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Oleander arched an eyebrow. “Sports bra thingies, for this chest size?”
“Yes?”
“In sports bra thingies, my boobs will be squished even further,” Oleander said with a loud snort, bending to press her mouth to his. The kiss broke and they pulled away long enough to take off their clothes. Jackson couldn’t get over how beautiful Oleander was and he loved that she was so confident in herself that she never once covered up under his gaze.
Once they were both naked, Oleander was back in his lap, guiding his hands to her bare breasts. She sighed as he cupped them, the weight perfect in his hands. He stroked her nipples with his thumbs and Oleander’s head fell back, exposing her gorgeous neck to him. He watched her body respond and released her left breast to stroke his thumb over the tattoo inscribed against her side. “What’s this one about?”
“I was heartbroken and angry, and I’d been talking about getting another tattoo for a while,” Oleander explained, eyes downcast like she was embarrassed of the words on her body. “And I was always so fascinated by E.E. Cummings and his words. This seemed fitting at the time.”
Jackson read the words out loud. “‘Be of love a little more careful than of anything.’This one explains everything about you in a few words.”
“I was angry with my ex, I was angry with myself, I didn’t know how to channel my anger, so I took it out on my body instead.”
“It’s beautiful, even if it was done in rage.”
“Now it’s one of my favorite tattoos,” Oleander told him with a soft laugh, her eyes meeting his. “Because I took my time and I was careful and look where it got me.”
Jackson stared at her, his heart pounding at her words. A small smile tugged at his lips and when Oleander returned it, Jackson slid his hand down her side to the tattoo on her hip, the one that had been teasing him from the moment he met her.
“What about this?”
“Why are we talking about my tattoos?”
Jackson shrugged. “Because it tells me so much about you.”
“Haven’t I already told you enough?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever have enough of you, Oleander.” Jackson whispered her name and felt her quiver under his hand, making him smile. It was a minimal tattoo of a wave cresting, with the wordbreatheprinted beneath it.
“It’s a reminder to breathe.”
“Breathing is important, sure,” he said in a tone that told her he understood there was more to the story.
She sighed heavily and covered Jackson’s hand with hers. “I tried to run away from home a few times, because I was so frustrated that my parents didn’t understand my choices or that my grandmother kept forcing me to be someone else. At a time when everyone was getting birds tattooed on their skin, I wanted to be a wave, rolling in every day and rolling back out without letting anything stop it. I wanted to be able to live my life without letting anyone affect me along the way.”
“Did you manage to make that happen?”
“Yeah,” she whispered and looked into his eyes. “I lied to the tattoo artist and said I was 18, but I was only 16. After this, I went away to college and my life got easier.”
“You’re so strong, Oleander, and these tattoos show how much you have overcome to be where you are.” Jackson said the words, noticing that her eyes were glassy as she stared down at him. But she quickly blinked away the tears and pushed her shoulders back.
“Before you ask, the unicorn tattoo was something Frankie and I did together.”
“I figured,” Jackson smiled, amused that Oleander was moving past the compliment he’d paid her. “I saw the matching one on her arm the other day.”
“Her grandmother almost skinned us alive when she saw the tattoos, but she accepted that we were always going to do whatever we wanted, no matter what she thought or said.”
Jackson nodded, his thumb still brushing over the tattoo on her hip as he smiled to himself.
“What’s the smile for?”
“What smile?”
Oleander narrowed her eyes when he looked up at her. “You smiled as you stared at my tattoo.”
“Oh,thatsmile.” Jackson chuckled. “I’m really impressed by you and I’m really glad I was annoyingly persistent that you gave me a chance.”
Oleander poked his chest. “Are you going to keep bringing up how mean I was to you?”
“Yes, because it’ll make for a great story for our kids one day.”
Sure, she’d said she wasn’t sure if she wanted to get married to have a family, but that didn’t mean she was completely against it either. Oleander rolled her eyes, her hips sliding against his in a slow and seductive tease.
“I am naked, wet and rubbing up against you and you’re thinking about our non-existent kids.” Oleander huffed and started to move away.
Jackson halted her movements with his hands on her hips and sat up, one arm snaking around her waist. He pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth, smiling when he felt Oleander’s lips curve into a smile as well.
“I’m thinking about you. Like always,” he whispered as their lips met again for a slow kiss, their hands wandering over each other, touching and teasing slowly.
