Irons (Norfolk #1) (15 page)

“Penny for your thoughts.” His gravelly voice from behind caused my sex to clench even before his arms surrounded me.

“Mmm,” I said, leaning back into his embrace, “I like how you smell, how you feel,” I turned so that I was facing him and grabbed hold of his massive erection, “And how you taste.”

I slid down his body until I was on my knees and immediately I took as much of him as I could into my mouth.

“Jesus Christ,” he hissed as I began moving up and down at a pace driven by desire, need, and the want for him to never even imagine another girl sucking his long, broad, rock solid cock.

His hands hit the shower wall as he looked down at me with dark hooded eyes watching. I slowed down, allowing him to fall out of my mouth as I wrapped both hands around him. I stroked him as I lowered myself further so that I could suck his equally amazing sack.

“Damn,” he growled and attempted to pull back.

I rolled his left ball as I sucked gently on his right and then switched sides, giving each equal attention. The way he looked down at me made me truly want to please him even more. This was a new feeling for me, sexually anyway. I pulled his cock down, licked the head and felt the warmth of his pre-come, then wiped it on my lips, looked up at him and slowly licked him clean.

“Fuck,” he murmured under his breath.

I licked around his head, then took it in my mouth and sucked, hollowing my cheeks as I flicked my tongue across the tip. I took him deeper and deeper and then used my hands to stroke him as I sucked, moving up and down his hot cock. My tongue ran along the underside, stroking his veins, and tasting his flesh. I took him as deep as I could and then swallowed, ensuring my throat contracted around him.

“Gotta—stop,” he growled.

I gripped his rock hard muscular ass holding him still as I pushed into him farther, nearly choking myself, and I felt him twitch in my mouth. I moved back and forth, feverishly sucking and continuing to take him as far as I could, when his hands gripped the back of my head. His hips thrust back and forth while he groaned, hissed and growled my name, until his thick cum hit the back of my throat. I opened wider and looked up so that he could see his seed filling my incredibly hungry mouth.

“Francesca, fuck.” He pulled out and knelt down in front of me, pulling me tight against his chest.

Water poured over us as I took comfort in his embrace while listening to his heart beat wildly against my ear.

“I love you,” I whispered.

“Thank God,” he panted.

*     *     *

I sat on
the bed hugging my knees as I watched him throw clothes in his duffle bag as he talked on the phone to his mother.

She was giving him instructions and telling him who to interact with. I knew this because he would grumble “Yes mother, I know who they are,” or “I’ve met them several times,” or, “I will make sure to hit that topic.”

When he ended the call, he was walking out of his closet with a garment bag. He laid it on the bed and walked back, then reappeared with a black tux. While he neatly placed it in the bag and zipped it, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealously that I would not be the one holding his arm tonight.

He looked at me less frequently as he packed. I felt distance between us already and he was still here.

I slid off his bed and walked into the bathroom, gathering my belongings, which consisted of a tank top, skirt, a bra, and torn panties. I was dressed in one of his t-shirts and nothing else, as I had been all day.

While stepping into my skirt, I looked up in the mirror and saw him standing behind me. The look on his face was hard and unreadable.

“You keep your phone on you and stay in your apartment at all times. I will be calling or messaging you every two hours.”

“Okay.”

I turned around.

“I’m serious. This is not what I want to be doing tonight so please don’t make it any harder by forcing me to worry about you.”

“Jax, I said okay.” I brushed past him, exiting the bathroom.

Hard on him? I wasn’t going on a damn date. How did he think I felt?

I grabbed my phone off the counter and shoved it in my pocket. “I’m gonna head home.”

“I’ll drive you.”

“I want to walk,” I snapped and didn’t mean to.

“Don’t be difficult, Frankie.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Jaxson.”

He grabbed me and pulled me tight against him. “Feelings are not my thing, okay. I was taught they were a detour from the objective. I don’t wanna feel like when I return here, you and I are going to be starting all over again. It’s not what I want. Look, god damn it, you have me under some sort of stronghold and I should be fighting with everything I am to escape it. But I don’t want to. I want you. I want to wake up and see your hair all over my chest, smell your skin on mine, taste you on my lips. I want to hear you tell me you love me. Whatever the hell is going on with us, I don’t want it to stop.”

I leaned into him and nodded. “This is going to be a lot of work, Jax.”

“I’ve never been afraid of work. I will figure it out. The only thing you need to do is figure out how we tell your folks because I want you with me, by my side at everything, public and private.”

“You’ll get sick of me.” I closed my eyes remembering when Joel felt that way and how in just two months it all changed.

“You’ll get sick of me first.”

*     *     *

I walked into
the apartment, texting Jax that I was inside so he could pull away.

“Hey, stranger,” Mary said as she was walking out of the bathroom.

“Hey.” I made myself smile even though I had a sick feeling in my stomach about Jax and that Mimi.

“Was it the same guy from the bar?” she asked sitting on the couch and patting the spot next to her.

I sat down, shook my head and smiled.

“It was.” She nudged me. “I want details, you ho.”

“I’ve known him for eight years. I think that takes me off the ho list.”

“How is that possible? You’ve only been here two years.”

I had never told them details about Will. Just that he passed away. I figured I should, now that Jax and I would soon be a public item.

“He was my brother’s best friend.”

“Oh,” she said quietly.

“Yeah, I know, right.”

I sat back and looked up at the ceiling. “We have some things to get through so please don’t say anything. My parents are probably going to be upset about this. Well, upset because they didn’t know.”

“He’s a good guy, though?”

“He’s a wonderful man, yes.”

“Then why hide him and, more importantly, when can I meet him?”

“Soon, I promise.”

“We’re thinking about going to Tuna’s, do you want to come or do you have plans for tonight?”

“I have plans, but thanks.”

“Is he coming over,” she smiled and wagged her eye brows.

“No he is attending a function. I plan to hit the books. I have been slacking lately.”

“At least you’re smiling again. I was getting worried about you.”

“No need to worry.” I gave her the reassuring smile I had given my parents for years now.

*     *     *

I looked up
from my physiology paper that I had been working on. It would need to be turned in to the professor and Colonel Smith in a week, detailing the findings so far. It had been an hour and a half since Jax texted last.

My eyes were buggy so I decided to put the book away, lie on the couch and turn on the eleven o’clock news.

I hated the news. It was always bad and, frankly, it tended to freak me out a bit. But I was waiting to see if there had been any coverage on the event Jax was attending.

The anchor woman came on announcing that a grand ball in Roanoke tonight that raised funds for children of disabled soldiers was a hit. They showed photos of all the people dressed in fancy gowns and tuxes. I hit pause on the TV when I thought I saw a man who looked like Jax. Well, it wasn’t him. I was obviously more over tired than I thought.

I looked down and grabbed my glass of water, glancing away for only a minute when I heard Jax’s voice.

“Jaxson Irons,” he smiled at the reporter.

“And this beautiful woman?”

“This is Mimi Caldwell.”

“Daughter of Stan Caldwell?” the reporter asked.

“The one and only.” Mimi, a buxom blond with a million watt smile and deep southern accent, answered.

“Rumor has it that your fathers may be in the running for gubernatorial candidacy. What does this mean for the two of you? Is there romance in the air?”

Jax didn’t say a word. He just looked down. Mimi on the other hand laughed and linked her arm through his. “Well, y’all just have to wait and see.”

Jax started walking and Mimi giggled, “See y’all later.”

The camera followed as they walked to the elevator. Jax’s hand was on the small of her back, guiding her through the elevator door.

I rewound and watched over and over again and looked at my phone. Jax was five minutes late in calling. I turned off the TV and threw the remote on the ground. I walked into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, then grabbed my phone and looked at it again as I walked into my bedroom.

I flopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling and then sat up and walked over to my bookshelf, grabbed my dream book hoping to ease my angst. I flipped through, looking at it in a whole new way. When I was done, my anxiety had lessened and I lay in bed.

My eyes became heavy. I knew I was going to fall asleep so I got under the covers and grabbed my phone. I decided to call him instead of allowing anxiety to shatter the progress we had made. I held the phone and thought about how much I knew my love for Jax was real and true. It was different from how I felt about Joel, even in the very beginning.

The only thing that still bothered me was that he hadn’t said I love you in return and it hurt a little. But I promised myself I would be patient. We had so much to get through before either of us could be together the way I knew we both wanted to.

Jaxson Irons, once a dream boyfriend and lover, was now both of those things.

I pushed in his name, now located in my favorites alongside my parents in my cell phone. It rang several times before going to voice mail.

I hung up immediately, feeling the sickness in my stomach again. I pushed his number again and on the third ring the call was answered.

“Hello?”

It was that sticky sweet southern drawl. I froze and she said it again, “Hello.”

“May I speak to Jaxson, please?” My voice didn’t fail me, I sounded stronger than I felt.

“May I ask who’s callin’?”

“No,” this time I was sure I sounded annoyed.

“Well I apologize, he is currently unavailable.”

“Please tell him to take the call.”

“Sugar, he’s in the shower.”

I wanted to scream, to cry, to ask her why she was answering his phone, why she was in his room while he was showering but I didn’t. Instead I hung up.

Jax

E
xhausted from the
sleepless night before and even more exhausted now, I walked out of the bathroom in a towel to grab clothes from my duffel bag. I would prefer to sleep nude, but not with Mimi in the room on the other side of the suite.

I couldn’t believe how drunk she got and I couldn’t believe I was doing shots with the senator’s son, so I was almost just as bad as she was.

I dropped the towel and stepped into my shorts, ready to fall into bed. It was late, real late.

“Jaxson?”

I looked up to see Mimi entering my room, wrapped half way in a hand towel that covered very little of her.

“Mimi, you shouldn’t be in here.” I knew that look in her eyes. I had seen it on several women in my day.

“Well, the hotel failed to put towels in my bathroom and the shower is very cold. You don’t mind, do you?” she asked and pointed to my bathroom.

“Of course not, go ahead.”

She laughed and tripped, dropping the towel and falling onto the floor. “Dear lord, what was that we were drinking?”

I looked down and she was at my feet, naked, lifting her hand, “Be a gentleman and help a drunk friend up, Lieutenant Irons.”

“Cover up, Mimi.” I looked away, waiting for her to do as she was told.

“It’s ugly, isn’t it?” she whispered and I felt her hand on my knee, “Help me up. I covered it.”

I helped her up and she blinked her eyes a few times before she started to cry.

“I’m sorry it’s so disgusting it disturbs you, but it is partially your fault.”

“I don’t think you’re ugly Mimi, it’s just, I can’t do that again.”

“Not me, the scar. Our families’ skeleton, and yours,” she babbled as I helped her to the bathroom.

“Mine?”

“C-section.”

I stopped and looked at her. I wasn’t following what she was saying and I wasn’t sure if it was because I was buzzing or because she was drunk. “Sorry, I don’t understand.”

She looked at me and covered her mouth. “Please ignore the drunk girl.”

I replayed the conversation in my head, because no, I wasn’t one to ignore anything.

“C-section. You have—”

“We, silly man.” She slapped her hand against my chest.”

“Mimi, you’re confusing the hell out of me right now. Please explain.”

She dropped the towel and traced the line above her small patch of pubic hair.

“I don’t like hair, Jaxson but I do hope someday this ugly scar, this scarlet letter, this mark on me will be covered and the hell that I went through a little over four years ago disappears from my conscience with it.”

“What the hell does it have to do with me?” I knew the answer before I even asked the question.

“Our family is bound very tightly, Jaxson Irons, but none of you have to worry about it. Daddy covered it all up, made it go away. No one will ever find out. There is no reminder of it in the public or you all, just me.” She traced it again.

“Mimi, I need an explanation.” I was growing angry.

“No, you don’t. I wouldn’t want you to carry the burden I have since that morning I woke in your bed.”

I felt sick to my stomach immediately. “My parents knew about this?”