From Rags

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

‘Give me ten minutes’ she had said when she flitted off all carefree into the bedroom twenty minutes ago. Connor was still sat, waiting. He wondered if he should go and check on her; Jaxx wasn’t a big Champagne drinker yet for some reason she had gulped down the stuff tonight. At least she wasn’t talking slurry or stumbling everywhere like Anna.

He rose and paced out of the room then stopped abruptly and shook his head. Oh who was he kidding! The reason he wanted to check on her was because he couldn’t wait much longer to be inside her. Needing a distraction, he went into the kitchen and grabbed himself a beer. He leant back against the counter, guzzling his drink as he strived to ignore the erotic images that had been dancing around his head all day. She should never have said the word ‘dildo’; he hadn’t been able to get the thought of fucking her with one out of his mind. The wicked little witch hadn’t even let him peek in that goody bag. No, she’d held it against her chest like it was a life jacket and she was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

“You’re looking very fierce,” said Jaxxon, leaning against the doorway. His scowl of sexual frustration was hilarious. She hadn’t been purposely making him wait; she’d needed time to quickly pack her stuff so that she wouldn’t have to do it in the morning. The last thing she wanted when she told him she was going was for her to then have to stick around while she packed. Then she’d slipped into her brand new little nightie.

His mouth went dry at the sight of her in that thin, white thing that was all lace and silk. It clung to her while giving him the most fantastic view of her incredible breasts. Jesus, it was shorter than mid-thigh. All he would have to do was raise it a few inches and there would be another fantastic view. “Come here.” Wearing a cheeky smile, she shook her head. “I’ve waited long enough. Come here. Now.” As she strolled to him with that feline grace of hers he appraised her repeatedly from head to toe, riveted by the vision of her. Mine.

She pressed her body to his and grinded against him. Then she put her mouth to his ear as she said, determined to blast his shaky control to nothing, “I’m wet just thinking about using those toys. Feel.” She took his free hand and guided it under her nightie, letting him know that she was Commando. He skimmed a finger through her slick folds and groaned. “I need you to fuck me real hard tonight, Connor. Hard. Fast. Rough. Deep.” In one swift movement he lifted and laid her on her back on the counter. This time it was his tongue that skimmed through her folds and they were both groaning.

“You shouldn’t have teased me, Jaxx,” he admonished before taking another long lick. “I was already too close to losing it.” He kept her pinned to the counter as he toyed with her clit with his tongue. “You know what that means, don’t you?” He slid her to him and hooked her legs over his shoulders then released his cock from his pants. “It means I’m going to have to take the edge off.” Abruptly he drove into her and it felt so fucking good. He took her roughly the way she loved it. He was wound so tight that he could have come after three strokes but he wouldn’t let go until she’d found her own release. He shifted his angle, zeroing in on her G-spot. Four hard thrusts later she shattered, screaming. He was right behind her.

No sooner had Jaxxon’s wits returned than she felt herself sinking into a mattress. Then there were clicking and jingling sounds. She brushed her curls from her face – well, she tried to. Cuffs? The bloke hadn’t wasted any time searching that bag, had he. She smiled as she thought of how he must have been desperate to rummage through it since the second he saw her carrying it out to the car. Opening her eyes, she spotted him at the foot of the bed examining something in his hand with a very wide smile on his face. Her brand new vibrator.

He scanned the writing on the box. “Seven different intensities…Can be used hands-free…Interesting. I do believe we’ll be having fun with that.”

If Jaxxon wasn’t still a little dazed she might have laughed at the way he dropped his hand into the bag blindly seeking something out. He looked like a little kid playing Lucky Dip.

“Batteries. Not so interesting but we’ll need them.”

“Hey, why am I naked?”

“Sorry, Jaxx, but as much as I loved that little creation you were wearing it had to come off so I could have complete access to this body.” He loved that he could get her so high on bliss that she hadn’t even noticed him whipping her nightie off or washing his cum from between her legs. He dug deeper into the bag and came out with a small box that contained a pink slightly curved mini vibrator. “Hmm. Recommended for use on the clitoris but can be used to seek out other sensitive zones. I like the sound of that.” Another dip. “A box of flavoured condoms.” He slung them over his shoulder across the room. He wanted nothing between her skin and his.

“Chocolate flavoured body spread. Two bottles of lubricants, each designed to ‘enhance sensitivity’. Oh I think we’ll have to try that. And last but definitely not least…” He wiggled the jingling toy in his hand. “Ankle cuffs.”

Her legs were suddenly shifted and then there was more clicking. It instantly occurred to her that she was practically helpless. “McKenzie, you try any freaky shit and I swear I’ll shove my brand new vibrator up your arse.”

“Hmm, I’m curious, how will you do that if you’re cuffed to my bed? You know, Carter, I quite like you all at my mercy like this.” He paced slowly around the bed, examining her from all angles and making her frustrated with anticipation. He didn’t think there was anyone else who he actually liked while they were frustrated. There was definitely no one else who turned him on while they were frustrated. “What to play with first…”

As a sly smile played around the edges of his mouth Jaxxon narrowed her eyes. “No freaky shit,” she repeated. If there was even a whisper of a whip or a gag or a collar she would kill him. If it weren’t for the effects of the Champagne she might not have let him cuff her ankles as well as her wrists.

He knew he should reassure her that he wouldn’t do anything that she didn’t like, but he couldn’t resist winding her up. “Or what?”

She mirrored his sly smile. “Or I won’t suck you off.”

“You really shouldn’t have said that. Now I can’t get rid of the picture of my dick in your mouth.” Why should he try to? He watched hunger flare in her eyes as he removed his shirt and pants and, finally, his boxers. He moved up close to her, letting his once-again-hard cock bob in front of her face. “Lick it.”

There was only one reason Jaxxon was letting him getting away with the dominant display; she’d come to learn that there was power in being submissive. Nothing seemed to turn on a bloke more than a woman doing what he told her. Before long he lost control and then it was the woman holding the power. Locking their gazes so that she could see the full affect this had on him, Jaxxon ran her tongue from base to tip and then circled the head.

Connor sucked in a big gasp of air and his belly quivered. “Can you taste us both on me, babe?” She nodded and then licked him again, this time starting at his balls. He groaned. “Open your mouth.” When she did he surged inside and his eyelids drifted shut at the amazing feeling of her sucking him and gliding her tongue around him. He knew he’d have to pull out now or he’d reach the point of no return and spill in her mouth. “Stop.”

Jaxxon successfully contained her smile as she witnessed him almost lose it. She doubted she’d manage the submissive act for long; his bossiness would drive her mental. He held up that mini curved vibrator and switched it on. It surprised her that it was practically noiseless. Maybe it was weak or –

Oh. No, definitely not weak. Jaxxon quivered as he trailed the tip up her inner thigh. Instead of wandering anywhere interesting he trailed it up her other inner thigh, stopping again. Then he crawled over her and captured her lips with his, thrusting his tongue into her mouth and gliding it against her own. At the same time he trailed the tip of the vibrator along her neck and dug his hips into hers. She groaned into his mouth and replicated the movement with her own hips, and then he broke the kiss and the sneaky expression on his face as he again appraised her body was one she’d seen before. “Oh no, no way am I lying here for like half an hour while you kiss and bite me from head to toe again.” It had been torture having her climax so close for so long when he wouldn’t let her go over the edge.

“I think you’ll find that that’s exactly what I’m going to do, only this time I’ll be using my new toy here as well. You know, I quite like it.”

“Bastard,” she hissed.

“Now that wasn’t very nice, Jaxx. I think I might just take a little longer than half an hour now.” She gawped in outrage. “Don’t worry, if at any time you can’t take anymore just say ‘please’ and I’ll -”

“I. Don’t. Beg.”

Oh he knew that. No matter how much he’d teased her he’d never been able to get her to beg. That was going to change tonight. The woman was a walking challenge and he couldn’t help but rise to it.

“I can’t believe -”

“Sorry, can’t chat, I’m off to have some fun with this gorgeous body and my new toy.” Using his arsenal of tongue, teeth, mouth, hands and vibrator, he teased the hell out of her. First he explored her neck and along her collarbone. Next were her shoulders and then her arms. Then he moved onto the flesh above her breasts. “Had enough yet?” he asked the shaking, moaning woman beneath him. She gave him a mutinous look. He skipped her breasts and worked along her ribs and stomach and navel. By then she was juddering and whimpering and constantly bucking in an effort to grind herself against him but he had raised his body over her so he was out of reach. Again and again she neared her peak but he backed off each time and waited while she came down from her mini high and then got to work again. “Shall I stop?” Another mutinous look. This time he worshipped her legs from thigh to foot and then back up again. He licked along the creases where her hips met her groin and she twisted and arched in an effort to get some relief from his mouth but, even though it near killed him, he resisted. “It’s only a word, Jaxx. Just one.”

“Yeah? Well here’s two: Fuck. You.”

He had to smile. Even though her body was completely restless and she was gasping for release she fought him. She wouldn’t be Jaxx if she didn’t. “Wouldn’t you like it better if I fucked you?” When she squeezed her eyes shut he knew she was fighting herself. So close to begging. “You know what to do if you change your mind.” Again he licked the creases, again ignoring her body’s pleas for release, and worked his way upwards. He made his bites harder and used more pressure as his hands kneaded her skin. With the vibrator he paid particular attention to the erogenous zones he’d previously found and occasionally he teasingly dug his hips into hers before elevating his body again.

“Connor, stop being a twat!” She had meant to shout but her voice was so hoarse and unsteady that the words sounded pitiful.

He seized those feral eyes. “I’m not giving in this time, babe.”

“I don’t beg.”

He brushed his lips against hers. “I’m not trying to eat at your pride, it’s not about that.”

“Then why?”

“I need to know that you want me so much you’d beg.” He moved his mouth to her ear and whispered persuasively, “Say it, Jaxx. Say it and I’ll shove my fingers inside you and fuck you with them until you come. Don’t you want that?”

“Do it,” she demanded through her teeth.

“Say it.”

She might have cursed him to hell but then the crafty bastard lashed her nipple with his tongue and suckled on it, making her arch off the bed. “Please.”

“Good girl,” he whispered as he plunged two fingers into her. Then he raised himself onto his knees and used his other hand to tease her clit with the vibrator as he roughly thrust his fingers in and out of her, targeting her G-spot. She lasted all of about eight seconds before her climax crashed into her and she gave a loud cry. While he waited for the aftershocks to ease off her, Connor softly kissed her face and neck. “You have no idea how gorgeous you look when you come.” When she just say there limp he smiled a very boyish smile. “You alright?”

All she managed was an intelligible sound. She felt the loss of his body heat and then the mattress bounced slightly as he got up. She wanted to open her eyes but her lids weren’t cooperating. Her ears picked up on a cracking sound, like the plastic seal on a lid opening. She tried to remember what in that bag had a lid on it, but nothing came to her very dreamy mind. Then the bed dipped again and there was a very familiar smell that she adored. Her lids finally lifted and there was Connor, kneeling over her with his dick up close, smeared with chocolate spread. She didn’t hesitate on lapping up a little. Then she lapped up more and swiped her tongue up the solid length of him before licking along the slit.

Connor groaned. She smiled up at him and his dick seemed to swell. “Again.” He watched, riveted, as over and over she licked his dick like it was an ice cream. Whoever put this spread in her bag had his utmost thanks. Then she closed her mouth over the head and sucked vigorously, occasionally running the tip of her tongue along the slit. “Jesus, babe.” She giggled and the vibrations shot all the way to his balls. “You are a witch.” He pulled out and backed away, settling himself between her legs where he had left the two items waiting. Her eyes widened as he lathered the vibrator in one of the lubricants – not that she’d really need the lube but it was supposed to enhance sensitivity. “Just relax for me.”

Jaxxon did her best to relax but as she felt the cold, lube-covered head breach her opening the strangeness of it made her tense up.

“It’s alright, babe, relax, it’ll feel real good in a minute when I switch it on.” The sight was practically hypnotic as he pushed in an inch and then withdrew, then another inch and he withdrew again. Then he worked it in deeper until he had it lodged as he wanted it. Seeing that the tension had left her, he pressed the switch. She bucked and moaned. God bless hands-free vibrators. He returned to her and fisted his hands tight in her hair. She gasped at the sudden pain and he took advantage, surging into her mouth. Bliss. Keeping her head still, he fucked her mouth, loving the feel of her groaning around his cock. “Fuck, yeah.” He’d been dying to know what it would be like to have her plush mouth wrapped around him while she came, and now he was going to find out. When he sensed that her climax was looming he reached behind him and pinched her clit. She cried out around him, sending vibrations shooting down his shaft to his balls and up his spine. “Jesus Christ, Jaxx.” Jets of come spurted out of him into her mouth as his own intense climax hit. She’d kill him one day.

Again Jaxxon found herself in a dreamy state where her eyelids were on strike. She felt as Connor withdrew from her mouth and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead before he switched off and pulled out the vibrator. Then he collapsed beside her. It could have been minutes or hours later when the mattress bounced as he left the bed. Then there was rattling and jingling. More cuffs? No, her ankles were free. The mattress dipped again and then a mouth latched onto one of her nipples and suckled. How could she be groaning? Shouldn’t her body be too satiated for this? It was like it was stuck in Shag Mode. The mouth was gone and then there was more jingling. Her wrists were free. She was about to mutter a thanks when she was flipped onto her stomach and her arse was raised. “Let me just have a minute.”

“No rest for the wicked, babe.”

“Shouldn’t you be spent by now?”

“It turns out you’re my own personal brand of Viagra.” He ran his hand from the nape of her neck down the length of her spine and then drove a finger inside her. Her muscles gripped it tight and moisture drenched it. “Seems to me like your body doesn’t need a minute.”

“My body’s a slut like you said.”

“No, I said you’re my slut. And do you know what I want my slut to do?” He leant over her and whispered into her ear, “I want you to scream my name when you come.” He slammed into her, groaning at how her muscles constricted around him. Then he was pounding into her like a man possessed.

Jaxxon fisted her hands in the bed-sheet as he pinned her still and ferociously hammered into her. At that moment Connor was sheer male domination. It was like that ravenous appetite he had for her had taken over and was manifesting itself in this frenzied pounding. The combination of the pressure of his size filling her and his feverish movements was the ultimate in bliss. Considering that she had already had three unbelievably intense orgasms it was no surprise that the friction was already building again. Startling her, a hand came down sharply on her arse. The bloke was obsessed with spanking!

He did it again, harder this time, and her muscles clamped tight around his dick. “That’s what I like, babe; your body gripping me like it never wants to let go.” He spanked her again and she jerked at the impact but groaned and her muscles clutched him again. More moisture swamped his dick. “I told you that you loved it, didn’t I?”

She wouldn’t have thought it was possible but his pounding actually became more frantic. She was groaning feverishly, restlessly squirming in his grip as the friction inside her intensified. “I’m going to come.”

He drove his fingers in her hair and wrenched her head back. “I want you to scream my name, Jaxx. I want to hear you scream it.” He raised one knee and tilted her hips slightly, allowing him to go that much deeper, and then he was plowing into her again. “Come for me right now!”

Her climax spiked and rippled through her shuddering body, completely fragmenting her. She screamed his name and a second later he was growling hers as he slammed home one last time and pulsed deep inside her. Then they both collapsed.

In that state where ‘awake’ wasn’t far off but opening your eyes felt like too much effort, Connor rolled over in bed to snuggle against Jaxx. His arm found nothing. The surprise of it – strange how waking up with her for a few mornings in France and then a couple here in his bed felt more familiar than a lifetime of waking up alone – made him squint. No, she wasn’t there. Her side of the bed was cold. He lifted only his head, intending to call her name, but movement in the corner caught his eye. There she sat on the stool that was usually kept in the bathroom. Two things registered: She was fully dressed, and she had a strange glint in her eyes. He lifted enough to support himself on one elbow. “Jaxx?”

“You once said that you nearly came to see me on my fifteenth. If you had gone to the Glennons’, I wouldn’t have been there. And if you had asked them where I was and then gone there, you wouldn’t have seen me with some boy. You’d have seen a police car.”

Aware that she was now about to open up to him, he sat up straight and gave her his full attention. Then what she said sunk in: she wouldn’t have been at the Glennons’? Police car?

Jaxxon clasped her hands together. “The night after you left, Nick Crawley’s gang turned up at the house. They wanted to know where you were and figured you wouldn’t have gone anywhere without telling me where. I guessed by the bruises and cuts Nick was covered in that you’d beat him senseless. A couple of his mates were in a similar shape – especially that Sean Beckett.” Who was still a sick shit and she could only hope he hadn’t found Celia and the little girl. “They knew I wouldn’t lie about where you were because they knew you wouldn’t have cared if they found you, so when I told them I didn’t know but that you’d be coming to see me they believed it.” So had she. “They kept cornering me outside school, wanting to know if you’d been in touch. I always had Leah with me and whatever boyfriend she had at the time so they never did much.”

He wanted to know what exactly she meant by ‘never did much’ but he didn’t want to interrupt her flow.

“But then, six months after you’d gone, she left. The day after that, Nick, who had reached the conclusion that if you hadn’t been in touch yet then you weren’t going to, cornered me outside school. I was on my own. He said that if he couldn’t give you the beating you’d given him, he’d settle on using me. Their plan was to take turns on me. What Nick wasn’t expecting was for me to fight. When I got a good opening I booted him in the bollocks and legged it. You remember how fast I was. When I ran into the Glennons’ with my hair looking like a bird’s nest, my clothes ripped and bruises already forming they were concerned. Until I mentioned Nick’s name. He was their nephew, remember. They didn’t phone the police, they phoned Social Services, made me out to be some Jezebel and said they wanted me moved.”

“Jaxx,” he said in a quiet voice, shaking his head, “I’m so sorry.”

She smiled a sad smile. “Why, are you a god? Did you make all that happen?”

“You know what I mean.”

“And you know I’m right. Anyway,” she paused and took a deep breath, aware that what she told him now might forever change how he looked at her, “I was supposed to go into a home – it’s not easy finding placements for troubled teenagers – but instead I ended up with this family who were religious fanatics. Other than taking their religion a little too far, they were alright. It was their son who was the problem. Obviously Matthew was the perfect Christian boy when his parents were around.”

The disgust as she talked about the boy said enough for him to guess what had happened. “He raped you,” he whispered.

She shook her head. “No. I let him do it.”

“But, Jaxx, why?”

“Because it was either I was a good girl and did what I was told, or he’d use the five year old girl who moved there the same day as me. And he would’ve done. It wasn’t about sex, it was about control and power. Teenager, kid, boy, girl – those details didn’t matter. To him, the foster kids in his house were toys. As long as I let him use me he left the others alone.”

“Didn’t you tell anyone?”

“You think anyone would have believed me after what the Glennons had said about me? And like I said, the parents only saw a good Christian boy. If you said anything about him you were punished.”

“But you told the Plod eventually? That’s why they came?”

“For the weeks running up to my fifteenth he kept saying he had a nice surprise for me, he was going to make sure it was a special night. I didn’t know what he meant, didn’t want to.”

Connor gritted his teeth. His fists were clenched so tight his knuckles were white.

“The night before my fifteenth I set my alarm for 2:30am to go meet him in the shed like he told me, but I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring my hand to even touch the bedroom door handle. It was about 3am when he finally came looking for me. I was in bed, pretending to be asleep. I could smell Vodka on him so he must have got trashed while he was waiting.” Even now the smell of Vodka triggered flashbacks. “It wasn’t ’til he got close that I saw the big knife. I honestly don’t remember thinking anything, I just reacted. I grabbed my art scissors from the desk near the bed and stabbed him in his side. His parents phoned the Plod, wanting me arrested. I didn’t tell the Copper everything, just that I saw someone breaking into my room and then the knife and acted on instinct. But he smelled the Vodka on Matthew and the good Christian boy couldn’t come up with an acceptable reason why he’d have a knife and be coming into my room at 3am. It turned out that some of the kids who’d been there before me had made a complaint about him so he’d already been on the Plod’s radar. A case was built and he was eventually prosecuted. I’d left foster care by then.”

“God, Jaxx.” He couldn’t even look at her – the guilt was swarming him. If he hadn’t been so stupid as to beat up Crawley or if he had at least come to see her he would’ve known and could have dealt with him. Then Jaxx wouldn’t have gone through all that.

“The blame isn’t yours, Connor. You didn’t put a gun to Nick’s head and make him try to rape me or put a gun to Matthew’s and make him do all that sick shit. If you take any of that blame then you’re relieving Nick and Matthew of it. I won’t let you do that, I want them to have that blame like they should.”

“Do you know why I beat Crawley to a pulp? He asked if my leaving meant you were fair game. I lost it. But if I hadn’t -”

“He would probably still have done something like that because he was a perv, always had been, just like Sean.” She sighed. “The way I always thought of it was that if I’d stayed with the Glennons then Matthew would have done what he did to me to little Annie. She was just five. I could never wish that on her or anyone else. As sad as it is, this kind of things happens a lot when you’re in care. And when you’re not in care. There are people who have been, who still are, going through way worse than me.”

“How can you not blame me?”

For a while she had been angry with him, but it was only last night that she realised why: not because he hadn’t helped her, because he hadn’t loved her like she loved him. “There are so many ‘ifs’, Connor. If the Glennons had done something about Nick I wouldn’t have had to be moved. If the social worker had sent me to a different foster home I’d never have met Matthew. If Matthew’s parents hadn’t been blind to what their son was like and ignored all the complaints made about him then he would’ve been prosecuted before I came along.”

He knew she was right, but still it was eating at him. He got out of bed and went to her. Squatting in front of her, he took her hands in his. “Whether you blame me or not, I’m still sorry. You’re such an amazing person to get through something like that and come out of it the person you are.” And he had every intention of twatting the life out of this Matthew if he could find him. “Thank you for telling me. It can’t have been easy for you to talk about. You’re a stronger and bigger person than I could ever hope to be, do you know that?”

The gentle contact was killing her. She would have preferred for him to be repelled by her and not want to touch her. It would make what was coming next so much easier. “Connor -”

“Shhhh.” He circled her with his arms and held her to him gently.

It wasn’t an embrace filled with sympathy or Jaxxon would have ended it. It wasn’t to comfort her either. It was as though he was holding her to reassure himself that she was okay, that she was away from all that. Her eyes closed when he started doodling circles on her back with his finger. Never before him had she liked gentle touches. And why? Because it meant relaxing into someone, letting down her guard enough to trust that that touch wouldn’t change into something else, to trust that they wouldn’t hurt her physically or emotionally. Connor had actually penetrated that shield she had erected around herself, and now she was about to leave him. Made no sense when you put it like that, but all she would be signing herself up for with Connor would be something that would forever be casual.

“You really don’t hate me?”

Her laugh was silent. “I don’t hate you.” It would be easier if she did. “I love you actually.” He pulled back and his eyes shot to hers. “I was angry that you never came back, but that was because I loved you and was missing you and was hurt that you didn’t feel the same.” She made sure she sounded reassuring. “I’m not expecting you to say you love me. I’m not expecting you to give me more. I’m just telling you so that you know why I’m ending this now. I can’t be involved with someone I love who doesn’t love me back, Connor.”

Speechless. Connor was actually speechless. It had been the last thing in the world he had expected her to say. He hadn’t believed that she could ever feel like that for him. Ever. He wasn’t exactly a lovable person or the type to give her the things she wanted from life, which was why she was leaving. He was losing her for good. He’d probably never see her again. And just like that he was panicking. She started to stand and he held her in place. “Jaxx.” He didn’t even know what to say. “Jaxx, you know I care about you.”

She did know that, she finally believed it. “It’s not enough, Connor. I’m not condemning you for that, alright, I’m not. I knew going into this that there could be nothing more, I wasn’t expecting anything more. God, I wasn’t expecting to want anything more.” With a half-smile she stood. “It had to end sometime, right? I’m just ending it sooner rather than later.”

Feeling like he was in some sort of daze, Connor followed her out of the room. She was leaving. Leaving. And he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t even know what he was feeling. Different conflicting emotions were swirling inside him and fogging his thoughts to the extent that he couldn’t tell what those emotions were. His chest ached and burned. All he knew for sure was that he didn’t want her to go. Everything inside him rebelled against it.

When he saw her suitcase and handbag positioned near the door he frowned. There was no way she could have packed without him hearing her fumbling around, which could only mean that she’d packed last night. “You knew last night you’d be ending this today,” he surmised. How had he not seen it in her eyes? “Where’re you going to be staying?”

Wanting to dodge that question she asked, “Oh would it be alright if I left Bronty with you and have Tony get him later?” Tony had moved her car and parked it outside his house to confuse whoever was following her. Connor had known, even gave Tony her keys, agreeing it was a good idea. “I won’t be allowed to put him in a taxi with me.” Ollie was outside right now waiting for her; they would be going straight to the airport from here.

“Yeah, sure.” His voice was low and rough. He watched as she made a fuss of Bronty and then went to her case and handbag. Panic welled up again inside him. “Jaxx.”

Jaxxon was surprised by the torment she saw on his face. She shouldn’t have told him about what had happened with Nick and Matthew; now he was feeling guilty and probably thinking that she was really leaving because she blamed him for everything. She went to where he stood – for once he was naked in front of her without an erection – and looped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. She wasn’t good at affectionate touches, but she wanted to give him a ‘bye hug’, wanted him to know there were no ill feelings. He crushed her to him and buried his face in her hair.

“Stay.”

The whispered plea had her eyes snapping open. In spite of the fact that she didn’t want it to, hope was blossoming inside her.

“You’re not leaving for New York ’til Monday, stay ’til then.”

And just like that, the hope withered away. There was a spike of anger inside her. Here he was asking her to stay even though he knew she’d be hurting the entire time. And all just to feed his addiction. Taking a deep breath, she returned to her case and bag. She gave him one final look as she held open the front door. “Take care, Connor.”