CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
JASE CALLED DANE from the road. They arrived at the restaurant within seconds of each other and rushed inside. The manager had known they were coming—Dane must have phoned—and had instructed a member of the staff to wait for them.
Of course, it helped that Dane was one of the richest men in the world.
“This way,” the hostess said, motoring forward. But she didn’t move fast enough.
Jase shot in front of her, scanning the faces in the restaurant—finding no one familiar. “Brook Lynn,” he called.
“Back here.”
He followed the sound of her voice. Relief washed through him as he stepped into the private room and drew her into his arms. Her little body trembled against him. He hated that he’d brought this to her door.
“Kenna. Sweetheart. Are you okay?” Dane cupped the redhead’s face, looked her over.
“I’m fine. Really. Nothing happened. The guy creeped us out, that’s all.”
Another tremor from Brook Lynn.
“Yeah, I’m okay, too,” Jessie Kay muttered.
“What she said.” Daphne hiked her thumb in the girl’s direction.
Jase kissed Brook Lynn’s temple. “I will find this guy. I won’t let him near you again.”
She trembled against him. “I don’t want you to go after him. I don’t want you in trouble.”
He’d once thought he would rather die than go back to prison, but the truth was, he’d rather go back to prison than see Brook Lynn hurt. But he kept the thought to himself, not wanting to worry her further.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”
Dane took Kenna with him. Jase took the others.
“Don’t let Hope see me like this,” Daphne slurred from the backseat of his car. “Please.”
“Don’t worry. You can spend the night at my place,” Brook Lynn said.
He made sure to scout the land surrounding the house before allowing the girls to exit. As Brook Lynn tucked the pair into bed, Jase checked the locks on the windows and doors, making sure everything was secure. He even put Sparkles in the foyer as a guard dog. Tomorrow he would be installing a security system.
He drove Brook Lynn to his house and scouted that land, as well. No sign of foul play. But he could feel old habits fighting their way to the surface, the urge to glance behind him every few minutes intense, as was the urge to jump at every noise.
Once inside, Brook Lynn rested her head in the crook of his shoulder, and it felt like his lifeline to sanity.
In the kitchen, Beck and Hope sat at the table, playing a game of Monopoly. Hope punched the air in front of Beck’s face, saying, “Suck it, Uncle Beck. You owe me two bazillion dollars in rent.”
“Hey,” Jase said.
“Daddy! You’re back!” Smiling, the little girl raced over to hug him. “Where’s Momma?”
“She’s having a sleepover with her friend Jessie Kay.”
“No fair.” Hope pouted up at him. “I want to have a sleepover, too.”
He was going to be putty in her hands for the rest of his life, wasn’t he? “How about you have a campout on the couch? Uncle Beck can sleep on the floor.”
“Sweet!” She waved at Brook Lynn, and Brook Lynn waved back.
“Where’s West?” he asked Beck.
“Holed up in his room.”
Good. “I’ll be holed up in my room with Brook Lynn. We’ve got a few things to discuss.” Tension had been crackling inside him since he’d reached the restaurant. He strode over, kissed Hope on the cheek then whispered to Beck, “There’s been trouble. Guard her with your life. Brook Lynn and I will take your place in a few hours.”
Beck nodded without hesitation.
Jase took Brook Lynn’s hand and stalked to his bedroom. He shut the door behind her, sealing them inside, and faced her. He’d been so scared for her safety. He needed to reassure himself that she was here, that she was with him, that nothing was wrong.
He gathered her into his arms, taking comfort from the warmth of her body against his. “I need you,” he said and jerked off his T-shirt.
“Yes.” Brook Lynn pulled off her top, and arousal blistered through him, the flames too hot to bear. As many times as he’d been with this woman, as much as he craved her, he’d never wanted her like this.
Her bra came off next, and then she dropped her arms to her sides, staring over at him with wild anticipation. She had to feel it, too. The need to be cemented in the here and now...to drown in pleasure. He closed the distance in three long strides.
“I don’t want to lose you,” he said. “Ever. To anything.”
“You told me that you wanted to be a part of me,” she said, “and you are, no matter how far apart we might be. You got your hooks deep, deep in my heart, and they aren’t ever coming out. I’m not ever going to leave you, Jase. I’m yours. Now...forever.”
In a lightning-fast move, Jase picked her up by the waist and carried her to the wall, where he pressed her flat, her feet dangling in the air. She gasped as the cool plaster met her back. He held her there, suspended, her breasts at eye level. Her nipples puckered for him. Just then, they were the only two people in the universe. He couldn’t think past the bliss of having her in his arms.
“Do you,” he said sharply, giving her a tiny shake with each word, “have any idea how gorgeous you are?”
* * *
UNDER THE INTENSITY of this man’s emerald gaze, she felt gorgeous. He radiated a rawness she’d never seen from him before, laced with something that went far deeper than hunger...animal starvation.
Slowly he lowered her, a sultry glide that left her panting. They were so close, her bare chest moving against his every time she breathed.
Then he stepped back, as if the contact was too much. His lips peeled back from his teeth in an almost-scowl.
“Undress,” he said. “Remove it all.”
Bossier than usual tonight, but she understood the reason, knew he hadn’t quite let go of concern for her. She licked her lips, nervous and excited, aroused to the point of pain. They’d done so many things with each other and to each other. Stripping should have been more of the same, but there was something different this time, something even more than the rawness and starvation.
Trembling, she removed her skirt and underwear. Completely naked, she stood in place, pinned by the fervency of his emerald gaze.
“You know I love you,” he said. “But I’m not sure even love is a strong enough word for what I feel for you. You’ve wrecked me, angel, broken me and put me back together again. I will never be the same—I don’t want to be the same.”
The beauty of his words stunned her, electrified her to the depths of her soul. Trembling legs carried her around him, across the room. She draped herself over the edge of the mattress facedown, shivering with an arousal so sweet she’d never known its like.
Glancing over her shoulder, she whispered throatily, “Come here and take me,” surrendering all to him.
Waves of heat reached her before his hands ever slid down her spine, yet she jolted at the first moment of exquisite contact. Goose bumps broke out over her skin, sensitizing her to his touch. And touch he did. Again and again, dragging his fingers over the ridges of her spine, over the globes of her bottom, down her legs. It was like being licked by flames. As if, as the flames burned, they wafted dark, drugging smoke through the air, every inhalation filling her head with a fog of desperation.
He circled his hands around both of her ankles and forced her legs to part. She craned her neck to catch a glimpse of him. He caressed his way up her calves, dabbled at the backs of her knees and finally reached the curve of her rear. He traced a heart-shaped pattern around one side, all the way to her lower back, and then down the other side of her.
When he knelt, his face directly in line with the soaking heart of her, she rested her cheek on a pillow and closed her eyes, savoring every illicit sensation. It felt as though she were being worshipped.
Soft lips pressed into the underside of one globe, then the other. Tremors consumed her. He angled his head and— Oh...oh! His tongue. It stroked her where she ached, her body rejoicing even as it demanded more. She arched her back to allow him better access, and he took full advantage, thrusting his tongue inside her. He pinched her directly between her legs and slid his fingers through her wetness, allowing them to take the place of his tongue, moving in and out of her. He scissored them to open her wider, his thumb sliding up to her center and circling, pressing.
She fisted the sheets as moan after moan was ripped from her. Both the position and the pleasure left her vulnerable to him. Like this, there was nothing he couldn’t do to her—and she wanted him to do everything. There was nothing she would deny him.
Thoughts disintegrated then, the way he worked her a testament to the endless depths of the starvation she’d seen in him. Her tremors intensified. The heat inside her built, becoming an inferno. Pressure...so much pressure, building just like the heat, with the heat, and any second she expected to—
Shatter.
His hand swiped at her ankle, sending her legs farther apart, allowing his fingers to sink all the way in, and the pressure exploded inside her, the most sublime satisfaction clamoring through her, shaking her. But even as she shook, Jase took her by the hips and flipped her over, so that she lay on her back.
He towered between her legs. His lips glistened with her arousal, his chest rising and falling with a swiftness that matched her own. As she watched, he unfastened the button of his pants and lowered the zipper, freeing himself.
He lifted one of her legs and set her foot on the mattress, then did the same with the other, leaving her spread wide. His gaze locked on the heart of her, heating...burning...and he traced a fingertip down the center, drawing another cry from her...and a consuming need for more.
“I thought Strawberry Valley had become my home,” he said. “But it’s you. You are my home, angel. You’re where I’ve put down roots.”
The words cauterized a wound she hadn’t known she had—one she’d carried most of her life, festering every time she’d wondered how good people could die too young. Why her uncle couldn’t love her and her sister more than money. Why Jessie Kay had often chosen a party over helping Brook Lynn.
Yet here was this man—her love—telling her she was home to him.
She arched her hips in silent benediction. He fisted his erection at the base and placed himself at her entrance, letting the tip slide in...before stilling, hovering there, teasing and tormenting her with what could be.
“You’re mine,” he said. His gaze captured hers, emerald completely ensnaring blue, and he slid the rest of the way in, filling her, stretching her, fusing with her. “Never forget.”
“Never.”
He flattened his palms on her knees, keeping her spread as he slowly pumped in and out. Her nipples were so hard they could have cut through diamonds, her belly so hot with need she wasn’t sure she would ever be satisfied again, but he just kept pumping. The hardness and the need grew stronger, until the pleasure poised at the brink of agony.
She reached back, curled her fingers around a pillow, arching her hips to propel him into a faster rhythm. He resisted, even...slowed down...until she could only writhe and beg incoherently.
“Please, Jase. Oh, please. Jase, Jase. Please.”
He slammed forward with all of his considerable strength. Yes! Yes! But he only slowed down again, his gaze once again capturing hers. Sweat trickled from his temples, and tension tightened his skin, but the adoration he projected at her...the tenderness...the hope and the gratitude...
“Please.”
Another hard slam.
It was too much, finally pushing her over the edge. She shouted with her pleasure—a burn that might have started slowly but one that exploded just as savagely as the other, no, more so, breaking her down into a quivering pulse of sensation.
Jase launched into the hard-and-fast ride she’d begged for, thrusting, thrusting inside her, rattling the entire bed, somehow prolonging her orgasm, keeping her suspended on clouds of unending carnality.
Like an out-of-body experience, she thought, dazed. Slowly she floated back, finding Jase collapsed over her, little shudders still rocking him.
He lifted his head and smoothed damp locks of hair from her face. “If I’ve got my hooks in you, it’s only right you bear my name. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Her jaw dropped. “Are you...asking me to marry you?”
He laughed. “Asking? Oh, no, angel. It’s too late for that. I’m telling.”
Had those words come from any other man, she would have balked. From Jase...
With a squeal, she used what little strength she had left to wrap herself around him. “I’m going to make you the happiest man in the world, Jase Hollister.”
“Angel,” he said, kissing her. “You already do.”