“You’re my best friend and my sister. Who else would I ask?”
She shrugs and returns to her seat.
My gaze flicker to Hunter. “I want you up there with me too.”
He grins. “You can count on me.”
Jason sets the magazines on the table in front of him. “What are you going to do with all of these anyway?”
“Ideas, J.”
“Ah.”
“And since you said you’d help, you’re going to look through them with me.”
“No!” He presses the back of his hand to his forehead and throws himself back in the chair. “I can’t do it. It’s too much. Please, don’t make me.”
“Man up, Waters,” Arissa says.
He lays his hand over his heart. “You wound me, Jericho.”
Mom and Shelly pass out plates of cake while Dad and Alana serve the coffee.
Jason moves the magazines between us and taps the top. “Bring these over tomorrow and we’ll start looking.”
My heart expands to fill my chest. This is what it’s like throwing caution to the wind. To make a life-altering decision without thinking.
Goodbye, demons. Hello, life.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
Jason greets me at the front door with a smile and draws me in by my waist. His lips meet mine hungrily as he shuts the door and presses me against it with his body.
I drop my tote with the bridal magazines and slip my arms over his shoulders. His hips grind into me and I exhale heavily into his kiss. This is what I’ve craved when I need every inch of him touching me. He grabs my thighs and hauls me up. I hook my legs around him and he grinds into me again. Static shock flows through me. He draws his head back with a solitary question in his eyes.
My breath is ragged as I speak, “Yes.”
His hands move to my face and his mouth crashes into mine with a ferocity threatening to devour me. My body heat rises as the years and reasons spent waiting fall away.
He drags his mouth from mine. “Are you sure?”
I answer between forceful breaths. “Yes.”
He hooks his hands around my thighs and steps back from the door. He carries me to his room and closes the door behind us. Just in case Alana comes home. But I’m not really thinking about Alana.
He lays me down on his bed and crawls over me, covering my neck with soft kisses. He stops at the spot right above my collar bone and lingers.
“Oh,” I moan. The prickling nerve endings return and intensify, spiking through me. I wrap myself around him, pulling him closer. I need his body touching mine.
His kisses trail downward with each button he frees on my blouse. He slides his palm across my exposed belly, my stomach quivering under his touch. I want what I’ve denied myself. What I’ve denied us. I want to reclaim what is mine and drive out the demons.
He peels off his shirt and I flatten my hands against his chest. I trace the edges of the muscles on his chest and arms while he remains still for me. I love how each muscle curves into the next, full of strength and power that he only uses on the court or to defend me.
Simon imposed his will through bluster to dominate with the power he never really possessed. I get that now. He took what he wanted, when he wanted. Jason waited to be offered what he wanted. Just as he waits now while my hands explore.
He works the button on his cargo shorts, then tugs the zipper. I wince at the grating of the teeth, still like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. My breath catches in my throat.
Some demons refuse to leave.
He stops and hovers over me with our faces close enough to kiss. His fingers trail over my cheek. “It’s me. Breathe, Parker.”
I’m not breathing? I attempt to inhale, but the breath is still stuck and my eyes widen.
His mouth parts mine and his tongue slips in, searching for life in every crevice. He awakens the need for oxygen. I break away, twisting my head to the side with a wheezing inhale.
How sexy.
“That’s it,” he murmurs, stroking my hair. He kisses along my jaw, then returns to my mouth when my breathing evens out. He sucks in my bottom lip, sending currents of lightning through me, stoking the fire.
“Oh, God. Jason,” I let out in a gasp.
He places my hands on his zipper. Giving me the power. Allowing me to exorcise my demons.