“It’ll take some time,” he replied, staring into the light. “I can’t shake off this feeling—of wanting to stand by Lily’s side, so she’s not alone out there, in the rain. I know it doesn’t make any sense, I know she’s gone, but a part of me still wants to protect her.”
A train whistled in the far distance, and somewhere on the water-washed plains, a solitary jackal whined at the flash of lightning.
“I’m sorry.” Jack blinked and tilted his head to look at me. “Sometimes I get so wrapped up in it, I don’t see the whole picture. At least I got Lily back. They never recovered your sister’s body. That had to be tough.”
“It was. It is.” I folded my arms around my knees and rested my chin there. “But then I think that maybe Mo would have wanted it that way. She never wanted to stay in one place. She felt boxed in. And now she’s . . . free. She would have laughed at my thwarted mission. First, that I crawled out of my comfort zone for her. And then at how wrong everything went, how I couldn’t get even one of her kids to Wanza. If there’s a lesson behind things, I wonder what I’m supposed to learn from it.”
“Maybe the lesson is not for you but for me. So you can teach me that it’s okay to sit in the rain without Lily, and not feel like dying.”
He leaned in and something wild swirled in the pit of my stomach. It wasn’t just a kiss. It was a lesson—a fierce, burning imprint, so that my lips would always know the difference between being wanted and being craved. The world washed away in a blurry, wet painting. All that was left was Jack’s hot breath, the firmness of his lips, the way his drenched clothes clung to his body. When he pulled back, he was breathing hard, like he’d run a long, long way.
“Stop running, Jack.” I took his beautiful face in my hands as lightning flashed in the distance. “Stop running away from us. I want you. I’m not asking you for forever. Yes, it’s what I wanted—it’s what I was waiting for. But then I took a trip. And I realized I’d been living in a delicate, made-up world. No, not living. Hibernating. Crossing off the days, one after the other. So what I want—what I really want, is this one rainy afternoon. I want to go back home drunk and intoxicated, filled with ecstasy and white heat. So love me tenderly, Jack. Or love me recklessly. I don’t care which. But do it now. You never know if we’ll be passing this way again.” His expression was so galvanizing, my heart fluttered wildly in my chest. “Your words. Remember?”
“I was talking about a trip to the crater, not—”
“Not this?” I tossed off my wet top in a passionate challenge.
My invitation pushed him over the edge. Something intense flared through him—instant, electric, as if I had just unleashed him.
Shit. I’m in for it now.My pulse pounded with a dizzy cocktail of desire, rimmed in gritty bits of trepidation. He gazed at me intently, cranking up the anticipation until it was almost unbearable.
“Take it off,” he said, his command thick with longing.
My fingers faltered as I slid off one strap, and then the other. He didn’t wait for me to unclasp my bra. He was done waiting. His tongue flicked my nipple through the wet fabric before he latched on, sucking it into his mouth, rasping the edges with his teeth.
“Ohhh.” My breath escaped as he brought my untried senses to life, pulling down the lace on the other cup and flicking the puckered peak with his thumb.
He lifted me into his lap, straddling my legs on either side of him. He was hard, and he wanted me to know it. “Last chance, sweetness. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you. So if you’re having second thoughts, now’s the time, because in a little while I’m going to take you, gently at first, and then to all kinds of dark, delicious places.”
His breath left hot, phantom kisses between my breasts, his words making me squirm. His husky bedroom voice sent delightful shudders through me. My insides jangled with excitement. Without breaking the intense gaze we were locked in, I tugged at the hem of his T-shirt. He lifted his arms and let me peel it off. His skin was slick with rainwater, but the heat coming off his body was palpable. Our breaths came in unison as we paused at the edge, that exquisite swell of silence between the crack of lightning and the roar of thunder.
And then the space between us exploded.
He covered my mouth hungrily, devouring its softness, his long fingers buried in my hair. He tugged a fistful, exposing my neck and left a trail of tantalizing, beard-brushed kisses. My back arched at the feel of them—unexpectedly silky against my flesh. Goosebumps rioted over my skin as he unclasped my bra and tossed it aside. My eyelashes fluttered shut when his tongue swirled over a taut, dusky pink nipple, whispering his adoration in gruff, short breaths.
“Hold tight, sweetness.” He gazed up at me when my hands clutched his shoulders. His eyes held the most intoxicating kind of threats and promises.
I gasped as he pushed me onto my back, his hand searing a path down my abdomen and onto my thigh. He rubbed slow circles over the wet, clinging fabric of my jeans, moving closer and closer to the junction between my legs.
My nerves thrummed, like the rain falling on the canvas roof over us, but he denied me and tugged at my zip instead. I held my breath as he pulled it down slowly, watching me with a look that was so potent, so compelling, he might as well have been unfastening my soul, bit by quivering bit. He slid my jeans off and sat back on his knees, drinking me in.
It had been different in the dark, but in the gray, muted daylight, my insecurities kicked in. It wasn’t as if I’d been naked in front of many men before. A hand under my blouse, a feel up my skirt, but never so exposed. And certainly not with someone who looked like Jack. My hands moved instinctively across my breasts and stomach.
“Don’t.” He clamped my wrists above me as his hooded eyes roved over my naked body. My flesh trembled, my toes curled, but when I opened my eyes and caught the expression on his face, everything melted. He was looking at me like I was stardust and light.
“Jesus.” His eyes darkened with stark sensuality. “You are so fucking beautiful.”
He paused to kiss me and then started planting worshipful caresses with his hands, and his lips, and his tongue, and his teeth. He moved slowly, relishing every inch, until the hot flush of desire rippled in waves under my skin, making my hips surge in an age-old rhythm.
“That’s it, baby. Now let me ride it with you.”
I bucked at the first brush of his tongue between my slick folds as he buried his face between my legs.
“Mmm.” He lifted his head for a second to savor the wetness on his lips. “God, I’ve been dying to taste you. You’re . . .” The rest of his words were muffled, but they melted into hot, sweet vibrations against the very core of me.
Jack was not a quiet lover. He voiced his pleasure with thick, throaty sounds. He threw my leg over his shoulder and nipped my inner thigh before plunging his tongue into me. I held onto his wild, thick hair as involuntary tremors of arousal shot through me. He seemed to sense the awakening flames because his movements intensified, carrying me to the peaks of pleasure.
“Yes.” He lifted my hips off the floor, bringing me in full, carnal contact with his mouth. “Fuck, yes.”
