by Lindsey Hart
“Oh,” she whispered, breathless. Yes I would love to watch you rinse off. Her cheeks fired as she blushed painfully just thinking about what they had done the night before. “For someone who never kissed another person, it’s a pretty big jump to want to shower together.”
One blonde brow raised in mock astonishment. “Are you telling me that now that I finally have the courage to make the offer, you’re going to turn me down?”
Oh god, not that. Never that. Luna shivered, embarrassed at the animalistic wave of lust that ripped through her. “I wasn’t saying no, I’m just surprised.”
“After last night? I suppose that if I didn’t have a melt down over that, the shower will be fine.”
She reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. His warm, smooth skin melded into her fingertips. He was warm and alive, the muscle bunching with each of his breaths. “Why me? That’s the only real question I have. Why me when you haven’t done this with anyone else? What makes me so special?”
Jack’s gaze never wavered though his lips thinned. “I… I don’t have an answer for that. I just- the first time you touched me, something different happened to me. I’ve never truly wanted a connection with someone. What I wanted could only be termed mechanical before. Something to prove that I wasn’t as dead inside as I thought I was. That part of me was still human. With you, I never felt that for a second. It was like my past vanished the instant I saw you. Or not vanished, but it didn’t matter so much. All the wounds and hard shit that made me who I am… it didn’t matter. With you, it’s just me.” He frowned. “I don’t even know what that really means.”
Her hand fell from his shoulder and slid down his arm, caressing the bunched, striated muscle, the blonde hairs that were neither soft or crisp but something beautiful in between.
Kind of like them. Neither decided or unafraid, certain or unsure… she had never done this before- never trusted someone so blindly. But he hadn’t done it either. She had asked him last night if they could be each other’s healing. She’d said just for the night, but maybe, just maybe, that healing didn’t have to dissipate with daybreak.
“That shower sounds good,” she whispered as her hand fell to his and her fingers intertwined with his larger, stronger ones.
CHAPTER 15
“So this is it. The palace.”
Jack stayed silent, as usual, giving nothing away. If Luna hadn’t come to understand his little nuances, subtle shifts in emotion and unique tells as to what he was truly feeling, she may have missed the rapid blink. His long, blonde eyelashes raised and lowered twice in quick succession.
Two weeks. That’s how long Luna had known Jack. Well, two weeks and a day to be exact. Somehow it felt like an entire lifetime. In a good way. Not the horrible, drag down all out beat up brawl kind of way that couples who stay married long after they should divorce view a lifetime together.
He shrugged, because he was trying to work on opening himself up with her and that meant actually showing actual emotion and using body language. “If you consider this place a palace, I’d hate to see what you’d think of as a dive.”
Laughter, light and airy, bubbled up inside Luna’s chest. She let a tiny giggle escape. “Yes, but you said you wanted to renovate. I see the potential. The space is good. I like that it has a- well…”
“A sticky feel? As in the floors are actually sticky no matter how many times they’ve been washed?” Jack’s eyes twinkled with good natured humour. It was incredible, what two weeks could do to a person. That guarded, hard look that used to be in his eyes was gone. At least with her it was.
“I don’t know.” I still think it’s nice. It’s huge. Much larger than I expected.” Luna’s eyes traveled over the various booths and bars, the huge dance floor, the space with the DJ equipment set up. The massive speakers surrounding the booth and planted throughout the bar, mostly mounted to the ceiling, was a dead giveaway that the place was probably real loud. “It’s really not so bad the way it is. I imagine you don’t want to make anything nice when people probably just come in and get drunk and wreck it.”
Jack’s hand fell to her waist as he stepped up beside her. Her body thrilled at the contact. Would there ever be a moment when that shiver failed to travel her spine? When the oh so familiar heat failed to pool in her stomach? She’d finally taken Jack up on his offer to see his club. Only because he’d asked her almost a million times.
“I suppose so. Although if I renovated, it might attract a different clientele. The kind who wouldn’t just get shit faced and want to wreck things. The kind that don’t sell drugs in the bathroom.”
“Does that happen?”
“All the time.” Jack had his traditional poker face on. It was hard to tell if that fact bothered him or if he’d just grown used to it. Luna found it slightly unsettling, but then again, she supposed that was traditional club atmosphere and Jack had been working in the industry for enough years to become desensitized to it. Or, perhaps not. Maybe he truly did want to redo the place so it didn’t attract that kind of crowd.
“I bet it looks a lot different in the dark. When it’s full.”
“Yes.”
He didn’t elaborate. Luna wondered what time people generally went out to the club. The few times she’d gone with friends when she was younger, they hadn’t gone until past midnight. It just felt strange that this was the end of her workday, well, almost, yet there was not a soul in sight.
“We don’t open until ten,” Jack said, anticipating her question or reading her thoughts. It was something he did a lot, as though he knew her, in just two weeks, as well as anyone ever had.
“Oh. Enough time to get dinner then, before you have to be back.”
“If we can find a place.” A smirk played over Jack’s lips. Lips that were as utterly magnetic and kissable as ever even though Luna knew every nuance and detail of them by heart.
“Just because I’m vegan doesn’t mean it makes it that hard to go out.”
“It makes it hard to go to a steakhouse.”
“You know, you’d be better off if you stopped eating meat, even if you don’t do it for ethical reasons.”
“So you’ve said. You know what I think I would be better off doing?” The glimmer in Jack’s eyes, the lyrical tilt of his lips, that shadowed passion that darkened his features, all told Luna exactly what he would be better off doing.
“Don’t try and change the subject,” she warned, turning and jabbing her index finger into a very broad, extremely muscular chest. It was like jabbing a brick wall.
“So, you wouldn’t like to see my office? My very large, very private office with a door that locks securely?”
Luna growled in frustration. She threw her hands up in the air and admitted defeat. “I suppose that I do.”
“You suppose? Well, in the case, maybe I shouldn’t show it to you. Maybe we should skip it altogether and spend two hours driving around trying to figure out what to get for dinner instead.” Jack’s voice was incessantly annoying. Luna loved every second of it.
“Or maybe you should show me your office.”
“If you insist.”
Luna rolled her eyes. “If you don’t cut it out, I promise to be on my best behaviour and just lay there like a good girl should.”
Jack’s hearty laughter filled the club. It was a rare, beautiful sound. “We both know that’s impossible. You couldn’t do it if you try.”
Luna raised a brow. “Is that a challenge?”
“It is. If I win then you have to go to dinner with me at a place of my choice. Not that you have to eat what they serve, but you have to go. I won’t have time to drive around debating…”
“Oh. So, you plan on showing me your office for a good long while?”
“Well, it is quite large. You know, more to show…”
Luna stuck out her palm and Jack gripped it firmly. He pumped it soundly a couple times before he gathered her up in his arms and carried her, laughing and mock protesting the entire way
. She already knew she was going to lose. Jack would get to pick their dinner spot.
CHAPTER 16
The evening was a beautiful one. Though the sun was setting it was still warm, but not hot enough to be sticky or uncomfortable.
The little park actually featured green grass, a man-made creek with a water feature that sprayed straight up in the air, and fledgling trees that had obviously just been planted. Wood benches, a paved walking path and birds chirping above made the area quaint.
“This is nice. Good suggestion.”
Jack had to smile. It wasn’t as rare as it used to be. Not since he’d met Luna. Somehow, in a matter of weeks, she’d turned his life inside out. And not in a bad way. No, even if all the protective layers he’d built around himself were crumbling, he couldn’t regret it. Not with her.
“I wish my dinner pick had been half as good.”
Luna shrugged and offered one of those dazzling smiles that he swore would never get old. “Yah, well, you tried. At least it wasn’t a steakhouse. I’m sure the waitress had no idea what I was talking about when I asked to sub out cheese and replace house dressing with a vinegar based one.”
“Those were easy requests.”
“Not for everyone.”
Jack made no response. He slipped his arm around Luna’s waist and they fell into step comfortably beside each other. He never thought touching another person would be this easy. He never thought he’d actually want to. Hell, he more than wanted to. When Luna was near him, his fingers ached to be on her body.
Before dinner he’d taken her into his office and he hadn’t rushed. They’d spent a good hour and a half in there. They’d gone out for dinner and then she’d suggested a walk. He liked the idea. It had been, maybe two, three hours since he’d last had her and already he craved her again. The taste of her satiny skin, the exploration, the thrill, the rush of adrenaline. Luna was responsible for awakening every single one of his senses. Senses he didn’t even know he had.
She wore a pair of jeans that had that gorgeous lived in feel and cupped all her curves. They weren’t tight enough to look painted on but they were tight enough to make Jack hard just glancing at the rounded swells of her denim clad ass. Her black blouse was sheer enough to reveal the tattoos underneath and the lace camisole offered the barest hint of the swells of her breasts. It was a perfectly chaste outfit yet on her it was incredibly sexy.
“I was thinking that your tattoo is probably healed enough for us to do another session.”
“Oh.” They walked on, over the dark asphalt path. That fucking tattoo on his back, the one half covered up, had once been so important. Rather, it was important he got rid of it. Removed the ownership it represented.
Somehow Luna’s touch had not only broken through his barriers, smashed his walls and erased his fear of connecting with another person, it had eased his past. He no longer even thought of that tattoo. When she touched him, she was touching his skin and nothing more.
“Yah… tomorrow? The next day? I can come in.”
Luna turned. The setting sun painted a golden hue over her porcelain skin. Her emerald eyes reflected the glow, turning a darker, deeper shade of shimmering green. “Maybe I can show you my office then.”
“I’ve already seen-” His voice trailed off as what she said sunk in. “Tomorrow then.” He couldn’t wait longer than that. He couldn’t go a day without seeing her.
“Tomorrow. And this time, come to the front of the shop. No more back door appointments, even if I’m going to be tattooing after hours.” Luna tipped her head and her beautifully seductive lips parted, ready for his kiss. Jack couldn’t resist. He lowered his head as his hand tightened around her waist, pulling her in against him. He kissed her hard, heedless of the occasional jogger sharing the path, or the setting sun or of the thousand reasons why he shouldn’t be moving this fast or feeling this much.
For the first time in his life he had the power to just be. To be himself. With her. The man he didn’t even know was possible, buried under years and layers, fears and walls. With her there was nothing else but that moment. He forgot everything, all the things that didn’t matter and all the things that did. All the things he should and the one thing he never should have.
CHAPTER 17
Jack didn’t know it was possible for twenty-four hours to feel like torture. It wasn’t exactly like Luna was a drug. He wasn’t addicted to her. No, he just… missed her. When they weren’t together he thought of her all the time.
He was also pretty damn sure that was normal. He’d never wanted to get close to someone before but of course he’d heard all about the romantic stages of attraction. He refused to use the word love. It wasn’t in his vocabulary. He might have dropped his guard and learned what really connecting with another person truly meant, but he had a long way to go before he could even term his feelings with that four letter L-bomb.
Jack actually felt happy. Like one of those sick, sappy fools who walked around with their head floating off their shoulders.
He barely registered the metal door handle under his fingers, the heavy weight of the glass door, the sound of the hinges as it swung inwards.
A woman with long dark hair, cat eye glasses and vibrant red lipstick walked out from the back. Annie? Arianna? Andrea? Adrianna. That’s what it was. She wore a red miniskirt that matched the shade of her lipstick with black leggings underneath.
“Hey…” Jack hesitated. He was reminded of the first time he’d come in here a few short weeks ago. He hadn’t even known Luna from any other woman at that time. He didn’t know how her touch could not only cover up past marks, tattoos and scars, but could also heal the parts of him that he hadn’t even been aware were wounded. “I’m uh- looking for Luna.”
Adrianna frowned. The worried, horrible gut clenching kind of frown that could turn a guy’s world upside down. “You have an appointment?”
Jack realized that Adrianna probably knew nothing about him. His first two appointments were after hours. Clearly Luna didn’t talk about her personal life either. Or she hadn’t talked about it yet… “You could say that.”
The crease between Adrianna’s eyes deepened. “She didn’t show up for work this morning. It’s really strange. In all the time I’ve known her, she’s never done that. Didn’t call or anything. She had two really pissed off clients come in already. I’m going to guess you’re pissed off client number three. I don’t know where she is. I’m sorry.”
Jack wasn’t the kind of man who truly knew fear. He’d grown up far too rough to be afraid of most things. His size made him intimidating enough that he didn’t have to worry about walking alone at night, even down the darkest of alleys. No, he wasn’t a man who truly knew the meaning of the word. Until that moment.
Nothing in his life, not the drunken beatings his step father used to hand out, not stealing cars and finally getting busted, not leaving Lion and waking up the next morning with that sick tattoo in his skin, prepared him for the cold, sickening dread that coiled in his stomach.
Bile rose in the back of his throat. You fool. You fucking fool. You thought you could protect her. Or that you didn’t need to. You were so busy thinking of her, you forgot to actually think about her.
The worst part of standing there, stomach roiling, feet glued to the floor, Adrianna looking at him strangely, fingers digging into the countertop like claws, was that he knew. He fucking knew why Luna hadn’t shown up to work.
He’d been warned and he’d chosen to assume he was man enough to keep Luna safe. He’d also assumed, with the passing of days, that Lion hadn’t been serious. At least not in his implied threats about Luna.
If Lion had taken Luna, Jack knew exactly what he had to do to get her back. Lion wanted one thing and one thing only; Jack. All he had to do was surrender.
CHAPTER 18
Lion was settled into one of the wicker chairs on Luna’s front porch. He sat regally, one leg crossed over the other, back ramrod straight like a king. His presence tu
rned Luna’s house, something bright, cheerful and beautiful, into something nearly sinister.
Jack approached with caution, half expecting to be ambushed even though it wasn’t quite dark. Perhaps hit over the head again, like the last time he’d gone what he thought was one on one with Lion. What would they do to him this time? He sensed that waking up with a strange tattoo was the least of his worries.
Show no fear. No emotion. Don’t give him the foothold he wants and needs. Play it calm. Steady. That was a hell of a lot easier said than done. As Jack climbed the three steps up to the porch he barely restrained himself from throttling the smug man in front of him. He wanted to stride forward, wrap his large hands around Lion’s throat and squeeze until the guy divulged what he’d done with Luna.
Lion didn’t bother to stand. He crossed one thick leg over the other. The grey hairs that stood out at the temples of jet black hair and the wrinkles that lined his eyes, mouth and cheeks, smoke to a life hard lived reminded Jack that Lion was no longer a young man. He was at least a good eight years older than Jack, if not more.
“Took you long enough to show. I was beginning to think you didn’t really care about her after all.”
The hair on the back of Jack’s neck stood on end. His fist literally itched, begged to be slammed into that smug look. Again and again, until Lion was nothing more than a bloody pulp.
Jack froze a few steps away from Lion. How had he once called this man brother? Looked to him for guidance the way only a lost child could. “If you’ve done anything with Luna… harmed her at all- I swear I will kill you.”
Lion tipped back his head and laughed. The sadistic kind of chuckle that sent a shiver racing up and down Jack’s spine. He’d heard that laugh before. The laugh of a psycho, someone who didn’t feel anything for anyone, who had no regard for other people or the law.