by AliyahBurke
A low wolf whistle floated across the air. She watched Derek stride toward her. He plucked her drink from her hand and helped himself. Licking his lips to get the remaining drops he grinned.
“A woman with grease and oil on her face and drinking outta a Mason jar. What more can a man ask for?”
His words although light and teasing made her feel beautiful. Ignoring the warm fuzzies, Jacey said, “A working tractor?”
He stared at her in the yellow light. “Close, but no,” he answered.
“If you say so. Going to start her up?”
Derek shook his head and pointed behind her. Wiping her hands off on a rag, she followed his finger. TC and Caleb were sound asleep curled up to Shadow, who lay between them.
“We can start it in the morning. No sense in waking them.” His voice soft and directly in her ear. One hand rested casually along the small of her back.
“Good idea.” Jacey stepped to the cleaner and removed the grease and oil from her skin. Derek followed suit. “Who do you want?” she asked, standing over the boys.
“I’ll take TC,” he whispered.
She didn’t argue, just crouched and lifted their son into her arms. “We can get the blanket in the morning also.”
Derek adjusted TC and nodded. They walked together in silence, the boys still out cold. No words were spoken until after they put them in their beds. Jacey closed the door almost all the way when she left the room. Derek leaned against the banister, watching her.
“What?” she questioned walking toward him.
“Just thinking how tired they are.”
She smiled and leaned on the rail beside him. “They play hard together. He and TC get along really well.”
“Yes, they’re like brothers.”
A sibling for Caleb. That took her thoughts down a totally different road. “They sure do. Good night, Derek.” Jacey walked away to her room.
Disappointment filled her when she slipped beneath her bedding. She’d wanted Derek to come to her. You’re the one who pushed him away, her brain reminded her. Jacey didn’t want logic, she wanted Derek. Somehow she managed to remain in bed instead of creeping up the hall to slip into his bed and beg him to set her free. One more time.
Sleep didn’t come easy and Jacey wasn’t thrilled when she woke after less than five hours of rest. Dressing, she made her way downstairs and out into the chilly October morning. Inhaling deeply, she leaned against a pillar and stared blindly through the dark.
Well, I’m not sleeping anytime soon. May as well run. Carefully making her way down the steps she stretched and jogged off down the driveway and up Mill Creek Road. Soon she’d settled into her stride and blissfully her mind went blank. Morning’s first light had arrived when Jacey walked up the drive, body damp with sweat. She hesitated at the door, for a moment envisioning Derek waiting for her in their bed.
Get a grip, Jacey.
Rubbing her temples, she entered and headed for her room to get cleaned up and changed. The house was still silent when she descended the stairs to the kitchen. Breakfast was fun with an undercurrent of awareness. It seemed each time she snuck a glance at him, his burning gaze was already centered upon her.
“Why don’t y’all go help your papa, Caleb, see if the tractor will start?” she said as calmly as she could manage.
“Yay!” the boys hollered and scampered off. Soon the front door slammed after them.
Clearing the table, Jacey froze when Derek’s baritone broke the silence.
“You know where I am, Jace, when it gets to be too much.”
Her insides clenched with longing and she couldn’t stop the whimper of need that lanced through her. Biting her lower lip, she refused to acknowledge or even look in his direction. When the door announced his departure, Jacey sank to the floor and covered her face with her hands.
“Damn it. I can’t do this.” It was hard. Too difficult to keep him at a distance. Gambit’s words resurfaced and with a snarl of anger she shoved them back down.
Kitchen clean, Jacey swallowed her own issues and went outside in time to see Derek driving the tractor around the barn. A wide grin split his handsome features. Contagious, she found a grin on hers as well.
“Yeeehaw!” he hollered, shutting it off and jumping down.
She laughed his enthusiasm so boyish. The smile only grew when he scooped up both boys and spun them around. One child under each arm, he strode up the steps.
“Thanks, Jace, for the tractor,” he said, putting Caleb and TC on their feet.
“Not like I was using it.”
A car drove in and Jacey saw Susie and Bubba climb out.
“Morning,” Bubba said.
“Hey, y’all. How was y’all’s anniversary?”
They looked at each other and grinned. “Wonderful,” Susie said. “Which is why we thought maybe Caleb and Shadow would like to spend the night with us.”
“Yeah! Mama, can I? Please?” Caleb shouted only to be echoed by TC.
Derek crossed his arms and stared at her. In the depths she read her submission. “Sounds fine to me, if you’re sure you want to take him.”
“We’d love to,” Bubba assured her.
And Jacey knew she was in trouble.
Serious trouble.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Derek rubbed the back of his neck and groaned. “This is so not how I wanted to spend my day.” Especially knowing Caleb was gone and Jacey was in that big house all alone. All alone.
It had been a long day and now night was fast approaching.
“Hey!” Carson yelled up to him.
“I say we finish tomorrow after church.”
Carson nodded. “Aunt Ro has dinner ready and waiting for us.”
Derek hesitated for a brief second before jumping off the now quiet tractor. “Let’s go eat then,” he said, sliding into the waiting truck.
They headed to the farm and washed up. Derek took a deep breath and followed Carson inside. His gaze landed on Aunt Ro and he moved to her side and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“Derek,” she said with a smile. “It’s been a while. I’m so glad you’re staying for dinner.”
He didn’t answer. Uncle Frank walked in and Derek nodded and said, “Uncle Frank.” Then he headed off to the living room. He’d still not gotten over his anger with Uncle Frank.
After dinner, Derek kissed his aunt and headed down the steps.
“Derek.” Uncle Frank’s voice paused him at the top of the porch steps. “I need a word with you.”
With a deep breath, Derek turned. “Yes, sir?”
“Let’s walk, son.”
Derek shoved his hands in his pockets and fell into step with his uncle. He kept his mouth shut, waiting for Frank to speak.
“You know I think of you like my own son.”
He snorted. “Jacob said the same thing. Of course, that was followed by him telling me he wanted to keep me away from Jace and he’d known all along,” his voice caught, “we had a son. Which, apparently, you knew too.”
“I know we were wrong to keep it from you.”
“I feel like the two men I looked up to the most in this world betrayed me.” Derek stopped and put a hand on his uncle’s arm. “Did you think I needed to be kept away from Jace?”
“I think there was this one day where Jacey Damia Thompson was brought to tears by some people and she sought comfort. Not from Honey, not from us or even her parents, but from the one person her heart told her to go to. You, Derek. You and Jacey have always had a unique connection, and while I don’t believe you needed to be kept from her, I can understand Jacob’s take on it.” Uncle Frank clasped his shoulder. “Derek, the only reason they wanted you further from her was—”
“I know. So I didn’t keep her prisoner.”
“No, son. You did have and still do have the power to bring her world crashing down around her. And that’s dangerous power for a young man to have. And I don’t just mean Caleb. It would have killed her to see you
with another woman. Next to Caleb, you mean everything to her. It’s in her eyes when she looks at you. That woman will always love you.”
“Sure. That would explain why she avoids me like the plague.”
Frank chuckled. “What better way to not face something.”
Derek nodded. No more running, princess. “Thank you, Uncle Frank. I’m sorry I didn’t come talk to you sooner.”
“Water under the bridge, son. Now, you make sure that girl talks to her father.”
He frowned. “She hasn’t talked to him?”
“No. Jacob says she refuses to.”
“I’ll see she does. Good night, Uncle Frank.”
“’Night, son.”
Derek ran back to the house. Leaping up the porch steps, he entered the house and hollered, “Jace! Jace? You here?”
The lack of a response sent him up to her room. He frowned when he couldn’t find her anywhere. A frown which turned into a scowl when he didn’t see her Jeep in the yard. The flash of headlights had him bolting to the door. Carson stood there.
“Wow, I thought you’d be a bit happier to see me. Come on, there’s a beer with your name on it at The Hole.”
Derek sighed. “Okay, let’s go.”
“So,” Carson said as he drove, “when’s the wedding?”
“Carson,” he warned.
His cousin laughed but let it go.
Derek’s gaze honed in immediately on a khaki Rubicon in the parking lot of The Hole. He jumped out of the car before Carson even shut it off. The lot was crammed with cars and trucks. Loud music blared through the walls. Two brawlers crashed through the door the closer they got. The cousins glanced at each other and grinned.
“Looks like a lively crowd,” Derek said, holding the door for Carson to precede him.
Carson whistled as women in tight outfits sashayed by. “Looks like my kind of crowd,” Carson corrected.
Before long they were at the bar grabbing beers. Derek took a drink and turned toward the band. Shelby stood before him.
“Hi,” she said.
“Shelby.”
“Come dance?”
Derek wanted Jacey, not Shelby. Carson took his beer and pushed toward her. He took her hand and followed her onto the floor. Shelby didn’t try anything cute and Derek relaxed and began to have fun. He saw Honey but still no sign of Jacey. Three songs later, he waded through the crowd to where Carson sat at a table with a shapely redhead on his lap. Shaking his head, Derek sat and drank his beer. Honey danced by, then came back with her dance partner.
“Hey, y’all,” she cooed.
“Honey,” Derek said with a grin. His cousin seemed so much happier. “You seem to be having fun.”
“I am.”
“Honey, have you seen Jace?” Derek asked.
“Yeah. She was…umm…dancing with Meat. I think they went outside.” Honey was whisked away.
Derek saw red. The thought of Jacey, his Jacey, anywhere near Travis “Meat” Lynn made him livid. Add to that the news she went outside with him and Derek actually shook. Meat was a good ol’ boy—tall, brown hair, tan skin, and unending muscles—from Oggle, a nearby town. One they’d grown up competing against in rival schools. Derek lurched to his feet and began to shove back through the throng for the door.
Through the gyrating bodies, near the exit, his gaze landed on her. Jacey wore a white dress which barely seemed to cover her ass; it floated with every move she made. Moves which seemed hypersexual to him. A halter top, v-neck neckline gave her dance partner, Meat, a nice view of her breasts. Her hair floated freely around her face.
Derek’s red grew ugly and violent. Meat’s hands were on Jacey’s ass, holding her close to his groin as they danced. A possessive rumble shot up from his chest as he pushed through to where they stood. Each and every intention of semi-calmly talking fled when Meat’s large fingers tightened on Jacey’s ass, his other hand at the small of her back. Jacey dropped back, her hair and upper body bent enticingly toward the floor. His rage grew even more dangerous when the hand on her back trailed down between her breasts to settle on her other side.
Jacey rose up again and Derek’s gaze firmly fixated on the way Meat’s hands grabbed her ass as they moved to the music. When Meat lowered his head to her neck, Derek fairly flew the rest of the way, a loud roar erupting from his chest.
Ripping Meat off her, Derek snarled, “Get the fuck off my woman!” He released a right hook at his jaw and followed the large man to the floor.
“Derek!” Jacey screamed. “Get off him.”
Derek didn’t care; his mind played a scenario he didn’t much like with Meat and Jacey in bed together. Meat’s mocking grin told him the man had plans for Jacey. No! Jacey is mine!
He saw stars when Meat hit him back. They rolled around, exchanging punches. Derek was still livid when they were dragged apart. Chest heaving, Derek shrugged off the hands holding him, strode over to a disbelieving Jacey, and threw her unceremoniously over his shoulder. Glaring at Meat, then the rest of the men there, and back to Meat again, he growled, “Keep your hands off my woman!” The dictate was issued with a deadly tone.
Derek headed out into the parking lot, Jacey shaking on his shoulder. By her Jeep he put her on her feet and met her furious black gaze.
“What the—”
He silenced her with a demanding kiss. “Get your ass in the Jeep.”
“Excuse me?” She arched a brow.
“Don’t, Jacey. Get in the fucking Jeep. Now!” His order came from behind clenched teeth.
She didn’t move, so he tossed her into the passenger seat and peeled out of the lot, oblivious to all the spectators. The drive home was silent, he could feel the fury radiating off her. Slamming to a stop before the steps, Derek turned off the engine, moved to her side and lifted her out, again throwing her over his shoulder.
“Derek!” she screeched. “Put me down!”
He ignored her until he deposited her on the floor of his bedroom. Flicking on the light, he kicked the door shut with one foot and stared at her.
“What the hell?” she hollered.
“No more, Jacey. Jesus, I can’t take it anymore. You are mine and it’s about damn time you accept it.” He clenched his hands and opened them, holding them up by his shoulders, palms toward her so he didn’t grab her. “Do you have any idea, any, how badly I wanted to rip Meat’s fucking head off for touching you? Do you?” he demanded furiously, hauling her in close, to hell with not touching her. “No other man’s hands belong on what’s mine. Are. We. Clear?”
Her gaze narrowed. “Fuck you,” she seethed.
“Don’t push it, princess.”
“You. Don’t. Own. Me.”
He growled and gripped her chin in his hand. “The hell I don’t. You are mine!” he hissed. Then he kissed her.
Derek dominated her mouth. Taking what he wanted. All of her. Rage still flowed through him. He slid a hand up under her short dress and his fingers dug into the globe of her ass, bringing their pelvises together. The hand holding her chin moved to the back of her head.
Even when she moaned and arched into him, he continued to take more. Derek ripped his mouth from hers. Her lips were swollen from the force of his kiss. They were parted, moist, welcoming, and he longed to kiss her again. Her eyes were another story. Black fire raged in them. Despite her arousal, Derek knew she was pissed.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Derek?” Jacey shoved out of his arms.
“Listen very carefully, Jace—”
“Manhandled. You fucking manhandled me,” she interrupted him, her words falling like shards of ice. “Acted like some drunk-off-his-ass frat boy who wants to brawl for no reason other than stupidity.”
“I had a very good reason,” he bit off.
“What?” She threw her arms up in frustration. “What the hell was your very good reason?”
“He was touching you!” he roared in response.
“Arrgh!” Jacey whirled around.
“One doesn’t forget hand-to-hand, Jace.” He stared into her tumultuous eyes. “You want to fight it out this way, fine. But I will use every fucking dirty trick I know to win. And when I do, we will talk about our future. I am not going through this again. We belong together.” He lowered his face closer. “And I’m done with running and letting you run from that fact.”
Jacey remained immobile. Derek’s strong fingers were around her hand and wrist. His words reverberated through her. Staring down at her were his incredible kingfisher blue eyes. They shone with determination and passion. Passion which flared extensively when she licked her lips.
“Let go of me, Derek,” she murmured.
For a few moments, he stared at her before he released his grip. Jacey sighted and glanced past him to the door.
“Don’t even entertain the notion, Jacey,” he said, his tone steadfast.
“Why are you doing this, Derek? You’ve already made it perfectly clear what I’m capable of in your eyes. You don’t trust me. Do you want me to pee on a damn stick to prove it to you? Because I will. I don’t give my word and renege on it, Derek. And the fact you think I would speaks volumes. I have an extra pregnancy test in my room. Three minutes and you’ll have your proof.”
“Jace,” he began, shame filling his handsome face.
“No, Derek. I can’t keep fighting with you either. It’s not healthy for Caleb. But, from what I can tell, we have no future.” Jacey’s heart split in two when she said that. “I don’t know what you and my father are up to but I can’t be a part of it. I won’t be.”
She backed up to the bed, anger gone but exhaustion in its place. She couldn’t deny the fantasies which she’d entertained that had them as a family. But, Jacey was no one’s pawn. She glanced at the made bed behind her and fought back a shudder at the image of Derek making love to her in here and anywhere else.