Under My Skin

Jackson, loving me.

I don’t know how long he strokes me, but I do know that with each caress I feel it more and more. As if he is polishing me, making my body shine with a sensual light. So that by the time his fingers sneak beneath my skirt to tease the soft skin of my i

I’m breathing hard, my body warm, my breasts aching, and I arch my back in a silent expression of longing.

But he doesn’t penetrate me. Just the opposite, and I whimper because suddenly the contact disappears. I feel the shift of the couch cushions and open my eyes. He’s standing above me, looking down with such longing and passion that it makes my whole body tingle.

He’s changed out of his suit into one of the pairs of jeans he keeps at my apartment, and I can see the strain of his cock against the denim. It makes me smile. I like that he is bound. That he’s going just a little crazy. I like it, because it will make the explosion when he is released that much more astounding.

“Come with me,” he says, but he doesn’t wait for me to stand. Instead he picks me up, cradling me to his chest as I wrap my arms around his neck. It’s a position that suggests comfort and tenderness, but when puts me on the bed and steps back, I see a building heat in his eyes that suggests otherwise.

“Hook your ankles behind me. Now,” he demands, as if I were going to protest. “No words. No questions.”

I comply.

The position leaves my knees turned out so that the space from my feet to my cunt form a diamond, and there is just a tiny amount of space between his pelvis and mine. Just enough room for his hand to torment me sweetly.

And that is exactly what he does. That finger that was easing up my thigh does so again, trailing lazily up and down as I squirm, my hips undulating in a needful rhythm.

“I like that,” Jackson says, his voice so low I can barely hear it. “I like watching you silently beg. Your cunt slick and hot for me.”

I close my eyes and drag my teeth over my lower lip. “Jackson. Please.”

“Please what? Please this?” His fingertip trails lightly over my clit, and the shock of that touch ricochets through me.

“Or this?” He slips two fingers inside me, then presses down on my clit with his thumb, making me arch back, wanting more.

He pumps his fingers inside me, his thumb continuing to tease, and as he does, I’m losing the ability to think.

“I’m going to make you come, baby. I think you should just sit back and enjoy it.”

I try to answer, but he adds another finger and thrusts deep inside me, and I realize that I am incapable of forming words.

My cunt tightens around his fingers. I want it harder. Deeper.

“Close your eyes,” he says. “Slide one hand up inside your shirt.”

I do. My skin feels hot to the touch.

“All the way up and then squeeze your nipple. Harder, baby. I know you like it hard.”

He’s right, and I comply, biting my lower lip as I tease myself, and then gasping as he takes my other hand and slides it between my legs. “Tease your clit for me, baby,” he says as he thrusts his fingers inside me, finger-fucking me as I do what he says. As my worries and anxieties fall away. As pleasure builds. A celebration of now. Of freedom. Of life.

Of us.

“Come for me, baby.” His voice is low and steady and seems to roll over me, as sensual as his touch. “Come for me and tell me you’re mine.”

“I am,” I whisper. “Oh, god, Jackson, I am.” The words are ripped out of me as I explode, my muscles convulsing so hard around his fingers that I probably have bruised him.

I let the storm wash over me, then sigh as he whispers, “I’m going to marry you.”

“Yes,” I reply. “You damn sure are.”

twenty-six

“Daddy! Stella! Sylvie! Someone else is here!”

Ro

I’m standing by the wet bar with Nikki and Stella, but it’s Jackson’s face that I’m watching, and it has such an expression of rapturous adoration that I’m determined to figure out how to submit Betty and Stella for sainthood.

Not only has Stella come armed with a notebook filled with every detail imaginable about Ro

She made what could have been scary seem like an adventure, and I will be forever grateful.

We didn’t want to overwhelm the little girl, but we did want to celebrate, and so we’ve laid out a spread of chicken strips and pizza and invited a few friends to come join. Charles and Harriet have already stopped by and left, and I’m guessing that this newest arrival is Cass and Siobhan.

I follow Ro

“I’m Ro

“I know,” Cass says. “She’s my best friend. I guess that makes us friends, too, huh?” She’s looking down at Ro

“I’m Cass, by the way. And this is Siobhan.”

Ro

“Are you kidding?” Siobhan says. “Dogs are awesome.”

“Aunt Sylvia says you have a dog,” Cass adds. “Can we meet him?”

Ro

Cass shoots me an amused glance. “We’ll be back,” she says and they hurry to Ro

“You doing okay?” Jackson asks, sliding his arm around my waist as we walk back into the living room to join Nikki and Damien.

I’m not sure if he’s talking about the situation with my dad or settling in to having a little girl around, but right now, either answer is the same.

“I’m great,” I say, bending to snag a piece of pepperoni pizza from the box on the coffee table. “You’re free. Ro

“Actually, you’re not.” Damien glances at Jackson. “It’s covered.”

I look between the two of them, confused.

“I talked with Damien earlier,” Jackson explains. “Why should I ask someone to gamble on a project that I’m not willing to gamble on myself? And, frankly, I don’t consider it a risk. I think we’ll end up filthy, stinking rich.”

“You’re already rich,” I say. “But I know how much the shares cost, and, Jackson, that’s a serious chunk of change. Are you that liquid?”

“We are now,” he says, and I feel a nice warm flush from the way he pulls me into that equation. “I’m going to talk to Isaac Wi

“Jackson! You’re sure?” The Wi