CHAPTER 10
“She’s off-limits,” Jared growled. He caught Evan’s arm roughly as his sibling walked to the front of his house and out of Mara’s line of vision.
I am not jealous. I am not jealous.
Jared let the mantra run through his mind as he confronted his eldest brother. He’d just taken his load of groceries to the kitchen when he caught sight of Evan and Mara on the beach. He’d gawked as Mara jumped out of her chair and Evan put his arms around his woman, holding her just a little too long for Jared’s liking. He’d seen Mara stumble because of her ankle, but that didn’t mean that Evan had needed to hold on to her as long as he had, and he certainly didn’t need to cuddle up to Mara and carry her once she was steady. Jared reminded himself that he’d carried Mara everywhere for the last several days. But that was different. Evan was a stranger to Mara, and she to him. What right did his brother have to even touch her?
“She said you were just friends,” Evan said disdainfully. “I didn’t get any indication that you’d staked some sort of claim on her. Isn’t that a little barbaric?”
Jared gritted his teeth and let go of Evan as his elder brother shook off his grip. “We are friends.” And we’re also lovers. Okay . . . maybe lovers only once, but I obsess about it day and night. “She’s been through a lot. The last thing she needs is a man like you.”
Evan folded his arms gracefully in front of him. “What exactly does that mean? I certainly have the funds to give her everything she needs.”
“She doesn’t need funds,” Jared ground out, trying to hold back his temper. Mara would succeed with Mara’s Kitchen, and he planned on making certain she did. Jared knew he owed Evan a lot, but he wasn’t about to sit back and watch while Mara slipped away from him.
“What does she need?”
“She needs someone to give a shit about her. After spending her whole adult life taking care of a sick mother, and then losing everything to a fire, it might be nice if somebody took care of her needs for a while.”
“And if I’m willing to do that?” Evan questioned.
“Just. Don’t.” Jared knew he was being territorial, and the last thing he and his brothers would usually fight over was a woman. But this was Mara they were talking about, and Jared would fight his own brother if necessary. “And don’t touch her again.”
Evan strolled over to a bench in front of Jared’s house and sat down to put his shoes and socks on. “You’re being irrational.”
“I don’t give a damn if I sound fucking insane. Leave her alone.”
Evan brushed off his foot before putting on his socks. “Are you claiming her then?”
Was he trying to tell Evan that he wanted Mara exclusively? His dick certainly did, the damn organ seeming to prefer only her. “We haven’t talked about it,” he admitted reluctantly.
His shoes back on his feet again and his pant legs back in place, Evan rose. “Then it isn’t agreed on,” he observed. “Actually, I like her, and I haven’t been able to say that about many women in my life. She’s smart, ethical, and she isn’t afraid of me.”
Jared clenched his fists to keep from striking his annoying, arrogant eldest brother. “She’s also warm, caring, and strong. And she belongs to me.” Goddammit! No way was he going to let Evan snatch Mara out of his grasp. He fucking needed her. And she needed somebody who really cared about her.
“Then I suggest you claim her,” Evan said reasonably. “Or somebody else will.” He turned without another word and started walking down the driveway.
Jared wondered furiously what the hell that comment had meant. Was Evan trying to tell him that he wanted Mara, too? He watched his brother’s retreating figure get smaller and smaller as he moved farther and farther away.
Irritated that he couldn’t quite figure out where he and Mara stood, he stomped up to his door and into the house.
It took him less than five minutes to realize that Mara wasn’t in his home. He’d glanced outside and she wasn’t on the beach, either. After searching and bellowing her name until he was hoarse, Jared stepped onto his massive back porch, took the steps two at a time, and strode determinedly toward the guest house, the aroma of food drawing him to the smaller home almost immediately.
She’s there. She’s in the guest house.
What the hell is she doing there? Yeah, he had told her she could use the guest house, but he didn’t actually want her there. In the last few days, he’d become accustomed to hearing her voice on a regular basis, and her laughter, a sound that made him instantly hard. He wanted her in his home, and in his damn bed.
After their first night together, a night that shouldn’t have happened until she was healed, he’d fantasized about being inside her again. And again. Now it was damn near all he could think about. She’d been so damn tight, wet, and perfect. He was a well-endowed man, and he knew he’d probably hurt her. She hadn’t exactly been complaining, but when he’d seen the furious swelling to her ankle the next day, he’d been pissed at himself. What had happened to his carefully cultivated control? He’d definitely lost it with Mara.
Not. Happening. Again.
The last thing he wanted was to hurt a woman who had already suffered enough pain and heartache.
What happens when I’m done with her?
A low growl reverberated in his throat as he approached the door of the guest house. He’d never be done with her. Usually once he’d screwed a woman, he’d had his fill. For some reason, he knew he could have Mara in every way imaginable and he’d still crave her like an addictive drug.
Because she wants me, too.
A woman couldn’t fake a reaction like Mara’s. Her body had trembled when he touched her, her desire as fierce as his own.
She was vulnerable. She needed me then.
Turning the doorknob as he acknowledged that it might be him who ended up hurting over his obsession with Mara, he was pissed all over again to find the door unlocked.
I’ll make her need me just like I need her.
“Mara,” he called irritably.
“In here.” The feminine voice was coming from the kitchen off to his left.
“The door was unlocked,” he informed her, his tone annoyed as he walked into the kitchen.
“I’ve lived in Amesport all my life, and I never lock my doors except at night. The Peninsula is private. Nobody will come here except family.”
Jared opened his mouth to tell her any tourist or transient could wander onto the property. Or a nosy, gossip-seeking reporter could find her if they were trying to probe into his personal life. Just her association with him made her a target for almost any crazy, and it was something he had to make her understand. But he halted near the entrance and became suddenly mute, fascinated as he watched her moving from one place to another gracefully, even though her ankle was injured. Her face was flushed from the warmth of the kitchen, but she flowed from one place to the other with a confidence that made every other thought fly out of his brain. All he wanted to do was watch her.
She’s so damn beautiful.
All it took was for her to look up and smile at him for his cock to stand up and greet her with rampant enthusiasm. His heart began to race with some kind of deeply buried longing that he’d never experienced before.
Jesus. I’m so damn screwed.
“What are you doing?” he asked hoarsely, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. He leaned a shoulder against the door frame, trying to look more casual than he felt.
“Cooking,” she replied happily. “Lobster stew, corn bread, and blueberry cobbler. I realized that Sarah stocked more than just clothes. She also filled the fridge, the freezer, and the cupboards with food.”
Jared shrugged. “She owes it to you. You are filling in for her wedding.”
Mara scowled at him. “I’m doing her and Kristin a favor. Sarah doesn’t owe me, and I feel guilty because I know it cost a lot of money for what she bought.”
Jared smirked. “I can personally assure you that her husband-to-be is beyond loaded.”
“You’re awfully nonchalant about Sarah doing all this,” she said suspiciously. “Did you pay her?”
“Unfortunately, no, I didn’t,” he answered in a disgruntled voice. “I tried, but she wouldn’t take it. She wanted to do this with Emily and Randi as a gift to you. Something about passing on something that had been done for her, and she likes you. Believe me, if I would have arranged this, your clothes would have been in my house. Why did you move?” He wasn’t going to mention the fact that he’d offered the money for Mara’s clothing to Dante, too, and his brother had adamantly refused it. Sarah was using her credit card, but Dante had laughingly told Jared that he’d pay it off the minute she finished buying for Mara and never miss a penny of the money. Dante might be obscenely wealthy, and it shouldn’t bother him that his brother wanted to help Mara, but it still annoyed him. Jared had only closed his mouth on the subject when Dante asked him why it mattered. Jared hadn’t had an answer.
“This is where I’m supposed to be. It’s what we agreed on. I’ll be out of your way.”
I want you to be in my way, and I want to be inside you. You’re supposed to be in my bed.
It didn’t matter what he’d said before, he wanted her with him. “It wasn’t inconvenient for me,” he said, trying not to sound desperate.
“That doesn’t matter,” she chastised him, looking back at her pot on the stove and giving it a stir.
It did matter, but at least she was right next door. “Smells good.” The scents in the kitchen were beyond good; they were tantalizing, and making his mouth water. “I didn’t know there was a lobster stew.”
“You’ll love it,” she answered without looking at him.
“I’m invited for dinner then?” Jared’s mouth started to turn up in a smile.
“You’re always invited. Now that I can get around, I’ll cook for both of us.”
Good. Then he’d pretty much be living here instead of his larger home. He wasn’t happy with her not being with him, but if he could keep her right next door with an open invitation, he’d take advantage of it. Every. Single. Day. “I saw you on the beach with Evan. Do you really think you should be walking around already?” Do you really like my brother? He left that question unsaid, but damned if he didn’t want to ask her what she thought of Evan, or if she was attracted to him.
Mara’s feminine laughter flowed over Jared like a balm to his soul.
She snorted as she said, “I wish I still had my cell phone. I would have taken a picture. I’ve never seen a guy as uptight as your brother. I don’t think I’ll ever forget seeing him walking on the beach in a custom suit and that unhappy expression on his face. He’s hilarious.”
Hilarious? Evan? Jared wondered how his eldest brother would feel about that description of himself. He could guarantee that the words “hilarious” and “Evan Sinclair” had never been used in the same conversation. “So you liked him?”
Mara gave him a contemplative look, a spoon still poised in her hand. “He’s . . . complicated, I think.”
Actually, everyone except his siblings found Evan Sinclair terrifying, annoyingly cold, and a downright son of a bitch. Jared had never heard his eldest brother described as “complicated.” Only Mara would try to see anything more than the bastard Evan usually was to nearly everyone in his life. “Why do you say that?” He moved over to her and took off her new glasses, cleaning them on the soft material at the hem of his short-sleeved shirt. They were fogged up from the humidity of the kitchen, and he could see tiny spots of liquid that had dried on the lenses. He put them back on her face once they were clean.
“Are you ever going to stop doing that?” she asked hesitantly.
“Cleaning your glasses?”
“Yes.”
“Probably not. I told you that I used to need them.” He shrugged. “I wore glasses for a long time, since childhood. It drove me crazy when they had spots. I finally had the surgery to correct my vision after I became an adult. Are you nearsighted?”
“Astigmatism. It isn’t bad. My vision is just bad enough to be annoying and make me need the glasses when I’m working.”
“Then it could be corrected,” Jared mused.
“It could. But it hasn’t been a priority. Glasses work fine for me, and the procedure is expensive.”
“Glasses don’t work fine if you never clean them.” Jared smiled, loving the indignant, stubborn look she got when she was being practical.
“I clean them,” she answered defensively. “I just look around the spots until I have the time to do it.”
He was getting her eyes fixed so she could see well all the damn time. She just didn’t know it yet. Mara was stubborn, but little by little, he’d make sure she had everything she deserved and needed. As Mara moved to the refrigerator, he grasped her by the arm and spun her around slowly, pinning her body against the metal appliance before she could open the door. “So you could see me just fine the other night without your glasses.”
She didn’t even pretend not to know what he was talking about. “Yes.” She licked her lips as she glanced up at him.
“I’m big, and I wasn’t gentle. Tell me the truth. Did I hurt you?” Jared wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer, but he had to know. He had lost control, something he never did with a woman.
His heart started to settle into a slower rhythm as she shook her head. “No. And you gave it to me exactly the way I needed it, Jared. I needed to forget, and I did. I needed to feel close to you, and I did. I’ll never forget that night because I finally know how pleasurable sex can be. You showed me that.”
He hated hearing her refer to them being together in past tense. Jesus. He had a feeling he’d always need her, and there was plenty he hadn’t shown her.
“No pain?” he questioned harshly.
“Just the stretching of having a man your size inside me. After that it was incredible. And you weren’t rough. You were perfect.” Mara sighed.
Jared shuddered as she put her arms around his neck, pushing her ample breasts against his torso and laying her head on his shoulder in a gesture of complete trust. “I want that again, Mara. I want you again,” he rasped into her hair, inhaling her clean, intoxicating fragrance. “But I want it to be different this time. I want you to be with me for no other reason than because you want me. I want to lick every inch of your soft skin, bury my tongue in your pussy until you come screaming my name. I want to savor every moment of your trembling body while you come.”
She tensed, but she didn’t move. “I haven’t . . . I don’t—”
“No man has ever satisfied you with his tongue,” he guessed, primitive instinct now pounding at him to be the first.
“No,” she whispered. “But we can’t do it again, Jared. It was one night, and I’ll never regret it. It was the most pleasurable experience of my life. But I can’t.”
“Why?” If she’d enjoyed it so much, why couldn’t it happen again? To hell with that. It had to happen again. And again. He’d lose his mind if it didn’t.
“Contrary to what you might have believed that night, I really don’t just screw anyone. You are and were special. I’ve been attracted to you since the moment I met you.”
“I know that you don’t,” he growled, entangling one hand in her silken hair and resting the other on her delectably rounded ass.
“I don’t think I can be your fuck buddy,” she murmured. “I think it would hurt too much. You don’t have relationships, Jared. You have sexual encounters. And I knew that when it happened. But I’m starting my life over, and I want everything to mean something to me. I’d get attached.”
Her words were like a knife to Jared’s gut. Truth was, he wanted to mean something to her. He wanted her attached to him more than he’d ever wanted anything. He wanted to be a hell of a lot more than a fuck buddy to her. Problem was, he didn’t know exactly what he wanted from her. But hell, he was already obsessed with her, and he wanted to bind her to him.
Don’t be a selfish prick.
Gripping her ass, he thrust one of his thighs between her legs and hissed softly as her heated core connected with the denim of his jeans. Even through the material, he could feel her heat, the dampness of her pussy. “You’re wet.”
“Whenever I’m close to you,” she admitted tremulously, lifting her head from his chest and staring up at him.
Satisfy her!
Primitive instinct gripped him by his balls, and all he wanted was to see her beautiful face contorted in ecstasy, the tension building and then leaving her body in the throes and aftermath of her climax. “No fucking then. But give me your body. Let me teach you how good my tongue can feel exactly where you want it.” Swooping down, he captured her mouth with his, heart hammering triumphantly as she capitulated and moaned against his lips.
Jared tasted and plundered, unable to get enough of her, doubting if he ever would.