Lose Control (The Jewel Project #5)

21.1|| Fall back in the arms of someone

Sarah headed back into the kitchen so he followed. A stereo played in a corner of the counter and there was an open bottle of wine next to it. The counters were clean, and except for a fridge and a round table in the middle of the room fitted with two chairs, there was not much else. The room was stifling and he immediately took his shirt off.

"Don't get naked yet," she chimed along with the song playing on the stereo. "You haven't even had a glass of wine."

"It's very hot in here. Don't you have...?"

"Air conditioning?" She giggled. "The possibility to open one of those huge windows? Oh, no. We can't have nice thing here."

She turned around to pour him some wine and he noticed the white tank top was already sticking to her back. Her hair was caught up in a messy bun on top of her head and there was a patch of shiny skin visible between her shorts and top. Her feet were bare.

"Here." She passed him a full glass of wine and took a big swing out of hers, then danced her way to the counters, as if he wasn't there.

Jerry just watched her, half sitting on the table, a weird sense of amusement battling with worry. He had no idea how much she'd had to drink, but she kept swinging her hips and singing along to Living on a Prayer as if she were still alone.

He downed half of the glass before asking, "Are you okay?" The wine was sweet and smooth, the type that went to your head very fast.

"Of course." She made a pirouette. "I'm singing and dancing, aren't I?"

She was, and he couldn't keep his eyes off her, taking in every curve, the smoothness of her skin, the shine the sweat gave it, and there was a lot of it showing. She wasn't skinny or ridiculously toned. She was... normal. Natural. Real. The heat was giving him a weird kind of high.

"What?" Sarah stopped dancing and her smile turned bitter. "It's weird, isn't it? But this is what real women look like. Full of fat and cellulite and stretch marks."

He blinked. "What?"

"Get a better look." She put her glass on the counter and walked to him, pulling her tank top up to reveal her stomach. "This is what reality is." She took his hand and placed it over her belly. Her skin was incredibly soft and hot. "Not toned and perfect."

"I--" He had no idea what to say. Touching her like that sapped all words out of him. It became impossible once she pushed his hand lower, under the line of her shorts.

"Real women have scars," she said between her teeth, her eyes wet, but focused.

He had no idea what she was talking about. His senses were completely fried and he tried his best not to focuse on what he was feeling. This wasn't why he'd come here. He hadn't even had the chance to start a normal conversation.

Sarah frowned. "Can't you feel it?"

He wasn't sure he could feel anything anymore, anything but the heat of her skin under his fingers. She seemed to get it that he was paralyzed, because she pulled back and inch and pulled her shorts down enough for him to see what he was actually touching.

There was a very thing scar across her lower belly, the tips of his fingers right over it. He hadn't felt it.

"Did you get hurt?" His words came out a little slurred and shaky, but his mind was spinning so fast, it threatened to throw him off.

She frowned in confusion. "Doesnt your mother have one of these? Then again, maybe you really never saw it..."

He blinked away the confusion as her words finally started making sense. She had a scar, and even if he couldn't give the slightest crap about it, she did have stretch marks on her hips and unde her belly button. That meant something, even if he was too confused and slightly shocked to figure it out.