Slow Burn (A Madaris Family Novel)

by Jackson, Brenda

  Slade didn’t hesitate in giving her an answer. “Kiss you. May I?”

  CHAPTER 5

  Skye went completely still.

  The first thought that went through her mind was that she hadn’t heard him correctly, but then all she had to do was look into the darkness of his eyes to see she hadn’t imagined anything. He had asked to kiss her.

  He had asked…

  The next thought that immediately ran through her head was that Wayne never asked. Even on their first date he’d just assumed it was okay. After all, he was the most sought-after bachelor in Augusta, a well-known attorney who had a promising future. She should be grateful to be seen in his presence, so to his way of thinking a kiss was something he was entitled to.

  But Slade had asked and he was waiting for her answer. She sighed deeply, knowing the only one she could give him. “Yes, you may.”

  The heat in his eyes should have warned her what she was in for, but when he leaned forward and she saw those sexy lips inching closer and closer toward hers, she was too caught up in the shivers that suddenly began running through her body. When he got close enough, instead of kissing her, he reached out and unsnapped her seat belt. Then he took those same hands and cupped her face, as if to study her features. His gaze was so intense that her heart began missing beats.

  And then he was scooting closer and his hands dropped from her face to her shoulders, and then those lips were there, touching hers, moving over them with such tenderness that it almost brought tears to her eyes. When he deepened the kiss, still maintaining a certain degree of tenderness, she almost came out of her seat as sensations slowly began taking over all parts of her body. Never in her life had she experienced a kiss so heartfelt, deep, and passionate. She felt herself moving closer to those lips, and instinctively she wrapped her arms around Slade’s broad, muscular shoulders.

  She began kissing him back in a way she had never kissed Wayne, mainly because he’d never given her the chance. His belief had been that the art of kissing was male dominant. It was something a man started and a man finished, and usually Wayne’s kisses were over before they had a chance to begin. He certainly had never taken the time to stir a blaze within her to the depth of what Slade was doing. And when the tip of his tongue began stroking the tip of hers, she moaned deep within her throat as liquid fire spread from the top of her head all the way to her toes.

  How could something so gentle and sweet be filled with so much hunger and desire? And when he deepened the kiss to yet another level, every nerve within her sparked to life as she surrendered to the sensations hitting every part of her.

  Moments later he pulled back slightly and began tracing the fullness of her lips, upper and lower, in a way that had intense desire flooding her body. Every cell within her was ignited, lit to an unknown power and sensitized to his touch and taste.

  “I think we need to get back on the road,” he said huskily while kissing the corners of her mouth.

  “I think we need to get back on the road as well,” were the only words she could get her mouth to say. It was a mouth he was still licking with the tip of his tongue.

  A short while later he pulled back and leaned against his seat, taking a long, deep breath. He glanced over at her. “Thanks. I needed that.”

  She wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate to respond by saying she needed that as well. Instead, she buckled her seat belt and tried to get her insides to stop quivering and her breathing back to normal.

  Skye knew what had just happened between her and Slade was illogical, totally insane. It didn’t make sense given the fact they’d just met that day. But when she glanced over at him and watched as he readjusted his Stetson on his head, buckled his seat belt, and started the truck’s engine, she knew that as insane as it might seem, she had the hots for Slade Madaris and it appeared that he had the hots for her as well.

  And at the moment, with her lips still tingling from where his had been, she didn’t know just what to think about that.

  During the rest of the ride to Lorren Oaks, Skye forced herself to think about it. What Slade had said earlier was true. The very last thing she was interested in was an involvement with someone. After going through all that emotional drama with Wayne, once he had broken the engagement it wouldn’t have mattered to her if she’d never encountered a member of the opposite sex again.

  But less than two weeks after their breakup she’d let another man kiss her and she had moaned with pleasure. If the truth were to be told, she was still feeling all kinds of tingling sensations through her body. She’d never known a kiss could have such lasting effects.

  She glanced over at Slade. His eyes were on the road. They hadn’t exchanged more than a few words since the kiss, and the tension in the air between them was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

  Justin’s truck was a stick shift, and each time Slade shifted gears and pressed down on the clutch, Skye saw how the denim material of his jeans pulled tight across muscular thighs. Where she came from men wore dress trousers more than jeans, but she had to admit that of all the times she’d seen a man in jeans, none had caught her attention in a pair like Slade had. He had to be, without a doubt, the sexiest man she’d ever met. And although it probably wasn’t fair to compare him with Wayne, Slade made her ex-fiancé’s kisses seem like a waste of good time.

  “Do we need to talk about what happened back there, Skye?”

  Slade’s question in the quiet stillness of the truck’s cab intruded into Skye’s thoughts. No, we don’t need to talk about it, she almost said, and then thought twice about it. Yes, they needed to talk about it. She had only one purpose in coming to Ennis, and she couldn’t let him or anyone become a deterrent from her goal. She couldn’t develop a relationship with her brother and work on building one with Slade at the same time. That would only complicate things. Getting to know Vincent was her priority, and anything else would defeat the purpose of her being here.

  “I don’t regret what happened back there, Slade,” she heard herself saying softly. “But we can’t let it happen again. It will only complicate things. The only reason I’m in Ennis is to get to know Vincent. I don’t have time for anything else. Do you understand that?”

  Slade nodded. Yes, he understood. No matter how attracted they were to each other, nothing could ever come of it. He saw her point, but he didn’t have to like it. Whether she realized it or not, as far as he was concerned, something was going on between them that was just as poignant as her wanting to know her brother. And he wanted her to know it. The look of profound sensual pleasure on her face after their kiss had gotten a rise out of him—literally. He’d had to hold himself in check not to keep kissing her, tasting her, getting absorbed in everything about her.

  “I think you are a nice person and all,” he heard her tack on in a soft voice. “But the last thing I need in my life after breaking off my engagement a few weeks ago is to get involved with anyone else.”

  When the truck came to the turnoff to Lorren Oaks, he glanced over at her. “I know it’s none of my business, but why did you and your ex split up?”

  He was right, it wasn’t any of his business, but she felt compelled to tell him anyway. At least the watered-down version of it. “Wayne and I didn’t see eye to eye on a number of things.”

  “Like you coming here for instance?”

  “Yes.”

  When he pulled into the driveway and turned off the truck, he sat and stared at her for several long moments before saying, “You’re here on a mission, right?”

  She’d never thought of it as that, but in a way she guessed she was. “Yes.”

  “And you prefer staying focused on that mission?”

  She nodded, wondering where his line of questions was leading to. “Yes, that’s right.”

  His sexy grin had her stomach tumbling. “Then I guess you can say that I’m on a mission as well, Skye Barclay,” he said, slowly unbuckling the seat belt and adjusting his seat back. “And I’ll be graci
ous enough to let you accomplish your mission first.”

  She swallowed hard. “And then?” she asked, forcing the words past her throat. A different kind of tension was surrounding them, making the palms of her hands feel wet and stirring some kind of indescribable ache inside of her.

  Reaching up, he took his finger and smoothed the frown that had formed around her lips. “And then I get started with mine.”

  He smiled when he felt the shiver that passed through her body and then said, “Come on; I’m sure Lorren is ready to put dinner on the table.”

  Slade’s words were still on Skye’s mind as she unpacked her luggage and put her things away in the beautifully furnished guest room Lorren had given her to use. Thankfully, there hadn’t been a mad rush to dinner when Skye and Slade had arrived. Instead, Lorren had shown her to her room and given her time to unpack and settle in. Dinner, Lorren said, would be in an hour, which was good timing for Skye.

  Before leaving, Lorren had told Skye of her and Justin’s planned strategy in telling Vincent about her. After dinner and once the other two Madaris children were put to bed, they would ask Vincent to meet with them in the study. And with Skye and Slade present, Vincent would be told everything. It was important to Lorren and Justin to be totally honest with their son.

  Skye understood and appreciated that fact. A part of her wished her parents had been totally honest and up-front with her as well. It didn’t bother her that she had been adopted and hadn’t been told; what had bothered her more than anything was that once she’d discovered the truth, her parents’ attitude about her wanting to find out anything about her birth mother had been almost hostile. They had taken it as a personal affront and had actually stopped speaking to her for a few weeks.

  The social worker she had spoken with who had helped to steer her in the right direction in her search for her biological mother had indicated that most adoptive parents weren’t that way. Most felt secure enough in their relationship with their child to not be concerned about that.

  Skye sighed. Evidently her parents did not feel secure in their relationship with her. Even now she could recall that her mother always seemed distant, even when Skye had been a child. Her father’s relationship with her had been different. When her mother hadn’t been around he appeared to be more open and loving, which only puzzled Skye as she got older. For some reason she’d always felt that no matter what, secretly he would always be in her corner and if push came to shove, he would have her back. She had definitely been wrong about that. Her wanting to find out about her biological mother had bothered him just as much as it had her mother.

  Skye then shifted her thoughts back to Slade and the comment he’d made in the truck about being on his own mission. Was he letting her know of his interest in her? Could that be possible when they’d just met that day? She thoughtfully nibbled on her lower lip as she remembered the look in his eyes just moments before he’d kissed her. The warmth and genuine interest as well the heated desire she’d seen in them had sent shivers through her body, had nearly pushed her over the edge.

  But regardless of whether he was interested or not, she had to make sure things didn’t go anywhere. Like she’d told him, she would have her hands full in getting to know Vincent. Even now she was wondering how she would manage to spend time with him when he lived here in Texas and she was in Maine. With summer coming up she wondered if he’d made plans for the summer. Would Justin and Lorren be open to letting Vincent come spend the summer with her in Maine? At the very thought of that happening she twirled around the room, thinking of all the places she would take him and all the fun things the two of them would do together.

  She glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. The hour was almost over, and she didn’t want to hold up dinner. Her stomach did a little flip at the thought of seeing Slade again, but she was determined to make sure he understood that the only thing the two of them could ever be was friends.

  Skye glanced across the room at Vincent. He was sitting on the sofa smiling at something his mother was telling him. Although he appeared at ease, he had to be curious as to why he’d been invited to join the adults in his father’s study.

  Dinner had been a wonderful affair, and the food had been prepared by both Justin and Lorren. Lorren said the two of them enjoyed working together in the kitchen and that Justin was the real cook in the family, especially during those times her profession kept her extremely busy. She was a well-known author of children’s stories, and the characters she’d created for the books, the Kente Kids, were on a popular Saturday morning cartoon show. And if that wasn’t enough, she had begun writing books for preteens and teens, something Lorren was excited about.

  Skye switched her gaze from Vincent to Slade. He was standing across the room talking to Justin. Then as if Slade felt her watching him, he looked her way. There was something extremely intimate in the way their gazes connected, and she couldn’t help the warm sizzle that flowed through her body. She tried dismissing the sensation but couldn’t. Nor could she break eye contact with him. The attraction they shared seemed unreal, yet she sat there, caught in the darkness of his eyes, unable to look away.

  “Now that we’re gathered together…”

  Skye snatched her gaze away from Slade to place it on Lorren when she spoke. A smile touched Lorren’s lips when she continued by saying, with her eyes on her son, “There’s a reason you’re in here with us, Vincent.”

  Skye watched curiosity light his eyes. “You didn’t call me in here to tell me that my driving privileges had been revoked already, did you, Mom?” he said with a teasing glint in his eyes.

  Lorren laughed and said, “No, sweetheart, not unless you know something your dad and I don’t know.”

  He shook his head, grinning. “Not a thing.” He glanced over at Skye, smiling, and said, “My parents bought me a car for my sixteenth birthday, but I’m only allowed to drive it to school and back for now.”

  “Boy, you’re lucky,” Skye replied, returning his smile. “I didn’t get my first car until I was eighteen. Sounds like you have wonderful parents.”

  “I do,” he said quickly, smiling at Lorren and placing his arms around her shoulders. He then glanced over at Justin. “My parents are the best and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”

  Skye believed him.

  “Well, before things get too sappy in here for my taste,” Slade said to Vincent, coming to stand beside the sofa where he was sitting, “I think I need to clarify a few things regarding my relationship with Skye.”

  Vincent started to laugh. “Let me guess. She’s more than just a friend to you.”

  Slade lifted a brow. “What makes you think that?”

  Vincent’s smile deepened. “A number of reasons, but the main one is what Justina said. You’ve never invited a girl to our house before.”

  “And I didn’t invite her,” Slade replied. “In fact, Skye and I just met today when she came here to see your parents.”

  Vincent’s eyes showed his surprise. “Really?”

  “Yes, really,” was Slade’s grinning response.

  “And the reason for Skye’s visit is what your father and I want to talk to you about, Vincent,” Lorren said.

  Now he really looks puzzled, Skye thought. She watched as Justin pulled out a chair and sat in it, across from his son. And then he said, “Skye brought us some news we think you should know about. It concerns your biological mother.”

  “What about her?” Vincent asked anxiously. All amusement left his eyes and was replaced by concentrated interest.

  It was Lorren who spoke. “Skye discovered that when your mother was sixteen she had a baby and that she gave the baby up for adoption.”

  It seemed to take a while for Lorren’s words to sink in, and all the while Skye noticed that Vincent was staring at her. “My mother had a baby at sixteen that she gave up for adoption?” he asked, not sure he’d heard right. And he was asking the question of Skye.

  Her throat tightened whe
n she answered him. “Yes.”

  He nodded. “Did you know my mom?”

  Skye shook her head and took a deep breath before responding, “No, I didn’t know her.”

  “But you know for a fact that at sixteen she had a baby and that she gave it up for adoption?”

  Vincent’s tone did not indicate he didn’t believe what Skye had said, but that he was having a hard time understanding how she would know such a thing. Skye understood why he would be confused. She glanced at Lorren, who nodded, giving Skye the okay to answer Vincent’s question in the only way that she could.

  “Yes, I know that she did because I hired a very good private detective to find out what he could about her. It was documented in the report he gave me. That’s how I found out about you.”

  It was apparent Vincent was still somewhat confused. “But why would you want to find out anything about my mom?” he asked.

  Skye swallowed before explaining things further. “Last year I found out I was adopted and after intense research I discovered the person who gave birth to me, my biological mother, was Kathy Claremont, who later became Kathy Lester.”

  She watched Vincent’s face and knew the exact moment he figured out what she was saying. He leaned forward in his seat, stared at her for an intense moment and then said in a soft voice, smiling, “Hey, that’s awesome and that’s the reason I couldn’t help but think how much you reminded me of her when I walked into the room earlier today when I got home from school. You look a lot like her. My memories of my mother get sketchier and sketchier the older I get, but today you reminded me of her because when I last saw her, she was about your age and, like you, she was very beautiful.”

  The way he was handling this, as well as his compliment, brought tears to Skye’s eyes. “Thank you.”

  Skye watched as another realization lit Vincent’s eyes, one he’d just been hit with. “That means you’re my sister,” he said in an astonished voice.