She gasped. “You did not.”
He slipped his hand down her smooth ass to tug at the hem of her skirt. The heat radiating from her skin proved his case. “Guilty.”
She groaned and shifted. Those dangerous heels put her in just the right position to grind against his rigid crotch. “I decided not to see you again. What are you doing to me?”
He caressed her thigh through her silky pantyhose. “Exactly what you want.”
Her breath caught, and he took advantage of her surprise to back her into the wall. She gave him no resistance. “After you left, I couldn’t stop thinking about….” She bit her lip as if she didn’t want to confess.
“Me?”
“That kiss.”
“Mmm… what were you thinking?”
“That I wanted more.” She rose up on those painted toes, dragging her body against his as she offered her lips.
He claimed them before she could change her mind, taking her mouth with a hunger ignored too long. She tried to wrap a leg around his, but her narrow skirt bound her, so he shoved it up and lifted her—one hand in her hair and the other under her ass. He trapped her in that dark corner, nipping down her throat and into her gaping blouse.
Claire squirmed. “Oh….” Her heel dug into his thigh as he brushed his lips over her breast. “Fuck yes.”
What had she said about not swearing? JT lifted his head and met her fiery gaze. “Really excited?”
She growled and arched into his hips. “Fuck you.” Her body shuddered. “Fuck this!”
***
JT’s mouth clamped down on hers before she could spout more foul words and alert the entire building to their illicit activity. Tremors wracked her body, and melting heat fused her between the cold concrete wall and his scorching body. His tongue wrestled with hers, sweeping away all rational thoughts.
Claire groaned. I shouldn’t be here. But when she’d found that corner empty, she’d waited and watched for him, hoping he’d come after her.
The stubble on his cheek grazed her skin as he kissed down her throat again. Her nipples tingled and one last shock seized her. Holy hell! When her brain cleared, she set her feet on the ground and pushed him back. “Cheese and Goddamn rice! We can’t do this.”
He stumbled as she took off. She heard him curse as she wove between parked cars, trying to shake him off, but as she darted from one row to another, she stopped and looked back, hoping he wouldn’t lose track. She usually took the Light Rail to work, but she’d been driving to the courthouse for the trial.
Her car sat in the next row, so she darted over and jumped in, watching him search for his truck as she started the engine. Only two cars separated them when she pulled up to the exit. Her sweaty palms slipped on the steering wheel as she sat at the light and considered her options. Turn left to go home, right to go to the office. JT surely wouldn’t go after her there. Or drive straight west toward the mountains—quiet, private, dark. They could easily disappear for a few hours. No one would know.
The last rays of sunlight faded behind the Rockies as she stepped on the gas and shot across the intersection. JT kept his distance, changing lanes as if to avoid suspicion. She got on the interstate. He did, too. She glanced in the rearview mirror as cars filled in between them.
“Don’t give up. Stay with me.” Did he know she was letting him follow? Claire giggled at her overdramatic fantasy. Even if he was following her, who knew? Who cared? They’d been careful. Alex, the human lie detector, didn’t have a clue his assistant had tried to seduce a juror.
She got off the interstate and took a winding highway up the Front Range and into a thick pine forest. The traffic fell behind, leaving only her small car and JT’s truck navigating that lonely road.
Dark, looming trees closed in around her. She’d grown up on the eastern plains in the middle of wide open spaces. Here, the air thinned as the road climbed, twisting into darkness. She exceeded the speed limit as she searched for room to breathe. A pull-off beckoned. She glanced in the mirror; a truck still pursued, but in the deep mountain dark, she couldn’t be sure it carried the man she wanted.
She darted off the road, churning gravel as her car skidded to a halt. A jagged rock wall rose on her right, and the forest dropped off to the left. She abandoned her car and scrambled into the trees; as she stumbled, she heard a muttered curse, and stopped, scanning her surroundings as moonlight pierced the night. Crusty snow stuck to her shoes and she slipped on a patch of ice. She felt his presence just a few steps behind.
“Claire!”
She took a deep, chilly breath, turning to face him as he tore into the clearing. JT tripped into her, but she planted her feet and caught him.
He held her close, panting into her hair. “You crazy woman, what the hell are you doing?”
She kissed him, leaping up into his arms as she clung to his neck. The world spun, but he kept her from falling—or maybe he took the tumble with her.
What was she doing? Driving out to the middle of nowhere and running off into the woods. In December. That’s not normal. But somehow familiar. She pulled her mouth from his and caught her breath, sinking her fingers into his thick hair as uncomfortable memories hit.
“When I was in junior high, I used to run and hide, hoping someone would chase me, but no one ever bothered. No one cared.” She gazed straight into his eyes, searching for understanding. “You did.”
“I couldn’t let you go.” His bangs fell across his moonlit face, and he shook them away. He touched his lips to hers, holding her body close as she trembled.
She shivered and sighed as his tongue swept her mouth. His hands fisted in her hair as he pinned her against a tree. Streaks of silver bathed their entwined bodies. His frosty breath misted on her skin as he mouthed her exposed throat. Liquid heat pooled between her legs, but the winter cold rattled her melting limbs.
He flicked his tongue in her ear. “You’re freezing.” He stepped back and shrugged out of his jacket, then wrapped it around her.
The rich scent of worn leather and hot man obliterated her ability to speak, so she nodded.
“I noticed a café in that little town we sped through. Let’s get something to eat.”
“Yes.” She clutched his jacket around her as they made their way back to the road. Stars sparkled like diamonds on a bed of midnight blue velvet.
JT opened her door. “You go first. I’m gonna keep my eye on you.”
She smiled and climbed in, handing him his jacket as he leaned down to kiss her. “Follow me.”
“I intend to.” He winked and walked to his truck.
She drove downhill, trying to pay attention to the surroundings, but her mind wandered. He’d called her crazy. I need to get away from these perceptive men. But she never would. Being understood turned her on as much as his enduring kisses. She’d learned that from Will and couldn’t wait to study it further with JT.
Lights and buildings appeared as she rounded a hairpin turn. The café stood in the center of town across the street from a quaint motel. She parked at an angle and got out of her car as JT pulled up beside her.
“I’m starving.” She inhaled the scent of fried chicken.
He grinned straight at her. “So am I.”
She gasped and shoved him back as he laughed. “Wait until after dinner.”
“Do you really want me to?” His wicked words tickled her ear as he draped his arm around her shoulders and guided her inside.
Bright yellow light and blue checkered tablecloths decorated the warm dining room. A waitress in a frilly apron nodded them toward a table, and the kitchen doors swung open as the cook pushed his way through. The scent of fresh baked apple pie made Claire’s stomach rumble.
JT directed her to a table in the corner, far away from the few people in the place, and pulled out a chair for her.
The smiley waitress strolled over, her gaze lingering on JT as she handed him a menu. “Good evening. Can I get you a drink?”
JT nodded at Clair
e, and she held out her hand for a menu. “I’ll have a glass of water with lemon.”
“I’ll have a Coke.” He flipped through the menu. “What do you recommend?”
“The special tonight is beer-battered, deep fried chicken with homemade mashed potatoes and gravy.”
More calories than she’d eat in a week, but Claire couldn’t resist the indulgence. “God, that sounds good. I’ll have that.”
“Same here.” JT took Claire’s menu and handed them both to the waitress.
She bobbed off to the kitchen.
Claire scooted her chair around the table, closer to JT, but with a clear view of the front door. She’d never stopped in this town before—always blew through it on her way to the ski resort. But someone who knew her could easily walk in.
“All right my beautiful rebel,” he said, sliding close to her, “tell me why you ran.”
Beautiful. That word meant even more under the café’s glaring light. Her face grew hot, and she glanced down at his fingers tracing circles on her knee. “It’s stupid. I haven’t done it in a long time.”
“Nothing’s stupid when you’re hurting.”
His warm blue gaze pierced straight into her soul. Not invasive, not interrogating like Alex, but inviting, enticing her to confess her secret desires, her oldest sins. “Are you always this… penetrating?”
A delighted smirk twisted his lips, and she caught her mistake. Oh God, why did I choose that word?
Chapter 5
JT’s laugh drew the attention of every single person in the place—the waitress winked, the cook grinned, and two old geezers at the counter glared at him and shrugged. He fought to contain the smart-assed, sexual come-on, but lost the battle before it even started. “Penetrating? Hell yes, when do we start?”
Claire slapped her hand over her bright red face. “That’s not what I meant.”
He drowned his laughter in the icy Coke. “I’m sorry.” But he couldn’t help grinning. “Tell me what I, um, probed.”
“No. Not if you won’t be serious.” She sat back and jammed a straw into her water glass. “They forgot my lemon.”
“I’ll get you one.” He waved at the waitress, who nodded, then he turned his attention back to Claire. “I’m serious. You said you started it in junior high. What happened then?”
She wrapped her pink lips around that lucky straw and pulled the water in.
Damn it, woman, you’re gonna kill me.
She leaned back as the waitress set their plates in front of them piled high with mashed potatoes and dripping gravy onto the table. “Thank you.”
“Will you bring her a lemon wedge for her water?”
She nodded and hurried off. Claire wiped gravy off the edge of her plate and tasted the deep fried batter, mouthing ‘wow’ at JT.
“Good?” He dug into his potatoes.
“Oh yeah.” She ripped the skin off the chicken and stuffed it in her mouth. JT groaned as she licked her fingers. She grinned as if she knew his crotch was getting stiff under the table, and gave her fingertips one more tempting lick just to punish him.
“My parents split up when I was in sixth grade.” She grabbed a lemon from the plate the waitress slid onto the table, and squeezed it into her water. “The divorce proceedings went on for a couple of years, and they’re still arguing. They fight about everything, except their kids.”
Gears ground in JT’s head as he attempted to shift topics from finger licking to parental failing. “Why not?”
She shrugged. “I guess they assumed we’d live with Mom. She and my dad got so wrapped up in their selfish issues that they didn’t pay any attention to my sisters and me.”
This sounds familiar. Bad memories popped up like road blocks. He’d navigated his father’s depression, helping him steer through it, but his mother’s rejection stopped him at every turn, deflecting his attempts to keep her close. She’d wanted nothing to do with him.
Claire picked up her spoon. “So when my friends and I disagreed about something, I’d run off, testing them to see if they really cared.” She stabbed her mashed potatoes, making curved dents in the smooth surface. “Once, when I was in high school, I was playing kickball during lunch break with my friends. My boyfriend was on the other team, and he threw the ball straight at me, hit me right in the face.”
“Ow. That must’ve hurt like hell.”
She rubbed her cheek as if reliving the pain. “It was one of those red rubber balls, so yeah, it stung. I tried to grab it and make the throw to first, but it rolled off my hands and into the outfield. He ended up on second by the time I got it back, and the guy on third scored. My team lost and it was all my fault, so of course, that was the end of the world for me.”
JT squeezed her knee.
“I ran and hid in the cafeteria, expecting my boyfriend to follow and comfort me, but he didn’t. No one did. I waited forever—or so it seemed—and when I finally gave up and went back to the gym, he was playing basketball with the guys like nothing had happened.”
“You can’t expect to come between a man and his sports, sweet thing.” But JT’s reassuring touch belied his teasing words.
“I’m sure they saw through my game from the start, but at the time, I thought no one wanted me.”
“I want you.” He nearly bit his own tongue off.
“I know.” Claire smiled and slipped the straw between her lips.
He shifted, trying to ease the growing discomfort in his pants. Not now…. He never talked about his parents’ divorce. His mom had run off to be with another man, as far as anyone else knew. No one thought it strange that the other guy had no kids, and she never had any with him. But Claire had experience with selfish parents so maybe…. “My mom wished I was never born.”
A soft gasp escaped her as she set the glass down. “She said that to you?”
“Yes. After the custody hearing, I ran down the courthouse steps, begging her to come home. She said no, I wasn’t worth the trouble. I begged her to let us go with her, but she said I’d been a mistake, and that she’d only married my dad because she couldn’t afford an abortion.”
“Oh my God.” She laid her hand on top of his.
His fingers curled around her warm touch, drawing her strength as he struggled with beliefs so deeply embedded in his past that he couldn’t escape them. “I don’t blame her. I wouldn’t have wasted the money on me either.” He shrugged. “She never loved me.”
Somehow stating the obvious comforted him, but it watered the old nagging question she’d planted like a noxious weed. Would anyone?
“Do you still talk to your mom?”
“I try not to.” But he’d failed at that, too. “When I took over Hodge Construction, I called her—I don’t know why—to brag maybe, make her proud. She asked if they couldn’t get anyone better.” Why couldn’t he stop talking about this? He never told anyone how cruel his mother had been, but Claire’s touch and her understanding eyes seemed to draw it out. “Then she said that my sister, Kaylee, had a great job and a husband right out of college. Did I have a wife yet? I couldn’t do that right either.”
“Some people aren’t happy unless they’re making someone else miserable.”
“Oh, she was overjoyed.” He squeezed her hand. “You’ve been through that too?”
“That’s how my parents treat each other. I used to try to make peace, but I gave it up a long time ago.”
The waitress appeared with a notepad in her hand. “Can I get you some dessert?”
JT released his death grip on Claire’s hand and thanked God for the interruption. “That apple pie smells wonderful.” He’d told her too much, too soon, so he forced a smile and cleared his plate.
“None for me, thanks.” Claire waved her off.
He dove into the pie, then offered her a bite, but she shook her head. She watched him eat, demonstrating exactly what she meant when she called him penetrating. Her gaze burned right through him, waiting for him to tell more of his story, but he focuse
d on catching the melting ice cream with his spoon.
Finally she changed the subject. “Was last night’s fire alarm for real?”
He grunted. “Yes, it was. Burned half my building before they put it out.”
She gasped. “Oh my God. What do you do now?”
Wait on others to determine his future. “Turn in an insurance claim. Talk to the owner and see if they want to rebuild or scrap it.” And hope he didn’t lose the job.
She scooted closer to him and slipped her arm across the back of his chair. “Wow. How did it start?”
He sat back, letting the strength in her limb support him. “It’s being investigated. They still haven’t figure out how the last one burned.”
“This has happened before?”
He nodded. “Second one since Thanksgiving.”
“Do you think it’s arson?”
He stabbed the last bite of pie but couldn’t eat it. “Yes, I do.”
“Who would want to hurt you?”
“I had to let go of a couple of guys after the first fire. That one was accidental, faulty wiring, but two fires so close together? Gotta be deliberate.”
“So you think one of those guys might have set it?”
“I can’t think of anyone else who’d have a grudge against me.”
She shook her head and squeezed his shoulders. “That’s awful.”
The concern in her eyes touched his heart. “Let’s get out of here.” Escaping the confining restaurant became his primary objective. Being alone with her came in a close second.
He paid the waitress/cashier. “Have a good night,” she said.
JT draped his jacket around Claire’s shoulders as they walked outside. He shivered and pulled her close.
“You’re cold. My coat is in my car. I’ll go get it.” She stepped away from him, but he pulled her back.
“No, I’m fine. Holding you will keep me warm.”
She snuggled against him as he guided her down the street. Half-melted snow banks lined the sidewalk, and a mix of salt and sand crunched under their feet. Tourist-trap shops displayed local trinkets in their dimly lit windows. Only the café, a bar, and the motel remained open. No one else braved the cold—probably why Claire relaxed in his arms.
Home Is Where the Heat Is Page 5