Chapter 830 Chapter 830
Jake’s heart was beating so fast. He didn’t know how he wasn’t collapsing onto the floor. Kissing her had been like no other kiss in his life. The taste of her was like pure adrenalin or—he didn’t know how to describe it, but he was vibrating. Pulsing his body was pulsing, not vibrating. Either way, he was having a hard time trying not to rush. Just before their lips touched, he felt his cat. It wasn’t him trying to rush. It was his cat. He didn’t want to stop and ask her to give him a moment to convey to his animal that he was in charge.
He needed to feel more of her, closer but he didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable if he did anything about it. She moaned into his mouth, and he could feel her teeth sharper than they had been. Never before had he experienced animals joining in like this. It was weird and made it hard to know where his feelings were and his animals.
Rory broke the kiss, and he thought for sure she was putting the brakes on. She moved a few inches back and undid her jacket and then took it off and dropped it on the floor. Jake realized they were still standing inside the door. Did he ask if she wanted to go to his bunk or continue to stand here? He looked over at the old, worn couch and debated for a second about guiding her that way, but that thing was uncomfortable and would smell like the other guys. He was not taking her anywhere near the scent of other males.
She stepped back and ran both hands up under his shirt. Her touch felt like it was scorching his skin, and he couldn’t have been more thrilled about it. Stretching up, she leaned closer and kissed the side of his neck. His cat froze. Jake held his breath. There were rules. Right now he was wishing he had asked for more of an outline to the can and can’t parts. Could he put his hands on her hips right now? Was he allowed to pull her against his body? He really wanted to feel her pressed into him. He didn’t know the footnotes to the rules.
When her teeth gently tugged on his ear lobe, he grasped her hips and pulled her closer.
“What’s wrong?” She leaned back and looked up at him. Her eyes were soft and lust-filled, and blood shot right to his groin.
“Just—I’m not sure what I’m allowed to do. What is too far?” He couldn’t screw this up.
She blinked and held his look. “Is there a quiz afterward? Are we going to have to file paperwork with details?”
Damn, she was perfect for him. He shook his head. “I don’t want to do anything that you don’t like.”
She nodded, stretched up, and kissed his mouth softly. “Right now, what I don’t like is we’re standing here talking when I’d rather be kissing you.”
If it were possible for an animal that was inside you to smack you in the head with a big paw, that’s what it felt like Jake’s cat did. There were no conveying images, just that feeling that he was swatted upside the head. “I can fix that.” He leaned down as he pulled her hips into his own.
“Where’s your bed, Jake?” She whispered, with their lips brushing. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she hopped up and wound her legs behind him. Before he could react, she attacked his mouth, and honestly, for a half second, he couldn’t remember how to make his legs move to carry her to his bunk.
He’d always liked that his bed was at the back, it meant less traffic going by him. Right now, he was wishing it were closer. When he finally reached it, his body was screaming for oxygen, but he wasn’t going to stop kissing her as long as her mouth was on his. He turned and dropped down onto the bed with her still wrapped around him.
She lifted her mouth from his and looked at him. It was nothing but their eyes devouring each other and both of them trying to suck air into their bodies. He could see something in her eyes, something that told him she was uncertain.
“What is it?” He swallowed and tried to settle his breathing.
“This is crazy. So fast.” She whispered. “But—” She clamped her bottom lip in her teeth and looked at him.
He wanted to liberate that lip, but this time was following his animal’s cautious poise and continued to sit there with his hands resting on her thighs. If she didn’t speak soon, he was going to have a complete meltdown. He wasn’t cut out for long waits and patience or wasn’t in this moment.
“It all feels so right, Jake. Like this, a part of me I didn’t know existed was missing.”
He tried to think through the need and decipher her words. They were good, he was pretty sure of it. He nodded and stared at her mouth again. Every breath he took was filled with the taste of her. The scent of her. He could smell her need and he was sure he might have some kind of brain aneurysm soon if she didn’t say more or do something.
“My cat wants this. She wants you.” The expression in her eyes changed to clarity. “I want this.” Before he could process it, her mouth was on his again. She pushed his shirt up, and he broke the kiss long enough to rip the material over his head. As he did that, she removed her own shirt, and his whole body noted that she wasn’t wearing a bra under it. Can’t touch yet, his animal reminded him.
She slid off his lap and stood up. Undoing her jeans, she started to take them off. He froze, unable to process anything. She’d said this—was that just sex—he watched her toss her jeans away from them and slowly looked from her petite, sexy ankles along her slender, heavenly, soft-looking legs. By the time he reached her breasts, he couldn’t remember what he’d been thinking.
This. Mating or sex? Which was this?
“Take off your pants.”
He dropped back and fumbled, trying to undo his jeans. Before he could get them over his hips, she was tugging on them, helping him.
Whatever this was, he was all in. His cat was still hesitant and wary, but right now, Jake was driving the body, and he knew exactly where he wanted to go with it.
When he tried to sit up, Rory pushed him back down. He let her. He wasn’t going to do anything that might be breaking the rules—just in case this turned out to be her accepting him as her mate.
Mate. She was his mate. It suddenly meant more than it had earlier.
She straddled him and slid her hands up his chest. Not grabbing her was the hardest thing he’d ever done. Her skin was hot against him. When she sat on his engorged groin, all the air left his body.
Mate. Mate. Mate. He chanted in his head so he wouldn’t screw this up and grab hold of her and claim her. He flexed his hands and then placed them on her waist. He wasn’t pulling her close, he was just holding her. Surely, that wasn’t breaking any rules. Rules. Why the hell was he thinking of rules at a time like this?
Her wet tongue dragged over his collarbone, and he squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn’t think of anything to distract himself now. His cat was vibrating inside him, so he wasn’t any help either. His eyes popped open. She was speaking.
“I’ve seen the marks.” Her breath against his skin felt like jolts of lightning striking him. “I just bite into your neck?” She sounded so unsure.
He nodded. “Yes.” His voice was so hoarse it was barely audible.
“I don’t have to say anything?”
Jake squeezed his eyes shut. Words? Words? There were words, but he couldn’t think of one of them right now. “Up to you.” He managed to say.
Her tongue swirled around his ear lobe. He wasn’t going to survive this. It was one hell of a way to die, but he’d hoped to live to be old.
“Just in case.” Her voice was so husky that it sent a wave of lust through him. “I, Aurora Bishop, claim you, Jake—” She sat up and looked down at him, her eyes wide.
His cat was swatting him again. “Ingram.” He said quickly when he realized she was asking for his last name.
Her smile was slow, but enticing when it returned.
He felt his animal convey relief.
Rory leaned down, her skin touching his. “I, Aurora Bishop, claim you, Jake Ingram as my mate.”
So many words. He thought as she whispered against his neck. He could feel his mouth filling with sharp feline teeth and, for a split second, wondered how that worked, really. His cat’s mouth was a lot bigger than his…
Her teeth sinking into the muscle by his neck erased any thought from his mind. His cat was roaring inside his head in triumph. Jake was just trying to let her finish. One, two—fuck it. He wrapped his arm around her waist and put his hand on the back of her head, and flipped them on the bed, so she was beneath him.
Normally, Jake was big on the foreplay, but he could smell that she didn’t need it, and honestly, he’d just embarrass himself right now if he tried to stretch this out too long. He needed to be inside her. He needed his teeth piercing her flesh and making her as his. So no other would go near her. Ever.
He knew his cat was rushing things and forcing the issue, and it took every bit of strength he had to keep him at bay long enough to do this as tenderly as he could. He settled between her thighs and pushed inside her, slowly, savoring the gradual feel of her wrapping around him. Her teeth released his flesh, and she gasped. The sound turned into a moan, and that snapped the very thin thread that had been restraining him.
Tender and slow were gone. He bit into her neck and held her in place. She gripped his hair so tight it hurt. She was holding him in place as he entered her body. Her fingernails dug into his back as her knees gripped his hips. If heaven was a real thing, he was sure this was it.
Each moan and gasp that she made sent him closer to climax than he wanted. Releasing her neck, he licked over his bite, and she growled in a low, sexy way. His cat was gloating inside him that they had claimed their mate and it was the first time Jake wished for a way to shut him out of what was happening.
She matched his movements and still had the coordination to pull his head so she could claim his mouth. Sharp teeth clashed together and sent primal need through him. Grasping her hip, he held her so she couldn’t move because if she kept doing that, it was going to be over too soon. He didn’t know how long he could draw this out, but she deserved more than three minutes.
Sweat was dripping down his forehead and each slide of their bodies against the other was slick with the dampness of the heat they were creating. When she began biting against the side of his neck, he had to clamp his jaw tight to focus and not lose control.
Her moans were guttural when her body began convulsing around him. Restraint gone, he released her hip and thrust into her until she was gasping and clinging to him. He turned his head and brushed his teeth against her mark, and she dug her nails into his skin and moaned his name. The next few moments were his body convulsing and pulsing at the same time. He’d never felt anything like it before and was sure he might be paralyzed when it stopped.