Love is a Battlefield

by Vivian Arend

  A derisive sound left his mouth. “Wasn’t much to talk about. My parents fought. My mother left. End of story.”

  Pepper gently touched his cheek. “We both know there’s more to it than that.”

  “What the hell else is there to say?” The vehemence in his tone startled her. “There was a reason I spent every waking hour at your place when I was growing up. Your house was my salvation, Pepper. Just being around you and Parker and your parents…” He breathed heavily. “It was everything I wished I had, okay? And when I was there, it meant that I didn’t have to see…”

  He trailed off, but she didn’t let him stop. “To see what?”

  “My goddamn zombie of a father!” he burst out.

  Pepper’s eyes widened as Jack shot to his feet, raking both hands through his hair as he paced to the window, staring into the darkness. “It was like living with a coma patient,” he mumbled, anguish etched into his voice. “After Mom left, he barely said a word to me. Barely looked at me. I was a living, breathing reminder of the woman he loved—the woman he’d frickin’ forced into marriage.”

  She couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped. The only detail she’d known about Jack’s background was that his mother had walked out on him and his dad, but this revelation…it sent a spike of agony to her heart.

  Jack caught her shocked look and laughed harshly. “Oh yeah, you heard me right. My dad knocked her up when they were nineteen. She didn’t want to keep me but he talked her into it. And then he pretty much strong-armed her into marrying him.”

  Pepper’s heart split in two. She rose from the couch and marched up to him, stilling his frantic pacing by planting both hands on his chest. “Oh God. Jack.”

  “She didn’t want to be a mother. Didn’t want to be a wife.” His eyes darkened. “My dad was desperate to make a good life for her, but she couldn’t keep on pretending. I used to sit in my room and hear them screaming at each other. Dad would beg her to try harder, she’d yell at him for making her be there.”

  Tears pricked Pepper’s eyes, her hands trembling as she stroked his chest, which was heaving with each ragged breath he sucked into his lungs. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

  Jack didn’t seem to hear her. He kept talking in a faraway tone. “Eventually she had enough. I came home from school one day to find her packing her bags.” His voice shook again, harder, ringing with torment. “She didn’t even kiss me goodbye. You know what she did?”

  Pepper wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it, but she forced herself to whisper, “What?”

  “She shook my hand. I was seven years old, Pepper. She got on her knees so we were at eye level, and she shook my fucking hand and told me to mind my dad. That’s it. Then she walked out the door, and I never saw or heard from her again.”

  The tears spilled over. No stopping them, either. From the way Jack kept gulping repeatedly, she knew he was fighting back tears of his own, but he was too damn macho to give in to them, and so she cried instead. She cried for him. For the young boy he’d been when his own mother abandoned him and his dad mentally and emotionally checked out of his life. For the man he was now, strong and smart and living his life as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

  She suddenly realized exactly how difficult it was for him to witness her and Parker’s shouting matches. She and Parker loved each other, and they would never abandon each other. Ever. But how often had their frequently negative interactions struck a chord with Jack? How many times had he seen them argue and been reminded of his parents’ volatile relationship?

  “I’m so sorry,” she said again. She leaned up and pressed a kiss to the center of his throat, feeling the rapid hammering of his pulse against her lips. “I didn’t realize how hard it would be for you to see me and Parker fight. I didn’t realize…that your mom…and your dad…”

  Jack swallowed again. “It wasn’t the worst childhood. I mean, other people have it a lot worse than I did.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” she said firmly. “It still affected you, and you’re allowed to be upset about it. There’s no list that says you have to endure XYZ for your situation to qualify as shitty.”

  “I know. It’s just…” His brown eyes shifted to the picture on the wall, one taken during a Wilson barbecue once upon a time. Glasses and hands were raised in the air as smiling faces turned to the camera, immortalized forever. “You don’t get how lonely it was, how frustrating it was. I’d come over to your house and your family was so damn perfect, you know? And then I’d go home and my dad would look right through me. The only time, in all the years after Mom left, that he ever paid any attention to me was when we were fixing up that stupid car.”

  Guilt rippled through her as she remembered the dented bumper, even though she hadn’t been the one to cause the destruction. “He left you the car when he died?”

  Jack nodded, then shook his head abruptly. “And the couch in my office. That’s it. Did I get love? Forget it. Or support, or advice, or freaking conversation? He couldn’t be bothered.” Bitterness streaked across his face. “A couch and a car. That’s all my father deemed important enough to leave as a legacy.”

  “I’m sorry.” She seemed to be saying that a lot, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Not just about your dad, but about everything. I’m sorry I got mad that you didn’t back me up out there. I get why you don’t want to take sides.” Pepper took a breath. “I promise I will never put you in that position again. And I will pay for the car repairs. You trusted me with your car, and I screwed up, even if I wasn’t the one who busted it. I should have parked it somewhere safer, maybe, or—”

  “Enough with the damn car already!” But Jack was smiling, and she could see in his eyes that he wasn’t angry with her. He opened his arms, and she crawled right in, clinging to him tightly. Somehow she needed to show him exactly how much more he deserved, not just today, but all those years ago.

  She pressed a palm to his chest, right over his pounding heart. “Let me take care of you?”

  Between one moment and the next, the atmosphere in the room changed. The woman in his arms was soft and strong, all at the same time, and she didn’t bother waiting for his answer. Jack concentrated on breathing out all of his frustrations and anger, and all of the hurtful memories that had flooded into him over the past hour, while Pepper pressed her lips to his chest as if she could kiss everything better.

  A reluctant smile hit his lips. “You like my T-shirt?” he teased.

  “I love your T-shirt,” she confessed breathlessly, kissing him again and again as she worked her way across his chest. “It’s the most gorgeous T-shirt I’ve ever seen in my life, and I demand you give it to me this instant.”

  She helped tug the fabric free from his jeans, but Jack was the one who grabbed the bottom of the shirt, peeling it over his head and abandoning it on the couch. Pepper returned in an instant, her warm lips back to tease him. Little flicks of her tongue accompanied the heated kisses, her hands stroking the sides of his abdomen.

  He rarely gave her control when they fooled around, mostly because he was too impatient to let her play. Or because he was a bossy bastard and could never hold back for long enough.

  But today was different. Today it didn’t seem to be about sex. It was connection, and caring. When she dragged her nails along the ridges of his six-pack, his body reacted in a very predictable way, his cock rising eagerly. But the touch—

  Tender. Giving. As if Pepper were using her fingers and lips to deliver some new kind of language, passing on a wordless message strictly with touch.

  She jerked open his button, sliding the zipper down just far enough that she could ease her hands under the fabric of his jeans and cup his butt in both hands. Fingers massaging strongly as she continued to dance kisses over his torso.

  She licked one of his nipples, grazing it with her teeth for a second, and Jack shuddered. “Are you going to eat me alive?”

  “You’re giving me ideas,” she murmured, pushing the fabric off his hips and toward
the floor. She moved with the clothing, waiting until he stepped out of his jeans. Tugging his socks off as he laughed. He was naked, and she was fully dressed.

  “I don’t think this happens often,” he pointed out, swinging a finger between them.

  Pepper caught his hands and pulled him with her down the hallway to his bedroom, walking backwards as her gaze ate him up. “Jackjack, you should live in a clothing-optional climate at all times.”

  “I think you should join me.”

  She pointed at the bed. “I still have plans.”

  “And you can’t do those plans while you’re naked? Sad plans.”

  “You’re so bad,” she whispered, pushing on his shoulders to get him to roll on his stomach.

  Jack would’ve complained about the position except she was stripping off her clothing and crawling on top of him, a bottle of lotion appearing out of nowhere.

  And then her hands were on him working magic. Rubbing and pressing, her strong thumbs digging into the muscles he’d clenched tight enough to leave knots.

  “You know I’m never going to let you leave this room again,” Jack warned. “Morning to night all you’re going to do is give me massages.”

  A sharp nip to his butt cheek sent an electric pulse raging through his system. “Is that all you want me to do?” she asked, innuendo dripping from her tone.

  “Let me roll over, and I think you might find a few new things to massage.”

  “In a minute.”

  Complaints vanished, because even though he was lying on a cock sorely wanting attention, she’d turned around and focused on his feet. Never in a million years could he have believed how freaking awesome it felt to have someone else work out the aches.

  He figured she would get tired eventually, but he’d forgotten how determined Pepper was. Every bit of him got thorough attention. His calves, the backs of his thighs, his butt muscles—and suddenly he wasn’t simply lying on top of a thick cock, he had to change position before he passed out.

  Jack rolled, reaching down to capture Pepper before she could decide to try anything else. “You need to take care of me now.”

  “That’s what I’ve been doing.”

  He caught hold of her hand and lowered it to his groin, wrapping her fingers around his cock. “This bit.”

  Her lips twitched as she pressed her breasts against his torso, wiggling in tight and slowly stroking him. The sadness was still there in the depths of her eyes, but the mischief was never far away. Not when they were together.

  She licked her lips.

  He tilted his head and leaned in so he could lick them, too.

  A burst of laughter escaped her. “Jack?”

  “Pepper?”

  “Jack.”

  This time she’d spoken in such a sultry, lust-filled tone, that with the accompanying hand motion it was damn near enough to make him spill uncontrollably over her fingers.

  It’d been long enough. He dropped her to the mattress under him, pulling his fingers between her legs and testing her quickly. Fingertips soaking wet showed him she was just as turned on as he was.

  He brought his fingers to his mouth and licked them clean, humming happily. “Mmmm, Pepper. My favorite flavor.”

  She stared up at him, wrapping one leg around his hip as he settled between her legs. It was so perfect, and so familiar, and completely brand-new as he tilted his hips and pushed into her welcoming heat.

  Those emerald-green eyes pinned him in place, passion-filled and dancing with life as he buried himself completely.

  He wanted to go slow. To savor every moment as the rich connection between them continued to grow. Her fingertips skimmed over his shoulders and stroked the back of his neck, and he leaned down and captured her lips in a scorching-hot kiss. Bodies joined, rocking together with a growing fervor until there was nowhere to go. Nothing to do except become one.

  Her eyelids fluttered as her body tightened around him, but she refused to look away. Refused to break the connection.

  And Jack understood just a little bit more exactly what love was. He might not have been taught it by the people who had brought him into the world. But he’d learned it from his neighbors—a family kind of love. And he’d learned it from Parker and Dean—a brotherly love that would go to their deaths. He knew about sexual love in spades.

  But staring into Pepper’s eyes he realized there was an entirely new kind of love that he was experiencing for the first time in his life. The kind of love he would give anything for, give up everything to have.

  A forever kind of love.

  As they lay wrapped in each other’s arms, the warm glow of sexual satisfaction painting everything, it wasn’t the sex that made him press a kiss to her temple. It was that other sensation deep in his heart.

  The words trembled on his tongue, but he wasn’t ready to let go yet. He needed a little more practice just thinking them first. But as she fell asleep in his arms with a smile on her face, Jack couldn’t resist giving them one test run.

  “I love you, Pepper.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “You’re late.” Charlene’s flat observation greeted Pepper as she hurried into the media room on the first floor of the Grande Hotel.

  She’d sprinted through the lobby carting her heavy messenger bag, so her breathing flew out in quick pants as she skidded to a stop near the table laden with monitors and audio equipment. On the other side of the cramped room, Charlene stood with her slender arms folded over the front of her silky blue dress. The party wasn’t starting for another three hours, yet the woman already looked like the belle of the ball.

  “I’m sorry,” Pepper said breathlessly, setting down her bag. “I don’t have a car, so I had to cab it over here, and my driver was ten minutes late to pick me up.”

  Charlene’s perfect nose turned up. “You don’t have a car.”

  A thinly veiled judgment, but Pepper decided to treat it like a question. “Haven’t gotten around to buying one yet.” She looked the woman up and down, opting to try and be nice for a change. “You look fantastic. Everyone at the party is going to love that dress.”

  “What? No.” Looking frazzled, Charlene adjusted one of her spaghetti straps. “This isn’t what I’m wearing tonight. It’s just a day dress.”

  A day dress? What the hell was that? And…seriously?

  Pepper made another wise decision not to voice a smart-aleck remark. She unzipped her bag and pulled out her laptop. “I got your email about the changes you wanted for the photo collage. I fixed it this morning, but I want to get your official approval before I finalize the file.”

  “Get to it then.” Charlene flung a hand at the computer. “I still need to get my hair done and then head to the airport to pick up my brother and sister-in-law.”

  The woman sounded so stressed that Pepper was willing to cut her some slack. She snapped to action, plugging in her laptop and shoving the flash drive into its slot. A moment later, she clicked on the file, glancing over at Charlene as she waited for it to load. “So I didn’t alter any of the older photographs, but I did play around with the contrast like you asked, so the images are clearer. And for those last-minute wedding photos you found, I—huh. This is weird.”

  An icon had appeared on the screen, informing her of a file error.

  “Why is it saying that?” Charlene leaned over Pepper’s shoulder as she voiced the demand.

  She pursed her lips. “I have no idea. Hold on.” She closed the box and went into the hard drive menu to load the file from there. Again, the error message popped up.

  Pepper bit her lip and attempted another solution, ejecting the drive, then sliding it back in, using the digital program to try to open the project. This time, the message was different, informing her that the file was corrupted and couldn’t be opened.

  “What the hell?” she mumbled under her breath.

  Behind her, Charlene cursed loudly. “Why isn’t it working? What did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anyt
hing,” Pepper protested. “The file was working this morning.”

  “Well, it’s not working now! So fix it!”

  She ignored the woman’s shrill yells and refocused on the screen. None of her troubleshooting paid off, and by the time she admitted defeat, Charlene was spitting mad, her high heels clicking on the floor as she rage-paced.

  “I can’t believe this is happening!” the older woman hissed. “I should have known better than to trust a child with something so important!”

  Pepper wearily rose from the chair. “Relax. I’m not sure what’s wrong with the file, but I have—”

  Charlene cut her off. “Of course you’re not sure! You’re incompetent, Pepper!” She made a sound of disgust. “Pepper. What kind of moronic parents name their kid Pepper?”

  “Hey,” she said sharply. “Leave my parents out of this. It’s not their fault.”

  “You’re right. It’s your fault. Do you know how much money my brother and I spent on this fucking party? Tens of thousands of dollars! Oh God, I can’t believe you screwed everything up!” Charlene’s breathing became shallow. “Actually, no, I can believe it. I’m not surprised you screwed up. The only reason Parker hired you was because you’re family. Or maybe Jack was the one who convinced him—we both know what a horny bastard that man is. He probably wanted easy access to you.”

  Anger rose in Pepper’s throat. “Enough. Stop bringing other people into this. I have everything under control—”

  But Charlene wasn’t listening. She just kept spitting out nasty words and accusations. “You really think Jack is going to stick around, little girl? He’ll get bored of you in no time and dump your immature ass.” The woman jabbed a finger in the direction of the computer. “Go get Parker. Now. At least your brother knows how to get things done. I want him to fix this.”

  Fury and panic warred in Pepper’s gut, twisting her insides until her entire body felt tight and cold. No way was she bringing Parker into this messed-up situation. They’d only called a ceasefire the other day, with Parker admitting that he treated her like a child. Pepper refused to give her brother another opportunity to chew her out, especially since, as she kept trying to tell the aggravating woman, she really did have everything under control.