I Wish You Were Mine (Oxford #2) (14 page)

Jackson went perfectly rigid at the feel of Mollie’s mouth on his. At the taste of her wine-flavored, soft, full lips.

He let her have control…for about five seconds.

And then he devoured her.

Sliding both hands into her short hair, he fisted the blond waves and tugged them back, just roughly enough to make her gasp, and then he plundered her mouth with his.

She gasped, and he took unapologetic advantage, sliding his tongue into her hot mouth.

Fuck
. Kissing Mollie was an erotic high he wasn’t sure he’d ever experienced before.

The women he’d slept with in recent months had been physical releases and not much more. Women whose names he couldn’t remember.

And before that, there’d been only Madison.

Madison, who liked to be treated like a princess, unless she was halfway drunk on white wine, in which case he’d always had the sense that she didn’t really care that it was
Jackson
who was touching her.

But Mollie…Mollie knew it was him.

He could feel it in the way her fingers tangled in his hair, in the way her lean body arched against his, slim and wanting. They both knew this was crazy—forbidden, even—and that made it even hotter.

Jackson released her hair, running his hands down her back until he found the zipper of her dress. His fingers hesitated just for a moment, giving both of them a chance to come to their senses.

In response, she pulled his lower lip between her teeth and bit down.

Jackson growled and jerked the zipper down roughly. He placed his palms against Mollie’s back, meaning to slow things down, but the skin-to-skin contact only ignited them.

They moved toward the bed, their mouths never breaking contact as her fingers tore furiously at the buttons of his dress shirt. She tossed his tie to the side and clawed at his shirt.

“Off,” she whispered against his mouth.

He pulled back slightly, feeling a twinge of pain as he maneuvered his shoulder to pull his shirt off. But it was worth it, because his shirt hit the floor at the exact same time Mollie wriggled, sending her red dress pooling at her feet.

Even as his hands itched to reach for her, Jackson could only stare. He didn’t need a reminder that he was seven years older than she was, but he got one as he took in her flawless body.

She was all lean, smooth curves and perfect skin. There were no battle wounds, no extra ripples. She was too good for him. By far.

He ran a hand over his face. Mollie was twenty-eight-year-old perfection, and he felt like a beat-up old man next to her. She couldn’t possibly want—

Mollie stepped forward, setting both hands against his chest, and his breath caught as he saw the reverent expression on her face as her fingertips explored his skin.

He tensed as he waited for the moment when she touched the roughened skin of the scar from his surgery, but she didn’t flinch. She lifted blue eyes to his and then licked her lips.

The want on her face nearly undid him.

He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve this woman’s desire, but no way would he turn it down. Not when his cock felt like it’d tear right through his fucking pants if he didn’t get some relief. Not when he wanted to bend her over the bed, grab that perfect, tight ass in his hands, and—

She dipped her head slightly, pressing her lips against the center of his chest before moving her face to the side. Her mouth grazed his nipple—just slightly, a brief flick of her tongue, but it was enough.

He lifted her up and all but threw her on the bed before launching himself on top of her. His mouth came down on hers hard as she spread her thighs wide, making room for him.

As their tongues tangled, Jackson’s hands moved around to her back, and she arched for him, giving his fingers easy access to the clasp of her strapless bra.

He roughly shoved the bra aside, then forced himself to go slow. To tease them both as he dragged his fingers all over her torso, skating along her ribs, over the slight curve of her waist, up toward her shoulders, and back down again, his fingers flirting with the line of her panties without sliding under.

She pulled her mouth away from his, her breath hot on his cheek. “Damn it, Jackson. You’re killing me.”

“Good.” His lips found hers again, nudging them open so his tongue slid along them at the exact moment he brushed a knuckle over the tip of her breast.

Mollie gasped.

He repeated the motion more slowly, just the slightest touch. Her hips pressed up against his, her long legs coming up to lock around his waist, rubbing the tiny triangle of her thong against the bulge in his pants.

He hissed, then punished her by slowing down his touch even further, pulling back to watch as his knuckle brushed her nipple again and again. Her breasts were small and perfect, her nipples pebbled and hard and begging for his mouth.

He couldn’t deny her. Or himself.

Jackson dipped his head to her, pausing for a long moment, torturing them both before flicking his tongue over the tip of her breast.

She cried out, her hands going to his head. Jackson’s fingers wrapped around her wrists, pinning them on either side of her as his mouth explored her breasts, moving from one to the other with teasing nips before he sucked one nipple into his mouth, rolling it with his tongue as she bucked beneath him.

He shifted his weight slightly, his eyes looking up to her face, loving the way her breath came in hot, desperate pants as he played with her.

Her wrists twisted beneath his grip, and he released her.

Mollie’s hands immediately went for his head, but he dodged her, his head sliding downward before she could tangle her fingers in his hair, until his lips reached the edge of the tiny black thong.

She glanced down at him, her blue eyes dark and wanting. Jackson kept his gaze on hers, giving her a chance to change her mind as he hooked his fingers into the tiny strings at the sides of her hips. He dragged the underwear down, eyes holding hers until the very last minute when he pulled the panties over her feet, pausing only when the thin fabric caught on the high heels of her shoes.

Mollie started to sit up as though to remove the sandals, but he placed a hand on her stomach, pressing her back to the mattress.

“Leave them on,” he said. “I want to picture what you look like naked except for these hot-as-fuck shoes when I do this to you.”

“Do what?” she asked, her voice low and breathy.

In response, he slid his hands up over her calves, hooking his fingers behind her knees and spreading her wide for him.

Jackson trailed his lips up the silky skin of her inner thigh, earning a breathy moan.

He stopped just short of where she needed him, waiting until she opened her eyes and looked down at him. Waited until she met his eyes, wanting her to know exactly who was doing this to her.

Only when her eyes locked on his did he reward her, his tongue extending to taste her with one slow lick.

Her low moan urged him forward, and he licked her again, harder. She was already wet for him, her sweetness rushing over his tongue.

Mollie propped herself up on her elbows unabashedly as she watched him lick her, her flat stomach rising and falling as her breath came in short pants.

Jackson pressed closer, using the widest part of his tongue to circle her.

She cried out, one hand coming down to rest on the top of his head, holding him there as his tongue moved faster, urged on by the nails digging lightly into his scalp.

Her hips pushed against his mouth, and he realized in surprise that she was close, already on the verge of coming apart for him. He brought a hand up to join his mouth, easing a finger inside her tight, wet channel.

It was all she needed to explode, collapsing on the bed, gripping his head now, holding him to her with both hands as the orgasm ripped through her.

Jackson gently eased away from her, pressing soft kisses to the front of her thighs and her stomach as he waited for her to come back to him. Then he moved up higher, propping his elbows on either side of her head as she opened her eyes, which were still half dazed with passion. He smiled slightly and brushed his mouth against hers. “I’ll have you know I was just getting started,” he murmured. “You rushed me.”

She gave a throaty laugh and ran her fingernails along his back. “I think I’ve been waiting a long time for that.”

He narrowed his eyes, wondering exactly what she meant by that, but Mollie refused to let him overthink it, her exploring fingers sliding around to his front and undoing his belt buckle and the button and zipper of his pants with an ease that had him lifting a brow.

“You’re awfully good at that.”

She smirked. “Wait until you see what else I’m good at.”

Then her hand slid downward, and before he registered that she’d freed his cock from his briefs, her hot palm was against him, stroking him with such skill that his eyes nearly rolled back in his head.

“Good Christ,” he muttered, his face dipping into her neck. “I haven’t been this close to coming in a woman’s hand since I was in high school.”

Her grip tightened slightly, her touch harder, as though knowing he liked a rougher touch. Some distant part of his brain registered that he and Mollie instinctively knew each other, knew what would send the other person over the edge, knew just how to touch, how to tease.

He felt his balls tighten, and he swore, his fingers finding her wrist and jerking her hand roughly away from him. “
Fuck,
you little witch—”

Her mouth fused with his, her free hand shoving at his pants, pushing them down. He helped her as they kissed, but in their current position, he couldn’t get the pants past his hips.

Jackson pulled back to remove the rest of his clothing, but Mollie wrapped her hands around his cock once more, her thumb rolling over the top, and he froze.

She held his eyes as she slowly pulled her knees up so she was wet and open beneath him. She guided him to her, rubbing the tip of his penis against her wet folds, but not letting him in.

Good God
. This woman could make a grown man cry.

“I’m on the pill,” she said. “And just had all the usual tests, so if you’re—”

He bit her shoulder. “You should not have told me that.”

“Why—”

Before she could finish her sentence, Jackson had her hands above her head, his fingers manacling her wrists. He thrust inside her without warning, hard, and her back came off the bed as she cried out in surprise.

“Too hard?” he asked, his voice little more than a growl.

She shook her head and rotated her hips. “More.”

No problem there.
H
e could do more. Hell, he could do this forever.

There was nothing better than being inside this woman. Nothing better than her breath hot and fast on his neck or her slim fingers intertwined with his. Nothing better than the way she sighed his name as though it were a prayer.

Even though his brain ordered him to slow down and make it last, his body had other ideas. He quickened his pace, and Mollie adjusted her legs, pulling them higher so that he rubbed against her with each thrust.

She let out a sinful moan. “Yes. There. Like that. Faster.”

Jackson was all too happy to comply, releasing one of her wrists so that his arm could hook around the back of her knee, holding her open as he circled his hips.

Mollie—his beautiful, responsive Mollie—came apart beneath him with a sharp cry as she contracted around his throbbing cock.

He thrust once more, hard, before he came with a roar he didn’t even recognize as his own. Jackson’s free hand clenched in her hair, probably too hard, but he was far beyond rational thought as he emptied himself inside her.

As Jackson’s brain slowly returned to earth, he registered her fingers absently stroking the outside of his hip, her lips lightly brushing against his shoulder, her heart pounding against his chest.

He forced himself to leverage himself upward, looking down into her face as he wrestled with two equally momentous feelings.

One: it had quite possibly been the hottest, most necessary sex of his life.

Two: it had happened with Mollie.

Mollie
.

She gave him a bittersweet smile, as though reading his thoughts. “Want to make a pact to not talk about it until tomorrow?”

He pulled a strand of hair off her face where it had stuck to her lips. “I’ll take you up on that.”

Jackson shifted to his side, pulling her back against his front, marveling at the way her long body lined up perfectly with his.

She brought his hand to her lips and kissed his fingers before folding his hand in hers and tucking it under her chin.

True to their pact, neither said a word about what had just transpired.

But they thought about it. Long, long into the night.

When Mollie woke up, she was entirely focused on the most basic of human needs.

Coffee
.

She opened one eye. Then the other. Sniffed, just to be sure. Yep, definitely coffee.

Mollie rolled onto her back, wondering why she felt so deliciously loose and…She bolted upright in bed and glanced down.

Naked. She was naked.

Last night came back in a rush of images and sighs and…

Mollie flopped back on the bed, throwing her arms over her head, burrowing her face in the crook of her elbow.

She’d slept with Jackson Burke. She’d slept with her ex-brother-in-law, and the sex had been positively
epic
.

Which normally would be worth celebrating. Hell, normally it would be worth
repeating
.

But Mollie felt a stab of regret, hot and low in her stomach. How could she ever face her sister again? Hell, how could she face Jackson?

“Well, that’s a pretty view.”

Her eyes flew open.
Jackson
. Very slowly she lowered her arms to tug the sheet upward, heart pounding as she wondered how they were going to play this.

She sat up, tucking the sheet under her armpits, as Jackson walked into the room. He looked far better than any man had a right to, considering he was wearing a basic white tee and blue checked pajama pants, but that could be because her mind was addled by the two coffee cups in his hands. Mind-blowing sex, plus coffee in bed the next morning? The man was a keeper.

Well, your sister certainly thought so.

Mollie’s arm jerked just as she was about to take the coffee from his hand, and he lifted an eyebrow. “You okay?”

“Yeah, of course!” she said brightly, wrapping two hands around the mug.

She took a sip and sighed.
Caffeine
. Then she glanced up at him. “Actually, no,” she blurted out. “Everything is not okay.”

He sat on the bed beside her, giving Mollie a steady look over the rim of his own coffee cup as he took a sip.

She bit her lip and stalled. “Are
you
okay?”

He gave a slight smile. “After last night, it’s hard not to be a hell of a lot better than okay.”

“Right. Because of the sex.”

She glanced down at her cup again, watching the steam rise, because it was easier than making eye contact.

“Mollie. Jesus. Just spit out whatever’s got you all muddled.”

“I don’t even know where to start,” she said with a little groan. “It’s complicated on so many levels. I slept with one of my best friends. Complicated. I slept with my roommate. Complicated. I slept with my
sister’s ex-husband
…is there even a word for that?”

She glanced up on that last one as her voice went all shrill.

“All true,” he said quietly. “But maybe we start by focusing on the parts that
aren’t
complicated. Did you enjoy it?”

She looked away.

“Mollie.”

“Yes, of course I enjoyed it,” she said, meeting his eyes once again. “You know I did.”

His eyes seemed to darken. “Do you want it to happen again?”

“It’s not that simple—”

“So make it that simple, Mollie. Either you want to do it again or you don’t.”

She took a sip of coffee. “I wouldn’t mind.”

His eyebrows lifted. “If that’s the most enthusiasm I’m getting, I want a do-over. See, in my fantasies, this conversation involves you
begging
me to do you again.”

Mollie giggled. “Do me?”

“Is that not what the kids are saying these days?”

Mollie burst out laughing, some of the tension easing.

“How about ‘shag’? ‘Coitus’?”

She punched his shoulder. “Say the word ‘coitus’ again, and I pretty much guarantee you’ll never get any. Ever. From anyone.”

“Bet I could change your mind,” he said, his voice low and gravelly as his eyes traveled over her body.

Her breath caught just a little. “Jackson—”

He sighed. “You’re overthinking it.”

“I can’t help it. I’m a thinker! And right now I keep thinking about everyone’s look of horror when they find out what we’ve done.”

“Don’t do that. What we did wasn’t wrong.”

“It wasn’t right either.”

“Bullshit,” he growled. He set his coffee cup on the nightstand, then pulled hers from her fingers and set it aside as well. He shifted closer, his hands sliding around her neck, his thumbs pushing her chin up so their eyes met.

“I won’t tell you that this isn’t challenging or that there’s not a huge bitchy elephant in the room whose name is Madison. I know you’re freaking out, and I get it, but Molls…”

His thumbs swept across her bottom lip, and her eyes fluttered shut.

“How about we just see where this goes?” he finished quietly.

She shook her head. “But Madison—”

“Is my ex-wife.
Ex
.”

Mollie pulled back, a little annoyed at his determination to pretend that it was all okay. “There are some people who are just off-limits, and friends’ and family members’ exes are among them. Isn’t that part of the guy code, as well as the girl code?”

Jackson blew out a long breath, picking up their coffee cups once more and handing hers back to her. She suspected they were both using the mugs as shields now, but she didn’t really care. She couldn’t think when he was touching her.

“I’m going to ask you something, and you have to promise not to freak out on me,” Jackson said.

“No deal,” she said, taking a sip of coffee and shaking her head. “I mean, can you see that working with
any
woman?”

“Fine. Freak all you want, but I’m asking anyway. Let’s say you had an ex-husband who was living with Madison. Do you think she’d hesitate before sleeping with him?”

Mollie opened her mouth, the image of a disheveled Shawn coming out of Madison’s hotel room flashing before her eyes.

Jackson’s gaze sharpened. “What?”

Mollie blew out her breath in annoyance. There were downsides to knowing each other so well. It was hard to keep secrets.

“I don’t know for sure, but I think Madison slept with one of my boyfriends. I mean, she denied it. But the circumstances were…damning.”

“That bitch,” Jackson muttered. “I’m sorry, babe.”

She gave a little smile. “I’m mostly over it. He was hardly the one. But I don’t think you understand. It was while you two were married.”

He gave her a bland look. “And?”

She frowned. “And you should be upset.”

Jackson snorted. “Honey, your sister cheated on me more times than I can possibly count.”

“Well, toward the end, sure, when you guys were basically living as strangers, but this was—”

“Not just the end, Mollie. The whole damn time. She didn’t even make it to our first anniversary.”

Mollie’s lips parted in surprise. “I can’t believe that. Maddie’s no saint, but she loved you early on. I know that.”

He shrugged. “Maybe. Doesn’t mean she didn’t cheat.”

“How do you know?”

He looked down at his coffee cup. “I saw her with Tyler Medona.”

Mollie’s mouth was now gaping all the way open. “Your publicist? Your friend?”

He shrugged again, but Mollie knew he couldn’t possibly feel as indifferent as that. Tyler had been not only his publicist but also his friend. And Sandy Medona had been
Madison’s
best friend.

“You’re sure?”

Jackson’s hazel eyes lifted. “Came home early from practice and saw her giving him one of her mediocre BJs on the chaise longue by the pool.”

Mollie had entirely forgotten about her coffee. “Are you sure?”

“Sure that my wife’s mouth was wrapped around my best friend’s dick? Yeah. Pretty sure.”

“When?”

He lifted a shoulder. “A couple weeks before the rumors about me cheating started circulating.”

Mollie lifted her fingers to her lips as his implication sunk in. “You think she spread those rumors—”

“To beat me to the punch about her cheating? Yeah. I do.”

Mollie put her hands over her face. “I don’t understand. How did the sister I remember turn into the wife
you
remember?”

He set a hand briefly, comfortingly, against her arm. “You saw Madison through the lens of childhood.”

“Maybe,” she muttered. “But it doesn’t change the fact that she took care of me when she didn’t have to.”

To Jackson’s credit, he nodded in agreement. “She was a decent sister to you back then.”

Mollie lifted an eyebrow. “I take it by your addition of ‘back then’ that you don’t think she’s a good sister to me now?”

“I’m not here to poison your thoughts about your sister, Mollie. All I’m asking is that you separate your relationship with her from your relationship with me.”

“It’s not that simple,” she whispered.

“Make it that simple. I’m single. You’re single. And I refuse to feel ashamed or guilty for having sex with the woman I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. Let’s be adults about this, Molls. We keep on as we’ve always been; we just add sex to the mix. Really good sex.”

She opened her mouth, and he leaned forward, placing his hand over her lips before she could speak. “Let’s enjoy each other. If that’s dirty foreplay in the kitchen, we do it. Hot sex in the shower, definitely. My bed, your bed,
all
the beds…”

She laughed and pushed his hand away. “Is there any part of the plan that doesn’t involve sex?”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Because all the other stuff between us? That’s still there. You’ve always had my back, Mollie. And I’ve had yours. Adding sex to the mix won’t change that.”

She wanted to say yes. She so desperately wanted to take what he was offering, to finally, finally live her life for
her,
to do what
she
wanted to do, not what Madison wanted her to do.

Jackson slid a hand behind her head, his thumb resting on her cheekbone. “I want you, Mollie. If you don’t want me, tell me, and I’ll back off.”

Don’t do this to me.

His eyebrows lifted. “This is the part where you tell me you want me. Maybe mention how well endowed I am.”

“Jackson—”

He made a scolding noise and leaned forward again, but she put a hand over his mouth. “Ground rule: no kissing until I’ve had a chance to brush my teeth.”

Jackson’s grin was slow and happy. “And then you’ll come back to bed?”

Mollie couldn’t help but smile in response, even as her heart was screaming,
Danger!

“Yeah. And then I’ll come back to bed.”