“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Jack jabbed his index finger at her. He wasn’t shouting or touching her, but it was close. “I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything or anybody. Hell, I love you more than anyone’s probably ever loved before. So believe it when I tell you that you can trust me. I wouldn’t let a killer get near you. That includes someone in my own gene pool.”
Caroline swallowed the lump in her throat. “You just called me an idiot.”
He winced and somehow managed to make that expression look hot. “You noticed that, huh? I was hoping all the I-love-yous would gloss that over.” His eyes went dark and serious. The color of storm clouds now.“Believe it,”he repeated, his voice a hoarse whisper.
She had no doubts—none—that the words came straight from his heart. “I believe it.”
And since there’d been enough words, whispers and shouts, Caroline grabbed on to a handful of his shirt, eased him to her and showed him just how much she loved him right back.
With a kiss.
JACKHEARDHIMSELFsay Caroline’s name. It was more breath than sound, and he felt those tight muscles relax in his arms and chest. The relief came as his cheek pressed to hers with his mouth against her ear.
Of course, there would have been a whole lot more relief if she’d told him she loved him. But he could wait until she was ready. Believing in him was enough for now.
They stayed that way, standing there, for several long moments. He’d just taken her the night before, but the ache wasalready there as if he’d gone much too long without her. She was no doubt feeling some of that ache because she shifted, finding his mouth, and her kiss already had that hungry edge to it.
Jack understood the hunger.
He’d failed at being gentle with her before, and he could already feel a repeat of that. This time though, it was Caroline who was in the driver’s seat, and it didn’t seem as if she hadgentlein mind.
“Your clothes are coming off,” she said like an oath.
He wasn’t about to argue with that, but he did have to get his eyes uncrossed when her hand slid down into his jeans and over his erection. He could hardly protest the maneuver since he’d done the same to her, but that bold move made him want their clothes off sooner than he’d planned.
Caroline pressed him face-first against the wall, like a cop making an arrest. “I can’t think when you’re kissing me,” she said. “Your mouth should be classified as an illegal substance.”
Jack got just a flash of male pride, which went to hell in a handbasket when she yanked off his holster. That went on the dresser. Not too long after that, his shirt landed on the floor.
Apparently, no area was off-limits for her, because Caroline’s mouth went to the back of his neck, trailing down to his shoulders. Jack had never considered those to be parts of him that he wanted kissed, but it added a heap of fuel to the already blazing heat.
When he started to turn, to take her into his arms, she held him in place, using the lower part of her body and pressing him even harder against the wall. He felt her moving around, maneuvering, and then the touching continued.
While she kept up those long, lingering kisses, she slipped her hands around to his chest. Her fingers were as thorough as her mouth, and she traced each muscle to his stomach.
Then, lower.
She didn’t slide her hand into his jeans this time. Instead, Caroline unzipped him, pushing both his jeans and the boxers off his hips, and she was damn clever doing it, too. And slow. Inch by slow inch. Her left hand skimmed over his butt while her right one took care of the front.
“Your body should be illegal, too,” Caroline said in a breathy whisper that hit against his shoulder.
No time for male pride this time. Her fist slid the entire length of him. Then, that fist got even tighter. Her mouth—and yes, her tongue—continued on his shoulder, making slow circles and those maddening kisses.
Jack gritted his teeth and swallowed a groan. As good as it felt, and it felt damn good, he didn’t want to finish things this way. He was about to tell Caroline that when she lowered his jeans and boxers and then used her foot to push them even farther down so that Jack could step out of them. The moment he did that, she took hold of his waist and spun him around.
Finally!
Or so he thought. But she dodged a kiss, stepping back from him. He could see the heat in her eyes. Hell, he could feel it. The air was firing between them like lightning bolts.
While facing him, she took hold of his hips, and walking backward, she led him to the bed. They stepped over his shirt, and that was when he saw her panties on the floor. He wasn’t sure when she’d taken those off, maybe right before all that sanity-robbing touching when she’d had him against the wall.
Caroline reversed their positions when they reached the bed, and pushed him onto the mattress. He landed on his back, and before he could even blink, she landed on him, straddling him.
The scalding kiss she gave him nearly had him forgetting that she still had on her clothes. Minus the panties. Jack got a quick reminder of it, though, when he finally got his hands on her, and he felt the barrier of her top and skirt. Her skirt had shifted up,though, so he could at least get one of his hands on her bare butt as he fumbled around to yank off her top.
But Caroline put an end to that, too. She levered up on her knees, and in the same motion, she took hold of him again. And then dropped so that he was inside her.
Jack didn’t swallow the groan that time. Hell, it was possible his heart had skipped a whole bunch of beats. Pleasure roared through him. Caroline made sure that wasn’t a solo thing, either. She shifted, riding him, taking everything he was more than willing to give her.
