Material Witness (23 page)

Cassie quickly shook her head. “I'm
not. I'm…it's been a long time for me.”

Jake wanted to laugh, but decided
Cassie wouldn’t understand. How could she? “I haven't been with a woman in over
three years, Cassie,” he answered, realizing for the first time how infinitely
long that seemed. “So I guess that makes us even.”

Her doe-like eyes lifted to his with
surprise.

“Really?”

He nodded.

“I don't want to disappoint you.”
Closing her eyes, Cassie chuckled lightly, concealing her face with her hand.
“I don't know why I'm telling you this,” she whispered.

“Have you changed your mind?” he
asked, swallowing hard.

She shook her head. His heart pounded
against his ribs.

Jake gently tugged her hand away from
her face and kissed her lightly on the lips. Those lips, silky soft and moist.
She tasted sweet, like the sugar she had with her coffee that morning. He
wanted to drink her in, devour her as if he’d never had a meal, but he held
himself back. After so long of going without he was now in danger of overload.
Cupping her face between both hands, he gazed into her dark eyes, knowing he
could easily drown there with no regrets.

He recalled what she’d said last
night when they’d kissed at the cabin. How much he’d so brutally wanted her.
How unsure she’d been, afraid he’d pulled away because she’d somehow done
something wrong. He suddenly understood her hesitation.

“Someone, somewhere along the line
fed you a great load of bull that you weren't any good as a lover, that you
weren't desirable. The horrible crime is that you believed him.”

Reaching up, she pulled his hand away
and shrugged uncomfortably, averting her gaze. “What else could I believe when
I…couldn't feel anything?”

“Look at me,” Jake said, tilting her
chin up with his fingers. “Haven't you seen the effect you have on me? I can't
even be in the same room with you without losing my mind wanting you.”

She swallowed visibly. “You didn't
have any trouble resisting me last night. And I practically threw myself at
your feet.”

Closing his eyes, he laughed, his
voice deep and rough with an aching need so strong he thought he’d
self-combust.

“My God, Cassie, you're the most
incredible woman I've ever met. I damn near died last night wanting you. I
spent an hour on the front porch in the freezing cold trying to fan down the
flames inside me after you closed that bedroom door.”

Her eyes widened as she peered up at
him. “I didn’t know that.”

He smiled and was rewarded in turn
when the lips that had teased him for the past week tilted up to form a
deliciously wide grin.

Brushing her dark hair away from her
face, he rested his hand at the nape of her neck. He kissed her forehead,
digging his fingers into her dark curls until he felt the spot where her hair
had been cut. His body stiffened as the images of her being held back at the cabin
assaulted him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“His hands. I can’t get the image of
him touching you, what he could have done to you, out of my mind. It’s driving
me crazy, Cassie.”

“Ssh.”

Cassie placed her index finger
against his lips. His tongue darted out to taste her skin. With her other hand,
she took his hand and placed it against the bare skin of her chest.

“This will help you wipe away those
images.”

His mouth came down crushingly hard
upon hers. He was hungry for her in a way he didn’t think would ever be
satisfied. The images faded as he made a trail of kisses down the side of her
cheek to the hollow of her neck where he’d bandaged the long scrape and cut
marks from the knife. Even though they were now covered, the image of them,
angry and raw, sprang up at him, a chilling reminder of what they'd gone
through to get to this moment.

He fingered the gauzy area lightly.

“Does this hurt?”

“Not as much as it did.”

“What about when I do this?” Bending
his head, he dug his fingers in her wild hair and kissed her neck, giving the
area around the bandage gentle, loving attention. He lingered there, greedily
taking pleasure in the scent of her and the sweet and salty taste of her skin.

Cassie said nothing, but he could
swear he'd heard her heart slam against the walls of her chest, giving answer
to his question. Running her hands up his arms, to his shoulders, she let out a
small whimper. As she laced her fingers behind his neck, her exposed skin
pressed firmly against his shirt, and he was instantly annoyed by the barrier.

He wanted more. So much more. The
fusion of hot flesh against hot flesh would only heighten his awareness of her,
of what they were about to share.

Stretching up on her toes, she
pressed her lips against his and grazed her tongue across the opening of his
mouth to gain entrance. Jake quickly obliged and she seared him with a kiss so
provocative, it set his whole body on fire, turning his mind into a complete
nuclear meltdown.

She gasped for air as she pulled away
from him, her fingers urgently digging into his shoulders. Running his hand
down the side of her, he cupped her bottom, pressing her hard against him,
taking pleasure as she squirmed against his arousal.

Cassie had never felt passion with
anyone like she did now with Jake. She’d known right from the first time they'd
met that he was different from any man she'd ever known. His magnetism drew her
to him from the start. He was rugged and impossibly strong in body and will. At
the same time, he was surprisingly gentle, stealing her breath away with the
slightest thing he did.

And he gave her a feeling of
empowerment she'd never known before in her life. She felt brave beyond her
wildest dreams, strong against the powers holding her captive.

In one fell swoop, Jake lifted her in
his arms as if she were light as air. Kissing her soundly, he gently placed her
in the center of the absurdly tiny bed. He crushed her body with his own,
making her sink deeply into the soft mattress.

When he pulled away from their kiss,
Jake leaned back slightly and gazed down at her. “Tell me what you feel,
Cassie,” he commanded in a shaky whisper.

What could she say? That her body was
on fire each time he touched her? Each time he looked at her the way he was
right this second? That she ached to feel him moving inside her, feel his warm
mouth on her naked body, and if he denied her that, she'd go insane with need?

Reaching up, she dug her fingers into
his hair at the back of his head and pulled him down. She wanted his passion,
wanted for him to lose control in it with her. He kissed her with a power that
unearthed her, dipping well into the depths of her soul and turning her
completely inside out. And when she couldn't take anymore, he gave her more.

Before she could comprehend how he'd
managed to remove her bra, his mouth covered one of her nipples, sucking
gently, while his thumb teased the other. His tongue was like exquisite
torture, flicking her nipple to an aching erection, making her arch her back to
be closer to his warm moist mouth. His hand cupped her breast with urgency and
she heard herself moan. He switched sides, bathing her with attention until she
bucked beneath him, unable to stand the pressure building inside her body.
Liquid heat pooled inside her and flowed to her sensitive center.

“Too many clothes,” she said
breathlessly.

Jake made a trail of kisses down the
center of her stomach, leaving a moist line that chilled her skin against the
cool draft from the window. She grasped the button of her jeans to unclasp
them, and he stilled her hand.

“Let me,” he rasped. “I've waited a
long time for this.”

“So have I.”

Cassie closed her eyes and allowed
herself to be taken. She didn't need to be in control. Not here. She wanted to
go wherever Jake wanted to take her and back again. She wanted to get as close
to heaven as she could, and she knew without a doubt Jake would take her there.

He slipped his hands beneath the
fabric of her jeans and pulled the denim down, leaving her with only her
underwear. Vanity immediately invaded her mind for just a nanosecond, making
her wish she'd worn some of the sexy lace panties she owned and hardly ever
used. Instead, she wore her normal plain white cotton briefs that were
comfortable and practical.

Opening her eyes, she peered up at
Jake just as she heard the soft thud that was her blue jeans hitting the floor
next to the bed. He leaned back on his knees, straddling her legs. The rise and
fall of his chest grew more labored as his gaze roamed the length of her body,
worshipping her as if she were a Greek Goddess.

He wanted her, plain white cotton
briefs and all. And the very fact Jake was so completely turned on by her made
Cassie toss away every ounce of uncertainty left inside her.

“Are you finished?” she teased,
loving the way he made her feel so cherished.

A deep dimple appeared on Jake's left
cheek as his lips stretched into a wide grin. Her heart melted.

“Not by a long shot.”

“Good, because neither am I.” Cassie
sat up in bed and reached for his belt buckle, but he quickly stilled her hand.

“If it's all the same to you,” he
said, his voice tight. “I'm going to take care of these on my own. In the
current state I'm in, getting these pants off may be more difficult a task to
perform than taking off yours. This show will be over before anything happens.”

Cassie giggled, but stopped when
Jake's expression grew serious as he took off his pants and shirt.

They climbed beneath the blankets and
were in each other arms, flesh melting against flesh, tongues dancing like
fire-licked flames of the sun. It was more perfect than anything Cassie could
have dreamed.

“Tell me what you feel, Cassie,” she
heard Jake rasp against her ear.

“I…” She couldn't breathe enough to
say a word. He was torturing her with his fingers, delving deep inside her,
bringing her higher and higher toward the threshold of release, until she
thought she'd split in two.

“Tell me,” he commanded, his breath
hot and moist against her ear.

This was it, Cassie realized. A trust
she'd never known. It was the very thing that had kept her heart in chains all
these years. The reason all her relationships ended in failure. Never before
had she been able to relinquish her sense of control to let anyone close enough
to touch what mattered deep inside. Or to allow herself the freedom to succumb
completely to love.

Love
. Yes, this was the very real and
wonderful difference. What she felt for Jake was an implicit trust that could
only mean one thing. She was in love with Jake Santos. And that was something
she'd never felt before, never allowed herself to experience.

He could lead her anywhere and she
would go willingly, give herself up to the power of that love, to that trust
she'd bestowed him, body and soul.

“I…I want you inside me.”

She lay beneath him, unable to think
beyond the pleasure and tension building in her with each passing second. With
Jake's hard thighs cradled against her softness, Cassie tightly gripped his
hips and moved against him in an urgent plea.

And he answered her, entering her
slowly, deliberately, until she fell into the rhythm he set. She wrapped her
legs around his waist, locking him to her as they rode the white-hot wave of
fire threatening to disintegrate her senses, until she tumbled over the edge to
the other side. Seconds later, when the world around her finally came back into
view, she felt Jake's body harden, and his whole body shuddered in her arms.

He lay on top of her for a few
moments while his labored breathing eased. Rolling to his side, he pulled her
against him. His skin was hot and slick with sweat from their lovemaking. They
lay quietly for a long while with nothing but the steady rhythm of their
breathing breaking the silence. Jake stroked her hair as she buried her face
against his warm chest, listening to his powerful heartbeat.

“Tell me, Cassie,” Jake said softly,
a hint of mischief in his voice. “Did you feel anything or are we going to have
to keep at this until we get it right?”

She couldn't help it. Cassie tossed
her head back and laughed hard. She felt so good, so alive for the first time
in days.

“You know what they say, practice
makes perfect.”

They made love again as the light
died in the room. Wrapping a blanket around himself, Jake tiptoed into the
other room only long enough to grab a block of cheese and crackers to satisfy
the grumbling of their bellies. And then they made love again, slow and
languorous in the darkness of the night as if the world outside their door
didn’t exist.

# # #

Chapter Twelve

It was cold when Jake woke the next
morning. Frost had grown spider web lines on the windowpane, clearly visible between
the opening of the curtains. With the bedroom door closed, none of the heat
from the other room could filter into the small bedroom. The walls of this drab
hotel room were paper-thin and the wind pounding against the outer wall seeped
inside and lifted the curtain with every gust.