by Sara Orwig
“She has a dolly that I can play with, and she reads to me,” Sissy said.
“All right, pick out what you want to take with you and I'll go call them as soon as I finish doing your hair,” Rebecca said, tying a pink bow around Sissy’s ponytail. Now, come here, Tara, and I'll braid your hair.”
When Rebecca returned to the kitchen, Jake was stacking the last dish in the dishwasher. “I could have done that, Jake, but thanks.”
“Told you, it keeps me in practice.”
“They want to go. The Delancys captivate again.”
Something flickered in his eyes and he studied her as he reached for his cellular phone. “I'll phone Vance and let him know. How about midafternoon?”
“Sure,” she answered, realizing it might be more difficult to deal with Jake when the girls were no longer underfoot and she didn’t have her work to do. “I want to call your sister-in-law first and make absolutely certain this is all right.”
He handed her the phone and waited to call Vance.
The rest of the day until the afternoon, Rebecca couldn’t stop hovering over the girls. At two o'clock, Richard Vance and Sally arrived in an official car to pick them up.
While Vance and Jake talked, Rebecca gave the girls' things to Sally. “They stay up later in the summer, but they usually go to bed around half past eight or nine o'clock. I'll call them tonight. And thanks again for taking them.”
“It'll be a treat for us,” Sally said, her eyes sparkling, as she let Captain Vance take the girls' belongings from her. Rebecca hugged Tara and kissed her and then turned to hug and kiss Sissy. “I'll call you tonight,” she said. She followed them to the door, wanting to go outside, but halting when Jake took her arm.
“Let’s go, girls,” Captain Vance said. “I'll help you get buckled up, and you can ride in a police car.”
“Awesome!” Tara said as he took Sissy’s hand and they went to the car. Sally remained at the step, the sun making her red curls a bright halo around her head.
“Don’t worry about them. If they get homesick, I'll call you at once.”
“I have a feeling they're going to forget all about me,” Rebecca said with a smile.
“Impossible,” Jake said, dropping his arm casually across her shoulders. “What’s going on, Sally? You look like the cat that ate the cream.”
“I told Zach I was going to tell you. I'm pregnant!”
“That’s great,” Jake said warmly, and stepped forward to hug her.
“Well, we know what you think about starting a family, but you know we've been wanting children for a long time now.”
“I think that’s great,” Jake repeated, and Rebecca smiled at her, giving her a quick hug.
“It’s wonderful!” she said. “Congratulations.”
“We're so excited. We'll talk later. I'll take good care of your girls,” she said, bounding across the yard to the car.
“I really am glad for them, but I have a feeling it will take the next nine months to convince them,” Jake said. “Hey, Sally!” he called. “Just a minute, Rebecca,” he added as he left her and stepped outside. The sunlight was bright on his thick brown hair when he crossed the yard in long strides to catch up with Sally.
Sally turned around and came back, and Jake stood talking to her. Rebecca wondered if he was trying to convince Sally that he was happy about her news. In minutes he turned around, grinning at Rebecca, and returned to the kitchen.
Rebecca waved when they drove down the driveway and Jake closed and locked the door. He turned to look at her. “Now I've got you all to myself,” he said quietly, reaching for her. His fingers closed lightly around her wrist, and he pulled her around as he leaned against the counter and placed his hands on her waist.
“Let’s talk about this phobia you have about my job, because I don’t think it should rule your life.”
Chapter 13
Rebecca’s heartbeat quickened as he pulled her close. He leaned back against the kitchen counter and placed his hands lightly on her hips.
She shook her head at him. “Why don’t we postpone this conversation until Meskell is caught?”
“Why don’t we talk about it right now? I know what I want, Rebecca,” he said softly. His voice became husky, and her body tightened in response. “You're the woman I want in my life. I want you now and always—”
She placed her fingers on his face, feeling the faint stubble on his jaw, looking at his thick lashes. “I don’t see how you can be certain of love! We haven’t known each other a long time.”
“Time isn’t always necessary. Not in my life. I'm not a kid caught up in first love. I may act like it because of what you do to me, but I'm not.”
Rebecca’s heart pounded with his words. Jake’s eyes were solemn, his voice was husky and earnest, and something inside her ached to open to him even as another part of her battled to resist.
“I know what I want,” he declared again, and the look in his eyes left no mistake that he wanted her. She found it hard to get her breath, and his hands resting so lightly on her waist were a fiery contact.
“Jake, just a short time ago you were saying you weren’t a marrying man.”
“I hadn’t fallen in love then,” he answered solemnly, and she closed her eyes for a moment, wishing with all her heart that things were different. His words sounded marvelous, and in so many ways he was a very special man. But in one important way, he was what she had promised herself to avoid forever.
“You weren’t a marrying man,” she repeated firmly. “You've had nothing but responsibility since you were a child, and you want your freedom.” She recited the litany, knowing he had already gone over it last night. She couldn’t believe he had really fallen that deeply in love with her. In so many ways, the idea of his being in love with her was like a heady wine, intoxicating, tempting.
“That was different, Rebecca. I've fallen in love, and that’s changed my whole perspective. My walls are gone. Now let’s work on yours.”
She was astonished he had overcome all his objections to love and marriage. She gazed into his clear hazel eyes and felt shaken all over again. “I can’t let go,” she whispered.
“You said last night that everything else was all right except my work.”
“So?” she asked, suddenly holding her breath, wondering if he was going to offer to quit his job.
“So try to get past that a little. Think about all the other pros of being together—because there are plenty of pros.”
“But you won’t think about changing careers?”
“I've given it some thought, and I don’t want to,” he answered bluntly.
Disappointment rocked her. She had hoped he was going to capitulate and say he would leave the force. She tried to focus on what he was telling her.
“But you said you have a ranch and that someday you want to be a rancher.”
“Someday, when I retire from the force, but not yet. I'm not ready for retirement, and this is what I know how to do. I don’t want to retire to the ranch now.”
Jake gazed into her wide blue eyes, and he could see the pulse beating fast in a fine blue vein in her throat and he knew the only barricade between them was his work. All his objections were gone. Marriage began to seem something desirable, a heady prospect, when he thought about spending his life with Rebecca.
“There are so many other considerations you should think about that would counterbalance your worries over my work,” he said, tilting her face up to his and feeling as if he could never tire of looking at her. He leaned back against the kitchen counter and spread his legs apart, watching her, seeing her lips part, and knowing she was torn between wanting his love and fearing his work. “You're strong enough to cope with being married to a cop, Rebecca,” he said softly, and bent his head to place his mouth over hers.
As his mouth brushed hers and then covered hers, his tongue touching her lips, desire burst within her. Rebecca yielded to him, her thoughts swirling over what he had said to her. M
arriage. He had gone from saying he wouldn’t marry for years to asking her to marry him! She might be strong enough to cope with his dangerous work, but was that what she wanted to do?
His tongue slid over hers, and her heart raced as she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him pull her close against his hard body.
Each time he kissed and caressed her, he bound her more completely to him and shattered a layer of her defense. She should have resisted him from the start, but she couldn’t. His strong arms were marvelous. Jake was good to her, good to the girls. She liked his companionship, wanted his kisses. The arguments raged in her as his hands slipped down to tug her shirt out of her cutoffs and then went beneath her T-shirt to caress her breasts.
Thoughts and reluctance melted away, and she trembled, letting him touch her, wanting to touch his body, to love him and be loved.
Jake felt her tremble, felt her resistance go as her body softened and her lips parted and her tongue met his. Her mouth was wet and hot, and he wanted to stroke every inch of it with his tongue, to taste and touch and love her.
He felt as if there were an emptiness in his life that went soul-deep and Rebecca was the only person who could ever fill it. And he was going to help her fight her fears, because he knew she was strong.
He leaned over her, determined to demolish her objections. He had always been so careful with her before, stopping the instant she made the slightest protest. But now he wanted to kiss her until she forgot all her fears, to caress her until she wanted him, because he felt she was filled with a love that he was so close to winning.
He turned his head, trailing kisses to her ear, running his tongue over the curve of her ear. “I'm going to love you, Rebecca. I want your love, and I'm willing to risk my heart to win yours. I'm giving you all of it.” He caught her hand, watching her.
Rebecca opened her eyes, taken aback at the hunger she saw in the depths of his eyes, which had darkened to a deep-sea green now, with only tiny flecks of gold. He placed her hand against his chest and through his T-shirt, beneath his warm flesh, she felt his racing heart.
“There. You feel that? That’s what you do to me. And my heart is yours. I've already taken that risk, Rebecca.”
A tremor rippled in her, and she met his gaze, her heart pounding from the words that tore at her. How badly she wanted to say yes to him, to yield, to let him love her! Her body shook with need for him, and she ached, her hips thrusting against him. For days now the slight physical contact, his kisses and caresses, had built fires of passion within her that were finally blazing out of control.
His mouth covered hers again, his kiss hot and demanding, while his hands slipped down to take hold of the hem of her T-shirt. He pulled it over her head, leaning back to look at her as he unfastened the clasp to her bra. His eyes had darkened, turning a stormy green while he cupped her breasts and bent his head to kiss her, his tongue flicking over her nipple.
Rebecca moaned softly, swept away by the passion fluttering in the pit of her stomach, burning lower between her thighs. She wanted him, wanted his fierce loving, yet at the same time she battled against yielding, because she knew she would give him more than her body.
Jake trembled, wanting to go slow, to have it last forever, because this might be the only chance she would give him. He wanted to set her on fire. She was beautiful, perfect, loving and giving and sensual. And he suspected there was far more warmth and passion in her than he had seen so far.
Kissing her, he unfastened her jeans, pushing them over her hips, letting them fall around her ankles. As he bent to kiss her breast, to suck gently and feel her soft flesh beneath his tongue and lips, he caught his T-shirt. He straightened to yank it over his head and drop it on the floor and heard her quick intake of breath.
Any moment he expected her to stop him, but then her gaze met his and the burning blue fires in her eyes made his heart thud against his rib cage. He saw in the depths of her eyes that she wanted to be loved, and it turned him rock hard, making him tremble and fight for control. He felt as if this were a one-time chance, knowing he might not ever get past the barriers in her heart again, wanting to destroy them, to bind her to him body and soul.
Her gaze drifted down over his chest, and her fingers fluttered there.
“Damn,” he whispered, his fingers kneading her soft buttocks. “I could eat you alive, Rebecca.”
He leaned forward to kiss her, his tongue going deep while his hands stroked her hips, sliding down to caress her inner thighs, pushing aside the narrow strip of lace to stroke her moist, soft flesh. He found the feminine bud, his fingers stroking as she grasped his forearms and cried out.
Her cry of passion tore through him like a flame. He shook with wanting her as he stroked her, driving her to the brink, watching her bite her lower lip with her white teeth, her eyes closed in passion as her fingers dug into him and her hips moved frantically.
“Jake!”
“That’s it,” he whispered hoarsely, leaning close to her ear. “That’s it. I want to hear you call my name. I want you to cry out for me. I want to set you on fire, Rebecca.”
He knelt, pulling down the flimsy panties, his tongue following the path his fingers had taken while he felt her fingers wind in his hair and she gasped with pleasure.
He stood and looked at her, seeing that her eyes were closed. Perspiration beaded her upper lip, and a fall of golden hair covered her cheek. Her face was flushed and her nipples were hard buds, and he relished every sensual peak he had brought her to. He picked her up in his arms, aware of her bare body against his, of her soft cries of need and her hands fluttering over his chest.
He set her on her feet beside her bed and knelt to slide his hands down her legs, caressing their silken smoothness, wanting her as he had never wanted anyone. “I want you,” he said gruffly, looking up at her as his hand closed around her ankle and he lifted her foot to push off her shoe and slide off the jeans and lacy panties. Then he did the same with her other foot, handling her as if she were precious crystal.
Rebecca’s heart pounded, and every caress made her ache for him. As he straightened up, her gaze ran over his broad chest, the powerful muscles, and she reached out, her fingertips feeling his smooth skin, his flat, hard stomach. She touched the top of his jeans and heard his deep intake of breath.
Looking up at him, feeling the heat in his gaze, she began to unbutton his jeans, twisting the flat copper buttons loose, freeing him, while his gaze ran over her like a warm caress.
“You're a beautiful woman, Rebecca,” he whispered hoarsely.
She glanced up and met Jake’s burning half-lidded gaze as she pushed open his jeans, sliding them off his narrow hips. She caught her fingers in his briefs to slide them away, freeing him.
He was virile, throbbing, ready.
She drew a deep breath, shaking, wanting him to love her, to feel like a complete, desirable woman again, if only for this one moment in time. She closed her slender fingers around him, her flesh pale against his darkened skin. She drew her hand up slowly, stroking him.
Jake groaned, winding his fingers in her hair, and then he picked her up and placed her on the bed, bending over her to hold her slender foot, his fingers stroking her ankle as he trailed kisses along her leg.
Knowing that if she did this she could never go back, that her heart would be bound to him whether she accepted his love or not, Rebecca’s heart thudded. She wanted his loving, even if she couldn’t accept his proposal.
She pushed the pillow behind her head to watch him as he flicked his tongue along the inside of her thigh, tingles radiating from each stroke. Jake watched her, his gaze steady while he kissed her, making her heart drum.
“I want to marry you,” he whispered. “And I'm not going to give up easily.”
Her heart pounded at his words. The sensual touch of his hands and his lips drove any answer from her as she closed her eyes and gasped with pleasure, spreading her legs and opening herself to him.
She felt his w
eight leave the bed and watched as he removed a packet from his jeans. He came back, kneeling between her thighs. He was poised over her, watching her. She knew that she was making an ultimate commitment, that her battle with him would be a thousand times more difficult now. And then he trailed his fingers along her inner thigh and between her legs, and she moaned with pleasure and closed her eyes and stopped battling with herself. Thought vanished, yielding to pleasure as she felt his warm body above hers, and she wrapped her legs around him, pressing them against his firm buttocks.
Jake’s heart thudded so violently, he felt as if it would burst out of his chest. He looked at Rebecca, her lower lip caught again in her even white teeth, her eyes closed with passion. “I'm going to make you mine, Rebecca, for this moment and forever,” he whispered, wanting to bind her to him heart and soul.
He lowered himself and felt her fingers close around him, guiding him into her as her hips arched and her hand slid away. She pressed against him, and he fought for control, trying to go slowly, feeling her tightness.
Rebecca wound her hands around his neck, feeling his shoulder muscles tense as he slid into her, hot and big, filling her, moving slowly.
She cried out with pleasure, her body arching against him, and then they were moving, climbing to a peak, their bodies bound together as need buffeted her.
“Rebecca! Love,” Jake said, his voice hoarse as he ground out the words, and they moved with a frantic rhythm.
Waves of pleasure washed over her, rocking her body as she clenched and spasmed around him. Jake shuddered, climaxing and finally slowing, his weight lowering. He turned his head to kiss her throat, his arms wrapping around her.
Rebecca stroked his smooth, damp back as their breathing returned to normal, and she wondered how much change the past few moments would wreak on her life.
Jake held her, feeling her heart pounding as violently as his. Satisfaction and love burned in him as hot as passion had only moments earlier. And a fierce determination to win her love.
