The Will (Magdalene #1)(165)
Author: Kristen Ashley

And when she did, I thought about it for I knew my answer was crucial and it also had to be completely honest.

But even as I thought about it, I knew.

I knew Jake would not hit me. Jake would not wound me with words. Jake would not cheat on me. Jake would not lie to me. Jake would not gamble or steal or throw away money or go out and rape and pillage.

So I knew.

“Ever,” I promised her.

When I did, she closed her eyes and dropped her head forward so her forehead rested on my mouth, her hands coming up so she could wrap her fingers around my wrists.

“I love you, my sweet girl,” I whispered against her skin, pressing in with my hands.

She pulled away, caught my eyes and squeezed my wrists. “Back at cha, Josie.”

I smiled.

She smiled back.

Thank goodness.

We let each other go and I went back to the plates. I handed her one and she got down to the business of preparing it for Conner as I went to the drawer to get the cutlery.

I was counting out forks and knives when her phone in her back pocket sounded the alert she had a text.

I looked to her and saw her pull out her phone, look at it, then shove it back into her pocket.

Unusual.

Amber usually responded to texts immediately unless she was at school.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yep,” she answered.

“Amber,” I called, seeing the stiffness in her frame.

She looked to me.

“Is everything okay?” I repeated.

“Mom keeps bugging me,” she told me.

I was uncertain how to proceed so I did it cautiously, “Bugging you how?”

“Wants to go to a movie this weekend.”

“Ah,” I murmured.

“Said no and it’s like she doesn’t get it. But she hasn’t asked about the movie again. She just texts and asks how it’s going. Wants to know if I wanna get a coffee. She even sent me a picture of a sweater at Lucky she thought would look good on me and asked if I’d like to have it.”

“You said?” I prompted when she spoke no more.

“I texted back, ‘whatever,’” she shared.

“Did you like the sweater?”

She focused on preparing Conner’s plate and answered, “It was kind of kick-butt.”

I grinned as I moved to the pantry to get napkins.

“She’s bugging Con too,” she told me while I was on the move.

“Is that so?” I asked from inside the pantry.

It was when I came out that I felt her eyes on me so I looked to her.

“You did this,” she stated.

It wasn’t an accusation even when it kind of was.

“Yes,” I confirmed honestly.

Her face set stubbornly. “I’ll take the sweater, Josie, because it was cool. But I’m not goin’ to a movie with her or coffee or whatever.”

“Your choice, my lovely,” I replied, moving back to the island.

“You see her, you can tell her that,” she said.

I would do no such thing.

Therefore, I didn’t answer.

“Josie?” she called.

I looked to her.

“Love you, but you can be a pain in the butt.”

I smiled.

Amber stared at me a moment.

Then she smiled back.

* * * * *

Jake’s voice was low and gruff in a way I liked very much when he warned, “You don’t want the results of that work in your mouth, baby, you best get up here.”

My eyes lifted to him as I slid my mouth up his cock, sucking as I went, then rolling the underside of the rim of the head with the tip of my tongue.

I felt his legs tense at my sides as I saw a muscle jump in his jaw, his heated eyes that were on me firing.

I knew these signs very well, so I released him with my mouth, gliding my fist that was wrapped around it up after I did so. I let him go and then moved. Crawling on all fours over him, I took my time at the ridges of his stomach. I took more time at his ni**les. I then moved to take time at his throat, his neck and behind his ears.

By the time I got to the last, I was straddling him so I worked at his ear as I felt him glide the tip of his c**k in the wet between my legs.

He rubbed it over my cl*t and I gasped against his skin just as he wrapped an arm around my waist, slid his c**k back and pushed me down, filling me.

My neck arched.

Jake’s other hand sifted into my hair at the back of my head and he kept us connected as he rolled.

Then he was on me, thrusting slow and sweet, his mouth to mine, his tongue inside, tasting, drinking, but giving…slower and sweeter.

My hands moved over his skin and I wrapped a leg around his hip, the other one around his thigh as I kissed him back.

His thrusts started to get faster, but no less sweeter, building it beautifully as he broke our kiss but didn’t lift away, his lips brushing mine, his breaths mingling with mine, his eyes holding mine.

I held his gaze and I saw it smoldering there, the heat he was creating, what he was building in me, what I was building in him, but there was more. A flame that would never extinguish.

The love he had for me.

Seeing it, I tightened my legs around him, tipped my h*ps for him and glided a hand into his hair.

“I love you, Jake,” I whispered and the instant I did, his thrusts got even faster, much sweeter, our breath coming heavier.

“Fuck, baby,” he whispered back.

“I love everything about you.”

“Fuck, Josie,” he groaned.

It was building higher and my body tensed all around him, my eyes going unfocused as it started to engulf me and I was ready to feel the burn.

“Josie,” he called.

I tried to focus but found it hard. I wanted to give in. I wanted what he could give me, every time, some harder, some faster, some slower, some sweeter, some longer, but I always got it because Jake always gave it to me.

And I wanted it now.

“Darling,” I whimpered.

“Look at me when I tell you I love you,” he ordered.

I focused on the man I loved who loved me in a return for an instant before he said the words.

“I love you, baby.”

I heard them in a way so profound, I felt them, the feeling taking me there and I cried out, the sound drowned when his mouth took mine in a deep kiss.

Minutes later, he drove deep, planted himself and smothered his groan in the same fashion.

I knew when it left him because he again started kissing me.

And again, I kissed him back.

It was slow. It was lazy. It went on for a long time, even after Jake slid out. Then he branched out, kissing my neck, my collarbone, between my br**sts, my ribs, my midriff, my belly.