MIDNIGHT QUEST: A Short 'Men of Midnight' Novel (3 page)

She was just so goddamn beautiful, all that pale, smooth skin, plump breasts, hard little nipples. He rubbed his thumb over the nipples, enjoying feeling her shudder. They were hard as little rocks. “Yeah,” he said, trying to keep the smugness out of his voice, “you missed me.”

Her eyes were half closed. “You touch me a little further down and you’ll see exactly how much I missed you.”

Jacko closed his own eyes. She sometimes blindsided him like that. “Yeah,” he whispered. He ran his hands down her sides, taking the sweatpants and pretty lace panties down her long legs. She stepped out of them and there she was, naked and welcoming.

“Feel me, Jacko.” Lauren shifted so her legs were apart. “Feel how much I want you.”

He ran his hand over her belly and slid it over her mound, feeling the soft ash-colored hairs. Lauren was a natural blonde and her sex was covered in a trim little cloud of light-colored hair. She’d dyed her hair dark before coming to Portland in an effort to disguise herself. She’d been on the run from a psychopath and had done everything in her power to change her look.

She’d asked him lots of times if he wanted her to go back to being a blonde but he liked her exactly the way she was when he’d first met her. That Snow White look—pale skin, dark hair, silver-blue eyes—turned him on so much he didn’t ever want her to change. And that contrast between her dark hair and that light cloud only he knew about—that was his own delicious secret.

He gave her a tiny push on the shoulder and she understood, settling back on the bed, spread out for him like a feast.

“Clothes.”

They understood each other perfectly. In a second he was naked, too, dick a thick column jutting out from his belly. Her eyes traveled slowly from his face down his body, and her smile grew when her gaze reached his dick and it gave a kick as new blood rushed down to it.

Lauren laughed.

Jacko reached down with his hand and placed it on her thigh, right next to her sex and she sighed.

He took a moment to study her, this woman who’d completely upended his life. She was so much more beautiful now that she’d put on a little weight. That first night he’d been almost frightened at how fragile she looked naked. Being on the run from a psychopath would do that. He could count her ribs. Lying flat like this, her hipbones had jutted out and her belly had been a hollow. Her bones had felt like bird bones.

Now she was an ivory-skinned goddess.

What did you do with a goddess? Worship her.

He fell to his knees and pulled her legs toward him until they bracketed his chest, her sex right at the edge of the bed like a tempting pearl.

She was glistening, all pink and wet. He traced the rim of her sex with his finger and watched, fascinated, as more moisture welled up and the folds turned deep pink. As he touched her, her head pressed back against the mattress and that long slender neck arched back.

He circled her again. “Did you touch yourself while I was gone?” he asked hoarsely. Because he couldn’t fuck his hand, but maybe she could touch herself. It was all a pale imitation of what they could do when they were together, but it was something.

“No.” She shook her head. There was a slight rasp as her hair slid across the pillow case. “I couldn’t. I was waiting for you.”

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s not the same.”

“Not even close.”

He put his hands on the inside of her thighs. They were dark and rough against her pale soft skin, an erotic contrast. His hands framed her sex, open to him. A temptation he couldn’t resist.

He kissed her there, exactly like he kissed her mouth, tongue deep inside her. He made a noise against her skin, a hungry noise, and he felt her muscles contract against his mouth. This time she made the noise.

“Jacko!” Her hands grabbed his head.

He breathed deeply, taking in her scent. When she was aroused, she smelled like no other woman he’d ever known—sweet and salty and a little like the ocean. He moved even closer, kissing her more deeply, and she clenched around him again. Her thighs started trembling against the palms of his hands and he pulled away, just a little. God, there was nothing more gorgeous. She was wet with her own juices and his mouth, shiny and pink. He brushed his thumb against her clitoris and watched, fascinated, as her tissues closed like a fist then opened again.

She was close.

He licked her, gave her a tiny little bite that made her shake, then shifted up her body and entered her fast, kissing her mouth, feeling her climax against his dick and feeling the climax with his mouth and then he was feeling it all over, in her arms and legs clutching him, in the fast heartbeat against his chest, in the fingers curling into the muscles of his shoulder.

He settled into a driving rhythm but when she whispered, “Welcome home, my darling,” it was like setting off a detonator and all he could do was hold himself tightly against her, inside her, while he exploded.

Jacko never, ever admitted to being tired. But Lauren could tell by the quality of his sleep if he was tired or not. After making love, he’d fallen into a sleep so deep it told her what it had cost him to work so hard and spend so many hours traveling just so he could come home to her sooner.

He loved her.

She smiled at the ceiling as the early morning light slowly filled the room.

Jacko loved her, and soon there would be another person in her life, another love. She hugged the thought to herself, happy beyond words. The kit had told her she was pregnant but she already knew that. Her body told her, told her that she and Jacko had made a human being. A baby, to love and protect. To watch over as he or she grew up. She listened to her heart beating in her chest and wondered whether later, when the baby was fully formed inside her womb, their heartbeats would align.

Loving Jacko was already overwhelming. He filled her life, all the cracks and crevices. He made her whole and happy.

But a child? Oh God, who knew? She felt like she could touch the sky, like she’d been brushed by magic. She’d burst into tears of happiness when she saw the wand turn pink and as she touched her belly, it was like the universe coalesced under her fingertips.

Last night it had taken all her self-discipline not to tell Jacko immediately. She was bursting with the news. She’d wanted to call Isabel and Felicity and Summer right away but it wasn’t fair for them to know before Jacko did.

He was going to be a father. He’d make a wonderful father, just as he’d make a wonderful husband. This was the moment to decide on the wedding as well. Why had she held back? For some reason, she simply couldn’t say the words, couldn’t set a date. She thought maybe it was some superstitious thing—too much happiness all at once, tempting the gods to destroy that happiness. But that wasn’t it.

She’d been waiting. And now the waiting was over. She knew it was exactly the right moment for them to become a family.

She sighed in delight.

“Someone’s happy this morning.”

Lauren turned her head and saw Jacko shaking his head. She grinned at him. He looked a little taken aback. Did she smile so seldom? Well, that was going to change, and soon.

“Yeah. I’m happy. I’m particularly happy that you’re back.”

“Yeah?” The sleepiness disappeared from his voice and that deep, sexy tone he got when he thought of sex took its place. He threw back the covers. “Exactly how happy are you?”

She hadn’t bothered to put pajamas on, and he looked at her naked body with pleasure.

“Why don’t you find out?” When Jacko turned her on, her voice dropped an octave and she sounded like Mae West. She’d never heard that tone coming from her mouth before, but now it seemed like a permanent feature. “You being such an observant man and all.”

The sound that came out of Jacko’s throat sounded like a lion purring. “Oh yeah.”

He placed his broad palm against her throat and slowly drew his hand down the center of her chest until it lay against her belly.

His eyes followed his hand as he spoke. “You know, last night I was thinking how much more beautiful you are now that you’ve put on a few pounds. That first time—you were so thin and fragile. I was afraid I’d break a bone. Now you’re just so…luscious.”

His hand flexed on her belly, opening and closing.

There was no way she could keep this secret a second longer. It was exploding out of her.

“Jacko,” she said seriously, and placed her hand over his. Their hands made such a contrast. Hers pale and half the size of his. His eyes met hers, slightly puzzled at her tone.

“I
have
put a few pounds on and ordinarily I’d swat you for noticing.” She looked down at herself then back up at him. “But what you’re seeing is not a weight gain. What you’re seeing is my body changing. Because, my darling, I’m pregnant. We’re going to have a baby.”

His hand lifted off her belly, a swift and uncontrollable gesture, like lifting a hand away from a hot surface.

Of all the reactions possible, she hadn’t imagined this one. His face turned blank—utterly and completely blank. As if he’d gone somewhere else and happened to leave his face behind.

She sat up. “Jacko?”

His jaw muscles contracted, as if he were biting back words. “That’s—that’s great, honey.” The words were the right ones, except they were coming out of that stiff, expressionless face.

“Jacko, what’s the matter?” Lauren reached out to touch his shoulder but he’d already moved away. He rolled off the bed and started pulling on his jeans. “Jacko?” This time she couldn’t keep the trembling out of her voice.

He was pulling on one of his long-sleeved tees then tying his boot laces.

“Gotta go in early, honey.” He leaned down to give her a kiss that was over immediately. “See you tonight. I’ll come home early.”

And in a second he was gone.

It was a good thing Jacko was an excellent driver and that he could drive from home to the office blindfolded, because that was basically what he was doing. No cloth over his eyes, but he still didn’t see anything on the road. He avoided collisions through sheer instinct.

His brain wasn’t working right. He’d simply blanked out. Mind gone. That had never happened to him before, a shock so great he was taken away from himself. Ever under fire, he was in total control of himself, but right now he couldn’t control anything about himself, not even his movements.

He hadn’t seen the intersections, the other drivers or pedestrians. All he could see was Lauren. Pregnant with their child, having their child, dying in childbirth. The child massively deformed, a monster. A murderous monster.

The nightmare repeated itself right in front of his eyes, over and over again. Hi-def, 3D, with a soundtrack.

Rushing a screaming, bleeding Lauren to the hospital, staying by her side until the doctors kicked him out of the operating theater, waiting outside, heart hammering, crazy with terror, the tired surgeon coming out, pulling down his mask, sad eyes telling the truth before his mouth could.

Because, well, any child of his would have tainted blood. Fuck yeah—how could it not? Jacko had no idea who his father was but odds were that good old dad was a junkie, just like his mom. Some drug-crazed loser, passing through town. His mom had never been comfortable with normal people. She was too far gone, lost in the smoky hell of addiction and craziness, to ever be with normal people. There was no helping her, either.

Sheriff Pendleton had tried over and over again, getting her into the few state-sponsored rehab programs, keeping an eye out for Jacko, helping when he could. His mom baited the sheriff, spat at him, called him names.

She hadn’t been choosy over who she fucked. Any dick would do as long as the guy attached to it would buy her a drink or supply her with something to get high, accompanied by a few bucks, which never went toward food.

So his father could have been anybody, and probably the furthest thing possible from a good guy.

Jacko lost count of the number of times she’d been declared an unfit mother. He’d transited in and out of foster homes until he found his final home in the Navy. She’d sober up just long enough to get him back to qualify for child support, then she’d go right back to turning tricks and getting high. And when she discovered meth, not even child support could coax her back to the world of the living.