“Which do you like better—sci-fi or legal thrillers?”
Then he named a couple of movies that had both done well at the box office. From what she knew of them, the space opera was a fun adventure. The other one he’d picked out looked pretty dark. “Let’s go with the sci-fi.”
She set his pie and drink down on the coffee table and then joined him on the couch. As the credits started to roll, Jack made quick work of his dessert. Caitlyn managed a few bites of her own, but her nerves were strung a little too tight for her to really enjoy the rich chocolate. Finally, she set it aside.
Jack frowned. “Not hungry?”
She was hungry all right. “Not for pie.”
Jack took her plate and set it next to his on the coffee table along with their drinks. Then, in a surprise move, he angled himself into the corner of the couch and lifted her onto his lap. Okay, then, never let it be said that a former soldier was slow to respond. Before she could do much more than squeak in surprise, he tipped her face down toward his. Their mouths came together, but in their rush, didn’t line up quite right. She shifted a bit but went too far in the other direction. Jack solved the problem by anchoring her head in one position while he zeroed in on the right fit.
When his mouth finally settled into place, he smiled and then teased her lips apart with the tip of his tongue. She welcomed him in and savored the flavor of his kiss, an odd mix of chocolate, beer, and something that was unique to Jack. His fingers continued to cradle the back of her head while his other hand settled over her breast. The kiss might have set off the first sparks between them, but that first gentle squeeze definitely fanned the fire into full flame.
When she moaned, Jack froze. “Was I too rough?”
She traced the worried lines on his forehead with a fingertip, soothing them away. “Not at all. That was definitely a happy sound, not a protest.”
“Good” was all he said as his big hand resumed kneading each breast in turn and then tugging gently on her nipples until they beaded up into achy points. When he licked the sensitive spot at the base of her throat, she arched her neck back to give him easier access. She was on fire, and she wasn’t the only one. There was impressively solid evidence of that right under her bottom.
Jack tugged on the collar of her shirt, moving it aside. She took the hint and shrugged out of the shirt. While she was at it, she went one step further and peeled off her tank top as well. Underneath, she wore a lacy cream-colored bra that matched the high-cut panties she had on under her jeans. Jack’s appreciative grin was all the thanks she needed.
“Beautiful,” he murmured as he nuzzled the valley between the curves of her breasts. Then he caught the tip of one in his mouth and worked it hard with his lips and just a hint of his teeth. Even through the thin layer of fabric, the sensation was amazing.
She wrapped her hands around his neck to hold him closer, asking for more without words. Once again, he used his amazing strength to lift her up. This time he turned her so that she straddled his lap, at once giving him better access to her breasts and bringing her core in more direct contact with his erection. When she rocked against him, Jack threw his head back against the couch and briefly closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he opened them just enough to reveal their hungry glitter.
She moved forward and back, this time more slowly. When she started to do it again, he caught her hips with his hands and held her still. “We need to slow this down a bit.”
Rather than argue, she pulled up his shirt and ran her hands over the warm skin of his chest. To aid her efforts, Jack stripped off his shirt and tossed it aside. She’d been dreaming of the chance to get skin to skin with this man. Right now the only thing between the two of them was the thin lace of her bra. When she reached for the front clasp, he caught her hands in his.
“How badly do you want to watch this movie?”
Not sure she could string together enough words to form a coherent response, she picked up the remote and hit the Power button.
“Good answer.” Jack unhooked the front of her bra and pushed it aside. She let the straps slide down her arms to land on the floor.
His mouth had felt wicked and sexy through the lace, but that was nothing compared to when his lips settled on her nipple, suckling to just the right side of pain. It was too much and so not enough.
She tugged his head back and kissed him hard and fast. Jack gave as good as he got as he unbuttoned her jeans and tugged the zipper down. When his fingers found their way inside of her panties, she pushed herself up off his lap to make it easier for each of them to get what they wanted. His fingers stroked her softly at first, teasing and tempting her. When he settled into a steady rhythm, concentrating his efforts on the small nub at the center of her passion, tension deep within her started building to an unbearable level.
“Jack…please.”
His smile was fierce when he withdrew his hand, leaving her disappointed and wanting. “We need to get horizontal. Here or your bed?”
It was tempting to stay right where they were, but the couch would definitely impose a few limits on things. “My bed.”
The second the words were out of her mouth, Jack muscled them both up off the couch in an amazing display of strength. The sudden movement startled her, but then she laughed and wrapped her legs around his waist and held on for dear life as he carefully maneuvered around the coffee table. He stopped just shy of her bedroom door to press her back against the wall and steal her breath with another kiss.
Before he carried her across the threshold, he paused one last time. “Tell me you want this.”
She managed to nod, but he remained still, evidently wanting more from her. “Oh, yeah, I want this, Jack. I want you.”
Seconds later, he tumbled her down onto the mattress. He remained standing as he reached for her feet. After removing her sandals, he tugged her jeans and panties down her legs and tossed them aside. Then he stripped off his own jeans, taking boxers with them. Afterward, he removed a packet from his wallet. Even if she wasn’t worried about pregnancy, it pleased her that he wouldn’t be careless about such things.
“Thanks for thinking of that.”
Jack nodded with a small smile as he turned on the bedside lamp. Then he stretched out beside her, lying on his side with one leg over hers. “I’ve been hoping for this moment from that first day when you knocked on the door. My imagination didn’t come anywhere close to the reality. You’re just so damn beautiful.”
Caitlyn blushed. She wasn’t sure how true that was, but there was no mistaking the hunger in Jack’s expression. She lifted her hand to his shoulder and traced the line of his muscles with her fingers.
He caught her hand in his and kissed her palm. Funny how such a simple thing could send a jolt of heat straight through to the heart of her. He knew it, too, because he smiled again as he let go of her hand to settle his right at the base of her throat. From there, it stroked down her body, stopping along the way to follow the curve of her breast, the flow of her waist out to her hip, before finally coming to rest just short of the curls at the juncture of her thighs.
—
Jack was almost out of his head with the need to take this woman hard and fast. But it had been a long time for Caitlyn, which meant he had to take his time and do right by her. He studied the gorgeous tangle of her long hair spread out on the pillow. Brown was such a boring word for such a glorious mix of shades of gold and brown with an enticing hint of red thrown in for good measure.
“Now, where was I when we stopped to move in here?” His fingers gently teased her slick folds. “Oh, yeah, I remember.”
One stroke had her lifting her hips and wanting so much more. “Now, Jack!”
He tested her readiness with one finger and then two, which only made her demands grow more insistent. At last he obliged her, settling between her legs and letting her guide him to where they both needed him to be. He was a big man all over, which made for a pretty tight fit. Drawing on his already fragile se
lf-control, he stopped moving, determined to give her body time to adjust.
But Caitlyn wasn’t having it. She caught his face between her hands and glared up at him. “Jack, quit teasing me.”
Rather than argue, he kissed her one last time, using his tongue to mimic the rhythm she was demanding from him. When she dug her fingers into his ass, the last vestige of his control snapped. Withdrawing most of the way, he flexed his hips to drive in hard. When he did it a second time, she kicked her head back and keened her approval, encouraging him to do it again.
He gave them both a hard ride, not holding back at all. It didn’t take long to have Caitlyn arching up off the bed and hovering right at the start of her climax. Jack rolled his hips hard and loved the way she called his name and begged for more of the same. He obliged her once, twice, and the third time drove Caitlyn right over the cliff, leaving her shuddering beneath him. Seeing her eyes heavy-lidded with satisfaction sent him diving right over the edge after her. He hollered her name as he poured out his own pleasure deep within her welcoming heat.
When a few sparks of awareness finally rekindled his brain, Jack rolled to the side and tucked Caitlyn in next to him. Having her there, her head on his shoulder and the warmth of her breath against his skin, was the most perfect moment he’d ever had.
There was probably something profound he should be saying, but he couldn’t find the right words. He finally settled for pressing a soft kiss to her forehead before giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze. “That was…flat-out amazing.”
“Yeah, it was.” Caitlyn smiled up at him as her hand did some wandering up and down his body. “And I’m hoping it will be again soon.”
Jack laughed and tugged his demanding woman up on top of his body. “Let’s see what we can do to make that happen.”
After a few kisses and a handful of carefully chosen touches later, they were well on their way to achieving their objective for a second time. Afterward, they dozed off, content and cocooned beneath the covers.
—
Jack sat on the side of the bed to pull on his jeans. He glanced back over his shoulder at the gorgeous woman who had proven to be a generous and demanding lover. “I hate to leave you, but I should be home before the kid gets up in the morning.”
Caitlyn sat up and scooted closer to him. She ran her hand down his arm as she laid her head against his back. “Don’t worry about it, Jack. I understand Ricky needs to come first for you right now.”
Damn, he didn’t want to let Ricky’s needs come between them, but he didn’t know how the kid would react if Jack’s SUV was missing from its usual spot in the morning.
“I’ll call you tomorrow. Maybe we can do something Sunday afternoon and take Ricky with us.”
It wasn’t as if Jack really wanted a chaperone along when he was out with Caitlyn. But if the kid spent some time with the two of them, maybe he’d get used to seeing them as a couple. Jack didn’t know what all the rules were when it came to such things, but he really wanted to have that kind of relationship with Caitlyn.
“Sounds good to me.”
She grabbed the afghan off the rocker near the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders before disappearing into the bathroom for a few seconds. When she came back out, she had on a short nightgown that showed off her great legs. One more reason Jack hated like hell to be heading for the door. Damn.
He reluctantly shoved his feet into his shoes and tied the laces. Then he was up and heading straight for Caitlyn. She settled right into his arms and held him close. He ran his finger under the narrow strap of her gown. “You know this is making it even harder for me to leave.”
Her answering smile was both sly and pleased. “Gee, I’m so sorry to hear that.”
He tugged her gown up to her hips. Just as he suspected. Nothing beneath it. Okay, then. A man could only withstand so much temptation. With no warning he swept her up and tossed her back on the bed. Wicked woman that she was, Caitlyn welcomed him with open arms.
—
The sky was growing light in the east when Jack finally turned into his mother’s driveway. He hadn’t gotten much in the way of sleep and didn’t hold out much hope of that changing in the near future. He’d crawl upstairs to his bed and hope that both Ricky and his mother would leave him alone for a couple of hours at least.
Once inside the annex, he stopped in the kitchen to grab a snack. As tired as he was, it took him a few seconds to wonder why there was a dirty bowl in the sink. He certainly hadn’t left it there, and Ricky knew the place was off-limits when Jack wasn’t around. That left only one question: which of his brothers had showed up without warning?
“Getting home pretty late, aren’t you, big brother?”
Well, shit. That answered that question. Jack loved both of his brothers, but right now he would have preferred it had been Mikhail instead of Tino leaning in the kitchen doorway. Both brothers would give him grief about creeping back home at the crack of dawn, but Mikhail would have at least waited until Jack had a chance to recuperate from a night well spent.
“Yes, I am. Jealous?”
Jack took a big bite of the wedge of cheese he’d taken out of the fridge to avoid having to answer any more questions. Unfortunately, he’d been right about his assessment of the situation. Tino came closer. “Maybe. Mom said you had a date tonight with that schoolteacher you hired to tutor Ricky. Something about a movie and dinner.”
Jack washed the cheese down with a glass of water from the tap. “That’s right.”
“So which restaurant did you take her to?”
At least that question was easy to answer. “The new barbecue joint down by the mall. We both liked it.”
“Good to know. Was the movie good, too?”
How was he supposed to know? He and Caitlyn hadn’t made it much past the credits before they lost interest in anything besides each other. “Not particularly.”
“But—”
God, he hated playing twenty questions. He wasn’t going to answer the one Tino really wanted to ask, and they both knew it.
“No more questions, Tino. I’m going to bed, which is where you should be, too.”
Shoving past his jerk of a brother, Jack headed up the steps. He should’ve known Tino wasn’t going to let it rest. “So, when I come home from a hot date, I’m usually smiling. But that’s me. You’re wired up differently. From the way you’re growling, I take it you like Caitlyn a lot.”
Jack waited until they reached the landing at the top of the stairs before turning on Tino. He wanted to coldcock the jerk, not knock him down the stairs. Marlene might forgive Jack for bruising his brother up a little. She wouldn’t appreciate it at all if he broke the idiot’s neck.
When he reached the door to his room, he spun around and grabbed Tino by the front of his T-shirt. “Shut the fuck up about Caitlyn, Tino. How we spent our evening is none of your damn business.”
Then he shoved his brother, stumbling back into his own room. Tino laughed but wisely stayed out of reach. “Actually, I figure you did spend your evening eating barbecue. It’s how you spent the rest of the night that I’m curious about. However, I think I’ll leave that question until after you’ve had some sleep.”
Jack rolled his shoulders to shake off some of the temper his brother had stirred up. “And I’m telling you flat out that if you want to live long enough to enjoy whatever time you have here at home, I’d suggest you drop the subject permanently.”
As usual, Tino didn’t have enough sense to know when to shut up. “Actually, I think you just answered any questions I might have had.”
Then he closed his bedroom door, putting at least that much of a barrier between the two of them, which was a smart move. Maybe the jerk would live to see another day after all.
Jack stumbled into his own room and stripped down to the skin, leaving his clothes wherever they landed. It was tempting to take a shower before getting into his bed, but he rejected the idea. Right now, he still had Caitlyn’s scent on his skin
and wasn’t about to give that up one second before he had to.
He settled in, lying on his side and hating that he was alone. Even so, he was pretty sure he was smiling as he finally drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 16
Ricky threw the deadbolt on his bedroom door. He didn’t always keep it locked. Neither Marlene nor Jack had ever waltzed into his room without knocking first. Even so, he wanted a few minutes of guaranteed privacy while he made a quick phone call.
If he made the call at all.
It wasn’t as if his mother ever seemed at all happy to hear from him, but he still needed to know she was all right. If she wasn’t, well, then maybe his foggy memories of the night when he’d gotten beaten up would come back into focus. Nothing would make him happier than to see good old Lawrence hauled off to jail. The trouble was that it wouldn’t make Ricky’s mom happy, not when she depended on the bastard to pay the bills.
And if they’d made good on their plans to start a family of their own, well, that was a whole other story.
He stared at the screen on the cellphone Jack had gotten him. His list of contacts was pitifully short: Jack, Marlene, and Caitlyn. He hadn’t stored his mother’s number on the phone in case Jack ever decided to do a little snooping.
Even though it was Saturday and Lawrence was probably off work, Ricky really needed to hear his mother’s voice. He drew a breath and dialed her number. His pulse kicked up a notch as he waited for her to pick up.
Instead, he got a message that made his blood run cold. Her number had been disconnected. What the hell? She’d had that same number for as long as he could remember. Even when money had been tight, she’d always made sure to pay the phone bill. Had he hit a wrong button?
No, he’d dialed the right number. Maybe there was a technical problem or something, but he didn’t think so. He’d wait a couple of days and try again. If she hadn’t hooked up with Lawrence, Ricky would have run straight to his mother’s house to check on her. However, he suspected this was just one more step in the process of cutting him out of her new life. It could also be that Lawrence had found out that Ricky had tried to call her a couple of times. She’d never picked up, but at least he’d gotten to hear the sound of her voice when the call had gone to voicemail.
Always for You: Jack (Sergeant Joe's Boys #1) Page 17
