“Yes,” she murmured.
He helped her from the table, and placing one hand in the small of her back, guided her through the restaurant to the door, out to his pickup.
* * *
Jayce closed Alyssa’s door and jogged around the bed of his truck to the driver’s door. He’d made it his mission to put aside the past for tonight and show Alyssa what life with him could be like. Not the money or the lavish date. But all the other things he could, and would give her if she’d only let him in. He intended to spoil her to the nines tonight, and when he was finished, if he’d managed to erase the haunted look that shadowed her eyes, he’d have succeeded.
He let himself inside the driver’s side and keyed the engine. Her light citrusy perfume filled his head with more visceral images of all the things he intended to show her after they returned to her house. A glance her way, and the spark of desire that met his brief gaze said he wouldn’t meet much resistance.
As he backed out of his parking space, he clasped her hand. She gave his fingers an affectionate squeeze. “Thank you, Jayce.”
“For?”
“You’ve made today a lot…better.”
He flashed her a grin. “I’m not finished yet.”
A beat of silence passed, then she asked quietly, “Why are you doing all this?”
Because he was a damned fool and setting himself up to have his heart torn out and handed to him. But that was neither here nor there. He’d confessed enough fruitless truths to last a lifetime. Instead, he settled on, “You’ve had a long day, and I don’t want you dwelling on these assholes who are harassing you.”
“It’s a little hard not to think about them.”
He couldn’t resist smirking. “I think I know how to make you forget.”
Alyssa let out a soft laugh. “I’m sure you do.” With a slight shake of her head, she chuckled again. “Do you remember the night before I took my SATs, and how much of a basket-case I was?”
Jayce found himself chuckling as well. She’d been a frantic mess, convinced she wouldn’t score high enough to get into the University of Chicago. She had worked herself up to the point she was convinced she’d fail, which would make her a terrible mom, and he’d end up hating her for being a total loser. Tears, hysterics—the whole she-bang. “One of you finer moments,” he teased.
“You took me out for pizza and skeeball.” Her laughter transformed into a rich melody. “And then you called Jordan to have her cover for you, so you could take me up on the mountain and break into that falling down cabin.”
“There was nothing wrong with that cabin. You stopped worrying about passing the SATs.”
“I almost missed them. You dropped me off three minutes before they locked the doors. And oh my God, my father didn’t let me out of the house for two weeks, after not coming home that night.”
Jayce squeezed her hand. “It worked though.”
“Yeah.” She chuckled once more, then added more quietly, “Yeah, it sure did. You’ve always known just what to do.” Her humor faded. “What if this isn’t just threats, Jayce? What if Parker comes after me? What if I come home some night and someone’s waiting for me?”
Turning the corner, he eased onto her street and did his best to keep his voice low and reassuring. “Kane will make sure the security system won’t allow that to happen. Relax, baby doll. You’ve got the cops looking out for you, and you have me.”
“But you won’t always be here. You’re leaving after Jasmine’s wedding. Or soon thereafter.”
Maybe, maybe not. That all depended on whether Clarke felt he’d given Jayce enough cooling off time. And if Alyssa would just give them a chance, she’d have the support and protection of the whole damned Black Opal team. They might not all be easily accessible, but he could guarantee, if there was a need, someone would step out of the woodwork.
All of which, if he mentioned it, would destroy the evening they’d spent together and throw them back into opposite corners with their past forming an unbridgeable chasm between them.
He pulled into her driveway and killed the engine. “I’m not going anywhere until I’m convinced you’re completely safe.” Before she could protest, he jumped out of the truck, hurried around to her side, and opened the door. As she stepped out, Jayce scooped her into his arms. “Stop worrying.”
“What are you doing?” She laughed uneasily.
“Carrying you inside for a nice hot bath.” Thank God McTavish’s Hummer was nowhere to be seen. He wanted Alyssa completely to himself tonight, and not just during sex. McTavish didn’t need to be lurking around while Jayce was trying to prove to her she didn’t need McTavish. “Keys handy?”
She twisted into his chest to better reach her small clutch and withdrew a simple keychain of three keys. “Middle one.”
“You unlock it.” He nodded at the door. “I’ll hold on to you.”
“For God’s sake don’t drop me.”
Jayce chortled. “I think that was the point.”
Her keys jangled, the lock clicked, and with an awkward twist, Alyssa pushed the door open. Jayce entered and nudged the door shut with his heel. Turning her, he gave her time to lock it behind them before heading to the hallway bathroom.
Alyssa recognized his destination then redirected him. “There’s one upstairs, down from my room.”
Much better—guaranteed privacy.
He took two steps into the hall, and she tensed in his arms. “Jayce, did we leave the kitchen light on?”
Damned if he knew, but that panicky edge had crept back into her voice. He didn’t dare confess the truth. “It’s probably on a timer. Kane was down here for quite a while this afternoon.”
That seemed to ease her worries, for the tension seeped from her limbs and she nestled back into his embrace. Truthfully, the kitchen light didn’t bother him. He’d walked into enough hellholes and firefights to recognize the natural sounds of a sleeping house. If someone had been inside, they weren’t here now. They wouldn’t get very far if they returned, either. Discovering her home had been broken into would only spiral Alyssa back into near-hysterics, so he didn’t second-guess his instincts.
He carried Alyssa up the stairs to the room she indicated. Inside the doorway, he set her gently on her feet and flipped the light switch. A series of low-wattage lights above a wall-length mirror illuminated the spacious room. Jayce blinked. Alyssa’s comfortable room and the rest of her spacious-but-tasteful house were modest compared to the luxury of this bath. Tiled from corner to corner in stone, the entire wall to his left consisted of an open shower, complete with two overhead nozzles and a whole assortment of showerheads, faucets, and small jets on the farthest end. Fitted between that shower and the countertop to his right, a Jacuzzi bathtub stared Jayce in the face. Moonlight shone in through the wooden slats on the blinds, and overhead, a wide skylight opened to the stars. All this for a guest bath?
His bewilderment must have shown on his face. Alyssa pointed at a door set into the wall beside a unit of floor-to-ceiling cabinets. “The master bedroom is there. Brice and I fought over the bathroom, so we decided neither of us would claim the master.” She ran her hand over the marble countertop and added with a touch of disbelief, “I’ve used the toilet here once. That’s it.”
This was part of a master bedroom? Intrigued, he opened the adjoining door and poked his head inside the dark room. The light switch only turned on a ceiling fan, but the full moon outside explained all the windows he’d noticed over the kitchen. The entire far wall was nothing but tall panes of glass. Oh, Kane would have a heyday with this room. It must span the entire back side of the house.
He fiddled with the wall again, searching for a light switch. When his fingers found a second nub, he flipped it on. Nothing happened.
“It’s not finished. There’s no fixtures mounted, no carpet. Just empty space.”
Jayce frowned at Alyssa. “But you finished the bathroom?”
She shook her head. “No, the man I bought it
from did. He lost his wife suddenly and pretty much fled the house. I got it for a steal.”
He cocked his head thoughtfully. “So you bought the house?” She hadn’t purchased it with McTavish? Definitely what he needed to hear.
“It’s in my name, yes, but Brice has paid half the mortgage since day one.”
Workable…if he ever managed to smooth things out with Alyssa. Right now, all he cared about was that McTavish wasn’t permanently tied into her living space.
Jayce pulled the master bedroom door shut. Grinning, he went to the tub and started the water. When he had the temperature where he wanted it, he motioned Alyssa to the ledge. “You get comfortable. I’ll be right back.”
Oh, he was definitely going to enjoy this tub tonight. And so would she.
T w e n t y – n i n e
Eyes closed, Alyssa reclined in the ridiculously large tub, basking in the comfort of the hot water and the absolute quiet that encapsulated them both. Her head rested against Jayce’s shoulder, the tips of her hair floated around her elbows. One of his hands gently caressed the length of her arm as he dusted light kisses to her shoulder. The other twined with hers and rested on the marble ledge surrounding the bath. Never had she known such ease, such absolute relaxation and peace as she did right now. It was as if he’d made the last week—no, the last decade—magically disappear.
Maybe the wine had contributed; Jayce returned to the bathroom with one full glass, which they’d shared. Combined with her earlier two, she felt as warm and fuzzy on the inside as she did with the water swirling around her body. Whatever the reason, she wanted to hold onto this feeling for eternity.
“Sleepy?” Jayce murmured at her ear.
“No. Just relaxed.”
“Good.” His lips brushed the side of her neck, and the hand on her arm made another lazy trek to her wrist. “Keep your eyes closed.”
She smiled, drifting deeper into the warm cocoon of contentment.
Water trickled. Warm rivulets cascaded over her breastbone, across the rise of her breasts. Then soft terrycloth swept over her breasts. Slowly. Heavenly.
“Mm. That feels good.”
“You feel good in my arms, Alyssa.” Despite the roughening of his voice, his hands remained gentle as he drew the washcloth over her breasts again, then guided it down the length of her abdomen.
She tried, really tried to remember why she shouldn’t acknowledge the same. But all the reasons she needed to keep Jayce at a distance eluded her. She gave in to the admission, “I don’t want to ever leave.”
For an instant, his grip on her fingers tightened. She distantly recognized the catch of his breath, felt the momentary tension in his upper body. But in the next beat of her heart, Jayce relaxed and slid that tantalizing cloth over her breasts again. The lap of water droplets against the surface filled her ears.
His tender caresses spread another veil of heat over her body. So innocently administered, they belied the hard length of his cock beneath her thigh. The evidence of his desire created an underlying anticipation that he had yet to encourage. But each slow, deliberate sweep of that washcloth heightened her susceptibility to touch. She hovered a keen edge between hungry arousal and sated fulfillment.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered.
The terry brushed the side of her ribs. She curled her toes, waiting for the full stroke. Instead, his fingers curved around her breast, and he gave it a gentle squeeze. Alyssa’s lips parted with a pleasured gasp.
“These fit my hands perfectly.” He untangled his fingers from hers and dipped that hand beneath the water as well, cupping her opposite breast in his large palm. Lifting, he gathered them closer together. His thumbs scraped delightfully over her nipples. “And these were made for my mouth.”
A sharp yearning took root in her belly as a picture of Jayce’s lips latching onto her nipple flashed through her mind. Oh, she wanted that. Wanted to feel the firm pull of his mouth as he suckled. The scrape of day-old whiskers against her sensitive skin. She tipped one knee into the other to temper the sudden ache between her legs, inadvertently tilting the hip that trapped his erection. His hard length slid free and grazed the outside of her thigh. A low grunt rumbled in Jayce’s throat. She couldn’t decide if he was encouraging or protesting.
His thumbs rasped over her nipples again, and Alyssa’s back arched of its own volition.
“You like that, don’t you?”
She swallowed to work words through her dry throat and nodded. “You know I do.”
“Yes,” Jayce murmured, his mouth at her shoulder once more. “I know what you like, baby doll.” Releasing one breast, he flattened his palm on her ribcage and pushed it down the centerline of her body, down her abdomen, over the rise between her legs, the water helping him glide along smoothly. He pressed a fingertip to her clitoris and held it still, the pressure enough to drive her mad. “You like this too.”
Alyssa sank her teeth into her lower lip and exhaled with a hiss. Her heart shrugged off languor and lurched into a hard, unsteady rhythm. But the rest of her body, primed as it was, still battled with the weighty feeling of utter contentment. She wanted to move, to reach beside her and wrap her fingers around his cock and give him the same pleasure he was building inside of her. Yet the desire was fruitless; she couldn’t pull herself from the bleary haze of bliss to do anything but lie against Jayce and drown in the magic of his hands.
She parted her legs a little more, making room for the width of his palm.
Jayce ignored her subtle request and released the pressure on her clitoris for a flash instant, only to settle deliberately back into place. A fleeting touch meant to remind her he was still touching her, and yet teasing her body all the same.
“Jayce,” she whispered.
“Easy,” he murmured as he feathered kisses up the side of her throat. His lips closed over her earlobe. With his teeth, he gently tugged. “Relax.” Repeating the lazy stimulation of her sensitive nub, he gave her nipple a slight twist with his other hand. Then, his hands fell away from her pleasure points, only to resume the lazy sweep of the washcloth.
Alyssa exhaled long and slow, becoming fully aware of just what Jayce was doing. He didn’t want her keyed up. And yet, he intended to keep her just on the edge. He had achieved that place of infinite control, where he could worship her body for hours before desire demanded he see to his own needs. She drew in another deep breath, and as she released it, turned her focus inward, concentrating not on her heightened state of arousal, but on the simple basic pleasure of his touch.
She loved his hands.
His mouth.
A quiet murmur of contentment bubbled in her throat as he feathered soft kisses across her damp shoulder. God, how she loved his mouth. He conveyed so many intimate secrets with a mere touch of his lips.
She loved him.
The deep-seated need to deny that emotion had vanished somewhere tonight, and Alyssa gave in to a soft smile as she accepted the truth she could no longer deny. She loved Jayce Honeycutt; she had never stopped. The acceptance was frightening, indeed. What happened now? Where did they go from here? If—no, when—he learned why she hadn’t been able to go to him, would there even be a future to consider?
But with his talented hands sliding up and down her body, and the warmth of his skin soaking into her back, fear couldn’t form a foothold. For the first time in a full decade, she felt completely released from her nightmares. This date would no longer haunt her. Memories of this night, of Jayce’s thorough loving, would replace those of her past.
She turned her head to brush a kiss against his cheek. He tipped his to give her a sideways glance, and a smile lingered in his eyes. Shifting his position, in one fluid motion he stood and scooped her into his arms. Water ran down her body, dripped off her toes as he stepped out of the tub, onto the heated tile floor. Gently, he eased her to her feet.
She set her hands on his shoulders to gain her footing, feeling slightly dazed. But before she could pull her
thoughts together, Jayce picked up a towel and crouched at her feet. He dried her off thoroughly, every touch deliberate, from her toes, to her fingertips, to the nape of her neck. His mouth caressed just as many places, leaving only the most significant areas untouched. An approach that had her heart stuttering and her head spinning.
Alyssa let out a ragged chuckle. “Jayce, you’re making me dizzy.”
“Which is precisely why”—he paused to chuck the towel aside—“I’m carrying you to bed.”
In the next instant, she was in his arms again, the backs of her knees dangling over one corded forearm, her cheek tucked against his damp chest. Without a care in the world about their mutual nakedness, he strode from the bathroom, down the short hall, and into her bedroom, where he laid her gently on the bed before shutting the door.
He set a knee on the mattress, then turned on the lamp on her nightstand. Soft light erased the shadows surrounding the bed and added a warm, romantic glow to the rest of her darkened room. Intimate.
The thought flitted through her head, only to vanish as Jayce’s warm palm slid down her side.
“Roll over on your belly,” he whispered.
Alyssa couldn’t have protested if she wanted to—she was too wrapped up in the glorious feeling of being freed from the responsibility of thinking and making decisions. She rolled onto her stomach and turned her cheek against the pillow.
Jayce nudged her knees apart with his and knelt between them. As he bent forward to massage her shoulders, his swollen cock brushed her buttocks. Alyssa’s stomach clenched, and she felt the damp flesh between her legs moisten even more. Instinctively, she parted her thighs a bit further. But that brief taunt gave way to an even greater pleasure—that of his strong fingers working deeply into muscles that had been a chain of knots for far too long.
“Mm, Jayce, that feels so good.”
His voice rumbled pleasantly in the quiet. “How long’s it been since you’ve had a massage?” Moving down her shoulder, he kneaded the upper portion of her right arm, working a slow path to the base of her hand, and her fingertips beyond.
Explosive (The Black Opals) Page 23
