Marriage.

Jackson’s heart felt like it was going to burst.

He’d thought he’d lost her. That he’d pushed her away. And now here she was, back and determined to be his wife.

What the hell had he ever done to deserve her? He didn’t know, but he was damn sure he wasn’t going to deny her. He’d been brooding about how to get her back for too long now, ever since he talked to Damien. Ever since he realized that pushing her away was only a Band-Aid.

Now he knew that the only way to make things right between him and Sylvia was to be together. Because being apart wrecked them both.

“Jackson?” Her voice was soft, her expression tentative.

He turned to her, knowing that his smile said it all. “Damn right you’re going to be my wife.”

He watched as she closed her eyes, her face going soft with relief, and he wanted to kick himself all over again for the way he’d hurt her.

“I’m sorry,” he said, though those words could hardly convey all of his emotions.

“I get it. I do.” She lifted a shoulder. “You’re scared.”

“I’m fucking petrified,” he admitted. “Of leaving you. Of prison. Of the way everything is about to shift.”

“Me, too.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “But we’re in it together now, right?”

Instead of answering, he slid off his stool, then held out a hand to help her down. “I need you, Syl. I need you right now.” He could feel the need growing in him. A hole that had to be filled. A demand that had to be satisfied.

“I need to burn the feel of you into me. I want the heat of you to singe me. To mark me. Because even in prison, I don’t ever want to be without you. And Syl,” he adds roughly, “I need to have all of you. My wife? You’re so much more than that. You’re my life, Syl. You’re my blood. You’re the only person who can break me, and the only one who can save me. And right now, I need you more than I need to breathe.”

His mouth is on mine the moment the door to his room closes behind us, and the kiss is wild and passion-filled, as if we are both making up for lost time and marking our future.

“Off,” he says, plucking at my shirt, and we are both naked in a heartbeat, stripping off our clothes so fast it’s a wonder that we don’t topple over in our hurry.

I move to press against him, wanting the feel of his skin against mine, but he surprises me by lifting me up, then carrying me to the bed. The maid’s been in, and it’s neatly made, and we tumble onto it together.

Jackson rolls onto his back and looks up at me. “Kiss me,” he demands, and I don’t hesitate. I straddle him, positioning myself so that the tip of his cock is at my core. And as I lean forward to crush my mouth hard against his, I lower myself. I’m already wet, my body fired with arousal, and I take him hard and deep.

He moans against my mouth, his fingers dipping low to tease my cunt before he withdraws and slides his hand around, then slips his fingertip in my ass, making me gasp, because the sensation of being filled like this is both incredible and undeniably erotic.

“Yes,” I whisper. “God, yes.” I meet his eyes. “You can have me like that.”

“I’ll have you however I want you,” he says, and the potent heat combined with these words of possession—of power—make my mouth go dry and my cunt throb all over again. “But I need you to go get my wallet.”

I raise a brow, but don’t argue. Instead, I get off him carefully, then return with the wallet I fished from his back pocket. As I kneel on the bed, he removes a small packet that looks like a condom.

I raise my brows, because we are way past that, but he just grins. “Lube,” he says. “I thought it might come in handy.”

I swallow and nod, wanting this, and yet uncertain. We’ve never done this before, and though the sensation of his finger inside me was undeniable enticing, I can’t help but be just a little nervous. But Jackson erases my worries, or at least buries them. Because he’s pulling me close to take my breast in his mouth. He’s teasing me, his teeth scraping my nipple, then biting. There is pain, but the kind that spreads out into heated threads of pleasure, and I straddle him again, then arch back and moan. And as I do, I feel the cool brush of the lube against my rear, teasing my entrance where his finger was just moments before as he readies me for an even deeper invasion.

With his other hand, he teases my clit, so that I am being sensually assaulted in all directions, my body opening to him, craving him.

“That’s it, baby. Relax. Let me take you there. Let me show you how good you can feel.”

“Yes,” I say, because tonight I will give him whatever he wants, however he wants it. And, yes, I want it, too. My breath is coming in gasps and my cunt is throbbing. I need so desperately to be fucked, and as if he is bending to my will, he slips fingers into both my vagina and my ass. I rise up, then lower myself back down, wanting even more than he is giving me.

I keep my eyes on Jackson and I see the answering heat in his eyes—the pleasure my response gives him. I feel it, too, in the way his cock twitches against my thigh, as if waiting not-so-patiently for its turn.

“Now,” I beg. “Please, Jackson, now.”

Even as I speak, I’m moving to get off him so that I can bend over facedown on the bed, but he holds me still. “No,” he says. “Like this. I want to look at you.”

“But—but I mean, I’ve never—”

“I want to look at you,” he repeats. “And,” he adds as he brushes a kiss over my lips, “you have more control.” He grins a bit, as if telling me that he’s giving something up. But that’s not true. I am completely under his spell, fallen to mercy, and he knows it.

“I want you now. Like this.” There is heat and demand in his voice, and the sound just makes me wetter. “Come here.”

I lean forward and let him capture me in a kiss, then moan when his tongue thrusts hard into my mouth even as his lubed fingers tease my rear, entering me, spreading me.

I hear Jackson’s soft chuckle of understanding, and feel him add another finger, widening me, playing me.

“Now, baby. Because I really will just turn you over and take you if I can’t have you right now.”

I rise up and let him guide me over his cock, and he’s right, I do have more control. I feel the press of his shaft against my rear, and I pivot my hips, rising and falling as he teases my clit, relaxing me, making me bolder. Making me needier.

Jackson closes his eyes and groans, the sound one of both pleasure and frustration, and that turns me on even more. I thrust down, taking the tip in, biting my lower lip against a burn that feels remarkably, wonderfully good. And when my throaty sound of pleasure merges with his whisper of my name, I know that I can’t take it any longer, and I thrust down hard, swallowing the pain and welcoming the incredible, awesome pleasure of being filled by this man.

The burn fades, and I rise up, then lower myself, letting the sensations grow. Letting the pleasure fill me as my body adjusts to accommodate him.

“That’s it,” he says as he slips two fingers into my vagina, but keeps the pressure of his thumb against my clit. “Come on, baby. Fuck me hard.”

“This isn’t how I expected we’d do this,” I admit, and when he laughs in response, I feel even closer to him.

“But you like it.”

“Yes,” I say earnestly. “I do.”

As we speak, I’m doing what he’d said and riding him, and I’m already so close that the pressure against my clit combined with the new, incredibly erotic sensation of being penetrated both ways sends me over the top far too quickly.

It doesn’t matter, though, because Jackson is not ready to stop, and he takes control of my body. He grabs my hips and pistons me, thrusting deep inside, and I’m tight around him, my body clenching hard, wanting him deeper, wanting more.

And though he is no longer teasing my clit, the building pressure is enough that it leaves that first orgasm behind as a wilder, more powerful release rips through me even as Jackson explodes inside me.