“You came close to taking the front door off the hinges in your race to get out of there. You didn’t even say goodbye to Chase.”
He seemed determined not to address it, circling around to the driver’s side of his truck. “I guess I don’t know my own strength.”
“No?”
This time, Jack did look at her, meeting her gaze across the hood, and the depth in his eyes scared her.
“Who the hell is she Jack?”
“Why the hell did you bring me here?”
He’d always been great at avoiding questions he didn’t want to answer, and now was no exception.
Kelly threw her arms out, done biting her tongue. “You nearly broke your neck chasing her out of our engagement dinner. You were screaming at her in the hotel hallway. The way your switch flips in an instant whenever she’s in the room is incredible. I hardly recognize the person you become when she’s around. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t crazy, so I brought you here, and now I know I was right. You’re angry.” She’d never seen him in quite the state he’d been after barreling down those stairs after Lila, chest heaving, eyes erratic, and on the verge. Of what, she didn’t know.
The Jack Almeida that Kelly knew didn’t give people the power to make him angry. Anger took effort, and Jack’s effort didn’t come free. Years of being an illustrious Manhattan lawyer had forced him to slap a price tag on his passions. If you wanted to see him heated, you’d simply have to show him the money. It was rare that a person could inspire a genuine reaction from Jack free of charge. Kelly now knew Lila was one of the few people alive who could.
It killed her that, embarrassingly, she couldn’t say the same for herself, and she was about to be married to the man.
“I’m not angry.” Jack moved to the door of the car, climbing in.
Kelly was struck at this treatment. The Jack she knew was prickly, sure, but with her, he’d always made an effort to smooth out the sharp edges that always lingered under his skin. Never once had he been dismissive of her the way he was right then. She yanked the passenger side door open, asking her next question before she’d even finished climbing in.
“Are she and Chase lovers?”
In the midst of putting his key in the ignition, Jack’s head fell.
“I saw how they were together during the party. Even though they were both working overtime to dial it back. They have a connection. Is that why you hate her so much? Do you think she’s too old for him? Is it because he’s a student, and she’s a lecturer? I mean… it’s not against school policy, but I guess the balance of power is questionable--”
“They’re not lovers.”
Kelly stumbled over her words when he turned his head toward her, still wounded at the tone he was taking. Apart of her almost wished Lila and Chase were lovers. At least it would explain Jack’s weird behavior in a way that didn’t break her heart.
“Then who is she, Jack? Because I don’t like the person you’ve become since the moment she showed up. In fact, I fucking hate it. Are you having an affair with her?” She was too afraid to hear the answer, so she drowned out the first question with another. “Who the hell is she?”
“She’s nobody. It’s nothing.”
“I didn’t see nothing on your face when you saw her at this party. I didn’t see nothing on your back when you were chasing her out of our engagement dinner. And you know what else? I didn’t see nothing when she was looking at your little brother back there either.”
His arms involuntarily flexed, and then tensed from where they were holding the steering wheel.
Kelly reached across the console and placed a hand on his chest. His heart raced. How he was able to sit so still, and breathe so evenly when his heart felt like it was trying to pummel its way right through his spine and out of his skin, amazed her. This was the Jack she knew. Controlled and collected, even as a world of chaos raged inside him.
“What can I do?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“No woman should be able to make you this angry but your fiancé.”
“If we’re using that logic, there must be six men out there who have the power to make you spit fire.”
He’d had the good sense to make his tone jokey, but it still struck her. “Yes, you’re my seventh engagement. My seventh and last. I’ll be damned, Jack, if I let some lecturer come between the two of us.”
Kelly had tried to bite her tongue, but now she couldn’t stop. Never in her life had she felt a man slipping away from her quite as rapidly as Jack was then. She was always the one to pull the plug on her relationships, never the other way around. Now that she had no desire to pull the plug, Jack seemed to be considering it. It shook her to her bones, making the hand she held against his warm chest tremor with anxiety. If this engagement failed, she would be absolutely humiliated. If the first six hadn’t killed her, this one definitely would.
“You know…” she started. “I’m on the committee that’s handling her performance review this summer. I play a big role in deciding her promotion.”
Jack turned toward her, just enough to show the strong profile of his nose and jaw, the sharp squint of his eye.
“I could take care of it,” she whispered.
“I didn’t ask you to do that, so don’t. Don’t do that.”
“You ask me to protect her? I can’t protect someone who does this to you.”
He turned away from her once more, looking out the driver’s side window.
When he showed her the back of his head, she nearly swatted it. “Jack! Who is she? Tell me right now.”
His eyes met hers, and then he started the car, pulling away from the curb without answering.
They didn’t speak again for the entire drive home.
--
The last guest had finally left, and Chase was elbow deep in suds.
Lila took each dish as he cleaned them, rinsing them under the running water from where she stood next to him. The water was scalding hot, making steam jump up from the sink and warm her cheeks. Lila didn’t mind that it burned her skin every time she rinsed a new dish.
The pain was a nice distraction.
“I’d say the party was a success,” she said. “Changing the music was a genius move. Definitely took it to the next level.”
“This is it.” Chase handed her a glass dish, the last of the dirty dishes that remained from the party.
“You didn’t have to stay behind and help me clean up,” Lila said, rinsing the dish and setting it on the drying rack. She took the towel hanging on the arm of her oven and used it to dry her hands before offering it to him.
He touched her high on her arm, nearly cupping her elbow, and then let his fingers fall, sending every piece of hair he stroked standing on end before sweeping the towel out of her hand.
Lila covered her arm where he’d touched her, dropping her eyes to avoid his probing gaze.
He dried his hands, and then tossed the towel on the counter.
“You haven’t said more than two words to me in quite a while.” She leaned on the counter. “Even as you’re helping me straighten up my house. This is starting to feel like some sadistic punishment.”
Chase took the counter in his hands, leaning. “Why would I want to punish you, Lila?”
“Professor.”
His eyes met hers and darkened. “Professor,” he whispered. “Why would I want to punish you?”
“I don’t know.”
“People only punish people that have hurt them in some way, who’ve done them wrong. And you haven’t done either of those things to me, have you?” He cut his eyes at her, giving her a moment to think up a response. When that response never came, he charged on. “Did you fuck Jack?”
Lila wasn’t surprised by the question. It had been lingering in that quiet house, in the strange silence that had swooped in between them, all night long.
“That’s not appropriate.”
“Can you answer my question?”
“I’ve al
ready answered that question.”
“And I’m asking you again.”
She inhaled, still fighting to handle the chaos that commenced in her chest whenever she allowed herself to look into his eyes for too long these days.
“Simple question, simple answer,” Chase pressed.
It wasn’t simple at all.
Lila had a feeling he already knew the answer.
Back when he was thirteen, she could’ve dismissed the question as something completely inappropriate, none of his business. But Chase was a man now. There was a steadfast conviction that drove him and supported his passions, a conviction that hadn’t been there before. She could no longer dismiss him. He was too sure of his own mind, of his own heart, of her.
He swallowed, and she watched it move down his throat. She didn’t want to hurt him. She’d rather cut off both her arms. After seeing he and Jack laughing together just hours earlier, she knew she couldn’t send them all spiraling back to the dramatic place they’d been a year ago.
It astounded her how the answer to one simple question could easily do just that.
“You can tell me, Lila.”
She saw it in his eyes. The hope. Even as he nodded his head, the desire in his eyes was poignant.
“I’m not sleeping with Jack. Do I want to kill him? Yes. Do I hate the sight of him? Absolutely. But that’s almost always been the case.”
“Almost.” Chase’s eyes jumped back and forth between hers, reading her, weighing the answer. Then his gaze fell to her lips, and he smiled softly.
Lila motioned behind her and spoke, just to wipe the residue of the lie from her mouth. “You two were getting along really well earlier. It was really nice to see. Laughing. Joking. You’re like two best friends.”
“We don’t hate each other anymore. Best friends might be a little strong.”
“I’m proud of you, you know. I’m so proud of you for fixing everything between the two of you. It’s important to keep him in your life.”
“I know that. I get that.”
She kicked her feet, smiling down at the tile floors. “He called me a monster. The night I got arrested.” She grinned up at him. “Do you think I’m a monster?”
Chase’s lips curled down, and he tilted his head back and forth, considering her question. “Are you a monster? Nah. Not really.”
“Not really?”
“Not a hundred percent.”
“Not a hundred percent?”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Apparently you were waiting for me to tell you what you wanted to hear, and not the real truth. My mistake.” He straightened, clearing his throat. “No, Lila. You’re not a monster at all. You’re a grounded, level headed, well-rounded person with a heart of gold and a mind like Rockefeller.” He nodded. “Does that work better for you?”
“I hate you sometimes.”
He laughed. “Like I said, you’re not all monster.”
“So I’m just a quarter monster? A half monster? A fifth monster?”
“Nowhere near half. There’s no way anyone as beautiful as you could ever be half monster.”
“Am I beautiful, or am I a monster? You’re all over the place.”
“A beautiful monster,” he decided.
“You can’t just throw a compliment in front of the word monster.”
“Aren’t we all monsters at the end of the day, in one way or another?”
Lila’s eyes searched his. “Stop saying eloquent things.”
“So Jack called you a monster, and you decided it was a good idea to invite him to your housewarming party?” His eyes traveled her body. “Masochist.”
“Trust me, I didn’t invite him.” She took in the confused frown growing between his eyebrows and reached a hand out, running it down his cheek. “Don’t frown,” she whispered. “It’ll make you look old, like me.”
“You’re outrageously beautiful is what you are,” he said. “Beautiful monster.”
Lila looked away from him. “Chelsea mentioned she was coming to my housewarming, and Kelly took it upon herself to make sure she was here too. With Jack in tow.”
Chase raised his eyebrows. “She’s watching you.”
“Like a hawk. But she has no reason to.”
“No?”
She shoved him, her eyes falling to his lips when he laughed. “No!” She calmed herself. “What makes it even worse? Kelly is on the ad hoc committee for my promotion. She, literally, holds my future in the palm of her hand, and she thinks I’m sleeping with her fiancé. That promotion is as good as gone, and that’s a real shame. I wanted it more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”
His smile wavered. “I know the feeling.”
A clinking sound startled both of them, and they looked down into the sink just in time to see a flash of gold go down the drain.
Lila gasped, and her eyes flew to him.
He was holding the back of his neck, where his necklace had come unlatched, looking just as stunned as her. Too stunned to move. It was the necklace his late mother had given him, and it meant the world to him.
Snapping out of it, Lila pushed her body in front of his, filling the space between him and the sink. She bent down and shoved her hand into the drain, knowing his hand was too big to do it.
“I got it,” she said, feeling the delicate chain between her fingers.
He sighed in relief from behind her.
Lila held her breath when he took her waist in his hands, just above the waistband of her jeans.
“Thank you, Lila,” he breathed. “Thank you, Professor.”
His voice was too close. It warmed her ear when he spoke. She nearly told him to take two steps back, but then realized she couldn’t move her hand.
“It’s kind of…” She tried to pull her hand out. “It’s kind of stuck, though.”
He chortled.
The weight of the situation quickly dawned on her, and her eyes widened. “Holy shit, I’m stuck. I’m really stuck. This isn’t funny!” She gave her hand a good yank, and her eyes grew wider when it didn’t budge.
“Okay, relax, don’t take your arm off.” He pressed against her from where he still had a hold on her waist from behind. He flanked her body with his, surrounded her with his warmth, including the warmth of his breath as it fluttered against the back of her hair, her ear, down the side of her neck.
Lila’s breathing came up short when he tucked his chin in the crook of her neck, reached into the sink, and took her trapped arm in one of his hands, wrapping the other around her waist. Being engulfed by his body, feeling its hardness, and the subsequent rush that accompanied it, had Lila terrified. She thought being stuck in that sink was scary. No.
This was scary. Chase was scary.
“Actually, I think I can get it out myself, just…” She was a second from telling him to back away, but some part of her body, the part she’d lost control of, pushed her hips backward, pressing her ass into him.
He pressed back.
“I can do it myself.” Her voice plummeted to an indiscernible level. Warmth surged through her stomach, and she was unable to stop it from rushing straight to her center, like the butterflies had relocated from her gut to her pussy, flapping their wings delicately against the lips of her heat, making them swell with need. The monster that had exorcized every ounce of sense from her mind and body drove her to push her hips back again, and a tiny moan escaped her lips when he was right there waiting, making contact and driving back.
Chase’s lips fell open as the soft globes of her ass moved against his hardness for the second time, stealing the last inch of control he had left.
He went blind, laying on her back and shoving his hips into hers, his dick crying out in desperation for more. The power of his thrust sent her body flying forward, her hips hitting the counter hard as he kept propelling, pushing, desperate to lay his dick squarely between the soft curves of her ass, clutching each side of the counter as he prayed for a control that didn’t exist. His breathing
came hard and heavy as he covered every inch of her body with his. If he could climb under her skin, just to get inside, he would.
He moaned into her ear, moving his hips in time with the lust filled noises escaping his mouth before he could even think to stop them. His body felt like it was tearing itself limb from limb with need for her. The dream of sinking inside her wet pussy, touching it, tasting it, took over his senses. He dug his fingers into the granite, cursing when her hips ground in the opposite direction of his own, working with him.
“Tell me you don’t feel that, Lila,” he begged.
“We can’t.” Lila clutched the sink. “We can’t, Chase.”
Even as she admonished him, her body worked on orders outside her jurisdiction, and she leaned over the sink and raised her hips higher, desperate to get that bulge against her pounding clit, desperate to feel him on every inch of her.
“Fuck.” She lost her voice when he swirled his hips, causing a friction that sent fireworks blasting to life behind her eyes. As she bent forward, he went with her, keeping every inch of his body flush with hers.
Lila’s head fell, and she jammed her eyes shut before looking over her shoulder and meeting his eyes.
His trembling fingers snuck under her blouse, setting her skin ablaze as they seared a path towards her heaving breasts.
“Chase?”
At the sound of Chase’s name being screamed from the backyard, Lila elbowed him right in the gut, but he didn’t budge. Feeling like she’d been pulled out of a deep sleep, like someone had thrown a bucket of ice over her head, she gave herself a shocking reminder of how outrageous it was for her to be bent over her kitchen sink.
Even after taking a blow to the gut, Chase still held her flush, tight. He was in a different world.
She cursed herself when her body hummed. “That little girl you brought is right outside my backdoor, Chase. Let me go.”
The pretty brunette Chase had brought to the party had arrived drunk as a skunk, promptly passing out on Lila’s hammock the moment she’d rolled into it. Both Chase and Lila had forgotten all about the little lush, until that startling moment.
He held her against him for a few moments longer, collecting his breath and himself. Without a word, he straightened up, albeit on shaky legs, but not before he took her wrist in his hand and, with one well-timed flick, released her from the sink.
Thunder Rolls (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy Book 2) Page 8