by Joni Hahn
“So, you do all of this just to be neighborly?”
“It started out that way but after Dad died, they began paying me. All of them. I didn’t ask for it, they just handed me money. Every penny goes to medical bills.”
He just stared at her, his expression unreadable.
“What?”
“Are you for real?”
Frowning, Rachel huffed. “What do you mean by that?”
Tristan shook his head. “Never mind.” Turning his back to her, he motioned for her to hop on. “I think you’re going to have to ride piggyback this time. I want to go down to the edge of the cliff and I don’t know what’s in the grass down there.”
“You’re not thinking of jumping are you?” She hooked her arms and legs around him.
Hopping down from the wall, he walked towards the sound of the sea. “I bet if I jumped, I could teleport us somewhere before we hit the water.”
Rachel tried to scramble to the ground. Tristan held her firm against his back. “No way.”
Laughing, he stopped at the edge of the cliff and helped steady her on the grass. “I thought you Monroes lived life on the edge. Guess I was wrong.”
She held onto his arm to balance herself. “I guess so because that would happen only over my dead body.”
His grasp on her arm tightened. He lowered his voice, the darkness amplifying his words. “I’d never let anything happen to you, Rachel.”
Her heart stilled against the strong wind, her gaze shooting to his face illuminated in the pale blue light. There shown no teasing glint, no hint of deceit. Only a firm promise that her heart told her rang true.
“I think you might actually mean that.”
The wind stilled, pausing for his response. “Every word.”
Her heart fluttered in her chest like a trapped bird. Something in the way he said it, in the knowledge that despite the alcohol and the reason they were thrown together in the first place, he still wanted to say it, made her insides melt. It was the most romantic thing a man had ever said to her.
Was she really standing on the Scottish shore, barefoot, with the hottest man this side of sanity? A man that had kidnapped her from her own wedding? A man that she had no business admiring because she was still engaged?
Tristan flicked on his bright flashlight and studied the grass around them. Deeming it safe, he helped her sit down before he explored the edge of the cliff and the rocks below.
Lying back, she stared up at the sky. A million stars surrounded them, the full moon proudly on display as though God had hung it there just for them and their night of travel.
“Tristan, you should lie down here. It looks like we’re in a snow globe.”
Making his way to her side, he switched his light back to pale blue. Lying down beside her, he rested his head in his hands and looked up. The sound of the water lapping against the rocks relaxed her, the night breeze moist against her face.
“It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?” she said.
“I need to bring you back during the day. The view is incredible.”
To have him admit he’d like to spend more time with her proved they had come a long way in the last few hours. They hadn’t fought at all throughout their escapade and had actually laughed quite a bit. Tristan no longer flinched or cringed when she touched him, and she had become comfortable walking into his embrace to teleport.
Leaning over him, she picked up his left arm and studied the copper and gold band that covered most of his forearm. “So, how does this thing work?”
“I have a gold and copper compound in my blood. The band contains a Tesla-derived coil that feeds electricity into my bloodstream through a high frequency generator powered by solid hydrogen.”
Tristan pressed an emblem on top of the band. The metal slipped away to reveal a computer screen underneath. “The band holds many utilities but this screen is the main hub. It’s basically a high-tech computer, with additional software and technology for my system. No matter what application I’m in, if I scan my thumb, I can teleport. If I scan my forefinger, I can turn invisible.”
Looking up, his handsome face sat just inches away from hers. “Is it safe with all of that going through your body?”
He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “The science team assured me the system wouldn’t hurt me, but I know it’s a possibility.” His gaze met hers. “I’m the first of my kind, the experimental model. There are bound to be kinks to work out.”
Rachel pulled back her head. “Kinks? You’re a human being, for goodness sake.”
“They chose me because I had no family ties.”
Rachel wanted to tell him he did have ties – the Monroe family. Aidan cared what happened to him and like it or not, so did she.
She hated the idea that he felt alone in the world.
“Can you teleport while invisible?”
He grinned. “Oh, yeah. It’s come in handy on many occasions.”
The thought of Tristan in danger made her stomach queasy. She hated that idea, too.
“I don’t want to know.”
“I won’t tell you.”
She laid her cheek on his chest. His heart beat strong and loud against her ear. “Are you in danger a lot?”
OK, you just told him you didn’t want to know, so why are you asking?
He lay silent for several moments. “Immediate danger, no. I try to avoid that. But, most situations I walk into can turn at any moment.”
She really didn’t want to know that. “Do you ever get scared?” Just shut it, Monroe.
His voice was low, resigned. “I tell myself fear is a decision. But, yeah, I’ve been scared.”
A disquieting sense of need came over her. She wanted to fix that fear. She wanted to take it away from Tristan and assure him he’d never have to fear again.
She clutched his hand in hers. “For instance?...”
Taking a deep breath, Tristan’s voice rumbled at her ear. “Once, someone assigned me to watch over a woman. She wasn’t with me long before I made her cry and I-“
She popped him on the chest. “Not funny, Jacobs.”
“It’s the truth.”
Rachel pulled up to look at him. “Me crying scared you?”
His eyes held a devilish twinkle. “Terrified me.”
“Are you really that big of a wuss?”
Tristan burst out laughing. The next thing she knew, she lay flat on her back in the grass and stared up into his sparkling blue eyes. She loved the view from this angle.
Her gaze dropped to his mouth. That gorgeous, stubble-trimmed mouth that spouted promises she’d only heard in her dreams. It made perfect sense that her emotions, her hormones, were totally freaking out tonight, right? That after the day and evening she’d had, Tristan Jacobs, a virtual stranger, made her body want for things she’d done with only two men on earth? That in Scotland, under the full moon, with no one around to remind her she was an idiot, Rachel wanted to make love with him in the grass of Dunnottar Castle?
“You’re not very bright, insulting a man that has you halfway across the world, barefoot, with no money or phone.”
Spreading her palms out over his chest, she trailed them up his shoulders. “Well then, I may have to use whatever means necessary to ensure I get home.”
He stilled above her. “Aidan would kill me.”
“Then it’s a good thing Aidan isn’t here.” Rachel brushed back the hair from his brow.
She lay there waiting for him to do something. His eyes roamed over her face and hair in a blatantly arrogant and conquering way. It struck her that Tristan probably had women throw themselves at him all the time. Rushing onto a scene like some superhero rock star probably gave him his pick of women.
The more she thought about it, he was probably thinking of a way to let her down easy. He didn’t think of her like that at all and she had just made a total ass of herself.
She’d been down that road before and wouldn’t take it again.
Moving to g
et up, Rachel caught her breath when Tristan trapped her hands against his chest. In an instant, that arrogant look in his eyes transformed into something more, something loaded with hunger and desire. If Rachel thought him hot before, she’d been very naïve. Confidence, arousal and determination on Tristan Jacobs’ face blew away any fantasy she could have conjured.
He slowly lowered his mouth to hers. Her heart pounded against her ribs, the rush of blood in her ears deafening as he staked his claim. His lips toyed with hers, tasting, testing before he delved his tongue inside, not with urgency, but with ease.
Heaven help her, the man could kiss. He knew just what to do to make her squirm, to want more, to drive her insane. His intent stood loud and clear between them – he would not be rushed.
While he feasted on her mouth, the rest of her body screamed for attention. Her hands roamed the wide expanse of his back, his sides, while his hands simply relaxed in the hair fanned out behind her head.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Rachel made her feelings known. She deepened the kiss, moaning into his mouth as he followed her queue. Rachel heard his breathing catch and crescendo, as his once complacent hands held her head steady for his invasion.
Shifting to wrap a leg around his thigh, she felt his hard length against her. Taking his hand, she guided it to her breast. When his palm covered her, Rachel broke the kiss, gasping for breath. “Oh Tris, yes.”
Pulling up her shirt, Tristan took her breast in his mouth. Rachel cried out as intense pleasure washed over her like the waves below them. She held his head to her, his mouth creating a hunger inside she’d never felt before. When his hand kneaded her other breast, she knew she’d go mad if they didn’t make love.
“Tris, please don’t…”
He tore away his mouth, his breathing labored. “Damn, I’m sorry. I should’ve stopped this a long time ago.” He lowered her shirt and ran a hand down his face.
What? No!
“Have you lost your mind?” Rachel sat up and glared at him.
“Rachel, this was going somewhere fast and I don’t know if I could’ve stopped in another two seconds.”
“Maybe I didn’t want you to stop.”
He groaned when she rubbed her palm against the evidence that he felt the same way. He stayed her hand.
“I guarantee you, tomorrow morning you would have been pissed at me, yourself, and Aidan.”
She snatched away her hand. “Oh, so now you’re going to make an executive decision and deny us both what we want?”
“Aidan trusted me to take care of you. I’m not much of a friend right now.”
Rachel jumped to her feet and glared down at him. “I’m darned tired of you and Aidan making decisions about my life. If I want to have wild sex with you, I have a right to do it.”
Jumping up, he glared down at her this time. “Well, that would be a little difficult without my consent.”
“A few minutes ago, I had it.”
Running his hand through his hair, Tristan let out a deep breath. “Rachel, you know what kind of life I lead. If we made love tonight, it would go nowhere. Aidan would kill me. You’re engaged. And I…”
“What?”
He shook his head. “Never mind.”
Pulling her into his arms, he gave her a long, thorough, muscle-stealing kiss. Just when she thought he’d changed his mind, he broke away.
Looking around on the ground, he bent and picked up a rock. Opening her palm, he dropped it inside. “Since the gift shop isn’t open…”
Rachel just stared at him. He just blew off the most amazing make out session of her life as no more than a vacation memory.
Remember when we went to Dunnottar Castle that one time? We walked through the grounds and had the hottest make out session ever on the cliff overlooking the North Sea? Yeah, here’s a rock.
“Let’s go home, Rachel.”
Chapter 4
Wasn’t he just here? Whack.
Tristan wiped the sweat from his face with his forearm. Not only was he back in the cage again, he was in worse shape than he was hours earlier. He could officially call himself an idiot of the highest regard.
He’d tasted Rachel Monroe. She’d lain beneath him, kissing him like it was her last request and he’d… turned her away.
Whack. He ached to the point of pain.
Unfulfilled desire was a sonovabitch. Why had he done it to himself? To them? For some sense of loyalty to Aidan? For some sense of respect for Rachel and the emotional day she’d had?
Whack. Yeah, that’s why. He could now be called the world’s greatest Boy Scout.
Congratulations, you dumb sonovabitch.
He spat a short, succinct curse.
They’d fought, argued, over the fact that she wanted to have wild sex with him. Sex had been all he could think about since he first saw her, and now he argued with her about it?
Whack.
While she had a body worthy of worship, it had been her inquisitive mind and free spirit that drew him to her. Rachel had run around the hypogeum of the Colosseum like a child. She’d made him laugh when she whooped aloud and screamed “I’m in Italy” at the top of her lungs.
When he’d teleported her to the outer wall of the Colosseum, her grip around his waist had been tight as a bear trap. When she’d stood vulnerable and visibly shaken, she’d smiled at him and taken his hand...
Whack.
She’d given him her trust.
After learning how she helped her neighbors, Tristan knew Rachel was too good to sleep with someone like him. She had more compassion in her little toe than he had in his entire body. She gave her all in whatever she endeavored and would probably blow his system if she ever turned that spirit on him in bed.
Whack.
Mitchell had warned him about getting close to someone. Thank goodness, after tomorrow he’d never see her again.
The machine hummed to a stop. Tristan slumped his shoulders. How had he already gone through his entire supply of balls?
Dragging the bat with him, he walked around the cage picking up balls and tossing them in a bucket beside the machine. He’d head to the water after this to take a cool swim. He couldn’t go inside knowing Rachel lay in his bed nearly naked.
“Tris?”
He whipped around. Rachel stood across the cage, just inside the gate. Fresh from the shower, she wore a teal towel that covered her from breast to mid-thigh. Her eyes were dark, the same color as the towel, her skin dewy and slick.
His body hardened like the bat in his hand. God help him, he couldn’t do this anymore.
“Don’t think. Don’t talk.”
Tristan dropped the bat.
“Just hurry.”
Whipping his shirt over his head, Tristan stormed across the cage. Rachel reached for the knot in the towel and dropped it to the ground. Stumbling, he stripped the swim trunks from his legs.
The woman was utter perfection, from her full, firm breasts to her flat belly and long legs. And, she wanted him.
Reaching her, Tristan hauled her up in his arms. Rachel wrapped her limbs around him. Shoving her back against the fence, he took her mouth with bruising force, his tongue delving deep.
A voice in the back of his mind told him he would pay for going down this road. Yet, having Rachel naked in his arms, kissing her like this… nothing would stop him. Not now.
She smelled of his soap and her own signature scent, the skin of her back soft, smooth along the length of her spine.
Those incredible breasts of hers were crushed against him, full and erect, her long legs locked around his waist, daring him to get away.
Like hell.
His fingers found her warmth, intent on readying her for his invasion.
Oh… shit.
She was so ready for him, the evidence trickled down his thigh. He broke the kiss, their groans carrying on the steamy, night breeze.
Rachel bucked against his hand, urging him to move. “Tris, don’t tease…”
&nb
sp; Tease hell. Gritting his teeth, he plunged into her.
Rachel’s heat seared him, her center tight and embracing. Over and over he took her, rocking her with all of the pent-up frustration he’d carried around that day, taking her with all of the guilty pleasure racking his body, showing her how much her presence had already changed him.
Her mouth at his throat, her whispered encouragement at his ear, fought his control at every push.
“Tristan…” she moaned, her breath harsh at his ear.
“What baby?”
“I can’t…” She bucked against him with wild abandon, driving him insane.
“Tristan.”
Rachel pulsed around him, her climax pulling at something deep inside. He cradled her to him, her vulnerable response humbling, releasing a damn of raw need he’d never dared show the world. Kissing the salt from her brow, Tristan thrust into her again, opening himself to her, letting in her light to shine on his heart that had only seen darkness. He felt new, as though rebirth sat just on the other side of-
Her radiant smile threw Tristan over the edge into a spiral of dazzling brilliance, her kisses on his neck dissolving indifference in their path.
#####
The vibration at her hip woke Rachel. Frowning through the fog and the dinosaur stomping around in her head, Rachel turned in time to see Tristan pull his arm from around her waist and get up from the bed. His perfect rear and tattooed back disappeared behind the bedroom door.
Rachel groaned into her pillow. Tristan had been right.
She was ticked off. She should have listened to him instead of her stubborn, raging hormones.
Covering her face against the sunlight intruding on her sleep, Rachel knew she only had herself to blame. She’d had wild sex with Tristan Jacobs in the batting cage, under the shower on the patio, in the surf of the Atlantic Ocean and in this heavenly bed. They had done things to each other she didn’t even know could be done and she’d had no qualms about any of it.
The sex had gone way beyond anything she could have conjured in her fantasies. Thinking about it this morning made her hot all over again despite the fact that she made an utter fool of herself. She’d thrown away any moral conviction she may have carried that sex should only happen between two people in love.