by Kirk, Cindy
Chapter Ten
Jack had been inside Lexi’s home once before. But he hadn’t bothered to look around. This time, while she hung up their coats, he let his gaze linger.
The rustic cabin’s interior was more spacious than the outside would suggest. A breakfast bar separated the kitchen from the living room. The fact that there were only two stools at the bar indicated that Lexi didn’t do much entertaining. Though there were lots of homey touches—pictures on the refrigerator and a hand-knitted throw on the chair—the tan leather sofa and the rest of the furniture matched the decor in the main lodge. The cabin might be her home, but it was clear she was still a guest.
“Would you like a glass of wine?” Lexi shut the door to the closet and turned.
The slight wobble to her voice resonated with him. It was as if they were two scared virgins about to make love for the first time. Of course he wasn’t a virgin. At least he was almost positive he wasn’t. And he wasn’t scared. Well, maybe just a little. But only because he wanted to make tonight as special for her as she deserved. “I’d love a glass.”
“Red?” She opened a cabinet and peered inside. “Or white?”
He moved to Lexi’s side. Lifting one hand, he brushed her hair back from her face and planted a gentle kiss on her temple. “I want what you want.”
Her breath caught. “White it is.”
She retrieved the bottle and shimmied past him. “The corkscrew is in the top left-hand drawer. You can do the honors while I get the glasses.”
Another man might have been discouraged by her going from hot to cold in sixty seconds. But in the past couple of weeks, Jack had gotten to know Lexi. It had been a long time since she’d had a man in her life, much less one in her bed. He wouldn’t rush her.
After retrieving the corkscrew, Jack opened the bottle with ease. While she poured he glanced around the living room and found what he was looking for almost immediately. “Mind if I put on some music?”
Lexi looked up, the bottle of wine in her hand. “There’s a CD of piano concertos on top of the pile. Or you can pick something else from the stack.”
He popped the CD into the stereo and dulcet piano tones filled the room. Lexi brought the wine into the room and carefully placed the bottle and half-filled glasses on the coffee table in front of the overstuffed sofa. But instead of taking a seat, she remained standing. It was almost as if she was trying to decide how best to proceed.
If tonight was all about him, he’d take her in his arms and make love to her now, on the sofa, on the floor, against the wall. To heck with wine and music and atmosphere. But this wasn’t about him. This was about Lexi.
He eyed the unlit candles scattered throughout the room. “Do you have matches? The lighting in here seems a bit harsh.”
“Candlelight and wine,” she said in an exaggerated Southern drawl. She brought a hand to her chest, striking a pose. “Why, sir, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you mean to seduce me.”
Though Jack told himself to wait until everything was just perfect, he couldn’t help himself. He had to kiss her. “Umm hmm,” he murmured as his lips closed over hers. “Very soon.”
* * *
The room took on a golden glow. While Lexi finished lighting the rest of the candles, Jack started a fire in the stone hearth.
She watched him survey the flames then drop down on the soft cushions, looking more handsome than any man had a right to look. When he called her name and patted the spot next to him, Lexi took a deep breath and reminded herself she could do this. It may have been eight years since a man had touched her intimately, but surely it was like riding a bike. And she’d always been good at riding. She sat beside him and offered a smile.
“A glass of wine, madame.” He lifted her glass of Chardonnay from the coffee table and placed it in her hand. Then he sat back and slipped his arm around her shoulder.
For a second Lexi stiffened. She couldn’t help herself. Thankfully, Jack didn’t seem to notice. Or, if he did, he didn’t comment. Instead he started asking her questions about Jackson Hole. When that topic was exhausted, he effortlessly sent the conversation in another direction.
She wasn’t sure how long they sat there, sipping their wine, chatting about everything from current events to child-rearing techniques. The more they talked, the more Lexi realized that this guy had it all. He was intelligent, witty…and sexy as hell. His spicy cologne teased her nostrils and she found herself focusing more on his lips than on his words.
His hair, which had been longish when he’d been found, now brushed his collar. Lexi’s fingers itched to run through the wavy thickness and see if the hair was really as soft as it appeared.
Anticipation and excitement snuffed out the last flickers of hesitation. It was as if all the stars had aligned to grant her this night. Jack didn’t have a wife. The fact that he’d recently left his fiancée meant he didn’t even have a girlfriend. Her cabin was isolated, so no one needed to know he’d slept over. And with Addie spending the night with her friend, Lexi didn’t have to worry about setting a bad example for her daughter.
Tonight wasn’t about forever. It was about a stark carnal hunger she hadn’t even known she was capable of feeling.
Her gaze dropped to his arm, to the dark hair over-lying the muscles beneath. Complaining of being hot, he’d shed his sweater about ten minutes ago leaving a dark T-shirt hugging his broad chest. She was seized with a sudden desire to run her hands over his body and feel the coiled strength of skin and muscle sliding under her fingers. She wanted him to touch her in the same way. She wanted to feel his hard body pressed against hers. She wanted to have him fill her—
“Condoms,” she blurted out. “I’m not on the pill and I don’t have any condoms.”
He stopped midsentence and his lips quirked upward. “How you got from global warming to condoms, I don’t think I want to know.”
Color crept from her throat, heating her cheeks. While he’d been discussing various methods of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations, she’d been mentally undressing him.
But he didn’t seem upset by the interruption. In fact, a look of tenderness filled his gaze. “No worries. We have condoms. Lots of them, in fact.”
“We do? I mean, you do?”
“I rode to Idaho Falls with one of the maintenance men this week,” Jack said in an offhand tone. “While he was picking up something Coraline had special ordered, I stopped into a drugstore and did some shopping of my own.”
Lexi didn’t know whether to feel thankful or irritated. “So this was all planned?”
His eyes followed her sweeping gesture. “Of course not. But if anything did happen between us, I wanted to be prepared.” There was concern in his eyes but not a hint of apology in his tone.
“It just seems so…calculated.” She brushed a piece of lint from her dress and wondered why she was making a big deal about a good thing. Jack didn’t become angry the way Drew used to when she’d questioned him. Instead he placed his wine glass on the coffee table and took her hand. He laced his fingers through hers, his thumb caressing her palm, sending heat shooting through her veins.
“From the moment I first met you, there’s been this pull between us.” His gaze never left hers. “A very strong pull.”
There was a challenge in his eyes, as if he expected her to disagree. But how could she when he was only stating facts?
“That’s true,” she said slowly.
“I wanted you from the moment I first met you.” His fingers were not quite steady touching the curve of her cheek and trailed along the line of her jaw. “As things kept heating up between us, I wasn’t sure how long we’d be able to hold out.”
Lexi flung her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry,” she whispered against his throat. “You were being the mature one. I don’t know what got into me.”
Tears sprang to her eyes but she blinked them back before he noticed.
“It’s okay.” His arm tightened around here. “That’s wh
at I like about our relationship. There’s nothing we can’t say to each other.”
The warmth of his acceptance surrounded her like a favorite coat. She rested her head against his chest with a contented sigh. “I like that you’re honest with me, Jack. And I like you…a lot.”
“I feel the same.” He planted a kiss on her hair, his heart beating strong and steady against her ear.
After a moment, Lexi slipped her hand under his shirt, her fingers playing with the belt buckle. “I think it would be a shame to let those condoms you bought go to waste.”
“That same thought occurred to me,” he whispered against her hair.
“Why don’t you, ah, make yourself more comfortable?” She rose to her feet. “I’ll freshen up and be back in a second.”
He met her gaze, his eyes more black than brown in the dim light. “Don’t be long.”
Resisting the urge to sprint, Lexi strolled to her bedroom. Once there, she shrugged off her dress and undergarments in record time then jerked open a dresser drawer. She grimaced. The neatly folded flannel pj’s and high-necked nightgowns seemed more suited to a nunnery than a night of passion.
She was ready to settle for shorts and a T-shirt when she saw Mimi’s shower gift on the dresser. The lingerie shower, hosted by the maid-of-honor, was set for next week.
Lexi opened the unwrapped box and pushed aside the tissue. The ivory-colored negligee had caught her eye the moment she’d seen it in the store window. Though ivory was really more her color than Mimi’s, she’d bought it anyway.
Seconds later, Lexi slipped the sheer fabric over her head. Before she left the room she took a moment to spritz on perfume. She didn’t look in the mirror, afraid what she saw there might make her lose her nerve. But when she entered the living room she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the front window. Only then did she realize sheer was one thing, transparent quite another.
But the expression in Jack’s eyes when he rose from the sofa, now clad only in boxer briefs and a T-shirt, told her transparent was a very good thing.
“You’re beautiful.” His voice was a husky caress.
Suddenly Lexi no longer felt the urge to grab the throw she’d knitted from the chair and use it to cover her nakedness. Instead she walked straight to Jack and curled her fingers into the fabric of his shirt. “Is it just me or are you overdressed?”
“Without you in the room, I was cold.” Jack pulled her toward him, linking his arms lightly around her waist.
There was no space between them and she could feel the hard length of his arousal against her.
“Are you still cold now?” she asked in a husky voice she barely recognized.
Jack’s eyes glittered and he grinned. “Did someone turn on a blast furnace?”
Her chuckle turned to a gasp as he began trailing kisses down her neck.
Still he continued to kiss her, this time on the mouth. Long, passionate kisses that left her weak and trembling.
“You are so incredibly lovely,” he murmured, easing her down to the rug in front to the fireplace. He kissed her with a slow thoroughness that made her tingle all the way to her toes before settling on the rug next to her. “I want to explore and taste every inch of your beautiful body.”
She sat up and pulled the negligee over her head.
“I want to do the same.” She cast a pointed glance at his T-shirt and boxer briefs. “So those have to go.”
His eyes shone in the candle’s glow and his quicksilver smile sent her already heightened senses into over-drive. His shorts and shirt quickly joined her negligee on the floor.
Jack’s gaze slowly surveyed her and the approval in his eyes made her bold.
“Do you like what you see?” she asked, batting her lashes.
“Very much.” He planted a kiss on her lips that accelerated the heat flowing through her body.
He trailed a finger along her jawline and followed it with kisses. Then he dropped his gaze to her breasts. “I’ve wondered what you looked like.”
“You’ve seen women before.”
“Not you.”
“Tell me what you like.” He cradled her breasts in his wide palms, his thumbs teasing the sensitive tips. “Do you like this?”
She pressed her legs together as heat shot straight to her belly. “Oh, yes.”
“How about this?” His mouth replaced where one hand had been.
His tongue slid around the nipple but kept stopping short of the tip. She laced her fingers through his hair, holding him to her, arching her back in a silent plea for more. She wanted to sob in frustration when he circled her nipple then once again moved away.
“Please,” Lexi moaned.
She didn’t need to ask twice. His mouth closed over the aching tip. Pleasure shuddered through her as he drew the tight bud into the delicious heat of his mouth. Each erotic pull of his lips sent an answering pull deep in her belly.
When his hand slipped between her legs she moaned and squirmed beneath the pleasure of his touch. She was determined to make this last as long as possible. But it had been so long and he assaulted her senses on all fronts.
His lips. His tongue. His…fingers. Oh, God, those fingers played her like a fine violin, her desire rising like a crescendo. When he slipped one of those fingers inside her the orgasm she’d been trying to stave off struck. Delicate inner muscles contracted and she pressed herself against his hand, crying out.
He held her tight, kissing her face, her neck, her lips.
“I’m sorry,” she said when she came back down to earth. “I wanted this to last forever and now it’s over.”
She couldn’t keep the disappointment from her tone.
“Over?” Jack chuckled. His hand flattened against her lower back, drawing her up against the length of his body. “Sweetheart, that was just the appetizer.”
* * *
Lexi awoke the next morning to find Jack’s head beside hers on the pillow. Even with his hair tousled against his cheeks and a five o’clock shadow darkening his jaw, he looked magnificent.
Her mouth curved into an almost feline smile. She’d never thought of herself as a woman of deep passions, but last night Jack had shown her how little she knew herself. It had been a most amazing night. He’d taken her to places she’d never thought possible, but she’d willingly gone because she trusted him. He hadn’t let her down. Last night they hadn’t just had sex, they’d made love. Though he hadn’t said the words, she could see he cared, in his eyes, in his touch. The emotion between them had taken the physical to a whole other level.
Although Lexi was no virgin, last night had felt like the first time. There was a bond between her and Jack, an intimacy that made what she’d experienced before pale in comparison.
“I love you,” she whispered, brushing the hair back from his face with a gentle hand.
He stirred but didn’t open his eyes.
“I love you, too,” he murmured.
A wave of contentment washed over Lexi. She laid her head on the pillow and snuggled against him. After years of telling herself that she didn’t need a man in her life, she’d broken her own rule. In only a few short weeks she’d fallen in love. Not only that, she’d fallen in love with a man who didn’t know his own name.
Chapter Eleven
It was standing room only at the The Coffee Pot Café in downtown Jackson. Still Jack opened the door and followed Lexi and Addie inside. He found his gaze lingering on the families waiting for a table. What would it be like to be a family man? To wake up next to the woman you loved every morning and go to bed with her every night? To nurture a child to adulthood? At this moment he couldn’t imagine anything better. Especially if his family was the woman and child at his side.
“Looks like it’s going to be a while,” Lexi said.
“I’m hungry,” Addie whined.
“We can try someplace else,” Jack said. “How about—”
“Mrs. Vaughn is waving to us.” Addie tugged on his hand and pointed. “See.
Over there.”
Lexi narrowed her gaze. “It looks like they have empty seats at their table.”
“I want to sit by Connor.” Addie started forward but Lexi grabbed her hand and cast Jack a questioning look.
“Are you okay with us joining them?” she asked in a low tone.
“Please, Jack,” Addie begged.
Jack grinned. “Of course. I like your friends.”
“They’re your friends, too,” she reminded him.
Lexi released her hold on her daughter and Addie ran on ahead. Jack followed Lexi to the back of the café, resting his hand on the small of her back as they wove their way through the tables. It felt good to touch her. To be here with her.
He dropped his hand when they reached the table and pulled out her chair. Apparently they’d just missed David, July and baby Adam.
Jack recognized Lexi’s friends—Mary Karen and her three boys, John and Kayla Simpson and Emma. Rachel Milligan, the nurse who’d tended to him in the E.R., sat visiting with Mary Karen at the far end of the table. The only person Jack didn’t know was the older gentleman seated next to Kayla, across the table from him.
Jack stretched his hand out to the gray-haired man. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Jack Snow, a friend of Lexi’s.”
Friend didn’t seem a strong enough word considering what they’d shared last night, but it had to do.
“Al Dugan,” the man said, giving Jack’s hand a firm shake. “I’m Kayla’s father. I’m in town for a visit.”
As he took his seat Jack caught Lexi’s concerned glance. He shot her a reassuring wink. She didn’t need to worry about entertaining him.
“Since you’re visiting, I take it you don’t live in Jackson Hole,” Jack said to the older man.
“I did until fifteen years ago. That’s when I accepted a promotion and moved to Billings.” The gray-haired gentleman took a sip of coffee and Jack could tell the old guy was just getting warmed up. “I was already divorced from Kayla’s mother by then. Kayla was in high school and caught up in her activities, so there was really nothing keeping me here.”
