Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
He steps closer, lifting his hand and softly brushing a tear away. “You feel the same. As in… you want a family, a future, a life together?”
“Yes.” I almost scream the word. “Yes, I do. God. Yes. I thought I was going absolutely freaking bonkers.”
“Bonkers?” He grins.
“It’s something my aunt says.”
“Well, to put it in your aunt’s words…” He grabs onto my shoulders, looks at me hard, as if pinning me in place with his gaze, not that I’m going anywhere. “You are not going bonkers. Or maybe you are. Maybe we both are. But I don’t care. All I care about is you, Jessie. How beautiful and shy and funny and sassy you are. How completely unique and mine you are.”
I grip onto him, fingernails digging into his hard chest. “Say it again, Jax.”
“You. Are. Mine.” With each word, he brings his face closer to mine, until I can taste and feel his breath on my lips. “That’s why I was so happy when you told me you were a virgin. I knew it was a sign. You belong to me, only me. I’m going to take care of you. Help you in whatever you decide to do in the future. I’m going to be there every step of the way, Jessie. Always. And in return, I expect you to be loyal, to never look at another man… Because, hell, that would kill me. Or I’d kill him. Call me a jealous motherfucker if you want, but there it is.”
“I don’t want anyone else,” I declare, as starlight glimmers inside of me, willing me to accept this is real, it’s happening. “I only want you. Honestly, Jax, I feel exactly how you described. It’s sorta freaky.”
“Sort of?” He kisses my cheek, the edge of my mouth, sensation whispering across my skin. “I think it’s completely crazy. I’ve never believed in fate, in destiny, in any of that. But with you…”
His lips find mine and we soften against each other, his hands smoothing across my back, grabbing hold and pushing me against him. His manhood is a solid declaration of his desire against my belly, stirring those self-doubting thoughts I foolishly believed had vanished.
He wants a family, the same way I do, which means…
I need to give myself to him. I don’t think this neediness in my womb can wait much longer. It screams at me.
Take him now, here. Stop making such a big deal out of it.
“Who do you belong to?” he growls, breaking off the kiss but keeping himself close.
Our noses tickling each other, I stare into the intense depth of his eyes. “You, Jax. Only you.”
“Forever,” he snaps.
“Forever,” I whisper, and then say it louder. “Forever. God. Please tell me this isn’t a trick.”
“A trick?” His hands grip onto my hips as if he never wants to release me. “I’d never trick or joke about this. You’re too important to me. I care about you too much. I…”
Love you, I finish silently, but surely that’s too much too quickly… but then I thought the same about these primal demands inside of me.
And he feels the same.
I want to sing, punch the sky, spin in circles around and around this rose petal-covered land. But that would mean being apart from him, even for brief moments, and I can’t do that.
“I will never trick you,” he snarls. “I meant every word. You’re going to give me a family. You’re going to be my woman, mine alone. You need to think about this, Jessie. Because I meant what I said. I own you. I don’t give a fuck if it isn’t politically correct or if I sound like a caveman. I. Own. You.”
I grasp onto his side, as hard as he’s holding me, both of us hungry to stay as close together as possible. “I want to be owned. And I want…”
“Say it,” he urges.
“And I want to own you,” I say passionately. “No other women. Just me. Just you. Just our family.”
I’m crying again, tears sliding down my cheeks.
He kisses them away, smoothing wet warmth across my skin.
“I’ve been waiting my whole life for you. I don’t want anybody else.”
“Promise?” I lay my head against his chest, his heart beating hard against my ear.
“I promise,” he growls. “I swear on my life, on the lives of our future children… I will never, ever be with another woman. You’re all I need, all I want. I’m just so relieved you feel the same way.”
“I do,” I whisper, thinking of another time when I’ll say those words.
Standing under a bright altar, my man’s hands in mine, staring up at his gleaming silver streaked hair and his just-Jaxon smirk. I’ll speak those two fateful words and never look back.
Warning myself to slow down doesn’t make sense anymore.
Jaxon and I go at our own pace.