He cradled her lush bottom in his palms and forgot how that whole breathing thing went. Ellie pressed her lips to the pulse drumming just below his jaw. Her warm, moist breath heated his skin. Jack bit his tongue, trying to rein in his vividly X-rated thoughts, desperate to prove he wasn’t the sex-starved Neanderthal that roared to life inside him.
“Didn’t you want pizza?” he managed to croak.
“Forget the pizza,” she whispered, nipping at his lips. “We’ll eat chocolates for dinner. In bed.”
Kiss Me, I’m Full of Blarney
“Thirty-seven sixty-four,” Ellie murmured, scanning the sign affixed to a beige brick building. “This is it.”
The brakes on the rental van squealed. Jack hissed his relief as he killed the rumbling engine. “Thank God. Air-glide equipped, my ass,” he grumbled under his breath.
She laughed and threw her shoulder against the door, nearly tumbling from the cab as it swung open. “I’ll massage it for you later. Right now, I need a bathroom like you wouldn’t believe.” Her feet touched pavement, and she turned to reach for her purse. He glowered at her. “What?”
“I would have stopped.”
She smiled and cooed, “My knight in a shiny orange Haul-It.” Looping the strap of her bag over her shoulder, she cast a smile in his general direction. “I didn’t want to stop. I just wanted to get here.”
Ellie slammed the door on his snort. The steady thunk-thunk-thunk of a basketball punctuated by a chorus of masculine cheers and moans beat from across the street. She glanced toward the community swimming pool area and spotted three teenage boys battling it out on a poured concrete court.
Rummaging through her bag for the key, she circled the car trailer he’d hitched to the rental truck. A door slammed and she looked up to find Jack stretching the kinks from his back. Using the rear fender for cover, she drank in the view as he reached for the sky. Pale March sunlight bounced off his hair, warming the sable undertones and gilding the golden tips. His long, lean torso twisted, working the knots from his back. Broad shoulders twitched, shrugging off over nine hours of drive time.
She sighed and he turned, a smile twitching his full, sensuous lips. “Like what you see?”
Ducking her head, the search through her bag continued with renewed intensity. “I’ve got the key here somewhere.”
She watched from under her lashes as he stalked toward her, a sleek golden cat with a predatory gleam in his dark eyes. “I sure hope you do, ’cause I’m not hauling your junk one inch further.”
Her head jerked up. “I told you the company would pay for movers,” she reminded him.
Jack stroked the curve of her cheek with one finger and shook his head. “Uh-uh. No way. If you’re gonna ogle anyone, it had better be me.”
“I wasn’t…I wouldn’t….” she stammered, trying to work a little indignation past the warm, fuzzy expanding in her chest.
“Did you like what you saw, Ellie?”
His voice was a caress carried on the spring breeze—warm and husky, the exact same tone he used when he wished her a good night. A simple question laced with the little rasp that made her ache with loneliness long after their nightly phone calls ended.
But he was standing there with her, live and in the flesh. Over six-foot-four inches of hot, hunky man who had flown from Oklahoma City to Little Rock, just so he could drive her and her junk to a new home in Louisville. “Very much,” she whispered.
His smile widened, unleashing the dimple in his cheek. She grunted and dropped her forehead against his chest. Jack chuckled and gave her a brief hug. “Thanks. I know how hard it is for you to admit you like me.”
“It is not!”
He pecked a kiss to her forehead then smoothed her worry away with his thumb. “Go make your pit stop. I’ll unhitch the car.”
Ellie backed away. “I say we unload the air mattress and leave the rest for tomorrow.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “We’re unloading it all tonight.”
“But the air mattress is right on top,” she protested.
“Nope. I’m sleeping on a real mattress tonight.” He bent to the tow hitch. “Tomorrow we unpack.”
“You’re very bossy.” She pulled her car keys from her bag too. “Here, you’ll need these.”
He raised his head and reached for the ring, eying her with a speculative arch of his eyebrows. “If we get it all done, I’ll still have almost two full days to show you better things to do with a roll of bubble wrap.”
She shook her head and turned away muttering, “I love a man with a plan.”
Five minutes later, she stepped from the beige bathroom into the eggshell hallway and made her way toward the ecru-colored living room. “Welcome to the land of the bland,” she murmured, turning in a slow circle.
Without the meticulous staging of the model apartment, the room appeared dull and flat. A rueful smile tugged at her lips. She knew that even with her belongings unpacked, the unit would never look homey. This was just the latest in the string of non-descript rentals in towns that meant nothing to her. Ellie sighed and moved to the sliding glass doors that led to a postage stamp patio, a strip of sod, and the parking area beyond.
The neon orange truck sat abandoned in the lot. Her trusty little car was parked in a slot right in front of the entrance. Jack was nowhere to be seen.
Raising the metal burglar bar, she unlatched the door and slid it open wide. “Rudolph?” she called from the patio. No answer. A frown furrowed her brow as she crossed the strip of lawn and made a beeline for the truck.
She opened her mouth to call again then clamped it shut when she spotted him leaning into the chain-link fence surrounding the basketball court, chatting with the boys who had been playing there. His long fingers curled around the wire links. The red T-shirt he wore stretched taut across his back and hugged his trim hips, bunching above the curve of his butt. Faded denim clung to muscular thighs. A wistful sigh ruffled her bangs.
She shot a scornful glance at the truck holding her bed captive then back at Jack. He waved a hand in the direction of the moving van and a smile curved her lips as she shrank from sight.
Jack was a man of many, many talents. Aside from his way with figures, both numerical and feminine, the man could sell sand to a Bedouin. Early that morning, he managed to talk two guys from her old apartment complex in Little Rock into helping him haul her couch and bed down the steps. If he could somehow bribe these boys into helping them unload, she would not only follow him through the Sahara, she’d become his personal harem-girl.
She peeked around the edge of the truck and saw the three boys following him toward the truck. “Yes!” she hissed between her teeth and dashed back to her apartment.
The four men rounded the end of the truck. She made a show of sliding open the door and stepping onto the patio. “Hey, look!” When Jack turned in her direction, she waved at the door and said, “I was thinking we’d just move the stuff in through here.” She stopped in her tracks and conjured her best ‘pleasantly surprised’ look. “Oh! You have friends.”
The smirk that quirked his lips bespoke overkill. He cocked his head and stared beyond her shoulder into the apartment. “Hang on, guys.” Leaving the boys to lounge against the bumper, he made his way toward her, a scowl darkening his features. “You’re on the ground floor?”
“Well, yeah….” She tossed a nervous glance at the sliding door as his long legs ate up the distance between them.
“You need to get a unit on the second or third floor.”
She reared back slightly, bristling at his commanding tone. “The second and third floor apartments have two bedrooms. All I need is one bedroom,” she said, planting her heel to turn and march back into her space.
His hand closed around her arm. “El, first floor apartments aren’t safe,” he said in a low, urgent tone. “I mean, look at that patio door. Hell, you might as well hang a sign on the glass that says ‘Come in. Take my stuff. I’m all alone….” His voice broke and
the thought trailed off, hanging heavy in the air between them. He glanced away, but his fingertips bit into her arm.
She squirmed from his grasp, rubbing her arm briskly as she took a step back. “I’ll be fine.”
“But—”
“I’ll be fine,” she repeated through gritted teeth.
“If it’s the rent, I can—”
Her hand shot up to stop him. “I’m going to pretend that you’re acting like a patronizing Neanderthal because you care about me….”
Color rose high in his cheeks. “I’m not trying to be a Neanderthal.”
“It must come as naturally as the patronizing, then,” she shot back.
“Dammit, Ellie! You know that’s not—”
She slapped her hand over his mouth. His lips moved against her palm, his muffled protests tickling her skin. “Jack, if you want to sleep in a bed tonight—my bed—I suggest you get your little friends to help you move it into my apartment.”
Mutiny flashed in his eyes. The heat of his rebellion darkened them from milk chocolate to bittersweet. She moved her hand, silently challenging him to say one more thing. The muscle in his jaw jumped, but he remained quiet. Golden stubble prickled her fingertips as they trailed over the jut of his chin.
“I’ll be fine, Jack. I’m a big girl.”
His voice came in a ragged rasp. “You’re no bigger than a minute, El.”
“I have an aluminum baseball bat I keep under my bed.”
He nodded once and took a step back, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “I don’t suppose you’d consider buying a gun, huh?”
“I consider getting one each time we talk.”
He chuckled and ducked his head, skirting the bumper of her car. “A dog? How about a really big dog?” he called over his shoulder.
A laugh burbled from her lips. She shook her head as he walked away. “I don’t need one. I used to bat clean-up on the high school softball team.”
Metal screeched as he raised the cargo door. She retreated into the apartment. Wrapping her arms around her middle, she turned in a slow circle. Her ultra-neutral surroundings didn’t improve on closer inspection. Ellie gave her head a shake. “It’ll do,” she said under her breath.
A chorus of masculine grunts hailed the arrival of her sofa. She bit her lip and turned toward the door. The damn thing was beige.
Jack lowered his end of the couch and nodded to the gangly blond boy on the other end. “Ellie, this is Dylan. He and his mom live upstairs.” Two dark-haired boys shuffled through the sliding door with her mattress. “Josh, Jake, this is Ms. Nichols. These guys live two buildings down.” The boys propped the mattress against the wall and greeted her with quick nods and uncertain smiles. “You guys will help keep an eye out around here for me, won’t you?”
The teens grumbled their assent as they dashed out the door. Ellie shot him a puzzled glance. His overdeveloped protective streak should have incited a feminist riot inside her, but the genuine concern etched into his frown squelched any indignation she might have mustered. High-handed or not, she knew Jack was only looking out for her. “What’s going on?”
He simply smiled and called, “Just grabbing another load,” while he jogged to catch up with his pack of watchdogs.
****
Jack pitched his shoulder against the edge of the mattress and gave it a shove.
“Wall!” she squawked.
“Sorry.” Gripping the braided binding, he held it steady as she slithered out of the tiny space. “Stand back.”
She smirked and leaned against the wall. He let go, and the mattress fell with a whoosh. “Bed,” she whispered, using a hushed, reverent tone. Using his knees, he squared the mattress atop the box springs then fell forward. Ellie giggled when he face-planted on the center of the bed. She joined him, stretching out with a strangled groan. “I have no idea where the sheets are,” she confessed.
His bristly cheek scraped the quilted sateen finish when he turned to look at her. “Couldn’t care less.”
Breeching the six inches of space between them seemed to sap the reserves of her energy. Her fingers glanced off his cheek, trailing listlessly down the side of his neck. “Thank you.”
He stared into her eyes and mustered a tired smile. “My pleasure.” Her breathy laugh made his heart skip a beat. He captured her hand, enfolding her delicate fingers in his palm. “I mean it. I know what I said earlier, but I’d move you a hundred times if it meant I got to spend a few days with you.”
“Jack….”
He closed his eyes, savoring the sound of his name slipping from her lips, and recalling the exact timbre of her voice when she shouted it to the heavens the night before. “I just wish you were moving closer, not hundreds of miles farther away.” He propped his head on his arm and kissed the tips of her fingers. “If I were a little more insecure, I’d wonder about that….”
“Good thing you don’t have an insecure bone in your body,” she quipped.
“How do you know?”
Her smile crept up on him like a ninja, punching him right in the groin and stealing the breath from his body. “I know you don’t because I jumped every one of your bones last night, remember?”
He tightened his grip on her hand, pulling her a little closer. “Remind me.” She leaned over and pecked a soft kiss to his lips. It wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. He leaned in to steal another, but she braced their joined hands on his chest to stop him.
“I should feed you,” she murmured.
Zzzfft, zzzfft, zzzfft. His hair whispered against the bare mattress as he shook his head. Closing the gap, he whispered, “I have everything I need.”
“You’ll need your strength. We’ve got three more days.”
He laughed when she waggled her eyebrows. Her dark curls stood up in tufts. A pink flush flooded her cheeks. Brilliant eyes danced with mischief. “Elf,” he grunted.
“Today you were more of a pack mule than a reindeer, Rudolph.” She sighed. “How did you bribe those boys into helping?”
A shrug twitched his shoulders. “I paid them.”
“How much?”
He gave his jaw an absent scratch. “Well, first they wanted me to buy them beer.”
“Oh?”
“When I pulled out my wallet to check how much cash I had, they may have accidentally spotted my ID.”
“Ah, flashed them the credentials. Very effective.” She grinned. “No wonder they’re scared of you.”
His snort bounced off the walls. “They aren’t scared of me. We’re buds.”
“They think the feds will be coming after them.”
“They settled for twenty bucks.”
He matched her grin and her eyebrows rose. “Twenty?”
“Each.”
“Oh.” She trailed an absent hand over his back. “They don’t come cheap.”
Jack chuckled and rolled onto his side facing her. “Small price to pay. They did the heavy lifting.”
“And you got them to hook up my TV and DVR. You’re a magic man.”
“Kiss me, I’m Irish,” he growled, pulling her to him.
Ellie laughed. “You are not.”
“It’s St. Patrick’s Day, Elfie. Everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.”
She gasped. “It is! I completely forgot.”
He nodded. “And you’re not wearing green. I’m gonna pinch you,” he whispered, pecking a kiss to her full, soft lips. “Then I’m gonna kiss it and make it better… Then I’m gonna pinch you again….”
“I see a pattern forming.” She buried her face in the crook of his neck. “Should I mention that you’re not wearing any green either?”
“Pinch me, baby,” he growled. “Pinch me hard.”
She shook with laughter. Seizing the opportunity, he released her hand, wrapped his arm around her, and rolled until she lay sprawled across his chest. Her eyes glimmered as she stared down at him, delight etched into every feature. His lungs constricted and words tangled in his throat—words
that made his heart hammer and his gut clench.
She kissed him again, and every word he ever knew disappeared in a puff of smoke. He hummed low in his throat, fighting the urge to grind against her as he raised his head to deepen the kiss. She pulled back. Her lips were damp and parted; the color of ripe strawberries. Moist, hot breath tickled his mouth and chin. Sooty black lashes fringed emerald eyes hazy with desire. He opened his mouth, willing the words, any words, to come. Then something bit through the denim covering his thigh.
“Argk!” He jerked, and a wicked cackle bubbled from those tempting lips. A devilish gleam lit her smile. “Shit, Ellie,” he hissed, rubbing the afflicted spot. “That hurt!”
“Aw, poor baby,” she crooned. Her eyes grew round with feigned innocence. “Want me to kiss it?”
He shot her what he hoped was a forbidding scowl. “Not now.” The petulance in his voice made him wince, but he quickly recovered his frown.
“I’m not an elf. I’m a leprechaun.”
“You’re evil.”
She shrugged. “Well, yeah. Leprechauns are generally a bit mischievous.”
“I think that attack was more along the lines of malicious.”
“You gonna arrest me, Special Agent Rudolph?”
“If I had any cuffs, I’d lock you to the bed and leave you here while I go out for a green beer.”
“Mmm, green beer….” She smiled. “Yeah…No headboard, either.” She trailed the tip of one finger down his arm. “And I think we both know if I was cuffed to the bed, you wouldn’t be going anywhere,” she said in a soft, sultry voice.
“I’m mad at you right now.”
“What if I buy you a green beer? Will that make it up to you?”
“Cost you more than that,” he grumbled.
“I’ll buy you a green beer, pay you back whatever amount you bribed those kids to haul this junk in here, and kiss your boo-boo.”
“With tongue,” he countered. “And you don’t need to pay me back.”
Unforgettable Heroes Boxed Set Page 107