Afterburn (9 page)

Honestly, I couldn’t care less about Jax’s cousin and his bitchy wife, but talking about Jax’s mom made me realize that he knew more about me than I did about him. Aside from his family members who made news because they were in office, I only knew Allison.

“They’re solid.” He took another drink. “She’s what he needs to run for mayor in the next election.”

“It’s good that she’s there for him.”

He snorted. “They barely talk to each other. But she knows how to work the press and she’s very active in his campaign planning. He made a good choice with her. She fits him the way Regina fits my dad.”

“I thought the political marriage/business partnership was a Hollywood stereotype.”

“No.” Jax reached over and lightly brushed the back of my hand. “You’ve got to be pragmatic about relationships. Marrying for love never works out well. My mom and dad were a love match and they made each other miserable. Now, Regina and Dad... They’ll do just fine. She knows how to play the game.”

“He seems like he genuinely cares for her.”

“After what he went through with my mom, she’s got to seem like a gift.” He took another drink, then leaned back as our food was served.

His change in mood was another warning. Talking about his mother didn’t seem to sit well with him. I’d have to be careful about approaching the topic. “Ian introduced them, right?”

“Which turned out to be really lucky for him, didn’t it?” he said with an edge in his voice.

“Because he called in the favor and got you? You can’t save him, Jax.”

“I wasn’t asked to.” He shrugged, his gaze hard. “I’m just supposed to keep Lei Yeung at bay. I can do that.”

Nico walked over with a steaming plate of pasta in hand. “Mind if I join you two?”

Jax pushed out the chair opposite him with his foot. “The more Rossis the merrier.”

Sadly, the more Rutledges the scarier. And that had shaped Jax into the man he was.

I played with that in my thoughts as Jax and Nico settled into the easy banter of men, reminding me of how effortlessly Jax fit into my life...and how uncomfortable I was with his.

Chapter 8

A
FTER
DINNER
, J
AX
and I headed out to his rental. I paused before I slid into the passenger seat. “If I go back to the hotel with you, I’ll need you to take me back to Nico’s when he gets off work.”

Jax rested his arm on the open car door. “You won’t stay the night with me? I’d like you to.”

I did want to. And once, back in the day, I had dropped everything in my life for his visits and ended up resenting him for that. I may not have learned to stay away from him, but I’d still picked up a thing or two about having a healthier relationship. “I came here to spend time with my brother.”

His chest lifted and fell on a deep breath. “Fair enough. Can I schedule time for you to spend with me?”

We stood so close to each other, pressed into the space between the car and the door, but there was a gulf between us. I’d created it, but I still wished it didn’t have to be there. “When are you thinking?”

“Any night this week and next weekend for sure.”

I nodded, then got in the car. He shut the door and rounded the trunk, giving me time to think about how the rest of the night could go. More sex. More Jax. I craved both, but it would’ve been nice not have so many doubts and reservations. I missed how carefree we used to be. But then, I guess it was only that way for me. He’d been counting down the minutes all the while.

He got in and closed the door, but didn’t start the engine right away.

“Listen,” he began, “you should know this is hard for me, too.”

“But you understand what’s going on,” I argued softly. “I’m clueless.”

Jax twisted in his seat and reached for me, catching me by the nape and pulling me in. I closed my eyes, anticipating the moment when his parted lips would touch mine. His tongue caressed the curve of my mouth, a slow sweep that had me leaning closer for more.

“So sweet,” he murmured. “I’m going to spread you across my bed and lick you from head to toe.”

“You’re good at that,” I said breathlessly, a shiver of eagerness moving through me.

He pulled back, as if to start the car, then surged forward again, catching my lips in a heated, wet, ravenous kiss. His mouth ate at mine, his tongue stroking deep and fast. I was just as greedy for him, my hand sliding into his hair, holding him by the roots while I frantically tasted him. He cupped my breast in his hand, plumping it, his thumb and forefinger surrounding my aching nipple and tugging rhythmically. I moaned, turned on and needy.

“God,” he groaned, releasing me and falling back heavily against the seat. “I want you. Right here. Now.”

I was more than tempted by the thought. If we had been anywhere but right outside Rossi’s, I might have climbed over the gearshift and gone for it.

“Drive fast,” I told him.

He laughed hoarsely and turned his head against the headrest to look at me. “Fine. But when we get to bed, I’m taking it real slow.”

* * *

“J
AX
!” C
LAWING
AT
the sheets, my body arching away from the torture of his mouth, even as I craved more. I’d forgotten what he could do to me, how he could strip away my skin to get into the very heart of me, how his complete command of my body made me willing to do or say anything for the pleasure he could give.

He held me pinned at the thighs, his mouth on my throbbing sex, his tongue licking leisurely. The velvety strokes over my clit had me gasping, the need for an orgasm so fierce I was drenched in sweat, my legs vibrating from the strain.

“Please,” I begged hoarsely, squeezing my heavy breasts, the tips swollen and tender from the long minutes he’d spent drawing on them with slow, measured pulls of his mouth.

His silky hair brushed over my skin. He lifted his head. “Please what, baby?”

“Ah, God... Make me come.”

“Just a little more.”

“Please!” I pushed my hand between my legs, desperate to bring myself off.

He nipped at my fingers and I cried out, panting.

His head lowered, his tongue tracing the swollen folds. He circled my clit, then rimmed the trembling opening below.

I grabbed his head, holding him to me, struggling to lift my hips to his mouth. Jax was too strong, restraining me easily, his breath hot against my sensitive flesh. He suckled gently, moving slowly along the length of my cleft, giving me just enough pressure to drive me insane.

“Let me turn around,” I gasped. “Let me suck you.”

His chuckle was filled with such wicked amusement it sent goose bumps racing across my skin.

And then he thrust his tongue inside me.

“Jax!”

He cupped my butt and lifted me, angling me into his working mouth. His tongue fucked me swiftly, the shallow plunges into my trembling sex driving me hard toward orgasm. His growl vibrated against my clit, his pleasure feeding my own.

I clutched at his hair, moaning, digging my heels into the mattress to rock against his lips.

“Don’t stop,” I sobbed, so close, my entire body tingling.

Jax surged onto his knees, elevating me. My legs spread wide, giving him limitless access. He devoured me, so hungry and greedy. I couldn’t breathe for the pleasure. The frenzied licking against sensitive tissues overloaded my senses. I watched him, as he’d meant for me to. The sight of his dark head between my thighs, the rapid-fire flickering of his tongue, the beauty of his biceps hardened from supporting my weight...unbearably erotic.

He was gorgeous. Everything I’d ever wanted. And the fierce need that etched his face warned that his demands would take me to the edge before he was through with me.

Another low moan broke from my dry throat. “Oh, Jax...I’m going to come.”

“Wait,” he ordered. “I want you milking my dick when you lose it.”

I gave a clenched-teeth scream of frustration as he lowered me to the bed and reared, snatching up a condom and ripping it open. He was sheathed and coming over me a heartbeat later, but it was too long. I had no patience. I caught him in the cage of my arms and legs, pulling him to me, lifting to him.

He allowed me to drag him down, his palms flat on the bed by my shoulders, his biceps thick and hard. He reached between us with one hand, fisting his penis and stroking the wide crest through my slickness. I gasped and his eyes darkened, his cheeks flushing as he notched into the grasping opening to my sex.

“Jax,” I growled in warning.

He thrust hard, sinking deep in one lunge, wrenching a cry from me as I fell hard into orgasm. Neck arched and eyes squeezed shut, I lay taut as the pleasure pulsed through me, my core tightening on the powerfully thick cock inside me.

“Fuck, yeah,” he groaned, grabbing fistfuls of the sheets and pumping that long, rigid column of flesh into my quaking body. The climax grew, spurred by the rhythmic blows of his pelvis into my clit...the feel of his erection plunging relentlessly.

I writhed, helpless, lost to him, struggling to hang on to the part of my soul that wanted to surrender.

“That’s it, baby.” Jax’s lips were at my ear, his breath hot and quick. “Dig those claws into me.”

My nails were grasping at his sweat-slicked back, feeling the muscles flex as his body worked to service mine. His buttocks tensed and released beneath my calves, his thighs bunching and powering the drives of his hips.

His teeth sank into my earlobe and he groaned, his rock-hard abs contracting against my stomach, his sweat and mine sealing us together.

“Those noises you make,” he gasped. “God...they make me so hard.”

And he was. Like stone.

“So g-good.” I swallowed past a dry throat. “Jax...it’s so good.”

“You were made for me,” he said fiercely. “No one else, Gia. You’re
mine.
”

He drove the point home with every plunge, fucking me so thoroughly I couldn’t think beyond the need to come again.

My body was no longer my own.

Jax was the only one who could do this to me...make me mindless...an animal. I wasn’t
me
when I was in bed with him; I was
his.
Willing and ready to do whatever he wanted, to take whatever he chose to give me, knowing he would make me come again and again...

I whimpered, feeling his grip tighten, his muscles gathering as his own pleasure grew.

He nuzzled his damp face against me. “So tight and hot...
Gia.
”

I realized then that he was clinging to me as desperately as I was to him, that urgency laced every breath, every touch. He was screwing me as if he’d die if he stopped, as if it were possible to fuck me hard enough to delve even deeper beneath my skin.

My eyes stung with tears when the orgasm hit, stealing my breath and causing spots to blur my vision. A low noise poured out of me, unrecognizable as mine.

“Ah, sweetheart.” He kissed me, absorbing the sound, slowing until he was just circling his hips, stirring his raging erection inside me. “I love that sound you make when you come. It tells me how good you feel, how much you love my cock...my mouth...my hands.”

How much I loved him.

I was sprawled beneath him, wide open and possessed, while he felt like a dream. Something I’d conjured.

“Feel me,” he breathed, pushing up to look down at me. His eyes were so dark, his face flushed, the skin stretched tight with lust over the sculpted angles of his face. “Inside you—” he rolled his hips, then caught my hand, lifting it to his slick chest “—and you inside me.”

“Jax—”

He took my mouth, kissing me deeply, his tongue rubbing along mine. His hips circled slowly, making me feel every throbbing inch of him. The leisurely, deliberate stroking over tender nerves kept me hot and edgy. He remembered me well, knew just how to keep me revved and needy.

“I missed you, Gia,” he whispered into the kiss. “Did you ache for me, too?”

When I didn’t reply, he brushed the wet tendrils of my hair away from my face and searched for the answer.

My sex rippled along his length. His eyes closed and his lips parted, his body tightening. “Not yet. I’m not coming yet.”

“Please...” I was begging and I didn’t care. I just wanted him to come. I wanted it more than my next breath.

“I’m not rushing this.” He reached behind him to grab my wrist, bringing my right arm up and over my head. His other hand pushed beneath my buttock, lifting me into a smooth, easy thrust. “Umm...perfect. It’s always been perfect.”

I wanted to tease him, to play the game as coolly as he was, but I couldn’t.

“Stop thinking and feel, baby,” he murmured, nibbling on the corner of my mouth. “Let me make you feel good. That’s all I want. To make you feel good.”

Turning my head, I caught his lips and let him.

* * *

N
ICO
EYED
ME
as I slid onto a bar stool at Rossi’s after closing and I knew he saw my makeupless state, which betrayed the shower I’d taken just a half hour before. He had been cleaning up the bar, but he stopped and pulled out a beer, popping off the top before sliding the bottle over to me.

“Forgot how much I like Jax,” he said conversationally.

I nodded. I liked Jax, too. Thing was, I didn’t know which Jax was the real one.

“You two going to work it out?”

“No, it’s temporary. But this time, I know the rules.”

“Maybe I don’t like him so much.” Nico popped open a second beer and took a long pull. “He’s in love with you, you know.”

“He’s in lust,” I countered drily, picking at the label on the bottle. “And that’s okay, I can live with that. It’s the other stuff—the way he talks to me sometimes, as if there’s more, and the head trip I’m on about why he left and came back—that’s hard for me to deal with.”

“My offer to knock some sense into him still stands.”

I smiled. “Might be easier and more effective to knock sense into me.”

“Can do that, too.” He tapped his bottle against mine. “But you’ve got plenty of sense. You know what you’re doing. You just wish you weren’t doing it. He obviously doesn’t have a clue or else he wouldn’t risk letting you get away. He’ll never find better.”

“Ah, God, don’t get sappy on me now. I can’t take it.” I wasn’t entirely kidding. I felt weepy and emotional. Sex with Jax did that to me.

Nico grinned. “Fine. Get off your ass and help me clean up so we can get the hell out of here.”

With a sigh, I slid off the bar stool. “Shit. I should’ve stuck with sappy instead.”

* * *

A
N
INSISTENT
POUNDING
on Nico’s door woke me Sunday morning. I rolled off the couch with a curse, stumbling over with the intention of bitching out whoever it was.

When I blinked wearily through the peephole, however, I saw beloved faces.

Pulling off the security chain and turning the dead bolt, I opened the door to my brothers and Denise. “What the hell?” I groused.

“Yeah. What the fuck?” Nico wandered in from the bedroom wearing sweatpants that barely clung to his hips. Brother or not, I could still appreciate what a good-looking man he was. “You know what time it is?”

Vincent came in first. “Time to get up.”

Angelo followed Denise in, holding her hand in his. “You put Gianna on the couch? Seriously?”

“I offered her the bed.” Nico crossed his arms. “She wouldn’t take it.”

“Don’t blame her,” Vincent said. “If that bed could talk, it’d have its own reality show.”

“Don’t be jealous,” Nico returned. “I’m sure your bed will see some action eventually. Despite everything, you’re still a Rossi.”

“What are you doing here?” I interjected. I was really happy to see them. Having my family around brought back normalcy I’d lost the night before in Jax’s bed. I was back to feeling like Gianna Rossi—and not absolutely sure I was the writhing, moaning, clawing woman who’d enjoyed a half-dozen orgasms in a matter of hours. It was as if I were two different people.

And you’re mad at Jax for having two sides....

“We’re waiting for you to get dressed so we can grab some breakfast,” Denise answered. Her hair was pulled into pigtails that framed her pale face. She’d matched her lipstick to the pink in her hair, making her look like some sort of anime superheroine. “I’m starving.”