Jason grasped her hips, rubbed his entire face into her shivering folds as he found his own long, hard release and spilled himself into Hope’s throat as she continued to consume him.
The two of them lay there on the floor, bodies shivering in completion while they were wrapped together, neither one stopping until they were completely spent.
The kitchen was finally silent except for the sound of their heavy breathing. Hope rolled off his body so he could breathe, and he caught her around the waist to help her crawl up next to him before she collapsed on her belly.
“Best. Breakfast. Ever,” Jason said in a husky voice. His chest still rose and fell rapidly.
Hope let out a breathless giggle next to him, and laughed harder as she caught her breath.
The sound of her laughter was infectious, and Jason roared with amusement. He pulled her sticky body on top of his.
“We’re a mess,” she snorted gleefully.
The kitchen floor was smeared with chocolate everywhere, and Hope’s hair and face still had remnants of the sticky sweet dotting her creamy skin. She still chortled with delight as their eyes met, hers filled with joy.
To Jason, she’d never looked more beautiful. He got to his feet and pulled her up beside him, wrapped his arms around her waist and bent down to rub his nose against hers affectionately. He kissed her tenderly, savoring the feel of her in his arms.
As he pulled back, he could see a small red mark on her neck. “Did I hurt you?” he asked, remorseful as he traced a finger lightly over the spot.
“No,” she answered with a sated sigh. “I love it when you lose control.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “This morning was so…” She stopped, seemingly unable to find the right words.
“Kinky,” Jason finished with a wicked grin.
She nodded and smiled back at him.
“Sweetheart, you haven’t seen kinky yet,” he told her huskily.
Her eyes lit up. “There’s more?”
Jason laughed. Her enthusiastic look amused him. “A whole lot more.”
“You’ll teach me everything before you go?” she asked tentatively.
“Count on it,” he vowed forcefully. He wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was she. She was stuck with him, asshole or not, and he hated it whenever she mentioned separating. If he got his way, and he was determined he would, they’d have forever. “And I’m not going anywhere.” He tightened his arms around her convulsively.
Happy to finally have Hope in his arms, Jason was still full of regret and remorse. He was a fool not to have recognized how he felt about Hope years earlier, and he might have saved her from the horrifying trauma she’d gone through had he been honest with himself and with her. Fucking her wasn’t going to rid him of his restlessness or his loneliness. He needed her, but he had to have her in his life forever. He should never have lied to her, plotted for his own selfish reasons. All he could do was hope she’d forgive him, or she might as well rip his heart out and stomp it into the ground.
Truth was, Hope had him wrapped around her little finger, and Jason wasn’t even struggling to get free. If he hadn’t been such an asshole, he would have realized that he was completely, totally, and irrevocably in love with Hope, and probably had been since the day he’d seen her at her high school graduation, at the age of eighteen.
In their current situation, his epiphany left him completely, totally—but hopefully not irrevocably—screwed.
Tell her the damn truth.
Jason vowed he would. Soon. Very soon.
Jason and Hope didn’t emerge for their hike until three mornings later, when they finally untangled themselves from each other long enough to get out into the early morning sunrise.
Hope took a breath of the crisp, mountain air. Her heart flip-flopped as she centered Jason in the lens of her camera and captured his image with the waterfall as a background. She’d started to photograph him a lot in the last few days, wanting to make sure she would remember this surreal period in her life where she felt wanted, needed, cared for by Jason. Her camera adored him, and every photo she’d taken of him took her breath away. “Thanks,” she told him, and lowered her camera. She’d already photographed the falls, and she’d got some incredible wildlife and landscapes as they made the long hike to the place Tate had recommended. He’d sent Jason a trail map, telling him the waterfall was worth seeing, and it was. It was a spectacular sight, the water falling in several different streams from the rocky cliff above. “You’re incredibly photogenic,” she told him teasingly as she moved up to the edge of the viewing cliff to stand beside him.