“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just that things are heating up, and I think you’d be better off back in the States. You shouldn’t be here by yourself in the first place. Evelyn was supposed to come with you.”
“Evelyn is in the hospital having back surgery. I’m her assistant. The fact that she isn’t here only makes my job more important. This isn’t like you, Jake. I want to know what’s going on.” His anxiety was almost tangible, his fists clenched as tightly as his jaw.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Listen to me, Maggie. I don’t know what’s going on. I only know I want you and Sarah safe. I want you to go home.”
“Why, Jake?” Maggie whispered, her heart beginning to pound with a strange feeling of hope. “Why should you care?”
Jake reached out and touched her cheek, his hand calloused and as strong as she remembered. “I care, dammit. Thewhydoesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.”
“Maggie, please.”
“I’ve got to know, Jake. You owe me that much.” Maggie swallowed past the lump in her throat, but she couldn’t stop the tears welling in her eyes. “You lied to me, didn’t you? You said you didn’t have time for us, but it wasn’t the truth. There was some other reason, something you’re afraid to tell me. I wasn’t wrong about you—tell me I wasn’t.”
“I’d better go,” Jake said, his voice gruff as he rose and started for the door.
Maggie rose and touched his arm and that single contact stopped him. “Tell me, Jake. Tell me the truth.” She raised a trembling hand and cradled it against his cheek. Jake leaned into the warmth and closed his eyes.
“Maggie, don’t,” he whispered. “It isn’t safe for me to be with you. You’ve got to forget about us and go back home.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I want to know why you left us. I want to know if you loved me.”
“Maggie...” For a moment he just stood there, his beautiful blue eyes filled with despair. Then he reached out and pulled her into his arms. “I loved you then, I love you now. I’ll always love you, Maggie. That’s never going to change.”
Jake...” Longing speared through her. Maggie kissed his mouth, his cheeks, his eyes. She wanted to say the same words to him, but the tears clogging her throat made it impossible to speak. Jake pulled her down on the bed and kissed her hungrily, kissed her as if he couldn’t get enough. It was a kiss of possession, of longing and love, a kiss that tried to make up for the time they’d been apart.
“I love you,” Maggie whispered, and felt his lips on her cheek, kissing away her tears.
Jake unbuttoned her blouse and slipped his hand inside to gently cup her breast. Maggie moaned and tore at the buttons on his shirt. The first two popped free, the next one didn’t. Jake grabbed hold of the fabric and tugged so hard the button tore loose and the shirt fell open. Maggie helped him pull it off over his head and he tossed it away. Her fingers played over the familiar lines and sinews, tangled in the curly black hair on his chest.
Jake slipped the blouse off her shoulders, worked the zipper on her skirt. A short, sweet buzz and the skirt joined the clothes on the floor. His mouth moved along her throat as he whispered her name, telling her he loved her, touching and caressing, healing her with his hands and his kisses. She could feel his care in every touch, and love for him blossomed inside her.
“Tell me you aren’t just saying the things I want to hear,” she said softly.
Jake pressed his lips against her bare shoulder. “I mean every word, Maggie. I love you. We don’t have to do this. We can stop now, if that’s what you want. Holding you is enough.”
He was telling the truth. She could hear it in his voice, see it in his face.
The last of her heartache fell away. “I want you, Jake. I’ve never stopped wanting you.”
Jake kissed her and kissed her, unhooked her simple cotton bra, baring her breasts. His lips skimmed along her throat and shoulders, covered her hard, dusky nipple, sucked the rigid tip until she trembled and arched against him.
Her hands shook as she reached for the buckle on his belt, then unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. Jake stopped kissing her long enough to pull off his boots and remove the rest of his clothes.
Both gloriously naked on the narrow twin bed, Jake covered her body with his, pressing her down in the mattress. She loved the way it felt to have him there, loved the warmth of his mouth moving over her skin as he kissed his way down her body.
He knew just what to do, just how to touch her, exactly what pleased her. Heat rolled through her, and a burst of wild, fiery passion that had her clutching his shoulders, then tipping into climax.
The world spun and she drifted, drifted, finally returned to the world to find Jake watching her.
She reached out to him, touched his cheek. “I need more of you. I need all of you, Jake. I need to know you’re really here.”
Jake pressed a kiss on the flat spot below her navel. “I’m here, Maggie.” Coming up over her, he kissed her hard and slid himself inside. She moaned at the feel his arousal, his hunger as he started to move, slowly at first, letting her absorb the weight of him, then faster, deeper, harder.
She could hear his ragged breathing, feel the pounding of his heart. Jake drove into her, his movements more and more urgent, his control slipping, along with her own. A tight knot hummed inside her. She felt Jake’s muscles bunch, knew he was close to release, and the feeling sent her over the edge.
Jake’s climax followed, the two of them clinging together as if they were afraid to let go.
