Sarah stood facing the back door, one hip leaning against the granite-topped island. Silently he stepped up behind her and slid his arms around her, just beneath the fullness of her breasts.
“Jesse!” she shrieked in alarm, jumping up and smacking the top of her head against his chin.
“Ow!” they both cried at once. Releasing her abruptly, he gave her an aggrieved look as he rubbed his chin.
“Well it serves you right, sneaking up on me like that.” She rubbed her head gingerly. “You scared me!”
“Enough to call Adam Sinclair?”
“Oh, all right,” she grumbled. “I’ll call him tomorrow.”
“Today.”
“Jesse—”
His expression hardened. “Today.”
“All right, today.” Her chin jutted forward. “Satisfied?”
He looked down at her and was suddenly swept with a longing so fierce, it threatened to unravel him. Curling his index finger under her chin, he lifted her face to his. The fear reflected in those lovely turquoise eyes stabbed into his heart. His expression gentled. “Sarah, sugar, don’t be afraid of me. I’m not your enemy.”
Maybe not, she thought with a tiny shiver of awareness. But you are my weakness. A weakness that would bring her to her knees and wreak havoc with her well-ordered life if she gave in to it. She looked at him, feeling raw and…flayed. She had no bulwark against this man. He’d blasted through her hastily erected defenses like a jackhammer, leaving her wrecked and scattered.
Seeing the turmoil in her eyes, he smiled gently. “I know you’re scared, baby. I know you’re afraid I’ll hurt you. That I’ll run off and leave you again. That I’ll want more from you than you’re able or willin’ to give. All I’m askin’ for is a chance to prove you wrong.” His black eyes were somber, pleading. “I know you want happily ever after, Sarah. I don’t know how to do that. I’ve never been a happily-ever-after kind of guy. But I promise I’ll do my best to figure out what it is so I can give it to you. I’m askin’ you to trust me to look after you and give you everythin’ you need. Because you are everythin’ I need. If you run away to Boston, I’ll follow you, so you might just as well stay here.”
She stared up at him, her eyes dark and flickering with the painful battle raging inside her. “I can’t risk it, Jesse.” She shook her head. “You’re no good for me.”
“I’m perfect for you.”
“It’s just sex.”
“Oh, no, baby, it’s wa-a-y more than ‘just sex,’ believe me. I’ve had ‘just sex’ and it didn’t feel anythin’ like this.”
“You’ll break my heart.”
He grimaced. “You’re wrong, baby. I’ll heal it. Give me a chance to heal both of us. We’ll take it slow and easy. We’ll start out with…a date.” Well, whaddya know? His face brightened. Adam was right. This is easy. “How about dinner?”
“Dinner?” she repeated as if he were suddenly speaking Klingon.
“And dancin’.” He grinned down at her. “Tomorrow night. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Jesse—”
“Seven. We’ll go someplace fancy. Wear your prettiest dress.”
“Jesse, I haven’t—”
She was still shaking her head when he shut her up with a swift kiss on the lips. A kiss that was tender and gentle, turning her resistance to smoke. Hands barely resting on her shoulders, he sipped at her mouth, savoring the taste of her, the feel of her, lifting and replacing his lips on hers over and over until she was moaning and gasping and clinging to his broad shoulders for support. By the time he lifted his head, she was practically delirious with arousal, tiny whimpers of pleasure tumbling from her throat.
Oh, God, this is so not fair. How could she possibly maintain any control over herself if he did things like this? “Jesse, please…”
“Please what?” he asked devilishly. “Please kiss you? Please push up your blouse and suck your hard little nipples? Please go down on you and suck your sweet little clit? I intend to do all those things to you, baby, until you come all over my fingers, my tongue, my cock…”
Lord have mercy! Those words again! She felt herself weakening, succumbing to their dark, destructive power. She shook her head in sheer frustration. “Stop saying things like that! You’re going to make me lose control.”
His grin was wicked. “News flash, baby,” he said softly, stroking his bent index finger down her cheek before releasing her altogether, “you never had control. See you tomorrow night. Call Adam Sinclair and get that crappy alarm system replaced. And if you see or hear from Ryder Malone, call 911, then call me. Immediately.”
Arms wrapped around her abdomen, she stared at the back door long after he’d gone. Her body still tingled from his touch. Her blood sparkled through her veins like fine champagne, making her curiously lightheaded and dizzy. Okay, what just happened here? Had she actually agreed to go out with him? Oh, God, she had! She had a date with Jesse Colter! A real-life, actual date!
She stood there, not moving, the breath hanging suspended in her lungs as her mind replayed over and over again the memory of his rough, calloused fingers fucking in and out of her pussy, stroking the tight satin nub of her clit, bringing her to thundering, shuddering completion.
Her hand flew to her mouth as she realized the enormity of the risk she was taking. Her stomach lurched with a combination of dread and anticipation and she suddenly realized she wasn’t moving to Boston after all. She was going to stay in Marshall’s Creek and make Jesse Colter realize that he did do love. That he loved her as much as she loved him. That he was a happily-ever-after kind of guy after all.
* * * *
Holy Moley, what a hunk! Heart tripping overtime in her breast, Sarah watched Adam Sinclair get out of his black Land Rover and cross the cobbled courtyard toward her. He was dressed in khaki slacks and a cornflower blue polo shirt that matched his blue, blue eyes. As tall as Jesse, he had a magnificent body, lean, deeply tanned, and powerful, full of hard, sinewy, rippling muscles that inexplicably made her mouth water.
She could tell he’d been a SEAL, or, at the very least, military. It was there in his bearing, ramrod straight, but not stiff. It was there in the way he walked, with leashed power like a predatory cat stalking its prey. He had that same inner stillness about him that Jesse had, the same intimidating air of authority that said this was a man who got what he wanted.
And to top it all off, he was a positive Adonis, oozing with sex appeal. His hair, just long enough to start curling behind his ears, was blond. And his deeply tanned features, including an aristocratic nose, a cleft chin, and dimples in both cheeks that deepened into grooves when he smiled, as he was doing now, might have been chiseled out of the finest marble.
Holy Moley! she thought again as she watched him approach, her belly flip-flopping all over the place. He should be wearing a neon sign that flashes out the word danger. A lump in her throat the size of a boulder trapped the air in her lungs.
“Hi, Sarah, I’m Adam Sinclair,” he said in a deep voice. His hard, unmistakably male hand closed around hers and fire streaked up her arm. She felt herself sinking into the blue pools of his eyes. He loomed over her. Looming was something that came easy to him. At six foot three, he loomed over pretty much everything. Eyes that seemed to see into the deepest heart of her, exposing all her secrets. Good grief! Heat suffused her face and suddenly she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. What on earth was the matter with her?
“Jess has told me so much about you, I feel I know you already,” he continued in that silky, dark-chocolate voice that was doing strange things to her breathing. “Although,” he added with a wink and a warm squeeze of her hand between both of his, “nothing he said could do justice to how truly lovely you are.”
Wow.
“Th-thank you,” she managed to stammer, reluctantly pulling her hand out of his grasp as his potent sensuality closed over her. Her blood galloped through her veins, sending her heartbeat soaring.
“You’re
like a shiny present just waiting to be discovered under the tree and unwrapped.”
No kidding. He actually said that!
“Wow.” Flustered, she gave a shaky little laugh. “If that’s your standard pick-up line, I’ll bet you have no problem getting girls.”
He chuckled, a sound that weakened her knees. Good God! What was the matter with her? How could she be reacting this way to a complete stranger when she absolutely loved Jesse Colter with all her heart? What was there about this particular man that pulled at her so?
“Oh, I get my share.” He cocked his head, studying her intently. This was the woman he’d fallen in love with just from hearing Jess talk about her. He’d expected her to be beautiful. But nothing had prepared him for the reality of her. She was exquisite, small and dainty and graceful, with skin the color and texture of rose petals. Jess had said her eyes were turquoise. But they were more than just turquoise. They were a subtle swirl of greens and blues, with a brown rim and golden flecks that caught and reflected the light like tiny little suns. They were mesmerizing, shining with humor and intelligence.
And her hair. Brown, Jess had called it. It wasn’t brown at all, but a subtle blend of rich, delicious colors like coffee, dark chocolate, and nutmeg, with warm caramel and honey highlights that shimmered in the sun. The thick, shiny, shoulder-length curls made him want to spear his fingers through them and spread them out on his pillow as he prepared to mount her.
Then there were her lips—God, those lips. Full and pouty and curved upward in a smile that was filled with magic. She literally took his breath away, and his cock hardened so fast he nearly fell over. Good grief, not now!
“This place is gorgeous,” Adam commented, turning away from her partly to hide his sudden erection, partly to take in the graceful antebellum mansion surrounded by enormous tulip poplars and live oaks, extensive lawns and lush gardens. The driveway looped around a large, multitiered central fountain surrounded by flower beds. Off to the side of the house, connected to the kitchen door by a graceful breezeway, was a five-car garage, with the chauffeur’s quarters above it.
“Thank you. The original house was built in 1759. It burned down in 1813 and was replaced by the house you see today. It’s been added on to over the years, but the main three-story house is pretty much the same as it was nearly two hundred years ago. Omigod, listen to me.” She laughed self-consciously. “I sound like Tour Guide Barbie.”
“You sound charming,” he assured her, “and I shall enjoy listening to you as you show me around today. Is that for us?” He gestured toward the golf cart she’d brought out of the garage just before he’d arrived.
“Yes, I figured it would be quicker and easier than walking.” As they climbed into the tiny, open vehicle, Sarah couldn’t help but be supremely aware of the warmth of his muscular thigh touching hers, the brush of his arm against hers. And the unmistakable bulge of an erection threatening to burst out of his khakis.
Good Lord. Did I cause that?
“So,” she said as she drove past the pool and the tennis court, more to break the silence than to glean any actual information, “you’ve known Jesse for a long time…?” She struggled to get her fluttering pulse under control, to tuck every jangling nerve ending neatly back into place.
Adam smiled and her heart squeezed at the sheer sexiness of it. “Since Basic. Plus, we were classmates out in Coronado during BUD/S. And we’ve been on the same Teams ever since.”
“Buds?”
“Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALs.”
“Right.” Sarah nodded. “I understand it’s pretty intense.”
Again that smile. Again that fluttering in her chest she couldn’t seem to control.
Holy Moley!
“Well, let me just say that it’s a pretty good way to find out what you’re made of. Out of the 259 guys who began the course, only 23 of us were left at the end. Seventeen left the first day.”
“Wow.”
“Well put. English major?”
“Economics.”
“Close enough.” He grinned. Shading his eyes with his hand, he nodded toward the lake they were passing. “Any fish in there?”
“I doubt it. Jesse and I came up here a lot one summer, but we never got a nibble. Not for lack of trying, though.” Her breath caught at the sudden, poignant memory of Jesse standing behind her, his arms around her, his big hands patiently demonstrating how to secure the fat, wiggling worm on the hook. It was so real, she swore she could feel the heat of his hard body against her back, his warm breath fanning her cheek. Her throat closed unexpectedly and she found herself blinking rapidly as tears stung her eyes. “I haven’t been back up here since then.”
“Why not?”
Because Jesse isn’t here. She managed a shrug, swallowing around the lump in her throat. “Just never got around to it, I guess. I started high school that fall, even though I’d never attended public school before and was only thirteen.”
“Wow. Talk about culture shock.”
She laughed. “I thought I’d landed in a galaxy far, far away.”
He loved her voice, smooth and mellow like a fine Pinot Noir. Since he’d never met her before today, even though he’d been in love with her for over five years, every little thing he learned about her was a new and exciting discovery, a tiny nugget he could squirrel away, to be taken out and examined later in the privacy and darkness of his condo. “Jess said you were an only child…?”
“Yes. I lost my mother when I was eight. My father was a criminal court judge who stayed very busy, so I was basically raised by nannies and tutors.”
“What a coincidence,” Adam exclaimed, “so was I. My parents were killed when I was three. Their car was T-boned by a delivery truck. My father was killed instantly. My mother died of her injuries a week later. She never regained consciousness.”
“Oh, Adam, how awful for you. I’m so sorry.” Instinctively, she turned her head to look at him and was stopped by the look in his eyes. A look of such smoldering sensuality it ripped the breath from her lungs. Her foot lifted from the pedal and the cart jerked to an unintentional stop, throwing them forward. Her chin struck the steering wheel, spilling the coppery taste of blood into her mouth. “Ow!”
“Here, let me see.” Adam’s hand lifted to turn her face toward him and she found herself wanting to sink into his touch. And even though she didn’t exactly do that, neither did she pull away.
God, what was wrong with her? Ordinarily, she shied away from being touched, especially by strangers. Okay, not strangers so much as strange men. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have allowed it. But there was nothing ordinary about this sexy ex-SEAL. And, surprisingly enough, his touch did not feel like that of a stranger. It felt…oddly familiar somehow, as if, in some distant place and time, he had touched her. Often. And she knew, without knowing exactly how she knew, that she had welcomed his touch then, even as she was going to welcome it now. Holy crap, how can this be possible? She stared at him, her eyes wide, her body a chaotic jumble of emotions. She felt as if she’d been cast adrift in the middle of a thick fog.
“Hold still.” His voice was deep. Commanding. And she found herself obeying instinctively. “You hit the steering wheel pretty hard. I just want to check you out, make sure you haven’t hurt yourself.” He put his hands on either side of her jaw, manipulating it gently back and forth. It was all she could do to keep from jumping at his touch. Cream was gushing from her pussy onto her lace panties.
Good grief, he was so much like Jesse! Were all SEALs like this? Domineering and bossy and sexy as sin?
“Are you a doctor?” she managed in a light, teasing tone as she accepted the touch of his fingers without further protest.
He grinned. “No. But I was a Cub Scout, if that helps.”
“Good enough.”
His fingers were gentle as he pulled her lower lip down and away from her teeth. “You’ve bitten your lip pretty hard from the looks of it. You might want to rinse your mouth out with an
antiseptic mouthwash as soon as we get back to the house. It’ll keep it from becoming painful.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” she teased.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get my bill.”
She stiffened as Adam’s thumb brushed across her cheek. “You had something there,” he lied, unable to deny himself the pleasure of the touch. The air between them practically sizzled, crackling with an energy that snapped from his skin to hers as his hand returned to his lap to enter more data into his BlackBerry.
Feeling like she’d swallowed a live wire, Sarah turned the cart jerkily to head up the hill toward what had been, before the Civil War, a vast complex of stables and barns. There was nothing left now but broad, empty fields, the faint outline of a race track and one sadly neglected low-roofed building, its once-whitewashed brick walls covered in a tangle of ivy and blackberry vines.
“Oh, my,” Sarah cried, a tiny sound of distress. She pulled up to the building and scrambled out. Adam followed her to the sagging door at the nearest end of the building. She tried to push it open, but it refused to budge until Adam put his shoulder against it. Rusted metal shrieked as he managed to create a gap of around a foot and a half.
As they stepped inside, they heard the frantic beating of birds’ wings and the scurrying of tiny animal feet. Dust motes and bits of straw swirled in the beaming rays of light that filtered through a gaping hole in the roof. “I-I didn’t realize this had fallen into such disrepair,” she said as she looked around the ruined interior of the building. “I haven’t been up here since I was a kid. There were horses here then—”
In the gloom, she could just make out the individual stalls still lining both sides of the cobblestoned center aisle. Once a bright, pristine white, the paint was now discolored and peeling like diseased skin. She could barely see the faded remnants of the names on a few of the stalls, now nearly indecipherable from the deadly combination of time and decay. Gadfly. Hyperion. Princess—
Loving Sarah (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 8