“Afraid to be alone with me?” he asked, coming up behind her.
She shook her head. “Fear isn’t the right word for it—”
“You told me you loved me,” he interrupted. “That morning before Eric took you, you told me that.”
No need for him to clarify which morning, but she didn’t like his timing in bringing it up now. “I remember.” She cleared her throat so it would have some sound, and had to do it again. Great. Her throat was clogged now, and her breathing wasn’t faring much better.
Jack moved in front of her, studying her face. He wasn’t frowning, but it was close. “You don’t feel the same way about me now.”
She wanted to groan. Apparently, he wasn’t content with just having her surrounded by old memories of them as a couple. He wanted her to relive it with words, too. And it was working. She felt the slow hum of heat circle around her.
“I’m not sure what I feel,” Caroline settled for saying, but it required another throat clearing.
Her answer didn’t smooth his near frown. But it was partly true. She didn’t know about still being in love. She’d had no time to sort out her feelings, but when it came to Jack, she was certain about plenty of other things. She wanted him more than her next heartbeat. More than she wanted to feel strong and whole again.
And that want was quickly turning into a need.
The silence vibrated between them as he stared at her. It ended when Jack cursed. “I considered offering you no-strings-attached sex. Just to burn off this heat so we could possibly think about something else.Anythingelse. But I can’t do that.”
Silence fell again, this time because he’d stunned her. “You can’t have sex?” And she hated the disappointment in her voice.
A flicker of annoyance, and heat, went through his eyes. “I can’t give you the no-strings. The sex is going to happen, but not until you know that it won’t be just to satisfy some raw animal urges.Strings,” he repeated, emphasizing it. “I’ll want that I-love-you from you again. Maybe not tonight, but I’ll want it soon.”
Caroline was about to remind him that he’d never given her those words, but Jack snapped her to him and kissed her. It was hard and rough, not just his mouth but the grip he had on her arms. The roughness was something that Caroline quickly realized made it even better. He wasn’t going to treat her like glass. The fragile kind of glass that broke with a careless touch.
He was going to break her in a whole different way. And there’d be nothing careless about it.
Cupping the back of her neck, Jack deepened the kiss. The physical part of it, anyway, since the emotional part was already as deep as it could get. Or so Caroline thought. He proved her wrong when he stopped and eased back enough to stare into her eyes.
There it was. The face that could have been created for an ancient god. The pretty ones who could be both ruthless and very, very desirable. His eyes, dark. That rumpled black hair. Oh, and that scent. Leather and male. It seeped into her, mingling with the heat that his kiss had already flamed.
Jack waited a heartbeat, maybe giving her a chance to change her mind, all the while knowing that she wouldn’t do that. Caroline knew it, too.
The next kiss was just a brush of his mouth over hers. Slow and sensual with their breaths mingling. And he looked at her again. Gauging her reaction. She was breathing too fast, and her pulse was at a full gallop. Every inch of her was quivering, waiting, and she didn’t want the wait to continue for even a second longer.
She didn’t have to.
Jack took her mouth again, and there it was. The raw animal urge that went to full flame and beyond when his hand slid underneath her dress and straight into her panties. Caroline made a gasp of pleasure when he plunged his fingers into her. So much pleasure that his touch would have brought her to a fast climax if he hadn’t suddenly stopped.
“No. It won’t be that easy,” he said, his voice as intense as the look he gave her. Jack reached behind her, shut the door and locked it. “It’ll never be that easy between us.”
It sounded a little like a threat, and he hooked his arm around her, lifting her as if she weighed nothing. Those strong, corded arms closed around her. He kissed her, hard and deep again,while he took her to his bed. He practically dumped her on the too-soft mattress that swelled up around her.
When he didn’t immediately join her, she reached for him, only to realize that his plan was to stay standing so he could strip off her dress.
Which he did.
Jack sent it flying. Then he got on the bed, his knee landing between her legs. As he loomed over her, she could feel his jeans rub against the inside of her thighs. Could hear the rough rhythm of his breath.
He kissed her breasts through her bra. Again, not gently. Both his hands and his mouth were rough as he yanked off her panties and then her bra. He’d said he hadn’t wanted easy, whatever that meant, but he apparently wanted fast.
Good.
Because she wanted that, too. Fast meant she didn’t have to think about this. For that to happen, she needed him as naked as he’d just gotten her. Caroline went after the buttons on his shirt, but when he took her nipple into his mouth, the heat roared through her. Fingers to toes and every single place in between. She gave up on the shirt and went after his zipper instead.
Jack didn’t stop her when she freed him from his jeans and boxers, but he did stop the maddening kisses. Again, their gazes met. And held. Just as he plunged into her.
Caroline made another of those gasps. Pleasure, yes. Definitely that. Mixed with the brief shock of his hard thrust. Then, even more pleasure. So much more.
