His hold on my hips tightened. “I promise.”
Hearing the absolution of his vow, I leaned back to stare into his face. Tenderness, need, want, affection, adoration… it all moved through me. Gently, I caressed his jaw, my fingers coasting, drawing faint patterns in his skin. When my eyes met his again, everything I felt flooded out of me and I watched him suck in his breath.
“I’ve never stopped loving you,” I told him quietly. “When I saw you at the party last semester… it hurt, Jake. I’ve never been so hurt.”
“Baby—”
“I need you to know this because I’m deciding to trust you again.”
He nodded, waiting.
“I will never love anyone the way I love you. You’re part of me. You make me feel like I can be anyone, do anything… but you also have the ability to make me feel weak. You have the ability to crush me like no one else can. I don’t like that part of myself, Jake, and I hate that you can do that to me.”
His breathing sounded a little uneven as he whispered back, “You make me feel the same way.”
Leaning close, my lips an inch from his, my eyes blazing, I uttered darkly, “Good. I need to know that we’re on equal footing here.”
In answer Jake caught my lips with his, drawing me into a deep, drugging kiss. He pulled back, jerking down the zipper on his jeans as he told me in a voice thick with need, “We love each other so we can hurt each other, but I’m making a promise,” he tugged down my panties and I lifted myself up to help, “to do everything I can not to hurt you again. I want that promise from you.”
I settled back over him, my uneven breathing seeming to spur him on, making him hotter and harder as his dick brushed between my legs. I bit back a moan, nodding. “I promise,” I whimpered. “Jake, I promise. I love you.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, appearing to savor it. “Say it again.”
My breath whispered across his ear. “I love you, Jacob Caplin.”
And just like that, his control snapped. He gripped me by the nape, holding me still for his rough, desperate kiss. With his other hand, he guided himself to my entrance. He then took hold of my hip and thrust up into my wet, tight heat. We gasped into each other’s mouths, our sexual chemistry, chemistry we’d never had and would never find with anyone else, overwhelming us.
“I love you” fell freely from our mouths as we held onto one another, chasing the high of finally coming together, in every way we could.
“So this is why I woke up to an empty bed and a cryptic note?” Jake’s tall figure cast a shadow over me.
I smiled up at him from the picnic blanket. “I thought we should take the day away from everything. You’re not missing anything too important in class, are you?”
He shook his head, an amused grin on his lips.
“Well, sit down, then.” I patted the blanket and Jake slowly lowered himself onto it. His eyes drifted over the items on the blanket and widened with recognition. I was warmed all the way through from his laughter.
“Peanut butter sandwiches, cookies, chips, and two bottles of water.” His dark eyes twinkled. “Just like our first date.”
“Yup. Unfortunately, we’re missing Hendrix, but I thought the view more than made up for it.”
We were on Arthur’s Seat, the peak of a group of hills east of Edinburgh Castle. It was popular with hill walkers and such. I was hoping to find it quiet on a Friday morning, and I had. I should’ve been exhausted after last night.
But I wasn’t.
I woke up next to Jake, excited about the future for the first time in a really long time, and I wanted the future to start today. I left a note telling him to meet me on Arthur’s Seat at eleven thirty. I then put together our first-date meal and hiked up before him to prepare.
“The view definitely makes up for it,” he murmured, eyes glued to my face.
I tingled all over but put it aside. Sex was always easy for us. It was time to work on the relationship. “We never talk about our past. I think we’ve been so scared to bring up the bad stuff that we’ve forgotten all the good. Like our first date.”
“When you named my truck.”
I laughed. “When I named your truck. And when you teased me by not kissing me good night.”
It was Jake’s turn to chuckle. “I was waiting for the right moment.”
“And decided English class was the right moment?”