My eyes widen, and I open my mouth to protest, but it feels so incredible the words get lost in my moan.

Jax chuckles. “Or we could just spend all night doing this.”

“I might take you up on that offer,” I murmur, burying my face into the comforter and stretching out my arms. I wonder if he’s going to drop the subject of me telling him stuff. Could I be that lucky? “That feels so good.”

His fingers delve deeper, kneading and working magic on my back. The longer the massage goes on, the louder I moan. It’s absurdly intimate but feels way too good for me to ask him to stop.

“Clara, if you keep making those noses, I’m going to lose it.” His voice is raspy, nearly cracking.

“Huh…?” I barely comprehend what he’s saying as I float away to a soothing place I haven’t been to in three years.

I miss being so relaxed. How in the hell is it possible to get lost in someone’s touch like this, to the point where reality doesn’t even seem real anymore?

He shifts his weight and I feel his breath against my neck. His fingers continue to work, tracing circles on the bare flesh of my shoulders. “I think I owe you a bite, right?” he whispers huskily then his teeth graze my lobe.

My body convulses uncontrollably, and I clutch onto the comforter for dear life. “I think it was the other way around.” I open my eyes and meet his hungry gaze. “I was the one who was supposed to bite you.”

“I’m pretty sure that was never fully decided.”

“Guess we’ll both have to do it then.” Before I can back out, I flip onto my back and lift my mouth to his neck. I lightly graze my teeth across his neck and smile when he shivers.

After he regains control over himself, he seizes my wrists and pins my arms beside my head. “I thought you were tired?” he asks breathlessly as my chest arches against his.

I shrug, but with my hands trapped above me, the movement is awkward. “You woke me up with the bite.”

A smile expands across his face. “You want me to bite you again?”

No. “Yes.” What the hell is wrong with me?

He seems as shocked by my response as I am, but dips his head and gently nips at the sensitive spot just below my ear.

“Mmm…” I hum with a shiver. When his tongue slips out, and he licks a path down my neck, I damn near lose it. “Jax.” I stab my fingers into his hands, which are still holding down my arms.

“What?” His voice is innocent enough, but he rocks his body against mine in a very not-so-innocent way.

I gasp as his hardness presses between my legs and heat courses through my body. “It’s not Friday,” I breathe stupidly.

“You’re really going to hold onto that still?” He’s mildly amused. And one-hundred percent turned on.

“Maybe… I don’t know…”

He takes that as a go ahead, and his lips crash down on mine. Our tongues twine, our breaths mix, and our bodies align perfectly. With his hands still holding my arms against the mattress, he rolls his hips against mine. I hitch my legs around his waist, giving him more access as he kisses me until I’m lightheaded and breathless.

He lets go of one of my wrists, and his hand travels across the outside of my shirt, along my ribcage and to my breast. My nipples harden underneath my shirt. Through the thin fabric, I know he can feel it.

“I want to see you…all of you...” he whispers as he devours me with his lips. “Clara, tell me I can.” When I don’t reply, he gently pinches my nipple.

A cry claws up my throat as heat jolts through my body.

“Tell me I can take your shirt off,” he practically begs.

I want to tell him yes. Want him to keep doing what he’s doing. Want him inside me. But I’m too afraid to cross that intimate line yet.

With a soft bite of my bottom lip, he grunts then pulls away, leaving my body aching as he sits back on the bed

“What are you doing?” I whine, pushing up on my elbows.

He combs his fingers through his tousled hair, his eyes fastened on the floor. “I want to talk.”

“Talk? Right now?” I pout out my bottom lip.

He chuckles, but his laughter swiftly dissipates when he looks up at me. The determination smoldering in his hazel eyes causes me to shrink back. “I know we have all these rules. You say you don’t have time for a relationship, but it feels like I hardly know you, and you know so much about me.” He scoots closer, takes my hand in his, and delicately sketches the folds of my fingers. “I want to get to know you.”

I stare at our hands, struggling with whether to pull away or not. “You know more about me than most people do.”

“But you haven’t told me anything about your home life. Hell, I just learned about your father.”

“But is that really even important? I mean, it just doesn’t seem like something you have to know.”

“I guess that all depends.” He smashes his lips together, upset.

“On what?” I ask, wanting more than anything to erase the hurt from his eyes. I’ve already seen him too upset today.

“On what this is,” his gaze falls to our hands, “what our relationship means to you. Because whether or not you want me to feel anything for you, I do. I pretty much have since the first day I met you.”

My head bobbles back as I groan in mortification. “God, don’t remind me of that day. I have no idea why you didn’t run like hell the other way.”