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She craved more of this. Wanted all of him and no matter what happened back at Perdition House, these moments away from the raging hormones the ghosts created would be forever precious.

“I’ll remember this for far longer than anything those spirits can conjure. You make me want so much more than what happens in the mansion.” She couldn’t believe she’d said it, but the snap and crackle seemed to add to the safety factor. Jake was safe to share with; she knew it down to her soul.

He grinned and sighed, dug his fingers into her hair, and tucked her head under his chin. She could hear him swallow, hear his heart thud in his chest, feel his relief trickle through him as the muscles in his arms relaxed. “Thank God,” he said in her ear. “I feel the same way, Lexa. What we have is much more than what they gave us.”

“Jake, I’m confused. We can’t feel this way so soon, can we? You must be jet-lagged, wiped out. Maybe it’s just exhaustion.” They’d only met a few hours ago and most of that time had been spent naked, straining for sexual release.

Relationships didn’t start that way, flings did.

“No jet lag.” He grinned and cocked his head, considering. “I’m revved up and ready to spend as long as it takes to make you understand one more thing.”

“That is?”

“I’m cursed. All the MacKay men are.”

“Cursed? Right. What was that I just said about jet lag?”

He leaned his head back to look into her eyes. His were so serious, she was compelled to cock her head to listen. “Tell me, Jake. Tell me about this curse.” She snugged her hips tighter to his.

“You’ll think I’m crazy if I blurt it out. I’ll get to it, I promise. But for now, walk with me; tell me about Lexa Creighton.”

He wanted to know as much about her as she did about him. Confidence in whatever this was between them made her want to open up in the same way her body had.

She told him everything he might want to know. Her deepest thoughts, her harshest self-doubts, her needs, and, above all, her wants. She needed to learn to balance her career with making a home and raising children. But she also needed to work and build a business she could be proud of. The way Annie and Matthew had.

Through the whole conversation, Jake nodded, taking everything she said seriously, commenting rarely. When she exposed some of her deepest doubts, he frowned and looked ready to speak but held back.

Finally, he tugged her hand and led the way to shelter under a maple tree. He leaned against the trunk and held her loosely, his hands clasped around her waist. Lines of tingling sparks, like an invisible loop of energy, made up a belt of electric warmth.

She tilted her face up to his.

“Tell me about your last boyfriend, Lexa. Who was he?”

“Most new lovers don’t want to know about past ones, Jake.” Surprised by the question, she stalled.

“He wasn’t important, was he?” His eyes gleamed with interest. “None of mine were.”

She sighed. “His name was Dave, and he gave up on me when my business started to take off. Said my work was more important to me than he was.” She felt rueful now, but at the time she hadn’t felt much of anything.

“And?”

“That much was true. I didn’t even bother to call him back when he left the message.”

“Harsh.”

“Yeah, well. He wasn’t all that.” She trailed a fingernail along his arm. He stepped back out of her reach. “Oops, sorry, I forgot.” They were supposed to talk, not flirt, not turn each other on.

He yawned.

She chuckled in understanding. “Looks like the three-hour time difference is catching up to you.”

“Not to mention all the sex. I need to hit the sack.”

“While I need you,” she said, allowing the snap and crackle to glow warmer. Odd how she could coax embers to flame now that she’d been exposed to the heat for a while. “Are you going to explain your curse?”

“Yes. But first, I need to get you into bed again. Then I need sleep.” He ran his fingertip down her nose, his eyes full of affection and awareness.

She smiled and hugged him. “I’ll forgive you if you fall asleep immediately after this time.” She glanced around, saw that no one was watching, and slid her hand down the front of his jeans. The hardness she found brought an immediate slickness between her thighs. “Let’s get back to the house. You haven’t actually been inside me, and I need you in the deepest way, in my deepest places.”

His eyes flared, and she would swear she felt his cock jump behind his fly.

“Let’s hurry, Jake. I saw a drugstore in the strip mall across from the lake. We need condoms.”

“Way ahead of you, babe.” He gave her hand a tug and led her back along the lakeside trail. He walked like a man possessed, not like a victim of jet lag. Not by a long shot.

“Mr. Responsible to the rescue.”

“Always.” But he frowned as he said it.

J
ake sat in the passenger seat of Lexa’s truck, thinking about the date his father was on. Worry ate at him. Worry that hadn’t filtered through while he’d been inside Perdition. Fact was, he’d hardly thought of the old man from the time he’d stepped onto the grounds until he’d left. The spirits had driven all his concerns from his mind. The only constant had been sex.

He was making up for his lapse now. Lexa’s comment about him being Mr. Responsible rang true. He found it irritating that she’d pick up on his concern for his father so quickly.

This must be part of the curse as well. His woman being in tune with him, the way his mother had been tuned in to his father.

He was already aware of how important her business was to her, how much she needed to succeed. Her face telegraphed so much to him. Other women had been honest and open, but with Lexa, it was like he knew her deep down.

While she drove, he slid his fingers across the seat to clasp her hand where it rested on her thigh.

At the first tingly touch, his worry about Jed lifted. “Sorry I’ve been quiet. Now that I’m away from the house, I’m remembering things I need to take care of. That happening to you?”

“Big time. I hadn’t planned to stay over and here I am, frittering away all these hours where I could be working.” Her eyes went wide. “Oh! I’m so sorry. I know how that sounded, and I didn’t mean this time with you. I can’t believe I said that.”

He laughed. “Look, if anyone understands the demands of a business, it’s me. It’s hard carving time out for yourself.”

“Maybe that’s the point of this whole thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Annie and Matthew Creighton left Perdition and founded a huge business. They built a lot of banks, office buildings, commercial stuff. They worked together on everything.”

“Are you saying they want us to join forces?” He couldn’t see how. She couldn’t transplant to Florida. And he couldn’t leave his father.

His responsibility there was clear.

“I spoke to Belle, the one who called us.” She stopped the truck in front of the closed gate, then turned off the ignition. She sat with her head on the headrest. She looked at him then, eyes wide. “She told me Annie and Matthew were worried about me. Wanted me to find love before it was too late.”

“Too late?”

“Apparently, I work too hard to leave room for a man in my life.”

“Are they right?”

“Maybe. Probably. Who knows? I’ve been so busy getting to where I am that I don’t think about that stuff.” She blinked and shrugged in a gesture that screamed confusion. “At least, not until today.”

And he’d been consumed by family obligations as well as relocating his business.

She undid her seat belt and turned toward him. She blew out a breath. “There’s something on your mind. Spill.” She glanced at the gates, and he saw the way her mind turned.

Once they went through to the grounds of Perdition, their minds and bodies might not be their own. “We don’t have to go back in there,” he suggested.

“How’s this? If we feel anything remotely out of our control, we make another run out the gate and never come back. Agreed?”

“Yes.”

“Now, what’s on your mind?”

“My father’s date.”

“Uh-huh?”

“Apparently, the Mitchell’s home stager showed up on the job site today, and my father fell over himself trying to impress her. Looks like it worked.”

“That’s what Jared said?” She smiled and gave his fingers a squeeze. She looked delighted and relieved.

He nodded. “He said they shook hands and Dad’s face changed. Went from dark to light.” His voice had sounded lighter too.

“That’s a weird way to say it.”

“Judging from the change I heard in his voice, I’d say it was accurate.”

“Cool! Dating this lady could be good, Jake. How old is your father?”

“Fifty. No, wait, fifty-one.” He waited for the explosion of disbelief.

Right on cue, her face split into a grin. “No way!”

“My parents married within days of meeting each other. He was just shy of twenty. She was eighteen. I was born right away, and Jared followed a year after me.” The curse was a force of nature not to be ignored. But Lexa would understand soon enough on her own. Explaining it wouldn’t help.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about a woman stepping into his mother’s place. It wasn’t something he’d ever thought of. He figured the curse precluded a second go-round.

He frowned. His reaction made him look and feel like a nine-year-old. He chuffed out a breath.

“What happened, Jake? Why do you worry about him? Is he ill?”

Not ill, but sick at heart. “My mother was killed in an accident with a patrol car. High-speed chase. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nearly killed my father.”

“Was he in the car too?”

He shook his head. “Might as well have been. She went out to pick up a book from the library, a simple errand that could have waited. But she’d been waiting weeks for the book to come in, and she got impatient. She was always in a hurry.”

“How long ago?”

“Three years. My father claims he knew the moment it happened. Says he got cold, like the burn that he’d felt for her since their first touch had gone out.”

She blinked. Blinked again. Then he saw her eyes fill and moisten.

He pulled her close and let the buzz and crackle soothe them both. It zipped around his chest, then lower as she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Jake. It’s hard losing someone you love so suddenly.”

“I’ve been afraid I’d lose the old man too. It was like a light went out behind his eyes. Jared ended up walking away from his marriage and a great career and headed to sea. He told me that just last month he set up a business taking honeymooners on charters in the Caribbean. Serious case of burnout and too much loss all at once.” Saying it that way made it sound simpler than he’d thought.

Burnout, a terrible accident, a marriage gone cold. The blame he’d wanted to place on Jared slipped away. In his own grief, he hadn’t seen the load of shit Jared had faced.

“You’ve been watching over your dad alone?”

“Moved my business to Florida and started again from scratch. Dad went black with grief. Dark and morbid. He scared the shit out of me. Jared too.”

“Is this the first time you’ve left him since?”

“Yes.” The only reason he’d come here was because of that voice in the night. “I’m glad I did; it was way past time. I wouldn’t have met you if I’d ignored the call.”

“I don’t think either of us was able to resist.” She brushed her lips against his earlobe, then down his neck. The buzz spiked a warning and blood rushed.

He gave her a light squeeze. “Thank God.”

The zing settled back to a low glow as she snuggled against him. Seattle was colder than Miami, and he found the sea-laden air sharp and surprisingly refreshing. He hadn’t noticed how little he enjoyed the Florida heat until he was away from it.

Through the trees that lined the drive, he saw clouds scud overhead, promising rain through the night.

He thought of keeping Lexa warm under the down covers at Perdition, his legs tangled with hers, his heart beating against her chest, her smooth soft breasts a cushion against him.

“I suspect your father can take care of himself. Besides, if he chose a good woman the first time, have faith that he’ll choose well now. If this lady’s not right for him, he’ll know it soon enough.”

“She made him sound happy; that’s a good start.” Besides, Jared was there. With his jaded view of romance, he’d spot trouble right away.

“We could turn around, Jake,” she said with a nod toward the gate. “We don’t have to let the spirits play with us again.”

“I don’t think they will. Not to the same degree anyway. We both know how we feel now, and that’s more than anything dead hookers can bring to the table.”

She grinned and the lighthearted glance she gave him eased his load of worry about Jed. He climbed out and opened the gate to Perdition.

“Put on your tool belt for me, Jake.” The heavy promise in her voice chased around his belly, then headed south. Blood rushed and he swelled.

“My tool belt.”

She nodded while sitting primly on the side of the bed, hands folded in her lap. “If you want to see me in that sex-kitten corset Faye lent me, you’ll strip to the buff and strap yourself into your tool belt.”

Lexa in that corset.

Then Lexa out of that corset.

“Fair’s fair,” he said, and sent a silent thank-you to the spirit who’d goaded him to pack it. “With or without tools?”

“You did not lug tools across the country.”

“I may have a screwdriver or two.”

“No hammers?”

“No hammers.”

She put on a dramatic sigh. Her chest rose and fell in a way that should have made her breasts jiggle.

“What are you doing?” she asked as he advanced toward her.

Without touching her flesh, he used one finger to unbutton her top two buttons. The woman wore denim well. She was practical; he’d give her that.

The third button popped open, and with the precision of a television detective with a pen, he widened the gap to expose the truth. Her breasts were held up by the eye-popping corset.

“Witch. You’ve been wearing this all along?”

She nodded slowly, her eyes heavy-lidded and sultry. The woman was in serious need.

“Then the least I can do is put on the belt.”

Lexa watched as Jake dug into his duffel bag. He rooted for a moment, then, with the panache of a sleight-of-hand artist, pulled out the wide leather belt by the buckle end. A double buckle, she realized. The man meant business.

Her heart picked up speed as she watched every inch of the heavy tan leather rise out of the bag. One pouch, a couple of loops for hammers, a smaller loop for a screwdriver. “Don’t forget to strip to the buff,” she said. His jeans hung seductively low on his hips. “On second thought, just take your shirt off before you put it on,” Lexa said with a strain of desire that lashed them both. “You can leave your jeans on.”

He tugged his tee up and over his head, giving her a perfect view of his sculpted chest and the V of hair that warmed her fingers when she played. He slung the belt around his hips, catching the buckle end. When he’d buckled both catches, he stood for inspection with his hands on his hips.

His eyes twinkled with humor, but his neck flushed.

Men really had no idea how beautiful they were. His forearms flexed, his shoulders gleamed, his belly hitched in a notch as he caught her expression. Which must, she realized, be pure lust.

“Oh. My. God.”

He was man to her woman, male strength to her feminine, hard to her soft. She melted.

“Now,” he said, “it’s your turn.”

In her lust, she’d forgotten she was even in the corset. “Fair’s fair,” she repeated, and rose. She slowly undid the last of the buttons on her shirt and slid the sleeves off her shoulders, letting them fall to the bed behind her.

The female core of her melted and opened, woman for man, and her mind followed. He was hunger, she was food, she was empty while he could fill.

Drawn by aeons of primitive awareness, they moved into each other and held on.

He tilted her head back while he looked his fill. Her heart pounded in time with his. Jake. This was Jake, and he was everything she’d ever wanted or could want in a man.

Everywhere they touched, the spark snapped and popped between them, rising as the fire enveloped her.

Lexa pressed her hips to his in perfect alignment, the buckles of his tool belt cold and hard on the flesh of her belly below the corset. Her breasts, held up and out, speared against his chest.

She swished them in a back-and-forth motion he couldn’t ignore. Reaching into the low-slung cups, he scooped her bobbling flesh into his hands.

When he finally lowered his lips to suckle her, she crooned and bucked toward his mouth. She lifted her chin to expose her neck, and he traveled up from her nipple to her throat and on to the sensitive flesh under her ear.

“Jake, I need you. All of you. Your hands, your mouth, your cock. Please, Jake. Now.”

She reached for his belt buckle and began to work at it. The tool belt fell away, leaving his zipper available for plunder.

She made short work of his jeans and kneeled to take him full in her mouth, devouring and lapping.

She thought she heard a sigh of feminine need, but she ignored it. But he turned to look over his shoulder at the same time.

“Do you think we’re alone here?”

“I know I’m in charge, Jake. What I feel for you is all me,” she said, certain of it.

“Me too.” He jutted toward her mouth, and she took him deep into her throat. He cupped the back of her head to encourage her. “I can’t take much more.”

“You won’t have to,” she promised. Both nipples puckered and ached as she swished her nipples against his knees. Anything to feel the delicious sparkles everywhere.

“Enough,” he said, stepping free. He clasped her shoulders and guided her to the bed. He followed her down into the soft comforter, making her sigh with the rightness between them.

“This is all us, Jake,” she whispered. “And it’s so right, it scares me.”

“I love you, Lexa, and it’s never been better.”

For that shining moment between wanting and having, she believed him. And wondered if she felt the same.

Could she love this man? Was she as cursed by this burning touch as he claimed to be?

Heart hammering, her thoughts spun away, and she let herself drown in sensation. Jake. Jake.
Jake.

Lexa spread her legs in a plea for his touch. He obliged and poked a finger up the leg of her shorts and found the string of her wet panties between her legs.

Tugging the wet material from her flesh, he pulled it taut and rolled it back and forth across her clit, making her moan and thrash.

“In, I need you in.” Her whisper was barely more than a soft croak.

So wet.

So hot.

So his. All for him.

“I need you inside. Now!” She yanked at her shorts, struggling to slide them down her hips.

He unzipped her, then drew the denim down her legs. She kicked them off and opened her legs wide. She streamed from her slit onto the bed. “I’ve never seen a woman so wet or so open, Lexa. You’re mine, even if you haven’t accepted it yet.”