A breath squeaked between her lips, caressing his cheek. “Yeess! Oh, God, yes.” She arched, quivering, and contracted her inner muscles hard around him.
Something awakened in him, something he’d buried so far from the surface, he’d lost sight of it himself. When he collapsed against the heated flesh of her breasts, the slow melt of his heart, his soul, puddled in his brain. With lips barely able to form words, he whispered his thoughts. “I love you, Jac.”
Her quick intake of air hissed against his ear as her hands stilled on his backside. “What did you say?”
His heart sped up again. This time strong emotion was the cause. He loved her. In the span of just days, he’d tumbled head over ass in love with this woman whose soft, delicious body still cradled him, the muscles of her channel still working in a sensuous rhythm on him.
Positioning his lips by the side of her head, Luke inhaled her spicy scent. “You heard me.” He swirled his tongue around the shell of her ear, from tip to lobe, continuing along her jaw with tender kisses.
He lifted himself from her body, resting on his elbows, and let his cock slip from her. Yet he didn’t move from his prime spot between her thighs. From this position, he held her gaze as he lowered his mouth to hers.
Moving her hands to his head, she held him still, prolonging the deeply poignant kiss. She licked her way around his mouth, and he felt her lips curve up, saw little laugh lines crinkle around her eyes. Those brown stunners turned to liquid heat as he sucked her tongue, stroking his along its velvet surface.
She pulled away slowly, breaking the seal between their lips. Deviltry danced on her face. “I know. I just wanted to hear it again.”
“Hear what?” He leaned on an elbow. With a smile, he lifted a strand of her silky hair, rubbing it between his fingers.
“You know. What you said before.”
His heart kicked against his ribs. “I. Love. You.” He punctuated each word with a kiss. “Happy now?”
“Delirious.” Heat left her eyes and her smile dimmed.
Doesn’t look so delirious to me.
“What?”
“It’s just . . .” She covered her eyes and huffed out a breath, but didn’t continue.
Didn’t take a rocket scientist to know something wasn’t right.
“It’s just what?” he prodded.
Her chest heaved, her throat worked, but she pursed her lips, holding back whatever was bothering her.
He settled alongside her, dropping a kiss on her shoulder. “Jac, are you crying?”
“Trying not to.” Her voice shook.
“Tell me why, baby. Have I done something wrong?” Luke rolled to his back and gathered Jac close, cradling her head on his chest.
She shook her head, her chin bumping his body. A tear splatted on him. Dread claimed a corner of his soul. He’d reduced her to tears with his profession of love. What the fuck was wrong with him? Way too fast. Skating his finger over her spine he stared at the ceiling, waiting for her answer.
Her body was stiff against his, at odds with his wish for soft, spent pliancy.
Her shoulders lifted, her palm spread on his pecs. “It’s all sunshine and lollipops right now, Luke. But what happens when I move? Eugene is a long, tedious ride away. Your schedule is demanding.”
“Yeah, so?”
“I don’t see how this can work, Luke. How we can work. My last long distance relationship died a painful death.” Her voice quivered. “It would be smarter to not get involved, with me moving away so soon.”
She wanted to say goodbye before she moved?
He stilled his hand on her back, tightened his fingers on her upper arm. “Hell no, it wouldn’t. We have something special.” In his experience, love was rare. Once found, it was worth fighting for. “I love you. I’ll do whatever it takes to make us work.”
The laugh she released was bitter. “Heard that before.”
Digging for patience, he tucked his finger under her chin and lifted. He held her gaze. “Whoever you’re thinking about right now, this bed is already occupied. Only room for me and you.”
Her eyes fluttered shut.
Swallowing was difficult with a big lump of panic clogging his throat. He wasn’t giving up without a fight.
With a gentle prod, he encouraged her to look at him again. “Talk to me, baby. Help me understand why you think we won’t stick.” Please let it be something I can fix.
Resting her head on his chest, she sighed. She hesitated so long, he feared she wouldn’t talk to him. To his relief, she finally spoke. “I’ve been in a long distance relationship before. My college boyfriend spent a semester abroad. It should have worked. We were solid, strong. We’d been a couple for a year before he moved to Italy. Our future looked bright.” Her fist clenched on his chest. “Within a month, he met someone else. Someone he could touch . . . who could touch him back. That was pretty important to him. Suddenly, having a girlfriend five thousand miles away wasn’t desirable. The dirtbag broke up with me by text message.”
Anger at the nameless fuck-tard hit Luke like a tidal wave. “He sounds like a douchy bastard to me.” He sucked in a calming breath and drew circles on her back. “But I’m not him. Cheating isn’t my style. Neither is screwing someone just to get my rocks off. I’d never do that to you.”
“The distance and your schedule still present problems.”
She was doing her best to rationalize why they wouldn’t work.
Barreling forward, he tried to explain why they would. “Gonna disagree, baby. I’ll come up every weekend. Even if I can only swing a day trip, I’ll be there. A hundred miles is nothing. I can come up after work some days. Things won’t always be this crazy at work. We’ll be together. It’ll be a piece of cake.”
“You won’t end up resenting that you have to drive to me all the time?”
He pressed a kiss to her hair, the scent of her shampoo filling his senses. “Baby, every day I get to see you will be bright and shiny, no room for resentment. You’ll come to Medford when you’re able. I know you’ll want to see Bella.”
“I don’t know.” But he felt her lips curve into a smile against his chest.
“Jac, shut up.” He cupped her head, stroking her russet hair. “I’m fighting for us. I’d love for you to fight as well. Together we’ll win. We’ve already proven we’re a great team.”
She pressed her palm against his heart and raised up to give him a soft, almost shy glance. “I love you, Luke. I fell hard when I threw my drunken self at you, and you declined. So sweet and endearing. And frustrating.” Her wicked grin lit a glow in him. “You certainly redeemed yourself later.”
“I plan to keep redeeming myself for a long, long time.” He chuckled. “I knew I loved you when you laughed after I doused you with paint. Bad situation, made worse later by crap going on at work. But you weren’t daunted. I love how you know your own mind and aren’t afraid to steer a new path.”
Luke traced Jac’s shoulder and pulled her up for a kiss, relieved they’d worked out what bothered her. He wanted her, her laughter, her love in his life.
He slipped from the bed and made his way to the attached bathroom, where he stripped off the spent condom and disposed of it. After snapping off the light, he returned to the bed, where Jac reclined in a dim pool of light from the bedside lamp.
He drifted his gaze over her creamy skin, knowing how satiny it felt under his fingertips. Long, coltish legs, bent slightly at the knees, drew his attention next. He licked his lips, imagining tonguing his way from pink tipped toes to the place hidden under the thin strip of dark russet hair at the apex of her thighs. Eyes closed, a soft smile on her face, with one hand resting on her hip, the other against her lips, as if holding in their kisses.
“God, you are stunning.”
Her eye
s fluttered open. Extending her hand, an invitation to come back to bed, she asked, “Are you hungry?”
His chest heaved and blood rushed back into his cock. Damn straight he was hungry.
Jac’s soft, sexy chuckle and pointed look at his groin wove through his system like a shot of whiskey. She cleared her throat, drawing his gaze as she lowered her fingers to her pink-tipped breasts. “I meant for food.”
Luke shot a look at the analog alarm clock by her bedside. After midnight. Disappointment over the way time had spun away swamped him, colder than a bucket of ice. He sat next to her on the bed and leaned gingerly against her leg, his arm between her knees and his hand over her calf. “As much as I’d prefer to simply climb into bed and slip back into you, I have to be at the medical center in two hours. I still need to go home and get a clean suit.” He squeezed his fingers around her ankle. “God, I hope we reach an agreement today. This bargaining has gone on too long.”
Jac sat up at his side and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “You’re not even gone and I miss you already. This is what I mean about being apart. It’s going to be hell.” Sliding her hand to his jaw, she prodded his face toward hers and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, which felt better than a slice of heaven and tasted of sweet nectar. “But a picnic compared to hell without you.”
She dropped her hand to his chest, toying with the short, scattered hairs. “I’ll fix you breakfast before I send you on your way. But you have to promise to come back with everything you need for a few days. I want to spend as much time as possible with you before I head to Eugene. So come back, even if it’s during booty-call hours.”
“Baby, you’re as far away from being a booty-call as the hospital is in settling these damn talks.”
Her lips pulled down, her eyes sad. “I’m confident you’ll work it out.”
Yeah, he would. Once he got his dipshit boss to quit stalling. “Come on. Let’s go fix some food. I am hungry.”
Chapter 21
In the tiny kitchen, Jac steered Luke toward the breakfast bar and pushed him down onto a stool.
“Only room for one in here. You sit, I’ll work.”
Luke yawned and scrubbed his hand through his hair. “Can we start with coffee?”
“I take it you don’t want decaf?”
The stool rocked beneath him as he shook his head vehemently. “Hell, no.”
Her sweet, light laughter filled the small space, bouncing off the low ceiling. She set about filling the space-aged single cup brewer with water. Luke rested his elbow on the counter, his chin on his hand, and watched her sure, economical movements.
The little coffeemaker gurgled to life, water hissing as it started to warm. Jac held out two small pods. “Regular breakfast blend, or put-hair-on-your-chest dark roast?” She lowered her gaze to his pecs, arching an eyebrow.
He flattened his palm to his torso and rubbed, his chest hair rasping under his fingers. “Dark roast, please.”
Less than a minute later, Jac deposited a bright red mug with pink lips on it in front of him. Fragrant, smoky steam wafted into his nostrils as he lifted the cup and blew on it. After taking a sip, he closed his eyes and heaved a contented sigh. Sure, it might be the middle of the night, and watching Jac’s rounded ass shifting under the thin cotton wrapper she wore sent signals to his cock that it was desperate to be inside her. But he was relaxed and happier than he’d been in the past forty-eight hours.
Quiet domesticity filled his senses. The fork Jac wielded clattered against the ceramic bowl as she whipped the eggs into froth. The microwave dinged as it finished nuking sausage patties. The delicious aroma of Italian spices conquered the scent of his coffee.
Jac hummed as she worked, a catchy tune he didn’t recognize, but one he decided instantly was his new favorite song. She set a couple of small Mason jar glasses on the bar and filled them with juice.
After loading two plates with heaping mounds of scrambled eggs, toast, and sausage, she laid them on the granite and rummaged under the counter for flatware. Carefully retrieving a second cup from the coffeemaker, she skirted the counter and climbed onto the stool next to him.
When she crossed her legs, she exposed a creamy expanse of thigh. Luke found it difficult to tear his eyes away from the view. He dropped his hand to the satiny skin, fingers itching to climb higher and disappear under the edge of the navy blue fabric hiding the rest of her from view.
Dipping his head to hers, he captured her mouth under his, laving the plump lips with his tongue, fingers flexing on the smooth skin under his hands. Finally ending the tender moment, he murmured against her cheek. “Thanks for cooking for me.”
“You’re welcome. Now eat before it gets cold.” Her voice was breathless as she cupped her hand over his jaw and turned his focus to his breakfast. “Here.” She pressed a fork into his hand.
Luke cut a bite of sausage and forked it up. He chewed thoughtfully, swallowed, and asked, “How did your talk with Jules go?”
Straightening, Jac beamed at him. “Oh my goodness. I nearly forgot to tell you. I ran into a bit of a snag. My cousin hasn’t paid the land taxes on the farm. I had to find fifty grand or the farm was going to auction.”
This was what he’d talked to Bella about. It was a huge chunk of change, though Jac didn’t seem as stressed about it as he’d expected. “Bella told me.”
“When did she tell you?” Jac paused, her fork halfway to her mouth.
“I ran into her on one of the wards last night. We talked about you. You should know she’s taking all the credit for us being together.” He knew his smile was sheepish. “Must have been right after you’d talked to her. She mentioned you were a little panicked.”
“She was right. At the time, I’d been staring at my budget, trying to borrow from Peter to pay Paul. I didn’t want to have to go so deeply into debt to launch a new life.”
“What are you going to do? I have some cash saved from the sale of my house in Tampa.” He leaned against the counter. “I can swing a loan, if you need. Not fifty thousand, mind you. Maybe half.” He hadn’t planned on offering to help her, but if felt right. It felt solid.
Jac set her fork on her plate and swung on her stool to face him. Her eyes glistened. “That’s so great of you. And so unnecessary. I found the money. Or rather, it found me.”
“I know it’s late, but you aren’t making much sense here.” He swiped the pad of his thumb under her eye, clearing away the drop of moisture that had trickled out.
“Sorry.” She blew out a breath. “Luke, Jules Capelli has a corporation. She lends money at a ridiculously low interest rate to start-ups like mine. Not even really a loan, more an investment.” Jac hopped off her seat and strode to the hall table, where her purse lay. After pawing through the bag, she turned back to him, a check clutched in her hand. “She insisted on investing in my spice farm and brought me my first customer.”
“Are you kidding?”
“Nope. Cross my heart.” Her fist slashed in an X over her chest, the paper she clutched dragging on the fabric of her robe. “Plus, my cousin Rowena is going to pay the original tax bill, minus the fees and penalties.” Jac bounced on the balls of her feet. “Oh, and get this. She told me earlier today, Gramps left a trust fund to be used if either of us wanted to restart the farm. Luke, I have money coming out my ears.”
She raced to the counter and threw her arms around him. He grabbed her and surged out of his seat. Her exuberant laughter rang sweetly as he spun her in circles.
He stopped twirling and lowered her to the floor. “Everything is falling into place for you.”
A shadow flitted in her eyes and the corners of her mouth drooped. “Except . . .”
A moment passed before he prompted her. “Except?”
“Eugene is two hours away.”
“And we has
hed this out before, didn’t we?” He raised his brows, waiting.
She dipped her head, hiding her face from his view. “I’ve only just found you.” Her voice was small, quiet. Filled with uncertainty.
He tucked his finger under her chin and lifted until he could see her eyes. “Baby, I told you we’d make it work. And even though we’re about so much more than this one little thing, we’ve proven to be pretty damn good at phone sex.”
Color flooded into her cheeks. A tiny smile bloomed on her lips. “Yes, we are. But we’re even better at making love in person.”
She stood on tiptoes and pressed her lips to his, her tongue invading his mouth in a kiss both spicy and sweet, a mixture of the coffee and juice they’d drunk. Moving her hands to his shoulders, she pushed him until his back was flush against the wall by the breakfast bar.
Heat and blood shot to his groin, and his cock swelled at the pressure of her nipples tightening and rubbing against him as she snuggled in closer.
Luke bent to wrap his arms around the backs of her thighs, lifting so her legs caged his waist. He groaned at the contact of her pussy against his straining dick.
Nipping at his lips, Jac whispered, “Take me back to bed, Luke.”
Jac used the daylight hours of Sunday to sort out her affairs, assuring come Monday, she’d be ready to submit her resignation to her boss. She also made a trip to Gold Hill for lunch with her parents. The drive up the interstate was sunny and dry, allowing her to open the sunroof.
Risking the Vine (Romancing the Vine Book 1) Page 21