The Heart (24 page)

Needing to distract myself, I made small talk with Pedro as I kept busy, keeping the table full and replenishing the drinks.

Hadn’t I apologized? Hadn’t I chased him for over a mile trying to explain myself? I stood fuming as the workers dispersed and Jack remained in his position, fucking beautiful and completely out of reach. I cleaned up quickly, no longer able to handle his blatant disregard for my olive branch. With each piece of trash I threw away, I mourned our late night talks, and the possibility of a new tradition of being naked in the meadow with him. I hated his absence and his silence.

He was giving me a taste of my own medicine. I got his message loud and clear.

I left a single sandwich and drink on the table for Jack. Looking up to him one last time, I found him staring right at me. His stare was curious, as if he was seeing me for the very first time. I met his stare but only for a moment, afraid he would see the truth of what his rejection was doing to me. Seconds later, I walked out the doors, less the burden of food I walked in with and yet heavier with the idea that I may no longer have Jack to look forward to.

Guilt had proven to be my biggest hindrance in moving on without Grant. It wasn’t just the sex with Jack. It was the feeling that went with sharing the most intimate part of me with him. I’d assumed our attraction was mostly physical, but Jack was both disarming and charming without bounds. He’d lifted his figurative finger at me in summons, and I’d walked toward him willingly. What I had not counted on was the new algorithm that danced in my heart.

After my shift, and another day of painful silence, I decided on a plan b. I walked into the center, claiming the bottle of Maker’s that we’d started on. I went home to shower and jumped into my convertible before I had a chance to second-guess my actions. I pulled into Jack’s motel and sat outside in my car next to his bike, working up the courage to approach as I took sip after sip of bourbon. Memories of the way it felt to be filled by him trickled in and out as I took a deep breath then pushed open my car door. I stood outside his room, hesitating only briefly before knocking softly twice.

“Jack?”

I got no answer and looked back at his bike, puzzled. Sudden fear crept over me that he might not be alone. I jerked away from the door. My heart pounding as every worst-case scenario raced through my mind, I gave the door the one finger salute.

“Temper, beb,” Jack said behind me as he caught the bottle I almost dropped when he startled me. He slid his key into the door, a fresh bucket of ice cradled in his arm. “I saw you pull up about thirty minutes ago. I like my booze on ice.”

Cheeks heated, I followed him into the room and blew out my embarrassment with my breath.

“You thought I wasn’t alone,” he said as a statement as he pulled my purse from my arm then set it down on the table next to the bed.

“Yeah,” I said, refusing to play games.

“Why?” he said as he took a seat at the edge of the bed and placed his hands on his thighs. I wanted nothing more than to bare myself, tear off my clothes and dive into him, knowing what he could do to me. I didn’t want meaningful conversation, not tonight. I wanted to be handled and by Jack.

“Because, Jesus, I mean, look at you.”

He tucked in his lip, his face hard with disdain. “Yeah, well, I don’t think that way.”

“You are totally sexual,” I protested as I took a step away from the door and picked up the bottle to pour our bourbon.

“Only with the women I want to be sexual with,” he said harshly.

“Why are you so defensive?” I asked as he took a mind-numbing drink out of his glass.

“Because you put me here,” he said, aggravated.

“This was a bad idea,” I said as I went for my purse and gripped my keys.

“Take off your clothes.”

“What?”

“Take off your clothes and we’ll see just how bad of an idea it was.”

His eyes never left mine as he took another sip of his bourbon and then crunched a cube in his mouth. I wanted to taste that cold mix on his tongue. We both knew why I was there, and suddenly it cheapened everything about our time in the meadow, our time together period. Guilty, I looked to him and apologized.

“I’m sorry. Shit, Jack, I’m so sorry.” I flinched as he made a sudden move to set down his drink and pulled his shirt off, tossing it to the floor between us.

“Rose, look at me. Tell me what you want.”

I stared into his eyes, and they began to darken with desire as he watched me.

“I want to feel like I did on the blanket with you.” I pushed out a breath. “I want you.”

“I’m right here.”

I took a tentative step forward and then another until I stood in front of him. He sat motionless as I pushed my fingers through his hair and tilted his head up toward me. His eyes hooded as I leaned in and whispered a kiss on his lips. “I want you, Jack.”

His hand slid up my bare thigh as I pulled him in for a deep kiss. That same flicker turned into a flame as our slow, hungry tongues met. My moaned echoed in his throat as he found me wet and ready beneath my shorts and panties. Jack pushed me to stand fully as he explored my entrance, his eyes never leaving mine. My lips parted as his eyes closed briefly. Breaths coming out fast, Jack’s skilled touch tore my inhibitions to shreds as I began to shake with want.

“Jack!”

Sensing the crack in me, Jack kissed me, his arms wrapped around my back. I leaned into him with relief, no longer able to stand on my own. As if a flip switched, Jack turned us quickly, and I fell back on the mattress as his lips followed and crashed into mine. Hungry and willing, I reached into his jeans and stroked the velvet tip of him. He tore his mouth from mine as I moved my thumb over the soft skin and let him see the need in me. He twitched in my hand as I licked my lips.

Still fully clothed, I twisted beneath him as I freed his cock and looked up at him in a plea, stroking him more firmly.

A picture of restraint, Jack hovered above me as if he was fighting himself before he looked down at me again. As I had before, I saw the shift as he made up his mind. My eyes grew wide as he tore my shorts and panties away, lifted my leg, and buried his length inside me without hesitation.

A scream left my throat, and he clamped his mouth over mine, capturing it as he ravaged me. I bucked and moved with him in sync as our bodies made perfect conversation.

Jack leaned in and whispered, “Is this how you wanted to feel?”

He didn’t let me answer as he shoved two fingers in my mouth and pulled me to the edge of the bed. Still inside me, he began to pump slower as my eyes slid from where we connected to his parted lips. He rolled his hips as I tore at the shirt on my chest, desperate to get it off. Jack stilled my hands and lifted the cups of my bra, freeing my chest. His hands covered each of my peaked breasts tenderly, and he began to pump harder. Breathless, gone, sex on fire, I threw my head back as my whole body began to tremble with my impending release.

“That’s right, baby, let go.” I looked up at Jack and my mouth parted as I watched how much my reaction affected him. I wanted more of that look. As of that moment, it was mine. It belonged to me.

“What took you so long?” he scorned as he picked up his pace and I managed to get my shirt off while he thrust into me, a man possessed, a man who craved the connection as much as I did. He’d been waiting on me. He was justified in doing so, and yet I felt a flare of anger burn through my chest. He’d been testing his own waters.

“And you thought this wasn’t enough for me.” He pulled out abruptly and turned me onto my stomach, not hesitating a second before I felt full of him again. A hard slap on the ass accompanied his swift return. I gasped as another orgasm struck, this time harder, and I screamed into the mattress.

My body still trembling, Jack continued to take me, hungry and insatiable as I gripped the sheets and begged for more. He gave me exactly what I’d asked for.

“More?” he said. I couldn’t answer as I felt every inch of his heavy cock both pleasure and punish me. He wrapped his fist in my hair and pulled hard, and I gasped in surprise as his touch turned carnal.

Our skin slick with sweat, Jack pulled away from me, turning me over again and lying next to me before he pulled me onto his lap. We stared at each other, breaths heavy, and hunger peaked to new heights. Unable to resist, I lifted my hips and Jack gripped them, bringing me forward, my knees at his head. With the first brush of his tongue, I screamed out again and braced myself on the headboard above him. He devoured me without apology, his greedy tongue worshipping me. In control, Jack gripped my hips and moved them on my behalf as he brushed my slick center over his mouth.

I completely let go as I watched him lick me until my body submitted and shuddered around him. Easing me back down on his lap, I hovered above him. Jack pushed inside of me slowly as I let my weight carry me down until we felt out bodies click. Mouth parted and impossibly full, I looked down to him, helpless and in love with the feel of him. It was too much, way too much, and not enough all at once. I had no words, no thought, just his name, his name and those damned beautiful eyes that continued to pierce me. We stayed that way for endless minutes, connected in mouth and movement until we both spilled over with wordless cries.

When I finally had the strength to lift myself away from him, I heard his harsh “stay” as he left me on the mattress and returned with a cool washcloth to clean us both. Once satisfied, he laid down next to me, cradling my body, and I wrapped my leg around his torso.

“We’ve never used a condom,” he said as he looked down at me with concern.

“I have one in my purse, several actually,” I said as I buried my face into his chest in shame. “I’m on birth control, have been for over half my life.”

“I think we’re okay,” he said, staring down at me. “I don’t sleep around. I don’t have anything to worry about.”

“I think you do,” I said, jutting my eyes down to the largest soft shell I’d ever seen in my life before I gripped it tightly.

Jack pulled my hand away with a slight curl of his lips. “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” I said with a light kiss to his chest. “I love the way you feel.”

He gripped my hair tight and tilted my head so that his mouth was to my ear. “Being inside you is the best I’ve ever felt. Don’t hide from me anymore. I hated it.”

I nodded into his chest. “I’m sorry. I hated it, too,” I confessed.

“You have nothing to be afraid of with me. I can only prove it to you if you let me.”

I pressed my lips to his in another silent apology. When I pulled back, I noticed my book on his nightstand and picked it up. “You probably haven’t read a page.”

“I was waiting to read it to you.”

I leaned back and gave him an odd look.

“Aren’t you bored here? I mean, for someone who spends fifty percent of his year traveling, aren’t you losing your damned mind in nowhere Texas?”

“No, I’m pretty occupied at the moment,” he said as he slid a hand over my bare ass.

“I don’t understand you. You really aren’t like... anyone.”

“Then you understand me,” he whispered before drawing my mouth into a long kiss, a kiss that lasted through two more orgasms.