shuhaige
Chapter 372
Chapter 0372
*Yeah, I absolutely do not want you to apologize for that, Ari," Jackson says, turning a little so that we're face-to- face again, so that I can see his frown. He sits up straighter, wrapping an arm around me. "I don't want you to think I don't want to have sex with you. Because..." he raises his eyebrows now and looks at me seriously," Believe me when I say that...I want to."
I grin a little at the way his voice got all low and gravelly when he said that, but I don't tease him about it. Instead, I just nod and put a hand on his cheek - because I do believe him. I can feel it, down our bond, that it is not just me. That he wants me just as bad. He just...needs more time.
He turns his head a little, kissing my hand before looking back into my eyes. "We just have time, right? I kind of want to..." he grins now, I think feeling like it might be a little tacky, "to date you. And let it grow. And...you know. Get there when we get there."
I burst into a grin, leaning close. "You want to date me, Jackson McClintock?" I say in my best high school girl voice, because it's just too adorable to not tease him about. Just a teeny, tiny bit.
"Yup," he says, grinning right back at me, holding me tighter. "I want to date the hell out of you, Ariel Sinclair. And then, when we get to the sex," he shrugs, like it's no big deal, "it will... mean something. Won't just be something we do because our bodies wanted to, or whatever. Is that...okay?"
"Yeah, it's okay," I whisper, leaning close and pressing my forehead against his. "Um...can we still make out and stuff?"
"Yeah," he says, smiling deeply at me and tugging on my hips so that I'm basically in his lap again. I squeal a bit, because it's my favorite place to be. "We can make out, Ariel. And...stuff."
As if to prove his point, Jackson kisses me slowly and deeply, in the way he knows I like best. And I lean back against his arm and let him take control, kissing him back languidly, enjoying the feeling of his mouth and his tongue pressing against my own, especially now that I know that this is as far as it's going to go right now.
And inwardly, I smile, because....I mean, because it's kind of amazing, isn't it? I thought that Jackson and I were close, incredibly close, so deeply bonded that it couldn't get more intense. And yet here we are, not having sex after I've been mostly naked in his bed for an extended period of time, and it's...
It's deeper. It's better. And I'm so terribly in love with him that...god, I just don't know how to manage it.
But as Jackson's arms tighten around me and he leans me backwards just a touch further, I smile. Because I know he's going to be there to help me.
I'm losing myself completely to Jackson, my mind going to that hazy space it always does when he kisses me for any extended period of time at all, when suddenly my wolf leaps to her feet inside of me.
Oh no, she murmurs, her legs going stock straight as she stands, staring, feeling the wave of him coming down the hall towards us.
Because he's close now, and we can feel him, feel the anger and the pain and the horror and the dismay radiating off him like a cloud.
Jackson's wolf, feeling my wolf's movement, likewise jumps to his feet, a growl rising in his throat. Jackson and I both start in the same instant, pulling apart just an inch and staring, shocked, into each other's eyes the moment before the pounding begins on the door.
*Shit," I whisper, my head spinning towards the noise.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
*Ariel!" Luca shouts, continuing to pound as he does. "Ariel, get the hell out of there! Right now!" My eyes go wide, and Jackson's growl rises in his chest, his throat, as he holds me tight.
I glance over at him. "Jacks," I whisper. "He's going to wake the whole palace - guards are going to come running if we don't get the door right now."