If I Loved You (Harper Falls Book 1) (10 page)

“I thought that might have been what Tyler
was talking about last night.” Rose frowned in confusion. “She
warned you that I might be a sexual deviant.”

“Whips, chains, and ball gags don’t make you
a sexual deviant, Jack,” Rose clarified. “In Tyler’s book and mine,
anything goes between consenting adults. What makes you a deviant
is forcing someone when they have in
any
way
indicated that they aren’t a willing participant. In
other words, no means no.”

“Was she, were any of you ever…?” The
question seemed to stick in his throat. The charming rascal had
quickly been replaced by a protective warrior. If she’d given him a
name, she had no doubt he’d have exacted his own kind of
justice.

“No,” Rose assured him. “But Tyler had a
friend in college who was attacked and beaten. She fought, but she
was no match for him. The next day Tyler made us all sign up for
self-defense classes. Dani went on and got her black belt in
karate.”

“Dani? Really?”

“I know she looks like a delicate piece of
porcelain but never come up behind her without warning. Tyler might
rip your balls off, but Dani goes for the jugular.”

“And you?” Jack asked, turning her into his
arms. “What do you go for?”

She slowly ran her hand up his chest. She
stopped over his heart feeling the increased rhythm. The muscles
jumped when she gently massaged the firm, heated flesh. And then
before he could blink she was behind him, his arm twisted into the
center of his back.

“I lull and then attack.”

“Impressive,” Jack conceded. He could have
easily gotten out of the hold, but he liked that she had some
moves. And at the moment he liked her rubbing up against his back.
“Now that you have me what are you going to do with me?”

If this had been someone she really wanted
to get away from she would have kicked him in the back of the knee
and run like hell. But Jack had had plenty of time to use his
superior strength to gain the upper hand. That told Rose he was in
the mood to play, which was fine because so was she.

“Take off your jacket,” she ordered.
“Slowly. I don’t want to have to get rough with you.”

Laughing to himself Jack removed his jacket,
slowly, and tossed it onto a nearby chair.

“I like a man who can follow orders. Now
turn around.” When he did Rose grabbed a handful of is t-shirt,
pulling him down until they were eye to eye. “Kiss me, Jack. Like
you mean it.”

It would have been so easy to give her what
they both wanted, Jack thought. Just lean in and take what she was
so sweetly offering, forget everything he’d decided that afternoon
while he tossed and turned, still unable to sleep. It took a while,
but he finally came up with two reasons to hold off sleeping with
Rose.

Number one, the bet. It was stupid, juvenile
and completely impossible to justify to anyone but himself and the
group of idiots who had been too drunk to understand just how
ridiculous they were being. Maybe it was a guy thing but he just
didn’t want to give in and admit he couldn’t keep his dick to
himself for such a relatively small amount of time. On top of that
it was a bet that hurt no one. Outside of his overactive libido it
was a victimless crime, so to speak.

And then there was Rose. Beautiful, funny,
confident and oh so sexy, Rose. Two weeks ago he wouldn’t have
hesitated. He would have spent last night in her bed, and he had no
doubt it would have been amazing. But then what?
She
claimed she wanted a one night stand.
He’d
never been with the same woman
for more than a few weeks. Suddenly he had the chance to get to
know a woman as a person. Sex wouldn’t be the end game every night.
People still went to the movies, held hands and ended their dates
with just a kiss or two. Stupid as it was, the bet had given him
the chance to find out if he and Rose were compatible outside of
the bedroom. A novel concept but, with Rose he found the idea more
and more appealing.

So instead of the full on kiss she expected,
Jack gave her a soft peck on the cheek. Sweet and affectionate.
That seemed to be the order of the day.

“I haven’t finished showing you around,” he
said, taking her hand. “And then I have a surprise for you.”

Rose was already surprised. As Jack led her
out of his office and to a nearby stairwell, she couldn’t help but
wonder what had just happened? She had been so sure he was about to
kiss her and not like you’d kiss your kid sister. Something had
changed in the short moment between him taking off his jacket and
his lips landing on her cheek. Had she read him wrong? She didn’t
have much experience with men like Jack. But wasn’t he supposed to
be a sure thing? How hard could
that
be to read?

She followed Jack down two flights of
stairs, the smell of chlorine becoming stronger with each step.

“There’s a swimming pool down here?”

“Drew likes to swim every morning,” Jack
explained as the entered what Rose could only describe as a
subterranean oasis.

“Honestly, Jack?” Rose laughed. “This is
like something out of a movie. Who takes care of all this?”

“We have a guy,” Jack answered. Several,
actually.

She did a slow circle trying to take it all
in. The pool was large, not Olympic size, but big enough to do laps
easily. It was surrounded by lush, green plants that were thriving
despite the lack of sunlight. Grow lights, she assumed. The room
was humid but not overwhelmingly so.

“I don’t hear any fans,” she commented,
still taking in all the amazing details. “But it seems fresh air is
being pumped in.”

“State of the art system, almost soundless.”
Jack was enjoying the changing expressions flitting across Rose’s
face. Wonder, amazement, humor. Mostly humor.

“I’d say boys and their toys,” she laughed,
“but this goes way beyond video games and giant TVs.”

One day he’d show her the huge projection
screen that they had hidden in the ceiling. Maybe when he brought
her back for a late night skinny dip.

Taking her hand again, he showed her the
weight room and showers and then led her to down the hall to what
looked like a dead end. Jack pushed a button, and the wall opened
up to a hidden elevator. Rose gave Jack a '
you've got to be kidding me'
look as they
entered.

“Rooftop,” Jack said and the elevator
started moving. “I know,” he laughed. “But it’s fun, right? We
spend most of our time here. There’s no reason it has to be all
business.”

The ride was short, so Rose had no time to
do more than shake her head and smile. But when the elevator doors
opened there were no words. All she could do was gasp.

Jack didn’t need to look at the sunset; he
could see it in Rose’s eyes. They glowed, not just with the
brilliant lights of the days last moments but with the joy she
found in seeing it. It was a memory he would carry with him the
rest of his days. Maybe, if he were lucky, over time he and Rose
would create a few million more.

“It’s like I’m seeing it for the first
time.” She turned to him, and he realized it wasn’t the sun shining
in her eyes, it was just Rose.

Getting ahead of yourself, Jack. Slow down,
you don’t want to scare her. Hell, he didn’t want to scare
himself.

“We designed most of this with a sloping
roof so the snow will slide off easier in the winter. But I wanted
a small section that we could use for lunch breaks or meditation,
or this.” He stepped aside letting her see the table he had set up
earlier in the day.

Everything was set up for romance, Rose
thought. Pale yellow china on an antique lace tablecloth. Flameless
candles, practical but no less sweet, flickered next to fluted
crystal champagne glasses. And in the center a small vase of white
peonies.

“I got the flowers from that new place down
on Walnut. Is it weird that I got peonies from a place called
Peony
? Lila suggested them.”

“You know Lila?” Rose asked in surprise.

“She’s the sister of an old friend,” he
explained. “I knew she wanted to open a place of her own so I
suggested Harper Falls.”

“Small world,” Rose whispered.

“You don’t like them?” Maybe he should have
gone for the cliché and gotten roses.

“They’re beautiful, Jack,” she assured him.
Someday she would tell him about how she'd met Lila but tonight
wasn’t the time to mention ruined shoes or projectile vomiting.

Jack smiled in relief. Holding out her
chair, he seated her and then opened the waiting bottle of wine. “I
know we had champagne last night but it seemed appropriate.”

He handed her a filled glass and raised his
own in a toast. “To romance.”

Rose didn’t drink. “What are we doing,
Jack?”

He didn’t pretend not to know what she
meant. “I’d like to slow down, Rose. What would be wrong with us
getting to know each other before we have sex?”

“There’s nothing wrong with it, Jack. But
you need to know there can’t be any future for us.”

“Why?”

How could she explain without sounding
pathetic? It was such a ‘poor me’ story. She’d lived it and moved
on. Mostly. Jack didn’t need to know all the gory details.

“Do you see yourself married someday, Jack?”
she asked. “Do you want children?”

“Yes, but I wasn’t asking you to marry me,
Rose.”

“But you might.” Did that sound egotistical?
Maybe, but she needed Jack to understand. “I don’t believe in
marriage. Not for me.”

“Rose…”

“Okay,” she interrupted. She took a deep
breath. “Here’s the
Reader’s
Digest
version. My father had left
my mother and me before I was born. For the next nine years she
used a procession of men to fill the void until he came back. He
was never coming back. But you couldn’t tell her that. After she
had died, I was sent to live with the only relative that they could
locate. I didn't know I even had an aunt, but here's her story.
Louise marries for money. When she gets bored, she screws the
nearest man and then she gets divorced. She’s about to marry
husband number seven. Lucky for some.”

“Wow.”

“Succinct but accurate.” Telling this didn’t
just sound pitiful it made her feel unclean. She wasn’t responsible
for her Louise's actions, but they rubbed off none the less.

“I believe in love, Jack,” she assured him.
“Marriage between the right people can be beautiful and lasting.
But I’m afraid I wouldn’t even know how to begin to hold onto to
either.”

“Then let’s just take it a day at a time.”
Jack wanted to reach across and pull her into his arms. He wanted
to tell her that she wasn’t her mother or her aunt but Rose already
knew that. Maybe she was damaged; maybe he couldn’t help her heal.
But he could try.

“I don’t know if I’ll fall in love with you,
Rose,” he began. “I know I like you. I know I want to spend time
getting to know you. Maybe I’ll find out I hate your taste in
movies, maybe you won’t be able to stand the way I eat corn on the
cob. Maybe we’ll decide to be friends and forget about sex
altogether.”

Their eyes met for a moment, and they both
started laughing, breaking the heaviness that had settled over
evening.

“Okay, forget the no sex part. But you get
what I’m saying. Please, Rose, give it a chance.”

She wanted to. If Jack was still willing
even after everything she’d told him then so was she.

“I’ll agree but first you have to tell me
something.”

“Name it.”

“How
do
you
eat corn on the cob?”

KISS ME JACK, like you mean
it.

Believe me, it’ll be my
pleasure.

There was no smooth
seduction, no easing in. There was no more teasing. She’d told him
to kiss her, and he took control. His hands lifted, molding the
shape of her head, firm and wonderfully sensuous. When his lips
found hers, the taste of him filled her senses as his tongue
entered her mouth, rubbing against her own. Jack’s arms came around
her pulling her up until their bodies were in perfect alignment. As
her breasts
rubbed
maddeningly against his chest, she wanted him
to rip away every piece of clothing that prevented them touching
flesh to flesh. Her breathing was becoming heavy, and every nerve
seemed to center between her legs, right where his thigh was
rubbing with expert precision.

“
Sweet,” he groaned,
coming up for air. “Like spiced honey. I want to spend a week
tasting you. Your mouth,” Jack swiped his tongue over her lips.
“This spot right here,” he whispered as he left a slow trail of
kisses across her jaw unerringly finding the sensitive skin just
below her ear. She thought she might come from just the feel of his
lips on that spot. It was officially her new favorite erogenous
zone.

“
Touch me, Jack.” There
was a desperation in her voice that she’d never heard before. She
needed his hands on her body, anywhere, now.

“
I know what you need.
Close your eyes, Rose. All you have to do is feel, I promise I’ll
give you exactly what you want.”

His lips continued to
torment the spot below her ear but now his hands were adding to her
arousal. He was taking his time, a slow journey, with a much too
brief stop to tease her breasts. Go back. She wanted to scream. But
she could only manage a moan, part frustration, part
encouragement.

He knew what he was doing.
Building her up to heights she’d never experienced, the
anticipation becoming almost unbearable.

“
This is what you want,
isn’t it?”