“I agree.” There was no way she would let Jackson leave. She was still recovering from the last time he’d done that, and they hadn’t been—well—as close as they were now.
The stakes were so much higher on many levels.
Bailey sat on the armrest of his chair so she could have a better view of the computer screen. And so she could be near Jackson. It was stupid, but just being near him made her feel safer. He must have sensed that, because he slipped his arm around her and drew her closer.
There. She felt it. That click in her head that turned off some of the adrenaline rush. Her breathing began to slow down. She wondered if Jackson knew just how much he could soothe her with a mere touch.
For now, anyway.
It was highly probable they had their own personal storm brewing over Caden. Would they be enemies before this was over? Bailey hated the thought of never being able to sit with him like this again, but she had to put her baby first. She’d already lost so much time with Caden, she wouldn’t let anyone, including Jackson, rob her of another day.
She forced her attention back on the screen, but there were still no signs of attack. Steven and some of the men were moving around outside, and they were all armed, bracing themselves for the worst.
Thankfully, the worst didn’t seem to be coming.
“I think Caden and Tracy should stay in the panic room,” Jackson mumbled. “He’ll be ready for a nap soon anyway, and he can take it in there.”
Bailey couldn’t argue with that. The panic room was the safest place to be.
“Are you all right?” Jackson asked.
She looked over at him to see what had prompted that question and noticed he was staring at her.
“It’ll be okay,” he added.
Of course, Bailey knew he couldn’t possibly guarantee that, but again, it made her feel good just to hear it.
She was obviously in big trouble here.
In the past two days, people had tried to kill them and kidnap Caden. A woman had been shot at just minutes earlier. But she couldn’t stop feeling all warm and comforted because of Jackson.
With his attention fastened back onto the screen, he took her hand, brought it to his mouth and brushed his lips over her skin. “It’ll be okay,” he repeated.
“I don’t know how,” she mumbled.
Jackson kept hold of her hand. “You have to trust that we can get through this and work out everything. We’re not enemies, Bailey. Far from it,” he added.
Was that true? Yes, there was this attraction that seemed to be getting hotter and heavier every time they were together. Or apart. Heck, it just kept growing, even when they needed to focus all their attention on other things.
“We can’t work this out in bed,” she added.
He glanced up, and the corner of his mouth lifted. “No. But we can work out plenty of other things there.”
That smile nearly melted her.
She shook her head. “I don’t understand this.”
“Simple.” Jackson touched his mouth to her hand again. “You’re a beautiful woman and I want you. That’s all there is to it.”
“Really?” she questioned. “Caden isn’t part of this?”
“No,” he said with complete conviction.
Jackson’s phone rang, the sound slicing through the awkward silence.
“It’s Steven,” Jackson said after glancing at the caller ID screen.
Maybe this was the good news she’d been praying for. Maybe Steven or the sheriff had caught the person who fired the shot at Robin.
“Interesting,” Jackson said, after at least a minute of silence. Another minute passed. “Dig into the accusation Robin made about Shannon being involved with one of the gunmen who took the hostages. Danny Monroe is the name. Let me know if you learn anything.”
Jackson hung up and looked at her. “Steven has someone reviewing all the security feed, and he’s not convinced there is a gunman.”
“What? But we heard the shot.”
“Yeah,” Jackson agreed. “But remember, Robin kept moving close to the camera so we couldn’t see what was going on around her.”
Of course. Bailey had thought that was because the woman only wanted Jackson and her to hear what she was saying. “You think Robin could have set this all up and fired the shot herself?”
He shrugged. “It’s possible. Maybe this was her plan, so we’d no longer be suspicious of her. She could be trying to gain our sympathy and trust.”
And it nearly worked. Bailey had indeed been terrified for Robin’s safety. Now she was riled to the core that Robin would try to manipulate them that way.
“Steven’s already called the sheriff and SAPD,” Jackson added, and his phone rang again. “It’s Evan.” He opened the phone and put it on speaker. “I tried to reach you.”
“Yes, I got your message.” And that’s all he said for several moments. “I was out of the office when you called.”
“Obviously.” Jackson paused, too. “I wanted to ask you a couple of things. First, why did you have the lab fake the results of the DNA test?”
“Who said I did?” Evan immediately countered.
“Me. I know they’re fake because I ran another set.”
Evan cursed. “You didn’t trust me?”
“No. And apparently my instincts were right.”
“I did it to protect you,” Evan insisted. “I didn’t want you to lose Caden.”
“That wasn’t your call to make,” Jackson insisted. “Now, talk to me about Ryan Cassaine. He said you’re the one who told him about the college student who wanted to put up her baby for adoption.”
“Yes, it was me. What about it?”
“Well, considering that I now know there are some questionable aspects about Caden’s adoption—”
“Wait a minute,” Evan interrupted. “You think I had something to do with stealing Bailey Hodges’s baby?”
“Did you?” Bailey demanded.
“No.” A moment later, Evan cursed and repeated his adamant denial. “I can’t believe I have to defend myself like this. Jackson told me he wanted to adopt a baby, so I started asking around. This lawyer called out of the blue. Phillip Dalkey. And he said he had a client who might be willing to give up her child, but that she would need compensation. So I called Ryan and gave him the contact info. That’s all. That’s the only part I played in all this.”
“And it has nothing to do with your fiancée’s death?” Bailey prompted.
“No. Jackson, please tell me you don’t believe any of this.”
“I don’t want to believe it, but I have to check out all the angles. Someone sent a man here to kill Bailey and me and kidnap Caden. I have to make sure that everyone around me is someone I can trust.”
“Bailey’s around you,” Evan snapped.
“Yes, because I trust her. She has as much to lose here as I do.”
“And she has everything to gain. That includes her son and your money.” Evan’s words were rushed now, and laced with bitterness. “Have you ever considered that she might have been the one to set up the illegal adoption? Bailey gets a cool million for turning over her baby to you, temporarily, and then a few months later she comes to the estate with DNA results and a sob story about someone stealing her baby. She takes Caden. It’s a win-win for her.”
Bailey frantically shook her head and turned to Jackson to defend herself, but Jackson gently tightened the grip he had on her.
“If Bailey had been trying to scam me, she would have showed up weeks ago. And she damn sure wouldn’t have hired a gunman who’d get so close to Caden.”
Bailey still held her breath. She couldn’t afford to have Jackson think she was guilty of anything, because he might toss her out. God knows how long it would take for her to get Caden then.
“You’ll lose Caden to her,” Evan said a moment later.
“Probably. Merry Christmas, Evan. We’ll talk after the holidays.” Jackson closed his phone and dropped it onto his desk.<
br />
“Probably,” Bailey repeated under her breath. She certainly hadn’t expected that admission from Jackson.
Here she’d been trying to mentally prepare herself for a custody battle with one of the richest men in the country, and that “probably” had sounded like…surrender.
And it touched Bailey the way nothing else could have.
Jackson loved Caden. She was positive of that. Just as positive as she was that Caden loved Jackson. Yet, that “probably” meant he was at least willing to consider losing the child he loved.
“I didn’t come here to scam you,” she reminded him.
But Jackson waved her off before she even finished. “I know.”
He stood, pulling her to her feet. In the same motion, he drew her into his arms. “Evan’s on the back burner for now. If he’s the one behind this, then eventually he’ll try to strike again. He won’t succeed, with all the security precautions we’ve put in place. Eventually, he or the person responsible will be caught.”
The idea sounded so simple. So convincing. And maybe that’s why Bailey didn’t pull back and launch them into a conversation that neither of them was anxious to have. Or maybe she just stayed there because it felt good to have him hold her.
“Can we get Caden from the panic room?” she asked. But she still didn’t move out of his arms.
“Soon.” Jackson didn’t let go either. He held her and kissed the top of her head.
The air changed between them. Or something changed. Maybe it was all happening inside her and had nothing to do with the air. Bailey didn’t care. She only wanted this moment and all the feelings that came with it.
It wasn’t exactly hot passion that sent her in search of his mouth. Something else was going on here. Something that seemed to go bone-deep. Maybe deeper. Something that stirred her heart and blood even more than this fierce attraction could have.
She was falling hard for Jackson Malone.
That was it. More than the fire in her blood, there were the flames in her heart. It was probably stupid to fall for a man like him. A man who could cost Bailey her son and everything else. But her heart wasn’t going to let her back out of this. In fact, her heart was the part of her that urged her to kiss him. Really kiss him—until any doubts that she had simply melted away.
“You’re sure?” she heard Jackson ask.
Bailey didn’t even have to think about this. She had never been more certain of anything in her life.
Chapter Fourteen
Jackson wasn’t sure about this at all.
The timing was all wrong, but then the timing had sucked ever since Bailey had come into his life. They had so many things to work out—and he’d already insisted they wouldn’t be able to work them out in bed—but here they were, heading in that direction.
Well, in the direction of his desk anyway.
Judging from the heat of the kiss she had initiated, they wouldn’t make it out of his office, much less all the way to the bedroom.
He forced himself to think of the consequences, but those consequences kept getting bogged down in the hazy passion that was slamming hard and fast through his body. He blamed that on Bailey’s kiss. On the way her breasts were brushing against his chest. Everything seemed to be coming down to sex, and it didn’t seem to matter if Jackson wasn’t convinced that sex should happen.
“This is more than I thought it would be,” Bailey mumbled against his mouth.
Her words made it through the haze somehow, and he shook his head trying to figure out what she meant.
More than sex?
Jackson was about to stop, to tell her that it couldn’t be more. They had too much to work out. Too much to do. Hell, someone was trying to kill them, or at least make them believe that. Life was so far from perfect that perfect didn’t even seem to be on their radar.
Did that stop him from kissing her?
No.
He deepened the already too-deep kiss and tightened his grip around her. He slid his hand between them so he could cup her breast.
“I’m falling for you,” Bailey whispered.
Even though her voice barely had sound, he heard it loud and clear. And that caused him to stop.
Jackson pulled back and stared down at her, trying to figure out what he could possibly say to that. Her words were like red flags because of his old wounds and baggage. He’d spent years avoiding words like that. Years making sure that no one ever got close enough to hurt him again.
Bailey’s warm breath hit his mouth. Her eyes were half closed. Dreamy. And waiting. Either he had to dive right into this or step back. Stepping back was in his comfort zone. Years of practice had made it almost a rote response.
Don’t get too close.
But this was Bailey. Hadn’t he known from the moment they’d met that nothing between them would ever be ordinary?
“If you want to stop…” she whispered.
He laughed, but there wasn’t an ounce of humor in it. “The last thing I want to do is stop. I want you more than my next breath.”
She nodded, as if that was all there was to this. She slid her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him in for another kiss.
“Later, we’ll deal with the later,” she said, just as her mouth touched his. That simple touch shot through him, turning his body into a furnace all over again.
Later would no doubt be harder than hell, but it would be easier than resisting her now. Jackson knew he stood zero chance of that. So he just took charge and went with it. When later came around, he would accept the responsibility for letting his heart and libido rule his head.
Jackson kissed her, and he didn’t hold anything back. He put all of his feelings, his frustration and the white-hot heat into that kiss. And he didn’t stop there. The need had already made him crazy, so he decided to make Bailey crazy right along with him.
He dropped test kisses on her neck and listened for her response. She moaned when he got to the base of her neck, so he lingered there long enough to please her and himself.
She tasted like all of the best parts of Christmas.
If the need hadn’t been driving him to speed things up, he would have taken more time to savor her, to watch her respond to the kisses that he trailed down her neck and to the tops of her breasts. But this wasn’t a simmering fire. It was a full blaze for both of them.
Jackson pushed down the top of her stretchy dress. Pushed down her lacy bra. Maybe the later part would involve a second round so he could taste and sample and touch every part of her. But for now, he settled for wetting his fingers in his mouth and circling her right nipple.
She moaned, arched her back. The change in positions sent her sex pushing against his. Jackson was already hard and ready to take her, but that was just a reminder that the taking couldn’t wait.
Bailey began to fight with her clothes, shoving up her dress and then going after his zipper. Yeah, the heat was making them crazy and speeding up everything until it was a blur. But what he was feeling wasn’t a blur. The need just kept slamming into him, until all he could do was pull her to the floor.
Later, he would apologize for taking her like a sex-starved teenager.
The moment her back was on the floor, Bailey reached for him, pulling him onto her. The location and the timing no longer seemed important. Nothing did, except for what was about to happen.
Jackson kept kissing her, hoping that her taste would satiate him enough so he would slow down. No such luck. Her taste and her eager hands just fueled the already-raging heat, and when he found the top of her panties, he peeled them off her.
He had to touch her. Couldn’t resist. So, as he’d done with her breasts, he eased his fingers inside her. Into all that slick heat that was a primal invitation to his aroused body.
Bailey obviously thought turnabout was fair play. She unzipped him and took him into her hands. Jackson could have sworn his eyes crossed, and he heard himself curse. The need was shouting for him to take her now now now, but, man, he w
anted this to last for hours.
Lasting hours was obviously a pipe dream.
He drew back his hand and entered her slowly. Or rather, that’s what he tried to do. But Bailey made the intimate contact complete by lifting her hips.
Whatever was better than Christmas, this was it.
Any coherent thought that was left in his head was toast now. He was beyond thinking, and he moved inside Bailey, taking them both to the only place their bodies needed to go.
She made a sound of pure pleasure. A sound Jackson was positive he would never forget. He wouldn’t forget that look on her face either. Part relief, part surprise.
All Bailey.
Her hands were frantic, reaching for him, dragging him closer, even though getting closer wasn’t possible. There was a flicker of panic in her eyes, as if she thought for just a split second that she wasn’t going to get the relief she needed.
But she came in a flash.
Jackson didn’t stop. He was already too close to taking the leap himself, but that didn’t prevent him from savoring the incredible woman in the throes of her orgasm.
It was Bailey who drew him deeper into her. Bailey who urged him on. Bailey who took him right over that cliff with her.
The French were right. It was a little death. Everything slammed toward that one moment. That overwhelming moment where everything became crystal clear. Where everything was reborn. And in that moment Jackson could see and feel only one thing.
Bailey.
He whispered her name as he buried his face against her neck and let himself go.
Jackson tried to move, to readjust their positions so that he wasn’t crushing Bailey, but his body seemed reluctant to break the intimate connection. He finally managed to roll to the side, but he kept her in his arms. She rolled right along with him, and they landed on their sides and face-to-face.
Somehow, this was more intimate than when he’d been inside her.
Jackson considered himself a strong, occasionally ruthless man, but Bailey had a way of bringing him to his knees.
He wanted to tell her that she was beautiful and that what had just happened was pretty damn amazing. But he heard the ringing sound. For a moment, Jackson thought it was all in his head.
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