Текст книги "Wicked Lies"

Автор книги: Lora Leigh

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 17 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

“Ready?”

She nodded, still staring up at him.

When his head lowered, his lips covered hers in a kiss that bonded any part of her soul that might have been free. She felt him, felt the hunger and the need fusing together in a heat that was always there, always ready to warm her.

Holding tight to his arm as the fingers of her other hand pressed against his chest, Kenni let that kiss have her. Her lips parted, her tongue meeting with his, tasting the passion and the power of his hunger and becoming intoxicated with it.

He was like a drug.

Irresistible, addicting.

There was nothing as filled with pleasure, heat, and solace as his kiss and his touch, his possession and his passion. She’d dreamed of it, fantasized about him, yet she’d never come close to the pleasure she’d found in his arms and in his bed.

She had fought for eight years to return to him, she finally admitted to herself. She’d fought to survive, to live, because in the back of her mind she knew that dying meant never seeing him again. Never having a chance to touch him, or be touched by him.

When his head lifted he still held her close, his arms wrapped securely around her.

“I have you, Kenni,” he promised, his voice soft, filling her with the knowledge that she wasn’t alone anymore. “I’ll always have you, right here. Whether you stay or leave, no matter where you go or what you do, baby, I have you.”

He had her.

Did he know, though, he’d always held her heart? Ragged, often broken and filled with all the tears she’d never been able to shed, but still, he’d always held it.

Whether she held his or not.

CHAPTER 19

They really didn’t need a plan. They had all the evidence they would need, Cord informed them when they stepped into the kitchen. But to enact Kin justice on the wife of a Clan leader, that leader had to be in agreement.

It wasn’t just Luce they had to face, but also Kenni’s father. And no one knew what he may or may not feel for the young wife he’d taken mere months after his first wife’s funeral. Though her brothers were all in agreement that it wasn’t possible their father had been messing with his wife’s sister before her death.

Cord, Deacon, and Sawyer would return to the house and make certain Luce was there. Once they had the house secure and any chance she had of escaping eliminated, then Jazz and Zack would bring Kenni in.

Kenni could feel the nervous tension filling her as she sat in the truck with Jazz a mile from the house. She could see the top of the roof peeking from above the trees as childhood memories rushed through her mind.

Many of those memories included Jazz. He’d been friends with her brothers for as long as she could remember. He, Slade¸ and Zack had been three of her father’s favorites, and he often joked that if he could have handled more boys, then he would have adopted them.

There were other memories, though. The time she’d fell from the swing and skinned her knees. Cord had paled so alarmingly even Kenni, only five at the time, had stared at his face in wonder. Then he’d ordered her to never get on that swing again and swore he was going to cut it down.

She’d run to Poppy and he’d made it all right. He’d kissed her skinned knee, bandaged it, and even though he’d been in the middle of a meeting, he’d given her his time and love.

There had been picnics in the backyard, family reunions that often filled the grassy acre of land next to the house.

There hadn’t been a family reunion since her mother’s death.

As time passed, the tension increased inside her, twisting its way through her stomach and tightening sickeningly every time she let herself wonder what his reaction would be.

Would he welcome her? Would he denounce her?

The man she had known as her father would never denounce her, she thought, but ten years was a long time when a heart felt betrayed. If he felt betrayed by her silence all those years, then he could turn her away.

“We’re in place.” Cord spoke through the small transmitters he’d passed out before they’d headed to the Maddox mansion.

The earbuds tucked securely into the ear canal, almost invisible but strong enough to both send and receive every word. Though not a lot had been said once her brothers entered the house.

Putting the truck into gear, Jazz drove along the street then turned into the drive as Kenni listened to her brothers pull everyone into place. Poppy came from his office, Luce was drawn from her rooms, and Luce’s daughter, Grace, sent to a neighbor supposedly to babysit.

Cord had wanted her out of the way while her mother was dealt with. Once Luce was contained then Grace would be brought home and everything would be explained.

Explanations wouldn’t help, though, Kenni thought as Jazz put the truck in park and turned off the ignition. Nothing would ease the painful realizations Grace would have to endure.

“I’ll come around and let you out,” Jazz forestalled her as she moved to open the door. “Stay still.”

He was still trying to protect her.

Loping around the truck, he pulled the door open and extended his hand to her again. Taking it, Kenni held on desperately as she stepped from the truck and he led her up the short walk to the porch where Deacon and Sawyer waited.

“Poppy?” she whispered, almost breathless at the thought of seeing him again.

“He’s in the front room,” Deacon nodded, his gaze heavy as they entered the foyer.

Breathing in slow and deep, her fingers holding tight to Jazz’s hand, she moved toward the living room.

“Cord, what’s going on?” Luce demanded, her strident voice overly loud as Kenni neared the open double doors. “I have things to do.”

“Like meeting with Colby and Phoenix?” The latent violence in her brother’s voice was like a lash of fury. “That meeting’s been canceled, Luce.”

Silence met his announcement for long moments.

“What are you talking about?” Luce demanded, the icy confidence in her voice almost amusing.

“Colby’s dead. A corkscrew to the heart by the woman you sent him after will do that. Phoenix spilled his guts, though. Know what I’m talking about now?”

“I won’t tolerate this.” There was the fear.

“Sit your ass down and shut your fucking mouth.” Vinny Maddox didn’t raise his voice; he didn’t have to. Years of commanding strong, independent warriors had given him a tone no one dared to disobey. “Cord? Would you like to explain yourself?” His voice softened slightly for his firstborn.

“Let’s see if Luce wants to explain her side of the story first,” Cord suggested.

“You’re crazy. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Then I’ll explain it,” Cord promised. “Pop, Mother wasn’t killed as a strike against you. It was Luce’s attempt to make certain the evidence Mom had against her never saw the light of day. Evidence of collaboration with Clan family members to take over the Kin and to steal information and possible gold locations for her own gain. I have the proof, Luce. Want to keep protesting?”

Poppy was silent for long moments.

“She had your mom and sister killed?” Her father’s voice hardened, turned stony, merciless.

“No, Pop, she managed to have Mom killed. But Kenni escaped with Charles Jones, the brother Mom called Gunny. Kenni’s alive.”

“Where?” Hoarse, filled with hope, her father’s question was all she needed.

Kenni stepped into the room.

She didn’t speak. Her gaze went instantly to the still-tall, still-powerful form of her father where he sat in his recliner, his expression quieting so suddenly Kenni felt her heart collapse.

She had no idea what Luce or Cord said from that moment. Clenching Jazz’s hand with both of hers now, she stared at her Poppy with a desperation she couldn’t contain.

His hands clenched on the arms of his chair and slowly, so slowly he rose from where he sat.

Dark blond and brown hair had turned gray in many places. His deep, emerald-green eyes flared with emotion, his expression becoming eagle-fierce.

She wanted to breathe, but her lungs didn’t seem to work as well as they once had. Her knees were weak, her heart racing so hard she was breathless.

“Poppy,” she finally managed to breathe out, the tightening in her throat returning, her voice hitching, pain resonating through every part of her body.

“Kenni?” He took one step forward then looked behind her at Jazz desperately, and she knew who he was looking for. She knew that agonizing hope that filled his eyes and for the first time since she was eighteen her eyes filled with tears.

“Poppy,” she whispered. “They took her.” She had to swallow but a sob ripped from her instead. “They killed Momma.”

His expression collapsed. Tears filled his eyes as her own gaze blurred and burned.

“Kenni. Ah God, my sweet Kenni…” His arms opened and Kenni hesitated only a moment before releasing Jazz and racing to him.

*   *   *

Jazz let her go, the tension he’d felt since the moment he’d realized she was alive evaporating.

The woman he’d brought into the Maddox home wasn’t the lover he’d held in his arms for the past weeks. This woman was the sixteen-year-old girl who had lost everything in her world in one tragic, pain-filled night.

As Vincent Maddox clasped his daughter in his arms, Luce actually thought it a moment of weakness. Turning to run she barreled into Jazz when he moved into her path, nearly falling on her ass before Cord caught her.

Nylon restraints were snapped expertly around her wrists as several Kin waiting for that moment entered the room. The two men who had arrived at the house with Cord earlier as well as several others positioned themselves around the room to ensure that Luce didn’t escape justice.

Vinny was holding Kenni to him like a lifeline now, father and daughter weeping with a loss ten years past, yet never truly faced until this moment.

Jazz stepped back as Cord, Deacon, and Sawyer joined their surviving parent and the baby sister they could now realize as part of their lives again.

Swiping his hand through his hair, he looked around the room. He wasn’t needed here now, he thought wearily. This was a time for Kenni to share with her family; with her father and her brothers. He had no place here.

Turning, he left the room slowly, glancing back when he reached the doorway and letting the scene sink inside him. Kenni was home, that was what mattered. When everything had settled and she’d shed her tears with her family, then he’d come back. Maybe talk to her father again. Vinny was big on tradition sometimes.

Until then, it was time to go.

“Jazz?” The sound of her voice as he slipped past the doors drew him back. “Jazz, you can’t leave.”

Tears covered her face, and that need for him that he’d longed to see in her eyes was there.

She’d stepped away from her father, from her brothers, and they all stared at him like the interloper he’d feared becoming. All of them but the one who mattered most, the Maddox Princess.

His Kenni.

She reached out her hand to him. “You can’t leave…”

He shook his head slowly but went to her and took her hand to pull her against him and lay a kiss at the top of her head. “I’m not going anywhere, baby, just right outside with Slade and Zack. I’ll be here when your Poppy’s ready to let you go for a minute. How’s that?”

“Thank you,” she whispered as he pulled back and stared up at him, those tears still filling her eyes. “Thank you, Jazz.”

He brushed one from her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Don’t thank me, sweetheart. No thanks are needed. Just remember, I’m right outside the door.”

“You won’t let me go,” she whispered. It wasn’t a question.

“No, Kenni,” he promised. “I won’t let you go.”

Releasing her to her father once more, he turned and left her with her family.

He had a chance, he told himself. A chance was all he needed to ensure she always ran back to him.

Where she belonged.

*   *   *

Joining Slade and Zack on the front steps he sat down slowly, glanced at them, and let out a hard breath.

“She’ll be safe now.” Once Luce was taken care of, once Kin justice took care of her, then Kenni’s life would be hers again.

“Looks like it,” Zack agreed.

“Tell her you love her yet?” Slade asked, the amusement in his voice pulling a frown to his brow.

Jazz frowned. “She knows.” Didn’t she?

“Bet she don’t,” Slade murmured.

“A hundred says she doesn’t have a clue,” Zack bet.

“Two hundred she moves in with Daddy within twenty-four hours.”

“A thousand says there’s not a chance in hell…” Jazz wouldn’t allow it.

24 Hours Later

Jazz let her get as far as packing that single leather pack she’d brought from the house days before. Sitting back in the easy chair next to the balcony doors, he kept his mouth shut and just watched and listened.

“Everything is still so messed up,” she was saying. “Daddy’s really upset over Luce…”

No doubt, bitch had killed his wife and conspired to kill his daughter. What had Luce expected? Rather than turning her over to Clan justice, though, Vinny had turned her over to his bosses, a division of the Department of Justice. One that didn’t look kindly on anyone attempting to sell their secrets.

“It won’t be for long…” Kenni continued.

Jazz just waited.

“Sawyer and Deacon will feel more comfortable as well,” she stated.

Fuckers, both of them, he thought furiously.

“You’ll have your life back, Jazz.” Her voice cracked when that slipped out of her mouth.

He stared back at her, his arm propped on the chair, one finger sliding back and forth over his chin.

Kenni’s gaze flickered nervously. “Jazz?”

“I love you, Kenni,” he said.

She seemed to freeze before her lips trembled in reaction. “What did you say?”

Jazz rose from the chair and moved to her slowly.

“Didn’t you know, Kenni, that I love you?” How could she not have known?

Her gaze flickered hesitantly. “How would I know?” she asked, barely above a whisper. “You never told me, Jazz.”

Fine, he hadn’t said the words, but surely he’d showed her. Hell, he knew he had.

“So actions don’t matter?” he questioned, stopping several feet from her.

“I didn’t say that,” she pointed out, frowning back at him now. “But the words are important too, Jazz. They’re very important.”

Yes they were, he admitted silently. They were very important. But some actions were just as important.

“You never protested that I didn’t wear a condom,” he said softly. “Are you on birth control?”

“No,” she whispered, linking her fingers together when she could find nothing else to do with her hands.

“I could be carrying twenty different diseases, Kenni.” He glared down at her in reproof.

To that, she shook her head slowly. “Jessie told me about sleeping with you,” she admitted. “And how particular you were about condoms since you began having sex. I didn’t fear diseases in the least, Jazz.”

“And you didn’t question why you were the only woman I’ve fucked without one?”

“I wondered.” Naked, hungry need filled her face now.

“You told me you loved me.” His dick was so hard he wondered if his zipper would survive it. “While I was coming inside you … How can you leave me, Kenni, if you love me?”

“Jazz…” she whispered breathlessly as he jerked his shirt off, then his hands moved to his jeans.

“Undress,” he growled. “Take those damned clothes off before I tear them off you.”

Stripping his jeans, he decided she was out of time.

“Kendra Maddox, I love you with every breath in my body.”

Her lips parted on a gasp and Jazz took full advantage of it. Covering them, his tongue penetrated, found hers, and licked at it with hungry demand.

The little sleeveless T-shirt she wore was easy to tear from her. The material was that thin and fragile. The button popped from her shorts, the zipper might have torn, either way they slid down her legs to pool at the floor.

Her panties were easier than her shirt.

It barely took any effort at all to tear them off her ass. She wasn’t wearing a bra.

Damned good thing, he decided, lifting his head.

“Pretty, sweet nipples,” he whispered, lowering his head, suckling one of the tight, hard points between his lips.

*   *   *

Kenni arched against him.

It was so good. So wicked and hot.

Sharp pleasure exploded from the hard point, racing through her nervous system to stoke the flames heating her clit and the aching tissue of her vagina to a conflagration of need.

Her juices spilled from her, moist heat that made the ache sharper.

What was it about Jazz that made her feel drunk, intoxicated with the pleasure he could give her?

When his head rose Kenni whimpered at the loss of sensation, needing more. No matter how much or how often he touched her, she needed more.

“Your nipples are so hard,” he crooned, stroking his thumb over a sensitive tip. Kenni’s breath caught as sizzling reaction raced through the tight bud.

“Like that, don’t you, baby?” he whispered.

“You know I do.” She could barely breathe for the fiery sensation streaking from her nipple to her clit, then to the clenched depths of her vagina.

“I want to know everything you like, Kenni,” he whispered, his lips lowering to feather against hers as he spoke. “Everything that makes your nipples hard. Everything that makes your pussy wetter.”

Her breath caught. Sensation flashed across her flesh before whipping to her womb with clenching pleasure.

His hand lifted from her breast, threaded through her hair, and tilted her head back for a hungry, mind-blowing kiss.

At least it blew her little mind.

Parting her lips his tongue swept over hers, drawing a ragged cry from her throat.

When his head lifted they were both breathless. And Kenni was greedy. She was hungry, dying to feel him, touch him—taste him. Because she knew no matter the pleasure she gave him, he’d give her back far more.

When his head lifted her lips moved to his chest. Broad, powerful muscles flexed beneath her lips and tongue. As she moved lower, rasping her nails against his side, her lips and tongue tasted more of his flesh. Ached for more.

The broad, engorged head of his cock throbbed as she curved her fingers beneath it, stroking down the shaft, fascinated by the satin-over-iron feel of it. It wasn’t just the feel of him she needed, though. It was the taste of him. The taste of his need, of his pleasure.

Swiping her tongue over the engorged crest, she didn’t expect the taste of salt and male arousal to explode over her senses as it did. Lowering herself until she knelt in front of him, Kenni parted her lips over the swollen head, feeling it flex and throb against her tongue, filling her mouth as the explicit, erotic act had a slick rush of moisture rushing from her vagina.

“That’s the way, baby,” he groaned as her mouth tightened on the hard head of his cock, invading it. “That’s it. Suck my cock sweet and tight.”

The earthy words were almost as arousing as having the hard shaft working between her lips.

Stroking the heavy shaft from the base to just below her lips as it moved over the engorged head of his erection, Kenni sucked the wide flesh as deep as she dared.

Erotic hunger singed her senses, dazed her mind.

What had ever made her believe she could walk away from him? He was more essential to her than breathing.

His caressing fingers tightened in her hair as she lashed at the underside of his cock with her tongue. Rolling her tongue against the highly reactive spot, she was rewarded with another of those heavy male groans.

Shards of pleasure-pain exploded through her scalp as his fingers pulled at her hair, his hips flexing, shifting as he thrust against her suckling lips.

“Ah, Kenni, how fucking pretty,” he groaned. “Hell, you’re killing me.”

Her lips tightened, drawing harder on his flesh as she became lost in the physical sensations. Waves of rapture so intense that she wondered for a moment if she should fear them washed over her, triggered by his pleasure rather than her own.

The heavy crest moved past her lips, shuttling against them, stroking over her tongue as Kenni fought to hold it in her mouth as long as possible. His hands tightened in her hair, his strokes shorter, harder.

“Ah fuck,” he groaned, his cock head flexing in her mouth “Kenni, baby, move back.” He released her hair, but she wasn’t about to let him go.

“Kenni, if I spill in your mouth, you’ll take it all,” he growled, sexual dominance strengthening the words. “You hear me?”

He was close. She could hear it in his voice, feel it in the hard throb of the crest of his cock. Working her mouth over it, her tongue rubbing at it, her only thought to push him over that edge of release. She needed this. She needed all of him.

A hard groan was her only warning. The sound of it rasping from his throat. A second later the throbbing head buried deeper and the first pulse of his release erupted in the suckling depths of her mouth.

The salt-and-midnight taste of him was intoxicating. Each pulse of semen only made her hungrier, needier.

It wasn’t just one ejaculation, there were multiple heavy pulses of the dark taste erupting in the suckling heat of her mouth. And she consumed them. She consumed him.

Seconds later he pulled free of her hold and before Kenni realized his intent he lifted her from her knees only to turn and toss her to the bed.

Pushing the tangled curls from her face Kenni stared up at him, her gaze heavy-lidded at the sight of his rapidly hardening erection.

“I’ve kept a hard-on since I first laid eyes on you,” he growled. “And I swear every time I look at you my dick thinks it has to be hard.”

“That’s a good thing,” she whispered breathlessly.

“Spread your legs. Let me see what you really think about it.”

Kenni spread her legs, slowly. As she did her hands lifted to cup her swollen breasts, her fingers finding the torturously hard tips of her nipples.

*   *   *

Jazz didn’t know which sight was prettier, the plump, honey-slick folds of her juice-laden pussy or those graceful fingers playing with her nipples. He knew what he was dying to taste, though.

Moving to the bed he stretched out between her thighs, licking his lips at the sweet, feminine scent drifting to him.

He pushed her thighs farther apart, watching as she gripped her nipples firmly, her fingers rolling over them faster.

She was close. The engorged, reddened bud of her clit extended fully from its hood, seeking enough sensation to flood her with ecstasy.

But not yet. He wanted to feel her orgasm exploding around his dick as he pumped his release inside the snug depths of her pussy.

Before that … Hell, he just wanted to taste her.

*   *   *

Kenni couldn’t control the cry that tore from her lips at the first lick of Jazz’s tongue through the sensitive folds of her pussy. She was certain that first lick would send her over the edge. She was primed, so ready for the explosion that when it didn’t come her eyes jerked open, her gaze going immediately to meet Jazz’s.

Wicked, erotic, his eyes were such an electric blue they almost glowed. And the intent she read there had a grin tugging at her lips.

“Afraid you can’t make me come more than once?” she asked, her voice throaty to her own ears.

His brow lifted. “I have before.”

“Purely by accident,” she assured him, knowing better.

“Accident?” He had the audacity to laugh. “Baby, bad things happen to liars.”

“Liar? How do I know it wasn’t an accident? It’s not like you actually let me know it was planned.”

The opportunity was there and too perfect to resist.

“You’re going to regret that tonight,” he assured her.

“Promises, promises.” She just wanted to come. He’d make her wait. Torture her if she let him.

He smiled. A slow, wicked, erotic smile that had her heart racing, her vagina clenching.

“Three orgasms before I fuck you,” he predicted. “Two after that and the last one…” Wry amusement curled his lips. “The last one will probably kill us both.”

“The first one now.” She was at the point of begging.

Jazz only chuckled. “Not hardly, baby.”

Instead of lowering his head to the aching flesh between her thighs, he rose over her.

Electric lust gleamed in his eyes as he brushed her fingers away from her nipples and lowered his lips to them instead.

“I was joking,” she whimpered. Knowing the torture would be worse now. “Jazz…”

His lips surrounded a nipple, sucked it into his mouth, and his tongue began to play. With one hand lying low on her stomach, his teeth surrounded the tip with searing pleasure-pain for just a second before he suckled at it with firm, hot draws of his mouth.

When she was certain flames would engulf her entire body he repeated each lick, nip, and hungry draw to the other stiff peak. And each time she tried to touch him he pushed her hands aside until finally he captured both her wrists in one hand, stretched them above her head, and went back to killing her with pleasure.

Perspiration slicked her body. Heat licked over her flesh as he played with each hard tip. Until finally he captured one between his lips, drawing on it tighter, harder … The lashing pleasure shot straight to her womb, bowed her body instantly and exploded in a shower of exquisite pleasure.

No, he had not just done that.

But he had, and he proved it as he moved to her other nipple. With expert licks, nips, and draws of his hot mouth he had brilliant heat cascading through her in an orgasm that rocked her senses.

No sooner had she began catching her breath than she felt the leather shackling her wrists above her head. Tugging at the restraints, she stared up at the lust-tightened features watching her carefully.

“I can’t touch you like this,” she whispered desperately. She needed to touch him.

“You make me lose control,” he whispered, his voice rough, hungry. “Besides, this way all you have to do is feel good.

Feel good? This way he could torture her easier.

His lips lowered between her breasts, moving down her body as his hands stroked along an inner thigh. She was so wet, her juices spilling from her vagina, that her thighs were damp as well.

“Two down,” he murmured. “One to go.”

Okay, her clit, she thought, shocked at how quickly arousal rose inside her after her release.

Jazz didn’t do anything quickly, though. With her restrained he had not just quick access, but full control. And he made use of it.

His tongue worked around her swollen clit, moving close but never actually creating the friction she needed to orgasm.

With her legs spread wide, knees bent, he devoured the swollen folds below, licking over them as his fingers eased along the narrow valley below the entrance to her vagina.

His fingertips found her rear entrance, pressing against it, entering as his mouth covered her clit.

Not enough.

Her head tossed, her hips arching forward to create the needed friction. Each push against his lips pushed his finger deeper past her anal entrance. When she was begging for it another finger joined the first and penetrated the tight ring of muscles.

Using the natural lubrication spilling from her vagina he was pumping his fingers inside her, fucking her rear with the same deep, bold thrusts he’d used when pushing inside her pussy.

His lips tightened on her clit, suckling it deep, harder. His tongue flicked at it, rubbed against it, then pressed …

“Oh God…” Like a trigger. His tongue pressed at the side of the swollen bud, rubbed and flicked and sent shocking, fiery explosions tearing through her.

Her muscles tightened, locked in place as his fingers moved along the incredible, nerve-laden ring tightening around them. Brilliant white light infused her senses and sent her hurtling into a release that had her sobbing his name.

Waves of ecstasy battered at her senses as she shuddered in his hold. Her body jerked, trembled until the aftershocks eased to a few little ripples racing up her spine.

And it wasn’t enough.

She whimpered as her vagina clenched and flexed. The additional hunger almost torturous to her now oversensitized body.

“This is the part I like.” Jazz’s voice was guttural and rough. “Every time you come it’s like your pussy gets tighter. It’s going to be so tight, baby, that the pleasure and pain will…”

The head of his cock moved into place, pressing against her then thrusting. Just as quickly he withdrew, only to push in again.

Three hard, agonizingly escalating thrusts and she was coming around the shuttling length of his cock as he buried it to the hilt inside her.

She was screaming his name as she felt her wrists release. Coming over her, Jazz gripped her hip and began moving against her. Even as her release rained around the head of his cock he was driving her higher, pushing her into a supernova she could feel reaching out for her.

“That’s it, baby,” he groaned at her ear. “Move with me just like that, Kenni … Ah hell yeah. Fuck me back, Kenni.”

She couldn’t control the arch of her hips. Jazz was thrusting into her fast and hard, pistoning strokes that ignited a torturous flame … It built. It seared her with pleasure, then when it exploded destroyed her with ecstasy, with a pleasure that drove her far beyond any previous concept of ecstasy.

Above her, Jazz called her name, his voice tight, strangled as the feel of his release throbbing inside her extended the rapture lashing at her, burning through her senses until she collapsed against the bed.

Boneless.

Exhausted.

She made a mental note though:

Never dare Jazz sexually again.

Not ever.

“I love you, honey-girl,” he whispered drowsily. “With all my soul.”

Okay, maybe she’d dare him occasionally.