“I’m f-fine. Whoever it was left before I got out of the tub.”
“Good. Good.” He pointed to a connecting door. “Go through there, stay with Emily and call the police while I check outside.”>Abruptly she tipped back the bottle for a long gulp at odds with her pinky waving defiantly in the night. She swiped her wrist across her mouth and passed the beer back to him. “Here, take it before I finish it all.”
Their fingers brushed as he reclaimed his drink. He wanted her, wanted to lose himself in her softness, her innocence.
With a last, token effort at distancing himself from Dee, Jacob emptied his longneck with a final swallow. Damn, but he could taste her on the glass. And damned again if he didn’t intend to indulge in a fuller sampling of undiluted Dee.
Chapter 9
D ee watched Jacob lower the bottle, his lips still damp from the beer they’d shared. She couldn’t look away from his mouth, couldn’t stop wanting to kiss him again. But she wouldn’t be the one to make the first move, not this time. Parking lot lights shimmered with a muted glow while she waited, thirsty for the taste of Jacob.
Reaching past her, he set aside the longneck. His arm brushed hers, the heat of his chest warming her until her br**sts tightened in response beneath her coat. His eyes stilled her and embraced her with a stormy blue desire, an ache mirrored inside her.
She could see he needed her, maybe for all the wrong reasons, just as she’d needed him after the doctor visit. Suddenly what should be wrong felt incredibly right.
She swayed forward.
“Ah, Dee.” He groaned her name, low and husky, more beautiful coming from his mouth than a simple syllable should have any right to be.
His hand shot up to cup the back of her head, tuck under the hat and flick it free. Her hair swirled around her as his fingers combed sensuous paths along her scalp.
Endless seconds later, Jacob’s mouth skimmed hers. Relief swelled through her as she nestled where she’d burned to be all day, all week, for as long as she could remember. He claimed her mouth. Claimed, and demanded she do the same in return. He tugged on her bottom lip, enticed until she opened to accept him.
Dee decided she’d acquired a taste for beer after all, or maybe it was the way the rich ferment tasted on Jacob’s tongue. The warm tang of it induced a heady rush. Surely the buzzing along her every nerve was a by-product of alcohol.
Yeah, right.
Locking her arms around Jacob’s neck, she explored the breadth of his shoulders as his restless hands slipped beneath her coat to her back, down her waist. God he was big, yet no longer intimidating as she’d feared the first time her eyes traveled up the length of him. She’d learned he used his size for protection rather than intimidation.
Dee snuggled closer, couldn’t get close enough. Without breaking their kiss, Jacob lowered her to the quilt and blanketed her with his body as their legs tangled. Dee danced her tongue against his, learning the taste of Jacob, which only served to send her into another dizzying spiral of pure sensation.
They rolled until she landed on top, and she found she liked it there. Jacob shifted to take her weight fully upon him. She liked that even more, Jacob allowing her some control for a change, even in such a fundamental way.
A clatter rumbled along the truck bed. Dee tried to block out what she didn’t want to hear. The beer bottle clanked, spinning until it shattered against the icy parking lot.
“Jacob—”
“I’ll clean it up later.” He nuzzled her neck again, but the moment had been broken, as well.
Realization chilled Dee more than the frost in the air. What was she doing? Not five minutes ago she’d been sharing memories of the family she’d most likely left behind, and now she was crawling all over Jacob like some sex-starved teenager because of Valentine’s Day sentimentality.
Dee pushed herself up beside him. Jacob blinked twice before flinging his arm over his face.
His arm fell away. “I’m s—”
“Don’t say you’re sorry.” She hugged her knees to her chest in counterpressure against an ache with Jacob’s name tattooed all over it. “I’m the one who should apologize.”
Jacob jackknifed up as he raked his hands through his hair. It wasn’t long hair, but she’d managed to make a fine mess of it all the same, just like she’d done with her life. And might do with his if she wasn’t careful.
“What is it with me, Jacob? I told myself it didn’t matter what had happened before, only what I do now, but I can’t even keep my hands off you for a week. I barely know anything about you, like your favorite ice cream or why your friends call you Mako.” She squeezed her knees harder, pushing all the air free until she could only whisper, “What kind of a woman am I?”
He grasped her chin, his grip a fraction past gentle. “I don’t know what the hell was going on in your life before you came here, either. But regardless of how long we’ve spent together, I do know who you are, the person that’s real, underneath any layer of memories.” His touch gentled to a caress. “There’s an innocence and goodness in you that’s rare, special. Don’t doubt it for a minute.”
She wanted to believe him, yearned to grasp his words with both hands and accept them simply because Jacob said so. But that kind of blind faith, a dependency, also raked over an innately pragmatic part of her.
She had to prove to herself she wasn’t simply a “Mrs. Smith” who drooled over any man. “Then why do I want to lie back on that blanket and finish this?”
Jacob’s jaw flexed.