If Tomorrow Never Comes (25 page)

           
That unspeakable act couldn't
happen.
 
She was soiled beyond any
humans' ability to forgive.
 
No matter
how much Jake believed he loved her; when he found out how damaged she was,
he'd always wonder, always expect answers she didn’t even know.
 
Those emerald eyes that once shined so
brilliantly with adoration for her, clouded over with disappointment, and
disgust would be unbearable.

           
Besides, the day, the time, the
place for them would never come to be. She wasn't stupid.
  
Jake was a lousy liar.
 
He wouldn't stop now, the reality a blinding
bright light.
 
Though she didn’t quite
understand why he hated Scorpio enough to risk his life to bring him to
justice, she did understand hatred, how it thrived on revenge.
  
The man who wanted to take Jake from her
could not be allowed success, she’d see to that.
 

           
Although she did not see the
newspapers, Jordan remembered bursts of light from camera‘s, and Billy, it was
in his eyes, the way they gleamed, that said he was untrustworthy.
 
How he fit into the labyrinth she was yet to
learn, but instincts told her he did.
 
Knowing Scorpio, he’d come to claim revenge.
 
Well, she'd save him the time and bother.

           
Opening Jake's dresser drawer,
Jordan withdrew the shirt she’d worn before.
 
It would help her feel close to him one last time.
 
Help ease the aching pain telling her that
just when she thought there was a chance for them, she couldn't latch on to the
dream.
 

           
Her
nakedness against cotton and denim seemed so normal now.
 
She'd even chanced a look in the mirror a
time or two wondering what there was about her that brought light into Jake's
eyes.
 

           
Jake,
she mused, while slipping into his clothes.
 
Nestled inside his shirt she smelled him, felt his arms around her, his
sweet lips, and heard his words that temporarily convinced her anything was
possible. Crawling into his bed, hugging his shirt as tightly as she
desperately wanted to hug him, she made plans to kill Scorpio.
 

CHAPTER 25

Brazenly
stalking, the man without a face caused pearls of moisture to form on Jordan’s
forehead dampening strands of hair leaving impressions on the pillowcase.
 
Hidden behind her, a hand, clammy from fear,
grasped a gun vibrating to the tune of her frantic breathing.
 
Sluggishly approaching her target increased
the speed of her feet scraping sheets.
  
Now face to face, glaring into Scorpio’s traitorous eyes she saw Jake’s
reflection as he approached, her fear for him sufficient distraction for
Scorpio to, pluck the weapon from her stiff fingers, raise the gun, and aim at
Jake.
  

“No,
Jake,” words scrambling from the constricted walls of her throat as she ripped
away the covers feeling heavy as steel weighing her down.
 
Her feet were under her now, sprinting,
bravely positioning her in the line of fire just as gunfire ruptured the
silence.
 
A burning pain shot through
her.
 
She felt herself falling.

Amazingly,
before her body hit, powerful arms scooped her up and laid her gently upon soft
padding.
 
Alongside holding her, rocking
her, was someone speaking words of comfort against her battle-lined forehead
that ultimately penetrated the fog.
 
It
was Jake.

Both
had survived, but only if the dream sealed her eyelids.
 
Surely when they opened Jake would vaporize,
a loss that would make her wither and die.
 
Things couldn’t end between them when there was so much left undone,
more importantly left unsaid.

Allowing
Jake's comforting kiss, slender arms circling his neck pulled him with her as
she eased back upon the pillow.
 
He tried
to move away, but her parting lips deepening the kiss coerced him to
linger.
 
With skin against skin she felt
his heart pounding against her bare breasts, it was then that she realized she
had forgotten to button the shirt.

Having
mastered pretense, before leaving to fulfill her destiny, she'd try to give
Jake what he desperately wanted.
 
She’d
never known a man so full of desire be so unwilling to take despite the heat
burning through his clothing. As her determined fingers threaded through his
hair tracing his scalp, he shivered.
  
Moving to the nap of his neck pressing him closer prolonged the kiss and
brought forth a scalded groan.
 
Regardless, he denied his tongue the pleasures it sought until Jordan’s
took the liberty of persuading his to cross the threshold of ecstasy.
 
A time when the tender, manipulative, pads of
her finger’s tracing the naked plains of his shoulders kneaded the tension from
knotted muscles before coming to rest on moist bandages.
 

Jake’s
whispers found her ear, “It doesn't hurt.
 
Nothing hurts any more.
  
There’s
no room for any pain since I've known you.
 
You've opened my eyes to the bright light shining down from the
heavens.”
   

Jordan
knew better.
 
A part of him was
hurting.
 
A part only she could mollify.
 
Nevertheless, with his arms around her,
gently holding her, his hands abstained until she pulled one free to position
it against a mound that was ripe, and held it there.
 
“Take me through the night, Jake.
 
Make all the shadows go away.
 
Make everything all right.”
  
Trepidation squeezed her eyelids into tight
creases, behind the veil she called up pictures of Jake's loving face to help
her through what was yet to come.

Using
great caution, Jake slowly began satisfying his hunger, eyes lingering on each morsel
while fingers stroked her neck, her shoulder on the way to her breasts.
 
The gentlest touch of her nipples sent
sensations rocketing through her that collected and multiplied within her core.
 
In response, her breasts swelled to fill the
palms of his hands encouraging his thumbs to draw lazy circles around rosy
peaks skillfully molding them into hard erotic buttons.
 
Shocking tortures making her gasp as his
mouth claimed the summit in need of exploration.
   

 
Unbelievably, his suckling sprang Jordan’s
body to life, made her breast's ache, and hips press hard against the length of
his thighs.
 
Struggling to come to terms
with a latent sensuality she didn't know existed, she felt sick, faint, and
stripped of defenses.
 
Her stomach became
one gigantic coiled knot of need.
  
Never
did she experience such a multitude of riotous, bizarre sensations dancing
through her body.
 
Never did she want
more.
 

All
at once, it didn't matter that it would be painful when he took her. Sex always
hurt, but right now, it would hurt more if Jake refused.
 
There was no other gift she could give, no
other way to thank him for sweeping her from the gutter for breathing life back
into her, no other way to say goodbye. Besides, to her utter amazement, she
couldn‘t still the body wanting to move with such urgency or the hand out of
control seeking what he was reluctant to release.
 
She was too choked up with feelings growing
within her heart making her whimper low in her throat.

With
his wet tongue circling, teeth gently nipping, tugging, his mouth drawing her
nipples in sucking, she felt weightless as though a magic wand was whirling her
bloodstream, awakening senses, making them bubble with heady shock and
wonder.
 
Following his lead, she loosened
Jake’s belt, and tugged the zipper open.
 
When her hand claimed the treasure she sought, Jake’s head reared back,
and a look of torture contorted his face and she wondered if that was what he
saw in hers when she found his penis to be larger than expected for suddenly
she was terrified.

Unbelievably,
Jake continued to withhold what she now desperately needed.
 
While her body silently began, beseeching him
to mollify some nameless craving, somehow her arms managed to coax him over
her.
 
She didn't know what made her legs
part so certain was she that she’d die from the pain.
 
It was Jake’s, hands cradling her head,
thumbs rouging her cheeks, his worshiping words that erased all traces of
doubt.

 
“Are you sure?
 
If not, tell me and I'll stop.
 
We
have our whole lives to mend wounds.
 
I
can wait forever if I have to.
 
I'll
never tire of loving you because I can make you mine anytime night or day.
 
All I have to do is dream.”
 
Feathering kisses found her face.
 
Whispers kissed her skin, “But if you let me,
I promise to show you what happiness is.
 
I’ll prove the extent of your love for me and mine for you.”
 

When
she guided him in answer and his penis grazed swollen portals, she believed
she'd parish if he stopped.
 
Dizzy with
pleasure, she never imagined a man so rugged, so strong, so virile could be so
patient and gentle.
 
The anticipated pain
was instantly replaced by pleasurable sensations that brought forth endless
tears.
 

What
was there about the man that always made her eyes run over?
 
Her answer came when their cheeks met and she
felt his tears mingle with hers.
  
Calling upon life's deeds, Jordan searched for what she had done worthy
enough to find a man who was as vulnerable to life's experiences as she thought
only she could be.

When
Jake stopped, she was surprised when her hips began to stir creating foreign
thrills that shot through her, sweet currents of warmth, as though they were
cleansing her within.
 
Certainly, it
wasn’t her body encouraging his to match every move as she held her breath
scared to death he might withdraw that which she refused to release.
 
When he gently began matching her efforts,
Jordan realized Jake in his own compassionate way was keeping his
promises.
 
The control of his body proved
that there was time for them to forgive and forget.
 
He was taking her to a place, somewhere she'd
never been, and somewhere they could only go together.

 
How sad, she reflected, that he'd never know
that he was her first. She was a virgin after all to the true sensations of
making love because she wanted to, needed to, because she loved the person
crawling inside her more than life itself.
 
Someone who was leaving her breathless while bringing to life the dead
woman inside.
  
Suddenly, her whole body
became one consuming heartbeat, as if, the fingers igniting the fire had become
threads of excitement weaving through her heart taking up stitches in a fatal
tear.
  

There
was a tightening of her core as if unwilling to release the love relieving the
tension holding her in its grip. The reality, more than her heart could bear,
catapulting her with such force, such intensity; she screamed and stiffened
from fright, from wonder, from an ecstasy where flesh fused and sucked.
 
Wanting him so much, her nails bit into
Jake's buttocks forcing him deeper her response sending him over the edge and
bringing the urgency of his need to a crest.
 
The mass within her quivered expanded and contracted releasing spiritual
fluid that made tremors cascade down his back.
 
How wondrous was the sound of his scream reaching the pitch of hers, his
breath catching?
 
As if hanging on for
dear life trying to bring them back from the glorious place they'd shared, his
loins tightened and his arms constricted around her.
  

]

“Breathe
Jordan, breathe for both of us, for I can never breathe again without you.”

How
would she ever tell him he not only filled the emptiness of her body but
drowned her heart as well?
 
Irrigated
that smidgen of love she believed had shriveled and died making it grow beyond
the capacity of her very being.

Pure
foolishness made Jake pepper Jordan’s face with happy kisses.
 
Rolling from her, hauling her to him, the
aftermath of love became effervescent sounds of joyful giggles and
laughter.