Rev It Up (Black Knights Inc. #3)(57)

When he gazed down at her, it took everything she had to resist the warmth in his eyes.

“I love you,” he said again.

And instead of answering, she choked back her tears.

***

Give her time, Jake told himself as he watched Shell close her ears to his proclamation of love once again. Just give her time to see that you’re not going to reject and abandon her like you did four years ago. Then she’ll come around. Then she’ll see…

At least, he hoped she’d see. In truth, he was beginning to have his doubts, and that had everything inside him threatening to shatter. Frustrated tears burned up the back of his throat and, okay, he so wasn’t prepared to be that guy. The one who broke down after orgasm.

“I need to—” he began.

“—take care of the condom,” she finished for him, and when he pulled from her body, it felt like he was leaving his soul behind.

After disposing of the condom in the bathroom trash, he glanced at his reflection in the mirror.

She will come around, he assured himself. After all, she just made love to you.

And he knew she wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t still feel something for him. Shell wasn’t one for casual sex.

Feeling a good measure of his old self-assurance return, he walked out of the bathroom only to find Shell kneeling in the center of the bed, the second foil-wrapped condom held between her fingers, a sultry half-smile playing at her delicious lips.

Yo, she’ll most definitely come around.

In fact, she already was. Though he suspected she hadn’t realized it, yet.

His heart began a happy, steady thrum.

“You ready for round two?” she asked with a little smile that caused two small divots to form beside her fabulous lips. For some reason, the sight of those divots drove him absolutely wild. “Or does a man of your advanced years need a few more minutes?”

And this was the Shell he remembered. Warm, teasing…

He wanted to shoot a victorious fist in the air.

Instead, he satisfied himself with raising a brow. “A man of my advanced years?” he chuckled as he glanced down at his dick.

Upon exiting the bathroom and seeing her there, naked in the middle the bed, the thing had started a steady climb to vertical.

Her eyes followed the direction of his gaze. “Well, well, Mr. Sommers,” she breathed, licking her lips. “I now see why you were such a hit with all the ladies.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, doll,” he assured her as he stalked toward the bed.

She fell back against the mattress, laughing.

But he didn’t jump on top of her like he knew she was expecting. Instead, he knelt at the edge of the bed and lowered his face between her thighs, sucking in the wonderfully decadent scent of her musky arousal.

He couldn’t resist her. He opened his mouth and kissed her. Her thighs tightened around his ears, but she didn’t jerk away. And that was all the invitation he needed.

Sliding his tongue into the hot heaven of her sex, he reveled in the noises she made. They were cries of joy mixed with pure pleasure. She loved what he was doing to her, and she let him know it, especially when she reached down to grab his hair and pull him more tightly against her.

Then her breathing ratcheted up, and the sounds she was making became desperate. “Jake, please,” she panted. “I want you inside me.”

And, yo, that was another invitation he couldn’t resist.

When he moved from his position between her soft, wonderful thighs, he was gratified to see an unwrapped condom in her hand. She smiled seductively as she slowly rolled it down his length.

She was so beautiful. And tight, he thought as he slowly pushed his length into the moist welcome of her body. That was all the evidence he needed to know she hadn’t been with a man in years. And he was caveman enough to admit that the fact made him ridiculously happy.

“What are you grinning about?” she asked, gasping when he pulled back only to stroke home.

“Just happy,” he said as he moved again, careful to caress every last inch of her.

She grabbed his shoulders then, lifting up to kiss him, her nipples hard against his chest, and he quickened his strokes. And then, for a few glorious minutes, there was no need for words.

Because every second was filled with pure, triumphant pleasure.

But suddenly, “Shell,” he whispered against her lips. “Oh God. I’m really close.”

“Me too,” she moaned, moving with him, her beautiful, pale skin glistening with sweat. “But I’m always so close when I’m with you.”

And that did it.

Jake’s release blasted through him like a cannon shot. “Shell!” He cried her name and felt a flash of relief when her inner muscles contracted around him as she followed him over the edge.

He held her tightly for long moments after the last shivers of ecstasy washed through their joined bodies. Refusing to break the connection, he rolled them onto their sides, staring into her eyes as he ran a reverent finger over her shoulder, down her arm, across her hip and the faint white scars she’d sustained from her pregnancy.

“Ugh,” she wrinkled her nose. “Don’t look at those. They’re ugly.”

“No they’re not,” he assured her, his heart warm inside his chest. “They’re beautiful.”