by Lili Valente
Cheese biscuits. He’d had her safe word delivered for breakfast.
It was funny, sweet, and weirdly romantic, and she could barely contain the giddy cry of delight threatening to burst from her lips. She was so touched that it took a beat for her to notice the piece of paper with her name written on it tucked beneath the edge of the plate.
It took even longer for her to make sense of the message written inside.
Dear Hannah,
I never thought I’d experience something like last night again. You touched parts of me I was certain no longer existed, but there are other parts that are unreachable, even by a spirit as lovely as yours. That’s why I have to leave.
I am not now, nor will I ever be, worthy of your affection. I could try for a hundred years, but I would still fall short of what you deserve. I can’t be the man you want me to be. I am incapable of love, but I do care enough about you to do what’s right.
Adam will fly me to my destination this morning and return this afternoon to take you home. The remainder of your fee will be deposited in your account by close of business today.
Thank you for your goodness and your forgiveness. Both mean more than you know.
Yours,
Jackson
She read the note through three times before the truth penetrated. When it did, she dropped the paper and spun toward the bed, dropping her towel and pulling on her clothes, heedless of the fact that Eva was still in the room to see her naked.
A glance at the clock on the bedside table said it was only six fifteen. If she hurried, she might be able to catch Jackson before he left. She couldn’t let him slip away without a fight, not when they were so close to finding forever.
On some level, he must know they were meant to be or he wouldn’t have signed the note the way he did. Subconsciously, he knew that he belonged to her and she belonged to him. Now, she just had to convince the rest of the stubborn man she loved that the last thing he should be doing is running away.
As soon as her hiking boots were tied, Hannah stood and turned to pin Eva with a stern look. “I need to go to Mr. Hawke. Is there someone who can drive me to the airstrip?”
Eva shook her head, but before she could respond a deep voice spoke from the door.
“I’ll take her, Mama.” The dark-eyed boy who had warned her about Jackson motioned for her to follow him. “They left a few minutes ago. We can catch up if we go now.”
Hannah hurried toward the door, skin prickling with relief. “Thank you so much. I promise you won’t get in trouble. I won’t let him punish you.”
“I’m not worried about being punished,” the man said, starting down the hallway toward the front of the house. “My name is Dominic.”
“Hannah,” she said, then shook her head. “I’m sorry, you know that. I’m just… I’m a little flustered this morning. I can’t believe he left like this.”
“It might be for the best,” Dominic said, slowing as they reached the great room and turning back to face her. His almost black-brown eyes flicked to check the corners of the room before he added in a whisper. “I can have a plane here in an hour to get you out. I’ve got a pilot waiting on Moorea. All I have to do is make a phone call.”
Hannah blinked in surprise, but her mind quickly connected the dots. “You’re the one who sent the note saying that you would help me.”
Dominic nodded, continuing in a low voice, “I work for your father. He’s sent money to help you get resettled. As soon as we’re on board the plane, I’ll make contact with your aunt. She can meet us at the airport. That will give you about an hour to decide where you want to go next.”
“Where to go next,” Hannah repeated, her heart beating faster. “You mean where to hide next.”
“I can’t say for certain, but your enemies might already know where you are,” he said, confirming her fears. “And if they do, they will come for you. Soon.”
“So Jackson isn’t one of them,” she said, relief coursing through her when he shook his head. She hadn’t thought Jackson was one of the people hunting her family, but it was good to have confirmation of the fact.
“No,” Dominic said. “But that doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous. The sooner you’re away from him, the better.”
“Do you know who wants to hurt my family?” she asked, ignoring his advice. “Who are they? And why do they—”
“Who and why doesn’t matter. All that matters is that they want you dead.” The matter-of-fact way he said the words made them even more chilling. “You and every other heir to your father’s fortune and they won’t stop until the job is finished.”
Hannah shook her head, the need to get to Jackson warring with her fear. And mistrust. That was there too, bubbling beneath the surface. Dominic was saying all the right things, but he could be lying. He could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, pretending to be her friend until he had her isolated on a plane with nowhere to run.
“How do I know I can trust you?” she asked, eyes narrowing on his face.
“I’ve worked for your father for almost ten years,” he said, proving, if he were telling the truth, that he was much older than he looked. “I’ve been watching you for the past three years and you never knew I was there. If I’d wanted to hurt you, I could have done so a thousand times. I could have killed you while you were sleeping in your yellow canopy bed or while you hiked by the waterfalls behind your house or when you went to pick lemons with your friends at the grove up the side of the mountain.”
Hannah took a step back, his intimate knowledge of her life at the bed and breakfast making her skin crawl. He really had been watching her, but that didn’t prove he was one of the good guys, especially considering who he was working for here on the island.
No matter how much she cared about Jackson, or how much she believed he could change, she knew what he was. He was a criminal who had intended to do bad things to her and he had been careful to hire people he could trust not to interfere with his plans. People who wouldn’t lift a finger to help her when she screamed for help or begged for mercy and somehow Dominic had found his way onto that list.
“How did you get this job?” she asked. “You and your mother? If she is your mother.”
“She is,” Dominic said. “But I’m not at liberty to reveal more information.”
Hannah smiled, but she was far from amused. “So I’m just supposed to trust a man who’s working for an admitted criminal, no questions asked?”
“You trust him,” he said, gaze hardening. “You’re ready to chase down the man who locked you in a cage and beg him to stay with you. You think that’s a better idea?”
“You don’t miss much, do you?” she muttered, glancing toward the lanai, where she and Jackson had almost had a lovely meal.
But they hadn’t. Instead, she’d run from him, he’d pursued her, and she’d spent the next twelve hours swinging from intense hatred of the man to confessing her love for him as their bodies came together in the dark. But between love and hate only one had felt true and now only one decision felt like the right one.
It didn’t matter if she was crazy; she had to go to Jackson. She had to see him again and convince him that it wasn’t time to say goodbye.
“I’m going to the airstrip to see Jackson, and I’m going alone,” she said, turning back to Dominic with her fists balled at her sides, ready to fight him if he tried to stop her. “How do I get there?”
“There’s a golf cart parked in the driveway with the keys in the ignition,” he said, not seeming surprised by her decision. But then, Dominic didn’t seem like the type of person who was surprised by much. “Follow the road until it forks and take a left. You’ll see the airstrip about four miles down on your right.”
Hannah moved to go but stopped when Dominic called after her—
“Are you going to tell him who I am? If so, I need to get my mother to safety before you get back.”
She turned, cocking her head as she studied his guarded expression. “Do you
trust my word that much?”
His eyes softened. “I told you. I’ve been watching you. I know who you are, Hannah. I know you’re a good person and that you deserve better than a canto cabron who has to hurt his lover to feel like a man.”
Hannah frowned but didn’t bother contradicting him or trying to explain the way Jackson could make pain feel like pleasure. It was none of Dominic’s business and she didn’t have time to waste with explanations. Besides, she didn’t care what Dominic or anyone else thought of her or Jackson; she only cared about getting to the man she loved before it was too late.
“I won’t tell him anything about you or your mother,” she said. “I give you my word.”
“And I give you mine that I’ll do my best to protect you until you’re ready to leave,” he said. “Let me know when you decide to get out. If I’m not able to help you, I’ll find someone who can.”
“Well, thank you,” she said, backing toward the front door. “I appreciate that.”
“I’ll do my best, Hannah,” he said, his brow furrowing with concern. “But I can’t assure your safety here. Watch yourself. If you see something suspicious, run first and ask questions later.”
She shivered, the fear in this no-nonsense man’s voice bringing the danger she was in home in a visceral way. If she valued her life over all else, she would run now, and figure out a way to reach Jackson once she was safely hidden away.
But she had learned that there were more important things than safety. She would rather spend a year living dangerously with Jackson than another twenty years in hiding, watching the world pass her by.
She was done hiding and waiting for her life to begin. From now on she would fight for what she wanted, no matter what or who stood in her way.
CHAPTER TEN
Jackson
Jackson leaned back in the cool leather seat, watching through the jet’s window as Adam and the attendant who manned the field’s small tower during daylight hours made their way down the tar-streaked pavement, dragging fallen limbs and other debris from the airstrip. The sad state of the runway was costing him precious time, but for once he didn’t mind. The delay allowed him to continue to breathe the same air she breathed for a little longer, to spend another twenty minutes replaying every moment of his time with Hannah.
Once the plane took off, he would put her out of his mind and move on, but for now he indulged himself, drifting from one memory to the next, summoning an ache deep in his chest. It was like pushing on a bruise—hurtful, but strangely gratifying. For the first time in years, he was capable of feeling something other than hate. He felt pain, regret, and a sad, hopeless affection for the woman he’d left sleeping so peacefully in the early morning light.
Her face had looked childlike this morning, her features so relaxed it was clear she didn’t have a care in the world. And that’s why he had to care for her. Leaving was the best—the only—way to do that, but he couldn’t help wishing things were different. He wished that he could promise her something other than pain or at the very least have said a proper goodbye.
But he hadn’t trusted himself not to weaken. Just the smell of her was enough to make him want to stay. She wouldn’t have had to say a word.
For a moment, he thought his memory had conjured up the salt and honey scent of her, sending it drifting through the plane’s open door, overpowering the smell of jet fuel and jungle, but then he heard footsteps on the metal stairs leading up to the cabin. A moment later Hannah appeared in the doorway, backlit by the early morning light, her hair wild around her shoulders and her breath coming fast, making him wonder if she’d run all the way here.
He wouldn’t put it past her. She was stubborn, determined—a force to be reckoned with. He knew all of that about her. He knew her better than he’d known anyone in years. He also knew that this goodbye was going to be even harder than he’d imagined.
“Tell me you didn’t run all the way from the house,” he said because he didn’t dare say anything else. He couldn’t apologize for leaving or give her any reason to believe his resolve was weakening.
“I found a golf cart with the keys in the ignition and I stole it,” she said, arms braced on either side of the entrance. “I read your note.”
“Then why are you here?” he asked, his tone cool.
“Because that note is bullshit.” She stood straighter. “And you know it. I don’t need you to protect me from you or anything else. All I need is you. With me. Please, Jackson, I—”
“That’s why you nearly drowned yesterday? Because you don’t need protection from your own bad ideas?” He turned back to the window. “Go back to the house, Hannah. This is over.”
“No, it is not over.” She moved to stand in front of him, but he feigned great interest in the work of the men outside. “I love you. And I know you love me, even if you’re too scared to admit it.”
He glanced up at her, keeping his face fixed in an indifferent mask. “I don’t love you; I’m scared for you. But as soon as this plane takes off, I won’t be scared of anything. I will cease to think of you and by the end of the month, I doubt I’ll remember your name.”
Hurt flashed behind her eyes, making him hate himself a little more, but she didn’t back away. “You don’t mean that. That isn’t what you really feel. What about last night, and the note this morning? You admitted that you care.”
“I was trying to let you down easy,” he lied. “But clearly you’re too stubborn to go along with what’s best for you.”
“Don’t do this.” Her bottom lip trembled. “Don’t pretend to be awful so you can shut me out. I’m strong enough to make my own decisions and I know what I feel for you is real.”
“You think you’re in love with a man who hate fucked you for a week, Hannah,” he said, his voice hard. “You’re either out of your mind or have absolutely no sense of self-worth. Whichever it is, you’re in no place to make grand declarations and even if you were, I don’t want what you have to offer.”
“What’s that?” she asked, tears filling her eyes. “Love? Passion? Someone who cares about you for exactly who you are? You don’t want any of that?”
“Vanilla sex with a vanilla woman.” He let his eyes flick up and down her body, affecting disdain for her simple clothing. “I think you know I have more exotic tastes.”
“So you want to fuck me like you hate me again?” she asked, a challenge in her tone. “Is that it?”
“I don’t want to fuck you at all.”
“Now I know you’re a liar,” she said, reaching for the bottom of her tank top. In seconds, she’d whipped the fabric over her head, baring her gorgeous breasts, which bounced lightly as she unlaced her boots and reached for the close of her shorts.
“Put your shirt on,” he said, struggling to keep his eyes from drifting to her nipples, which were pulling tight in the cool air of the cabin. He wanted his mouth on her tits and his cock between her legs, but that wasn’t going to happen. Fucking her again would only make this harder.
“You want me, and I want you,” she shot back, wiggling her shorts over her full hips and pushing both shorts and panties to the floor. “So why don’t you bend me over that desk in the corner?”
She kicked her boots and clothing to the side as she sank to her knees in front of him. “Or maybe you’d rather I take your cock down my throat. All the way in, until I’m choking on you while you fuck my mouth.”
Shit. Jackson clenched his jaw, but there was no fighting the sudden surge of blood to his groin.
She leaned in, her hands coming to rest on his knees as she tilted her head back to look up into his eyes. “And don’t you dare tell me you don’t want any of that because I can see that you do.”
Her hand slid toward his crotch, where his cock had become a hard ridge straining the close of his pants, but he stopped her, his fingers wrapping tightly around her wrist.
“Are you sure you want to play?” he asked. “I don’t promise to be nice.”
“I
don’t want to play, sir,” she countered. “I want you to fuck me.”
“Turn around,” he said, grinding the words out, fighting the urge to push her onto her back and take her hard and fast. “Face on the ground, ass in the air.”
She held his gaze for a moment before she nodded. “Yes, sir.”
She turned to assume the position, giving him an excellent view of the swollen lips of her pussy and the cream filling the well between her legs. She was so fucking beautiful, so strong and obedient, demanding and submissive, all at the same time.
“Reach your hands between your knees,” he said as he stood, crossing to the desk where the cloths he’d used to blindfold Hannah on the flight in sat curled in the top drawer. “I’m going to bind your wrists and ankles together. And then I’ll decide whether I want to fuck your ass or your pussy. Do you remember your safe word?”
“Yes, sir.” She shivered as he knelt beside her and began to wind the fabric around her ankles and then her wrists. “I’ve never done that before, sir.”
“Are you afraid?” He finished with the last knot and brought his hands to the mounds of her ass, smoothing his palms across her soft skin before using his thumbs to spread her lips wider, revealing the hard pink nub that strained toward him.
“No, sir,” she said. “I know you won’t hurt me.”
“You don’t know that,” he said, plunging one thumb into her heat before bringing the slick pad to her clit and rubbing in slow circles, drawing a low moan from her throat. “I could rip you in two. I could make sure you limped off this plane bleeding, wishing you’d never met me.”
“You could, sir,” she said, arching into his attentions. “But you won’t.”
“You won’t speak again until I tell you to.” He reached for his belt buckle with his free hand, jerking the leather free and shoving his pants and boxers down around his thighs as he took his cock in hand. He stroked his already engorged length, suddenly desperate to be inside her. “Spread your legs. Wider, Hannah. Show me every inch of what’s mine.”
