Burns Like Fire (Dangerous Creatures #1) (3 page)

Chapter Four

Two Years Earlier

Jack hummed a cheery tune, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to an offbeat melody he made up as he drove down to the place where he and Cindy had met.

He’d only been seeing her for three weeks, yet he couldn’t get enough of her. He didn't even mind that they hadn't had sex yet.

They’d stayed up until three in the morning texting. Jack looked forward to each message, and he'd grinned like a fool every time he received one. It was like his first real high school love all over again, only neither of them were in high school.

Cindy was eighteen; she’d graduated a month ago with the rest of her class, though she wouldn't tell him which school she'd gone to.

Jack was a little older. He was twenty-three, and what he really wanted to know was if she’d been accepted into the college she wanted. From her text this morning, written in all caps, he was betting she did.

Jack never had the chance to go to college or university because of the “family business”, so his main concern was finding out if there was an art program at that same college so he could enroll with her.

He pulled up to the quiet spot on the hill where they’d first met. He'd been skipping rocks when he noticed a girl watching him. He'd noticed her before, always hanging around the same area.

She never said anything. Never approached anyone or said hello.

She'd been kind of hard to miss with all that red hair, not to mention the cut off jean shorts that exposed a whole lot of her legs, and the tank tops she seemed fond of wearing in the heat.

He'd grown tired of seeing her around without knowing her name. When he called out to her she'd jumped a little and her body went stiff, like an animal about to bolt out of traffic.

How he'd talked her into staying, and then managed to get a name and a date out of that, even he had no idea.

The hill turned into a cliff that overlooked the Pacific, and the sun created all kinds of orange colors which reflected on the water.

Cindy was already there, the blue hatchback – something she’d gifted herself for graduating – was a dead giveaway in a town where most people drove trucks. Not to mention that she was the only girl he’d seen in this tiny town with hair like that. The only person he'd seen with hair like that period.

He pulled up in his own truck and put it in park. The smells of the grass and salty ocean water on the rocks immediately hit him. Cindy was already rushing around to Jack. She smelled even better than the sea air.

He opened his arms and swept her up in a flurry of kisses and wild red hair. She was always so light in his arms.

“I got in!” she said, all smiles as she held up the crumpled acceptance letter in her fist. “I got in! I got in! I got in!”

“Of course you did,” Jack said, and he kissed her again.

He was so damned proud and hugged her tight. Her mouth was soft and pliant against his. Her breasts against his chest, and her slim arms around the back of his neck that clutched him tight as she opened her mouth for his tongue to glide inside of that warm, wet space was exactly how this scene was supposed to play out. There was no way she didn't belong right where she was, and no way he wasn't going with her.

The kiss didn't get the chance to become interesting as Cindy quickly pulled back, though she remained in his arms, her hands behind Jack's neck.

  “Are you still coming with me?” she asked.

“One hundred percent,” Jack replied. “Even if they don’t have an art program, there’s got to be something I can do in Lincoln Peak, or someone I can work for that will help me get ahead. It's a city. I’m going with you.”

He wasn’t going to be a hunter. It pissed off his old man, but his brothers accepted it well enough, and that was all Jack cared about.

He put Cindy back on her feet. She wore her trademark daisy dukes, and instead of a tight-fitting tank top, she had Jack’s old t-shirt with the Superman logo on it. The bottom was tied up so her slim stomach and belly button were exposed.

It was his favorite outfit on her. The easier it was for him to get his hands on her skin, the better.

Jack let his hands rest on his hips and felt the tiny shiver she let out through his fingertips.

His mouth was still warm and wet from their kiss, and his dick was half-interested already, but he put a lid on it.

Jack wanted her so damn bad that his body buzzed. Every time he kissed and touched her, even in the most innocent ways, left him with severe blue balls after the fact. Never mind how agonizing it was when their kisses got heavier, when Cindy got brave and put her tongue in his mouth, or grab onto Jack's hands and place them on her breasts.

Right on, too. No over the top of her shirts or bras. It seemed it was a favorite of hers, having Jack touch her like that, and he more than enjoyed the swell of those small breasts against his hands, and feel of her hard nipples pressing into his palm.

Jack especially enjoyed the noises she made when he pinched her nipples between his thumb and forefinger, or when he was able to put his lips around them, gently teasing with his tongue and teeth.

Her body temperature always seemed to rise when that happened. A lot. He liked to consider himself especially skilled for just that reason.

Still, Cindy was adamant about waiting on the sex part, and he really didn’t want to fuck this up by pressuring her.

Besides, it wasn't like she left him completely hanging. Jack had moaned and thrust into her hand the first time she'd dipped her palm beneath the waist of his jeans. He came like it was his first time having an orgasm in his entire life, and he'd felt a lot of her body heat just then, making him hotter, making him want her even more.

And even without going all the way, there was something nice about teasing himself, knowing that it wasn’t going to go any further. Just enjoying the touches for what they were.

Right now, however, Cindy wasn't looking at him with that usual come-and-get-it glimmer in her eyes. Despite the way his fingertips massaged and circled her hips, she didn't warm up and blush like she usually did. Her hands behind his neck slid away to hold onto his wrists in a tight grip, and only then did he notice that one of her legs was jittering in that nervous energy kind of way.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

Cindy glanced away from him for a brief second, and she was biting her lower lip when she looked back at him. “If you’re coming with me, there’s something I’ve got to tell you, and you have to promise that you’re not going to tell anyone else.”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad.”

The way Cindy looked at him, her red brows raised, lips pursed, sucked all the happiness right out of him. She was serious, and Jack's brain scrambled to guess what the problem could be.

“You don’t secretly have a boyfriend in prison or something, do you?” Jack asked, trying to make a joke about the whole thing.

“That would be too easy,” she said, and her eyes started to shine, like she was on the verge of crying.

Jack finally got serious. “Hey, what’s wrong? It can't be that bad.”

Cindy brushed her fingers beneath her eyes, banishing the tears. “It’s just that...I was so scared you weren’t serious, you know?”

“Not...? Of course I’m serious. I want to go with you. Why? Don’t you want me to?” Paranoia immediately seized hold of him, and Jack struggled to keep up the smile he'd plastered onto his lips.

They really hadn’t been dating all that long. What if she thought he was some creepy, clingy loser for wanting to follow her into another state for school?

“No! I mean yes, I...” Cindy stopped herself and took a deep breath. She looked up at him with big purple eyes. “I want you to come with me,” she grabbed onto his hands. “I was just worried that you would regret it. Your family is here.”

“And they’ll be on the road again in no time,” Jack said. “I’m used to moving around anyway. This time I’d rather do it because it means I’m with you.”

It was easy to say because he meant every word of it.

Cindy’s smile showed off her white teeth, and while her eyes were still a little glassy, she got up on her toes, curled her arms around his neck, and kissed him.

Jack held her close to his body, arms tight around her slim waist, keeping their stomachs pressed together. He could feel every curve, and all the warmth that came when they touched like this. He easily pushed his tongue back into her willing mouth, and she sucked on it so damned well that it was only inevitable his cock was going to start taking over. He was already thinking about how warm she was, and how wet she must be for him, and he had to pull away from her. If he didn't stop now he wouldn’t be able to in a few more minutes.

“Fuck, we should stop before I regret this,” he said. It was pathetic how he was breathless already, his dick hard between them and ready to blow at the slightest touch.

When he tried to pull back, Cindy tightened her hold on him. “It’s okay,” she said, her mouth a dark shade of pink. Her cheeks turned a similar color, and her entire body grew even warmer. “I want to be with you."

Jack’s nose flared, and the metal teeth of his jeans’ zipper were starting to press against his swelling cock.

“Are you sure?” he asked. His hands tightened on her waist.

This was the only warning he was capable of giving her.

She nodded, a shy smile on her lips. “Yeah. I’ve been...practicing. So it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Practicing?” Because Jack was an idiot, it took him a few seconds to realize what she meant. When he finally got it, he moaned. “That is so fucking hot.”

Thinking about her masturbating, stretching her pussy for him with some toy—or had she used her fingers? Or something else?—wasn't helping him to get control over his erection. That ship had not only sailed, but Jack had missed it by several days.

Cindy was grinning at him now, her small fingers brushing through the hair on the back of his head, and when he lifted her up into his arms, she easily curled her legs around his waist. “Right here. Right now. I don’t want to wait to go anywhere,” she said, and it was insanely pleasing to Jack’s ego how needy she sounded.

“You’re eager,” he said. “What if someone sees us?”

Not that it mattered. She'd asked for it here, so he was going to have her here, and it was going to be better than all those love scenes in the romance novels his older brother Liam pretended he wasn't hiding under his bed.

Cindy’s blush never left her face, neither did the heat of her body. “You weren’t the only one who’s wanted to do things all this time,” she said.

Again, Jack was nearly undone by how much of an effect her words had on him.

“The cars will keep people from seeing us. They’ll block the view,” Cindy said.

Jack looked at them, and she was right. They would provide some privacy.

“Are you on the pill?” he asked, realizing he didn’t have condoms with him.

He’d been planning on having sex with her in a nice hotel room with rose petals and wine and all that romantic stuff he’d seen in the movies. He hadn't planned on her surprising him.

Cindy was already nibbling at his neck and ear. “Yes,” she said.

That settled it.

Jack didn’t have a blanket or anything to spread beneath them, but this was one of the few spots where there was grass instead of sand or rocks, and it was soft.

Jack immediately dropped to his knees and pressed her down on the bright green grass. Cindy's fingers threaded through his hair and gripped it tight. Jack grunted, but she pressed her warm and wet mouth hard against his, and it made the pain vanish, as if she had magic lips.

Her mouth opened to him, and as their tongues glided together, Cindy's chest arched up and toward Jack, pressing her breasts against him. It was the best invitation that could be given to take her t-shit and bra off.

Cindy' nipples were hard pink buds in the middle of her areolae, and Jack never got tired of looking at them, or touching them and watching as the surrounding flesh pebbled with goosebumps.

Then there was Cindy's tiny moans and panting sighs, sounds that could only be described as pretty – almost too nice of a word considering what they did to Jack's body. Lust buzzed through him and made every inch of his skin feel hot and alive. Even Cindy's fingertips on the back of his neck shot pleasurable bolts down to his cock and balls, causing his toes to curl.

Jack pulled his hand away from Cindy's breast to take one of her nipples into his mouth.

Cindy's back arched, and she groaned while her grip on his hair and back became a little harder. She was using her nails, but he didn't mind. He felt no pain.

"Jack," Cindy said, panting. If there was anything else she was going to say, she must've forgotten all about it as he moved his mouth to her other nipple.

Jack lowered his hands to Cindy’s waist as she gripped his hair tighter, gasping and thrusting her chest forward, spreading her legs and curling them around Jack's thighs.

She was thrusting her pelvis against him, searching out friction for her cunt. Holy Christ.

Jack scrambled to put his hand between her legs and rubbed his hand back and forth firmly but slowly over her clit. Even with the denim shorts, that touch was enough to make her gasp as he slid his hand up and down her covered sex.