Maybe her thoughts were safer. “No. Like I told you, I just realized it was a bad idea,” Willow said as she got up and carried a few empty food cartons into the kitchenette.
Jack didn’t let her escape the conversation so easily. He followed her with the last of their dinner and set it on the counter beside her. “Are you sure that’s all it was?” he asked as he leaned against the counter. He was so near to her that her senses were flooded with the scent of his freshly washed skin and the heat of his body.
With a sigh, Willow turned to face him. The movement put her so close to him that they almost touched, but she felt childish taking a step back. “No, that wasn’t all it was,” she said, letting her gaze fall to his bare collarbone. “I panicked, okay? It had been a long time since I’d been attracted to someone and it felt like we were moving too fast.”
Jack’s hand came to rest at her waist. “Willow?” he asked softly.
She couldn’t answer with him touching her like that. The hem of her shirt just barely brushed the waistband of her jeans, and his fingers had come to rest on a fraction of her bare skin. It was a simple touch, and yet it made her heart leap in her chest and her breath catch in her throat. He’d kept his distance since that first night, something that had both relieved and disappointed her. But he’d been a stranger then. And too injured to move. Now he was neither of those things. It was a question of if she could allow herself to open up to him.
“Yes?”
He slipped his finger under her chin and tilted her head up until she had no choice but to look at him. She felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment and excitement as her gaze met his. His brown eyes searched her face as his lips tipped upward in a smile of encouragement. “That’s what I hoped.”
Willow almost couldn’t hear him for the blood rushing in her ears. Being here in Seattle seemed to be bringing their attraction to the surface, maybe because they both knew they were one step closer to losing their chance to be together. Eventually they would find out who he really was and he would return to his life. If this was their moment, they needed to take it.
“Why would you say that?” she asked.
Jack slid his hand around to her lower back, pulling her body flush against his own. “Because I’ve laid in bed alone each night thinking about that kiss we shared and worrying that I might not ever get to kiss you again because I screwed up somehow.”
Willow gasped at his words. She’d never had a man say something like that to her before. Not even before she got sick and allowed herself the luxury of dating.
“I’ve fantasized about holding you in my arms again. I know that I shouldn’t because I don’t know anything about myself, or if I’m even good for you, but I can’t help it. Now that we’re off the island, it feels like I’m that much closer to leaving you and I don’t like it. It makes me want to throw caution to the wind and not hold back anymore.”
The longer he spoke, the more she fell under his spell. He was right. They were going to lose their chance and she would spend the rest of her life kicking herself for passing up the opportunity. Yes, she was ashamed of her body. But there had to be a way she could work around that and still get what she wanted. She had to.
“Then don’t,” she said, boldly meeting his eyes.
He narrowed his gaze at her for a moment. Then Jack’s lips met hers without hesitation. His kiss was powerful yet not so overwhelming as to scare her off a second time. Willow stood on tiptoe to wrap her arms around his neck and draw herself closer to him. When his tongue sought hers out, she opened to him and melted into his touch.
She had thought the kiss in front of the fire was amazing, but that was nothing, nothing like this. This kiss was like a lightning bolt, shocking her dormant inner core back to life. As his hands rubbed her back and his fingers pressed greedily into her flesh, all she could think about was how badly she needed Jack.
“I want you,” she whispered against his lips.
Jack broke away from her mouth and trailed kisses along her jawline to the sensitive hollow of her neck. “Whatever you want, it’s yours,” he said in a low growl at her ear.
His mouth returned to hers, hungrier than before. This was no longer just a simple kiss. They’d officially moved on to foreplay. Without breaking the kiss, he walked them backward through the little kitchenette until her legs met with the small dining room table where they’d just eaten. Willow eased up until she was sitting on it with Jack nestled snugly between her denim-clad thighs. She could feel his desire pressing against her, sending a shiver of need down her spine.
Jack slipped his hand beneath her shirt to stroke the smooth skin of her back and press her even closer to him. He moved to lift the hem and remove her T-shirt, but Willow grabbed his hand and stopped him.
“I need to leave it on. Please.”
He frowned, confused by her hesitation, but he didn’t argue with her.
“My chest is very...sensitive,” she said. “I don’t like having it touched.” She left out why. She also left out that she was wearing one of her padded mastectomy bras to give her some shape where she no longer had any. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, feeling the need to say something.
“Don’t be sorry. If you don’t like something, just tell me.” Jack quickly moved on from her shirt, leaving it in place. She felt his hand slide down her stomach to her jeans instead. She lifted her hips as he slid them and her panties down her legs.
As he stood, his eyes devoured her long legs splayed out in front of him. He kissed her again and let his hand wander over her bare thigh as he did. Jack dipped his fingers between her legs, brushing over her sensitive skin and sending a shiver through her whole body.
He did it again, harder, and this time Willow cried aloud when he made contact. “Jack!”
Clearly encouraged by her response, he stroked again and again until she was panting and squirming at the edge of the table. He built up the release inside her so quickly, she could hardly believe it until it was almost too late.
“Stop,” she gasped, gripping his wrist with her hand. “Not yet. I want you inside me.”
“Very well,” Jack agreed. His gaze never left hers as he slipped out of his pants and kicked them aside. He settled back between her legs, and Willow felt him press against her.
“Yes,” she hissed as he slowly sank into her.
He gripped her hips, holding her steady as he started to move in her. Every stroke set off fire bursts beneath her eyelids as they fluttered closed. Willow arched her back and braced her hands on the table as their movements became more desperate.
How had she even gotten here? This morning, she’d reluctantly boarded a ferry to escort Jack to the hospital. And now, she was having sex with Jack and on the verge of her first orgasm in ages. She could feel it building inside her. He coaxed the response from her body so easily, as though they were longtime lovers.
“So close,” she said between ragged breaths.
Jack seemed to know just what to do to push her over the edge. Rolling his hips forward, he thrust harder, striking her sensitive core with each advance. In seconds, Willow was tensing up in anticipation of her undoing.
Then it hit. It radiated through her body like a nuclear blast. She clung to Jack’s shoulders as the shock waves of pleasure made every muscle tremble and quiver. They rode through it together. With her final gasp, her head dropped back and her body went limp in his arms.
“Willow,” he groaned, thrusting hard into her. He surged forward and gasped against the curve of her throat as he poured into her.
Willow cradled him against her chest as he recovered, the sweat dampening the cotton and pressing it to her skin. Thoughts swirled through her mind as the sexual haze faded away and she realized what they’d just done. What she’d just done.
Before she could say anything, Jack straightened up and kissed her tenderly on the lips. “To the bedroom?”
he asked.
Yes, a bed was exactly what they needed. Leaving their clothes where they lay, they made their way into the other area of the suite. They tugged the blankets down and curled up together in the plush, clean cotton. He tugged her back against him and wrapped his arms around her waist.
Willow was on the verge of falling asleep, content in his arms, when her cell phone rang. With a groan of displeasure, she rolled over and looked at the screen. It was the hospital.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Yes, can I speak with Mr. Jack Doe, please? This is Dr. Dunne with Harborview Medical.”
She passed the phone over to Jack, who quietly conversed with the man for a few minutes. Willow was anxious to hear what they had to say. They’d called sooner than she expected. Hopefully it wasn’t bad news. She wasn’t sure she could face returning to the hospital tonight.
“What is it?” she asked as he hung up the phone.
Jack had a strange expression on his face as he looked at the phone and seemed to struggle with what he’d just heard.
“Are you okay? Did they find something serious?”
“I’m fine. Nothing more than we already expected.”
Willow didn’t understand. “Okay. Then what’s wrong?”
He cleared his throat and passed the phone back to her. “First thing this morning, they took a photo of me with some basic information and sent it out to the Seattle police department to see if there was a match for any of their missing-person cases.”
Willow’s heart skipped in her chest. No. No. No. No. No. Not so soon. Not when things were so good between them. She’d never thought she’d have anything like she’d shared with Jack after beating cancer. She wasn’t prepared to give it up yet. And somehow she knew that Jack’s next words were going to change everything.
“They got a match almost immediately on a case reported to them yesterday. Apparently my twin brother is here in Seattle looking for me. And my name...is Finn Steele.”
Six
Jack sat nervously at a diner booth with Willow beside him. They’d arranged to meet with the man claiming to be his twin—Sawyer Steele—for breakfast the following morning. He’d barely been able to sleep the night before and had already downed two cups of black coffee since they arrived. His feet anxiously tapped on the tile floor, his mind racing with the possibilities of meeting this man.
“Maybe you should switch to decaf, Jack. I mean, Finn? Maybe? This will be an adjustment.”
“You’re telling me.” He’d hoped that hearing his real name would be enough to unlock his mind, but no luck. “Finn Steele” meant nothing to him. He felt more like Jack Doe than anything.
The door of the diner opened and a bell chimed to announce a customer. Both Jack and Willow looked up at once to see if it was the man they were expecting.
There was no question. The man standing at the entrance looked exactly like Jack. A rich, powerful, confident version of Jack he couldn’t begin to relate to. Sawyer was tall, with the same blond curls in a different style. When the man turned and made contact with the same brown eyes, he smiled and rushed over to their table.
“Finn! Thank God.”
Jack stood to greet the stranger, not expecting the violent hug that met him instead. He groaned with the pain of the impact, taking a step back as soon as he could to clutch his healing rib cage.
“Oh no, I hurt you. I’m sorry. They didn’t tell me anything on the phone except that you had amnesia. Are you okay? I can’t believe you’re alive. They told us that you were dead, but I just couldn’t believe it.”
It was a lot coming at Jack all at once. He wasn’t quite sure what to say to the man, so he held out his hand to gesture for him to sit across from them. He settled back into the booth beside Willow and clutched her hand for support beneath the tabletop. “I’ve got a few broken ribs. The bump on the head has been the biggest problem. I was pretty beat up in general when Willow found me. I felt like hell for a couple days, but it’s better now. Thanks to Willow’s expert care, of course.”
Sawyer finally turned to acknowledge the silent woman sitting beside Jack. He smiled at her and looked back at his brother. “I should’ve known that no matter what situation you’d gotten into, you’d find a beautiful woman to care for you.”
“Excuse me?” Jack asked. He didn’t like the man’s tone. Or rather, he didn’t like what his tone said about Jack. Perhaps he was more than just a flirt.
“Wow. You really don’t remember anything. Nothing at all?”
“Nothing personal. I don’t know who I am, or what I was like. I certainly don’t know how I ended up on that beach.”
Sawyer’s brow went up in surprise. “You washed up on a beach?”
“We’re not sure,” Willow said, finally speaking up. “I found him unconscious on the beach not far from my house on Shaw Island. It’s part of the San Juan Islands off the coast here.”
Sawyer shook his head in amazement. “That’s wild. That’s got to be more than two hundred miles from where the plane finally went down.”
Jack sat upright, his brother’s words a surprise. He’d imagined a dozen ways he could’ve ended up on that beach and none of them had involved a plane crash. “You’re saying I was on a plane?”
“Yes. You were flying back from Beijing on a corporate jet. They’re still not sure what happened, but there was an explosion. I guess maybe you were sucked out of the plane over the ocean before it went down in the national forest lands. The crash investigators were insistent that you were dead even when we couldn’t find your body because you could’ve ended up anywhere. Honestly, until I saw you just now, I was worried they were right. It’s a miracle you survived.”
Jack had been given so much information and yet the pieces still weren’t coming together in his mind. He couldn’t quite believe that he’d survived a plane crash any more than he could believe he was used to flying on private jets and traveling to China. None of this life Sawyer described seemed like it could be his. “Can you tell me who I am?” he asked. “You’re obviously my twin brother, but what else should I know?”
Sawyer nodded and gave him a soft, understanding smile that made Jack like him a little more than before. “It’s a lot to absorb, I know. I shouldn’t have thrown it at you all at once, but seeing you sitting here...” He shook his head and blinked away a shimmer of glassy tears in his eyes. “Your name is Finn Hamilton Steele. Hamilton is our mother’s maiden name. You live in Charleston, South Carolina. Our whole family lives there. You and I are both vice presidents for the family company, Steele Tools, which was founded by our great-grandfather and is currently run by our father, Trevor Steele.”
“Steele Tools, as in the company that makes the hammers and screwdrivers you can find in almost every home in the country?” Willow asked.
Sawyer nodded. “Yes. If you haven’t already guessed, Finn, you’re also ridiculously rich.”
The waitress chose that moment to arrive at their table. They all forced themselves to order breakfast and coffee, sending her away as fast as possible.
“Ridiculously rich?” Jack said the words aloud, but he couldn’t quite grasp the idea. He was wearing a five-dollar T-shirt from the Shaw Island General Store that Willow had had to buy for him. He didn’t have a solitary dime in his pocket. “Are you sure?”
“Unless you’ve managed to blow your entire billion-dollar trust fund on women and sports cars, then yes. I don’t think even you could waste money that quickly.”
Jack got a sinking feeling in his gut. For anyone else, hearing that he was a billionaire likely would’ve been good news. But he couldn’t help but home in on his brother’s words: “women and sports cars.” It made him sound like he was some kind of wild playboy. He’d known almost immediately that he had a great fondness for women, but Sawyer made it sound as though he had a different one on his arm every week or something
.
“Am I married?” He held his breath, hoping the answer was no. It didn’t sound like he was, but who knew? Perhaps he wasn’t Mr. Monogamy. But he didn’t want to be that guy. If he was married and didn’t know it, his romance with Willow couldn’t be held against him, but he still didn’t like the idea of it.
“Ah, no. You’re not married. Not even close. You proposed to my wife earlier this year, but she turned you down. That’s the closest you’ve gotten to the altar.”
Jack frowned. That sentence didn’t even make sense. He decided to ignore it and focus in on the fact that no, he hadn’t cheated on his wife with Willow. He was free to be with her if he wanted to.
He took a deep breath and finally started to relax into the booth. He wasn’t a criminal. He wasn’t married. It was a relief to know he hadn’t drawn Willow into some messy intrigue by making love to her last night. He could deal with anything else he found out about himself just knowing that much was true.
“So, Finn, huh?” Jack gritted his teeth as he said it. The name—like the rest of his new identity—felt like wearing someone else’s shoes, but he’d have to get over it.
“Our dad loved Mark Twain’s stories when he was growing up, and all of us are named after different characters from his books. Our older brother is Tom. Then there’s you and me and our younger sister Morgan. He got her name from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Oh, and we also have a sister named Jade, which has nothing to do with Mark Twain, but that’s a long story for another day.”
He didn’t doubt it. Everything about his life seemed impossibly complicated. It made him want to go back to Shaw Island and hide out with Willow forever.
“They’re all going to be thrilled when I tell them the news. I didn’t want to say anything until I knew for sure that I’d really found you. Mother has been a wreck. They’ll want you home as soon as possible. I took one of the company jets here to look for you, but you don’t have to worry about flying home. After the crash, we had a crew of technicians go over each one in the fleet. It’s perfectly safe.” Sawyer turned to Willow. “I’m sure you’ll be glad to get this guy out of your hair. I can’t imagine taking in someone who has no clue who they are or how they got there, but you’re a good person. There’s a reward for information about Finn. Our parents will happily pay it to compensate you for the inconvenience of it all.”
Promises from a Playboy--A secret billionaire with amnesia romance Page 7
