“Yeah, well, it’s not funny.” He cut a look at her.
“You’re the one who said we look like a domestic disaster. You started this line of joking conversation, not me.”
“And now I’m ending it.”
She sighed. “You and I are still in that place where we really don’t know a damn thing about one another, you know. It’s going to take time to learn each other’s hot buttons, what makes each other tick. It’s not really fair for you to get mad at me for accidentally pushing a hot button I didn’t know you had.”
Jack laughed into the distance. “We aren’t going to be in each other’s lives long enough to learn what makes each other tick.” He looked back at her. “As soon as we get back to New York, we will say our goodbyes and never see each other again.”
“This morning you had us saying goodbye at the train. Now we’re saying goodbye in New York? Have I been promoted?”
He laughed in his belly but didn’t let it reach his lips.
“Why do you do that, Aries? Why do you act like you want to be away from me so badly, away from the world, yet you’re not willing to do a damn thing to actually make it happen? According to you, there are at least four people walking around out there somewhere who would wire you more than enough money to get you back to New York right now, but instead, you’re sitting on the edge of the train tracks in the middle of Naziville USA—with me—praying that another train passes so we can hitch a free ride to wherever it’s going.” She pulled his phone out of her bag and lugged it at him, watching him rear back as it hit his chest. “If I’m so unbearable, if I’m such a natural disaster, if we’re just going to chuck the deuces the moment we land in New York, then why wait?”
Jack looked down at the phone, which was face up and gleaming under the sunlight, but didn’t pick it up. “You’re not… completely unbearable.”
“You’ll have to forgive me if I’m not flattered by that half-assed compliment.”
He stood, brushing the dirt and grass off his pants before turning his back, shoving his hands in his pockets.
Nina watched him pace. “Are you going to wait until we fall off the edge of another train, until we go down with another plane, or until we collect two more black eyes to match the ones we already have? What’s it going to take for you to end all this, Jack, since that’s what you want so badly?”
“What’s it going to take for you to end all this? You’re the one carrying that huge wad of money in your bag—which is the most stupid thing a person could do by the way. Have you ever heard of a checking account?”
“I need this money!” she cried, clutching the bag at her side, eyes falling to the grass. “I need every last dollar. Otherwise, yes, I would’ve bought us both a plane ticket home a long time ago. I’m already down…” Her head fell. “I’m already down a hundred from paying for that hotel room last night.”
“I didn’t ask you to pay for that room. I didn’t ask you to do me any favors. All I’ve ever asked of you, Nina, from the moment we met, was to be left alone. All I want to do is get to New York, close the door to my house, and be alone. But you can’t hear that. You won’t hear that.”
She cringed up at him. “You’re such an asshole.”
“And asshole who just took a Nazi fist to the face for you.”
“And I took a shoe to the face for you,” she cried. “Your shoe! What else you got?”
Jack’s breathing picked up, making his chest heave. “I can’t call my family, alright? I would rather fall off the edge of ten more trains, take ten more fists to the face, and spend ten more years of my life enduring this sick karmic punishment with you than… than ever call them.”
“Will you tell me why? Is it just because you’re embarrassed about running out on your wedding? If the blonde woman in that newscast was your bride to be, then trust me when I tell you—your family will understand why you ran away from her. Hell, I hardly know you, and I understand completely.”
Jack’s eyes searched hers, and just as he opened his mouth to speak, a horn blared in the distance. His gaze shot up toward the sound, and his mouth fell open.
Nina leaped to her feet too, icepack still on her eye as she turned toward the horn. She yelped at the sight of a train rolling toward them.
“Yes,” she beamed, jumping up and down. “Yes, yes, yes. I knew this was a good idea!” She screamed when, in mid-jump, Jack’s arms came around her waist from behind, and he spun her. His laughter filled her ears, and hers joined in. She kicked her legs through the air as he whirled her around, forced to plant her feet for a few seconds once he sat her down because the world was spinning. When she came back up, Jack was in front of her, watching the train grow closer.
“It’s moving west,” she said. “Maybe we should wait for one going east, that way we’re at least moving in the right direction.”
“It’s too damn hot to wait for the one going East. One that might never come. We just need to get to a major city with an international airport, any city, find a Delta Airlines ticket counter and claim our free seats on the next plane to New York.”
“Do you really think they’ll give us a free seat?”
Jack faced her. “Look at us, Nina.”
Nina sputtered, covering her smiling mouth.
“Look at us,” he roared. “Look at our faces. If they fix their mouths for one single second to tell us they can’t give us a free seat, I’m drafting the legal paperwork myself, right there at the ticket counter. They’ll will be bankrupt by the time I’m done suing them for every penny they’re worth.”
Nina nodded to the train behind him, breaking into a slow backward jog as it grew closer.
Jack turned toward it and began jogging with her.
“We should go for the last car,” Nina said, already out of breath, still pushing the ice pack to her eye. She nodded toward the last car on the train. “It’s usually a stock car. No one will think to check for hoppers there.”
Jack nodded just as the first train car blew past, then the second. Soon, he and Nina were breaking into a full on run, looking over their shoulders as the opening to the last car grew closer. Their hair flew in time with the breeze the train created, picking up speed the closer the last car came.
“Get ready to jump,” Jack yelled. “Three, two, one, jump, Nina!”
Nina dived for the opening and got one foot onto the platform by the skin of her teeth, holding onto the railing with a death grip before tossing her laughing gaze back to Jack.
“Made it,” she beamed, but her celebration was short lived.
Jack was still racing, looking like the last couple of day’s events had chosen that moment to take hold of his body, slowing his normally capable limbs, leaving him a heaving mess who looked moments away from his last leg.
Nina noticed the slight hobble to his run that hadn’t been there before, and how he clutched the small of his back, frowning against each strident dash as he sprinted after the train.
“Faster, Aries.” She took fierce hold of the handle on the body of the train and leaned out of the opening, stretching her arm out to him, fingers spreading.
Jack reached for her hand, and when the tips of their fingers only brushed, he seemed to run out of steam, both mentally and physically, losing even more footing.
“Jack,” Nina screamed, trying to stretch her arm out more, feeling like he was moving farther out of her reach with each passing second. “Come on.”
The wideness in both of their eyes eased when Jack began to gain ground, panting as he gave it everything he had. It didn’t hit them until he reached out and clasped her hand that the train had slowed down, preparing to take the same turn that had finished them off hours earlier. It slowed just enough for Nina to help pull Jack in.
His foot pounded onto the train’s platform, his big hand curling around hers on the handle as he found his footing.
Catching his breath, both feet on the train, Jack pressed his hands against the train on either side of her head,
blocking her in.
Their eyes danced, so close they were nose to nose, lips spreading into smiles at the same time, gazes shrinking in each other’s as their breath warmed each other’s lips—lips that were soon spread wide with their hysterical, heaving laughter.
Nina collapsed back on the wall when her glee became too much, covering her heart with her hand just as Jack leaned in and claimed her lips with his.
Her gasp came hard and fast, traveling through her body like lightning, zapping and curling her spine. Her breasts pressed to his chest, and a gentle moan left her lips. The icepack fell from her hand as she tilted her head and parted her lips.
He accepted her offer with a moan of his own, sweeping his tongue against hers.
They pulled back, still gasping, unable to figure out if the shortness of breath was from the exertion of chasing the train or the taste of one another’s lips and tongue.
“Thought you were a goner, Aries.” Nina’s hand went to the back of his neck, and she pushed her broken fingernails into his skin.
His hands went to the small of her back, those bronze eyes flashing in hers as he searched her gaze. She searched his too, only allowing her eyes to flutter shut when she saw his own thick lashes falling closed to shade his.
She lifted her head to accept his next kiss, softer this time, so much so that she came to her toes in her hunger for more. He didn’t give in, giving her one soft kiss after the other, so sweet it bordered on friendly. The tingle that each kiss left felt almost painful, and she couldn’t help a deep sigh when he finally healed her with the tip of his soft tongue, sucking her bottom lips between his.
Nina’s foot left the floor before she could stop it, and he caught the bottom of her thigh without breaking the embrace, holding it high on his hip as he tilted his head and spread his lips wide over hers, slamming her back against the wall as his lips, his chest, and his arousal all pressed in close for more.
Their lips battled, and she lifted her leg higher, letting her arms circle his neck when their hips began a slow grind. Their heated tongues danced in a slow circle, making them both breathe out a laugh.
Her hands traveled down his arms, one flexed around her waist, the other bulging from where he had her thigh locked to his side, opening her as wide as she could go, making room for his heated column, which seemed to grow harder every second.
“Jack, um…” She gasped, digging her nails into his arms, her eyes going skyward when he took his lips and tongue to her neck, taking the tingling skin into his warm mouth. He sucked hard, with such persistence the sound boomed over the whooshing air passing the speeding train, and Nina forgot what she was going to say. She brought her hands to his chest, feeling his hardness there before traveling down to the button of his pants.
“Yes.” He gasped into her neck, releasing the skin he’d just taken between his teeth with a smack. “Yes, Nina. Touch me…”
She only managed to undo the button of his pants before her hands were hungry for more, moving to the small of his back before she could even think to stop them. She pushed her fingers into the waistband and tried to tug his pants down, but she only got to the swell of his ass before his zipper, which was still very much intact, was strained as far as it could go.
Jack reached between them and finished off the zipper himself; lips crashing back to hers when she shoved his pants down over his ass, clutching the rock hard globes and pulling him deep between her open thighs.
Nina couldn’t believe this man’s ass wasn’t just as hard as she’d imagined it would be, but harder. She squeezed, looking for any give, any trace of plush fat, but all she felt was solid steel. It made her body hum for every other rock solid part of him, and she knew she would take whatever he had to give, right there.
When the last car cleared the turn, and the train sped up, however, they both lost their footing. Having given all of their attention to getting his hardness between her legs, they only had a moment to plant their feet. Jack was the first to find his balance, grabbing the handle over her head and clapping his arm around her waist just before she went hurtling over the edge.
“Jesus Christ,” he gasped, laughing when her eyes met his. “You almost took me over the edge of another train. Again.”
***
“You mean you almost took yourself over the edge,” Nina said, still wrapped up in Jack’s arms as they took a healthy step away from the ledge. “Apparently, every train we step foot on is going to be on a mission to throw us right back off.”
Nina turned away from him and jabbed her palm into the green button next to the car door. It slid open. A flimsy chain greeted them, and when Nina bent down to unlatch it, she gasped at the feeling of Jack’s hardness pushed up against her, and those big hands clawing at her thighs, pulling her in. She could even hear his hoarse breathing as it grew in volume and fervor, knowing the sound of a man gone the moment it hit her ears.
She unhooked the chain with shaking fingers and stood tall, eyes fluttering shut when Jack sealed their bodies together. His fingers spread over her ribcage, just below her heaving breasts, lips hot on her ear. His other hand clawed a searing path up and down her thigh, nearly burning through her leather pants.
“Can we?” he whispered.
“Oh hell yes,” She answered without a second thought.
Button and zipper still undone, Jack held her close as they stumbled into the train car.
They were immediately greeted by quacks, sinister hisses, and even the ear-splitting squeaks that had reduced Jack to a wide-eyed mess just one night earlier.
Nina burst into laughter. “It’s an animal car—”
For the first time, Jack regained awareness of a world outside the woman in his arms. His eyes jumped from one cage to another, stacked from floor to ceiling, each housing a different wild animal.
“I can’t be here,” he said.
Nina turned to him with a grin, reaching back to cover his bulge with her hand. “Not even for this?”
He sputtered, gasped, and took her wrist, not knowing whether to remove her hand so he could run for his life, or guide it inside the waistband of his boxers, putting it where he needed it most. Where he’d been needing it since he’d first seen those glistening breasts spilling out of her flimsy top.
They still spilled, even then, and he couldn’t keep his eyes from traveling to the dip in her black cami. He’d been mere moments from licking away the perspiration that had been taunting him, pushing his tongue between the beautiful valley her breasts made, before the train had tried to kill them again.
Regardless, the animal car won over, even against Nina’s perfect tits, and her sweet fingers cupping his balls. When Jack’s wide eyes landed on the rat cage in the far corner, where dozens of the brown demons were crawling all over each other, he visibly flinched.
“I can’t be here,” he said.
“We can’t risk going into any of the other cars without a ticket. They’ll throw us right out at the next stop. Might even fine us, depending on how big an asshole the conductor is. We could risk that…” Her eyes grew hooded. “Or we could stay right here, and I could get to work keeping you very…” She faced him, and her hand moved to the waistband of his boxers, dipping inside, tickling the soft valley of hair underneath. “Very… distracted.”
His own eyes darkened. “You’ve been keeping me distracted for longer than you know,” he breathed. His eyes flew over her shoulder, and he saw the rats again. “But I can’t be here.”
With that, he hurtled out of the car before she could protest a moment further.
Nina watched him; her eyes now hooded with disbelief rather than desire. With a frustrated groan, she followed behind him.
***
Luckily, they were greeted by a pair of empty seats the moment they stepped into the next train car. After sitting as quickly as they could, Nina was relieved to see that there was a bathroom across the aisle from them, so nobody had seen them come in.
She pulled her bag over her
head and placed it at her feet. Gathering her courage, she met Jack’s eyes. True to form for any two people who’d just had their tongues in each other’s mouths, they shared sheepish smiles.
Jack couldn’t tear his eyes from her lips. “We got a little ahead of ourselves back there.”
Nina pushed her hair to the other side of her head. “Yeah, we did.”
“Little out of control.”
“Yes. Control.”
“Must be all the adrenaline—”
“Adrenaline.”
“The excitement—”
“Lots of excitement.”
“We were in the heat of the moment—”
“Yes. Heat.” She snapped a finger at him. “That’s… completely it. It was the heat of the moment, and now, we’re clear again.”
“Totally clear.”
They nodded together, spines a little too straight, eyes a little too unwavering as they stared forward, fighting to avoid each other’s gazes.
Nina broke, jamming her eyes shut. “I knew you tried to kiss me back on the roof of that train. Ooh…” She made a sound like she was in pain. “Ooh, I knew it.”
“Will you lower your voice? You’re going to draw attention to us. And I’m not having this conversation.”
They continued facing forward, backs arched and voices hushed.
Nina continued shaking her head. “I knew it. You’d barely had both your feet planted on this train before you were pushing your tongue in my mouth for the second time today.”
“You kissed me this time.”
Her mouth dropped so wide it nearly hit the floor. Her big eyes flew to the corners of her eye sockets, but she didn’t turn to him or look at him. “You unbelievable narcissist. I have never in my life met such a textbook case. They should do an extensive study on you.”
“Did you…” Jack’s face grew serious, eyes forward. “Did you really spend your last dime on that room last night?”
She turned to him and studied his profile, eyes zooming to his lips.
She nodded.
Lightning Strikes (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy #3) Page 10
