The Jackal (Black Dagger Brotherhood: Prison Camp #1)(38)

“Jack.”

Even though she put a little volume into his name, he stayed in his dream state and things grew more intense for him. Now he struggled, arms flopping, head kicking forward. Kicking back.

A single tear escaped his eye and traveled down his cheek—

Nyx jumped to her feet and went around the pool. “Jack!” she barked.

Nothing seemed to get through to him. Nothing verbal anyway.

As soon as she bent down and touched his arm, his eyes flew open and his head snapped toward her. “What?”

“You were dreaming.”

He stared up at her as if he didn’t recognize her. Then he blinked. In a hoarse voice, he said, “It was not a dream. It was done to me.”

“What was done to you?”

Even as he looked at her, there was a strange emptiness in his eyes, as if he were not seeing her. “All of it. All of it was done to me.”

Before she could ask him anything further, he pulled her into him, her stiff body going off balance, his chest her landing pad.

“Is it you?” he said hoarsely. “Is this really you?”

His hand traveled over her hair and down onto her neck. “I need to know it’s you.”

Underneath her, he was fully aroused. She could feel him. But his eyes were tortured, and there was a begging to his tone.

“Yes, it’s me,” she whispered.

“Can you make it go away?” Before she could ask him what he was talking about, he stroked his thumb over her lower lip. “I don’t want to use you, but I need . . . can you make it go away, even for just a little while.”

Their faces were so close that she felt bathed in the light of his teal eyes—and captured by him, too, although not because he was holding on to her. The pain inside of him was what called to her.

“Who hurt you?” she breathed.

“It doesn’t matter. Will you help me? That’s all I need from you. No questions, no ties . . . just this.”

As he tilted his head to the side and leaned in, she closed her eyes. The feel of his lips on her own went through her whole body, and though she didn’t understand so much, the heat that thickened her blood and went to her core was all that mattered for now.

When he pulled back, as if he were giving her time to answer, she replied by sitting up on his pelvis, the hard ridge of his erection pressing into her. With steady hands, she took off her windbreaker, and then she lifted her shirt up and over her head.

The purr that came out of him rose up in the electric air between them, and then he was touching the sides of her ribs, following the curve of her torso up to the bottom of her bra.

“You’re beautiful,” he said softly. “In the candlelight. When I look at you, I’m somewhere else, somewhere far from here.”

His hands cupped the weight of her breasts and she let her head fall back as she began to ride him, that rock-hard arousal moving against her sex.

“I just want to touch you.” His thumbs brushed over her nipples. “Forever.”

He leaned forward and kissed the side of her throat, one long fang traveling over her jugular as he pushed the bra up. Nyx gasped when she felt his skin on her own, his touch caressing and then teasing the tips that were so ready for his mouth.

“That’s right, ride me, female.” More of that purr. “Fates, you feel good to me.”

Her bra disappeared at that point, the fastening released, the freedom making her feel wanton and hungry. Especially as his mouth traveled down . . . down . . . down . . .

It was a contortion trick to keep leaning back so he could cover the distance, and she had to pop her lower legs out from under her before her knees snapped. But then she was lying back against his thighs and she got to watch his dark head lower to her breast. His mouth was hot and slick as he sucked, and when he inched back, his eyes glowed as he looked up at her.

“It’s you,” he said. “This is all you.”

His head went back down, his tongue leading the way as he licked at her. Sucked her in again. Nuzzled at her.

As her bones turned to liquid and her blood roared with need, her hips started working again, her core rubbing against his lower belly, their clothes cumbersome, annoying. She gripped his thighs, wishing she could touch him, but he didn’t seem to be in any big hurry, and what do you know, she was really good right where he was.

When he finally lifted his head, he stared down at her breasts as they strained, swollen and tight, after his attention. Running one big palm down the center of her, he stroked her body as if he were memorizing every detail.

“Take my pants off,” she said.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

He worked fast on the loose track bottoms she’d worn, pulling the nylon bow free, helping her peel them off her backside. Things got uncoordinated at that point, her legs requiring a shuffle, nothing working right.

So she stood up off of him and pulled them down herself.

As he growled deep in his throat, she realized she was buck-ass naked in front of someone who was all but a stranger. Except . . . Jack didn’t feel like a stranger. He felt like a lover, even though the sex had yet to happen.

It was coming, though.

Especially as one of his big hands went to that bulge of his and rearranged the erection that was pushing at the front of his pants.

“Turn around for me,” he said. “I need to see all of you.”