SEVENTEEN

When Sadie woke some time later the spot in the bed beside her was empty. Pushing her messy hair off her face, she ran a hand over the indent Jack had left behind. It was warm to the touch and Sadie’s pulse calmed knowing that Jack hadn’t escaped her room in the early hours.

Ridiculous woman, Sadie scolded herself. She’d all but pushed him out the morning before. Now no more than twenty-four hours later she found herself on the brink of panic that Jack had disappeared before she’d had a chance to kiss him again, talk to him again. But all of Sadie’s self-admonition came to an abrupt halt when her bathroom door opened and Jack emerged wearing nothing but yesterday’s pants, unfastened at the waist, his hair still wet from his shower.

Sadie’s mouth went dry as she absorbed the sight of him. If she’d thought he’d been magnificent the night before, she’d clearly forgotten what he looked like in the daylight, how his large body moved with such relaxed control and his bright eyes flashed from the chiseled planes of his face. Sadie tried to get her brain to work enough to return his ‘good morning,’ but the best she could do was a shy smile. One which, when he returned it with the full force of his own, she felt stretch across her face with an intensity that threatened the integrity of her cheekbones. 

“Hungry?”

Sadie got a grip of herself long enough to realize that yes, in fact, she was starving. She nodded emphatically. “Yes. Starved.”

“Thank god.” Jack was still smiling as he gripped his abdomen. Watching the bands of muscle tighten, Sadie wondered if he’d squeezed a hundred sit ups in before his shower. Or maybe a thousand. “Because I’ve already raided your mini-bar and despite the fact that I’ve eaten every granola bar I could find I’m still starving. And I didn’t think you’d want me calling room service from your room.”

The thought of the hotel operator hearing Jack’s voice as her name and room number flashed across the screen was enough to drag Sadie out of her starry-eyed haze. Mostly.

Grabbing the loose sheet from the top of the bed, Sadie wrapped herself in it as she crossed to where the room service menu lay open on her coffee table. Sadie might have banked some of her hesitancy about Jack but she hadn’t lost her mind. The Seven Winds was a small place. And the favorite topic of conversation amongst the staff was the antics guests got up to when in paradise. She did not need them knowing she was entertaining a man at breakfast.

“Yes, thanks,” she muttered as she quickly reviewed her options. “Know what you want?” Jack mumbled something inappropriate – and entirely inedible – behind her. “For breakfast, Jack. Do you know what you want for breakfast?”

Jack’s arms banded around her waist from behind and he brushed a quick kiss to Sadie’s jaw before chuckling in her ear. “Since I assume you aren’t offering yourself up, I’ll have that.” He tapped his finger on the description of the largest breakfast entrée on the menu.

“That’s quite a selection. We’re not trying to feed an army.”

“What can I say,” Jack nuzzled against her neck. “I had an eventful evening. I worked up quite an appetite.” Jack peeked at Sadie’s serious face. “Did I forget the magic word? Please, Sadie. Please.” Jack bussed her cheek. “Please feed me before I pass out and you have to get someone from the hotel to help you remove an unconscious man from your room.”  

At that Sadie wiggled from his grasp and picked up her room phone, her fingers tapping against the desk while she waited to be connected to in-room dining.

“Not that Mark wouldn’t love holding it over me for the rest of my life,” Jack continued with a wry laugh. “God, I’d never live it down. Sexed into a coma. I’m not sure my ego could handle it. Though,” Jack draped his long fingers across the hollow of Sadie’s throat, “the more I think about it the more tempting it becomes.” Jack wrapped his other hand around Sadie’s where she held the phone and gave a playful tug. “Hang up,” he whispered in her ear, “Turns out, I don’t think I’m ready for breakfast after all.”

Halfway through placing their order, Sadie glared at him over her shoulder and hastily wrapped up the call.

“Nope, too late.” Sadie dropped the phone back into the cradle with a loud click. “That monstrosity of eggs and bacon and waffles is already on its way. You may have changed your mind, but my stomach is already fully committed. And,” she tightened her grip on the sheet as she felt Jack’s hand ghost across the curve of one breast, “there’s no changing my mind now. Besides,” Sadie swallowed a gasp and jumped away as Jack skimmed a finger across her tight nipple, “there is no way in hell Mr. Donovan is ever going to find out that you’ve been in my room. Conscious or not.”

From behind the safety of an overstuffed chair, Sadie reminded herself to keep her tongue in her mouth as Jack propped his hands on his lean hips, his fingers resting on the cut of muscle that arrowed down beneath his waistband. Bacon, bacon, bacon, she chanted to herself. It helped. A little.

“Mark.”

Confused, Sadie dragged her eyes back to his face. “What?”

“Mark. You should start calling him Mark. Not Mr. Donovan.” When Sadie didn’t respond, Jack continued. “He’s my business partner, Sadie. But he’s also my best friend. With everything that’s happened, it will be very weird if you keep calling him Mr. Donovan.”

“Everything that’s happened….” Sadie’s voice trailed off but Jack responded to the implied question.

“With us, Sadie. Everything that’s happened with us.”

Sadie’s heart fluttered at the contentment in Jack’s voice and her lips began to curl to match his own enticing smile. But as he continued her lungs tightened in panic.

“He’s a good guy, Sadie. He likes to pull all sorts of shit with me. We do it to each other,” Jack’s teeth flashed in a mischievous grin, “but you’ll really like him. Especially once we’ve all spent some time together. So you should probably start thinking of him as Mark.”

“No,” Sadie shook her head while her fingers tightened in the sheet haphazardly covering her body. “Never. He’s Mr. Donovan. Always.” All of those warning signs from the night before, the ones that had faded – they were now flashing bright and brash in her brain. “Christ,” she muttered to herself before rubbing a hand across her forehead. “And you, Jack,” she glanced at him briefly, “you should be Mr. Avery.” She wanted to duck down behind the chair when Jack took a few long strides towards her, but she settled for raising a palm. Jack stopped on the other side of the chair, within arm’s reach. But he kept his hands hanging by his sides.

“What are we doing here, Jack?” Sadie saw his jaw tick before she darted her eyes across her room.

Her bed was in complete disarray, sheets tangled at the foot, pillows escaping off the edges. Her discarded shirt was on the floor near the dresser and Jack’s was casually thrown across that damn white bench. Steam from his recent shower lingered in the bathroom. And the table where they’d eat breakfast was catching the morning light, now shining at full strength through the patio door and slanting across the two chairs tucked close together. Sadie wasn’t sure she could create a more intimate scene if she tried.  And the echo of Mark Donovan’s name – and all it represented – was ricocheting violently between every surface.

“Shit.” Sadie sagged against the back of the chair. “This was a mistake. I, we….” Sadie waved her free hand weakly between them, “we should never have done this. It is so wrong, Jack.”

“Wrong,” Jack’s voice was flat but she could see the hurt and disbelief flashing in the eyes that were no more than a few feet from hers. Every hint of playfulness was gone as his frame tightened in frustration. “Explain that, Sadie. Because no less than three hours ago you were saying how amazing this felt. When we were naked. Together. In that bed.” Jack jabbed a finger at the offending piece of furniture behind him. “And now it is wrong?” The bruising disbelief was seeping from his eyes into his voice.

Flashes from the night before popped into Sadie’s brain, of the weariness and defeat that had weighed Jack down when he’d arrived at her room. Whatever happened yesterday had Jack wound tight and he’d come to her looking for solace, comfort.  But all of his stress and frustration was resurfacing as Sadie began to question their time together.

“Jack,” Sadie kept her tone even, the alarm in her brain tripping across her nerves even as she tried to sound calm, confident. “I’m not talking about last night. At least not about the specifics. But us,” Sadie forced herself to hold his eyes, “you are my client, Jack. I work for you. For your company. For Mr. Donovan,” she said Mark’s last name with emphasis. “And you pay me in return for my work. For my firm’s work for your company. Our relationship is professional, Jack. And this,” she gestured at the room surrounding them, “is anything but. And there is no way I can ignore the fact that this, whatever this is, is a huge mistake.” Sadie saw Jack’s hands clench at her last word. But while she expected to see anger harden his eyes, she was surprised to see something else thicken their depths. Something that looked surprisingly like panic.

“Jack,” she repeated his name, her voice softening of its own accord, “this was – has been – amazing. I meant what I said earlier. But we can’t do it again. This island, this hotel is too small. Someone will find out. Mr. Donovan will find out, you said it yourself. And once that happens it is only a matter of time before Trina finds out. And,” Sadie let her shoulders drop as a tight sigh escaped her lungs, “she can never know, Jack. I’ve worked too long, too hard to jeopardize my career. You, of all people, should understand that.”

Sadie’s heart kicked as pain flashed in Jack’s eyes, at the war waging within them. “Please understand that, Jack. Trina will fire me. If she finds out. The rules are clear. And she won’t bend them. Not for me. Not for this.” Sadie held her breath as she watched him process what she was saying. Every muscle in his naked chest was tense and her fingers were burning with the memory of what they felt like flexing under his heated skin as his body took hers.

Trying to push the thought aside, Sadie curled her fingers into the fabric of the chair, her flickering nerves absorbing every ridge of the weave. But she didn’t miss the flare of possessiveness in Jack’s face as the blush she couldn’t suppress spread from her cheeks, down her neck, under the sheet pulled tightly across her breasts. Sadie was sure Jack could see her hard nipples through the white cotton, but the thought vanished when she realized that the chair was no longer separating them.

“No,” Jack ground the word out as he pressed his lips to hers, the manhandled sheet now bunched at her waist, their bare chests rising together as they each fought to catch their breath. He tipped Sadie’s chin up, her head coming to rest against the wall behind her, the supposed safety of the chair several feet behind them, ceded to Jack’s determined strides. 

“Nothing about us is a mistake, Sadie. Nothing.” Jack’s voice was low, resolute, and Sadie’s stomach fluttered at his conviction. Her chin firmly captured between his forefinger and thumb, Sadie found it impossible to drag her eyes from his. To ignore the determination set heavy in his brow.

“I didn’t know, Sadie,” Jack’s lips dipped to hers even as he continued to speak, as if he had no control over them, “I didn’t know then, what I do now. I thought it was attraction. Just desire. Simple lust,” Jack laughed, deep and dark, his head shaking in disbelief. “As if lust was anything close to simple, between us.”

As Jack hauled in a heavy breath, Sadie felt the hard surface of his chest capture her against the wall. Her face in his hand, his other arm bracketing her body, his torso kissing hers from breast to hip, Sadie could feel Jack drag his next words from deep within.

“If that’s all this was – simple desire, the basic need to fuck – I’d understand, Sadie. Hell, I’d probably be the one calling it a mistake, not you.”

“I’m not a saint,” Jack’s eyes bored into hers, willing her to understand. “Not anywhere close. I’ve done some things, shit, many things I’m not proud of. Broken rules, even my own. Often,” he amended softly, “my own. I’ve slept with women I shouldn’t have, more times that I should have.”

“But this, with you,” he traced his free hand down her arm to lace their fingers together with a tight squeeze, “it’s something else entirely. At the beginning, I’ll admit. I just wanted you in my bed. I was so attracted to you, your brilliance, your beauty. But I couldn’t…,” Jack swallowed, his gaze dropping down briefly before he returned it to hers, “I left you alone because I knew I should.” Jack closed his eyes and pressed their foreheads together. His warm breath danced across Sadie’s lips and she had to remind herself not to push up on her toes to close the distance between them.

“I know the rules, Sadie. I do. Our positions, our relationship, the one between our companies. All of it.” Jack’s grip on her fingers tightened, “I know I should have stayed away. And if it had been simple attraction, Sadie, I would have.” His eyes still closed, Jack squeezed them tight for a second, the almost silent “I would have” more for himself than her. Releasing her chin, Jack slipped his arm behind Sadie and drew her from the wall and flush into his body, the subtle movement of his forearm dancing against the bare skin of her back. “But I couldn’t, Sadie.”

Jack opened his eyes and Sadie found herself falling into the hazel depths, a flush racing across her at the emotion she saw flickering in them.

“That kiss, in Colorado. I didn’t plan it. I had all but given up. Told myself this was insane. I knew I couldn’t, shouldn’t want you. And you showed no signs that you were remotely interested in me. So that was going to be it. No more dreaming about how soft your skin would feel, or how your eyes would flutter shut just before I kissed you. No more long nights dreaming about what it would feel like to have you, to sink into you, to feel you break apart under me. Around me.” Sadie trembled as Jack’s words bathed her lips and she wanted to pull away, look away, do anything to break the intense emotion that was wrapping itself around them. But Jack’s eyes held hers firm as his arm tensed behind her; there was no escaping him.

“I was so close, Sadie, so close to giving up hope that I’d know what your laugh would feel like against my chest, how incredible I’d feel when you smiled that bright, brilliant smile just for me. Because of me. How it would feel to curl around you at night, to start a new morning with you. I was about to let it all go, do you understand?”

Jack slipped his hand from hers and raised it to the nape of her neck, threading his fingers under her heavy hair. “But then in the lobby in Colorado, you smiled. Our hands touched. Something so simple, so common place,” he shook his head in a daze. “I wouldn’t have thought twice about it with anyone else. But with you… suddenly I felt myself hoping again, just a little bit. Then we sat in front of that fire and talked for hours. And I knew I couldn’t give you up, not yet, not without trying. Then that kiss,” Jack’s words came out on a groan that Sadie felt all the way to her toes, her core melting at the unabashed want pouring through him. 

“By then, I should’ve known better. Should have known it was something more, something I wouldn’t be able to give up. That you were someone I wouldn’t give up. Not once we started. Not once you let me in.” Jack’s hips moved subtly at his words, the thickness of his erection all but burning through the fabric between them. But her eyes thoroughly captured by his, Sadie knew he wasn’t just talking about her body. He was talking about something far more evasive. And far more terrifying.

Jack sensed her tense, the intoxication of his heady words thinning as their meaning began to sink in. Tightening his grip in her hair, Jack drew Sadie’s mouth to his so they brushed together when he continued. “Rules or no rules, Sadie, once our lips touched there was no going back. Not for me. Not ever.”

Then Jack was kissing her. His lips were soft, coaxing, his tongue a whisper, pleading for entry. And though Sadie could practically feel herself melting into him, stretches of their skin fusing where they met, it was the gentleness of Jack’s movements that caused an emotion, hot and heavy and completely foreign, to rush through her. He held her like something immensely fragile. Something deeply coveted.

Jack’s broad body should have been crushing. But Sadie found herself relishing how safe she felt spanned by such solid muscle and bone, how protected she felt under his reverent touch. She knew he was holding himself back, tempering his own strength in the way only a powerful man can. And Sadie could feel herself submitting to his persuasion, her mind faltering under his provocative pull.

With one more delicious pass of his tongue and a gentle tug on her lower lip, Sadie’s tenuous grip on her willpower and bed sheet slipped. She heard the blood crashing in her ears as Jack slid his hand down her back, loosening the sheet as he skated to the swell of her hips. And then she felt the spell between them shatter under the heavy pounding at her bedroom door.

Shit, shit, shit. Room service. The call came through the door, a patient voice repeating her name after she didn’t know how many minutes of no response.

“Ignore it.” Jack’s rough voice slipped between her lips as he continued his caress.

But Sadie knew there was no ignoring it. Not the food. Not what he’d said. Not what it made her feel.

And she needed a minute to catch her breath.

Tightening her grip on the sheet, Sadie dragged it up and her movement forced Jack to step back enough that she was able to slip free. She ignored his rumble of displeasure and quickly pulled on a robe before opening the door. At any other time she would have worried about whether Jack was visible from the entrance. She would have asked him to stand somewhere out of sight. But at this particular moment, she was just happy for the distance between them.

She exchanged bland pleasantries with the server as he wheeled the cart into the room, but once it was across the threshold she hurried him out despite his protest that he should set the table for them. “No need,” she muttered as she closed the door gently in his bewildered face.

Turning back towards the room, Sadie realized Jack hadn’t moved. He was still standing in front of the wall at the far end, his eyes fixed on the spot where her face had been. His body resting on an arm against the wall, Sadie could see his shoulders rise and fall as he breathed heavily.

“Jack.” He didn’t turn. “Jack,” she repeated with more force. “Breakfast.” He turned at that, but he ignored the cart weighted down with food and focused only on Sadie. He stayed silent as he made his way across the room. Never truly banked, Sadie felt the flash of desire flare between them again, but this time it was colored by her nervousness. And Jack’s unrelenting stare.

When his toes reached the tip of hers, Jack stopped. The food completely forgotten, his eyes danced across her face. Ever watchful. But this time Sadie knew he was looking for something. She held her breath steady as she absorbed the kaleidoscope of feelings playing between the greens and browns. 

Attraction, yes.

Passion. It was always there.

Frustration. Hurt. Even anger.

Sadie felt answering responses roil through her body as she processed everything Jack was communicating through silence.

But it was the possessiveness that caused her blood to tingle and a rush of lightheadedness to threaten her knees. Her eyes glued to Jack’s, Sadie watched the swirl of emotions coalesce into a single, unmistakable message: He wasn’t giving her up. Not now. Maybe not ever.

***

In the hours before Jack had knocked on Sadie’s door, he’d felt frantic. The turmoil Max was causing had only escalated as the day went on and he and Mark had been fighting off panic as each avenue for recourse turned into a dead end. By the time he’d raced down to Sadie’s room, Jack had known that she was the only thing – the only one – who could calm the storm raging inside of him. And as he’d swept Sadie up in his arms he’d felt for the first time that even if he lost his company, he might just be ok. As long as he had her.

Which was why, in the bright light of morning, Jack tried to marshal his anxiety as he watched Sadie absorb the resolve burning in his eyes. He’d tried words. He’d tried passion. But she was still skittish, always escaping his grasp just when he thought he’d finally gotten through to her. Her eyes wide, her brow furrowed in a mixture of surprise and disbelief, Jack saw Sadie clench and unclench her fingers in the thin fabric of her robe.

Gone was the woman who had boldly tempted him to strip bare and pleasure himself in front of her. Gone was the woman who had seduced him with her own body and her whispered words, who had proudly dropped before him and used her mouth to bring him one of the most explicitly satisfying sexual experiences of his life. In her place stood someone Jack didn’t recognize, someone uncertain, wary. Even a little scared. And an organ deep within his chest pinched when he realized it was because of him.

Finally dragging his focus away from her, Jack let his attention wander. He felt Sadie release the breath she had been holding, the warm air glancing off his bare chest before evaporating into their studied silence. Forcing himself to not reach out to her, Jack discovered that his fingers were wrapped into fists so tight that he’d lost feeling in them. God, as he’d rushed out of Mark’s villa the night before there was no way he could have imagined the things that had transpired over the past several hours. Jack suddenly felt exhausted. He eyed the bacon cooling on the room service cart but quickly dismissed it as he caught Sadie shuffling her feet out of the corner of his eye.

“Do you want…,” her quiet voice trailed off. Sadie cleared her throat before trying again. “Are you going to stay for breakfast?”

Jack wanted to. Badly. He wanted to erase everything they had said in the past thirty minutes and curl up with her, skin to skin, and spend the rest of the morning satisfying every hunger that plagued him. But that wasn’t an option. Not anymore.

“I should go.”

Sadie’s lips formed a silent “oh” as she bobbed her head. Jack ached to reach out and run his hand along her arm, brush his fingers across the smooth skin of her palm. To calm the nerves he saw jumping beneath the fine lines of her throat. But if he touched her, he knew it would be impossible to stop. And they needed a break. And he needed to see Mark.

“Sadie,” Jack willed her to meet his eyes and his fingers relaxed when she finally raised her head to his. “I want…,” Jack saw her spine stiffen so he quickly amended, “we need to finish this conversation, Sadie. I meant what I said. Every single word. But I also understand why you’re hesitant. I do. And I don’t expect you to jeopardize your career for me. I hope you know… I hope you believe I would never ask you to do that.” Bending his knees slightly so that their eyes were level, Jack hoped she could see the sincerity in his. “But please don’t write this off as a mistake. Not yet. Not before we have a chance to talk about it. Properly.”

Jack released some of the tension in his shoulders when Sadie’s lips quirked slightly.

“Talk about it properly?” Sadie was still guarded, but one corner of her mouth was tilting upward. “You understand that means talking with words, Jack. Not hands. Or tongues. Or other,” her eyes dropped low before jumping back to his face, “body parts.”

It was only the smallest glimpse, but Jack’s panic eased some when the confident, playful Sadie peeked through that tiny grin and subtle tease. “Well, I think talking does typically require tongues, but, oomph…,” Jack’s comment was swallowed by a grunt when Sadie jabbed him in the stomach.

He was sure she hadn’t meant it as one, but Jack took Sadie’s playfulness as a white flag and seized her hand before she plucked it from his chest.

“Jack…,” Sadie tried to pull away but Jack resettled their palms together, fingers intertwined.

“I’m leaving, Sadie.” Confusion and panic flashed on her face and while Jack felt them like a balm to his own nerves, he clarified. “Mark is expecting me. We have a lot to deal with today. But promise me, Sadie. We’ll talk later?” Jack hated the note of pleading in his voice, but he needed her to agree. To understand.

Sadie stood silent for another minute but didn’t try to pull free. Jack smoothed his thumb across the sensitive skin at the base of her inner wrist and forced his face to stay impassive at the responsive shiver that ran through her.

“Yes, Jack. Fine.”

“Fine? You can do better than that, Sadie.”

“I said yes, didn’t I?”

“Promise.”

“What are we, five?”

“Promise me, Sadie,” Jack’s voice rumbled under the restraint to not pull her into a persuasive kiss. Persistence? He should have called it what it was. Stubbornness. 

“Fine. Yes. I promise.”

Thank god. Jack closed his eyes briefly, the last of his panic fading into a dull tension between his shoulder blades. It was far from comfortable. But he could live with it until he had a chance to talk to her again, to convince her this thing raging between them was something that neither of them should – or would be able – to give up.

“Thank you.” With a final squeeze of her fingers, Jack released Sadie and started collecting his discarded clothes. “Mark and I will be tied up all day. I doubt we’ll make any of the activities planned. But I’ll call you when we’re done. So we can continue this.”

“Hmmmm,” Sadie reverted to non-committal murmurs, but she nodded her head in ascent.

Taking what he could get, Jack finished dressing and headed for the door before she could change her mind. “I’ll see you later,” he said with one final glance before disappearing through the door, leaving Sadie behind with a mass of food he was certain would go untouched.