Chapter 28 (NC-17)

Keesha shut off the ignition. After gathering her notes and books-so many books she thought with a sigh-she opened the car door, taking the oppurtunity the auto light from provided to check her watch. It was almost midnight. Aside from the hour she spent with Felicia, she had spent the entire time at school-working on the presentation she had to give her advisor, Kevin Collins, for her graduate thesis tomorrow. Honestly, the main reason she was here now was because the library closed at 11:00. She walked up the front porch and opened the door. Jax was stretched out, fast asleep on the couch, and behind him on the desk candles were burning...candles which had obviously been doing so for awhile. The shape of them was melted down, leaving a lopsided slope as the wax dripped down into the holder. Keesha came into the house quietly, walking behind the sofa, and bending to blow out one of the candle. She got one done when she heard movement.

"My God..." Jax stirred and Keesha stood straight.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you..."

"What time is it?" He yawned as he sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Um...12...or almost 12."

"When did you get home?" Jax turned and looked at Keesha. "I was trying to wait for you."

He was waiting? She felt like a complete heel. "I didn't know...I'm so sorry, Jax...I got caught up with school, and..."

"You didn't even call?"

"I thought of it," she admitted as she joined him on the sofa. "But then I thought, well, as soon as I finish this...I'll go home. And then I would get caught up all over again, and..."

Jax tried not to look at her. If he did, he realized she would know exactly what he was thinking. And he wasn't quite ready for that yet. He stood, using the tips of his thumb and index finger to snuff the light from the other candle.

Keesha watched him, her guilt growing, as he walked alone over to the corner, using the fire poker to extinguish the embers in the fireplace.

"Jax?"

"Hmm?" He started upstairs. "Jax, wait." He stood at the bottom of the stairs. Keesha got off of the couch and came over to him. "I am really sorry. It was completely insensitive of me not to call, and I promise it won't ever happen again."

"Uh huh."

Keesha froze. There was something about that tone...his voice..."Jax, look at me."

"You know, I should go to bed, don't forget to turn off the hall light..."

She grabbed him and turned him around. Staring into his eyes her guilt immediately turned to annoyance. "You....I don't believe this...you weren't waiting for me, were you?"

"I was in the office when I saw your car pull up into the driveway..." Jax shrugged with a smile, the grin turning into laughter as she pushed him in the middle of his chest, causing him to fall back a few steps.

"You can be such a colossal jerk! I felt really bad...." She started up the stairs.

"Hey wait a minute!" Jax ran up after her, skipping a step here and there. "You should have called, that hasn't changed..." He squeezed his way by and was standing in front of her by the time she reached the top of the stairs. "I very well could have been waiting."

"But you weren't. And you knew I'd feel guilty, so you pretended like you had. That was a rotten thing to do!"

"It got my point across."

"I hate you." she walked past him and started down the hall.

"You don't mean that...Keesha, where are you going?"

"To bed."

"You don't sleep there anymore. You sleep down there." he gesutred to their room. "...with me."

"Not tonight Blondie." She walked into the guest room, closing and locking the door.

"Keesha...Keesha....don't you think you're over-reacting?" he leaned up against the door, trying to contain his laughter.

"Go away Jax."

"If I say I'm sorry, will you open the door?"

"Maybe."

"Okay...goodnight."

Keesha's eyes grew big. "Wait a minute..." She yanked open the door. "Jax?"

Jax peeked out from his bedroom. "I said if I apologized. Not that I would. If you want to stay there and be stubborn, then be my...." He jumped as her door slammed shut. "...guest..." he chuckled and closed his door.

---

Stubborn? He had the nerve to call her stubborn? Keesha climbed into the bed and pulled the covers up. She hated it when people said she was stubborn. Her grandmother, Justus, her parents, her teachers, Jason Quartermaine, AJ, they used to all say she was stubborn. Why was that?

She laid down trying to get comfortable.

She was not stubborn. And she didn't over-react. She had felt horrible, looking at Jax laying on the sofa, his head resting against his hands...believing he had stayed up all night just to wait for her. And he hadn't waited at all.

Jerk.

She shifted, still trying to get comfortable. What was wrong with this bed. She didn't have problems sleeping here before.

Although Jax did get his point across; she needed to call when she would be late. She wasn't alone anymore. She had spent so many years taking care of herself, and not having to answer to anyone, not having to think that someone could be worried about her, that sometimes she didn't remember that she no longer only had herself to care of. And no longer had only herself to depend on. She had Jax now. And she just live her life as if she only had herself.

There was Jax now.

She wouldn't change places with her former self for anything in the world.

"But it was still a rotten thing to do." Keesha sat up and shook her pillow, trying to make it fluffy or something, so she could sleep. However, it was pretty funny....

"Stop it, Keesha," she chastised herself as she laid down once more.

---

Jax closed his eyes with a smile as his door eased open.

Keesha looked at Jax for a second, and then closing the door, she came over. She climbed into the bed next to him, cautiously moving closer to him. She rested her head against his shoulder. After a moment, draping her arm across his body she closed her eyes with a contented sigh.

Jax waited. And then he said simply. "Better?"

Keesha's eyes flew open. She tilted her head, looking up into his smiling face. "Don't look so damn smug." She pulled away and Jax laughed. "You are such..."

"A jerk. I know."

Keesha sat up. "Colossal."

"Colossal." He nodded his agreement, his grin widening. "And you're stubborn."

"I...am...not...stubborn." she stated slowly, to make sure he understood. She turned and faced him. "Well?"

"True."

"Thank you!"

"If you were truly stubborn it would have taken you 2 hours instead of 1 hour and 55 minutes to wind up in here."

She cut her eyes at him. "Look, the only reason I'm here is because that bed..." she pointed at the wall adjacent to her room..."isn't as comfortable as this one. And I have a lot of work tomorrow."

"Uh huh. It has nothing to do with wanting to be near me."

" And..." She ignored his last comment. "Therefore if I was stubborn, I wouldn't have wound up in here at all."

"Sure you would....it was inevitable."

"Really?" she said blankly. "Do tell."

Jax sat up in the bed, facing her. He stared into her eyes as he played with the top button of the three on her black satin pajama night-shirt. "You can't stay away from me...but don't feel bad, I can't stay away from you either." He undid the button.

"I could if I wanted to." Keesha held her ground, looking down as Jax finished opening her top as far as it would go.

"You're right...but I dare you to say that you want to." Jax glanced up at her again.

Keesha looked up at him, her eyes meeting his.

And she was supposed to say what?

Never bother with a losing argument, she remembered her grandmother's advice.

Keesha pulled her shirt over her head and as Jax continued staring at her, she tossed it to the floor. She reached over, kissing Jax slowly.

He returned her gentle kiss, his body already reacting as her tongue stroked and teased against his, tasting the inside of his mouth.

Jax tore away from Keesha, breathless. He cupped her face in his hands, rubbing the sides of her cheeks with his thumbs. Bending, he kissed her again, passionately, moving his hands behind her head, his fingers wrapping into her hair. He led her down onto the bed, each of them reclining on their sides.

Their sensual kiss continued, and Jax's hands left Keesha's hair, one resting against her back as the other lightly slipped down her arm. He nibbled gently on her ear as his fingers roamed across her chest, stroking the curves of her bare breasts. "Jax..." she moaned, her head tilting back in pleasure.

"Hmm?" he whispered teasingly into her ear, his hot breath against her sending a shudder through her body. She took a breath. "What do you want, luv?" Jax growled seductively before his mouth moved lower, kissing her small mounds. "You..." she admitted instantly.

"Not nearly as much as I want you..." he ran his tongue around a nipple before finally taking the straining bud unto his mouth, sucking hard. She groaned in pleasure, despite the growing ache in her body for more of him.

For all of him.

Jax devoured her stomach hungrily, trying to somehow satisfy his insatiable need for her. Keesha arched against him, taking in a sharp breath. He kissed his way across her stomach, leading her to lie on her back. His fingers dragged roughly up her smooth legs, and he trailed his tongue down...

Keesha arched against Jax again, forcefully, as he tasted her below. Unable to contain herself, she writhed beneath his ministarations, grabbing on to the edge of the sheets as one of her legs slid to lay on the bed. He pushed a finger up within her, his mouth and tongue continued tasting her, and her moans of ecstacy increased his own desire.

Keesha held onto the sheets tightly as her release ripped through her. She ran her fingers through Jax's hair, and he placed small butterfly kisses against her stomach...she trembled slightly, and a small moan escaped her lips.

Keesha opened her eyes, looking up at Jax as he hovered above her. Slowly he inserted himself partially into her...before withdrawing fully.

Keesha took a shallow breath, her eyes opening, only to shut again as once more Jax thrust himself into her, this time resting deeper within. Again, he withdrew completely.

Keesha opened her eyes once more, this time leaving them that way as Jax continued this torturious assualt. But now, with each penetration, as they continued staring into each other's eyes, her hips would match his thrusts, pulling him in even further.

With a groan, Jax finally immersed himself completely within her. Keesha held him close, and their pace exploded furiously.

It didn't take long for Keesha to climax again, calling him to her....and with one last thrust Jax joined her, returning her call, moaning against the side of her neck as he released.