Intrigued By Love (Written in the Stars Book 5) Read online

  “Jax, are you sure this is worth it? I’m not going back to the States, especially not now. And if I ever do, it’ll be Hawaii.”

  “Don’t you think you’re worth it for me to try?”

  She closed her eyes and then opened them, indecision, worry, and hope all warring in her irises.

  “I’ll give you three weeks, as you proposed in the beginning and then we’ll discuss it after the wedding. I’m not ready to make any long-term plans.”

  I wasn’t going to get any more out of her, so I nodded. “Fair enough.”

  She licked her lips and glanced at mine.

  There goes my cock again.

  “Kiss me. We have to seal the deal.”

  Setting a hand on her waist and one behind her neck, I drew her to me. Her fingers slid into my hair. Our mouths met. Initially it was soft, feathered kisses, then we let it go more in-depth.

  Just as I was about to cup Kai’s breast, a deep throat cleared behind us.

  We jumped apart, both breathing hard, and stared at Isaiah Alexander. Instead of the scowl I’d expected at him walking in on me making out with his daughter, he smiled.

  “It’s about time you two fixed the mess you created.”

  I had no response to the statement.

  “Stop staring at me as if you’re both fish with your mouths open. Your mom wants some of the ‘special punch’ she likes so much.” He air quoted. “Before we left, the chef said he stocked the fridge with it and everything for snacks and lunch. Grab the pitcher and let’s go up. What’s the point of having such beautiful weather if you’re going to hide in here?”

  Kai moved toward her father and opened the refrigerator behind him. Handing him the container, she began to gather cheese and fruit. “Subtle, Papa, very subtle.”

  “What?” He feigned innocence. “Oh, good idea, I’m sure Cora could use a bite to eat. That baby’s not letting her rest.” Isaiah turned his attention to me. “Son, you going to help us or do you need a few more minutes to take care of that situation?”

  “Papa,” Kai exclaimed. “Seriously, you’re a menace. Mama always said Kiana gets it from you.”

  “You may want to see him in that particular state, but no one else does, especially not a girl’s parents.”

  With years of handling Isaiah, this whole situation was more comical than mortifying. He’d walked in on all of his daughters at one point or another. At least we’d never been caught doing anything more than kissing. I couldn’t say that was true of either of the other two sisters.

  “I hear you,” I said, adjusting my shirt to cover my erection.

  “Papa, I’m going to tell Mama what you did.”

  “What? She’d agree with me.”

  “Keep thinking that. Mama is as nosy as Lina and Kiana are.”

  I ignored the continued banter between father and daughter and opened the pantry cabinets, pulling out a tray before loading it with the snacks Kai had set on the counter.

  A few minutes later, we took the steps up to the main deck. There was truly nothing like the views around the islands of French Polynesia. The deep blue waters with their array of wildlife gave an almost ethereal feel to the area. As did the untamed scent in the air that soothed the spirit, a mix of the volcanic soil and the bright foliage that covered the islands.

  I truly never appreciated the stories of what Kai had grown up with until I’d moved to the area.

  “Where should I put this?” I asked.

  The Alexanders lounged on the deck as if the opulence of the yacht was no big deal. Kai’s family had this way of enjoying any place they visited, no matter if they were having dinner in a tiny shack or spending the day on a hundred-million-dollar yacht, like today.

  They weren’t a family opposed to money, but it didn’t define them. They believed only things one earned were worth having.

  A complete opposite mindset to the one I’d grown up in.

  Thad caught my gaze as he cradled Lina’s head on his lap and gave me a knowing smile.

  “Here should be fine.” Kai pointed to a central table within reach of most everyone.

  After setting the tray down, I took a seat near one side of the ship, across from Lina and Thad. Thad gestured with his chin in Kai’s direction, then raised his brows in surprise when she came to sit next to me, lifting my arm around her and tucking herself against me.

  I hadn’t expected this, but I wasn’t an idiot and would count this as a small victory in convincing her we had a future.

  Chapter Ten

  Kailani

  “Jax. Are you ready? We’re going to be late,” I said as I entered my bungalow, glancing at my watch. “You need to be at the fitting in thirty minutes.”

  I’d spent the morning getting most of the wedding guests settled with a quick break for lunch at a hole-in-the-wall place I loved after picking up my sister-in-law, Ani, from the airport. Now it was my duty to make sure all the groomsmen had their last fittings for their suits. Once that final task was complete, everyone could have a free night to do as they pleased before the wedding festivities commenced.

  “Where the hell is he?” I muttered to myself and took the stairs leading to the bedroom. Jax had all but moved into my place since that day two weeks ago on the yacht.

  We’d fallen back into the natural ease of living together, something that should have scared me. But it was an unexpected comfort, something I needed in my life, something I’d never had with anyone else but Jax.

  As I made my way onto the landing, I noticed him leaning against the railing on the far end of the balcony. A grimness was etched on his face that could only have been put there by the arrival of Christopher and Jennine Burton.

  Thad had volunteered to meet them and show them to their bungalow, and I’d jumped at the chance to avoid them, but I knew Jax had probably accompanied Thad. I could only imagine how it went. Most likely an hour filled with complaints and demands.

  “Hey.” I moved in his direction. “Is everything okay?”

  He turned to face me and then set his hands on my waist. “What’s your safeword?”

  Goose bumps prickled my skin, and a low throb started in my core.

  “You have a fitting. We don’t have time.”

  “Already handled. Now I asked you a question.”

  I stared into his stormy gray eyes, seeing the need there, reminding me so much of the times back in Vegas when he’d come home from his trips to Los Angeles. He’d tell me that my touch was the only thing to settle him when everything else went to hell.

  “Little Bird.” I licked my lips, holding his gaze.

  “You will use it if it goes beyond what you can handle. I need to trust you, just as you have to trust me.”

  I understood why he was saying this to me. Long ago, when we’d first become a committed couple, I’d refused to say my safeword and wanted to go further, but he’d known I’d reached my limit and stopped. It had been one of our first major arguments. After that day, I never allowed myself to push beyond my limit, and I honestly communicated how I was feeling during a scene.

  “Yes, Jax. I promise to use it if it becomes too much.”

  As if accepting my words, he nodded and then released my waist and stepped back to lean against a pillar. “Strip.”

  “Here? Where any of my nosy family could see us if they came by?”

  “No one will come. Everyone is too busy with plans for their free night.”

  “Oh.” I’d forgotten.

  His lips curved, softening the hard edge on his face from moments earlier when I’d found him. “Strip. I want to see that gorgeous body.”

  My fingers went to the buttons of my shirt, unfastening each one slowly—the exact way he liked for me to undress.

  Heat grew in his eyes, making my pussy grow slick with desire.

  “Keep going.”

  I shrugged out of my shirt, letting it fall to the floor. I opened my slacks, pushing the material down to pool at my feet.

  Just as I was
about to unclasp my bra, Jax said, “Fucking perfect.”

  The huskiness of his voice added to the arousal coursing in me. His hot gaze felt almost like a caress.

  “Keep going, Little Bird. I have plans, and they require complete access to every part of you.”

  My heartbeat jumped. I knew that meant a mix of pleasure-filled pain and orgasms that might have me walking unsteadily tomorrow.

  In the next minute, I stood before him naked, my underwear piled on top of my other clothes.

  “Come here.”

  I moved in his direction, stopping when I was a foot from him.

  He studied me, not touching me, but taking in every inch of my exposed skin.

  “I’ve kept it pretty tame up until now. I want to take you to the edge we last visited in Vegas. Tell me now if it’s something you don’t want to do. Once we start, I won’t stop unless I hear your safeword.”

  I’d wondered if we’d ever go past the bondage and mild pain. I knew he’d been holding back. Why he was doing that, I wasn’t sure. But I was happy he’d worked through whatever it was that kept him from taking us to that place we both craved.

  I set my hands on his chest, standing up on tiptoes. His palm cupped my ass, drawing me against him.

  I tilted my head up to look in his eyes. “I want it. I won’t change my mind.”

  “That doesn’t mean you won’t safeword if you need it.” He threaded his fingers into my hair. “Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, Jax. I will safeword if I can’t take it.”

  “Good.” He lowered his lips to mine, taking them in a soft, gentle kiss.

  When he pulled back, his whole demeanor changed. He wasn’t my Jax anymore, but my Dom. We’d never called anything we did by formal names, but it was a given what we were. Only during the times we’d visited formal clubs had we ever identified ourselves as submissive and Dominant.

  “Ready?”

  “Yes.” My body was on full alert and ready for anything he planned.

  “Close your eyes.”

  I followed his direction, and a few seconds later, a soft material settled over them before Jax tied it securely behind my head. All my senses fired with the loss of my eyesight. The birds and the ocean sounded louder, the scent of flowers and earth were more potent, and the feel of the breeze along my skin was like an intimate caress.

  Then he took my hands, placing a small object in each one. “Do you know what these are?”

  Immediately, the hairs on the back of my neck pricked as I realized what I held. I could see in my mind’s eye the colorful nipple clamps made of platinum and adorned with rubies and sapphires. There was no doubt in my mind that they were the same ones we’d used countless times in Vegas.

  I’d left them behind, along with every gift he’d given me, knowing seeing them would be too painful and remind me of all that I’d lost.

  “Nipple clamps.” My voice was hoarse. “Why would you bring these here, when there was no guarantee we’d get back together?”

  Shit, why’d I say that? We weren’t permanently together. This was temporary.

  “They are always with me wherever I go, as are other pieces I gifted you, as well as some I never got a chance to give you.”

  Hurt laced his words and made me regret asking the question. Right now wasn’t the time for this discussion.

  “Jax—”

  He cut me off. “Lift your arms, but don’t drop the clamps.”

  I desperately wanted to bring us back to where we were only a few moments ago.

  He stepped closer, brushed his lips over my forehead, and took each of my hands, raising them above my head. Slowly, he wound a soft fabric around each of my wrists and then attached my bound hands to something above me. I could move, but there was only a limited amount of give.

  How had I not noticed this setup on my balcony? Probably because I was too focused on the man who turned my insides into mush.

  “Damn, I’ve dreamt about you like this for over two years.” He cupped my breast and ran his thumb over the tight bud of my nipple. “Remember, you have to let me know if things become too much.”

  “I won’t make the same mistake I made in the past.”

  As soon as the words were past my lips, I thought of other mistakes I’d made, leaving as I had being one of them.

  Jax tapped a finger to my knuckles, snapping me out of my thoughts. Instinctively, I opened my hands, letting him pluck the clamps from my palms.

  He moved behind, fisting my hair and pulling my head back. “I want to hear every moan, every sigh, every cry. No holding back. Is that clear?”

  I swallowed. “Yes, Jax.”

  “Good.” His mouth brushed the skin along the column of my neck, and then he bit, not hard enough to break the skin but with the right amount of force to cause my pussy to flood with need and desire.

  “More,” I gasped. There truly was nothing like that tinge of pain to heighten my need.

  He kissed the spot where he’d bitten. “In due time. At this moment, I want to decorate those beautiful breasts of yours.”

  He circled back around until he was in front of me. His intoxicating scent filled my nose. Jax gripped my waist, drawing me toward him and enclosing his lips around one straining bud. He sucked and teased until I thought I’d go out of my mind from the delicious torture. Before I knew what was happening, he replaced his mouth with his fingers, pinching my aching nipple and then attaching the jaws of the jeweled clamp.

  “Fuck.” I closed my eyes as a tear slid down my cheek from the pressure.

  He tightened the clamp, skating the edge of my threshold point.

  I panted out shallow breaths, feeling my head go light.

  “Breathe slowly, baby. Let the endorphins work their magic.”

  Gradually the pain morphed into a dull ache, and I wanted more of the erotic sensation.

  “Ready for the next one?”

  “Yes, please, Jax.” I let my head drop backward and allowed the pleasure-filled pain to engulf me.

  Jax repeated the process on the other nipple.

  “Oh God, it’s been so long,” I moaned. “I needed this so much.”

  “So have I. Your body was meant to be decorated with jewels. Fucking beautiful.”

  A warm breeze slid along my sensitized nipples, and I couldn’t help but whimper.

  “Want more?”

  “Yes.” I’d take anything else he had planned if it meant I’d stay in this blissful state.

  A chair scraped along the floor of the balcony, stopping when it brushed my knees. Jax sat, grabbing the backs of my knees and spreading them to straddle his thighs. The fact he’d tied me with the right amount of rope where I wouldn’t strain if he pulled me onto his lap, told me he’d planned this longer than I’d initially thought. He’d taken into account my height with his and that of the chair as he sat in it.

  “How long have you been planning this scene?”

  He glided his fingers along the sides of my body, moving from my thighs up to my waist until he reached my upper arms.

  “That’s need-to-know information. And you don’t need to know.”

  I’d have laughed if I wasn’t aroused more than I’d been in years.

  His thumb grazed my engorged clit, making me jump. “Ready for me to clamp two last places before I fuck you senseless?”

  His words had my desire and trepidation coursing in my gut. “Oh God, you brought those too.”

  A wicked chuckle erupted from his lips, just as he pressed them to the valley between my breasts, rubbing his day-old stubble against my skin. “The clamps were made as a set. It would only make sense to use them all.”

  “Are you sure? It’s been a long time since I’ve gone that far.”

  “I wouldn’t take you to that edge unless I knew you could handle it.” He lifted his head and blew on one aching nipple, making me hiss. “But if you’d rather not, you can always say two specific words. We will stop, and I’ll make love to you as we have o
ver the last few weeks. Both ways end in orgasms for you.”

  As much as he was the one calling the shots, this was about me, my pleasure, my needs. No wonder I’d never gotten over him. It was beyond sex, but I couldn’t focus on that right now, or I’d have to think of how I was going to manage after it ended.

  Inhaling deep, I said, “I want it. Show me the delicious edge I’ve craved for so long.”

  “You’re soaked.” He traced the seam of my labia back and forth. “I can’t wait to taste. But first, I have to adorn this sexy cunt.”

  He pushed a finger into my pussy, pumping in and out, rubbing the bundle of nerves deep inside, bringing me to the point of release before pulling out.

  “Jax.” My bound arms jolted.

  He spread my lower lips apart, clamping first one side and then the other.

  “Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.” My mind and body whirled with pain-filled pleasure.

  I screamed the second Jax’s tongue swiped over my exposed clit, an overload of sensation coursing through every inch of me. I jerked and thrashed.

  It was too much. It wasn’t enough. I was losing my mind.

  Jax feasted on my pussy as it responded to every stroke, thrust, and lick. My core contracted, first in small ripples and then hard waves until my orgasm washed over me.

  I continued to ride out my release, barely registering when Jax released my bound arms and carried me inside to my bed.

  After laying me on the comforter, he tugged off my blindfold. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light, but once my vision cleared, I focused on Jax kneeling between my legs, naked and glorious.

  His cock stood straight out and dripped with precum. He leaned down, gently taking hold of the clamps on my labia, and released them. I arched up, feeling a wave of dizziness as sensation returned to the engorged tissue. Jax kissed the spots where the clamps had been and then moved up my torso until he reached my nipples.

  He looked up at me. “Ready?”

  I inhaled deep. People believed genital clamps caused more sensation than nipple clamps, but for me, it was the reverse. As much as I loved the wicked agony, a few times I’d nearly passed out from the onslaught of feeling.

  “Yes.” I cupped his face, asking without words for him to kiss me.