Rev It Up (29 page)

“Shell, Shell,” he chanted her name over and over again, plying her mouth with his tongue, everything inside him warring with itself. He wanted this so much but…

“Jake,” she breathed in his ear. “Take me. Right here. Right now.”

And
that
was
it. All thoughts, save her, her soft cries and hot tongue and grasping hands, flew from his head.

He
groaned
when
she
eagerly
bit
the
side
of
his
neck. Managing to snake an arm down between their bodies, he pushed aside the elastic of her panties, slipped his thumb between her plump female lips and…

Hot.

She
was
so
damned
hot, burning his skin.

And
wet.

She
was
so
wet, slick and ready.

He
plunged
one
finger
inside
her
tight
sheath
and
pulled
back
to
watch
her
gorgeous
eyes
drift
shut. A deep blush stole up her neck and burned in her cheeks as he pressed his thumb against the hard knot of nerves at the top of her sex and circled slowly.

“Oh, wow,” she whispered and he thought,
Oh, wow is right.

Because
she
was
everything
a
woman
was
supposed
to
be. Lush and lusty. Sweet and sensuous. And she was his. His for the taking. His for the fucking. His. His.
His.
The
monster
that’d grown inside him over the last few months roared with pleasure.

And
he
knew
this
was
the
last
thing
he
should
be
doing. Because as soon as she saw what he’d become she’d—

“I’m going to come,” she announced throatily and, once again, all thought fled as he added a second finger to the first and stroked her deeply even as he increased the rhythm of his thumb against that sweet little knot of nerves.

Oh, come for me.
He
wanted
it
so
bad, more than his next breath.

It
was
a
primal
desire. A primitive need to possess, mark, mate, claim.

He’d never experienced anything like it. That animalistic drive. And he feared it was the beast slipping loose of its chains making him feel this way.

He
felt
her
inner
muscles
squeeze
his
fingers, a hard pulse that nearly had him coming in his jeans. But he gritted his teeth and worked her, endlessly sucking her tongue as his fingers pumped, as his thumb circled and pressed, circled and pressed, until her soft gasps turned to muted cries, until she keened his name and unraveled in his arms.

“Oh, Jake,” she breathed in his ear, and then all he could think was that he wanted inside her.

Now.

He
fumbled
with
his
fly
and, when his erection sprang free, it pulsed so hard he saw stars
.

Damn, this is getting ridiculous!
He
needed
to
get
inside
her, and fast, because he was about to embarrass himself like a randy sixteen-year-old getting his first hand-job.

Tugging
the
leg
of
her
panties
aside, he pushed into her…

And
it
was
like
coming
home, but to no home he’d ever known. Because it was right in a way he’d never thought possible. So fucking right. He’d been searching for this, just this, his entire life, and now he’d finally found it. This woman. This moment…

When
he
pulled
back
to
plunge
into
her
again, to seal them indelibly, she groaned and whispered, “Do you have a condom?”

It
was
then
that
reality
came
tumbling
down
around
him…

He glanced at her now, at the tight expression on her face made harsh by the bright overhead lights in the hospital hallway. “I didn’t come,” he blurted.

He remembered that very clearly. She’d asked if he had a condom, and he’d come to his senses. He’d pulled out of her, shoved his raging cock back in his jeans, wrangled the demon inside him who’d howled with fury, and marched her straight out of the bathroom and into Preacher’s arms.

“Yeah.” Her expression was stricken. “I guess you didn’t have to.”

“But—” he shook his head.

“You know all those warnings about applying the condom
before
making any type of sexual contact?” she asked, swallowing convulsively, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “Well, I’m the walking, talking, cautionary tale as to why that’s so important.”

He couldn’t comprehend. Was she saying Franklin was his son?

No.

No, it wasn’t possible.

She couldn’t have done this to him. Boss couldn’t have done this to him.

“Are you telling me…” he shook his head again, his chest caught in a vice as tight as the one squeezing his brain. “What are you telling me?”

He had to be confused. He had to have misunderstood.

“I’m telling you Franklin is your son, Jake. He’s yours.”

And with those words, the puzzle pieces clicked into place.

“And you’re just now telling me?” he demanded, clenching his fists as his throat filled with unspoken screams of
no, no, no. This can’t be real!

He still didn’t want to believe…

“I
tried
to—”

He stopped listening as a deep red haze fell over his vision. He turned and marched into the waiting room, no longer thinking, just acting. Total tunnel vision
.

He’d been deceived. By the woman he loved and the best friend he trusted.

And since he couldn’t take his fury out on Shell…

He stalked right up to Boss, who was sitting on the sofa. After catching the look on his face, Boss’s brow creased in a series of deep furrows, the scar slicing up from the corner of his mouth going stark white.

“Snake?” he asked. “What’s up, man?”

“How
could
you?” Jake roared, choking as stupid, stupid tears filled his eyes. “How could you do that to me?”

“Jake.” Shell grabbed his arm, but he yanked free of her grasp and went toe-to-toe with Boss, who’d quickly pushed up from the sofa.

“How could you keep something like that from me all these years?” His head was packed with C4, ready to explode at any second. And then a thought occurred to him… “That’s why you were so quick to try to help me with Shell, wasn’t it?” he snarled. “Not because I’m a good man, like you claimed, but because it’d wrap everything up so nice and neat. One sweet, fucking family unit!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Boss yelled right back.

“Hey guys,” Becky tried to interrupt, but Jake plowed right over her.

“I’m talking about the fact that Franklin is my son. He’s mine, and you didn’t have the decency to tell me!”

“Franklin isn’t yours,” Boss scoffed, and Jake’s fingers clenched into fists. “He’s Preacher’s.”

“The goddamned cat is out of the bag!” he screamed, angrily dashing away the tear that had the audacity to slip down his cheek. “The blood types don’t match. I know I don’t have a PhD in biology, but I’m not a
moron
either. Did you expect that fact to just slip by me?”

“Franklin is…” Boss shook his head and glanced over at Shell who was biting her lush bottom lip and wringing her hands as tears coursed, unchecked, down her cheeks.

“Frank didn’t know any—” she began as realization dawned on Boss’s face, realization quickly followed by rage.

Well, good. Now we’re both on the same goddamned page!

One minute he was glaring at his former CO, the next instant his head snapped back on his neck as pain exploded like a frag grenade in his jaw.

Boss might be big and clumsy-looking, but the sonofabitch had reflexes like a cat. Evidenced by the fact that Jake hadn’t seen the left hook coming.

“You swore you wouldn’t touch her unless you planned to make it legit!” Boss thundered, taking advantage of Jake’s momentary astonishment to plant a hard palm in the center of his chest and shove him across the room. It was like being hit with a two-ton wrecking ball, and he tripped over a chair, sprawling on his ass.

Glancing up in time to see Boss steaming toward him like a freight train, the hand raised in the air by that bright blue cast clenched in a big, meaty fist, he scrambled to his feet and assumed the standard bent-knee stance, ready to absorb the kinetic energy of one very pissed off, 245-pound man. Then Becky suddenly launched herself onto Boss’s back, clinging to him like a feisty blond monkey. She screamed something in Boss’s ear that Jake couldn’t understand, but whatever it was, Boss stopped dead in his tracks.