He laughed. “I haven’t gained size in my dick, baby. It’s the same size it’s always been.”

“Okay, but it feels a lot bigger,” she grumbled.

And then she pushed down, taking him to the balls. He groaned at the instant pressure surrounding him. She gripped him like a fist, squeezing and milking his dick like she wanted every drop of his cum.

“Oh hell,” he muttered. “Need you to move, baby. This is going to be fast.”

She shook her head and frowned. “Not until I say.”

He lifted an eyebrow in question.

“You can’t come until I say,” she said with a fierce glare.

He laughed again and gripped her hips, holding her down in place. “Then you better say soon or you’re going to have an ass full of my cum and there won’t be a damn thing you can do about it.”

She looked disgruntled but then she sat back, her hands sliding down his chest to his abdomen. She rotated experimentally, twitching her body this way and that until he was to the point of begging her to stop. She was going to be the death of him.

Then she found her rhythm and began to move up and down, his dick coming halfway out before she’d slide back down, taking him fully. He helped keep her steady so she didn’t pitch over sideways and he lifted his hips to aid her movements.

“This is nice,” she breathed.

“Nice?” He had to laugh again. “Wouldn’t call it nice, baby. It’s fucking torture.”

She gave him a wicked, crooked smile, her eyelids half closed and sexy as hell as she studied him.

“Do I get to come now?” she pouted.

“Hell yes, as long as I get to come with you.”

“I need some help in that department,” she said. “If I pick up my hands, I’m gonna fall off and I don’t want to do that.”

His body shook with amusement. “No, I don’t want you falling off either. You just keep holding on. I’ll take care of you, baby.”

He moved one of his hands from her hip to slide between them so his finger caressed her clit. She immediately tensed over him and her eyes closed dreamily.

“’Kay, you can come now,” she declared.

If his dick wasn’t about to explode, he’d chuckle again, but he was too far gone to laugh at how damn cute she was being. Instead he increased the pressure on her clit and began to surge upward, burying his cock as far into her ass as he could manage.

She came first, her head thrown back, his name a cry on her lips. He had to catch her as she fell forward, her entire body going limp as a dishrag. He wrapped both arms around her, holding her tight as he continued to arch into her. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw and then he let out a roar that vibrated the walls as he exploded inside her.

Jet after jet pumped into her body. He came violently, an endless stream, his balls tight, his dick straining until it neared the point of pain. He lifted his hips one last time, holding himself as his back bowed.

“Jesus,” he muttered as he collapsed back onto the bed, her body blanketing his.

She was warm and sated, limp and completely his. His cock twitched inside her and she nuzzled her face against his chest.

“Gonna have to do this again,” she slurred, her words barely audible. “I like when you fuck me in my sexy shoes.”

His body shook and his grip tightened around her, holding her close, hugging her to him, never wanting to let her go.

“Baby, I like fucking you any way I can, but the shoes are definitely a plus. I’ll buy you a different pair for every day of the week if this is what I have to look forward to.”

Chapter thirty-six

“Still no sign of Kingston?” Jace asked grimly.

“No, sir,” came Kaden’s brisk reply. “I’ve had Trevor poking around down where he and Bethany used to hang when she was on the streets. Haven’t seen any sign of him and he hasn’t been back to the apartment.”

Jace sighed. “Okay, keep me posted.”

He disconnected the call and leaned back in his chair. As he lifted his gaze, he saw that Ash stood in the doorway, a frown marring his face.

“Trouble?” Ash asked as he sauntered in to take a seat.

Jace shook his head. “Well, yes and no.”

He studied Ash closely, looking for the usual anger in his eyes he wore around the holidays. Though Ash’s family typically only bugged him through New Year’s, this year they’d been persistent even after the holidays and it had only made Ash’s mood blacker.

“Anything you want to talk about?” Ash asked.

“Not much to discuss,” Jace muttered. “Kingston is still a no-show. Which is good, don’t get me wrong. I’d be happy if he disappeared from Bethany’s life permanently. But Bethany is sick with worry and it’s starting to wear on her.”

“Didn’t she go out and hang with Mia and her gaggle of girls?”

Jace couldn’t help the smile that attacked his lips at the memory of Bethany drunk and cute as hell and thoroughly bent on seduction. His body still came to life remembering the lusty way she’d made love to him that night.

“Yeah, she went out with them a week ago. Had a good time. Got drunk as hell and wanted me to fuck her in her heels,” Jace said with a grin.

Ash shook his head. “Not cool, man. I get that I’m not even allowed to think about her anymore, but you giving me images of her drunk off her ass and teetering around on fuck-me shoes? Not cool.”

Jace held his hands up, grateful they could now joke about the fact Ash had slept with her.

“Problem is, after she slept off the hangover—and we fucked again,” he added, just to needle Ash. He was rewarded with another glare and he chuckled. “Anyway, problem is, while she was out with Mia and her girls, she wasn’t thinking about Jack. When she was fucking me, she wasn’t thinking about Jack. And when she realized she hadn’t been thinking about him, she felt guilty. And now she’s more worried than ever because he’s disappeared.”

“That sucks,” Ash muttered. “What an asshole.”

“Maybe he’s trying to do the right thing. Between you and me, his feelings for her were not brotherly. She doesn’t know that, but then, she’s so naïve about shit like that. She saw him as a brother. I know that absolutely. She didn’t have feelings for him beyond that. But he, on the other hand, saw her as a woman. A woman he wanted, and he didn’t like it too much that she hooked up with me because that took her away from him. So I figure he’s either sulking and doesn’t want to see her knowing he can’t have her, or he’s actually trying to do the right thing and bow out of her life so she can move forward and be happy. Problem with that is, she’s worried and she misses him.”

“Sucks for you, man,” Ash said.

“Yeah. I want her happy, and in order for that to happen, she needs to know that Jack is safe and taken care of.”

“So what are you going to do?”

Jace shrugged. “Hell if I know. I have Kaden and Trevor keeping an eye on things. What I don’t want is him showing up to see Bethany when none of us are around. I don’t trust him. Not after that shit he pulled.”

Ash’s brows furrowed. “What shit? Are you talking something specific or just his normal bullshit of popping in and out?”

“I didn’t tell you,” Jace murmured. “I’d forgotten you didn’t know all the crap that went down that day it all went to shit and I thought I’d lost her for good. Jesus. Talk about a total cluster fuck.”

“What the hell?”

Jace sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Jack showed up at her apartment when I’d taken her back by there on my way to work. I got a call from Kaden that Jack was there. So I go over there, only she’s no longer there and I find his backpack in her apartment and it’s full of drugs. We’re talking several Gs worth of shit.”

“What the fuck?”

“Yeah. That was my reaction too. So then Bethany comes home and I was an asshole. Lost my shit. Said a bunch of crap I didn’t mean. Made her feel like she had nothing. She took off before I could stop her. So I spent the rest of the afternoon losing my mind because I couldn’t find her. Then I got a call that she was back at the apartment, only when I get there, she’d already bolted again. Then the doorman at my building calls to say that she’s at my place but she wouldn’t come in and she was standing in the fucking rain freezing her ass off.”

“Holy shit,” Ash murmured.

“Oh, it gets worse.”

Ash lifted an eyebrow.

“Yeah, apparently when I decide to be an asshole, I go all the way.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Yeah, I get to my place, relieved as shit that she’s still there. Only she’s standing in the rain, crying her eyes out and she tells me it’s over and that I’m bad for her.”

Jace had to break off and collect himself because the memory of that day still burned too bright in his mind. Of what he’d almost driven her to. It still had the power to knock him to his knees. He could have so easily lost her. All because he was so fucking obsessed with her that he lost all reason around her. His instinct was to hold too tight, to lay down the law and to completely take over.

“She was so upset by our earlier argument—and this I didn’t know at the time, but our good friend Jack, a man who’s supposed to care about her, had brought the shit she used to be hooked on to her apartment. A little gift for her, apparently.”

“Oh hell no,” Ash growled.

“She told him she didn’t want his shit but he left it there and so when she got back to her apartment after walking around in the rain crying her eyes out over the shit I’d said to her, she almost took a pill. Had it in her mouth, about to swallow, when she realized what she was doing and so she dumped the entire bottle down the sink.”

“Good for her,” Ash murmured.

“Yeah. She’s strong. She thinks she’s weak but she’s fucking fierce.”

“So what happened then?” Ash asked.

“She was so devastated by what she’d almost done that she went straight to my apartment to break things off. She was prepared to go back to her old life because at least then she knew who she was and what she was. She didn’t think she was good enough for me. And she couldn’t take the emotional strain of our relationship any longer.”

“Christ, man, that sounds heavy. I’m sorry.”

“Looking back, it was probably the best thing for us. It forced me to listen to her and I also learned about her past and the shit she went through and why she’s so fucking loyal to Kingston. But it was as hard as hell at the time and it still scares the shit out of me when I think of how close I came to losing her.”

“You’re in love with her,” Ash said quietly.

“Hell yes, I’m in love with her. Isn’t it obvious?”

“No, I mean she’s really it for you. I admit I had my doubts, but she’s the one, man. I’m happy for both of you. And I’m sorry I gave you such grief in the beginning. I owe Bethany one hell of an apology.”

Jace gave him a crooked grin. “Yeah, she’s it for me. I would have never thought it possible to fall in love with a woman as fast as I fell for her, but Jesus. It was like being hit by lightning. The best and worst feeling in the world. It’s no fun being this gone over a woman and feeling the uncertainty of knowing if I don’t play it just right I’ll lose her.”

“Yeah, no thanks,” Ash said sourly. “Guess I’ll be the only one remaining who adheres to the ‘play hard and live free’ motto.”

“Asshole. Just wait until it happens to you, man. Gabe and I will be laughing our asses off.”

Ash snorted. “Don’t hold your breath.”

“So what’s up with the family from hell? Why they still giving you shit?”

Ash sighed. “Don’t really want to talk about them. Ruins my day.”

Jace continued to stare at him expectantly.

“Just same old shit. Apparently the dear grandfather isn’t feeling well. He’s convinced he’s going to kick the bucket any day. Never mind he’s been saying this shit for years. And his wish is to have his dear, loving family with him on his deathbed. Mom and Dad are just worried that if I don’t come to heel they’ll be cut out of his will and so they’re on my back wanting me to come to family dinners and play nice with the rest of the clan. Self-serving leeches, all of them.”

Jace winced. “Sorry, man. That sucks balls.”

“You’re telling me.”

“You tell them to go fuck themselves?”

Ash went silent and dropped his gaze.

Jace immediately sat forward. “You did tell them to go fuck themselves, right?”

Ash sighed. “I like the old man. He’s the only one who ever gave a fuck about me. If it was just Mom and Dad and my siblings, yeah, I’d tell them to fuck off.”