Marliss and Lou were excited to have people to fuss over, and the birthday pontoon ride they all took, with Jackson’s trademark grilled cheese-stuffed hamburgers, charmed her parents until they treated the cowboy like he was already one of the family.
On the way back to the house, Jackson swung over toward the property he’d chosen for himself, with Rori’s help. She’d loved that day, when they’d walked the long spit of lakeshore he favored, and she agreed it was the perfect place. After that, he’d never said any more about it. As if he’d changed his mind about moving out to the lake. She shook off the panic. It seemed everything lately was making her question what she and Jackson had. Their connection, their future, their hope of finding a perfect balance between his two jobs and her very time-consuming one.
Especially now, with her parents renting a storefront for her in KC. When would she have time to get it set up and find someone to work there? It was very sweet of them to do, but she wished they’d waited until she was ready to expand Cyber Wise.
Jackson throttled back the pontoon. About fifty feet up from the shore, a couple of big tanks sat, and a rectangular piece of ground had been leveled.
“What’s all that?” Rori sat up as her parents stood to see.
“I’m putting a mobile home out here.” Jackson coasted slowly along the shoreline. “Until water and power can be run, it’ll be holding tanks and a generator, but I think it will be a good fit.” He winked at Rori.
She felt her heart drop. A mobile home? What had happened to his plans to build a big, sturdy, permanent home? To move out here and live? To have her with him, and start their life together? She forced a smile. “Good idea. The portable tanks and things.” She felt sick to her stomach.
“It just came up last week. Abby, at the office…” He clarified for her parents. “Her cousin has a business setting these up for places that don’t have utilities run to them.”
Could this project and the woman at the motel be connected? “Is Abby’s cousin a woman?”
“Ah, no.” Jackson looked at her for a few seconds. “Why?”
Rori shrugged and shook her head. What was going on with this man?
“The double-wide will be delivered tomorrow, then the furniture comes the day after.” Jackson kept eying Rori, as if he knew something wasn’t right.
Simon walked toward the console. “This is a nice piece of land.” He gestured to the far end, where cattails and lily pads took up a lot of space. “Good fishing here?”
“Hell, yeah!” Jackson grinned. “Pardon my language, ladies.” He looked at Simon. “Do you fish?”
Her dad moved closer and sat, and the two guys talked fishing as they headed back to the dock.
“What’s wrong, baby girl?” Her mother sat and wrapped her arm around Rori’s shoulders.
How could she tell her mother that the man she’d met seven weeks ago had stolen her heart? How could she explain that he was having nightmares that sent him traveling around the country pursuing a rodeo career when he could be staying in Red Creek with her, working at his father’s company, and finding a life with Rori?
If she told her mother that Jackson put a mobile home on his property as a subtle beacon, a warning to Rori that he was a temporary-kind of guy, Mina would think her daughter was insane.
“Just so much to think about.” Rori put her head on her mom’s shoulder. “The storefront, the new guy in my life, and why the hell my parents refuse to believe I hate my birthday.”
Mina laughed. “I’m sorry. But you have to remember, the day you were born…” She sighed. “Baby girl, that was the most perfect and incredible experience of our lives, for your father and me.” Her mom kissed the top of Rori’s head. “Think of it as not a celebration for you, but a celebration of you. The day you came into our lives.”
Rori’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, Mom.” She let loose with a sob then started crying silently. Everything going on in her life right now just overwhelmed her, and her mother’s comforting arm felt so wonderful.
The guys looked over, but Mina just smiled and waved them back to their conversation.
Rori got control of herself and dried her tears. Why didn’t cowboys come with an instruction booklet, written in five languages?
Late that night, once her parents were settled in their room, Jackson snuck into Rori’s.
He undressed then slipped under the covers bare-naked and spooned her, pressing his cool body against her warm one. She’d been tossing and turning. “What if my parents and I had decided to swap rooms?”
He laughed and she shushed him. “Then I guess this would be another half-naked cowboy surprise for them.” He kissed her shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me it was your birthday?”
“I don’t like to celebrate it.” She reached back and put her hand on his hip. “I was not a popular girl in school. I didn’t have friends because I was too smart, too klutzy, and the teachers’ kid.” Those were hard times, but nothing compared to what she was going through right now with Jackson.
“No one wanted to come to your parties?” He sounded so sad.
“No, and no one wanted me at theirs. So I came to hate birthdays, especially my own.”
“I would have come to your party.” He said it so sincerely, she choked on the catch in her throat.
“Thanks. Maybe someday I’ll learn to enjoy it.” She wouldn’t make any promises, though. Especially if this ended up being the last one she spent with Jackson. Something was going on with him, and she wanted to know what it was. Now, not later after she’d given him more of her heart. “The mobile home out on the lake property?”
“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that.” His hand slid over her hip, onto her belly then lower.
She waited, but he didn’t say more.
With his hand between her legs, she could tell he was distracted, or was he trying to distract her?
“Jackson?”
He pulled his hand away. “I guess I should have called you about that. My mom is coming for a visit as soon as I get the mobile home set up.”
She turned onto her back, looking up into his face. “That’s great. But why is she waiting for that when she could stay here?” Then the answer hit her. “Oh, wait. Never mind.”
“Yeah. Dusty’s house, the one he shared with his wife. Sapphire doesn’t want anything to do with it, and I didn’t want to put her up in the motel. You were so busy last week when Abby told me about the mobile home deal, I didn’t want to bother you with it.”
Rori breathed a sigh of relief. That answered some of her concerns. “That’s okay. I’m just curious about all the things happening in your life right now. You seem a little preoccupied.”
His fingers rubbed circles on her belly, moving lower and lower until her core contracted with desire.
“All that’s going on in my life now, is trying to keep you from shouting and waking up your parents when I make you come.” He kissed her, hard and fast. “All seven times.”
“Seven?” She let his magic fingers turn off her brain cells. “Only seven?”
“To start with. We’ll work our way up to twenty-six, one for each year of your life.”
She let out a slow, sensual laugh. “Oh Jackson, you’ve given me hope that someday I may love my birthday again.”
Chapter Five
After Rori’s parents left for Kansas City, Jackson moved his things and Rori’s back into their apartment above Cyber Wise. The woman had been acting strange since her parents’ visit, and he figured he knew why. She wanted to move to KC, but didn’t know how to tell him. Between his work schedule, hers, and her time with her parents, they’d barely seen each other.
He picked up a pizza that night and walked through the front door of her business at nearly seven p.m. “Quittin’ time.”
She looked up from her typing. “Just a few more minutes.”
He nodded, locked the front door, and turned the sign to Closed. He’d heard her just a few minutes before, and those minu
tes usually stretched into a couple of hours. “I’ll be upstairs.”
She surprised him by appearing in their apartment in less than thirty minutes. He sat on the couch watching sports on TV, the open pizza box next to him, half empty.
“You didn’t wait for me?” She leaned over the back of the couch and grabbed the box, hauling it into the kitchen with her.
“Sorry. I didn’t know if it would be minutes or hours.” He muted the volume.
“Fair enough.” She microwaved a couple slices and came back to sit next to him. “Your mom is here tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow morning. I sent the plane for her, and she’s balking at the decadence, but I think she’s secretly thrilled that I can afford to lease my own jet.”
“I’m secretly thrilled about that, too.” She grinned and let him bite the tip off her slice. “Anything I should know about your mother?”
“Nothing that you don’t already know.” Since her parents had left, he’d been trying to find a way to bring up her birthday gift. He wanted to do it before Sapphire came to town. So, that was now. “About the store your parents rented in KC.”
She switched the television to a video game she’d been trying—with little success—to teach him to play. “Uh huh?”
“What are your plans for that?”
Picking up the controller, she one-handed the game to the right spot. “I don’t know. I’m so busy right now, it’ll be hard to find a time to get it set up properly.”
His gut dropped. She was moving back to Kansas City. She just kept working her game controller, as if her decision to leave Red Creek wasn’t even an issue. “So, you’ve decided.”
Rori looked at him. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, now. It’s not like a snap decision that I’m making without having thought things through completely.”
His brows rose. She was just going to walk away. “Then, that’s settled?”
She snuggled into his arms and gave him another bite of her pizza. “It’s settled. It’ll be fun.” With a laugh, she handed him a controller. “A big change, but exciting.”
Rori was leaving Red Creek, and looking forward to it. Had he misunderstood her when she’d said she was falling for him? Maybe that wasn’t the same as falling in love, but damn, to just walk away without considering his feelings. Was she protecting her heart again? The way she’d done with her childhood birthdays?
Had he made a mistake entrusting his heart to her?
Rori jumped up and walked into the kitchen. Jackson realized they barely even touched each other. “Darlin’.” He followed her. “I’ve missed you these last few days.”
“Cowboy.” She turned to him, her eyes darkening. “I’ve missed you, too.”
He snuck his hands under the bottom of her T-shirt, running them up her ribs and along the bottom of her bra. “Wanna have a little suppertime lovin’?”
“Mmm.” She lifted her arms, letting him pull the shirt off her. “Sounds better than warmed-over pizza.”
He pulled off his own shirt, then unfastened her bra and slid it from her.
She unbuckled his belt and unzipped his fly. Dragging his jeans and underwear down, she licked her lips as he popped free.
Nothing had ever felt as good as her hands stroking his bare, hard length. “Rori. You don’t know how many times I’ve dreamt of this.”
She sank to her knees in front of him. “Tell me, Jackson.” She licked at his head, long, full strokes that turned his brain to mush and his groin to an inferno. “Tell me about your dreams.”
“Rori, I…” His eyes rolled back as she took the whole head into her mouth and ran her tongue around the head, flicking in that one spot that made him crazy. “I dreamt you did just that exact thing there.” He sounded like an idiot, but there wasn’t much blood left for his brain to work with. His hips jerked forward, his ass cheeks tightening as zaps of electricity raced up his spine.
“Then what?” She wrapped her hand around his cock, cupped his balls with her other hand.
“Then you take it all, deep, and suck like you wanna drain every drop from me.” It was his fantasy come true.
She hummed and took him into her mouth, sliding his cock to the back of her throat where she swallowed, the motion against his head unbearably magnificent.
“Yes, darlin’.” That’s my dream. His body had been without her for three days, and he knew he’d go too quickly, but he didn’t care. He wanted her to know the power she held over him.
She opened her throat and took him deep, her lips sliding all the way to his base, her nose pressing into the hair low on his belly.
“Aw, yes. Yes, Rori. Make. Me. Come.” Buzzing started in his brain as she took him right to the edge. Shocks of electricity rode from his groin up his spine and back down.
She sucked and hummed and swallowed and used her tongue and teeth on him and he couldn’t hold off another second. The burst of hot cum from his balls through his cock sent a race of energy to his brain. Sparks flew, bursting and cascading inside his head, his body shook with the release as he jerked into her again and again, and she met every thrust with a deep sucking, as if she needed this more than anything.
Golden lights that popped like exploding lightbulbs in his mind rained showers of electricity through his entire body, and he sucked in breaths as if he’d run a mile.
She released her mouth’s grip on his shaft, and he nearly fell straight back. He leaned over her, bracing one hand on the countertop, helping her to her feet with the other.
Wrapping her arms around him, she kissed his jaw, his cheeks, his neck. “Jackson, you are my favorite lunch.”
He chuckled, still working at restoring his balance and his stamina. “Rori, you make me weak.”
“Good.” She unfastened the button on her jeans. “I want you weak and suggestible, because I have something for you to enjoy, too.”
“You’re a bad, bad girl.” Jackson loved every minute of her demands. He stepped back. “Take those jeans off.”
“Yes, Jackson.” She untied the laces on her hightop tennis shoes and tugged them off, leaving her striped socks on. Her jeans slid down her legs and she kicked them aside. “What now?”
“Darlin’, get your sweet ass up on this counter.” He watched as she jumped up on the counter, leaned back against the upper cabinet, and spread her legs for him. Her smile was sensually wicked. Bare and perfectly beautiful, her red inner-lips matched the cherry color of her nipples.
Which he had to taste.
He wrapped his arm around her waist to arch her back and took one nipple in his mouth, teasing it with his tongue and teeth. She tasted perfect, like lightly salted dark chocolate. Her patchouli body scrub scented her skin softly, driving him crazy. Taking her other nipple in his fingers, he teased her unmercifully, until she begged.
“Please. Now, Jackson. Oh, please. I can’t wait another minute.”
He loved the deep timbre of her voice when she was this far along. When she couldn’t stand it another second and her head rolled back and forth against the door of the cabinet.
Taking her hand, he spread her fingers apart and laid them on her breast, her nipple peeking from between her fingers. “When I lick your sweet pussy, with each lick, I want you to squeeze your nipple.” He did the same with her other breast. “This one, too. You’re gonna please yourself while I eat you out, Rori. Hear me?”
Her blue eyes had turned nearly black, her breath panted between her lips, and her moans sounded like they came all the way from her core.
He wouldn’t make her wait any longer. Kneeling, he put her legs over his shoulders, scooted her to the edge of the counter, and held her there, open and waiting, her musky sweet scent filling his nostrils, swirling through his head as his cock struggled to find the blood to become erect again.
Moving in, he trailed his tongue along her thigh until he reached her mound. Kissing and sucking her bare, smooth skin, he wrapped his hands over the tops of her thighs and spread her further for his p
leasure, and her delight.
His tongue flicked into the lovely slit, sliding in a circle around her clit that made her jump and suck in uneven breaths. He traced her lips down until he found the opening to her perfect core, and slid his tongue inside. With a wide lap, he sucked up all her juices, feeling her body jerk and heat.
He trailed his kisses lower, to the soft skin between her pussy and her back door, teasing and licking at the perfect spot.
She squeezed her nipples between her fingers and tugged at them, her breasts full and quivering.
Diving back in, he suckled his way along her lips until he reached the top. Using his hands, he gently spread her and blew on the hard little bud that pulsed with her fast heartbeat.
“Now, Jackson. Oh, don’t make me beg. Please.”
He didn’t want to spoil the moment by mentioning that she was already begging. With a smile, he attached his lips to her clit and sucked softly, fast pulses of his mouth, emulating what she’d done to him just moments before.
With a shout, she grabbed fistfuls of his hair, her entire body stiffening and shuddering as she broke apart, a gush of moisture warming his chin as he pressed it into her, keeping his lips on her stiff little bud. On and on she cried out, her body taking every moment of pleasure and letting it race through her.
With a tiny cry, she melted, released his hair, and dropped her hands to the countertop.
Jackson stood, pulled up his underwear and jeans, then gathered her in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. They lay, side by side, holding tight and just breathing.
“I don’t want to be without you.” She whispered the words against his chest.
“Yeah, me too.” He loved the connection between them. Loved everything about her. He loved her. He wanted her here with him. “I don’t want you to open that store in KC.” He didn’t mean to blurt it out, but there it was.
She sucked in a breath. “Why?”
“Your place is here. I need you here with me.” He wanted her to know she was needed. That he needed her.
Rori and Jackson: The Sons of Dusty Walker Page 4
