Instead, I made myself step away and grab a banana from the bowl of fruit on the counter. I was changing so fast, I could hardly keep track, and I was determined not to give in to this new craving. What if every change I accepted meant I was becoming less and less myself? What other parts of the old me would Alecto force me to give up?
“Did you say Fury back there?” Jackson asked as I ate.
“She’s snaky, whatever she is,” Alex confided to Jackson. “Did you see that hair? Total snake nest.”
“Aside from the increased speed and stamina, as well as the freakier stuff that happens when the Fury comes out,” Rachel added, “it seems that—”
“The Fury does have a name,” I snapped.
I wasn’t thrilled I had to share my body, but it had been horrifying to be trapped inside it, and I could only imagine what it was like for Alecto to live that way all the time. I wasn’t willing to let her change my personality or my eating habits but if we were going to be stuck with each other, I might as well give her what consideration I could.
“Yeah, good idea.” Jackson crossed his arms. “Let’s name your psychotic delusion. That’ll help.”
I gave him the evil eye.
“Can we focus here?” Rachel asked. “First of all, Jackson, you know this isn’t a delusion. You saw it with your own eyes. So let’s just deal and move on, OK? Now, as I was saying, Tara’s body is clearly changing to accommodate Alecto’s consciousness merging with hers.”
“Meaning?” I pressed.
“Meaning the normal human body can’t meet the demands put on it by Alecto’s manifestation. Essentially, you have a snake with higher consciousness living inside of you. Your basic bodily functions are going to have to change.”
“So the fact that I’m eating for two proves I’m becoming a snake woman?”
“That, and your newfound desire to eat animal products. I’m guessing your appetite will skew increasingly carnivorous as time goes on. Based on snake physiology, we can guess what type of changes you can expect to see, but with the mythological elements thrown in, there’s no way to predict exactly what will happen.”
“This is ridiculous,” Jackson said.
“Then how do you explain what you just saw? And what I did to Miller and Priest?” I asked. “Like Rachel said, I’m way stronger and faster than I should be.”
“And that just automatically makes you a Fury? Yeah, right.”
“It’s not just that. I can do…other things.”
“What other things?”
“When you came into the room at the Stardust, you smelled pepper spray, right?”
“Yeah. So?”
“The reason it didn’t affect me was because of Alecto. I can hold my breath, like, forever now. And she told me to do this thing with my eyes so the pepper spray wouldn’t bother me.”
“What thing?” Rachel demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
“I forgot about it. Just chill for a second and I’ll show you.” I closed my eyes, remembering the flex of tiny muscles, then opened them again and blinked the thin membrane into place.
“So creepy,” Alex whispered. I knew she was thrilled.
Jackson gawked and went pale. “You…have a brille.”
“What’s a brille, why do you think I have one, and how do you even know what it is?” I asked. Who’d have thought there was a name for what I’d just done, much less that Jackson would be the one to identify it?
“Snakes have no eyelids, right?” he said.
I shrugged. “If you say so.”
“They have this thing called a brille instead, an ocular scale that covers the eyes to protect them. It’s clear, so you can’t see it most of the time, but it gets cloudy when they’re getting ready to molt.”
Shed my skin? I pictured a discarded Tara-skin crumpled on my bedroom floor and immediately wished I hadn’t. I was not OK with where this was going.
Alex, however, clearly didn’t share my concern. “Check out Encyclopedia Brown over here!” She whistled in approval and I heard Ruby stir in the other room.
Jackson shrugged. “I was really into reptiles as a kid.”
Nora shook her head. “Ugh. The stories I could tell you about him.”
“Why didn’t the pepper spray lingering in the air at the motel bother you?” Rachel asked Jackson.
Ruby’s voice answered her from the doorway. “Uncle Jackson went to special army school. He learned how to be tough and kill bad guys, like G.I. Joe.”
Funny, I hadn’t heard her little feet approaching. Maybe ninja skills ran in the family, like Jackson’s nerves of steel when I’d sneaked up behind him.
Ruby padded over to her mother and raised her arms to be picked up. “Uncle Jackson had to go away lots to take care of all the seals. That’s where he was when Daddy died.”
“Seals?” I turned to Jackson. “As in, Coast Guard?”
“SEALs as in Navy,” he said shortly. Then he turned to Nora. “I might have been deployed when Cash was killed, but I’m here now and I’m not about to let anything happen to you and Ruby. Which is why we’re leaving—now. Whatever’s going on here, you and Ruby are having no part in it.”
“Ruby is already part of it,” Nora said. “She’s been part of it for years.” She pressed her cheek against her daughter’s dark hair. “Cash died to protect her, Jackson. They made it look like a home invasion, but somebody was after her. And now they’ve found us again, whether you want to believe it or not. Tara is the only thing standing between Ruby and whoever is after her. Ruby saw it, and she’s never wrong.”
Jackson scrubbed his hands over his face and through his hair. His cheekbones, I noticed, were sexy as hell. I wondered what it would feel like to run my fingers through his messy hair. Now that the edge had been taken off my hunger, the lust I felt every time I was in close proximity to him came roaring back. Another hunger was tugging at me now, and I felt the deep pull of sexual desire.
Which was wrong for so many reasons. There was an audience, for one thing. And one of them was a kid.
Alecto stirred. We want him, she purred, so let us have him. For a snake, she sounded downright feline. My pulse quickened and the room felt suddenly crowded. I thought about the dream I’d had of Jackson naked underneath me and felt myself getting wet.
I had to get out of the kitchen. Immediately.
“I need some air,” I muttered, heading for the door leading to our backyard.
“Not so fast.” Jackson grabbed my arm as I tried to brush past. “If you really are the only thing standing between my niece and some psycho who’s out to get her, we need to talk.”
His hand on my skin was an electric shock running straight up my arm and I had to will myself not to moan out loud.
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “Let’s talk. Alex, Rach, why don’t you take Nora and Ruby out for ice cream while Jackson and I have a little chat?”
There was no mistaking the tension in my voice, and I hoped it would be attributed to anger at Jackson’s demanding tone, rather than my urge to have his tongue in my mouth. I didn’t know if I was going to attack him or seduce him, but sparks were about to fly and I didn’t want any witnesses.
I pulled my arm from his grasp and went outside, knowing he would follow.
Chapter 11
“What was that?” Jackson demanded as he followed me outside. The screen door swung shut as he stepped out into the hot sun.
“What was what?” I snarled back, turning to look at him. Frustration at my traitor libido made me snappish.
His eyes burned into me. “What was that…spark back there in the kitchen? The way I am around you, the way you make me react—this isn’t natural.”
Despite the thick denim covering his erection, I could see the hard, visible proof of his arousal. Without thinking, I closed the distance between us and pressed myself against him, thankful for the board fence that separated our yard from Mrs. Hadley’s. Then I had his bottom lip betwe
en my teeth, and I couldn’t think of anything else.
I rested my hand on his fly. “Feels pretty natural to me.” I squeezed gently and he drew in a sharp breath, then hauled me closer.
“This is crazy,” he muttered against my mouth, but he didn’t stop.
I kissed his neck, salty with sweat. Taking my cue, he cupped my ass in his hands and lifted me against him. I wrapped my legs around his hips, locking him against me as he walked me backward a couple steps to the picnic table. I leaned back on the rough surface while he loomed over me, backlit by the sun like a cowboy Apollo. He ran calloused hands over my stomach, pushing my shirt up as he went. I raised my arms so he could slide it off over my head and he tossed it to the side, leaving me in my running shorts and sports bra.
“Now you,” I panted. I grabbed the hem of his shirt and dragged it up his body, dying to see his naked torso. He hauled the shirt off in a quick, smooth motion, and I sat up to lick the faint, dark dusting of hair leading to his navel. A set of dog tags on a thin, metal chain lay against the hard, muscular planes of his chest.
He groaned. “This is crazy,” he said again, his Southern drawl thick with arousal. “I’ve never felt anything like this.”
Good. Mine.
Alecto stretched, flexed inside my head. Ours, she corrected. Her power coiled in my belly, lithe and powerful at the base of my spine.
Yes, I agreed distractedly. Ours.
Jackson traced the column of my neck with his tongue and pulled me to the very edge of the table so he could grind his hard length against me. His touch against the sensitive skin of my throat triggered the same flashback that had come between us at the Stardust, and I pulled back in sudden fear, breathing heavily for a different reason now. Embarrassed and overwhelmed, I squirmed backward and looked away, but Jackson cupped my face gently in his hand and raised my eyes to his.
“I won’t hurt you,” he promised. “Won’t do anything you don’t like.” He was careful not to touch me anywhere else, though I could feel the heat and nearness of him. I let out a shuddering breath full of need and anxiety.
“If I say stop?”
“Then we stop.” His eyes were sincere, and I knew I could trust him.
“Come here.” I gripped his hips to pull him back against me.
“Touch me,” he ordered, and I reached down to free the hot, heavy length of him. My sports bra disappeared, and he lowered me back down to the sun-warmed boards of the picnic table. I barely noticed the rough, splintery friction of wood against my back. Jackson braced himself over me on his forearms and pressed against my core, teasing me through the damp fabric of my shorts. I arched my back as he bent his head to one taut, aching nipple, and I thrust my hips up to meet his.
“Please,” I moaned, begging him. “Now.” Already, I was so close.
I guided his hand down to cover me and he kneaded my center. I skimmed out of my shorts as he stripped off his jeans. I flashed to Clinton Miller again, but another fierce, uncontrollable wave of desire rolled through me, pushing the memory away. I writhed against Jackson, desperate to feel him inside me, but he held back, teasing me.
I reached down to guide him where I wanted him, running my hand up and down the smooth length of his hard cock.
“Fuck me,” I said shamelessly, looking him in the eye. Instead, he pulled away so he could kneel down and run his tongue over me and I gasped. There were no words for what he was doing to me.
“You taste so fucking good,” he growled against me. He looked up to meet my gaze before swirling his tongue against my clit again, then slid two fingers inside of me, slowly. The internal pressure combined with the heat of his mouth pushed me over the edge and I thrust my hips against him as a hot, almost painful orgasm rushed through me. I fisted my hands in his hair and dragged him up my body.
“Now,” I managed again, breathless.
“Now,” he confirmed. He reached for the jeans he’d discarded and pulled out his wallet to retrieve a condom. He rolled it on and pushed into me, and I bit his shoulder to stifle a scream.
He pulled back and I moaned in protest.
He leaned down to kiss me. “Don’t worry, darlin’. I’m not going anywhere.”
He bent his head to my breasts again and sucked hard on my nipple as he set a fast, hard rhythm. He thrust into me again and again, and with each thrust I rolled my hips up to meet him. When he finally shuddered his climax, I came with him. Spent, I let my muscles relax under the delicious, heavy weight of him as he nuzzled his face against my neck, breathing hard. After a too-short, languid moment, he pushed himself back up on his forearms with an exaggerated groan.
“Am I still alive?” he asked, widening his eyes and looking around in mock surprise.
I laughed. This playful, easy side of Jackson was a pleasant surprise. His face was open and friendly, more relaxed than I would have thought possible and I willed the moment to last. I hoped that when the endorphins faded and his mind turned again to the danger his family was facing, he wouldn’t regret what had happened between us. It would be all too easy for him to chalk our intimacy up to me being some kind of low-rent succubus who’d overwhelmed him with my Furious wiles.
“Get off before you crush me,” I joked, pushing against his shoulder as I tried to keep the mood light. “Where’s that Southern charm?”
Jackson pressed closer, already hard again. “How’s this for Southern charm?” He grinned wickedly.
I opened my mouth to answer him—but let out a shriek instead as a stinging wall of icy water rained down on us. Jackson let out a yell of surprise and released me, and I scrambled off the picnic table to duck behind him, hiding like a teenager caught skinny dipping. I had a sneaking suspicion about where the deluge had come from and I couldn’t have been more ashamed if my own mother had just walked in on us. I peered over Jackson’s shoulder for confirmation, then closed my eyes in silent humiliation.
Peering over the fence, garden hose in hand, was elderly Mrs. Hadley from next door. Barely four-foot-ten and formidable as an old dragon, she must have been standing on something to even see over the edge.
“Tara Walker!” she scolded. “Is this any way for a young lady to act? And a Fury, no less! Where is your sense of responsibility?”
My mouth dropped open. “What did you say?” I squeaked from behind Jackson, trying to hide as much of my nakedness behind his broad form as I could.
“I would expect a bit more decorum from a young woman in your position,” my neighbor muttered righteously under her breath. “With great power comes great responsibility.”
She disappeared to coil her garden hose neatly in place on its caddy, and Jackson and I stared at each other. Was she…quoting Spiderman at me?
“Did she just say what I think she said?”
He shook his head in disbelief and shot me a dark look as he got busy scooping our clothes up off the ground. “Do you have any other surprises I should know about?”
We struggled back into our now damp, disheveled clothing, and as I had feared, the anger was back in his voice. I had no idea how Mrs. Hadley could have known what I was, so I offered the only response I could.
“Um…the plot thickens?”
“And you, young man.” Mrs. Hadley popped back into view and picked up her scolding as though she’d never broken off. “In my day, gentleman callers may have gotten fresh from time to time, but they certainly didn’t disrobe in the backyard. For shame!”
Somehow, Jackson managed to respond to the old woman’s surreal accusations with dignity. He strolled over to the fence and gave her his most charming grin.
“I apologize, ma’am.” He laid the Southern drawl on thick. “You are completely right. My mama would be ashamed. But can I ask how—”
Mrs. Hadley smiled at him, mollified by his apology, but didn’t let him finish his question. “Boys will be boys, I suppose,” she railroaded on. “Why, I can’t say that my Charlie didn’t have a little fire in him when he was a young man. There was a time—�
��
“Mrs. Hadley, I’m so sorry you saw that.” I joined Jackson at the fence and cut her off. Quickly. I was glad she was sufficiently charmed not to turn the hose on us again, but there were limits. Hearing about what had riled up her dearly departed husband in his younger days was a firm one.
“I’d like to introduce you to my—” I paused awkwardly. He wasn’t really my anything.
“I’m Jackson Byrne, ma’am,” he saved me.
“Mrs. Hadley,” I tried again, “did you say Fury a minute ago?”
“Tara, dear,” Mrs. Hadley replied, peering at me over the top of her bifocals, “don’t play dumb. It’s not attractive.” Jackson snorted, then tried to disguise it as a cough when I cut my eyes at him. “You’d better just come over for a nice piece of apple crumble,” she continued. “We have a lot to discuss.”
“Mrs. Hadley—” I tried again, but the matter was closed for discussion.
“I’ll see you in a little while, dear,” she said firmly, disappearing from view. “Don’t be long, now.”
Her footsteps faded as she went back inside, certain I would join her next door as ordered. Jackson was practically vibrating by the time she was out of sight, and I hoped he would at least wait until my neighbor was safely indoors before he exploded at me.
Instead, he surprised me by letting out a laugh as soon as we heard Mrs. Hadley’s screen door swing shut.
“That was not funny.” I crossed my arms.
“Sure it was.” He leaned back against the picnic table. “Something about this mess you’ve gotten me into has to be.”
I didn’t care for his insinuation that I’d engineered his involvement in what was happening, but I couldn’t help wanting him again. Somehow, he managed to look sexily rumpled rather than soggy and bedraggled, as I was sure as I did. In spite of my self-consciousness, I stepped forward and slid a hand under the hem of his shirt.
But this time, Jackson gripped my arms to stop me from going any farther. “Look,” he said, growing serious, “I won’t deny there’s something between us, but we can’t do this. Ruby and Nora will be back with your roommates any minute now.”
Fury’s Kiss Page 10