Page 36 of The Compass Series

KENNEDY

“ Y ou have keys to the library?” I asked Jax as he flipped through the set of keys in his hand. We stood on the top step to get into what seemed to be a very closed library. The sign read loud and clear that the hours were nine to five. Surely Jax knew this fact.

“I do tonight,” he said, finding the right key and unlocking the door in front of us. As he opened it, I stood still.

“What’s happening right now?” I asked. “Are we breaking and entering?”

He chuckled that deep, manly laugh that I loved from him. “No. The guy who runs the library, Hunter, allowed me to put in a request to have it for the night.”

“You requested a library? Are you telling me there’s a way to rent out libraries, because I’d like to sign up for that on a daily basis.”

“Not on the regular occasion, but Hunter owed me a favor.”

“What kind of occasion warrants you a whole library?”

He scrunched up his nose and scratched at the back of his neck. “I was working a plumbing job a while back, found a pair of lace panties shoved deep into his toilet drain.”

“Okay?” I asked, not following the odd story.

“A size extra-large pair of panties, and let’s just say his size extra-small wife was not the owner of them. Plus, she was gone on a business trip the week before the panty issue.”

“Oh, what a dog!”

“Yup, but he begged me not to tell—not that I would. Other people’s business is none of my concern. As long as his check cleared, I was good. Today when I asked him for his keys to have the library for the night, and he said no. I said lace panties, and he handed them over.”

I laughed. “You blackmailed him with panties?”

“Sure did.”

I shivered at the thought of Jax having to deal with a stranger’s panties. “I bet you see a lot of weird things with your job.”

“Don’t even get me started on the anal beads.”

My eyes widened. “What?!”

He snickered to himself and shook his head. “Never mind. Let’s go.”

We walked into the library, and in an instant, I was in heaven. Jax locked the door behind us so no one else could get in. If I ever had to be locked away somewhere, I prayed it would be a library. I’d never run out of adventures.

“I figured it would be easier to search the library for the hidden room if no one else was here. Plus, now we can be wild and ignore the no talking rules.”

“Aren’t you the biggest rebel?”

“What can I say? Bad to the bone.”

This was so exciting to me, and I loved that Jax had gone the extra mile to make what some people would think was a lame evening even more special. At the front checkout desk was a basket filled with snacks and two spill-proof wine tumblers which were hopefully filled with happiness.

“Joy sent us a bottle of white wine. She said you really liked this certain type. Also, I attempted to make a chicken potpie, which is a million times easier said than done. Joy helped me with that, too.”

My eyes widened. “That’s my favorite meal.”

“Yeah, I know—at least, I knew it used to be. I was reading through the old letters you sent me and?—”

“You still have our letters?”

He grew sheepishly shy, crossed his arms, and shrugged. “Yeah. I know that’s probably stupid, but they meant a lot to me. When I was younger, on some of my hardest days, I’d go back and read those letters. They got me through some heavy stuff.”

Without thought, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into my body.

I needed to feel him against me, to remind myself that this was real, that we were real.

I knew what Yoana was worried about, and I loved her for her concern, but Jax was the one designed for me.

He wasn’t the villain of my fairy tale; he was the broken hero, the one who wasn’t meant to save me, but who was meant to save himself, and he was doing that.

Day in and day out, he put in the work to better himself, which was so inspiring to me, and he made me want to do the same for myself.

I didn’t want Jax to fix me—that was my own job.

That said, I did want to be inspired by his growth to see that I, too, could grow, could heal, could come out of my current situation and find happiness on the other side.

“You make me want to get better,” I whispered as his strong arms held me close.

He planted a kiss on my forehead. “You’re making me better,” he replied.

We decided to eat dinner and drink all the wine before getting to work in the library. There were so many books to try to pull in order to unlock the secret passage to a hidden room, and there was a good chance we’d be there all night long.

I didn’t mind that one bit. Being locked in the library with Jax Kilter—I could’ve thought of worse ways to spend a night.

We invented a game where we’d go to different parts of the library and pull random books to read passages from.

Anyone else in the world might’ve thought we were nerds for this, but honestly, it was the most fun I’d had in a long time.

Having a big, strong—and slightly tipsy—man read excerpts from The Odyssey was much more of a turn-on than one would think.

The way words rolled off Jax’s tongue sent chills down my spine. I could have listened to him read to me for the rest of my life, and still it wouldn’t have been enough of his words.

“Pull a book and flip to page ninety-four. Read the fourth paragraph,” he ordered for our sixteenth round of the game.

I pulled out a novel entitled Midnight Mansion by Graham Russell, the great horror author, and began to read.

“‘His hands were soaked in gasoline, and his breath was coated with an aged whiskey that no longer burned on the way down. He’d been drinking for days, yet still, it only felt like hours. The loneliness of the passing weeks ticked by as he rustled through the old photographs of the woman he loved who was now a named killer. He wondered to himself how he could’ve loved someone so dark, but realization settled in that the darkest people were the most fun to be infatuated with.

He craved disappointment, and Leslie always gave it to him. ’”

Gosh.

I missed writing. Whenever I read strong words, I wanted to fall back into them.

“My turn,” Jax said from across the way.

“Okay, pull a book, page one hundred and four, paragraph five.”

He cleared his throat and began reading.

“‘Iris, don’t let go,’ Harry begged, pulling on her tattered T-shirt.

‘If you go now, I’ll be here alone. I don’t know how to get back to town.

I don’t know when or where I’m supposed to go.

I don’t know how to breathe unless you are guiding me.

This place is filled with war, and you are my peace. So, please, don’t let me go.’”

My heart leaped into my throat, and I turned to my left to see Jax standing there with a book in his hand, and not just any book. My book.

“Where did you get that?” I asked.

“It was on the shelves.”

I shook my head. “I doubt it was on the shelves.”

“I might’ve put it there,” he replied. He walked over to me and took my hand in his. “You’re an amazing author, Kennedy.”

I snickered. “You can’t know that from one paragraph.”

“I know,” he agreed. “That’s why I read them all.”

“You…” I breathed out slowly. “You’ve read my book?”

“I did. It’s powerful and moving, like you. You are powerful and moving.”

“Jax…” Before I could finish my thought, Jax moved to the wall a few shelves away from me, pulled out a certain novel, and lo and behold, the hidden room opened.

It was filled with more shelves of books, a beautiful lounge couch, and an oversized chair and ottoman.

I could’ve spent the rest of my life in that room and been okay.

I laughed. “You knew where it was this whole time?”

“Guilty as charged.”

I wanted to smack his arm, but more than that, I wanted to kiss him.

I wanted to pull him into the beautifully hidden nook, fall onto his body, and kiss him hard and long.

As I stared into the room, I began to turn to speak to Jax, and he was right there.

He was in front of me, staring down at me as if I were something he wanted to ravish before the end of the night.

“If it’s okay with you, I think I’m done reading for tonight,” I whispered as I trailed a finger down his chest.

“Do you want to leave?” he asked as his stare lingered on my lips. When he looked back up at me, his eyes were dilated, and the want I was feeling was completely seen within him.

“No,” I said on an exhalation.

He moved in closer and rested his forehead on mine. “You want to go into the nook with me, Sun?”

“Yes.”

“You want to kiss me inside the nook, Sun?”

“Yes.” Yes, yes, yes…

“You want to take off our clothes inside there, Sun?” he said softly against my lips before sucking on the bottom one.

“Please, Jax,” I begged, moaning into his mouth as desire began to fill me up inside.

He lifted me up and carried me into the room.

He pinned me against a bookshelf and kissed me as if he’d been waiting all night for his lips to be pressed to mine.

My legs were wrapped around his waist as I felt his want pressed against me.

His mouth roamed down my neck, and I moaned as I placed my hands on the shelves beside me to balance myself.

Jax’s groans against my skin sent a pool of heat to my core as I began grinding my hips against his jeans.

Eventually he placed me on the floor and began to undress down to his boxers. I began to do the same, tossing off my clothes. As he approached me, his eyes were fixated on my red panties, and he dragged his teeth along his bottom lip. “Fucking beautiful,” he mumbled.

He hooked his fingers in the edge of the lace and pulled them down before leading me toward the oversized chair. “Sit,” he commanded, and geez, I liked that. I liked his commands.

I sat, and he lowered himself to the ground in front of me. He kneeled before me and looked up at me as if I were a queen and he was there to bow. He spread my legs, and the desire I had for him that night shot through the roof. I wanted him to taste me, lick me, tease me, and he did exactly that.

As he moved in closer to my core, he began kissing and licking and fucking my inner thighs with his mouth. The anticipation was killing me as I placed my hands on the armrests and dug my nails into the fabric.

When Jax made his way to my core, his wet tongue lashed me, lapping me up and down as I moaned in pleasure.

“You taste so good, Kennedy…you taste like everything I’ve ever fucking wanted,” he swore.

He placed his hands beneath my ass cheeks and lifted my hips so he could drive his tongue into me deeper.

He wasn’t only fucking me to the point of orgasm; he was making love to my needs, too.

He was focused and dedicated to the needs that I had.

Jax lifted one of my legs on top of his shoulder and went to work. His tongue sucked on my clit before he slid two fingers deep inside me. As his tongue moved, his fingers danced, bringing me closer and closer to climax.

“Yes, please,” I begged, “Keep…going…Jax, I’m going to…” I hadn’t known, hadn’t known it could feel so good. I hadn’t known a man could ravish a woman as if she were his queen and his sole purpose was to please her in every way possible.

I couldn’t stop the shaking that overtook my whole body. As he fingered me and made love to me with his tongue, I was unable to stop the fierce orgasm that flooded my entire system.

“I love that, Sun.” He groaned in pleasure, still licking up my excitement. “I love how you taste on my tongue.”

I couldn’t even form full sentences anymore. I couldn’t find the words to connect in my mind to tell him what I wanted next, what I needed next. So, I stuttered out the only three words I could muster up.

“Fuck me, Jax,” I said breathlessly, and his eyes locked with mine.

“Yeah?”

“Please,” I begged, needing to know what it felt like to have him inside me.

He reached for his wallet in his jeans and pulled out a condom.

As he stood, he slid off his boxers, his hardness was revealed, and I was pretty certain I gasped at the size. As he slid the condom down his shaft, and I watched, I almost came all over again from the sinful sight of him stroking himself.

He held a hand out to me, lifted me from the chair, and moved me over to the couch.

As he positioned himself over me, he paused as his hardness lightly rubbed my core. “I want this forever,” he confessed, his voice low and somewhat shaky. His dilated eyes locked with mine as he began sliding into me. His lips parted as he lowered his mouth to mine. “I want you forever.”

“Yours,” I promised, wanting to cry out in pleasure from the feeling of him giving me every piece of him. “I’m yours.”

He began making love to me right there in the hidden room of the library.

He rocked into me with no regrets. He fucked me with purpose.

I felt all of him, too. I felt his light and his darkness, his happy and his sad, his forever and his always as he slid in and out of me with a rhythm that matched my heartbeats.

Jax made love to me amidst thousands of novels, and I knew none of their stories were ever going to top the one we were creating within ourselves.

There was something so powerful about making love to your best friend.

And when we finished making love?

We did it again.