A Daddy for Jacoby(57)
“I’ll put your dress over here.” He started to turn away. “I don’t want anything…to happen…to…it.…”
Gina did a slow turn to face him, her stomach quivering wildly as Justin lost his ability to speak. He handled her dress with care as he laid it over a nearby chair, his eyes never leaving her as she stood naked except for lace panties, high heels and moonlight.
Her first instinct was to cover herself, but she fought it off. Leaning against the footboard, hands clenched tightly to the curved wood behind her, she instinctively sucked in her tummy, her breasts tingling from the hard breath he exhaled.
“No f-fair.” Her words came out in a husky whisper, but it was the best she could do when she saw the need in his eyes. “You have more clothes on than me.”
His mouth rose in a half grin and her heart raced. Oh, she loved that smile. He so rarely displayed it, except lately, and she guessed she could thank the new direction his life had taken for that.
“I can fix that.”
His eyes caressed her, from her wild curls to the tips of her toes, as he quickly slipped off one cowboy boot, then the other, followed by his socks. Straightening, his eyes locked with hers. He lowered the zipper of his pants and pushed them past his hips. They fell to the floor and he kicked them away.
Giving in to the temptation, she looked at him, all of him, standing before her in snug black boxer briefs that outlined the evidence of his arousal.
“Fair enough?” he asked.
No, it wasn’t fair.
It wasn’t fair that he was so well put together from the defined muscles of his broad shoulders and strong arms to his long tapered legs. It wasn’t fair his beautiful body was marred by the two faint marks across his washboard abs and chiseled hip bones, and it most definitely wasn’t fair that she was most likely only going to have this one night with him.
Gina stifled the anguish that insight caused, determined to follow the decision she’d made the moment he’d kissed her. Enjoy tonight. Take this moment, with this man, and live every minute of it.
She returned his smile and pointed the toe of one high heel at him. “Hmm, I think I have the advantage now.”
“Not for long.” Justin repeated the same line he’d said in the living room as he lifted her into his arms.
The move surprised Gina, but Justin swallowed her squeal with a hard kiss. The bedsheets were cool against her skin as he laid her down and stretched out next to her, never taking his mouth from hers.
After what seemed forever, he pulled away to move to the end of the bed. He lifted each foot and slowly removed her shoes. She wiggled her toes in appreciation, but they curled of their own volition when he placed a kiss at one ankle while his hand curved behind her calf.
His lips never left her skin as they moved up the length of her leg, his fingers repeating the path on the other until he reached the patch of lace covering the most intimate part of her. His breath was hot as he nuzzled her and she was sure he could feel the dampness clinging to her. She reached for his shoulder, whether to pull him farther up her body or to keep him in place she didn’t know, while her other hand fluttered over her stomach.
He captured her fingers as his tongue left a moist path between her belly button and the top edge of her panties. “Well, well…what do we have here?”
Gina’s breath caught, unsure of how he would react to the words inked above her left hip bone. While enjoying Miami’s South Beach on the way back from her vacation, she’d walked into a local tattoo shop, shocking everyone, including herself.
He read the words aloud. “‘I shall not live in vain.’”
“It’s from an Emily Dickinson poem. I love her work, but this one is my favorite.” The words tumbled from her lips. “‘If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live—’”
“I know how it goes.”
He made his way up her body reciting aloud the poem she’d found years ago while searching for solace in the aftermath of her father’s death. Each word was punctured with a kiss, across her stomach, rib cage and the far side of one breast until he stretched out on top of her and whispered the final word against her lips.
She loved him.
As simply and easily as that, Gina fell into the unknown and scary world of truly loving a man. One hundred percent, wholly and completely, head over heels and topsy-turvy in love.
With Justin Dillon.
She closed her eyes against the revelation, afraid he’d be able to see the emotion in her eyes. Pressing into his pillows, she inhaled, and his clean, earthy male scent filled her head.