Page 95 of The Fallen Man

“No,” she moaned. “Keep going. I want you.”

He wanted it to, but he could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times he’d failed to glove up. Her hands pulled on his sides, urging him on. He knew she was on birth control. This should be fine. It was just that he had never lost control like this before. Jackson groaned as her legs locked around him. He thrust harder and deeper as she moaned his name again.

“Sérce moje,”he groaned as her body pushed him to a new high.

“God, yes, Jackson. Yes, I want you. I need you.”

Her desire for him pushed him forward. She came, gasping his name, and he came inside her with a final jerk of ecstasy. He lay between her thighs, feeling exhausted and content but not quite satisfied—he had wanted her to say she loved him. He began to pull away from her, and she groaned, holding him tight to her. That made him smile.

“Sérdenko,you’re going to have to let me go at some point.”

“No.”

He laughed and kissed her until she reluctantly released him. He rolled away from her and flopped onto his back. With a groan, she got up and went to the bathroom. When she returned, he held the covers up for her and she climbed in. He settled her in next to him, with her head on his chest.

“There,” he said, hugging her tight. “This is where you belong.”

“Yes,” she said with a sigh. “Right here.”

16

Caitlin

Caitlin’s Apartment

His phone rang, waking both of them up.

“Shcho?”he demanded, grabbing the phone, sounding angry.

The man on the other end of the phone responded in Ukrainian and Jackson grunted in response. Caitlin turned into him, trying to shut out the daylight and the fact that he was going to leave.

“Dobre.”

The man spoke again, still in Ukrainian.

“I’m not grumpy in Ukrainian. I’m grumpy when you wake me up.” The man on the other end of the phone laughed and said something else. “Yeah,” said Jackson, his voice relaxing, “I’ll meet you at the house in an hour.”

He hung up the phone and collapsed back into the bed, pulling the comforter up around them. Katie didn’t object and snuggled against him, tucking her head under his chin and hiding from the light.

“I have to go,” he said. Caitlin could hear his voice and feel it in his chest.

“Yes, I heard.”

“Are you working tonight?”

“Yes, it’s a dinner event.”

Did he want to come over? He usually didn’t ask. He usually waited for her to suggest.

“Let’s go out to dinner after,” he said. “I’m tired of take-out. I want something nice where we can sit down.”

Caitlin wasn’t sure how to respond. He’d never taken her to a sit-down restaurant before.

“I won’t be done until nine,” she said.

“That’s fine. I’ll pick you up.”

Caitlin blinked into his chest and didn’t dare look up at him. “Um, OK.”