Warning: (A little bit of) Smut!

X

They kiss softly, but deeply for a long moment, but unlike before, it doesn't end up in another love-making session. Instead, Jax slowly pulls away this time, holding her hands in his, closing his eyes, lowering his head for just a moment, and sighing deeply as he seems to be gathering his thoughts before allowing himself to meet Tara's eyes again with another intense gaze just seconds later.

Tara can see that there's more he needs to say, more he wants to unburden on her, but he seems to struggle again with how to continue. And even though his sudden need to let it all out frightened her just moments before, now that he's reassured her that this isn't about him pushing her away somehow, she's trying her hardest to encourage him to go on.

And even though it's been a long, grueling, and emotionally charged day and evening, she's not sure she could find any rest right now, even if she tried. There is simply still too much turmoil reflecting back at her in those steel blue eyes of his, so she wants him to go on, wants him to let it all go, so that they can leave it all behind them, in the past, where it belongs.

She straightens herself up, visibly squaring her shoulders, raising her own chin the same instant she raises one of her hands once more to his chin, letting her fingers trail across the coarse hair of his blond beard in a comforting gesture, when she confronts him. "What else do you need to tell me, Jax? I can take it."

He sighs again, a deep slow inhale that makes his naked chest puff out before he lets it deflate again on the subsequent exhale, his eyes firmly fixed on hers the entire time as he does so, as if searching for confirmation that she's really strong enough to handle what else he's got to confess.

Whatever he finds in the depth of her hazel-green eyes seems to persuade him, and so he finally starts to speak. First slowly and hesitant, sounding more than a little unsure, but his resolve seems to strengthen with every word that slips past his lips, and even more after every encouraging nod of understanding from Tara along the way.

She can't help but notice how his eyes are filled with so many different emotions as he speaks. There's hurt, grief, anger, pride, shame, and confusion, amongst others, seemingly ever-changing from one sentence to the next, one rueful confession to the next.

He reveals so many things to her, things he is or rather was afraid to tell her, for many different and some very complex reasons. Almost all of these crimes have directly to do with Club business, it's no longer about him and her per se, it's not about other women that have come between them, nor is it about men he killed to protect her. And even though Jax acts as if the worst is yet to come, Tara truthfully feels the worst has already been told.

Some tales he tells are running deep, some more meaningful than others, some even his brothers don't know about, some very hard for Tara to process, and some not all that hard to understand at all.

It's a lot to take in by any means, but Tara doesn't avert her gaze from his, doesn't shy away from the truths he's sharing with her, nor does she let her emotions get the best of her. She puts her bravest face on for his sake, and listens without letting judgment shine through in her features, because she can tell how much he struggles with everything that has happened today, and how much he needs her support right now.

Amongst the many, many things he shares with her, he finally recalls the true circumstances around Opie's death. Something he's kept from her all this time, out of fear of how she'd react if she knew that he was about to offer himself up on a silver platter, right after marrying her no less, all for the sake of the Club. And had Opie not intervened by punching that guard, she would've been the grieving widow, Abel and Thomas left behind without a father, and she would've been burying him in the days to follow, instead of Lyla and Opie's kids mourning the loss of Opie.

Needless to say, Tara cries upon hearing and processing that news, all the more grateful for what Opie had done, and once more relieved that Jax is still alive and here with her, yet deeply ashamed for feeling the way that she does all the same. Knowing Opie died the way he did, makes it downright cruel to feel relieved that Jax didn't die.

He carries on, confesses to tracking down the guard who'd orchestrated the tragedy with the help of Pope, and not only relays to her how he'd murdered him to avenge Opie with unhinged brutality, but that his wife died at the hands of Tig, too. 'Collateral damage', he'd called it. Maybe it should scare her, but it doesn't, when there's no remorse in his eyes nor in his voice while he relays that fateful day back to her.

And then, last but not least by any means, he recalls the events surrounding that horrible school shooting, Nero's crew's involvement, and ultimately Darvany's death.

He tells her the whole truth, things that he's never told a soul out loud, not even the Club. Surely, he isn't naive enough to believe that Tig and Chibs haven't suspected him of having a hand in Darvany's death, they had undoubtedly given him curious glances more times than he can count, but neither one of his brothers ever outright confronted him about it. Juice, having done the deed following his orders, and Nero, were the only ones that knew, at least to the best of his knowledge.

And now Tara knows, too. That he'd singlehandedly ordered the murder of an innocent woman, a woman who'd just lost her own child less than twenty-four hours prior.

He watches her wearily, cautiously, trying to gauge her reaction. His heart is beating out of his chest, as his own guilty conscience weighs heavily on him.

Initially, he hadn't felt guilty at all when he'd made the call, he'd successfully convinced himself that it was justified. With Tara's looming prosecution, on top of keeping the heat off of the Club when they were in the middle of finally getting out of guns, too much was at stake already. So it was in the best interest of the Club, and the best interest of their family, at the time it was the easiest and quickest solution to the problem at hand, so he did what he thought was right without second guessing himself.

But that all changed not too long after, once Nero confronted him about it, and let him in on the fact that Darvany had more kids, that there were two motherless children now forever wondering what had happened, and that's when the guilt of his actions slowly began to rear its ugly head.

But there was no use, what happened, happened, and there was no turning back, what's done is done. So he tried to squash it down, the guilt. Bury it deep and hide from it, returned home to Tara that night, and unsuccessfully tried to distract himself by making love to her. The guilt of his actions from that day, combined with his guilt over his infidelity while she'd been incarcerated, haunted him and made him feel further away from her than ever before, and he had no one to blame but himself.

The way Donna had died by Tig's hand, all because Clay had been too impatient to wait, truly confirmed Opie's guilt, and brought it to the table for a vote. Or the way he'd put the hit out on Tara, just because of the fact that she knew something that could affect him and the Club, just like Darvany knew something, ... well, in hindsight, Jax knew now that the way he'd taken on the role of jury, judge, and executioner, felt all too familiar and so very wrong.

The parallels between Clay and himself were clear as day, at least now that he can look back and really contemplate his rash decisions of that fateful day. And as he stares back into Tara's eyes, wordlessly pleading with her to say something, he can't help but think back on something she'd said that night, right before she'd gotten arrested.

'We both know, if we stay here, we'll end up like the two people we hate the most!'

Jesus Christ ... wasn't that the truth? He had in fact truly become the man he hated!

And as for Tara, the length to which she'd gone - the faked miscarriage and out of the blue filing for divorce - it was a page straight out of Gemma's playbook, if he'd ever seen one! At first, he'd been angry, too blindsided by her actions, too filled with hurt and rage at the time, leaving him too blind to see what was right in front of him. But it didn't take him long to recognize the errors of his own ways, to realize who was truly to blame.

'I understand why you did everything you did. I'm sorry being with me, took you to that place.'

Jax knew the gavel had in fact corrupted him, as Opie had said, and that he'd succumbed to his own worst nature, and it was his doing, his actions, or rather lack of actions regarding the promises he'd made to her, that ultimately left Tara no choice than to succumb to hers as well. She had to play dirty, to beat him, and Gemma, at their own dirty game! He knows that, which is the reason he was able to forgive her so easily for what she had done. He knows that he's the one to blame for it all!

"It's okay." Tara's eerily even-sounding voice startles him out of his self-loathing thoughts once more. She grabs a hold of his hand, clutching it hard in her much smaller ones, and raises it up to her lips for a kiss, mirroring the way he so often does to her. "It's over, it's in the past. No amount of guilt can change what happened. There's plenty of things I wish I could do over, wish I had done differently, too."

"You said to me once that we're better human beings, when we're with the person we're supposed to be with. Do you still believe that?" He suddenly asks out loud, and if the look in her eyes is any indication, she's clearly surprised at the change in subject once more. But he can't help himself questioning it, because he knows that being with him has changed her. It's like that old saying goes, 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger', and that might very well be true when it comes to him and her, but it has also hardened her as well, made her suspicious, and brought a darker side out in her. It scares him to death that being with him could do that to her again.

Tara ponders over his question for just a split second before she nods, and gives him a small, yet reassuring smile, her voice full of conviction when she says. "Yes, I do."

But without missing a beat she goes on to elaborate, as if she can already sense the doubt he's about to share with her about that notion. "But I think just living under the same roof does not constitute 'being with someone', Jax. While we might've shared a bed, and a home, we still ended up going down the wrong path and we weren't the best versions of ourselves, because we weren't really with each other anymore. We straight up lied to each other at times, or kept things from each other, which were basically lies by omission, and it caused us to drift apart, and that's why we ended up how we did. If we had just been open with each other, and talked everything out like we are now, then we wouldn't have ended up more ruthless and on opposite sides." Her voice doesn't waver when she talks, holding Jax's undivided attention.

She searches his eyes for a sign that he agrees with her, but all she finds is deeply embedded guilt reflecting back at her, so she carries on. "But we know better now, don't we? I mean, I do. Just think about everything we've shared with each other since you moved here, and how it has changed us, made us stronger, and brought us so much closer again ... isn't that proof enough to know that being with each other makes us better people?"

Jax slowly nods his head at that, his eyes still locked on hers when he seems to agree with a sigh. "Yeah, I guess."

But then he pulls his gaze away from hers, the intensity having become too much. Pulling his hand out of her grasp and swipes both his hands down his face, closes his eyes, steeples his hands against his bowed head in deep thought, and that familiar gesture of his makes it apparent to Tara that he's still struggling with it all. Her words haven't fully convinced him just yet, that much is crystal clear.

She lets him have a moment to sit in silence and let the heaviness of his stories and confessions, along with what she has just said, settle between them. During that pause she tries to think of how to word what she wants to say next, sighing heavily before she carries on with yet another speech to reassure him. "Maybe it's true that it didn't faze you when you did those horrible things, nor did it faze you right after, but something obviously must've changed. I mean, it's clearly eating at you now, because if it wasn't, we would not be sitting here in the dead of night, having this conversation."

At that, his head snaps back up just as his eyes suddenly open to meet hers, because fuck if she hasn't just hit the nail on the head. He isn't the same guy, he's feeling guilty and remorseful, and he wants to figure out a way to be a better person, someone his boys can look up to one day, someone he doesn't loathe when he looks in the mirror.

Once more he finds himself marveling at how much smarter and stronger she is than him. That thought even manages to twist the corners of his lips slightly upward, almost enough for it to count as a hint of a smile. What the fuck did I do to deserve her?

Tara holds his gaze, then clears her throat when something else suddenly comes to mind, and now she feels an overwhelming urge to share some truths with him as well. It isn't just all black and white, good or bad. There's a whole lot of gray in between. "You know, you talked about that darkness, or whatever, in you, but I don't think it's all bad."

"What do you mean?" Jax can't stop himself from interrupting her with the question, his eyebrows raising in curiosity.

She'd honestly not intended to bring up Joshua Kohn ever again. After their last trip back to Charming to get rid of him once and for all, she'd told herself they'd never speak of him again, but that vow was shot to hell now since Jax had already mentioned him earlier tonight.

So she swallows the lump that has formed out of nowhere and clears her throat for a second time before she speaks. "You remember that day Kohn stabbed you with those scissors at Floyd's?" It feels like a million years ago now.

Jax furrows his brows, looking perplexed at where she is going with this now, but nods nonetheless to let her know that he remembers. "Yeah, what about it?"

"That night, you asked me if I came back because I knew that you'd hurt him for me, and I swear I meant it when I said that I didn't know if he was going to follow me to Charming ... but I have to admit that when I ran into you when my father was dying, for the first time in a long time I felt safe. I mean, my Dad was dying and I was so heartbroken, but at least for just a little while I completely forgot to worry about Josh, because ..." She gestures to him with both her hands. "You were right there, helping me and just being there ... and I think maybe you were right, maybe I felt that way, because deep down, a part of me knew that you would do whatever it took to protect me."

She looks away from him now for the first time in what seems like hours, shaking her head to herself, and even though her chin quivers for a second, she wills herself to not start crying, before finding the strength to continue. "That night when I shot Kohn, and then I called you and ... and you shot him, too ... that night, in an instant we knew the worst thing about each other, I mean, we'd just killed a man together, but instead of being repulsed by what we'd done, it drew us closer, it pulled us together somehow."

Jax nods again in agreement, because everything she'd just said is the truth. The fact that he'd shot a man dead right in front of her hadn't scared her off. Sure, she'd screamed, and it had freaked her out for a long moment. It had freaked him out, too, but it hadn't repulsed her, hadn't made her think any less of him, nor had it made her fear him.

No, it was like she'd said, it had brought them closer, so much so, that they'd finally said 'fuck it' to that last shred of willpower that had been keeping them apart since her move back to town, and they had torn each other's clothes off in an overwhelming urge to finally make love and reconnect.

Tara hides her face behind her hands for a moment and sighs, before she looks back at him once more. "I guess, there's a bunch of other examples I could give you, to explain myself, but you already know most of them... And there's really just one more thing I need to tell you, that I haven't told you yet." Her words bring Jax back to the here and now, and he raises his eyebrows ever so slightly, letting her know she's got his attention still.

She presses her lips together for just a second, glad to have her composure back under control, before she starts telling him the next story. "You know how John pursued me at the conference in Boise?" Jax nods, frowning already, even though he's not sure where she's going with this.

She continues. "Well, after you and I got back together that weekend, later that following week I went to see him in his office, and -."

"Babe?" Jax interrupts her abruptly. "You said he didn't bother you anymore after you got back?" He can feel the anger rising in him at the thought of that guy, all the tiredness he was starting to feel moments ago is suddenly vanishing again and he finds himself feeling wide awake.

Tara shakes her head. "Not exactly. Just let me finish my story, hear me out."

Even though his choice of words could be misconstrued as jokingly by someone else, Tara knows the tone in his voice is anything but serious when he replies. "This story better ends with you stabbing him with a fucking scalpel, 'cause if not, I might have to."

"Jax. Would you just listen, please?" Tara chastises him, even though there's a small part of her that has to suppress the urge to smile at his words, whether he's being serious or not. "So I went to his office to tell him that if he didn't stop harassing me, I would tell you, and ..." She hesitates for just a second.

"And what?" Jax prompts her to finish what she was going to say, barely able to contain his curiosity at how it all played out, wondering what John might've done.

"And I basically threatened his life." She admits, not proud of herself, yet not particularly guilty looking either. "I pretty much told him that after you're done with him, he'd just be another missing person on the six o'clock news, never to be seen again."

Normally this would've amused him, but he's still reeling from the fact that John has still been harassing her, and that she didn't tell him, yet when Tara scoots closer and settles into his lap now, closing the gap between them, and reaches up to frame his face in both her hands again, the anger begins to dissipate immediately. "I think what I'm trying to say is, that I know that there's some darkness in there, but I'm okay with it. I've subconsciously counted on it with Kohn, and ever since then, I've used it to my advantage. I mean, I've threatened people in the past, even your Mom, because I know exactly what you're capable of when it comes to protecting me. I guess it would be hypocritical of me to say that that part of you is all bad, when I've used it time and again to keep people in line."

They rest their foreheads against each other, with their eyes closed as a moment of silence stretches on between them, before Tara raises her head again to be able to meet his eyes. "And honestly, if it was anyone other than Gemma, if it had been Juice who had attacked me, I wouldn't fault you for wanting to go after him, for killing him. But she's your Mom, Jax, neither you nor I would be able to compartmentalize that fact, no matter how hard we try. We wouldn't come back from that. You get that, right?"

She searches his eyes for an agreement again, and is relieved to see him nodding his head as he answers her. "Yeah, I know." He pauses for a long moment, still stewing over all she's said.

And she can see that there's something still on his mind, that even now he's still struggling with what he confessed. "What is it, Jax?"

"It's okay." He shakes his head, trying to pretend it's nothing, almost like he's embarrassed now that he's still working through it.

"Don't do that. Don't brush me off, don't brush it off ... I want to know every single thing that's happening in that brain of yours?"

He sighs, his eyes full of doubt and sadness. "I'm just thinking it can't really be that simple. You can't really be that ... forgiving. It's too good to be true."

"Jax?" She starts to plead with him, reaching out to him, wishing more than anything she could make him see what's in her heart. How none of this old stuff matters.

But he interrupts before she can think of what else to say. "I mean, how is that all this stuff I've done, all these things I've done, all these regrets, they're just what? Gone?"

"Not gone. Just in the past." She tries to reassure him.

"Exactly, which means it's still hanging around. Just waiting to ... I don't know ... It's like raindrops in a barrel, you know? And it's right there at the top, all that pain, and all it takes is just one more drop and ..." His voice trails off, too scared to finish that thought out loud. How much more can the two of them endure before it proves to be too much?

"I know, baby, yes. We've both made mistakes. We've hurt each other. We have our past. But sometimes ... once in your life, somebody gets under your skin ... into your bloodstream. And with that someone, it doesn't seem to matter how much you've failed each other. We must choose each other. And I choose you exactly the way you are. And if I'm being honest, it's almost scary to me how much I love you, and how much I will probably always love you, no matter what."

Jax can't help himself but to pull her into a kiss. Loving the feel of her lips against his, the sincere emotions in the contact. And at that moment, he finally gets it. He understands that if Tara can forgive him, then he needs to figure out a way to forgive himself, too.

And now he can't hold his tongue any longer. "Now tell me what happened with John?" And for the first time in a while, he actually smirks a little before he adds. "Did he finally back off, or do I have to follow through on your threat and make him disappear?"

Despite Jax's amused expression, Tara doesn't smile when she starts to explain. "Turns out that he's sick, well, he was sick. Grade 1 Meningioma. A tumor in his frontal lobe. The part of the brain that is responsible for making plans, judgments, decision-making, and ... well, also impulse control. He basically hasn't been of sound mind for a while, you know? Which makes sense now, considering how he started acting so out-of-character, out of the blue."

"Shit." Jax actually curses out loud now, his anger toward the other man completely evaporating already as he searches Tara's face for more insight. "How bad is it? I mean, is it cancer?"

Tara shakes her head though, letting out a little relieved sigh. "No, it was benign, and they got it all out, so he should be fine. He found out shortly after I confronted him, so needless to say, he wasn't thinking straight before that, Jax, and he hasn't been a problem since. I swear."

"Okay," Jax replies.

Their eyes are locked on each other for another silence-filled moment, before they both reach out, framing each other's face, and lean in for yet another kiss. Their lips tenderly brush against each other. It's soft, unhurried, and rather sweet.

When they finally pull away, Tara suddenly can't help but yawn, raising her hand to cover her wide-open mouth, and Jax mimics her just seconds later, yawning just as widely.

"It's late," Tara says sleepily. "We should try to get some sleep."

"Technically, it's early." Jax tries to lighten the mood. "Couple more hours and the sun will be up again."

"Yeah." Tara agrees, climbing off of his lap and tugging on his hand to get him up off the sofa with her. "You know who else is going to be up, and getting dropped off by Christy? Our boys." She states matter-of-factly, as much as she loves and misses them, she's already dreading having to entertain them in such a sleep-deprived state.

"Shit, yeah." Jax realizes that now as he goes from room to room, switching off all the lights, while Tara finds both their phones and plugs them in to charge, knowing Christy will try to call before she drops by with Abel and Thomas.

Jax leaves his jeans again in a puddle on the bedroom floor, climbs into bed beside her, but then pulls an already comfortable Tara back up into a sitting position.

"Jax, what are you doing?" She starts to protest, and suddenly all energy seemingly drains from her, allowing him to manhandle her like a puppet or a doll.

"Getting you out of this shirt." He replies in the same instant as he pulls the fabric over her head and tosses the garment carelessly across the room a mere second later.

Tara smiles, but still, there's a hint of disbelief in her voice when she slumps back into the mattress completely naked again, and Jax twists away to turn the lamp off on his nightstand. "You cannot be serious, Teller. You realize we had sex three times in the last twenty-four hours."

She counts along on her hand, raising one finger along to each mentioned account. "We did it right before you got up to get ready for work yesterday morning. Then in your truck, and then again when we got home a while ago."

The room is pitch black now as Jax nuzzles his face playfully into the crook of her neck, making her squeal and try to fight him off, before he pulls away on his own, his face hovering right above hers as he meets her eyes in the darkness, feigning innocence. "Who said anything about sex?"

"You just undressed me." Tara points out, pulling down the sheet to expose her bare breasts to prove her point.

But before he replies, he gives each of her nipples a quick peck, then rolls back onto his back and pulls her body flush against him. Her head was on his shoulder, her hand resting on his chest, and her leg draped across his. "I just like you naked, Babe, that's all."

Without another word, they both seem to be drifting off to sleep. Their life is still upside down in some ways, because the truth still hurts, and will continue to hurt for a long time to come, but right now, in their little apartment, in their bedroom, and in each other's arms, they truly have each other to lean on. And that in itself is a victory they never quite experienced before like in this very moment.

Gemma tried to come between them more times than they can count, but in the end, she didn't succeed, and right now that is all that they try to come to terms with. Try to focus on the fact that their love has prevailed over her hatred.

Tara has her cheek nestled against him, and the steady sound of his heart beating in her ear is almost lulling her to sleep, when she can't help herself and suddenly speaks up one more time. "Jax?"

"Hmmm?" He murmurs sleepily in reply, his head tilted toward hers, his cheek resting against the top of her head, his arm tightening more around her.

"I love you." Tara finally replies after finding her voice again, holding onto him just as tight.

"And I love you," Jax says, sounding just as serious as she did, pressing a kiss against her hair again, and not long after, they both finally fall asleep in each other's arms.

X

A few days later

Jax follows Tara into her office at the hospital, stepping out of the way so she can close the door behind him, as he pulls the sonogram picture back out of the inside pocket of his jacket to study it some more.

He makes himself comfortable in the chair across from hers, but grabs her hand, tugging her to him, before she can round her desk and sit in her usual seat.

Instead, he pulls her onto his lap, holding her close, while still staring at the printed-out sonogram picture they'd just gotten during Tara's first pregnancy check-up.

They're both tremendously relieved to hear that everything looks good, the baby looks healthy, right on track, and with a strong and steady heartbeat.

He narrows his eyes a little, scrutinizing the somewhat grainy image in an almost comical way, before he says. "I think we might be in trouble."

Tara narrows her eyes now at the picture, too, before she meets his eyes in question. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, just from this angle ..." He holds the image a little closer to Tara's face, pointing at it with his other hand that's resting on her shoulder. "Don't you think it bears a striking resemblance to those creatures from Alien?"

She smirks when her eyes meet his again now, and he's grinning ear to ear, clearly amused by his own little joke. "This is exactly what it's supposed to look like, Jax."

"Alright, ... you're the doc. Just don't come running to me when it busts out of your ribcage." He continues to joke.

She can't help herself from cupping his bearded cheek with the palm of her hand, drawing his attention back to her face. Relieved to see him so carefree and seemingly happy again. Not wanting to sour the mood, she plays along, her tone teasing when she replies. "I'm so glad you're having fun with all this, Teller."

They smile contently at each other for a long silent moment, but just like that his voice sounds serious again, his facial expression matching, when he sighs and admits something she's barely ever heard him say. "Honestly, I might just be a little scared."

Now it's Tara's turn to try to lighten the mood again, when she replies sarcastically, still smiling just the same. "Wow, that's just what every little girl dreams her Prince Charming will say."

But when she takes in the worry lines that are suddenly forming between his eyes, her bright smile dulls, too, yet she tries to comfort him by way of confessing. "FYI, I might be a little scared, too." But then she ponders about it, her eyes locked on his while she thinks. "Maybe scared isn't the right word, ... more like anxious, you know? I just don't want any more bad stuff to happen."

"Yeah, me too." Jax scoffs, his eyes flickering back to the picture for just a second, but then he turns his full attention back to Tara again. "And I was just thinking, do you remember the other day, when I said that you and I should really start looking for a house?"

"Mm-Hmm" Tara nods.

"Well, Babe." He raises his eyebrows almost up to his hairline in an overly dramatic expression. "I really think we should start looking for a house." He waves the picture in front of her face to draw her attention back to the first image of their unborn child. "'Cause shit just got real."

Tara sighs relieved again, can't help but smile a little at the way he's acting, and stands up to pull her phone from her purse on her desk, turning it around to show Jax the time. "We still have a little bit of time before we gotta get back to work. We could check some online listings, if you want?"

Tara quickly rounds her desk, sits down and opens her screen, and starts up her laptop.

At the same time, he tucks the picture back into his jacket pocket, but instead of pulling his chair up beside hers, he hurriedly takes a few steps over to the door and locks it with a quick twist of his wrist. Even wiggles the handle to make sure it is in fact securely locked.

Tara takes notice of what he just did, her eyes travel from his hand on the doorknob up to his face that's already displaying a cocky smirk now as he swaggers back toward her. Eyeing her like she's his prey with every approaching step.

"What are you doing?" She manages to ask, even though she already knows when he reaches past her and closes the screen on her laptop again, before he moves the device out of the way and off to the side.

"Jax?" She tries again in the same instant he swivels her chair in his direction, caging her in with one broad hand on each armrest to the left and right of her.

"What do you think I'm doing, Dr. Teller?" He asks rhetorically in return, his voice dark, husky, and seductive, but before Tara has a chance to form a word, he picks her up as if she doesn't weigh a thing. Just that action alone seems to make her blush, feeling her body heat in response in all the right places, and her heart might've just skipped a beat, too.

Yet Tara can't help but let out a disbelieving laugh when he proceeds to sit her down on the edge of her desk, his hands roaming over her body, cupping her breasts through her shirt, while he very slowly starts to kiss a trail from behind her ear down toward her collarbone.

She bites her lip to suppress the moan that's forming in her throat already, and then tries to protest, although she's not sounding very convincingly at all. "I thought you wanted to look for a house?"

He mumbles against her skin between kisses. "We can do that after work while the kids are still up and playing ..." He unbuttons and unzips her jeans for her, twisting his wrist at an awkward angle as he slides his hand down into the front of her pants. Tara lets out a moan, before he adds with a satisfied smirk. "This we can't do until they're fast asleep." He points out very matter-of-factly. "So I'm just making logical use of our limited alone time in your office."

Tara reaches for his face, pulling his lips up to meet hers in a heady kiss, before she replies breathily between kisses. "I can't argue with that logic."

Then she surprises him when she pushes back against his chest to create some space, and at first, he thinks she's changed her mind when she says. "Seriously though, we don't have much time."

But her meaning becomes clear when reaches between them and hurriedly undoes his belt and jeans for him.

In return, he's quick to slip off her heeled boots, before pulling her off of the desk just long enough to pull her jeans, along with her panties, down her hips and legs, ridding her of them as well.

Their eyes lock on each other in a hungry gaze, as Tara pushes his briefs past his hips in the same instance he grabs her hips and lifts her back onto the edge of the desk again.

Kissing her deeply, Jax runs his hands appreciatively across her bare skin, from her still small waist, across her crow tattoo, and around the curve of her firm behind and hips. "I fucking love these curves of yours, Babe!" He rasps against her mouth.

"Love me, Jax." She replies against his lips, her eyes closed and cheeks flaming in anticipation, but she doesn't have to wait long.

Jax quickly reaches between them, rubbing the head of his cock against her to ensure she's wet and ready to take him, before he positions himself and lets his hips surge forward, filling her in one fluid stroke and ultimately making her bite back the moan that threatens to spill from her mouth.

X

Author's Note: Please, let me know what you think. Thanks for sticking with my story!