9 Ways to Fall in Love

by Caroline Clemmons

  She finally pulled free of their kiss, gasping for breath. Leaning forward, she rested her head against his shoulder as his hands moved upward from her waist where he'd held her, fingers unhooking the clasp of the bra sure and steady. He slid the straps down her arms and Cassie stepped back, allowing the bra to slide free. It dangled from one of his hands before he tossed it atop the growing pile of clothes before the fireplace.

  By silent consent they scrambled to undress, kicking free boots and pants until they stood naked and unashamed. The changes in Jake’s body, now that of a mature man and not the boy from her memories impressed Cassie. Years of hard work honed and sculpted him into a lean muscular Adonis.

  The heat from the blazing logs warmed her skin but couldn't match the fire burning inside. She'd waited a lifetime to be in Jake's arms once again. Feel his hard body pressed against hers. Missed the feel of the fine hairs across his chest tease against her sensitive nipples. They peaked at the sensation and hardened to pinpoints of awareness as his fingers skimmed across her breasts, tugging at first one and then the other. The pleasure/pain caused her to draw in her breath in a gasp, letting the mixture of sensations flood her.

  Jake's hand cupped her breast. He lowered his head, his tongue encircled one nipple while his fingers teased across her other breast. Desire coiled deep inside her, her own fingers danced across his shoulders and down his back, digging in when he sucked, taking her breast deeper into the warm depths of his mouth. His tongue laved across her areola, the nipple peaking and his teeth gave a gentle bite just bordering this side of pain.

  "Oh," Cassie moaned. "Jake, I've missed you, missed this."

  Jake stood, reaching behind Cassie, sweeping his arm beneath her knees and lifted her into his arms, his urgent kiss a hungry, wet exploration. Deep and wild, bordering on the edge of losing control, Cassie clung to him, lost in the taste and sensation of his lips. She barely noticed when he laid her carefully on the braided rug before the fireplace, his body atop hers. She was lost. Lost in sensation. Lost in memories. Lost in love for this man she'd never forgotten.

  "Cass, I searched for you. When you left, my heart went with you. You have never been alone because I've always been a part of you." Jake's whispered words caressed and soothed, a healing balm to Cassie's soul. Hurting Jake, leaving him without a word nearly destroyed her when she and her mother ran away from Cougar Hills. Knowing as long as her father remained free she could never return, never contact Jake devastated a huge part of her heart. But here, now, Jake filled in the holes, put the missing pieces back together.

  "I . . . my heart was always yours, Jake. Leaving you behind, it broke a part of me that's never healed. My father . . ."

  "Let's not talk about your father now. I'd rather talk about how beautiful you are." Jake placed another kiss against her lips, soft and gentle yet hungry Cassie's lips parted, and met his kiss, pouring all her despair and hopelessness into their joined lips. Tonight she'd take back everything she'd lost with her desperate flight from Cougar Hills. Her hopes and plans and dreams, they'd all be tied up in Jake.

  "We have tonight. We have each other. Make love to me as if there's no tomorrow. No yesterday. Only us." Cassie whispered the words, pulling Jake to her, wrapping her arms around him, sliding her legs apart to curl one around his hip. The slide of his skin against hers nearly caused her to weep, the exquisite sensation one she hadn't felt for a long time.

  Sex without love never appealed to her, but sex with Jake was so much more than just two bodies grinding against each other. This was love. An expression of sharing between two souls determined to fight all the odds, share the ultimate expression of physical bonding which only comes along once in a lifetime.

  "Cassie, my sweet Cassie." Jake's whispered words against her nape shot straight to Cassie's core, and moist heat pooled between her legs.

  "Make love to me, Jake. I need you."

  "Need you, too, babe."

  Jake's tongue lashed across the top of Cassie's shoulder and she arched into his touch. She'd never felt like this with anyone else, though she'd tried to forget him. No other touch elicited the familiar longing Jake's brought. With a simple brush of his fingers along her skin, desire and lust coiled in her belly, screaming for her to take him, satisfy her wants and needs. Drown in the sensations he alone gave.

  "Touch me, Jake. Help me forget everything except us."

  Jake's mouth latched onto Cassie's breast. His hand trailed lower, and she arched up into his touch. A gasp escaped when his hand cupped her mound, the sound primal and Jake gave a satisfied growl around her breast.

  Jake's touches grew bolder. He wedged his body between her thighs, spreading her wide. The hard length of his erection pulsed against her moist core.

  "I need you, babe. I wanted to take things slow, be patient longer. Next time we'll go slower, but now . . .

  "Yes." Cassie kissed him, tilting her hips upward in invitation. She needed this—the connection of not just bodies but so much more—the missing piece from the last seven lonely years.

  When their bodies joined, she cried out at the exquisite sensations rocking through her. She'd been ready for this from the moment she'd seen him again and she welcomed the feelings rushing forward. Welcomed him. The fullness as his body slammed against her. The searing pleasure.

  Beneath him, surrounding him with her warmth she held tight, stroking his hair and shoulders while he plunged into her. This was a man loving her, not the boy of her youth. They'd both grown and matured yet this merging of flesh, worshiping of bodies, it felt like coming awake from a long slumber. Like coming home.

  Jake lowered his body to hers, and her breasts flattened beneath his chest. He began a slow steady roll of his hips. His firmness slid in and out of her center and bliss spread throughout her body. Whorls of pleasure enveloped her. Jake stared into her eyes, and Cassie read the same sense of bewilderment there she felt inside.

  "Jake, it's been so long."

  "Yes." He bent to kiss her, moaned against her lips. She clutched at his back, urging him to go faster, deeper.

  "Please, I need . . ."

  "I don't want to hurt you, Cass."

  "You'd never hurt me, Jake. Ah, yes." Her breath hissed out in pleasure. Jake angled his stroke, pounding into her again and again.

  This was raw. A primal sensuality in a physical sense, but the emotional turmoil swept through her, vaulting Cassie into a whirlwind of pleasure.

  The intensity in Jake's captivated gaze, the vulnerability as well as the desire, spurred her on and she moved with him, straining into his thrusts. She was beyond thoughts, beyond caring. She couldn't take him deep enough as her tender muscles stretched around him.

  They rolled in a tangle of pillows and sheets. Cassie wrapped her legs over his hips, the slid of her skin against his bare flesh a sensual delight. Jake gave a fierce growl, driving deeper, faster. With each stroke his body rubbed against her clit, and pleasure soared. Release was close, so close.

  Cassie opened her eyes, not realizing she'd closed them and found Jake staring down at her, his face a beautiful mask of resolve and purpose. He covered her hands with his, pinning them to the bed. Hips thrashing beneath his, sobs escaped her with each of Jake's thrusts. Through each stroke she stared into his gaze. His dark blue eyes pinned hers and she couldn't look away.

  "Cassie. My Cassie."

  Her name on his lips—it broke her. Wave after wave of pleasure soared through Cassie's body, fierce unparalleled joy as her climax went on and on.

  "Jake."

  With a desperate growl and a jerk of his hips, Jake joined her, spending himself inside her body. Afterward he collapsed beside her, laboring for breath. They lay that way for several wordless minutes.

  What now, Cassie wondered? The danger still lay at her doorstep. She loved Jake, but did he feel the same or was this revenge in its cruelest guise?

  Rolling over, Jake pulled a blanket from the arm of the couch and covered them both, spooning up against Cassie
's back, wrapping her tight into his arms.

  "Sleep, sweetheart. We'll talk in the morning. It will all work out somehow, I promise." He tucked her tight against him, his chin resting atop her curls and held her.

  Within minutes his deep even breaths told Cassie he was asleep. Only then did she allow the silent tears to fall. Then she did the one thing she hadn't done in a long, long time.

  She prayed.

  Chapter 14

  When did I stop hating her?

  Staring down at her lying on her side, the firelight glow danced across her skin and the aching loneliness deep inside Jake eased. When she'd first left Cougar Hills, anger and hurt ate at him, fueled by a deep intense well of resentment which slowly over the years morphed into a hate that threatened to consume him. He'd loved her with all the innocence of youth and first love, spent every waking minute of every single day consumed with thoughts about Cassie. In class he'd watch her from across the room and want her until he ached with it. In the halls, in the cafeteria at school, he'd find excuses to be near her.

  He'd finally worked up the nerve to ask her out to the Saturday matinee at the town's only movie theatre. It showed old classic movies, double features every Saturday afternoon. They were showing old beach movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello and they'd laughed at the corny story lines and the crazy dancing from the sixties. Halfway through the second feature, he'd reached for her hand, twining his fingers with hers and she'd laid her head on his shoulder. His heart was forever lost to her in that one moment of innocent trust.

  Then she'd disappeared. Left Cougar Hills behind. Left him behind. No word of warning, no indication of the turmoil she'd gone through at home. She vanished with dawn's early morning light, a vapor in the wind. The most hurtful thing of all, the one thing he’d never accepted, never forgiven—she didn't say good-bye.

  Reaching down, he brushed back the hair where it fell across her cheek while she slept. With a muffled sigh, she snuggled up closer against him, her breasts rubbing against his chest, his head resting on his hand. She looked so different—her hair a different color, a different style. He loved that her body had matured and filled out while she'd been gone, curves in all the right places. A lush woman's body, soft and plush, the way he liked his women. He'd never been attracted to women with fragile stick figures, all skin and bones. He loved seeing a woman look like a woman.

  Leaning forward, he brushed his lips against her forehead before he eased away from her, standing and stretching out the kinks. The floor was damned hard, even with the rug. He wasn't used to roughing it anymore. He liked his creature comforts, like central heat and a soft bed. Adding a couple of logs to the low-burning fire, he walked silently into the kitchen and started the old percolator on the stovetop. No electricity in the cabin meant no coffee maker or microwave. Good thing he still remembered the mechanics of making coffee the old-fashioned way.

  Movement from across the room drew his gaze back to the woman silhouetted against the firelight. Her beauty took his breath away, and he swallowed back a groan. Her dark hair flowed around her shoulders accentuating the milky white skin. Her breasts, full and firm and gloriously naked peaked out above where the blanket pooled about her waist as she stretched.

  She must have felt the intensity of his stare because she turned. A tentative shy smile curved her lips, reminding him again of the girl she'd been—the girl he'd loved.

  "Good morning."

  Jake swallowed past the lump lodged in his throat before answering. "G' morning. Coffee will be ready in a few minutes."

  "Great, thanks." With an inborn grace she'd always possessed, she stood, wrapping the blanket around her body. Damn shame.

  "You hungry?"

  "Actually, I'm starving. Can I help with anything?"

  "I've got it covered. Your pack's beside the bathroom door. Go ahead and freshen up. Breakfast will be waiting when you're ready." Jake chuckled as she hitched up the trailing blanket, clutching the ends to keep it from dragging across the floor. He sauntered across the living room, his measured steps eating up the short distance. Stopping directly in front of her, his hands pulled her against him. Reaching out with a gentleness that belied the pool of want roiling deep inside, a single fingertip tilted her chin up and his lips brushed against hers in a whisper-soft kiss.

  "Stop looking so worried." He kept his words soft. He could drown in the depths of her leaf green eyes. Every emotion she felt reflected in her face, expressions laced with concern and lingering fear. "I'll keep you safe, I promise. Your father is never going to touch you again."

  Her arms wrapped tightly around him with just the thin blanket lying between them. The temptation of her curves was too strong a pull, resistance disappearing in a cloud of desire. Callused fingertips along the curve of her spine, caressed each vertebra as his hands slid in a sensuous dance across her bare skin, molding her hips against his, cradling her soft body against his rock hard muscles. Drawing in a shaky breath, Jake knew if he didn't stop now he wouldn't be able to. Dropping a kiss on top of her head, he wrapped the blanket tighter around her deliciously nude body before spinning her around, facing away from him. His palm swatted her backside and she squealed, rubbing one handed against the wounded area. He laughed at her mutinous expression. With a gentle nudge he directed her toward the bathroom doorway.

  "Get dressed. You're too much temptation this way. Your friend, Brad, will be back soon and I'd rather he didn't see you half naked."

  Cassie glanced over her shoulder, that once again anxious expression decorating her face.

  "You know it's not like that with him and me—we've never . . ."

  "I know." Jake whispered. And he did. Jake realized with a certainty he didn't fully understand that while Cassie and Brad were friends, they'd never had a physical relationship. He wasn't sure how he knew, but deep in his gut, it resonated as the truth.

  Cassie went into the bathroom, and Jake walked back into the kitchen, checked on the coffee and turned the gas flame beneath it to low. Within minutes breakfast was cooking, the enticing aroma of bacon and eggs filling the cabin. His stomach growled and he realized how long it had been since he'd eaten.

  "Wow, everything smells delicious. I'm starving." She gifted him with a big smile. "Anything I can help with?"

  "Nope, everything's done. Just sit."

  "'Kay. That I can do."

  Jake grabbed both plates and moved them to the tiny counter dividing the kitchen and the living space. It was small and rustic, made entirely of wood and looked handmade. Probably by the same person who'd made all the furniture in the cabin.

  Turning back to the stove, he poured two mugs of the coffee, automatically adding powdered creamer and sugar to Cassie's. He handed it to her before sitting in one of the two wooden stools.

  "Umm. It's perfect. Thanks." Cassie closed her eyes savoring her second sip of the hot brew. Inhaling the strong coffee scent, a little smile touched her lips. Another thing about her that hadn't changed, he thought remembering. Cassie took a sensual delight in the simplest things. Something like a good cup of coffee or a piece of freshly baked bread turned into a hedonistic event of the senses. Watching her now reminded him of all those years ago—she reacted the same way today as then, unabashed enjoyment in the simplest things.

  She wrapped both hands around the steaming mug resting on the tabletop before looking at him.

  "Do you think they've been arrested yet?" Worry laced Cassie's words.

  "I don't know, babe. We'll find out soon. Brad or Quin will come get us when everything's done."

  "Something's wrong—I feel . . . everything's off-kilter. Like it's out of sync." She stared at Jake but it was as though she didn't really see him. "They're not going to catch him."

  Was it prophetic? He'd felt the same way all morning, that gnawing, aching instinct saying "run, something bad is coming" hovered in the air all around them. Try as he might to ignore it, the insidious feeling of evil persisted, a dark sinister whisper in the
back of his conscious mind.

  "I won't let him hurt you, Cass. I promised before and I'll say it again. He'll never touch you, not while I still draw breath."

  "Don't say that!" Cassie jumped up, her stool crashing back, hitting the floor with a loud crack. All color drained from her face, her green eyes filled with tears.

  "What?"

  "You have to stay alive, Jake! Knowing you were out there, living and breathing, safe from my father's hatred and malice was the one thing keeping me going. Kept me putting one foot in front of the other when it would have been so easy to quit, give up. If anything happened to you, I . . ."

  "Nothing's gonna happen to either of us. We're safe here. Nobody knows where we are except Brad and Quin. You're father cannot, I repeat, cannot find you."

  A sharp crack sounded from outside the cabin, the loud sharp retort echoing throughout the space, followed by a thump against the log walls hard enough to shake the structure.

  Acting on pure instinct, Jake grabbed Cassie around the waist, rolled her to the floor and covered her body with his.

  Chapter 15

  The hellacious drive through the godforsaken miles and miles of winding mountain roads, endless ice, snow covered trees and slush-encrusted streets finally ended. Pulling the rental car beneath the porticoed entrance of the magnificent high-end lodge, Daniels unfolded his large body from the passenger seat, stretching. He looked around, took in the understated elegance of the resort in all its grandeur. Trust his runaway bitch of a daughter to land in the lap of luxury.

  Baxter slammed the trunk closed, their stacked luggage on the sidewalk beside him. He tossed the keys to the valet before walking around to stand next to Daniels.

  "How do you want to handle this? We can't just walk up to the front desk and ask for her room number." Baxter shifted from one foot to the other, a nervous habit that worked Daniels' last nerve. The tic in his cheek beat a staccato rhythm as he smothered his rising irritation.