Page 29

Predator and prey indeed.

I patted the spot next to me. “Sit down.”

Jack sat next to me, close enough that I felt his warmth next to me. He grabbed one of the blankets and placed it over my shoulders. I smiled at the action. Always taking care of me.

“Now, I have bad news. We can’t actually see the Lupus constellation, because we’re too far north. But there are plenty of other animal-related constellations,” I said.

“Like the bear one?” Jack said. His breath was hot on my neck and his hand roved up my back.

I shivered under his touch, though there wasn’t any skin-to-skin contact. I still wore my shirt. Maybe I should remove my shirt.

No. We were still getting to know each other, and he had put so much effort into this date and we should enjoy it.

His fingers reached the nape of my neck, then his lips were there. I moaned. My eyes drifted closed, and the stars above us were forgotten. I only cared for the stars I would see when I had Jack buried inside me.

If we got that far.

“Jack,” I breathed.

“Yes, dearest?”

The rumble of his chest as he spoke radiated through me and my cock grew hard.

“For our next date, I think I want you to read to me.”

He went still. “Read to you?”

“Yes.” I reached behind me and grasped his neck, pulling him back to my neck so he could lick me all over. “You could read the weather report and I would come in pants just listening to you. Your voice is so sexy.”

“Is it?”

“Mhm-hm.”

Jack kept nipping and sucking on the skin of my neck, and my hips began to move on their own accord. My cock pressed hard against my pants. Jack had to be feeling the same way.

Jack’s hand slid around to my chest, his palm flat over my heart. It was hammering, and I knew he could feel it. He could probably hear it, too, with his heightened senses.

“Your heart is racing,” he murmured against my skin.

“You’re not helping.”

“I’m not trying to help.” His teeth grazed the spot beneath my ear, and I felt the rumble in his chest again, low and pleased.

“I’m trying to figure out what makes you make that sound,” I said.

“Which sound?”

I turned slightly, letting his lips caress my neck. That rumble sounded in his chest again.

“That one.”

He grinned. “You make me make that sound. All of you.”

I turned in his arms, the blanket slipping off my shoulder, and I cupped his face in my hands. The moonlight caught his eyes, that faint amber glow, and instead of being frightened, I felt something settle in my chest. Like a key turning in a lock. Hunger lived in that gaze, but so did restraint, and I knew which one was costing him more.

He kissed me slowly, as if we had all the time in the world, as if the stars weren’t even there. His hand threaded into my hair and tilted my head, and I opened for him without a second thought. He tasted like the chocolate from the dessert nachos and something warmer underneath, something that was just Jack. I fisted his shirt and pulled him down with me until my back hit the pillows. He braced himself above me, careful of his weight, careful of everything, and I wanted to tell him he didn’t have to be.

The telescope sat forgotten at my elbow. Somewhere above us, the Great Bear was wandering across the sky without an audience.