But Alayna's bedroom was downstairs and she and Jack were upstairs sitting in the tub. If she suggested they go there, then she'd have to get up. Then he'd have to get up. Then they'd have to walk down the stairs and through the house. A lot could happen in that span of time. The spell could be broken. She could lose her nerve.
To hell with the bedroom, she thought, carelessly tossing aside Merideth's suggestion. The tub would do just fine.
"Do you know what I like about you?" she asked, trying to hide the quiver in her voice.
"What?"
"Your chest." She forced herself to lay her hand against it, and felt the thud of his heart beneath her palm. "It's so broad and muscular. I can't tell you how many times I've wished I could curl up against it like I did that night in the cabin."
"There's nothing stopping you from doing so now," he reminded her.
She looked up at him and he gave her a nod of encouragement. She smiled a bit nervously, then slowly threaded her fingers through the mat of hair there, watching her fingers' movement.
"Some women prefer a man without hair on his chest."
Alayna snapped her gaze to his. "Oh, no! I like a man with hair on his chest." To prove it, she laid her head against his chest and rubbed her cheek across it. "It feels so much softer than I thought it would."
In the movement, her cheek chafed his nipple and Jack flinched, sucking in a breath.
She quickly sat up and turned her face away, feeling the tears building. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"
Jack placed a finger beneath her chin and forced her gaze to his. "You didn't do anything wrong, Alayna." He let his hand drop to her breast. "A man's nipples are sensitive like a woman's." He stroked once, and felt the shiver that shuddered through her. "See? Your body responds in the same way."
She didn't agree or deny his claim, but he could still see the uncertainties in her eyes. "It's okay, Alayna. You can touch me. You can do anything you want to me, whatever feels natural." When she still didn't move, he drew her hand to his chest and forced her palm open beneath his. He felt the tremble in her fingers and had to swallow the emotion that rose to his throat. "Talk to me. Tell me what's going on in that pretty head of yours."
"I—" She cleared her throat and tried again. "I'm afraid I'll do something wrong. That I won't please you."
"Just having you touch me is a pleasure." He wrapped an arm at her waist and drew her down until she was stretched along his length and they were lying stomach-to-stomach, nose-to-nose. "Now," he said, offering her a soft smile, "you were saying something about how the hair on my chest was softer than you thought it would be."
Alayna drew in a deep breath, silently praying that she wouldn't screw this up. "Yes," she replied, releasing the breath slowly. "I thought it would feel coarse. You know, rough."
"Disappointed?"
She took another deep breath. "No-o-o," she said slowly and shifted so that she could place her hand on his chest again. She laughed self-consciously. "In fact, every time you take off your shirt when we're working together, I have to will myself not to look."
"Why?"
She shifted again, and her leg slipped between his thighs. "Too tempting."
Jack was finding it harder and harder to breathe. And it wasn't Alayna's weight that was constricting his lungs.
"And you know what?" she asked him, finding her courage once again.
"What?"
She bit back a smile. "I love white boxer shorts."
Jack drew back his head to peer at her. "How'd you know I wear white boxer shorts?"
She smiled, pleased to discover that she could shock him. She pressed a nail into the hollow of his throat and began to trace a line down the middle of his chest. "I peeked." She rolled to her side, her back snug against the tub's wall, and let her finger trace lower. Her finger dipped into his navel, rose, then bumped to a stop against the waist of his jeans. She hesitated a moment, then forced her fingers to close around the top button of his jeans, releasing it. "Did you ever see the movie, Risky Business?"
"I—I'm not sure." He wasn't even sure of his name, anymore.
"Tom Cruise starred in it, and there is this scene where he slides across the floor in a pair of white socks, his shirt open and he's wearing nothing beneath it but a pair of white boxers." She released another button. "I rented that movie once, and nearly wore out the tape, replaying that scene over and over again." Another button popped open at her fingers' urging. "There's something about a man who wears boxers."
Taking a deep breath to strengthen her nerve, she slipped her hand into the opening she'd created and boldly took him into her hand. Her fingers shook slightly, but it didn't prevent her from feeling the softness of his flesh, the hardness of his arousal. Nor the heat. Slowly she lifted her gaze to his and found that same heat in his eyes.
And she, Alayna McCloud, had put it there.
Emboldened even more by that knowledge, she leaned closer. "Something really sexy," she added in a whisper and closed her mouth over his.
Jack couldn't think, couldn't move. He could only feel. And the woman pressed against him felt damn good. He hadn't intended to let things go this far, but he was helpless to put an end to it now. He framed her face with his hands, bringing her face closer, drawing her deeper into the kiss. He probed her mouth with his tongue, savoring her flavor, her taste, teasing her until she all but squirmed.
Her hand tightened around him and began to move slowly up and down his length … and he knew he was lost. He had to have her, had to make love to her, had to prove to her that she was capable of pleasing a man.
He dropped his hands to her shoulders and squeezed, marveling at the delicacy of her bone structure, the little whimper that escaped her as she pressed closer against him. Anxious to touch her, to show her what her body was capable of responding to, he slipped a hand underneath her short top and cupped a breast.
She gasped, her fingers vising around him.
"Easy," he murmured, pressing kisses to her chin, her throat, her chest. He felt her melt, muscle by slow muscle as he soothed her with his lips. Nudging her shirt's fabric down with his chin, he closed his mouth over a lace-covered breast. She arched against him, moaning softly. He smiled against her breast, then released it, replacing his lips with his hand.
"There's something else I like about you," he whispered at her ear, as he found the front hook of her bra.
"What?"
"Your breasts." He tugged her shirt up and over her head, and her hands went immediately to her chest, covering her nakedness.
He lifted his gaze to hers. "What are you doing?"
Her cheeks, already flushed with passion, reddened even more. "They're so small," she murmured almost apologetically.
He pushed her hands out of the way and looked, slipping her bra's straps over her shoulders and down her arms. He cupped her breasts in his hands as if measuring them. "They're perfect."
For some insane reason, Alayna believed him. Maybe it was the tone of his voice. Or perhaps it was the reverence with which he stroked her breasts. Or maybe it was the tenderness with which he pressed light kisses there, his breath warm and moist on her bare skin. Or maybe it was the sensations that spilled through her when he took her fully into his mouth and gently suckled. But suddenly she didn't feel lacking. She felt … almost whole.
"Jack?"
"Hmm."
"Make love to me."
Slowly he lifted his head and looked at her, his brown eyes searching hers. "Are you sure?"
She quickly nodded her head. "Yes," she whispered. "I'm sure."
Before he could respond, she sat up and began to pull his jeans and boxers over his hips. With his help, she freed him of them, then tossed them over the side of the tub. Struggling in the cramped space, she stripped off her shorts and lace panties, her hands shaking from a combination of nerves and anticipation. She dropped them on top of Jack's jeans, then moved to straddle him, her gaze on his.
"I want this, Jack," she whispered almost des
perately as she reached between her legs to guide him to her. "I—"
"Alayna. Wait." He closed his hand over her wrist, stopping her. "I'm not protected."
She leaned closer, pressing her mouth over his as she lowered herself over him. "It's okay," she whispered huskily. "I can't have children."
Jack heard her, but was unsure what she meant. Then the words lost their importance as the softness of her feminine opening met the hardness of his arousal. "Alayna," he groaned, raising his hips to meet her.
She arched, sucking in a breath, as he slipped inside her, then groaned, her velvet walls closing around him instinctively. He grabbed her hips, holding her still, knowing if she moved so much as a millimeter, he'd lose his seed right then and there. And he wanted this to last more than he wanted to draw his next breath.
He waited, his fingers digging into her flesh, until he felt her slowly begin to relax. Then he began to move. In and out, setting the rhythm, raising his hips, then lowering them, guiding her with his hands at the curve of her waist, until she followed him, her movements as free and as spontaneous as the smiles she'd offered to him so many times over the last weeks.
Capturing her hand, he drew it to his chest, to his heart. "Do you feel that?" he asked, and pressed his palm flat over hers. Even through her hand he could feel the wild pounding of his heart and knew, though she said nothing, that she must feel it, too. "That's what you do to me," he whispered. "And this," he added and raised his hips, burying himself deeply inside her and allowing her to feel the fullness of his arousal. She gasped, then purred her pleasure, curling her fingers beneath his and digging her nails into his skin. "You make me want what I have no right to want," he told her, his voice husky with need. "To wish for things that I have no right to wish. You're a woman, Alayna, in every sense of the word. A very seductive woman."
Tears misted her eyes. "Oh, Jack…"
With his gaze fixed on hers, he began to move again, slowly at first, teasing her, then filling her, drawing her closer and closer to a fire that burned within them both. Passion stained her cheeks, glazed her eyes, while perspiration beaded her upper lip and dampened the hair at her temples. Jack watched her face, and knew that she was close. Suddenly she cried out, then tensed, as if straining to grasp something held just out of her reach.
"Let go, Alayna." he whispered, watching her. "Let me set you free."
He thrust hard, bringing her hips to meet his and she cried out again, arching against him as she accepted his seed. She filled her hands with her hair, stretching her arms up high, then higher still, letting the long blond strands drift through her fingers and fall to pool at her shoulders.
Then she crumpled, melting against his chest on a thready sigh, her heart echoing the pulsations of her feminine walls around him. He gathered her within his arms, holding her close to him, and pressed his lips to the top of her head.
Cradled within the old-fashioned footed tub, he closed his eyes and rested his cheek against her angel-blond hair.
Slowly a sense of peace slipped over him.
* * *
Eight
« ^ »
The sense of peace Jack experienced after making love with Alayna lasted about as long as the nap they took together in the tub.
The phone rang, startling them awake.
Alayna bolted upright, her hip digging painfully into Jack's groin. She glanced around, disoriented for a moment, before her gaze settled on Jack's. As she brought him into focus, a slow smile of remembrance curved her lips and warmed her eyes. She melted to his chest and covered his mouth with hers.
And the phone rang again.
She withdrew reluctantly, replacing her lips with a finger and pressed lightly. "Hold that thought," she whispered.
She quickly scrambled from the tub and grabbed the portable phone from the back of the toilet tank where it rested.
"Hello?"
Her eyes widened and she grabbed Jack's shirt from the toilet seat and frantically stuffed her arms through the sleeves as if whoever was on the other end of the line could see her nakedness. "No! No!" she cried. "You didn't interrupt anything." She glanced Jack's way and rolled her eyes, then brushed her hair back from her face and held it on top of her head while she listened. Her eyes grew even wider.
"Yes. I've got plenty of room." She fisted her fingers in her hair and pulled it up away from her head, then released it, letting out a silent whoop of joy. "Yes, I'll be here this afternoon. No problem." She spun in a tight circle, hugging the phone to her ear. "Yes, and thank you. Thank you so much."
Jack watched as she carefully hit the disconnect button and replaced the phone on top of the toilet's tank. Then she whirled. "A baby!" she squealed shrilly. "They're bringing us a baby!"
She dived over the side of the tub, planting an exuberant kiss on Jack's lips, then, just as quickly, she was pushing against his chest and popping back to her feet. "Oh, my stars!" she cried, clapping her hands over her cheeks. "I've got so much to do!" She grabbed her shorts and tugged them on, and began reciting a list. "I've got to get the crib down from the attic. Launder the crib linens and receiving blankets. I've got to sterilize the bottles—"
She disappeared through the bathroom doorway, still ticking off her list of things to do … and left Jack sitting in the tub, naked as the day he was born, staring after her.
All Alayna could think about was that a baby was being delivered to her home that afternoon.
All Jack could think about was that Alayna had said she couldn't have any children.
She couldn't have kids.
He laid the shelf across the brackets he'd hung on the wall of the room Alayna had chosen for the nursery and slapped his level on top.
She couldn't have kids?
What the hell was that supposed to mean? he asked himself in frustration. Was she on some type of birth control? Or had she meant that she physically couldn't have children? He watched the level's bubble rock a moment before it finally settled over the center point. He snatched the level from the shelf and stuffed it into the pocket of the nail apron he had tied around his waist.
Didn't matter, he told himself. The fact was she wanted children. And Jack didn't. Not his. And not anyone else's.
He glanced toward the opposite side of the room where Alayna knelt, putting together the frame of the crib. Her hair was still mussed from their lovemaking, and she was still wearing his shirt. He found it hard to believe that they'd made love less than an hour ago. And it hadn't been just sex, either. They'd made wild passionate love, something Alayna had thought herself incapable of.
The fact that he'd proven to her that she could please a man should have made him feel good, since that was the gift he'd wanted to give her. But for some reason he felt bluer than blue.
At that moment she glanced up and caught him looking at her. A slow knowing smile curved at her mouth and turned her eyes to smoke. "What are you looking at?"
Jack lifted a shoulder and crossed to her. "Just admiring your shirt."
He took the wrench from her and tightened the bolt, accomplishing in two seconds what Alayna had failed to do in ten minutes. She laughed, rocking back on her hips and wrapping her arms around her knees. "Want it back?" she teased.
Jack glanced at her and was tempted to strip the shirt from her, pull her into his arms and make wild passionate love to her right there on the nursery room floor.
Instead he snorted and tossed the wrench into the toolbox. "You've got a stork delivery due this afternoon, remember?" He pressed his hands against his thighs and pushed himself to his feet. He stood over her, his hands braced against his hips. "So what's next on your list, boss lady? Laundering the sheets, or sterilizing baby bottles?"
Jack stood at the second floor nursery window with his arms folded across his chest, watching the circus on the lawn below. It seemed a delivery from the stork was a family affair for the McCloud family. All three of Alayna's cousins had been called to witness the event. He'd recognized Sam and Mandy right
off when they had driven up, and he figured the woman who had just arrived driving a sporty Porsche must be their sister, Merideth.
He whistled low under his breath when he saw the car door open and a long, curvy leg appear. He let his gaze travel up the leg and to the face of the woman as she stood, pushing back a mane of blond hair. Seemed beauty ran deep in the McCloud bloodline, he reflected. Every single one of the McCloud women was a looker.
Then it hit him. Merideth McCloud. The movie actress. He hadn't made the association until he'd gotten a full view of her face. And what a face! In person, she was even more beautiful than she appeared on the theater screen.
He watched a smile spread across her face, then she was racing across the lawn and toward Alayna. When she reached her, she threw an arm around Alayna's shoulder and pressed her cheek close to hers as she looked down at the baby. Two beautiful faces. Two beautiful women. But in Jack's estimation, Merideth didn't hold a candle to Alayna's beauty.
"I don't know why they're making such a fuss. It's just a stupid baby."
Jack glanced down, unaware that Billy had slipped into the room and was standing beside him. The boy stood with his arms folded across his chest, his posture the mirror image of Jack's. Jack recognized the resentfulness in the boy's stance, and slowly forced his own arms to his sides. He turned his face back to the window.
"You don't like babies?"
Billy snorted. "All's they do is cry, burp and pee."
Jack bit back a smile. "You were a baby once," he reminded the boy.
Billy folded his arms more stubbornly across his chest. "Yeah, but nobody made all that fuss over me. Not that I'd want 'em to," he added quickly.
Jack glanced down and saw the thrust of the boy's lower lip, the resentfulness in his stance. "You don't like hugs and kisses?" he asked.
"Heck, no! Kissin' and huggin' is for sissies."
Jack lifted his shoulder and turned his gaze back to the window. "Personally I kind of like hugs and kisses."
Billy snapped his head up to look at Jack. "You do?" he asked doubtfully.
That McCloud Woman Page 11
