Her hands got busy gliding over his shoulders, down his back, and onto his butt. His mouth got busy kissing her lips, neck, and then her breasts. A jolt of electricity flashed through her body as he sucked a nipple into his mouth, leaving her squirming and breathless.
Nate rocked harder, faster, and heat boiled inside her. She wrapped her legs tighter around him, pulling him closer. Wanting their bodies so close they’d need the Jaws of Life to pull them apart.
And when her body couldn’t take any more, she exploded into a magnitude of feelings and sensations. Stronger than anything she’d ever felt before. A moment later, Nate was right along with her as they both fell apart.
When Jade came up for air, the only words she could string together were, “Holy crap balls!” as she lay panting and quivering beneath Nate.
Nate laughed, the vibrations trembling through her body and his warm breath tickling her neck. And just like that, she was turned on again.
“You’re a musician, right? I’m hoping encores aren’t only for the stage.”
He shifted and leaned on an elbow, his hair falling over his forehead. The need to push it away felt a little too intimate even after they’d been as close as two people could get. Touching him that way was more of a lover’s touch, not from someone temporary.
“I do encores only when the crowd cheers loud enough.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “I need to hear you scream.”
“Oh, honey.” She rolled over and straddled him. “By the time I’m finished, you’ll be the one screaming for more.”
* * * *
Something warm and smooth snuggled against Nate’s side. He cracked open sleepy eyes then smiled as he looked at Jade. Her arm was flung across his chest, and her leg was tangled with his. Her red, curly hair fanned out over the pillow. A tug pulled at his chest. She was beautiful inside and out. It would be tough letting her go.
Slowly, she stirred, stretched, and looked around the room. Like she just realized where she was, her eyes widened and she attempted to sit up, but he stroked a hand down her back and secured it around her waist, not ready for her to leave yet.
Flicking a quick glance at the clock on the bedside table, she said, “It’s getting late. I should go.” But she made no more attempts at getting out of bed.
Her voice was low and husky from sleep, and damn how it caused his blood to head south between his legs. After giving her three orgasms, he should let her rest—for now.
To distract himself, he said, “Tell me about this family curse.”
She stiffened, so he trailed his fingers along the curve of her hip, and she softened against him again. “I’ve already told you a witch—”
“Yes, a witch put a curse on your family. But why?”
He didn’t believe in witches and curses, but it was something that played heavily in Jade’s life. There must be a reason, a real reason, why she’d cling onto such a farfetched story.
She chewed on her bottom lip then said, “When I was about ten, my family took a trip to Ireland to visit my grandparents. They had a room filled with antique furniture, paintings, and books, and I spent hours in there looking at all the stuff. One day, I found an old diary written by my great-great-great grandmother. In it she wrote how her son was cursed by the town’s healer.”
“What did he do? And I thought a witch cursed him?”
“My grandmother’s son got the healer’s daughter pregnant while he was engaged to another woman. And instead of ending the engagement and marrying her daughter so their child would be legitimate, he went ahead and married his fiancée. After she put a curse on him, the town started calling her a witch.”
“A baby born out of wedlock would have been a big scandal back in those days,” he said.
“You’re right. It was a small village too, so they all knew everybody’s business. The healer’s daughter became an outcast. No one would hire her for anything. No one wanted to marry a woman carrying another man’s baby. And to make my great-great-grandfather pay for ruining her daughter’s life, she put a curse on him so he would know what it was like to feel the heartache of any daughter he had losing the love of her life. So, in the future, all women who are fathered by a Brennan man will never find true love. The men they want will always leave them, and they’ll be left heartbroken.”
He took a moment to process the story. The imagination of a ten-year-old girl reading an old diary could spin into overdrive. “Do you know how many women have had failed relationships?”
Her brow furrowed, and she squinted her eyes like she was thinking back. “Well, only the women I’ve known. My parents divorced when I was young.” A flash of pain shot from her eyes.
“Divorce is tough on kids,” he said.
But she shrugged like it had been no big deal.
“And you believe the curse did it?”
She threw him a look as if to say haven’t you been listening to a word I’ve said? “Yes, it did. Why else would my dad leave his family?”
Nate could think of many reasons, some men were arseholes, but he kept his opinion to himself. “You don’t see him anymore?”
