Falling Away (Fall Away #3)(45)
Author: Penelope Douglas

“Yeah, but it blew up in my face,” I laughed nervously, spraying some detangler in his hair. “My mom found out and hired a personal tutor at home.” I held his cold locks in my hand, piece by piece, spraying. “So that sucked. I had to waste an extra hour three times a week for a month for a test I could’ve passed. It was embarrassing.”

Reaching down, I took his brush out of his hand, and gathering up all the hair, I started lightly brushing through it from the bottom up. He didn’t speak, and I was surprised he didn’t comment on my story. I figured Jax would gloat about something like that.

“Even more embarrassing was the first guy I ever kissed,” I continued. “Yeah, I thought it was a guy, but it wasn’t. He was a girl. A very boyish-looking girl at a party when I was fourteen …” I rambled, trying to keep his mind on me.

He listened as I told him about the Barbie skates that I could still fit into as I brushed through all of his hair and put some product in for styling. He kept his eyes glued to me as I told him about the time I was eighteen and too drunk to notice that I hadn’t taken my underwear down before peeing on the toilet. He followed my every movement as I dragged the edge of a comb along the sides and parted pieces of it for braiding and kept talking.

Through the layer of sweat on his back and with his fists clenching the fabric of his pants on his thighs, he listened and didn’t take his eyes off me for a single moment, listening to my ramblings as if they were the most interesting stories in the world.

And the whole time, I just wanted to wrap my arms around him and hold him. He didn’t feel safe, and I didn’t wonder about the cause.

I simply wanted to know where they were, whoever had done this to him, so I could choke the shit out of them.

Reaching down, I placed my hand on his as I used the other to dig in the drawer for some small clear rubber bands.

I didn’t look at him, and I didn’t touch him unnecessarily. I just wanted him to know that I was there.

I’d seen him wear his hair in ponytails and braided ponytails, but my favorite styles were where he braided three small strips above each ear, so I decided to do three braids to the scalp instead of the traditional ones he usually did.

Braiding three rows on each side, securing them with rubber bands as I went, I then took all the bands out and pulled everything back into his usual ponytail midskull. Twisting the rubber band, I threaded his thick black hair through, squeezing the soft, cool locks in my fist.

Running my hand over his scalp to pull back any flyaways, I slowed when I saw him close his eyes. He looked relaxed. Peaceful. Maybe soothed.

Spraying some hair spray to keep everything in place, I put my hands back on his shoulders and waited for him to open his eyes again. He could stay like that all damn day for all I cared.

Fireworks popped under my skin and exploded in my chest at the sight of him. We were close to each other and we weren’t shouting for a change. Damn, he was beautiful.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t nicer in high school.” My voice came out raspy, and when he opened his eyes they almost seemed to glow in the dark.

“Every morning you’d sit on the bleachers with your iPod and stare off onto the field. Staring at nothing. I wondered all the time what you were doing. What you were thinking about. You scared me.”

“Why?” he asked, sounding calm. “I would never have hurt you, Juliet.”

I shrugged, not sure how to answer that. “I don’t know. Liam was safe, I guess. He pissed me off and hurt my feelings, but he never got under my skin.”

Liam never made me cry. Forgetting me, disrespecting me, humiliating me—that all made me cry. But losing him to another woman never hurt. It wasn’t a loss. But Jax …

I looked down, swallowing. “First time I saw you I knew …”

“Knew what?”

I met his eyes on the mirror. “That you’d mean more.”

Jax’s chest filled with a deep breath, and his gaze turned heated. He pushed out of his chair, and I jumped back at his sudden movement. Looking up, I watched as he advanced on me, backing me into the bathroom wall.

“Jax—” But before I could say anything more, he leaned down and cupped my cheek, and butterflies swarmed in massive circles in my stomach when his lips crashed down on mine.

I moaned, his tongue flicked mine, and I jerked with the rush of heat spreading through me and then sinking right down between my legs.

Shit, he felt good.

I opened my lips more and kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck, standing on my tiptoes, and leaning into his body. His arm circled my waist, and his other hand went straight for my ass, pressing me into him harder.

I felt my bikini top give way, and that was when I noticed he had pulled the ties at my neck and back.

I reached up, trying to catch my top before he snatched it away from my body and tossed it to the floor.

“Jax, no.” I pinched my face up in worry. “Shane will be back—”

“You want me to stop?” he said, cutting me off, lifting me up by the backs of my thighs and pressing me into the wall with his body. “There’s no stopping,” he warned, covering my nipple with his mouth.

I groaned, letting my eyes roll back. Oh, shit. Everything he did hit a nerve straight down to my center, and I squeezed my thighs around him.

“Jax, please,” I begged. I wanted this.

But I wasn’t ready.

“Please what?” he taunted, his scorching breath making me shiver as he swirled my hard nipple with his tongue.

“Please stop,” I gasped, wanting him to do everything but stop. More.

“Stop what?” he asked, still kissing me. “Stop this?” He sucked my whole nipple into his mouth, fast and fucking hard, and then drew it out between his teeth while looking up at me with those devil blue eyes. I sucked in air, watching him suck and release, kiss and drag, making me throb so hard I started grinding against him.

Lowering me just a bit, he crushed my lips to his and held me tight as he walked us to the bedroom and laid me back on the bed.

He broke the kiss, and I inhaled a sharp breath at the sudden coldness I felt. He leaned over me, looking down into my eyes.

Grazing the back of his hand over my cheek, he dragged it down my neck and then my torso, spreading the heat of his touch down my body. My stomach shook as he slid past and dived into my shorts.

I arched my back and groaned when his finger slipped inside me.

He closed his eyes, looking as though he was reveling in what he felt there.