Chapter 220


    Jake climbs into bed minutes after I do. I’m lying awake staring at the semi-dark ceiling lost in thought


    when hees in. He strips off, without looking over, and climbs into bed sliding up against me, pulling


    me into his arm. I can’t help but smile that he dide swiftly along when Arrick intervened on the


    drama with his father.


    “I’m awake,” I utter quietly, turning toward him so I can face him, melting into his body heat and feeling


    glorious against him. Its dull in here but not pitch dark so I can see him.


    “You okay?” He leans in and kisses me soundly, mouth molding to mine, hand running up my spine


    delicately. I can’t help the tingles he ignites or the way my inner thighs tense deliciously at his touch.


    “Surprisingly fine,” I say when we finally break apart. My desire aching to strip off the rest of his clothes


    and start licking every inch of that taut smooth tattooed skin. I’m starting to forget why we’re not having


    sex anymore.


    “Really? We should talk about what happened. I want


    to know how you’re feeling baby.” Jake sounds concerned but with all that flesh on show I’m a little


    distracted. Maybe fighting with that bitch has upped my adrenaline or


    maybe those naughty hormones are acting up again but


    at this very moment I am glued to muscr pecks and a slight masculine scatter of hair at his chest,


    tickling my nose.


    N?velD(ram)a.?rg owns this content.


    I run my fingers across Jake’s naked torso and along his body up to his throat slowly. Without saying


    anything I inch myself up so were eye level and move in for a more seductive kiss, letting my tongue


    slip into his mouth, moving my body so I mold against his in every way. An inner surge of satisfaction


    when a hardness starts to grow between us, and he pushes me back. Jake certainly has no problem


    with getting turned on. I think it’s time we explored the next step to forgiveness.


    “Emma, we …” I silence him with my fingers on his lips.


    “Jake, I’m ready. Don’t keep this from me anymore please. I need you so badly it hurts.” My body is


    yearning for more and this is the kind of more I need. Somehow facing her, marriage proposals, and


    eptance of the babying, has kick started a stubbornness in me that we’re going to fix us fully


    and finally.


    I move back against him and sense the hesitation rippling through him as he contemtes whether we


    should do this or not. I don’t give him any choice and slide my hand into the waist band of his boxers,


    moving down to encircle him with my fingers, feeling that jolt of surprisee through him. He


    obviously wasn’t expecting me to start forcefully seducing him, so readily, especially after seeing


    Demon Bitch and everything she said.


    I push my mouth to his and kiss him as passionately as I can, using my hand to fully arouse him in the


    best way I can. Jake’s catches me around the throat loosely pushing my face back so he can stare into


    my eyes in the almost pitch-ck room intensely.


    Without warning he flips me on my back and is instantly over the top of me caging me in. His arms


    straining at either side of my head. He leans in and kisses me, slowly and softly, my hands still


    pleasuring him with even strokes and getting impatient. I bite his lip, nipping it hard enough to get a


    smile from him before he devours me again. His kiss sends searing pleasure through every nerve


    ending in my body, notching up the fire within me a hundredfold.


    Hees down low enough to rub against me and leaves me no choice but to remove my hand from


    between us. He pushes himself between my legs, now no longer obstructed, opening me up to him fully


    as he grinds into me seductively. Our bodies connect to match the way our mouths are, passion rising,


    and Jake is fully immersed in the action. His hands trail over my breasts and downwards. I groan at his


    touch, at the feelings and sensations I have been crying out for, and now that I’m finally getting what I


    need, I’m soaring with desire.


    Passion ignites inside of me, heat pouring through me at an rming rate and I push Jake off me,


    aggressively with a lot more strength than I knew I was capable of. I flip on top of him so I’m straddling


    him fully and peel off my nightdress and bra and start grinding down on top of him. His hands slide up


    my body across my abdomen, fingers grazing and exploring me sexually. Hands itching and aching to


    trace every part of me that has been denied him and I can feel it in the way he caresses me, biting his


    lip, eyes locked on me with undiluted lust. He covers my breasts tweaking my nipples with harsh


    grasps that make me throw my head back and gyrate on top of him a little harder.


    No shame or embarrassment because this is his body. He’s seen every single inch of me before now,


    tasted


    every single piece of me. His hands skim my ribs and move to my hips, pulling me back and forth to get


    the routine of my grinding into him more fluidly, his hardness below me trying to force its way through


    the fabric between us. His hands skim upwards ande to a slow halt as they cover my abdomen.


    Jake’s face changes from sex crazed to frowning in almost a second and every part of that body


    physically recoils.


    “Fuck.” The instant change in him as his hands drop by his side, catching my legs, lifting me effortlessly


    off him gently, “Emma, I can’t.”


    “What?” I don’t understand. My body is brimming with desire and longing. I’m seconds away from self-


    combusting and he’s putting the brakes on?! He sits up so his back is turned slightly toward me.


    What the hell, Jake?


    “I can’t do this! Shit!” Jake slides away and gets out of bed, adjusting himself in his boxers, walking off


    toward the en suite at a fast pace.


    “Jake what the hell?!” I snap after him, suddenly self-conscious, hauling the bed sheets over my naked


    upper half, the shame of rejection coursing through me. A sob hits my throat as I’m filled with self-doubt


    but Jake spins at the bathroom door.


    “It’s the baby, Emma … As soon as I touched your stomach it’s all I could think about and the fact I’d be


    fucking you while it was in there. It’s weird. Not to mention it can’t be safe!” He sounds angry, and


    tense, and annoyed at himself mostly. He switches on the bathroom light and flops back against the


    door frame, running an agitated hand through his hair, lookingpletely devastated. I just gape at him


    in shock.


    “You’re kidding, right? You haven’t touched me in a month and now you don’t actually want to because


    I’m pregnant?” I can’t contain the hurt in my voice, or theplete disbelief and he stalks back to me


    immediately.


    “Jesus, Emma. I want to have sex with you right now so bad, I just can’t.” He holds up despairing


    hands, that perfect muscr body so ripe to be devoured by me yet denying me of what I really want,


    what I need. The anger inside of me spikes.


    “Yes, you can.” I grab his hand and haul it back to my breast, forcing him to cup it loosely, but he makes


    no effort to try and lets his arm flop back down. No effort whatsoever.


    “I can’t,” he repeats in detion, eyes downcast, and he looks miserable.


    Well that makes two of us!


    “I’m sure pregnant women have sex every day, Jake. You’re being ridiculous. It’s not in the same ce


    and it’s sure as hell not going to hurt something that’s barely the size of a bean right now.” I pout, close


    to frustrated tears and burning up with need, almost painfully. That inner crazy hormonal me, being


    denied sex, is back with a vengeance.


    Jake leans in and kisses my temple slowly and surely. He’s trying to smooth my ruffled feathers and


    balm my feelings but it’s not going to work.


    “I can’t touch you until we see your doctor, Emma, and hear it straight from her. All I can think about


    right now is how much I just can’t.” He frowns at me apologetically and tries to embrace me with a soft


    cuddle instead.


    I pick up the cushion from the bed and shove it into his chest angrily, so he moves away.


    “You’re an ass,” I snap, sexual frustration hitting me hard, aware of howpletely unreasonable I’m


    being. I don’t care though. I feel like after everything this is like getting a massive p in the face. I


    want him, I need him in that way, and he isn’t even trying to give it to me.


    “Jesus, stroppy. Hormones so bad you’re that pissed at me right now?” He tries to sound jokey and


    lighthearted, but I just scowl at him.


    “You have no fucking idea!” I turn away angrily, throwing myself down on the bed, slinging an arm


    across my face inplete frustration. Jake stills on the bed for a moment then he slides off and


    saunters over to turn off the bathroom light.


    Probably trying to figure out how to make this up to me without any fucking sex!


    Un-goddamn believable. A whole month of nothing and now I’m offering it on a te and he just can’t?!


    Where the hell is the sex-crazed Jake that I’m crazy over?!


    He slides into bed while I try to get my crazy mood


    under control, disappointment surging through me at an rming rate.


    “Did we really get engaged tonight, Emma?” Jake’s husky voicees close in the dark and my anger


    dissipates a little at his question. I sigh and push the traces of my mood deep down. He’s trying


    misdirection. His favorite maneuver. I guess he’s good at it because it’s working. I blow out an agitated


    breath and slide my arm down, so I can stare at the ceiling for a few agonizing minutes to calm down.


    I can’t be mad at him over this.


    “I know it wasn’t exactly some romantic blow your mind moment, but I meant it. Something inside of me


    just stopped running and decided to stand and fight … To fight for you.” I turn on my side and watch


    him in the dark. His handes to trail down my shoulder and arm, slowly and tenderly. I flinch


    because my skin is still burning with desire and his touch isn’t exactly helping right now, but I stay


    where I am and don’t pull away.


    “You know it was probably the best moment of my life, but I still want to ask you properly, Emma … Can


    I do that? My way? I don’t know, somehow, it just doesn’t feel official.” He’s watching his fingers trail my


    skin hypnotically. I can’t help but give up on the rest of my anger when watching him. So still and


    beautiful and wholly irresistible, with that little boy lost look, asking me for permission. I sigh.


    “You mean fireworks and a floor show?” I smirk, reaching out to run my nails across his chest lightly,


    the ache to have his body still coursing through me despite knowing there is nothing I can do about it.


    “You’d expect nothing less from Jake Carrero CEO,mandeering, bossy, cocky, asshole! I need to


    put a ring on your finger anyway, might as well make the most of the moment I do.” He beams at me


    and I know I’mpletely beaten.


    Something changed within me tonight, some shift of the axis, some inner defining moment that I’m still


    not sure of but I know one thing, this is it for me. No matter what he did, it doesn’t matter anymore. I


    know he’ll never hurt me like that again and I need to stop hurting him. We have done this to each


    other and it’s time to stop. We have someone else to think about now and it’s growing inside of me,


    slowly but surely, already starting to affect our life and rtionship with its mere presence. Our


    rtionship has changed somehow, no more sexy games or misunderstandings, no more pandering


    around what we meant or felt. We are growing as a couple.


    The other stuff wille back naturally. Maybe he really does just need that piece of mind that he


    won’t harm our child. I can’t exactly be mad at the gentle caring protective side of Jake that most


    people don’t even know exists.


    How can I stay angry when at the heart of his inability to touch me is love for our unborn child?


    I sigh and cuddle closer, resigning myself to the idea of this being temporary. He better damn well give


    me some crazy, hot, kinky sex as soon as someone puts his mind at ease.