Page 27 of Jealous God
“Ok, thank you.” Almost like she couldn’t stop herself, her fingers probed at the stitches on her lip and face. “I probably look a right mess.”
Taking a step forward, I caught her hand in mine and forced it downwards. But I didn’t let go of it. We stood there. Not touching, but close enough that I could see the golden flecks in her eyes. She had the most beautiful eyes, even when they were dull with pain and exhaustion.
“I probably should wash the blood off, and I won't lie a shower sounds like heaven.”
She was rambling, and it was adorable. I didn’t know why she was suddenly nervous about being alone with me, but it was clear that she was. Or maybe I did understand it. Wasn’t it nerves that I was feeling as well?
“No.”
Elodie’s face tilted back. Her eyebrow arched in question. “No?”
“No shower, you can’t get the stitches wet.” My thumb swiped over the back of her hand, over and over again. “l’ll run you a bath.”
“You will?” There was genuine surprise in her voice. “Why?”
“Why what?” Her question confused me.
“Why are you running me a bath and staying and…?”
I moved without thinking, my lips brushing over the unhurt corner of her mouth softly. When she didn’t immediately pull away, I let my lips linger, kissing her over and over again. Her hand was trapped between us as I swept mine around her waist, drawing her soft body into me as I opened her lips with mine.
I wasn’t a romantic man; I never had been. I was the kind of man that laughed at romantic fools like Dion and Tate. But feeling her meet my tongue with her own, I kind of got it. I kind of got wanting someone above all others because that’s how I felt the moment her lips parted under mine. Like kissing Elodie would be all I ever needed. It was a frightening thought. But, God, it made me feel good. The arm I had slung around her waist pulled her closer. I ground myself against her stomach even as I deepened the kiss.
She hissed in pain. And I pulled away like she had burned me.
“Fuck, did I hurt you? I totally forgot.” My eyes searched her face for signs that she was in pain, scanning from her darkened eyes to her half-parted lips. She had two fingers pressed to them.
“No, you didn’t hurt me. Not really.” Elodie tried to smile, the corner of her mouth curving upwards. “It was a nice end to what has been a pretty shitty birthday.”
“It’s your birthday?” I pulled her back into me. “Why didn’t you tell anyone? We could have made it a special occasion. Made a fuss over you and—”
Elodie silenced me with a kiss, not on my lips, but just below my ear. Her hot breath washed over me, sending my body erupting into goosebumps. She explored my skin with her lips gently, and I let her. I didn’t make a move to try to capture her mouth again. I just let her taste my skin as I stroked up and down her back. And it still wasn’t enough. I needed to touch her skin like she was touching mine. Dropping my hand down, I slipped it under her shirt. My fingers splayed wide as I swept it up her naked spine.
“I don’t celebrate my birthday. I haven’t for years,” she mumbled against my pulse point. My spine snapped straight like I had been electrocuted as her hot little mouth worked over the sensitive spot. I had a million questions as to why she didn’t celebrate, but I couldn’t seem to find the words to ask her. All I could do was revel in the feel of her body pressed against mine and her lips against my skin.
FIFTEEN
Elodie
Ididn’t know what was happening, but it was clear that something was, and it had started when we had gone sight-seeing together. That’s when he had begun to change. Jax had a softer side to him. A side he kept firmly hidden under the asshole-rockstar mantle he wore like armour. I had no idea why he had acted like he had in the beginning, and I doubted I ever would, but today something had started to change. And tonight, me getting injured had just cemented it.
If his soft kisses hadn’t told me that, then his worried eyes did.
Jax’s head appeared around the bathroom door, followed quickly by a sweet, scented cloud of steam. “Bath is ready.”
I didn’t move. I just continued to stare at him. There it was again, that softness.
“Jax, you don’t need to do this.” I said again. I had been saying the same thing for the last ten minutes. Ever since I had made the admission that it was my birthday. It wasn’t something I planned on telling anyone, it had just slipped out. And I had tried to cover it by kissing him again. Not that the pin up hot guitarist of Dionysus Rising had let me. He seemed oblivious to me coming onto him, his entire attention now on something different.
Namely looking after me.
“Up you get, love.” Two strong hands curled around mine, pulling me up from my place on the bed. I crashed into his chest and his arms went around me instinctively. He made the smallest of oomph sounds, tightening his grip. “You should go and clean up,” he whispered.
Even as he said the words, his grip on me tightened even more. Jax rubbed the long hard lines of his body against mine like he couldn’t help it. His actions in stark contrast to his words.
Not that I minded. The feel of him against me was something else entirely and did strange things to my libido. Not awakened it as such, because if I was honest with myself it had been raging since the moment he had woken me up on the tour bus that first night, no, this was different. It was like he made my insides sing. And that was just his kisses. What would it be like to actually be with him? To feel all those hard muscles pressing me down and…
“You keep looking at me like that Elodie and...”
