Jack's Surrender (Holiday Cove 5)

“All right. Holler if you need me,” he said, shuffling out of the bathroom. “I’ll be right outside the door.”

He closed the door behind him and I sucked in a breath and tugged the panties off one-handed, cursing under my breath at the strain in my battered side as I leaned to get the elastic down my legs. “Probably should have just let him do it.” I mumbled as I finally stepped out of them and found myself breathless. I righted myself and then worked to carefully step into the tub and sink down into the scented, silky feeling water.

“Ahhh,” I sighed, leaning my head back against the towel Jack had folded and positioned at the top. Just like I always did…I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to fight off the memories. It was a pointless attempt. If the house had felt haunted before, now it was a full-on epidemic.

By the time the water started to cool off, I’d managed to scrub the essentials and reluctantly decided against draining some water and adding more hot to prolong the experience. It wasn’t fair to keep Jack trapped outside the door, and I knew I’d be able to fall asleep having been able to take a bath and eat a full meal for the first time since the accident.

I pushed up with my good arm and worked to get my legs under me. A stab of pain coursed through me and I slipped. The force sent a wave of water sloshing out of the tub as a loud curse flew from my lips. “Shit!”

The door burst open and Jack was there in the doorway. “Are you all right?” He swooped in without waiting for an answer and lifted me out of the tub. “Here,” he said, reaching for the towel on the hook beside the shower and wrapped it around me as well as he could with me in his arms.

“Can you stand up okay? Do you want me to take you to the bed?”

I tried to wiggle out of his arms and moaned when a sharp pain went down my side. “No, just put me down. I have to do this.”

He reached for my robe and pulled it open as I held out my casted arm for him to help me put it on. The cast went above my elbow joint and made me feel clumsy and uncoordinated. I knew I’d have to get used to doing things with one hand but I hadn’t quite caught on yet after lying in a hospital bed and being catered to. Working a remote with one hand wasn’t exactly an Olympic worthy feat.

Jack moved to help me finish putting on the robe and I felt my cheeks flush as his eyes dropped to my naked, glistening body. “Oh, Holly,” he breathed, his eyes roving over the cuts on my upper chest and the dark bruises between my breasts and along one side of my ribs. His eyes dropped a little lower and hitched on my blossoming baby bump. I stopped, frozen in place, no longer attempting to hurry and cover myself.

Our eyes met and the air went from damp and clammy to charged with electricity and heat.

“Jack—” I whispered, my eyes searching his.

His lips crashed to mine, conquering them with a fierce, crushing kiss. His tongue slipped past the seam of my mouth and greedily drank me in. Fire flooded my veins and a soft moan bubbled up and fueled the hot kiss.

Just as quickly as it began, it ended.

Jack pulled away, backing up a pace as though he couldn’t trust himself. “Shit,” he growled, raking a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Holly.”

I wanted to ask him why he was apologizing but then decided it didn’t matter. Humiliation and frustration and desire all melted together and I was overwhelmed with the need to be alone. I shook my head and reached for the tie of my robe, suddenly feeling naked and clutched the front closed with one hand.

He helped me get dressed, avoiding my eyes the entire time, and then helped me back downstairs to my temporary bed on the pull-out couch that Carly and Rachel had set up for me before I’d been discharged. Once I promised him I was comfortable and had everything I needed in the guest bathroom should I need to use it during the night, he finally relented and put his coat back on. He came to the couch and dropped a sweet kiss on my forehead. “Goodnight, Holly.”

“Night, Jack.”

Seconds later, the front door clicked shut and my heart shattered into a million tiny pieces.

30

Jack

I called my job in New York a few days earlier and explained the situation to them, asking for a few more days off. They’d agreed as long as I was okay with my co-pilot, Peyton, being assigned to a different team. After the last flight with her, I was more than okay with it. Hell, I didn’t even want to go back to New York at all now that I knew Holly was carrying my child.