Page 249 of Under Her Skin

Jess grinned. ‘Hell, yes. I do… get on your stomach, boy, I’m in chargenow.’

‘Fair’s fair,’ Theo said and kissed her before laying down flat on his belly, his trust in her absolute, no doubt in his mind. How many times had she trusted him to go there? It wasn’t something he’d experienced with anyone else but then again, there were a lot of things he’d experienced with Jess that he never had before. He grinned and told her what he wasthinking.

Jess laughed. ‘You bet your sweet ass. In fact, you are betting your sweet ass.’ Theo chuckled then sucked in a breath as she reached down between his legs and massaged his balls gently, pressing the tip of her middle finger deep against his perineum. ‘Damn, Jessie…. before we go any further, can I persuade you to slip into that little leatherharness?’

He felt her kiss his ear. ‘You got it.’ It took her less than thirty seconds and then he felt her weight on the back of his thighs again, her hand on his cock. She kissed the back of his neck then ran her tongue down the length of his spine to the top of his ass. He felt a warm liquid against his skin – oil, he guessed, because she moved her hands up and down his back, working his muscles. She was trying to relax him, he knew, and he leaned his head on his arms and closed his eyes, letting himself feel every sensation. Her hands worked up and down until, at last, one hand slipped into his crack, working massage oil into the deep crevice and caressing his cock and balls which pulsed and quivered under her touch. When, at last, he felt the tip of the dildo push into his anus, he was so relaxed that as she slid into him so slowly, so gently, all he felt was immense pleasure as the dildo massaged him and he felt Jess rocking gently above him, softly moaning, obviously enjoying it as much as hewas.

He came with a slowly, shuddering groan, his cock, tight against the floor and his belly, pumping hard. Jess withdrew and, removing the strap-on, lay down, her belly against his back, her lips against the back of his neck. She linked her fingers with his and they lay together, closer than they’d ever feltbefore.

‘Jessie,’ he mumbled eventually,’ Jessie…. you are my world, you know that.’ He shifted onto his back and wound his arms around her, kissing her tenderly. She smiled down athim.

‘And you are mine, Theodore Storm. Forever.’ She stroked his face. ‘Theo?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Whatever it is that’s been bothering you lately… whatever it is… you know you can tell me,right?’

He gazed back at her. She knew him so well, he was stupid to thinks he wouldn’t know something was up. Could he tell her about Malcolm? He looked into those lovely deep, warm eyes and couldn’t bring himself to say thewords.

‘Jess… it’s just been… overwhelming and I think I’m rocking back a little from it all. I love you so much, god, so much and I’m not saying I’d change a single thing about us...I wouldn’t. But you, of all people know, it leaves scars.’ He touched the scars on her belly but she grabbed his hand and kissedit.

‘We’ll get through this, you know. Me and you together, we can beatanything.’

‘Never leaveme.’

‘Never. Hell, if and when I die – don’t make that face – it’ll be old age or illness and not some asshole who likes to slice and dice. Theo, I promise you, I’ll fight to the end. And if you’re really lucky, if I go first…I’ll come back and ghost fuck you.’ She crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him and Theo started tolaugh.

‘You are a nutball, you knowthat?’

‘Yournutball.’

Theo smiled and pressed his lips to hers. ‘Damnright.’

He'd comeacross her in a shop Downtown She was arguing with the insolent-looking cashier. He'd helped her out. Followed her home. Arranged to bump into her. She'd been grateful, invited him in for a drink, looking at him with interest. So easy. An hour later, she had been slumped in her chair, looking at him again, this time in confusion as he removed her shirt. He knew she thought he was going to rape her, and looked down at her in disgust. Whore. He told her then, exactly what he was going to do to her, that she wasn't worthy. He wouldn't sully himself on her. She tried to move, tried to scream as he raised the knife. And then, there was only pain,resignation.

He threwa long swig of beer down his throat and looked around the room. It was a curious mix of the minimal and cluttered. One side of the huge room was stuffed with sofas, cushions, tables, books shoved in a jumble onto the shelves, the coffee table literature looked like it was actually read, rather than just for show. The space near the huge windows and the kitchen area, however, were sparse, clean lines. He nodded. It was a good place. She had taste.Pity.

The release Jules Gachet craved came later and later now. Glancing down, he took in skin, torn flesh. He realized he could not remember her name. He crouched down and listened carefully. No breath. No longer a presence, just a torn and twisted tangle of bloodied limbs. A pretty woman, he stared at her face, now peaceful, no longer etched with the terror he had inflicted on her. He could summon up no feeling for her, pity or otherwise. As he’d killed her, she had worn Jess’s face, her screams were Jess’s screams, her blood, Jess’s blood. He relived the night he’d stabbed Jess, that wonderful, terrible night when he hadn’t been able to complete his mission. The night that somehow, incredibly, Jessica hadsurvived.

He stood, lit a cigarette, slumped into an old squashy armchair beside the girl’s body. He imagined that in a few hours, homicide cops and crimes scenes officers, dressed head to toe in plastic moved around the room like ghosts, hoping to retrieve anything, any clue. Everything was sharper in his mind, sounds, sights, smells. The faint scent of honeysuckle pervading the air, the feel of the worn fabric of the chair through his light clothing. The girl's arm, flung above her head, the wrist curved around the chair leg, the fingers splayed, pointing accusing. He felt no guilt and yet still no release and he knew it wastime

Olive skin, darkeyes.

As outside a shower streaked its way across the city, he thought only of her, his unending wait and how he would teach her, no, no teach them about loss. The longing grew stronger and stronger within him until his mouth opened, stretched wider and wider, and the rage flew from him, wrenching, twisting into a silenthowl.

He almost staggered to the nearest bar, ordered a double on the rocks. His stomach was churning his excitement. He watched the people go back and forth past the windows of the bar and pitiedthem.

Every one of you, he wanted to scream out, every one of you will know myname.

‘Darlings!’Amelia flew out of the house and gathered them into her arms. Theo grinned at Jess over his mother’s shoulder. After traveling for nearly twenty-four hours, all either of them had talked about was getting home, going straight to bed – to sleep. Theo’s mother clearly had otherideas.

‘Let’s look at you.’ Amelia pushed them both away and looked over the critically. ‘I expected you to have better tans…too busy screwing,eh?’

Jess snorted out a laugh as Theo cringed. ‘Mom…god.’ He glared in amusement at a giggling Jess. ‘Don’t encourageher.’

Jess shrugged as Amelia tucked a conspiratorial hand under her arm. ‘She’s right,though.’

Theo rolled his eyes as the two women cracked up and, leaving them to it, grabbed the suitcases and took them inside. Amelia and Jess followed him and greeted the two exciteddogs.