Page 67 of Uncharted

“Okay,” Jake said once Colin was gone, frowning at me. “Now he’s gone, I’m gonna ask what I didn’t before you left. You okay?”

I was nervous, a little scared, exhilarated; the fire in my gut that I had struggled with so much over the weeks was starting up on its own with no input from Jake, and I was steadily committing myself to my choice.

I crossed to where he stood and looked him over. He was as big as I remembered, but now he was so much…more. The look of concern on his face was the same as it always was when he was worried about me, but now there was something…else. Maybe it was because I knew he was itching to reach out and touch me just as much as I was tempted to touch him, but he was holding back because he was trying to be respectful.

That big, goofy, ridiculous, loving, wonderful man.

“Seriously,” he said, but the worry on his face shifted to confusion, as if he couldn’t figure out what was going on in my head. “What’s goin’ on? Ya said ya were goin’ for a walk without warnin’. Then Colin showed up and was talkin’ to me about this and that, felt like he was keepin’ me busy. He shoulda been with Xander but wouldn’t say why he wasn’t. Are they okay?”

“Oh, they’re more than okay,” I said with a chuckle, and at the sound, I watched the furrow in Jake’s brow ease. “I think they’re going to be more than okay for a long while. I got to peek, by accident, into what they’re like when it’s just the two of them and…I’m glad Colin came here. It was exactly what Xander needed.”

“Agreed,” Jake said, his hand twitching. “But what were ya doin’ over there?”

“Figuring a few things out,” I said, and I reached to take his hand. I pushed my other hand against his chest. “Okay?”

“Barely hurts. I’ve hurt worse after a workout,” he said with a grin. “Colin said he wasn’t surprised. I’m strong, healthy, and still pretty young.”

“Pretty young. You’re a whole thirty years old. That hardly counts as nearly old.”

“Not gettin’ any further away from it. Which, uh, he pointed out I should probably consider bein’ a little more careful over the next few years ’cause there’s gonna be a point where I stop bouncin’ back as good. I had to tell ’em I can’t exactly help when Mother Nature decides to smack me around like I owe her money,” he said, his hand squeezing mine and there was a look of hope in his eyes that happened every time I was the one to touch him first.

It hurt every time I saw it, mostly in a good way, but there was always the guilt that came with it. He wouldn’t have to feel hope if it wasn’t for the fact that I was constantly stringing him along because my head was a jumbled mess. It was still jumbled, but it felt like all that was left was to clean up the mess because, like the forest fire he had talked about, Xander had burned through the superfluous junk and all that was left was to organize what I needed.

One step at a time, first was tonight and after? Well, I would deal with that, and I’d make it special.

“What are ya thinkin’ about so hard in there?” he asked softly, the crease forming in his forehead again.

I couldn’t help but reach up and run my finger along it. “You.”

“Me?” he asked, brow easing and smiling again. “What about?”

“All of you,” I said, stepping closer so our bodies brushed against one another. He was, of course, still a giant, so that meant I had to turn my head up to look at him despite the fact that I was a little over six feet myself and accustomed to having to look down to talk to most people. Well, most people who didn’t work here anyway, apparently SAR preferred giants for employees, and Jake was a giant among giants. “And you and me.”

“That a good thing?” he asked, as if he was trying not to be wary but didn’t want to misstep.

Which, again, was my fault and my problem to fix.

I brought my hand to his jaw and cupped it. “A very good thing. At least I think so.”

“Wanna share?”

“I want you to fuck me.”

His face stilled, and for an awful moment that seemed to stretch far too long, I thought I had said the wrong thing. Then he swallowed. “What?”

“Your dick, inside me,” I said, grabbing hold of his chin and bringing him down toward me. He came willingly because, although he could overpower me, it was Jake. Sure, he had no fear of most people, but he also lacked the pride that could make him resist being seen as dominating. And maybe, just maybe, he didn’t care in the slightest because it was me doing it to him.

He kissed me back, bringing his good arm around my back and pulling me in closer as I too hugged him. Even that one arm possessed enough strength to feel like I was only an inch away from being squeezed to death. Instead of being worried, I felt a sense of comfort and safety, parting our lips and letting his tongue slide in. The feeling was just as electric, like I was being possessed by the embodiment of desire.

I shuddered against him. “And before you ask, yeah, I’m sure.”

“I’ll do my best,” he said, as if I worried he would only put a small effort into things. As if he had ever done anything but put his whole heart and soul into anything having to do with me, with us.

“We’re still going to be careful about your arm and ribs,” I reminded him. “I don’t care if you’re feeling better. Going too far could just make it bad again, and then you’d be stuck having to sit around for longer. Being so inactive is killing you inside, Jake. I’m not going to extend it just because I’m horny.”

“I’m pretty horny myself,” he said in that low voice that always felt absurd in how powerfully it affected me. Then, as though to prove his point, he pushed himself closer, and there was no mistaking the presence of something long and hard against my hip.

“I can feel that,” I said, then reached between us and gently gripping it, ran my fingers down the shaft. God, he was so hard and all we had done was talk and kiss…and there I was, willingly signing myself up to put that thing inside my body. I had no idea how badly it was going to go, but if it was anything like the times he’d fingered me, then I could guess it would be more intense. More intense in its discomfort and weird feelings, but hopefully, more intense in the pleasure as well.