by Lori Foster
Her expression pinched even more.
He had to bite back a smile. She was so darned cute when riled. He started to tuck her hair behind her ear, but she jerked her head away, and he dropped his hand. “If you don’t lighten up, we may as well shout to the whole parking lot that we have nefarious types tailing us and we know it. And let me tell you, that’s going to open up a whole can of worms from the local police on up the chain of command.”
Miraculously, as Jackson watched, her features smoothed out. Though her eyes still glittered with annoyance, she laughed, swatted at him, then went on tiptoe to kiss him right on the mouth.
Almost like they’d had a spat and then made up.
Leaving one hand on his chest, she settled back on her own two feet and asked innocently, “Better?”
“Oh, yeah.” Her agility in handling that, in maintaining the cover, flattened him. And turned him on. The woman had untapped skills. “If you want, you can kiss me again for good measure.”
Instead, smiling at him, she trailed one fingertip down his chest all the way to his belt buckle. She looked back at the women—who were still staring after him—and dropped her hand with a satisfied smile. “Let’s go.”
Yeah, Jackson thought. Let’s. He couldn’t wait to get her alone so they could really talk.
And so he could really kiss her.
And maybe get her hand back on his belt buckle.
But fifteen minutes later, after buying the movie, they were halfway through the grocery shopping when he realized she was more pissed than he’d first thought. By rote, she dropped items into the grocery cart, staying a few steps ahead of him, constantly keeping him at her back.
Giving him the cold shoulder.
She’d withdrawn from him. Again.
He didn’t like it. He much preferred her teasing, or even her anger, because at least then, she opened up to him. But this, the silent treatment, sucked.
He waited until they were in front of the produce, away from most prying ears, before he asked, “So what’d you do to me?”
A nearly imperceptible stiffening of her shoulders gave her away. She remained silent as she placed a fat tomato in with the other groceries.
Undaunted, Jackson leaned on the cart handle, his arms crossed. “Remember, you said I should stop asking what I did to you, and instead ask what you did to me. So I’m asking. And my imagination is running wild.”
She didn’t acknowledge him when she put a five-pound bag of potatoes in the cart. Did that mean she expected to feed him more than once—or did she always buy five pounds?
“C’mon, Alani,” he prompted her, hoping to draw her out of her mood. “If I got a hummer, I’d really like to know—”
She slammed a bag of carrots into the cart, so close to him that he had to duck back.
Fascinated with her temper, he waited, watching her closely, anticipating what she might do.
She stopped, drew a breath. Her eyes narrowed meanly. “Yes.”
A tidal wave of heat snapped Jackson’s spine straight. “Yes, what?”
“Yes.” She smiled with smug satisfaction. “You got a…a hummer.” Saying it brought a blush to her fair skin, but it didn’t stop her from looking boldly toward his crotch. “And while I’m not real practiced, you definitely liked it.”
Oh, hell. She knew how to fight dirty, too.
As she sauntered past him, secure that she led in the score, he turned the cart and rushed to catch up. “So…”
All kinds of images ripped through his mind, some of them achingly sweet, most of them scorching, a few even raunchy.
Strangling on his lust, he cleared his throat. “Did I…you know, coerce you into doing that?” He hated that thought as much as he loved the other thought—that she’d wanted to taste him, that she’d maybe initiated that particular form of intimate pleasure loved by all men. “Or did you—” he searched for the right word “—volunteer?”
Over her shoulder, she said, “I can’t be coerced.” And she smiled that taunting smile again. “I was curious. You were accommodating.” She shrugged as if that explained everything.
Yeah, he could just imagine how accommodating he’d been. He wouldn’t mind accommodating her again, real soon.
Jackson moved up alongside her. It wasn’t easy since he had to push the cart through the crowded aisles. “So…” Damn, but he’d never been hesitant with sex talk before. He had to clear his throat again. “Did you like it?”
“Sure.” She didn’t even take a second to think about it. “Actually, I loved it.”
His knees went weak. His heartbeat galloped. No way in hell could he shake the visual of Alani’s mouth on him, her tongue moving over him, her cheeks hollowed as she…
Oh, God. In a croak, he asked, “Interested in doing it again?”
“That depends.”
Oh, no. No, no, no. He would not bargain with her. He wouldn’t let any woman, not even Alani, manipulate him with sex. Hands tight on the cart handle, his abdomen in knots, he asked, “Depends on what?”
“How our relationship progresses, of course.” This time her laugh was legitimate as she stopped and turned to him. “Did you expect me to negotiate? To offer you favors in exchange for…what? Less cloak-and-dagger? More openness?”
“I dunno.” He would never understand her, but by God, he would keep trying. “Maybe.”
Gently, as if explaining to a child, she said, “You do what you do, Jackson. Within your specialized field of expertise, I mean.” She flapped a hand. “If you’re anywhere near as good as my brother or Dare, then most everything you do has a motive, I’m sure. I might not always like the method, but I do understand the intent.”
His molars clenched. “I’m every bit as good as them, damn it.”
“And so incredibly modest, too.” Turning her attention to the shelves, she examined a few spices. “But none of that has anything to do with our private relationship, now does it? And I’m afraid the two are going to clash.”
He grabbed some peppercorns and tossed them in with the steaks. “Clash how?”
“I’m not in your field, remember? I don’t thrive on danger. I don’t think in terms of targets and threats and countermeasures. I’m just your average, run-of-the-mill interior designer.”
He let his gaze drift over her. “Nothing average about you, woman.”
For only a second, she looked moved by the compliment—before she shored up her resistance again. “Unless you explain your motives on occasion, how am I to decipher when I’m being kept in the dark for my own good, versus when you just plain don’t want to share something with me?”
He rubbed his ear. “I dunno.”
“I don’t know, either. But it makes it impossible for me to gauge things.” She touched his jaw. “And that’s a conundrum.”
A woman brushed by in her cart. Though she had what looked to be a two-year-old facing her, she gave him the once over and smiled.
As if to shield him with her body, Alani stepped in front of him and glowered at the poor shopper.
“Down, killer.”
“I suppose you just love all the attention, don’t you?”
“I—”
“Forget it, Jackson.” Refusing to let him reply one way or the other, she indicated their collected groceries, the thick steaks, makings for salad and potatoes. “Do we have everything?”
“Looks like.”
“Great. Let’s get out of here.” She forged forward, expecting him to follow.
“Yes, dear,” he said, mostly to himself because he didn’t want her any more worked up over something as silly as unsolicited attention. He watched the sway of her hips as he trailed her to the front of the store.
“I suppose you can’t help it.”
His attention lifted to her cold shoulder, and he asked with false sweetness, “You talking to me?”
“Yes.” She spared him a look. “I’m being unfair and I know it.” And then even more grudgingly, “Sorry.”
“’S okay.” A
ctually, it was kind of nice to see her jealous. After all her indifference, this felt like a balm to his pride.
A hand to her forehead, she muttered, “You can’t help it that you’re so good-looking.” She glanced at him again. “And tall.”
Jackson shrugged.
“And…sexy.”
The smile came slow and easy, but his mind remained in turmoil. “Since you’re talking to me again, can I ask for clarification?”
“On what?”
“This whole conundrum thing you mentioned.” To keep making headway with her, he needed to understand. “Are you saying that when it’s better for you not to know something, I should tell you that there’s something I’m not telling you?” He shook his head. Damn it, that even confused him.
But she nodded. “If I know you’re being evasive to guard the end goal—protection-wise—then I won’t think you’re just shutting me out.”
“Wouldn’t do that anyway.” Hell, he wanted to be closer to her. At least for now.
Until he shed the sharp need for her. And that should take…oh, a couple dozen sexual encounters at the very least.
“Oh, please.” They sidled up in line behind an older couple. Lowering her voice, Alani asked, “So you’re willing to open up and tell me anything I want to know?”
Cautious now, afraid of a trap, Jackson said, “Yes?”
“You don’t know if it’s yes or no?”
“Actually, I don’t know what type of corner you’re backing me into.”
“No corner. I’m just trying to establish the parameters of our…association.”
“Relationship, damn it.”
The fiftysomething lady in line ahead of Alani glanced back, then did a double take, and this time she didn’t look away.
Jackson lowered his voice more. “We’ve slept together, and we’ll sleep together again—” at least he hoped so “—so we’re in a relationship.” How far things would go…he didn’t know yet. But he wouldn’t let her deny what they had, just because he didn’t remember it. Shit.
Alani smiled. “Let’s test this theory.”
Even more cautious, Jackson braced himself. “Okay.” And then, “How?”
“I have so many questions about you.”
God, he hated the old introspection stuff. If she was any other woman, he’d just tease her, bed her again and then put a whole lot of space between himself and her curiosity.
But he couldn’t do that now. Not only did he need to stay close to Alani to keep her safe, but he wanted her. Again and again.
“Maybe we could put that off for a bit?”
Demure, Alani said, “Sure, Jackson. There’s nothing I really need to know.”
“Damn it, I didn’t say that.”
“Yet you’re dodging me already.”
He gave a pointed look at the older woman, whose husband more or less dragged her off, and the young cashier who kept sneaking peeks at him. “Dodging eavesdroppers, actually.”
She followed his gaze and scowled. “Unbelievable.”
It was their turn at the register, and while Alani alternately slapped their purchases onto the belt and mean-mugged onlookers, he scanned the parking lot through the massive front windows of the store. Cars rearranged themselves in a continually shifting tide, some leaving, some parking, with pedestrians milling about.
He didn’t see the silver sedan, but then, someone would have to be either a special kind of stupid, or incredibly arrogant, to continue using the same car, especially with it being so identifiable. Not many could afford a hundred-thousand-dollar vehicle.
Ostentatious. Whoever dogged them had a need to flaunt their wealth.
Or else the car was stolen and would be abandoned soon in favor of a different vehicle.
When Alani started to open her purse to pay the clerk, he caught her wrist and frowned at her. “Don’t even think it.” While the young cashier popped gum and looked between them, Jackson pulled a credit card from his own wallet.
Alani leaned over his hands to read the name on the card, and her right eyebrow lifted.
Trusting her not to question the alias listed on all his IDs, he ran the card, got the receipt and lifted the bags into the cart. Voice low, he said, “Stay to my left and slightly behind me.”
“You’re expecting trouble?”
“Nah. But I always prepare for it anyway.” Luckily, they got to her car without a glitch and with no sense of being watched. Hazy waves of heat emanated from the blacktop lot. He felt his T-shirt stick to his spine and noticed that enticing glow on Alani’s face again.
“Go ahead and get settled while I load the bags into the back.”
She went one further and opened the driver’s door to let out some of the accumulated heat.
“Thanks.” After kicking up the air-conditioning, he put the car in Drive and continued to scan the area even as he drove from the lot.
Alani watched him. “Do you need me to be quiet so you can concentrate?”
Cute. And thoughtful. “Nah, it’s fine, but thanks.” He looked over at her just long enough to smile at the sincerity on her face.
“You’re sure? I don’t want to be the cause of distracting you.”
“I can multitask.” And good thing, since she’d been distracting him from the day he met her. There were times when he almost couldn’t think of anything else. “Luckily, my instincts take over when necessary.”
“So can I ask you something?”
Too late, Jackson realized that he might have avoided the inquisition if he’d let her believe he had to concentrate. Warily, he said, “Uh…sure,” as he pulled back onto the main road.
Passing back the same way they’d come, he noted the recent tire burns where, thanks to the silver BMW, others had been forced to brake hard to avoid colliding. He saw the gouge in the grassy area, left by his tires when he’d gone off the road. He saw gravel spit everywhere across the roadway.
At no point had he felt out of control with the car, but it pissed him off that anyone had put Alani in harm’s way. When he found the one responsible, there’d be hell to pay.
“How did you hook up with Dare and Trace?”
Uh-oh. Not exactly the type of question he’d been expecting. To buy himself a moment to think, Jackson pulled up behind a red light and said, “What’s that?”
Her look said she recognized his ploy. “I know Trace doesn’t recruit. That’d require advertising, and naturally, as a very private mercenary for hire, he can’t do that. You guys had to meet somehow, but I’ve never heard how it came about. So tell me—”
“Did you swallow?”
They stared at each other, Jackson with an inner wince, Alani with incomprehension at that dropped-in, out-of-the-blue question.
Jesus. He’d been desperate to derail her line of questioning, but he hadn’t meant to toss that out there like that. Course, it was something uppermost on his mind, eating at him, making it difficult to keep desire stomped down.
Only problem, she didn’t seem to understand. She shook her head in confusion. “Swallow what?”
So he had to spell it out? Well, at least he’d gotten her on another topic. He cleared his throat. “You know…me.”
Her brows rose, her lips parted.
The traffic light turned green. Jackson divided his attention between driving, surveying the area and studying Alani’s dawning awareness.
His breathing deepened. His voice thickened. “Did you?”
She licked her lips. “You didn’t give me a chance.”
He reached for her hand and brought it to his thigh, holding it there with his own. The contrast maddened him, how small and delicate her hand felt under his, how it affected him for her to touch him at all, even on top of his thigh through his jeans. “Tell me how that all came about, will ya?”
Her fingers curled, biting into his muscle. “I was…kissing you. There.” She nodded at his lap.
And damned but he felt it. “With you so far.”
“You�
�you had a hand on my…” To show him, she reached up with her free hand to the back of her neck. “You were sort of guiding me, I guess.”
“Yeah?” His dick twitched with the visual. “Like this?” He reached out for her nape, closing his big hand around her, kneading her, his fingers tangled in her silky hair.
“Yes.”
“We were in the bed?”
“No. That is, you were. You sat on the side of the mattress, but I was…on the floor. In front of you.”
Hell, yeah. Semi-erect now, he couldn’t stop tormenting himself. “On your knees?”
Nodding, she licked her lips again. “You were making these rough, sexy sounds, like… I don’t know. Low groans. Almost like you were in pain, but liked it.”
“Yeah.” A delicious pain. He was back there again, hurting for her.
Her hand on his thigh slid higher, the edge of her fingers nudging against his testicles. He hadn’t come in his pants since middle school, but if he didn’t cool things down, it could be a possibility.
Releasing her neck, Jackson closed her slender fingers in his and moved her hand to safer ground—on the seat between them.
One-handed, he turned a corner, not directly toward Alani’s house, but rather to where he’d left his car in a private garage.
She didn’t notice.
He knew she’d wanted to go by her workplace, too, but he didn’t think he could handle it. Not now. Not with the way she twisted him inside out.
“Go on,” he prompted.
“Suddenly, you sort of…broke.” She rushed her words between hastened breaths, as if the retelling affected her as much as it did him. “You pulled me away and came down on the floor with me and then…”
“Then?”
“You were inside me and it was hard and wild and…” She let out a sigh. “Pretty wonderful.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
OKAY, TIME TO REFOCUS.
Jackson adjusted his jeans and shifted in his seat. Knowing Alani watched his every move, her expression anxious, he again reached for her hand and brought it to his mouth.
Against her soft skin, he growled, “I’m going to love getting inside you again.” God willing, that’d be tonight. Or better yet, before dinner. “But to keep from embarrassing myself, we gotta change the subject, pronto.”