“Don’t,” Jaxon snarled, yanking her hand from her face as he offered her a feral smile. “I like that sound.”
Annalise’s eyes were probably as big as flying saucers and bright gold like the sun as she sat frozen, staring at his sexy face. Jaxon pulled her hand to his chest, which was heaving with deep breaths. His lips crashed against hers, and the gentleness was gone. Oh, he’d set them both on fire now. His rigid muscles were firm and strong under her fingertips, and just to test what he would let her get away with, she slid her flattened palm down the curve of his chest to the defined mounds of his abs. And fuck yeah, she did some math and counted those sexy things. Eight. A freaking eight-pack, and now she needed to feel his skin.
When she slipped her touch under the hem of his shirt and brushed her fingertips along the line of his belt, Jaxon’s stomach twitched. He inhaled sharply, rested his forehead against hers for a second, and swayed toward her. And then his hand was on her neck again, pulling her in as he kissed her senseless, mindless, brainless. Instinct took over, and apparently that instinct was to meld her body to his because now she was pressed against him so tightly, there was no end and no beginning to either of them. God she loved this. Loved being locked up with him. Loved the loss of her mind, her stress, her tension. He’d always had this ability to give her an escape, and this was the best she’d ever experienced. She wasn’t She-Devil anymore. Sure, the snarl was still in her throat, but there was no shame, no worry. She couldn’t hurt a man like Jaxon. He was made to withstand storms and teeth and claws. He was strong enough to withstand all her ugly pieces, and somehow, someway, he was making her feel beautiful.
Feeling brave, she slid her hands up his bare stomach, then ran her nails lightly up his chest. Jaxon yanked back by inches and pulled his shirt off in one smooth motion, then guided her hands back to his skin as he kissed her again. She smiled against his lips. His desperation for her touch matched her need for his. Tomorrow would be full of regrets, but she didn’t care about that right now. She just wanted to be lost in Jaxon, her great escape. She wanted to feel normal for a little while, like she wasn’t a monster.
Jaxon pulled her shirt over her head and let it slip to the ground. He sucked hard on her bottom lip and then held it between his teeth as he popped the button of her jeans and ripped the zipper down. The butterflies in her stomach were rioting as he slid his hand down the front of her…granny panties. Shit.
He ended the kiss with a soft smack and glanced down. “What the hell are you wearing?” he asked through an amused grin.
Annalise clamped her arms over her lap and tensed her legs. “I hadn’t intended on fooling around.”
“Are these even the right size?” he asked, chuckling as he pushed her arms away and pulled at the loose hem of her ugly purple polka-dotted comfies.
“Stop,” she complained, swatting at him.
“Woman, I thought I knew your underwear drawer. What about the dozen cute panty pictures you sent me? These never made the cut?”
His dark eyebrow was arched up, and he was smiling big. She was equal parts horrified and trying not to laugh to encourage him. “Go back to passionate kisses and ignore these. I don’t want to laugh right now, Jaxon! I want to be turned on. And I want to turn you on. Just pretend I’m in something sexier.”
He laughed harder and pulled her hand to his erection. Yep, still hard as a rock. “Anna, I don’t give a shit about your panties. They’re just an obstacle. I’m keeping these, though. I’m gonna frame the fucking huge things—ow!” he said, dislodging himself from where she had clamped her teeth down on his shoulder.
“You’re drying me up right now, Jaxon,” she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.
“That’s a lie,” he rumbled, easing between her legs again and sliding his hand down the front of her panties. He buried his face against her neck and plucked at the sensitive skin there gently with his lips as he cupped her sex and slid his finger inside of her.
She gasped and gripped the back of his head as she rocked against his hand. He’d listened when she’d told him her neck was one of her favorite places for a man to pay attention to, but paired with him pushing into her just about did her in.
He sucked hard on her neck, hard enough to bruise, but she liked it. She hoped it left a mark. She hoped he left proof they’d broken Ben’s rules to be together tonight. The pace he set was slow, and he pulled his finger all the way out each time before he shoved it deep again. She was already so freaking close, but this wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.
“I want more,” she huffed in a shaky whisper.
“This is enough for tonight.”
Annalise reared back and searched his face. Confusion washed over his features briefly before realization settled in his striking green eyes. “You don’t think you’ll ever see me again,” he murmured in a deep timbre her heart had already memorized.
Exactly that. She was scared. Terrified that this…tonight…was all they had for the rest of their lives. She couldn’t bring herself to say her fears out loud though, so she kissed him instead, silently pleading for him to give her more.
“Fuck,” he murmured against her lips. And then she was moving again. He lifted her off the hood of his truck and settled her on the ground. The grass tickled her shoulder blades, but he’d found a soft enough spot. Jaxon was in work mode right now, on his knees between her legs, pulling her shorts and panties off with a look of such intensity, her stomach dropped to her back. He was beautiful, if a man could be called that. Tall and strong, his wide shoulders and arms flexing with every movement, his jaw gritted in fierce determination, his gaze between her legs with that striking shifter color glowing from them. Now she could see his tattoos weren’t just on his neck and arms, but covered his chest as well. Whoever had done them was a true artist. They’d turned his body into a canvas, into a masterpiece. His black hair was mussed from removing his shirt, and the moonlight cast his muscles in shadows and highlights that made her wish she had a camera to capture this moment. Even with the animal snarl in his throat and those inhuman eyes, he was perfect.