“You need to tell her the truth, Jack. Trust me, it would be best if Ray knew Margo’s plans up front.”
Yeah, I knew that, but shit. I pinched the bridge of my nose. I really didn’t want to tell Ray about the merger-marriage plan. It was hard enough to get her to stay. And then there was what Margo would do once she learned I was in a relationship with Ray—shit! I scrubbed a hand over my face. I just wanted some time to explore all these feelings rushing through me as if the floodgates had opened before dealing with everything else in my life.
“Was it this difficult when you realized Ila was the one?” I asked Max.
“Yeah.” A grunt drifted to me. “But with her, it was damn hard to get her to open up. To trust me. Hell, after her scumbag ex, I understood, but I persisted, and it was the best feeling ever when she confessed that she was in love with me, too.”
“She is good for you,” I muttered, distractedly pushing my still-wet hair away from my brow.
“So. It’s Ray who’s finally knocked that hard skull back into place?”
I leaned against the balustrade, rubbing the tightening in my chest, and stared into the living room Ray had disappeared through. “It’s all so overwhelming. I mean, she was right there in front of me all this time and I didn’t see her, didn’t know—”
“You were fucked in the head, man, and blind,” he said, tone dry. “Jack, I hope you’ve dealt with whatever shit’s been wrecking you for the past couple of years. If it’s still messing with you, it will affect her, too. Come clean with Ray, or you’ll ruin things before they even start.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll see you when I get back to the city.”
After Max rang off, I stood there for a moment longer, breathing in the briny air, my mind too chaotic to even know where to begin. Maybe in a few days, once Ray and I were more settled, and my brain didn’t feel like it would explode from my skull, I’d speak to her. And spill my guts, hoping she’d still want me afterward.
16
Ray
As water splasheddown on my face, arms suddenly surrounded me. I spun around, my heart nearly cracking through my ribs as I met quiet, gray eyes. “Darn it, Jack!” I smacked him on the chest. “You scared the heck out of me.”
He stared at me, the water cascading over him. Those eyes said so much without a word spoken. Even now, with the glimmer of heat in them. But something else flashed briefly and then vanished.
I swiped the water from my face. “You okay?”
In answer, he kissed me deeply, his tongue sweeping into my mouth, sucking on my tongue as if he couldn’t get enough of me. Then he lowered his head and licked my nipple—
“Jack, wait-wait!” I grabbed his hair. Thank God I’d put a waterproof Band-Aid on my wound.
With a curse, he straightened and dragged me out of the splattering shower, his bare feet tracking water on the floor. He picked me up and set me on the counter.
Like a caveman, Jack hauled me to the edge, and I threw my hands back on the counter for balance, my chest pushing out in invitation.
His palm squeezed my breast, and his warm mouth covered my nipple. Desire stirred, spreading from my core in a huge wave. His other hand slipped between my thighs, and as he parted my throbbing flesh, he sent that heated stare down my torso as if memorizing every inch of me. His gaze lingered between my thighs. His thumb stroked my clit, pulling a gasp form me. Christ! The guy could turn me on with just a look—
“Jack,” I groaned. “Get the damn condom. I want you inside me.”
And the smile I adored, the one that reached his eyes, appeared. He opened a cupboard and got a box.
“Prepared, are you?” I rasped.
“Got ‘em when I went to the pharmacy to get your prescription filled.” He removed a silver foil and tossed the box on the counter, then tore the package with his teeth. He got out the rubber and rolled the thing onto his thick, erect length. “Ready?”
“Is it a race?”
Jack laughed—the sound so incredibly sexy—and nipped my inner thigh. “Cute, Bug.”
“Must you—”
He drew my skin into his mouth. Desire coiled in my core like liquid heat, and I forgot what I wanted to say. My clit ached for his touch. Then his warm tongue dragged along my folds, and I jerked.
His gaze on mine, he drew me to the edge of the counter, lined up his cock to where I needed him, and with a firm thrust, he was inside me, sliding all the way in until he bottomed out.
