Damned If You Don't (12 page)

He sat back again, a very disappointed look on his face. Seemed she had quite a few lessons to learn. But she’d always been an A student. “Do you really think I could do that?”

“Well, not right at this exact moment,” she quipped, referring to his steel pipe.

“But—”

He shook his head at her as if she were acting like a child. Maybe she was. “You just haven’t figured it out yet, have you?”

“Figured what out?”

“I really do care about you.”

Could she really believe that? After only one night? After what they’d been through? Done to each other?

“That’s not how it works.”

“How what works?” he asked, genuinely confused.

“It. Jocks don’t fall for geeks.”

“I left high school a long time ago, Morgan,” he admonished. “I thought you did too.”

She had. Sort of. But old lessons learned the hard way died hard.

“I’m a bad health risk.”

He stretched back out on the bed, leaning nonchalantly on one elbow. “I thought we decided we were going to do this together. Did you decide something else now?”

“No, of course not,” she exclaimed.

He smiled. “So, are you going to admit you like me too? Or make me stay in the Chateau for the rest of my life.”

“Jack, it’s not that. Honest.”

“I’ll tickle you until you tell me,” he threatened.

“I’d much rather lie in bed and ogle your buns. They really are nice. And very bitable.”

“Morgan,” he growled.

“Except that you’re not getting anywhere near me for the next few hours at least. I can barely move.”

He laughed and got out of bed to go to the bathroom. He really did have a nice ass. And while she really wanted to do nothing more than admire his body, Morgan knew she was on a speeding train without any brakes, heading straight toward disaster.

Jack was about as pliable as a block of granite. Funny, in their own fashion, they both were. He was going to figure out she hadn’t told him everything. He was going to want to know why.

He shrugged into his T-shirt and pulled on his boxers when he came back. “I need a kiss first.”

She gave him one. A wet, sloppy one. Which made them both forget their primary objective for the moment. “Morgan?”

“Yeah?”

“Does this mean you forgive me?”

“Don’t you ever take a break?” He shook his head and she rose up on one elbow. “I’ll let you know.”

He sighed. “All right.”

He climbed back in bed, and Morgan licked her lips in anticipation. Jack bent down and gave her a long, slow, thorough kiss. She finally broke away and rested her head against his chest. His heart beat fast and furious beneath her ear, and she still couldn’t believe she had the power to do that to him.

“Make me a believer, Jack.”

His arms tightened around her. “You already are. I won’t let you down. I promise.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about.”

“We’ll be all right, kitten.”

She lifted her head to look at him, those pesky tears filling her eyes again. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

JACK HADN’T HAD many women that were more than one- or two-night stands. And, well, he wasn’t proud of that period of his life, so lying in bed with Morgan was an unexpected treat. In spite of their auspicious, inauspicious, beginning.

“You haven’t told me much about yourself,” she said, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. “You know a whole lot more about me than I do about you.”

Did he? He had to wonder about that.

“Not much to tell. I enlisted in the army as soon as I got out of high school. I guess I displayed some talent, and I became a Ranger.”

“You have an aptitude for detail.”

“How’d you know?”

“The OCD thing. Takes one to know one.”

Interesting. “Anyway, I loved the challenge of being a tracker. And, as far as I was concerned, the people I hunted down were enemies of the United States. They would get what they deserved.”

“What happened to change your mind?”

“A couple of kids.”

Jack tried to dismiss her swift, indrawn breath. But he couldn’t. Any more than he could dismiss the picture in his mind, still clear as day even in the pitch of night. The target’s body draped protectively over them, riddled with bullets. Rolling him off them in horror, that cold, ugly, hollow ball forming in the pit of his stomach.

“They weren’t supposed to be in the car. He wasn’t supposed to put up a fight.”

She squeezed his hand hard. “I’m sorry.”

“I lost my taste for the hunt after that.” He barked out a bitter laugh. “Lost my taste for everything.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“Oh yes it was, kitten. That was my job, a job I screwed up. Royally.”

She didn’t answer, and he was grateful. Any kind of judgment from her would end up hurting. Big time. “So you left the army. What happened after that?”

“I rolled around a while. Stayed low. Off the radar. Became a chauffeur for a while.”

“Was she beautiful?”

How the hell had she figured that one out? Damn. “Yeah. But empty. Like me. I was in this, I don’t know how to describe it other than call it a fog. A funk. I couldn’t feel anything, didn’t care about anything. But she was good to me. And she did teach me.”

“What?”

“About the other side of the tracks.”

“Rich?”

“Yeah. And bored.”

“What changed you? What brought you back?”

“To what?” he asked with a questioning frown.

“Double-edged question. To life and to the hunt.”

She was really amazing. “So you figured that out, did you?”

“We all have comfort zones, Jack. And we all have places where we belong. I’m not sure what I would be if I didn’t have a ‘doctor’ in front of my name.”

Jack lifted their clasped hands, kissing the back of hers. “Thank you for not judging.”

She laughed. “Pure cowardice. You might do the same to me.”

Giving her hand a hard squeeze, he let go. “I’m very good at what I do. So when Sam found me, he threw out a proposal that was too good to pass up. No guns, no uglies, nothing deep. Only the high-end stuff. Embezzlers, corporate espionage, computer hackers, sometimes some dirt on a high muckety-muck. You’d be surprised how easy it really is.”

“I guess I would.” In spite of his fear, his gaze caught hers, wondering if she thought less of him now. He certainly deserved her derision. “The emptiness went away, didn’t it?”

He let go of the breath he was holding. She still wouldn’t judge him. “Yeah.”

Not far away, he was certain, a palm tree swayed lightly in the breeze. Waves crashed onto the shore. And a seagull flew high in the sky because that was what it knew how to do.

A peace descended on Jack that he’d never known before. He’d fought all his life, scraped and scrapped for what he’d wanted. And gotten more than he’d ever bargained for. But that was what life was all about.

He couldn’t put into words what sharing this moment with her meant.

“What about now?” she asked.

Jack turned to look deep into her eyes. A strand of hair feathered across her face, and he reached up to move it away. He had no control over the hand that trailed trembling fingers across her cheek. His heart beat high inside his chest.

He wasn’t perfect. She knew that and accepted him as he was.

At the absolute worst time in his life, under the absolute worst conditions, Jack’s heart filled again. The empty space, the hole, was gone. He wasn’t sure why, figured he’d better not try to find out. He’d trusted life and gotten burned in the process once before. He never, ever, wanted that to happen again.

His lips covered hers in the sweetest kiss imaginable. Because it was right.

“Friend of the bride, or friend of the groom?” he whispered, letting go.

She didn’t hesitate. She simply smiled up at him, the warmth of her gaze making sure the hole was sealed.

“Friend of Jack.”

Chapter Twelve

Morgan wasn’t quite sure where all the courage was coming from, but she thought of that chrysalis again and realized the only limits were the ones she set for herself.

Jack’s stomach had started to rumble, and Morgan knew they kept a twenty-four-hour coffee service with snacks down in the lobby. So they threw on their clothes, and he wrapped his arm around her waist as they left their room for a breath of fresh air. As they rode the elevator, Morgan couldn’t get over how different she felt, how much stronger she’d become. In such a short time.

Because of him.

The lobby was quiet. Which was fine with her. They took their coffee and sat out on a small bench in front of the hotel. The night air was a bit chilly, but Jack’s warmth more than made up for it. They didn’t speak. They didn’t have to.

Eventually, she got up and he followed. He turned to look at her, and they shared the same thought: going back upstairs and living life to the fullest while they could.

God, she was insatiable. And, for the first time in her life, not self-conscious of her desire. Somehow, some way, between the two of them, sex was just—right.

Which only made her want him more.

“Uh-oh, kitten. You don’t want to look at me like that. ’Cause I may be a bit tired, but I am so not dead yet.”

Morgan laughed, amazed by her almost wanton behavior. The elevator doors opened, and she looped her arm through his. They stepped inside, and as the doors closed, she said, “Dare you.”

“You
are
kidding, right?”

He swung her into his arms, planted a hot wet one right on her lips, and slid his hand inside her pants and panties. His palm cupped her core, and he slid his finger deep inside her moist heat. Her legs fell open, and Morgan couldn’t believe she was ready again. However, sanity returned as the bell of the elevator rang, advising they’d reached their floor.

“Jack, please.”

He pulled his hand out just as the doors opened. They stepped out, and she watched Jack nod at a maintenance man standing in front of the elevator. As they passed, he licked at his finger. Mortified yet thrilled beyond imagination, Morgan started laughing. But when he swallowed that finger nearly all the way, she knew she was in trouble.

Jack opened the hotel-room door, pulled her inside, shoved her up against the door, and started making love to her. Again.

“I thought you said you were tired,” she choked out as he nipped his way down the valley between her breasts.

“I lied,” came his muffled reply.

The next thing she knew, her pants were puddled down by her ankles, he’d pushed her panties down with them, and his tongue had picked up right where his finger left off.

“Jack!”

In spite of the incredible soreness between her legs, Morgan felt her core open, ready and willing to receive all he offered. His mouth moved over her skin while his talented tongue licked everywhere but where she wanted it to go, until finally he flicked at her nub. Her knees gave way, and his hands gripped her hips, holding her upright as he spread tiny kisses all over her belly.

He took charge of the situation by helping her step out of her pants, unbelting and stepping out of his, and pulling her over to the table in the room.

“I’ve been dreaming about doing this ever since we met.”

He turned her around so she faced the table and pushed on her back to bend her over. Morgan spread her legs, opening for him, ready to receive anything and everything he wanted to do to her.

He teased her with the head of his cock, sliding all around but never inside. “What do you want, kitten?”

“Damn you, Jack. Please.”

“You can do better than that,” he chided.

“Oh please,” she begged. “Don’t play with me. Not now.”

He teased her some more before thrusting deep inside her. “God, you feel good.”

He pulled her legs even farther apart with his hands so he could reach even deeper inside. Morgan had never understood the connection of two bodies before. Not really. Not until now.

Bending over her back, he undid her shirt and unsnapped her bra so that her breasts spilled into his waiting hands. He milked her creamy breasts, sending sparks shooting through her veins, making her contract all around him.

“Ah, that feels really good.”

He started moving, pulling all the way out until only the tip remained inside her, and then he thrust all the way back inside. She moaned, and as sated as she thought she’d been, sought something even higher than before.

“Tell me what you want. Come on, kitten. Growl for me.”

As he thrust deep into her, she did. Mewled, begged, and pleaded. She wanted him. All of him. And then she wanted more.

He didn’t disappoint. His rhythm would slow, and he’d tease, then speed up until she wasn’t sure where he ended and she began. Until finally his breath hitched. His fingers found her nub and started working furiously. He sped up, thrusting into her until he cried out in release. A moment later she followed him, shattering into a thousand pieces.

Jack collapsed onto her, his chest heaving against her back. If she hadn’t been holding on to the table for dear life, she’d have simply collapsed.

“I could stay like this forever.”

Morgan grinned. Her leg muscles were screaming, and her ankles shaking from the strain of standing upright. “
You
could.”

He gave her back a possessive nuzzle and her breasts a final tweak before lifting up. She watched with a soft smile as he simply stepped away, unconcerned by his state of undress. Or could it be he was so comfortable with her now that he didn’t care?

“I’m going to have to take another shower,” he groused.

“Have fun,” she told him.

“Um, kitten? Not without you.”

“Oh, no. That’s going to lead to something I can’t finish. You go ahead,” she said, pushing him away in earnest. “I’m just going to go lie down and try not to collapse.”

Funny thing about best-laid plans. They always seemed to go awry.

* * * *

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”

A wisp of something tickled her cheek. Surrounded by warmth, the slightly musky scent of a man, and a hint of cologne, Morgan snuggled deeper into the bed.

“Morgan, it’s time to get up. We need to go.”

Fighting through layers of sleep, she mumbled, “Go away.”