Big Bad Wolf (21 page)

Walking with slow deliberation around the room, he saw a way to leave her something of himself.
By helping her with this house as long as he was here, the profit she made would have part of him as a memory.
And by giving himself to her this way, he’d play an important part toward her future too.
He’d be with her that way, as a good and happy memory, and he would know, wherever he may be, that she was happy and secure in a future he’d helped provide.
Yes, he was determined to give her that, at least.

Jaymee wondered about the thoughtful light in those slate-gray eyes.
She felt empty, depleted of every emotion, but it wasn’t a bad feeling.
Talking about her bottled-up plans and memories had been strangely cathartic.
It wasn’t the past she was afraid of.
It was the future without the big, silent man with her.

For eight years, her goal had been simple enough: she had meticulously planned out her life in the safest and most logical way.
Having been burned once, the safest course was to avoid emotional entanglements and consciously or unconsciously, she’d steered clear of anything that remotely jeopardized her organized, working world.
That is, until this man came along and showed her what she had been missing.

He was a stranger and yet, he wasn’t.
She seemed to have known him forever.
No.
Don’t even go there, Jaymee.
Forever wasn’t possible with Nick, as he’d as much warned her.
But she wanted forever.
What was she to do?

She’d do what she knew best.
Change the subject and carry on.
“I think that’s enough of the Jaymee Barrow’s ‘This Is Your Life’ show,” she said, giving him a quick smile.
She took the chewing gum out of her mouth and wrapped it up in a piece of tissue before throwing it into a nearby trash can.
“Now you know where I am in the evenings.”

Nick grinned back.
She didn’t know how that particular mystery had kept him awake the past few nights.
He headed toward the stairway on one side of the room.
“You’ve done a lot by yourself,” he noted.
“Come on, show me the rest of the place.
We’ll make a list of things that need work.”

Jaymee wrinkled her nose.
Taking over seemed to be second nature to Nick.
Already, he was telling her what to do about her own project!
“I have a list already,” she told him.

“Good, then I’ll make one for myself,” he said, mockery in his eyes.
“I know you view your last eight years like it’s a prison term, babe, but you’ve to realize you’ve done nothing wrong.
It’s Danny who committed the crime, your father who got conned out of his money, not you.
Stop punishing yourself.”

She didn’t know whether to be angry or amazed.
“And what do you think my problem is then, Dr. Langley?” she asked, crossing her arms.
“Since, of course, you’re saying the missing hundred thousand dollars is just a figment of my imagination.”

Good.
There was some color back in her cheeks, a returning combative sparkle in her eyes.
“Do you want my professional or personal opinion?” he countered, and not waiting for her reply, went on tour of the house for himself.

She made an exasperated sound and followed him into the kitchen.
“Both, of course,” she said to the broad back, then stuck her tongue out.

“Cabinet tops need replacing.
Sink too.”
He looked in the pantry and nodded in approval.
“Nice and roomy.”
He grinned at the snort coming from behind him.
He did enjoy riling her so.
Turning around, he continued, “Professionally, I think you could reach your goal, but you’re going to need help with the heavier work.
Yours truly is volunteering, so why not just accept it gracefully?
Gratefully, even.”

“Gratefully?” He was making her more and more irritated.

“Yeah.”
They walked out of the kitchen and Nick strolled into the back room.
“I like the archways,” he said approvingly.
“What’s this room?
Sitting room?
Study?”

She chose to ignore his observations.
“Gratefully?” she repeated through clenched teeth.

He let out an exaggerated sigh.
“Yeah, showing me your gratitude will earn you points,” he said drolly.
“You know, I like this room.
You must too, since you sleep here.”

“How did you...?” Jaymee pursed her lips when he sat on the huge sofa bed at the end of the window and lifting up various articles of clothing, dangled her underwear from a hooked finger.
“Give me those!”

She tried to snatch the cotton and lace triangles from him, but he kept them out of reach.
Laughing, he lounged back, his head against the sofa pillow lying on the arm
rest
.

“Great sofa.
I could actually stretch my legs all the way.”
Another thought made him frown.
“This place is very isolated.
I don’t think I like the idea of you alone in this house.
Don’t do it any more.”

That did it.
Jaymee launched on top of him, forgetting her weight was meaningless to his muscled strength.
“Listen, you overbearing, arrogant man,” she said, ignoring the crooked grin forming on his lips.
“I’ll do as I like, sleep where I want.
Nobody tells me what to do, much less where to go to bed at night.”

“Exactly,” Nick agreed in a deceptively mild voice.
She was so mad she didn’t notice his own leg curling over hers, effectively trapping her against him.
“That’s why you need someone like me to knock some sense into you.
Someone could come out to this deserted place and here you are, all alone.
Stupid, dangerous idea.”

Jaymee glared down at him.
“This house is locked.
I have electricity, so it’s not like it’s dark and deserted.
What’s the difference between sleeping here, or at the house, alone?
Any man can do it and no one will say a thing, but the moment a woman does it, hah!
It’s suddenly soooo dangerous!”

She scowled when he waved her underwear at her again.
She stretched out over his body, trying to reach them.
Too late, she realized his trick, as his other arm went around her waist, arranging her until she lay across him, thigh to thigh, chest to chest.
She was suddenly aware of another part of him, nudging into her.
Her eyes widened as she realized
her
predicament.

Nick’s smile was devilish.
“Exactly,” he said again, curling his other leg over hers, locking her limbs with effective ease.
He deliberately nudged against her again.
“You can sleep wherever you want, Jaymee, as long as it’s with me.”

There must be something wrong with her.
She wanted him again.
It was as if some dam
had broken, and now there was no holding back the torrent of emotions held in check for so long.
How could a musty-smelling, cluttered old house suddenly become so charged with sexual energy?
She could feel his male heat, pushing hard and insistent, through his jeans.

“You said we’re supposed to talk,” she reminded him huskily.

“Later.”
His hand went under her shirt.
“Listen, it’s raining again.”

“So?”

“So, we aren’t going to work anywhere for the rest of the day, are we?”

“I told you, the day’s shot.”

“Hmm.
All that unused energy surely needs an outlet.
And that’s the doctor’s personal opinion.”

Her whole insides shook.
How was it possible he could make her weak from mere words?
Determinedly, she mounted one last defensive battle.
She was in control of the situation still, wasn’t she?
They were going to talk, no matter what, she vowed.

Using the age-old female excuse, she said, “I’m too tired.”

An empty house.
A bed.
A desirable woman.
And a whole night ahead.
Nick Langley couldn’t have executed a better program.
He wanted this woman more than ever, now that he knew her story.
She had the softness that drove him crazy, and the toughness that challenged him to keep taking her over and over, just to make her grow soft for him.

He wanted her.
Now.

Slowly, deliberately, he showed her those lacey panties again, and watched her eyes widen as he moved them closer to his lips.
With devilish purpose he kissed the crotch of the little triangle, feeling her immediate reaction as the corresponding part of her body pushed against him in shock.
He almost groaned from the pleasure.
His murmur was low, promising.
“I know a way to wake you up.”

Jaymee could only squeak.
Did she vow they would talk first?
Later, she amended.

*

Much, much later, and after expending energy in the most satisfying way, Jaymee lay on her side, resting her head on one hand as she studied the sleeping man beside her.
Her lover, she told herself.
She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.
She was supposed to be using her head.
She was a sensible and wary woman, keeping out of trouble for her very valued peace of mind.
Where was that common sense now?
All but gone, stolen by this man with his clever hands and determined seduction.
She grimaced.
How, she asked as she looked at his gloriously nude form, was she supposed to resist that?

Nick lay asleep on his back, one arm flung over his eyes to block out the dim light from the old lamp by the sofa bed.
His other hand was on her thigh, fingers possessively splayed over the soft inner flesh.
His naked body, as she knew now, was warrior-hard, with the supple muscles that suggested training.
She made a mental addition of this new clue to his mystery, wondering whether she would ever know, or whether he would just disappear from her life without her ever finding out.

Just like some tall, dark stranger in a Western novel.
Don’t forget handsome, she added with silent wryness, taking in those long, incredible eyelashes that cast shadows on the masculine plains of his face.
He looked relaxed, and thoroughly sated.
She flushed at the
thought.

She wanted to trace her finger around those sensuous lips that hadn’t left a spot on her body untouched.
Moving lower, she admired the broad chest with its diamond-shaped sprinkling of hair that arrowed down a flat stomach.
She lingered even lower.
Talk about insatiable.
That part of him was asleep too.

A small, intimate smile touched her lips.
She couldn’t believe the things she’d done with this male body.
Perhaps she’d imagined it.
However, one glance around the room and the wreck they’d made of it, testified to the hours of pleasure in which they had indulged recently.
There were items of clothing strewn everywhere.
She squinted.
Was that her bra in the corner?
His jeans were tossed in a bunch right across the room.
There were sofa pillows all over the place.
She vaguely remembered him placing one of them under her hips and her face flushed pink as she recalled the incredible pleasure that particular position had brought, as he pushed deep into her again and again.

It still scared her, the way he could make her forget about everything else but him.
He was a demanding lover, making sure every part of her responded to his touch as he described in sexy detail what he was going to do.
How he could talk when she was a mass of moaning sensations, she would never understand, and that was what was so unsettling and frightening about him.
He seemed so in control all the time, and a part of her resented
it
, wanting him to be as wild as he drove her.

His muscles rippled gently as he stirred.
The hand on her thigh caressed her, his long fingers teasing slightly before letting go to slide lazily up his tanned stomach to scratch his chest with sleepy satisfaction.

Jaymee reluctantly sat up, sweeping the tangled curtain of hair from her face.
Her body felt sore in unfamiliar places.
Fingers curled around her wrist.

“Where do you think you’re going?”
Nick’s voice was a husky drawl.

She glanced back at him.
His eyes were still shut.
“Bathroom,” she told him.
“I wonder what time it is.”