Um,yesandyes.
19
Deacon hadn’t saidanother word to her since they’d left the concert hall. After they’d gone out through a hidden door in the fence on the concrete patio, which she had no clue how Deacon knew about, he’d put his hand on her lower back, ushered her to his SUV, helped her inside, and then they started driving. They’d been driving around for about ten minutes in silence.
The air between them was thick. Thick with anger, maybe. He had to still be calming down. The look in his eyes when he’d turned around…he was seeing red. You don’t just come down from that.
It was thick with arousal, at least on her part. Her lady parts were still throbbing from the speech he’d given in the hallway.
Thick with a lot of things unsaid. So many things unsaid.
She felt like she owed him an explanation, but where would she start? How would she start? What would she say?
‘I’m sorry I’m so fucked up.’
‘Thanks for the dress, and the shoes, and the jewelry, it was fun for one night they’ll be on your doorstep tomorrow because there’s no way I’m keeping these.’
‘I know that as soon as the chase is over, you’re gonna lose interest, so let’s just cut to the chase and get it over with. Can you just break my heart now please?’
Her mind was so busy trying to figure out how to fill the silence, she didn’t realize Deacon had pulled over until he put the SUV in park.
Oh shit. She looked around and saw they were on a deserted forest road, which was not hard to come by in Hope Falls. Her heart was pounding so hard she could feel it ready to come out of her chest. She turned to look at him, he was staring straight ahead, half his strong profile illuminated from the moonlight. It was so unfair that he was that fucking hot.
He turned to look at her, and every thought left her head. When he began to move forward, slowly, her breath caught in her throat. His movements weren’t rushed, but they also weren’t slow. They were perfect, as always, just like the man himself. Controlled, measured, and just the right pace.
When he got within a millimeter from her, his breath fanned her face, his lips hesitated for a second, hovering just in front of hers, giving her a chance to stop if she wanted to, but she didn’t. The second his lips touched hers it was over, she was gone. His fingers wrapped around the back of her neck, tilting her head to just the right angle to deepen the kiss.
His tongue slid to meet hers, caressing her with intentional licks, as if he were making love to her with care, with expertise, with mastery. A half whimper of need and half moan of satisfaction vibrated through her body as she lost herself in what was technicallyclassified as a kiss, but to call it that seemed like not enough.
When he broke their ‘kiss,’ it took Jenna a few moments to return to her senses, to remember where she was, what they were doing, and what was going on. She was dizzy and loopy and felt a little drunk. Her lower half was throbbing so hard if a strong wind blew, she was going to come.
Deacon rested his forehead on hers. “I’ve wanted to do that…” he panted.
“All night?” she ventured.
“No, a little longer than that.” His mouth tilted at the edges as his thumb traced her bottom lip. “I’ve wanted to do that since I woke up alone in bed in that hotel room.”
“Oh.” Jenna smiled.
“Where are we going?”
“What?” she asked.
“We can’t go back to my house, the girls are there.”
Jenna blinked as the logistics of the situation splashed over her like a bucket of cold water.
“I have a guest house but—” he started.
“Of course you do,” she said under her breath, mostly to herself.
He sat back. “The money thing really bothers you, doesn’t it?”
“I mean, it definitely doesn’t help.”
“I didn’t ask for the money my parents had, and I didn’t touch theirs. I earned mine and I try to do good with it, not evil.”
“I never said you used your money for evil.” Jenna felt herself getting defensive and knew she was being ridiculous. Her prejudice was just that, a prejudice. She was self-aware enough to know that. “It’s my issue, not yours, but we can’t go back to my house.”
