Deadly Shadows (8 page)

* * * *

Aiden pulled up in front of the house later that week. For the last several days, he and Jesslyn had coexisted. She was usually walking out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee or glass of juice when he was heading to eat. Or maybe he was leaving for work while she was just getting out of bed. Sometimes he’d watch her jog down the lane, or make the loop around the estates. Once he’d even seen her go out to jog at night. But when he’d voiced an opinion on that, she said T.J. was coming to run with her. Still….

The whole situation was like a roommate, but not. He still didn’t know what in the hell had possessed him to kiss her that morning several days ago, but since then, that simple kiss had plagued his mind, keeping him up at nights, pulling his attention away from work. For just a moment there, the edges around her had softened and something had shifted in her eyes other than hurt, or anger.

And she acted as nonchalant and uninterested as could be. He thrummed his fingers on the console. Well, perhaps not uninterested, he’d caught her studying him, but if he asked, she only said it was nothing and walked out of the room. Or made some blithe, smart ass remark.

And why did he even care? It wasn’t like he wanted, needed, or was even remotely looking for any kind of … of … anything.

50

Aiden got out of the Jeep and noticed the cop car was still outside. He waved and walked up the porch steps. Music blared from inside, some chick mood song.

He inserted the key in but noticed the door was unlocked. Did the woman have no damn care for her safety?

He pushed it open, shut it, and walked to the kitchen. Leaning against the doorjamb, quiet, not moving, he was treated to the sight of Jesslyn shaking around the kitchen, singing some chick song about bitches and mothers. The artist belted the song out from hidden speakers.

Aiden shook his head, and simply stood unnoticed until Jesslyn, using a wooden spoon covered in white goo as a microphone, turned wailing out a note, and opened her eyes.

She jumped a foot and glared at him.

Aiden had never heard anyone just cut a note off, but she managed to. Right in the middle of it.

Raising her brows she stammered, “It a--” She looked mortified. “Gets the juices flowing and the blood pumping.”

Aiden laughed. “Really? I’ll have to try that sometime.”

Jesslyn chuckled and walked towards him. He loved her laugh and wished she did it more. Her laugh was throaty and real.

“That I’d like to see.” She smacked him on the chin with the spatula.

“Did I mention how fascinated I am by that drawl of yours?” he asked as he wiped the goo off and licked his fingers. Icing. He sniffed and realized he smelled cakes.

Her tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip. “I don’t think so.”

He sucked the last of the icing from his finger and noticed her eyes were locked on his mouth. What was she thinking?

“Yep, it’s sexy as hell.” Aiden brushed past her, aware of sliding his arm across her chest.

A jolt went through him. Definitely sexy as hell. “You’re baking? Would never think of you as the June Cleaver type.” Cupcakes mushroomed across the counter.

“Surprises abound.”

Cupcakes. Aiden turned to her. Her tongue licked something off the spoon as her eyes twinkled wickedly. Slowly, she ran her tongue up the side of the spoon, then twirled her tongue, catching the built up icing. “Yeah, I like cupcakes. They seem happy.” She looked at the clock.

“You CEO’s get great hours, huh?”

He shook off the image her licking the icing conjured. “Coming from someone that can claim to work in pajamas all day or night that sounds shallow. Actually,” he started, “I had an idea.” The music slid away as she punched a remote. “I bet that hurt.”

This woman would never be boring. “Anyway, I realized how little I know about the local sights and thought maybe you’d like to play tour guide this afternoon.”

“Tour guide?” She picked up a mug and swallowed.

Aiden narrowed his gaze at her. “What are you drinking?”

She tossed the rest back. “Nothing now.”

Coffee.

* * * *

Jesslyn held the handlebars of her Polaris four-wheeler as they flew down Gothic Road, dust billowing behind them. “You ought to let me drive,” Aiden said in her ear.

51

Typical, typical male. Even if he was an incredibly handsome one. What he did to a pair of jeans was absolutely sinful. They molded him and taunted her.

She ignored him and only shook her head. They’d loaded her four-wheeler in the back of her truck and drove out of town to where the pavement ended. Parking there, in the little off road lot, she’d unloaded her Polaris telling him to simply enjoy the view and to hold on.

And he was, holding on. His arms were around her, one hand resting--or in her opinion, burning--on her thigh. She tried, quite unsuccessfully, to ignore the way he rode against her backside.

The scenery, she’d think about the scenery.

Aspen trees grew tall on both sides of the dirt road, and profusions of pink and blue mallow flowers dotted the roadside. Miner’s lanterns, their creamy pale green blooms spearing up, and various other flowers too numerous to name, added to the lush growth. Far below, nestled in the dark green valley, a silver slither of water wound its way like a metallic snake.

The late day was clear, or nearly so. Her nylon jacket snapped against the wind as she increased their speed.

Aiden’s hand on her thigh tightened.

“Is it always like this up here?” he yelled in her ear, pointing around with his other hand.

She nodded. They passed signs posted, hiking trails and campgrounds with names like Rustler’s Gulch, Judd Falls, Washington Gulch. She had always wondered who made up the names and why the places were named that.

She should probably warn him. Turning her head to the side, she yelled back at him,

“Hope you’re not afraid of heights.”

“No, why?” Then, he exclaimed, “What the hell!”

The arm around her waist tightened, and the one on her thigh vised. Jesslyn couldn’t help but grin at his obvious startlement. On one side a dark cliff of rocks, wet and glistening from the water run off, sliced up into the sky. The black and wet road--if it could be called such--made nervous sluicing sounds as the tires crawled over it. There was only room for one normal sized vehicle, and Jesslyn hoped they would not meet another car. Their other side dropped off into a snow massed canyon. She could hear the East River rushing against the rocks below. Cold air blew down the canyon and blasted them in the face. They kept climbing, even as Aiden’s hands gripped her even tighter. She chanced a quick smiling look back at him.

“Watch the road,” he all but barked.

She laughed.

Finally, there was land on both sides as she made a descent on a road off to the left.

There before them was a lake, hidden and nestled in the folds of the mountains. Pine trees speared up around it on the far side, part of it was surrounded by a precipitous rocky face. They bumped along until coming to a stop on the far side of the water by the pines. The beach was black, like the road they’d just survived.

Jesslyn cut the engine and Aiden’s sigh of relief blew warm against her ear.

Turning slightly in his arms, her right leg sliding against his, she looked back and up at him. “You did trust me not to run us off into oblivion didn’t you?” He had yet to loosen his hold on her. “I wasn’t about to kill us or anything,” she added at his skeptic look. Poor choice of wording, she thought.

Kill … Maddy….

“What?” he asked, perceptive as always.

52

“Nothing. Nothing.”
What am I doing here
?

Jesslyn tried for a smile, tried to hide the emotions that suddenly roared to life within her.

Maddy. She didn’t want to think about Maddy right now. No, not right now. Not later. She’d managed to cram the emotions away for almost a week, but they were building like a volcano.

Thankfully her eyes were hidden behind a cheap pair of shades.

She started to wiggle out of his hold, but he didn’t let go. Instead, one hand locked on her neck as he jerked her to him and kissed her hard. There had been no prelude to the kiss, no coaxing of lips, no whispered words. Just him.

For a moment, she sat stunned. But as his mouth plundered hers, something deep within her awoke. His tongue fenced with her, teased her lips, before darting inside to claim. Reaching up, she grabbed the side of his head, letting her fingers run through the thick mass of black hair.

Their tongues parried and forayed. Aiden filled her thoughts. His hand loosened, fingers trailed down the side of her neck, his thumb grazing across her throat, then up to graze along her jaw line and something shimmered inside her. The kiss gentled going from a screaming, heavy metal song to a calm, sweet, piano adagio. He tilted his head and deepened the contact. Shivers danced down her spine to swirl through her nerves. His teeth nipped at her lips before he skimmed them with his tongue. A sigh shuddered out of her.

Just as abruptly as it began, he pulled back from the kiss. His eyes looked down at her for a moment. Jesslyn licked her lips, blinking. Then, he only said, “You have a nice ass.”

He hopped off her four-wheeler and walked away.

53

Jesslyn blinked. What? A nice ass?

She grinned. Guess he’d know since his groin had been nestled against her ass for the last fifteen miles. Laughing, she climbed off the all terrain vehicle and followed Aiden to the water’s edge.

He could kiss good, she’d give him that. Jesslyn absently wondered what he couldn’t do good. All right, better than good, not that she’d ever let him know that.

Thoughts jumbled in her mind. A flash of a dream she’d had days ago, like smoke, too illusive to hold onto chilled her, but she shrugged it off. The wind blew through the trees, carrying the scent of winter still lingering in the air and a crisp aroma of pine, the smell of wet ground.Striving for her best airline attendant voice, she said, “As your nice-assed tour guide, I feel I should tell you that this is--drum roll please--Emerald Lake.” She looked out over the placid water, still and calm, mirror flawless. “The color is a deep green edged in blue, as you can see. It has always reminded me of the Irish Sea, a color forever lost between blue and green.”

She waved a hand to the peaks surrounding them. “This time of year, the mountains still have snow banks on them.” Thin narrow ribbons fought the heat and battled not to melt. Stretches of white played with the sunlight through breaks in the trees.

“Thank you for that informative lesson. Serene place. Quiet beauty. Not bad, Jessie girl, not bad.”

Jessie girl? Why had he called her that? She wasn’t about to ask him, but a little thrill shot through her at the sound of it. Which was absolutely stupid.

“Come on, there’s something else you should see.” She held out her hand towards him, and Aiden let her lead him where she wanted.

They walked along the shore and over logs that stretched over wetlands. Their shoes were silent on the ground until a wet spot sucked at them. Jesslyn tried not to notice how her hand tingled where he touched it, or how her insides felt like a million butterflies flitting about.

God, she sounded like one of her damn heroines. It took a lot not to jerk her hand back, but then that would be really telling wouldn’t it? And she’d have to deal with that smirk of his. In short time, they’d hiked to the top of the knoll and stood in a clearing.

A giant fallen tree crossed the clearing, and was as tall as her waist. She climbed on top and balanced like a dancer, walked the length of the log, until it jutted out over the small cliff, hanging in the air, its old branches like deformed skeletal fingers. Then, she turned around and walked back towards Aiden.

As if he had all the time in the world, he slowly walked towards the log. For some reason it felt like a lion stalking the zebra. His eyes didn’t leave her as he gracefully climbed upon the log and sat, one arm draped over a knee.

Aiden Kinncaid was entirely too sexy for her peace of mind.

And that kiss. She licked her lips and could still taste that spicy flavor of aftershave.

54

God, she was pathetic.

Aiden started to tell her the spot was beautiful, but he didn’t. A small smile played at the corner of her mouth. He didn’t think he’d ever seen that particular expression on her face before.

“What are you thinking about?” Would she share her thoughts? He hoped so.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Come on, Jessie girl.” Jessie girl? What had possessed him to start calling her that?

Aiden had no idea, but when it popped out of his mouth earlier, he’d caught the faint look of pleasant surprise on her face. Jessie girl. It fit her.

Aiden patted the smooth wood beside him. For moment she didn’t move, then she took two steps and grasped the hand he held out to her, sitting beside him.

“I’m glad you talked me into showing you around.”

Straightening, he leaned close enough to smell that light airy perfume she wore. “Yes, my persuasive powers even impress me sometimes.”

She snorted.

He remembered the kiss that morning nearly a week ago, calm and innocent. The one earlier, pure complete hunger. Both made him want more.

She sighed and nibbled on her lower lip as he leaned even closer, only a touch from her.

Aiden knew he made her nervous. He could see her pulse pounding near her collarbone. He wondered if that spot just there tasted as sweet as it looked. His gaze was drawn to her mouth, noticed she still held her lip between her teeth. Against her mouth, he whispered, “Let me do that.” He closed the remaining distance and kissed her, teasing her lips first with his own, skimmed them with his tongue. Then, he gently pulled her bottom lip between his own teeth.

He heard her sharp intake of breath.

Neither of them touched, except for their lips. The seductive kiss was killing him. He wanted more and thought Jessie might too when she leaned into him and deepened the kiss.

Their tongues danced, mingled, melded. Her teeth nipped his tongue and he grinned, running his tongue along the roof of her mouth.

Slowly, she pulled back and frowned at him. Had he expected a frown? Aiden didn’t think so, but it wasn’t surprising to him either. Lord, the woman could kiss. She tasted sweet as honey and seductive as a dark sultry night. Didn’t she know what she did to him? That for whatever reason this wasn’t some simple flirtation for him? And why should she? Had he told her? Told her hell, he’d only been with her for not even a week. It hardly mattered that this damn woman had all but haunted him since he’d met her.

They stared at each other.

“I don’t know what this is, but it feels okay,” she whispered with a confused look on her face, her forehead crinkled on a frown.

“Okay? Is that all? Well, hell, I’ll have to do that again.” He closed the distance again.

This time his hands came up to frame her face. The soft silkiness of her hair tickled his fingers.

He tasted again.

He traced her mouth with his tongue until she opened for him and he dove in, holding her still for his kiss. Her arm came up and wound around his neck, her other on his thigh as she leaned into him. The kiss went on and on. Her breath mixed with his and his with hers. He caught her moan in his mouth. Her hand squeezed his thigh and his breath stopped. Slowly her hand rose and rested on his chest.
No more than kissing
, she might as well have said.

55

He touched his lips to her chin, trailed a kiss down the side of her neck, and traced her ear with his finger.

Finally, she pulled back, resting her forehead against his. “Damn.”

Aiden smiled. “Damn works for me.”

“It would for you.” She made to get off the log, but he grabbed her arm.

“Jessie.”

She turned to him.

He took a deep breath. “I haven’t been out on a date since I called off the wedding.”

“Which was when?”

“Almost a year ago.”

This time she pulled completely back and looked really shocked. “Oh.”

He loved the way the sunshine teased the highlights of her hair, how her brows rose or furrowed above the rims of her shades.

Shaking her head, Jessie hopped off the log and started down the hill. “Come on, there’s one more spot I’d like to show you and we may have to hike a ways.”

Didn’t want to get into a serious discussion, did she? Figured.

Jessie led the way down the steep trail. She wasn’t paying attention and slipped, almost tumbled head first down the rest of the way, but flaying her arms, managed to catch her balance.

“Be careful!” Aiden snapped. Was she trying to break her damn neck?

Turning, she grinned at him. “Calm down. Lord, you’re nervous. I understand. I bet it’s from being with a model for so long, huh? Don’t worry, none of my appendages are singularly or collectively insured. Unfortunately, my medical insurance and life insurance didn’t see any need in insuring my arms, the short legs they gave me an estimate on, but….” She shrugged.

He glared at her and pointed his finger. “When we get down you’re going to pay for that.” Since Brice had done exactly that, insured her long, sleek, tan, and picture perfect legs, he wanted to laugh, but managed to keep the glare just the same.

Raising her brow she pertly asked, “Promise?”

Then the nit-wit quickly skuddled down the rest of the way and took off hopping through the dense vegetation. Aiden stood watching on the hillside.

When he reached the four-wheeler, Jesslyn had it revved and ready to go.

Smiling wickedly, she told him to hang on. Spitting dirt and gravel into the air, the tires spun and in a time shorter than he would’ve liked, they were back on the otherwise nonexistent road. This time, they continued on past the lake.

Aiden enjoyed the breathtaking scenery, and not just the mountains.