Wild Irish (Book 1 of the Weldon Series) (19 page)

Alexi watched Jesse under her lashes as she pretended to luxuriate in the sun’s warmth. From the curve of his bronzed shoulders to the taper of his long legs, the man was a one hundred percent to die for hunk. And sitting out here on a balmy blue ocean, watching the play of his smooth muscles with his every move should have made her about the most contented woman on earth. But ever since this morning, she’d felt a rising sense of disquiet. Would she go back to not having embarrassing incidents, if she had to give up having the exciting sex? No. So what was bothering her? It wasn’t the pre-wedding panic she’d felt before. It was more like a sense that control of her life was still beyond her grasp.

The hotel and art gallery incidents couldn’t be coincidences, but she didn’t feel that they were a serious threat to her safety. So she wasn’t with Jesse because her life was in danger, she was with him because something about him drew her, compelled her to be. Yeah, the sex was great, but she felt it was more than that. She also felt as if he was always the seducer and she’d never really been the aggressor. She’d kissed him, but he was the one who’d generated all of the sexual energy. What would he do if she seduced him? What would it feel like to take the sexual initiative into her own hands right now? Right in this little cove, hidden away from the world?

Are you crazy? Somebody could motor by. It’s too risky. Wait until tonight and seduce him in the privacy of four walls.
Sighing, she rolled so that she couldn’t see him and reached into her bag for a book. Her fingers hit a box and she groaned. Her Godivas! She’d meant to take them out before leaving and forgot. Sliding the box out, she lifted the lid. All of the truffles had pooled into a mass of lumpy liquid chocolate. She dipped her finger into the box and slipped it in her mouth, sucking the warm sweet confection off her finger. The act of doing so sent a naughty image into her mind, an image that could keep her from wasting a whole box of Godivas and drive Jesse sexually mad. An image that would put him at her mercy for a little while. Before she could talk herself out of it, she stood and picked up the box, her heart skipping a beat as she moved his way.

You can do this
, she told herself. She took the lid off the Godivas and turned to Jesse. He still sat slumped in the boat chair, staring disgruntled at the fishing pole.

“
Uh, Jesse,” she said, walking over to him.

“
Hmm.” He fiddled with the pole, not looking her way.

She smiled, realizing that he was deliberately trying to ignore her. In fact, this whole fishing trip had a fishy smell to it. She caught onto his game plan. He was trying to put a little distance between him and their frenzied encounter this morning. “Uh, Jesse, I’ve got a little problem.”

“
What is it?” he said, finally swiveling his chair her way. She immediately stepped between his legs and reached for the drawstring of his suit.

“
Actually two problems. I’ve yet to have the opportunity to seduce you and my Godivas are all melted.”

He frowned. “I don’t see how those…” His voice trailed off as she pulled the front of his suit down and dripped warm melted chocolate all over his penis. Then she took a clump of chocolate and fed it to him before she got down on her knees and licked. His erection surged and a thrill shivered through her as he grabbed the seat cushions. Sucking on the chocolate as she sucked on him was the one of the biggest turn ons he’d ever encountered. “Holy Hell, Alexi.”

Alexi decided was the best box of Godivas she’d ever tasted. Somewhere between the raspberry cream and the gooey caramel, Jesse went crazy. “I can’t take any more.” He threaded his fingers through her hair and pushed her head back to make her look at him. “If you don’t stop, it’s going to be too late.”

She swirled her tongue around the tip of his erection and smiled. “I want it to be too late.”

The more she licked the louder he groaned until he came. The force of his orgasm was so palpable that she felt it inside of herself, and she almost came, too. He fixed his sea-blue gaze on her, and that I’m-going-to-have-you-right now edge was back in them. He also looked vulnerable, as if his defenses were down. His chest visibly shook where his heart pounded and his lungs sucked for air. She felt a tingling of awe run through her that she’d made him feel wild.

“
Well, Jesse. You were right about one thing.”

“
What?” he said, meeting her gaze, looking as if he couldn’t quite figure out if she was someone he knew. And maybe she was evolving right before his eyes. The person she was seventy-two hours ago never would have done what she just did.

She smiled softly. “You said that I’d catch a whopper by the end of the day and love it. You were right.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Jesse glanced at his watch, something he’d done just about every five minutes since he’d dropped Alexi off at the hospital to see Lucy while he met with his man from the DC office. The sooner he had someone checking into the odd things that were happening around Alexi, the better he’d feel. Though it was pretty hard to top how good she’d made him feel out on the boat today. She’d blown him away with her tongue and a box of damn chocolates. Before long he’d be quoting Forrest Gump about how life was a box of chocolates and you never knew what you’d get.

Well, he amended, life wasn’t like a box of chocolates, Alexi was. She’d--

He quickly doused the image his thoughts conjured before it was too late and he’d have to walk around with a tent in his pants. He needed to put this whole situation with Alexi exactly where it was supposed to be--a passing fancy to enjoy while he helped her straighten out a few kinks. This wild sex thing would pass soon, he thought, as he pulled into a parking space at a pub not too far from Memorial Hospital. Inside, he found Paul Hanson pacing in the foyer.

“
Boss,” Paul stuck out his hand.

“
Sorry, I’m late,” Jesse gripped his employee’s hand, glad to see Wes had sent the man they dubbed the Drake, after Perry Mason’s relentless man Friday, Paul Drake.

“
Wes said you needed some help down here, but he didn’t mention there was trouble. I see someone gave you a shiner.”

“
I ran into a door.” Jesse grinned. He’d almost forgotten about his eye. The bluish tones had faded to yellow.

The tension in Paul’s face relaxed. “And might the door have a name?”

“
Yeah, but you aren’t getting it.”

“
Oh. One of
those
doors. I guess opportunity knocked and you ran into the door opening it.”

Jesse laughed. “You might say that. How bout I buy you a drink and tell you what’s up.”

“
That’s what I’m here for.”

Twenty minutes later, Jesse had fed Paul all the info he’d garnered from follow-up calls to the hotel and the police. He informed him of the attempted break-in at the gallery. “It might be a good idea to tail Holstead for a while and take an in depth look at Andy Larson and Benny Whitaker. It wouldn’t hurt to get a handle on all of the males in her life. Andy seemed like a walking time bomb and Benny seemed as if he hung the moon on Alexi’s fingernail.”

“
You got it. I’ll have answers if they’re there to find.”

“
Good.” Jesse tossed a twenty on the table and stood.

“
I’ll get started right away.” Paul took the last swallow of his drink then stood.

* * *

“
I brought you something, special, Lucy girl.” Alexi tucked her head into Lucy’s hospital room, glad to see Jesse’s balloons dancing at the little girl’s bedside. It had taken her longer than she anticipated at the hospital’s gift shop to find the right bow and bag to cradle her present to Lucy, and Alexi was afraid Jesse would get back before she’d seen Lucy. Some things were just too private and painful to share.

“
Oh, Miss Alexi. Did you hear the good news today?”

“
Not yet. So you get to tell me.” Alexi bent down and kissed the top of Lucy’s head.

Lucy sat up straighter in the bed and turned off the TV. “Missy’s surgery went really good. Nurse Jones says that Missy will probably be back here in a week.”

“
That is good news.” Smiling, Alexi placed the beribboned gold bag in Lucy’s lap. “This is for you. You are the only one special enough to take care of what’s inside.”

Lucy’s blue eyes widened. “Miss Alexi, I’m not that--”

“
Yes, Lucy. You are that important.”

Little fingers smoothed down the ribbons streaming from the golden bow as Lucy pulled the bag close. “It’s almost too pretty to open.”

Alexi laughed. “Aren’t those the best presents and the best birthday cakes? The ones that are almost too pretty to open or too pretty to eat?”

Lucy giggled. “Yes. This is great. Mr. Jesse brings me balloons, Missy’s all right, and now a golden treasure.”

Alexi laughed with Lucy, enjoying the good feeling. Karin was right. The new medicine did have Lucy feeling better.

With one last pat to the golden bow, Lucy stuck her eager hands into the bag and her eyes went wide again. “A doll. Oh you got me a doll! Thank you.”

Lucy pulled Amanda Lee out of the bag and Alexi breathed deep as a knot of emotion wrapped tightly about her heart. “She’s a very special doll that my mommy gave me when I was a very little girl, even littler than you. She helped me grow up and to be strong.”

“
She’s so beautiful, Miss Alexi and she has golden hair just like you. What’s her name?”

Alexi blinked away tears and smiled. “Do you want to give her a new name?”

“
No. I want to call her what you called her, and maybe she’ll help me to be as strong and beautiful as you.”

Alexi didn’t stop the tears this time. “Her name’s Amanda Lee. And she’ll love you best just like she loved me.”

“
I love her already.” Lucy frowned. “Are you sure you’re not going to be sad like I was when I gave Angela away?”

“
I’m sure. These are happy tears because Amanda Lee now has a special place to be. And I promise that if I miss her, I’ll come and see her, and I’ll get to see you, too.” Joy that she could pass on the special love that her own mother had given her flooded though Alexi. Her heart filled as she watched Lucy with Amanda Lee and suddenly, she realized that the sad part in her own heart—the tiny place that had always yearned for her mother—wasn’t sad any more.

Lucy hugged the doll. “Do you hear that, Amanda Lee. Miss Lexi’s going to visit us twice as often as she already does. Why she’ll practically have to move into the hospital.”

Alexi laughed. “You might just be right about that.”

* * *

Jesse hovered outside the doorway to Lucy’s room, a clog of emotion cutting off his ability to breathe. Shit, he turned around and walked back down the hospital corridor. He wasn’t supposed to feel the stuff that was churning around inside him. It was all he could do to stop himself from walking into Lucy’s room and putting his arm around Alexi just so he could be near her.

She’d given her doll to a little girl in the hospital. So what was the big deal? It wasn’t something that should grab him by the gut and yank hard. Trouble was, no matter how hard he tried to deny it, she hadn’t just given Lucy a doll. She’d given Lucy her heart and that did weird things inside of him. He went down to the hospital lobby and paced for a while.

He and Alexi were going to be late to his brother’s birthday, but Jesse wanted to make darn sure that Alexi had no idea he’d overheard her with Lucy. That meant he had to wipe the emotions off his palette before she saw them. Setting his mouth into a grim line, he marched to the elevators and stabbed the up button. The doors opened and, not thinking, he stepped forward. He ran right into Alexi who was stepping off.

“
Jesse,” she said grabbing his shoulders for balance.

Jesse couldn’t help it and he couldn’t stop himself. He took one look at her and kissed her like some fool who’d just fallen off a turnip truck. Besides the women in his family, Jesse knew this was the first time in his life that he’d kissed a women without sex being the first thing on his mind. This was not a good thing.

It’s temporary, he told himself. This stuff jumping around in his stomach was just temporary. It’d wear off just as soon as the sexual itch she’d fanned to life was satisfied. Just because things were entirely too comfortable with Alexi around didn’t mean anything.

* * *

The Weldon’s took a birthday bash seriously. A jaunty tune being played by a first class southern fiddler danced in the air and a singer melodiously belted out lyrics about a man besting the devil by playing a fiddle. People danced in the yard. Kids played on the bales of hay that served as seats. A game of horseshoes waged on the sidelines and Alexi couldn’t absorb everything around her fast enough.