by Casey Hagen
She pretended she didn’t see Jack at the bar.
She pretended that it didn’t hurt that he hadn’t found her sooner.
And for a few more minutes, she squelched her mad at him for glaring at her from the bar like a boob.
Ten minutes later she stood and hugged Dylan. “Thank you for dinner. Make sure you give your wife my number and we’ll get the kids together soon.”
“I’ll do that. Can I walk you out?”
“Actually, I see someone I need to speak to so I’m not leaving just yet, but you go ahead.”
“Okay, then. I’ll see you in the office tomorrow morning. Good night.” He kissed her cheek and headed for the door.
So, join Jack at the bar or wait for him to come to her? She didn’t so much as glance at her purse tucked into the corner of the booth before a familiar arm wrapped around her waist.
She closed her eyes and took a breath. Something unfamiliar passed through them. Like they’d turned some corner that she didn’t know was even there.
They’d become something.
They had a fight ahead of them.
And no future because of the son she hadn’t told him about.
“I thought I would come here and see this beautiful woman I’ve spent every waking hour thinking about, here, waiting for me, hoping for me.”
She laid her hand over his, her fingers dipping between his splayed ones. “She had other commitments she had to fulfill. While she did, she waited and hoped.”
“Who was he?” he whispered in her ear.
His warm breath feathered over the shell of her ear. A warmth spread over her skin as it tightened with awareness. “He was the new dentist where I work.”
Jack stiffened behind her. “You went on a date with your new boss?”
A shot of temper fueled her and she pinched the back of his hand.
“Ouch!”
She craned her neck around and glared at him out of one eye. “That’s what you get for being an idiot.”
“If it wasn’t a date, what was it?”
“It was a welcome dinner. He’s taking everyone out individually to get to know them. When he, his wife, and twin daughters are settled, he plans to have a party to introduce us to his family.”
“I am an idiot,” he sighed behind her.
“Yes, but maybe only a little one.” She turned to him. Despite her movement, he still held her close. He held her thigh to thigh, hip to hip, and chest to chest.
“I owe you an apology.”
She nodded and grinned at him. “Mmm, yes, you do.”
“I’m sorry.”
She gave him an unimpressed look. “That’s it?”
“What else is there?”
She arched away from him a bit. “Oh, I don’t know. How about, ‘I loved our time on the beach, I really did. I meant to try to meet up with you, but I’m an ass and didn’t make it a priority like I should have…’ That might be the way to start it.”
He smiled at her in a secret way that told her he’d loved their time on the beach, too. “I am an ass. It’s not that I didn’t make it a priority, it’s just… something did really come up.”
“I’m all ears. Let’s see how you explain away this one.”
He sighed and let her go. “Sit and I’ll tell you,” he said, gesturing for her to take a seat in the booth she had shared with Dylan. She scooted in and waited for him to join her.
He fiddled with the edge of the stack of unused napkins on the table. “When I got home last week after our time on the beach, I was contacted by a private investigator hired by my son.”
“Whoa.” The word whooshed out of her. This was major and he was telling her. “Shit. Yeah, well, I may have been a bit harsh just a minute ago—”
He took her hand and kissed it. “I deserved it. I should have gotten back here.”
“Not that it’s any of my business, but does he want to meet you?”
“Of course it’s your business.”
She shrugged. Being in awkward territory sucked. It seemed like maybe it would be her business, but when she tried to come up with examples why, she had nothing. “Well, it’s not as though we’re actually committed to each other or anything.”
His eyebrows formed angry slashes over his eyes. “So, now you’re trying to piss me off? I don’t just service women on the beach on a whim.”
“Stop that,” she said, smoothing her fingers over his eyebrows. “I’m not trying to say you do. It’s just, we don’t even have each other’s phone numbers.”
“A situation we’re going to rectify…tonight.” He looked around the dining room. The music had just gone up a notch, making it harder to hear. “Look, you wanna get out of here?”
“Yes, I think I do.”
He tugged her hand. “Come on.”
She stopped just outside the doors of the restaurant. “I’m not getting on your bike.”
He glanced back at her and headed for the front corner of the parking lot. “I brought my truck.”
“I’m surprised. It’s a beautiful night.”
He stopped before a huge red Ford. “Yeah, well, normally I would have brought it, but I stubbed my damn toe. I meant to take a power nap and fell asleep until almost seven. In my rush to get here, I bashed it. Makes riding the bike a hell of a lot harder.”
She slid a hand up his t-shirt, dragging her nails along the way, much how she’d envisioned doing it the first time she saw him. “You rushed to get here.”
He pressed his forehead to hers, his lips hovering just above hers. “I did. I was in a bit of a hurry to see this lady. I didn’t see her at the bar, so I guess you’ll have to do.”
“You’re going to pay for that.”
“I can’t wait to see how.” His lips grazed hers, brushing back and forth, setting her blood racing. Her accelerated breathing echoed in her ears. When he slanted his mouth over hers and gave her everything, she forgot to breathe all together.
He teased and took, his lips soft, yet demanding. He had this way of kissing her, firm, but soft, not too demanding, teasing with his tongue, and leaving her wanting more.
He also had her forgetting her senses and what they were talking about. She pulled back, breathing heavily. “Don’t think I’ve completely forgotten what we were talking about.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said as he brushed his thumb over her bottom lip.
“Tell me more about your son.”
He gave her a hand up into the truck and made his way around to the driver’s side. “He needs my help. His daughter has leukemia and needs a bone-marrow transplant. He asked if I would get tested,” he said. He turned the key and the big truck roared to life.
“And now I feel like an ass for giving you a hard time,” she said softly.
He put the truck in gear and started to back out of the spot. “What? You’re not going to ask if I went through with it?”
“A man who torments himself for thirty years over his son doesn’t deny a request that might save his granddaughter.”
He started down the road, his left wrist draped over the wheel in that casual way men had about them. “No, he doesn’t. Thank you for that.”
She pulled out her cell and shot off a quick text to her sister to let her know she would be late…or really early. “For which part?”
“The part where you reminded me that I’m a grandfather. As if I didn’t already feel like I might be robbing the cradle.”
She smirked. “Hey, you’re not my grandfather.”
His hand crawled over her knee and up her thigh. “Don’t I know it.”
He pulled onto a narrow drive lined with palm trees. About fifty feet in, the property opened to a cream-colored, one-story ranch. A green truck with Everglade Builders painted on the side sat parked in front of the two-car garage.
“So, are you the Jack from Everglade Builders?”
“The only one I know of.” He pushed open his door, circled around, and helped her out.
�
�This is too weird. You’re building my parents’ house. Davis and Jenna Wright.”
He put his key in the lock. “Yeah, the lady with the big hair and lipstick, right?”
“That’s her.”
“Nice people.”
Call her a coward, but she just needed a minute. Just a minute before he opened that door and everything changed. She liked him way too much for her own piece of mind. He didn’t want kids; she wouldn’t trade the one she had for anything. They had nowhere to go. Nowhere. And here she was about to take it over a line, and she could never cross back.
Not if, but when this didn’t work out she’d have to coexist in this town with him.
She dropped her forehead to his chest. “I can’t believe I came home with you. I didn’t bring my car. I didn’t even pay attention to where we are,” she mumbled against his hard chest.
He wrapped his arms around her. “Oh, come on, you’re safe with me. I’ve even met your parents.”
She craned her neck and propped her chin on his chest. “I don’t think I’ve been safe in your capable hands since the day I met you.”
9
The weather turned, kicking up warm breezes rolling in off the Gulf of Mexico. Laura loosened her grip on Jack so he could unlock the front door. Anxious to see his space, she took a tentative step inside when he pushed open the double front doors.
Lamps illuminated the entryway and living room. Travertine tile covered the wide foyer floor. Scanning the room, she saw straight through to an open kitchen, dining, and living room; clear out through open, triple sliding-glass doors.
The salty breeze flowed clear through the house, giving the feeling of being inside and outside, all at the same time.
She glanced up to him. “You must be confident about your neighbors, leaving the sliders open.”
He scratched his chin; a mischievous smile spread over his handsome face. “Oh, believe me; no one is going to steal anything from my house. I’m surrounded by little old ladies who have nothing better to do with their time than to watch what’s happening over here.”
Laura laughed, pushed up on her tiptoes, and gave him a sound kiss on the mouth. “Ahh, probably a good idea to bring me here under cover of darkness then.” The breeze ripped through even harder than before, whipping her hair from off her shoulders. “Are you right on the water?”
He snagged her shirt and held her close to him as she took everything in. Plantation shutters… God, she loved those. Sleek leather sofas facing an at-least- sixty-inch flat screen. Typical guy.
“Yeah, on the water, not that I enjoy it much. When I go to the beach, I do so elsewhere to avoid the neighbors.” He shook his head and laughed.
His hand brushed over her bare shoulder and down her arm, short-circuiting what was left of her good sense.
“You weren’t kidding when you said you didn’t pay attention to where we were going.”
She shot a look over her shoulder. “Nope, all I saw in that truck was you.”
“I’m starting to feel cheap, like maybe all you want is to get in my pants to see if this grandpa’s got any moves in him or if he’s on the road to a hip replacement.”
Laura laughed and twirled toward him, backing up against the back of his sofa. “You’re funny, but I get the feeling that a part of you, somewhere deep down inside, is not so comfortable with where we’re headed, or with being a grandfather.”
He shrugged; his gaze landed somewhere over her shoulder. “The grandfather status is new. Still working on acceptance. Not that it means a whole heck of a lot if I’m not involved with either my son or granddaughter. Right now it’s just a technicality. It’ll likely never be more than that. As for the other, it’s occurred to me that I might have a few more years on me than you’ve seen before.”
“Jack…” she began.
“Can I be a woman about this and request lights out?” he asked.
She snorted out a laugh that died on her lips the minute he nuzzled his mouth along her ear, her entire focus zoned in on the heat that thundered through her.
Here he was, revealing all his insecurities, while she kept her biggest insecurity locked up in a vault with steel bars, laser lights, you name it. She should tell him. She needed to tell him about her son.
That short facial hair of his dragged along the sensitive skin of her throat.
Later. She’d figure out a time and tell him later. She’d take tonight and be sure that they were compatible in every way. If they were, she would find a way to tell him.
Otherwise, what would be the point of going there?
At least that’s what she told herself.
She snagged the front of his t-shirt and yanked him right up against her. Because she wanted control over their direction or to bury unwelcome thoughts, she didn’t know. It didn’t matter.
“Definitely lights; I want to be able to see you. We can compromise on dimmed lights. I’ll save the examination under the fluorescents for next time. Point me in the direction of a bed.”
“Through there,” he said, hitching his thumb in the direction of the hallway off to the right.
She took his hand and pulled him along, backing her way down toward the door at the end. A small night light plugged into an outlet gave just enough light to see Jack’s lips twitch.
“I feel like I might have totally lost control here,” he said.
She stopped right before the door. She nodded her head toward the door. “Is this it?”
“Yep.”
She kicked the door open with her foot. “Good.”
They’d just stepped inside when Jack bent down, cupped her ass, which hello, felt awesome through her jeans and lifted her clean off the floor. She wasn’t sure what it was about that, but she’d never had someone just pick her up and have their way with her.
She could get used to this.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck, and smiled down at him.
“I’ve had fun with you leading the way and all, but I think I’ll take it from here,” Jack said with absolutely no sign that holding up her weight was taxing his system at all.
Not that she was a weakling or anything, but fifty pounds made her eyes bulge a little. And she was almost three times that.
“I’m in your bedroom and we haven’t even had a proper date yet.”
“I know, and I thank you for it because after that night on the beach I need this.” He scraped his thumb over the seam of her jeans between her legs.
He might has well have licked her because the sensation had the same effect.
“You make it sound like I’m curing a medical condition,” she said breathlessly, fighting the urge to groan.
He strode across the room. “Lady, every time I think about you, I get wood. By now, yeah, it’s a medical condition,” he said, and then tossed her onto his bed with no grace, no apologies.
He reached back for the collar of his shirt and yanked the material over his head. “You’re overdressed,” he said with a pointed look.
“You’re not going to be all hero-esque and undress me? I mean, if you do it right, I shouldn’t even know it’s happening.”
He flicked the button of his jeans. When he did they slid lower on his hips, exposing a line of dark hair. For the life of her, she couldn’t tear her gaze away. “You want help? I’ll help you.” He grasped her ankles and flipped her.
He really freaking flipped her.
The breath whooshed out of her lungs and sucked back in on a sharp intake of breath when he smacked her ass.
Hard.
She felt his weight on her back; his arms came over her, his fingers interlocking with hers.
“I’m not hero material.” He bit her shoulder. “You’re going to feel me peel every last scrap of fabric from your porcelain skin.”
Oh, he was hero material all right. Just a whole different kind of hero. “Jack?”
“Yeah?” he said against her neck.
He bit the skin there, sending a
shock through her. “Shut up and get me naked already.”
His only answer was a rough growl in her ear before he shifted his weight to his left side and that right hand of his slid right between her stomach and the mattress, going right to the button of her jeans as if they’d done this dance for a lifetime.
Her snap popped, he unzipped her, and his hand slid inside her jeans, her underwear, and straight between her thighs.
“Yes,” she whispered.
He parted her legs, and the damn sensation of his rough fingers gliding over her, in her, set her on fire. With each glide of his fingers over her, he increased the pressure until a frenzy took over. She ground her hips against his hand, desperate for release.
If he had something to prove about being virile, about having the ability to keep up with her, consume her even, he’d brought his A-game the minute he popped her jeans.
Clever banter died on her lips.
Her eyes rolled back in her head. She’d believed the eye thing to be myth, until now.
His masculine, woodsy scent assaulted her senses as she buried her face in his sheets.
“Please,” she begged. “Don’t stop.”
“Not stopping,” he growled against her ear. “You’ve got something I want, and I’m not stopping until I get it.”
His demanding words drove her over the edge. Sharp pleasure built and crested, leaving her pounding her fist against the mattress, crying out, writhing against his hand as warmth spread through her, leaving her wet, exhausted, and exhilarated all at once.
His weight disappeared, but before she could look to see where he went he had begun dragging her jeans down her legs.
Oh, thank God!
She needed to know if he felt as good inside her as he did when he used his tongue and his hand. She’d never had much hope in that respect. She’d never been able to orgasm through regular sex. She desperately wanted to and if there was a man up to the task, it was Jack.
He whisked away her underwear next. His tongue hit the back of her knee, and then dragged ever so slowly up to her ass where he sank his teeth into the flesh.
She swore she just got wetter.
He parted her thighs, but kept her on her stomach. She heard a foil packet tearing and, within seconds, he pressed the head of his cock against her.