The Ex Factor - Erin McCarthy Page 0,56

back. “Take me there, Chance. Please.”

He could do that. He started to stroke in and out, gripping her hips so he could hold her in place.

Jolene felt like she was holding her emotions with white knuckles, just the way she was the bed. This was intense. It was different. They weren’t even looking at each other and she could feel it. Something had shifted the minute Chance had opened his mouth at the Blue Bird and told her he loved her. It seemed fitting for them that he would say it in a crowd, with music in the air. She had a thousand questions in her head, but none of them were answerable and that was okay. For right now, that was okay.

What mattered was that there was something indefinable between her and Chance, something magical. They created great songs because their chemistry extended far beyond lyrics and a melody.

But then he reached around her waist and slid down over her clit with his thumb all her fanciful thoughts flew right out of her head. He was taking her hard, just like she had requested. Then she was shattering in a hot, tight orgasm that had her moaning in pure unadulterated ecstasy.

He followed her immediately and after they both gasped their way over the finish line, Jolene fell forward onto the bed, her thighs and lower back burning. And she hadn’t even done the hard work.

He collapsed beside her on the bed. “JoJo, you make me forget my name.”

“As long as you remember mine, I don’t care.”

He laughed. He wrapped his arm over her and tugged her in close to him so they were spooning. She should move, but for the moment all she wanted to do was just lie there, breathe, and enjoy the sensation of his skin on her skin. His fingers trailed over her, up and down, barely skimming her flesh. It made goose bumps rise on her skin, and she felt a deference in his touch that hadn’t been there before. It suddenly made her throat tight. She glanced back at him.

His gaze had been roaming her body, but now he met her eyes with his. They were darker than normal. The intensity he always carried was still there, but it seemed less volatile. Like he’d made peace with his emotions. It didn’t seem like there was any part of his body that she didn’t know, but every time they were intimate, she noticed something new about him. Now, for the first time, she realized he had ridiculously long eyelashes for a man. Normally she was so distracted by his broad shoulders, shaggy hair, and beard scruff, she didn’t notice that his lashes brushed the soft skin under his eyes.

“I said I’d never get married,” he murmured. “I said I’d never do to a woman what my father did to my mother.”

Her heart rate had been slowing back down, but his words made it speed up a little again. “You’re not the same man as your father,” she said softly.

“I never shied away from a bottle of Jack. I can be selfish and an asshole.” He brushed the hair back off her face. “I’m scared because with you I feel like I could make that commitment and I don’t want to hurt you by being me. Does that make sense?”

“Every day we wake up and make a decision about how we’re going to act that day. We can choose love or we can choose anger.” She was scared too, but it didn’t matter. “I don’t want to live my life with regrets or what ifs. Let’s choose love.”

“Jolene.” He cupped her cheek and stared into her eyes. “I can do that. I choose you. Over anything. Over me.”

She stroked her fingers across his mouth. He was a gorgeous man. She’d always known that. What had surprised her was how much more of him she’d seen just in the last few days. His vulnerability, fears, his baggage from childhood. It made her understand him better.

He’d never tried to take over total control over their careers, despite what she had always feared. They didn’t need to circle each other, too wary and scared to let the other well and truly inside.

They needed to open wide up and show each other everything they were. “I trust you,” she said, and she meant it.

He smiled at her. “Maybe we should have tried this whole trust and love thing sooner.”

Jolene felt her eyes drifting closed. “At least we learn from our