“But you’re not safe,” he whispered.
Losing his smile, Danny pulled himself up to his full five feet eight inches and channeled Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“Ah’ll be back.”
Abbie quietly climbed the stairs to the loft, her short silk robe cinched tightly and her heart beating fast. Oddly, somewhere inside she felt calm.
After seventeen minutes of staring at the digital clock on the desktop, she’d suddenly realized how important each minute was, and how many of them she’d already wasted. Instead of calculating the number of minutes she might have left, she needed to celebrate the minutes she had. Life was a gift. And seventeen precious minutes had passed that she would never have again.
Carpe diem.
It was too late to seize the day. But if Jace allowed it…they could seize the night.
A board creaked beneath her bare foot as she approached the top of the stairs, and Abbie winced. She didn’t want to announce her presence. If she did, they’d have to talk—have to make a decision based on their very separate lives and realities. And tonight, she’d done enough thinking for both of them.
Topping the stairs, she stepped onto the smooth, cool oak flooring. She just wanted to slide into his bed, slide into his arms—
Abbie cried out as a hand snaked out of the shadows to clamp her wrist and yank her forward. An instant later, she was lying flat on her back, with Jace straddling her, and her wrists pinned over her head.
She stared, wide-eyed, and he released a soft curse.
The frosty wash from the spotlights didn’t reach the loft, but indirect moonlight touched his lined face and lean naked body as his gaze slid from her eyes to the parted front of her robe. A quick glance down told Abbie that the narrow sash at her waist was the only snippet of fabric that hadn’t shifted. But she didn’t care.
Locking her gaze on his, she saw the desire he couldn’t hide, and every emotion she’d ever felt for him swelled inside of her. “Hi.”
“Are you all right? Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head. But then…how would she know? Adrenaline was sharpening her other senses to needle points, and her mind wasn’t on pain—only pleasure. Breathless, she drank in his primal male beauty, let her gaze drift from his broad chest to his lean rib cage and hips, then lower to where he was coming alive for her. She sent him a tiny smile. “I guess you were expecting me.”
Jace went from his knees to a crouch, then pulled her to her feet. His turbulent gaze searched hers again, and more of those moments they shouldn’t be wasting ticked by.
“You sure about this?” he rasped, his voice thick. “Nothing’s changed. We still live in different worl—”
Abbie pressed her fingertips to his lips. “I’m sure. Now…no more talking.” But something had changed. She couldn’t say when it happened—when she’d finally finished falling for him and actually fell. But without a blare of trumpets or startling flash of insight, in those seventeen minutes downstairs, she’d come to the deep, satisfying realization that she loved him. In two short weeks, he’d taken over her heart, filled her mind and become the most important person in her world. Ultimately, what she would do about loving him depended on Jace. But for now…whatever the night had in store would be enough.
Taking her fingers from his lips, he kissed the tips of them, one by one. Then feeling his way, he untied the thin satin belt at her waist and slid her robe from her shoulders. It landed in a puddle at her feet.
With a blast of air that was part relief and part resignation, he took her in his arms, molded her to his body and brought his mouth down on hers.
Chapter 13
Abbie sighed against his lips, breaking the kiss only long enough to inhale deeply, then meet his marauding mouth again.
When had kissing become such an utterly visceral experience? she wondered. When had her thighs trembled and her tummy lifted so deliciously with barely a touch? She circled his neck, her mind spinning a rich tapestry of sensual images as Jace’s tongue mated with hers. She slid her hands into his thick black hair, felt herself sink willingly into that mind-numbing whirlpool where nothing mattered but this moment. A moment in which she felt breathless and tense and needy and jubilant all at the same time.
They moved languidly against each other, glorying in every touch and letting desire build, giving their hands the freedom to go where they wished.
Jace reacquainted himself with her curves and hollows, the faint scratch of his callused palms giving her nerve endings even more reason to thrum and curl. He threaded his left hand through her hair and deepened their kiss, pressed his right hand to her bottom and fitted her more closely to his arousal. There was no mistaking the immediacy or the intensity of his need.
This was what she’d longed for, Abbie thought, her mind floating. Intensity and immediacy, yet the restraint to savor.
Sliding his tongue into her mouth again, he backed her toward the bed, a tiny groan rustling in his throat as she explored, too. She stroked his chest, dallied with a nipple, then smoothed her hands down his taut midsection and trim hips. Finally, she encountered something even more intriguing to stroke.
A new shudder racked through him. Tearing his mouth from hers, Jace buried his face in her neck. “That’s nice,” he whispered. “But let’s not rush things, okay?”
She did it again.
Sighing, then chuckling, Jace lifted her into his arms and carried her to his bed. “Behave, or this will be over before we get started.”
Rumpled sheets still warm from his body welcomed her, and Abbie drew in a scent that was inherently Jace’s. Then she reached for him, and he stretched out beside her to kiss her temple, her mouth, her chin, her collarbone.
She craned her neck and gave him clear access to the throbbing pulse in her neck and anything else he wanted to kiss. She sighed. He wanted to kiss everything.
She let her fingers play in the soft hair at his nape, breathed in deeply as he rained moist kisses over the swells of her breasts.
Then his warm mouth found a nipple, and lovely, drizzling chills sailed the length of her.
It was sweetness and it was torment. Every soft pull created a thrill that went straight to her core, tantalizing her with promises of completion and making her blood thunder in her ears. By the time he moved to her other breast, the sensation was so acute, she couldn’t take the stimulation any longer without fulfillment.
Tugging him up to her, she whispered breathlessly, “Please tell me you’ve been to a drugstore or a seedy gas station lately, and we won’t have to improvise.”
Jace kissed her soundly again, then reached for a packet in the drawer of his nightstand. A moment later, he was levering himself over her and plunging inside.
Abbie dissolved into buttery warmth. She’d been so close for so long, the tingling began almost immediately. She slid her hands low, let her palms ride Jace’s hips, felt every muscle and nerve ending she owned reach for the pleasure that was quickly approaching. Her muscles contracted around him as she broke from the commanding pressure of his mouth and filled her depleted lungs with air.
Then she was climbing and he was murmuring something she couldn’t quite hear over the roaring in her ears.
The first wave crested and crashed in a flash of blue fire behind Abbie’s eyelids, then radiated outward in a tingling swell that reached every part of her. Her toes, her fingertips, the roots of her hair. Pressing her forehead to Jace’s shoulder, she inhaled his musky scent to keep that boneless feeling with her for a little longer.
She wouldn’t have had to delay its departure. Braced on his elbows, Jace kept loving her, kept murmuring sweet words that made her smile.
The second staggering wave took her by complete surprise. But when she parted her lips to draw a breath, he sealed his mouth to hers, and trapped it inside until the shudders finished rocking through her.
The third wave took him with her.
With a low groan Jace drew a ragged breath and plunged fiercely, deeply, emptying himself
and filling her, finding his own pleasure while Abbie’s mind spun and she gloried in the sheer power and beauty of him.
Then…time hung suspended. Spiraling aftershocks slowly worked through them, leaving their limbs weak and their bodies blissfully sated. Outside, the chill wind was picking up again, but here, feeling a little more of his weight as the quiet stole over Jace, too, Abbie was contented and warm.
She touched and stroked, felt the sandy prickle of his beard against her lips as she kissed his throat, slipped her fingers through his hair and held him loosely, kept their bodies close.
Slowly, Jace lifted his head, and in the dusky half light, Abbie smiled up into his handsome face. There was so much devotion in his eyes, it gave her hope.
This was it, she realized. This was the moment she’d longed for since that first night in the gazebo…the moment of completely letting go and giving herself physically, emotionally and spiritually to a man. But not just any man. To Jace. It was the most amazing moment of her life.
“Incredible,” she whispered.
He smiled, his dark hair rumpled and sexy around his face. “For me, too. I don’t want to move.”
“Then don’t,” she whispered. She drew him down for another soft, tonguing kiss. “Stay for a minute.”
“Can’t.” He nuzzled her neck, sending a tickle down the side of her leg. “I need to take care of business before a few of my guys make a break for it. No babies, remember?”
No babies.
Abbie stopped stroking his hair, her contentment flagging as their earlier discussion came back to her. He’d explained his reservations, told her that marriage and children were out of the question…but that was before they’d glimpsed each other’s souls. No man could look at a woman the way he’d just looked at her without feeling more than friendship, could he?
Grinning, kissing her one last time, Jace moved away.
And suddenly Abbie was afraid that if they didn’t stay close, they’d lose this indefinable bond between them. She gave him a few moments, then followed him into the master bath. The fixtures were white, but splashes of burgundy and hunter green were all around.
“I missed you,” she said, sliding back into his arms.
“I’m glad,” he murmured. “We can shower together.”
“What a nice idea. You can wash my back, I’ll wash yours…and then I’ll find a way to thank you for showing me such a good time. The score’s three to one, my favor. I’m afraid you were shortchanged.”
His grin stretched. “No, I wasn’t. But that said, I think you just made me an offer I’d be an idiot to refuse.”
Later, nestled in his arms, Abbie listened to Jace’s slow, steady breathing behind her. And as she stared into the semidarkness, she found herself wishing that there was no anxiety mixed with the contentment she felt. After he’d drifted off to sleep, sated once again, she’d turned her attention back to his no-babies comment.
True, she’d brought up the subject of birth control first—before they’d made love. But somehow, she hadn’t expected him to even think about it after they’d drained each other. That should’ve been the time for touching and whispering in the dark.
Naturally, he’d had to deal with the reality of the situation, but he could’ve simply said he needed to take care of business and left it at that. But…he hadn’t. And now she wondered if his offhand remark had been a gentle reminder that their relationship was short-term.
So, what are you going to do about it? a tiny voice questioned. Can you change his mind? He was clear about what he wanted—and didn’t want—when you discussed it. And realistically, is this what you truly want? Without stars in your eyes, without the memory of loving him humming through your system, could you leave the practice you worked so hard to build for a small town office and a few driving-under-the-influence clients?
Both questions stopped Abbie’s breathing. And suddenly she knew that not all of the anxiety she felt was due to Jace’s no-marriage, no-children view of life. She had reservations, too. But how could that be when she loved him? Or was this love? Her emotional judgment had shown signs of wear lately. She’d misread Collin, and she’d horribly misread Danny Long.
Squeezing her eyes shut, telling herself that it was too much to think about right now, she slid her arm back under the blankets, then covered the warm broad hand on her waist. She linked her fingers through Jace’s. At this moment, spooned together with the wind flinging beads of snow against the window, she felt cherished. She wouldn’t allow anything to steal her happiness tonight.
Jace stalked out of the warehouse where a third of the red oak inside kiln number three—twenty-eight thousand board feet of someone else’s lumber—had basically become firewood. It had gone into the kiln without having the ends waxed, dried too fast, and their losses could run into the thousands of dollars.
Crossing the snow-speckled lot, he strode into the office where Ida was still looking worn out. The moment she’d come in, he’d told her to go back home—then inadvertently insulted her by reminding her that she was no spring chicken. Now she was ticked off at him, too. He’d set a new record today for blowups and apologies.
He’d left while Abbie was still asleep, showered and dressed downstairs, then locked her safely in the house. Then he’d snuck out like…like a coward who couldn’t face the day-after expectations.
Last night had been the most emotionally and erotically satisfying night of his life. But when the heavy breathing was over, he’d known he was in trouble.
How many times had he warned himself to be smart, keep his distance? But, no, he’d let the little general in his jeans do his thinking and at the first hint of sex, he’d buckled like an unfolded lawn chair and let her in.
Now he had to get her out. Starting with her job and ending with their different views on family, they had nothing to build on.
Ida called to him from the fax machine as he went by. “Pardon me, Attila,” she snipped with her nose in the air. “You had a call while you were out.”
Jace sent her a deadpan look. “One of my Huns?”
“No, one of your honeys. Abbie’s on her way.”
Jace felt a nerve leap in his jaw. First of all, she shouldn’t be driving herself around without knowing where Long was. Secondly, he didn’t want her here. He had enough problems to deal with.
“I told her we’d love it if she’d handle the phones again today,” Ida went on sweetly. “After all, I’m a poor, decrepit, wrinkled old prune of a woman who needs her rest.”
She pulled the sheet out of the fax machine and moved crisply to the file cabinet to drop it in a folder. “Looks like there’ll be no dinner or hanky panky for Harold tonight. I’m obviously not up to it.”
Jace froze in shock as he tried to wrap his mind around her reply. “Harold?”
“My gentleman friend,” she replied, plunking herself down in her seat. “We met last month at the Rotary’s Monte Carlo Night.” She pinned Jace with a look. “And before you topple over, my Edward’s been gone for fifteen years, and by the green on grass, I’m entitled.”
Jace sighed, smiled then ambled around her desk to kiss her cheek and apologize. “I’m sorry. You’re not old, you’re a wild woman. And if you don’t want to go home, please stay with my gratitude. I know we don’t tell you often enough, but this place would crumble without you. I just don’t want you to work if you’re—”
She pointed an index finger at him, nearly poking him in the eye. “Stop before you get yourself in trouble again.”
The door opened and Abbie came inside. She was all loving eyes and soft smiles, and for an instant—just an instant—Jace’s insides got all stirred up again.
Ida grinned and waved at her, then commandeered Jace’s attention again. “With Fran still out, I need some help. If your lawyer girl can handle the phones and take messages, I’ll be able to catch up on my paperwork.”
Jace watched Abbie slip off her black gloves and snowy scarf as she walked toward them. Once again
she was wearing her black-and-gray herringbone coat, and high black boots, and once again she looked like she’d stepped out of a fashion magazine.
“Put her in Pete’s office,” he answered, relieved that she was now inside where he could keep an eye on her. Then he sent Abbie a cool nod she obviously didn’t understand and went into his office.
He’d just pulled his phone close and picked up the receiver when she entered, snatched it from his hand and banged it back in the cradle. Her fiery brown eyes demanded answers. “What’s going on?”
“I’m trying to make a phone call.”
“That’s not what I—” She stopped short. After a long, thoughtful moment she spoke again. “All right,” she said quietly, her posture going rigid. “I’ll let you do that. If you ever decide I deserve a straight answer, I’ll be in Pete’s office.”
When she’d gone, Jace released a ragged breath, planted his elbows on his desk and combed his hands back through his hair.
Obviously, they’d have to talk later, but right now, he had to concentrate on business. Picking up the phone, he pushed her as far out of his mind as humanly possible and dialed Linwood Lumber. Twenty-eight thousand board feet of lumber. Ruined.
He had some groveling to do.
Abbie hung up the phone in the forester’s office, made a note on the tablet beside her, then set the sheet aside. It had been two hours since Jace had subtly let her know that last night was last night, and this was a brand new day.
Well, so be it. Maybe this was for the best, she told herself, though the boulder on her heart wasn’t convinced. She’d had doubts about where their relationship was headed after last night, too, but she’d never dreamed it would lead to a cold, sterile nod.
Ida entered, breaking her thoughts. Despite her fatigue, there was a twinkle in her eyes. “How’s it going, honey?”
“It’s going,” Abbie replied, handing her the stack of messages.
“But not too well, I take it?” Pursing her lips, Ida shuffled through the notes, arranged them in some kind of order, then spoke again. “Be patient with him. This will all sort itself out.”
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