and will never be, anyone else,” she tells me. “You and I have been soulmates since I was a teenager, even before we could’ve ever been romantic. Our hearts match—they always have.” Uncertainty enters her gaze, but still, she doesn’t look away from my eyes. Still, she stays strong. “I got a little lost along the way, but I’ve known you were it for me since the night you walked away from me. When it felt like… like a part of my heart walked out the door. I knew then that I was right about what I felt when we were kids. That you and I were meant to be together. I haven’t eventhoughtof anyone else since that moment. Everything I’ve done since then has been to find myself, yes, but also to get back to you. Because you and I are it, Jax. There’s no one else.”
The tension leaves my body in a whoosh. It would’ve been her right to date if she wanted to, of course, but I didn’t realize how badly I needed to hear from her that she’s been just as caught up with me as I’ve been with her. The immense relief almost knocks me off my feet.
“Fuck,I love you,” I murmur as I fall onto her with another kiss. She’s already wrapped around my waist, so all it takes is dropping my head to press my lips against hers. She meets me with the same eagerness that I feel, that same desperation to connect again in any way possible. And it takes me several long seconds to pull back enough to drag some air into my lungs and respond to her declaration—and even still, I can only go so far as to put a few inches between our lips.
“I feel it too,” I say quietly. “You’re it for me. Of course you’re it. I’ve been dying thinking I wasn’t going to get to be with you, and that’s because I knew there would never be another person more right for me than you. I’m yours, Hailey. Yesterday, today, ten years from now. However long you’ll have me, I’m yours.”
Her eyes close, and she drops her forehead against mine. I watch as a look of peace washes over her, and I wonder if she’s feeling the same weight lifted off her chest that was just lifted off mine.
“Take me home, Jax,” she whispers, tightening her hold on me in a way that makes me think she’ll never want to let go.
I nod and press a kiss to her forehead, murmuring, “Yes, my queen.”
EPILOGUE
HAILEY
"Fuck, Hailey, you feel so good," Jax groans.
I lean back to brace myself on his thighs, giving him a better view of not only the length of my body but also of where he's disappearing into me as I grind on him.
"Ohfuck," I moan when he hits a spot deep inside me that immediately sets off sparks. My eyes close and my head drops back with a whimper as I'm swept up in the sensation.
"JesusChrist,you’re hot," he gasps in a pained voice. I feel his grip tighten on my hips. "Do you have any idea how hot you look right now? Riding my cock like this? I could come from just the sight of you."
I'm too wrapped up in the tsunami of pleasure that's rolling toward me to answer with words. I just increase the pace of my hips, desperation leading my movements.
He pushes up into a sitting position so he can pull me closer and suck a nipple into his mouth. I moan at the feeling, but the new position and Jax's closeness aren’t letting me move as quickly or as deeply as I want to. So I place a hand on his chest and shove him back to the bed, leaning my weight forward now and increasing the pace of my hips.
I can feel the orgasm bearing down on me, and Ineedit.
Jax's eyes go wide with surprise at the aggressive move but then his expression quickly becomes heated.
"That's my girl," he whispers. "Take what you need from me. Ride my cock just like that. I want to feel you make yourself come."
And just like they always do, his filthy words tip me over the edge.
"Fuckyes," Jax growls, his grip on my hips continuing to move me through the climax. But before it's even really finished, he slides his hands under my ass cheeks and shifts me in one motion to straddle his face.
I yelp at the sudden change in position, but he's already lost in eating me out, so the sound falls on deaf ears. He's so hungry for my pleasure that one orgasm immediately catapults into another.