Chance of a Lifetime (10 page)

Even more when he changed the angle and took her higher, sinking so deep a grunt of urgent need broke from her throat. Her head tilted toward the night sky, her eyes closing so she could just focus on how he felt, everywhere he was touching her, inside and out.

“God…perfect,” she managed, soft, breathy words as her body climbed and climbed, responding to every stroke, getting hotter and hotter. The coil of her body was ready to release, and it would be capable of shattering even a brick wall of control, let alone her simple network of flesh and bone, which was wide open, eager to embrace the impact.

He bent, catching his hand in her hair and tilting her head to give him access to her throat, raking it with his teeth. Even with her hands free he was underscoring he was in charge, commanding her. But his hard body was shuddering, even trembling, injecting her with a searing wave of feminine power. His chest hair rasped across her nipples.

When he dipped down, took one into his mouth while increasing the speed and force of his strokes, she lost the ability to think. Everything was tugging, wet-hot sensation. She 69

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opened her eyes and found the whole sky was becoming a series of shooting stars, a thousand wishes coming true in the magic of the moment, dreams unrealized or never even voiced until now.

As he suckled her, squeezing her, she writhed, rising to meet him now, wanting the fire to become a conflagration. But he kept to his own pace, making her gasp in his mouth, beg. “Jake…please. I want to come for you. Please…”

“Stay with me, baby. We go when I say we go.”

She could come from the sensuous abrasion of his tongue on her nipples alone. It seemed he’d gotten even harder and thicker inside her and then he came to a complete stop, making her feel the impact of that hard thickness filling her from clit to womb.

She knew he wanted to draw it out, make it last. Her body was quivering on the cusp of release, every limb trembling, but Jake was taking his time, moving from one breast to the other with his mouth. Even when he squeezed them together to play in the cleft, making her plead with wordless moans, he only growled his response. He held still within her for endless moments, refusing to move as her hips twitched, her muscles spasming against his cock. She was milking him as hard and fast as she had the baton before. She knew he wanted her because his long lean body had become iron wherever it touched her, all those sexy muscles drawn tight.

“Jake, please…”

“Kiss me.” At last, he seized the back of her head and brought her half off the ground, holding her on the strength of one arm as he started pistoning into her, moving them across the ground with the force of it.

Wildfire, sweeping across the forest of her soul, burning it to ash so she had no refuge but his arms. She bowed up even as he held her mouth to his, swallowing her screams. She savored the vibrations of his guttural response as he met her, spasm for spasm, jetting into her, spinning her orgasm to greater heights. She had to let go of his hard backside and cling to his biceps, her head resting fully in his palm like a weak infant. She let him hold her up as he pumped into her and she bucked in response, 70

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slamming hard against his body. She wanted to make this last, wanted to keep him so badly she wanted to fight about it and so she did. She took her pleasure and found the strength to pummel against him now, raking his back, trying to take every drop of what he was offering her and more, needing it all.

He gave it to her, took her over peak after peak until she gave up and clung to him in exhaustion, convulsing as if she were in the grasp of a sensual fever.

Only when they began to slow to a rocking motion, so dreamy and rhythmic it was like the pulsing of a heartbeat, did she press her face and lips to his throat. She curled her arms around his back and neck and hid her face. Inhaling him deep, she wished the protective wall of flesh, the close proximity of his heart and soul, the touch of his breath, were all something she could have forever.

I love you
, she thought in amazement.
I love you for this moment. For the type of man
you are, that you would give me this. I’ll always love you, always pray for the world to keep you
safe and cherish you the way I do. The way I wish I could cherish you forever, if my life was
different.

Dawn was beginning to light the sky behind his shoulders. For the first time in her life she took no joy in the rose and blue beauty of a sunrise. She wouldn’t let herself grieve, however. She might not be able to keep him, but this night had been every fantasy she could wish to have. It was a gift that most women with much less problematic lives never got. Whatever Divinity was, It had given her this. She had to honor that.

Which meant she had to close the book on the fairy tale and go home.

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Chapter Seven

“Well, I certainly feel served
and
protected.” She had to keep it light. Told herself that, even as she thought about how good he looked standing there by her car door.

“You drive this thing home under the speed limit,” Jake told her.

They’d helped each other dress with a lot of slow kisses and intimate touches that had the enduring sweetness of first love. The night was waning, but strangely the magic wasn’t, as if it didn’t know that something this wonderful couldn’t last.

“And if I don’t drive the speed limit?” Stacie managed an impish smile.

Leaning through the window, he captured her lips as his hand eased down the front of the dress she’d repaired with two safety pins from her clutch purse. Finding her breast, he cupped it, rubbed his thumb against her so the nipple hardened, already eager for his touch again. When he drew back, she was breathless.

It’s over. I
have
to go. I have to.

“If you don’t,” he said, “I’ll chase you down, pull you out of that car and give you a bare-assed spanking on the side of the road where everyone can see.”

“Why, Lieutenant.” She grinned up at him even as she felt a flush course up her neck at the thought. “All those women who will be speeding just to get your attention.”

“Brat.” But his expression sobered. “You going to be okay? The nurse will stay until the afternoon so you can get some sleep?”

“Sure.” She didn’t really know if she would, but she had no hold on this man, wouldn’t make him feel he had to watch over her. “I’ll be all right.”

He eyed her. “I’m not going to give you my phone number.”

She blinked. Well, that stung a little. “I didn’t ask you to.”

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“No, you didn’t.” He took hold of her chin. “Which is why I’m not going to ask for yours either. You wanted this to be just a fantasy. Okay. It was a hell of one. I’m privileged to be part of it. But what’s better than a fantasy is figuring out how to be with someone you’re meant to be with. I know we can’t say for sure that’s what’s going on here, but I think we got a hell of a good start.”

She stared at him. “Jake…my life. I just… It wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“You think it’s fair for a woman to be with a cop? Our divorce rate is huge and domestic violence…well, you wouldn’t ever have to worry about that with me, but—”

“Were we talking about marriage?”

The way she was looking at him with those wide blue eyes, Jake felt crazy enough to be doing so. Which told him he needed to step back before he scared her to death.

“I come home mean, a lot,” he continued doggedly. “I do things that will make you worry. It’s not fair. But love isn’t about fairness. It’s about wanting to be with someone so much none of that matters. You willing to see if we’ve got that?” He leaned in again, stopped just a hair from her lips. “If you do, come to the ball field next Saturday. If you don’t, I won’t pursue it further.”

Like hell he wouldn’t. Still, he kept his gaze on her face, brought his lips to her mouth, the barest of touches. “Bye, baby.”

Walking back to his car without looking back was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

* * * * *

And apparently the stupidest. Eight innings. He was playing like shit, and no sign of her at all.

“What’s got your dick in a twist?” his sergeant demanded. “If you don’t hit the ball this time, I swear I’m going to stick the bat up your ass to give whatever you’ve got rammed up there company.”

“I hit better with a stick up my ass than most of you clowns do on your best days.”

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“Yeah, yeah.” A few more razzing comments from his teammates, thrown punches, and he felt more fortified to go to the plate. He narrowed his gaze at the pitcher who smirked at him. The bat was going to connect with something this time that would knock him on his grinning ass.

Damn it, he had connected with
her
. He could find her. It wouldn’t be so hard with all the resources he had at his disposal. He’d persuade her. Nibble on that sensitive spot on her neck and she’d give him anything.

Then he saw her. Just sitting down on the top bleacher in a little cotton dress and sandals, looking as pretty as the summer day. When she saw him looking, she gave him a tentative wave, telling him she wasn’t sure of his welcome. Well, fuck that. He handed the bat to the umpire. “I’ll be right back.”

Vaulting over the four-foot chain link fence like it wasn’t even there, he took the bleachers two at a time up to where she was. When he got to her, he didn’t give her any preliminaries. She started to speak, but he bent down, caught her by the upper arms and took her mouth in a hard, demanding kiss that told her exactly how much he’d been thinking of her. There were catcalls and whistles from the dugout, laughter from the bleachers and somewhere in there his sergeant’s voice.

“Chance, get your ass down here and bat.”

All that mattered was how she melted in his arms, the way she curled those slim fingers into his T-shirt and held on, bringing back all sorts of memories. When he lifted his head, her beautiful eyes were soft, aroused. “I wasn’t sure if you meant it,” she said quietly.

“I don’t say what I don’t mean.” He nipped her chin, lifted her hands and kissed one at a time. “You might need to remember that now.”

At her curious look, he smiled. “Remember what I said I’d do if you came to a game?” He leaned down, whispered in her ear. “I’ve got a solid dozen in my wallet.”

Her laughter filled his ears as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He tightened his grip, lifting her briefly off her feet, burying his face in her hair.

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“I’m glad you came,” he murmured into her ear.

When he let her down, she briefly swept her lashes down in that shy way that stirred his libido, remembering her cuffed and stretched naked across the hood of the Porsche.

“Well, what woman passes up the Chance of a lifetime?” She teased him with his surname, but as she raised her gaze, she became more serious. “I’m not sure if I’m good for you, Jake. This may be a mistake you’ll regret but…” Her shoulder lifted. “I want you. So…” She took a deep breath, her fingers flexing nervously on his chest. “I’m here.”

Ah hell. Screw it. He swung her up in his arms, delighted to catch her startled expression a moment before he headed back down the bleachers with her in his arms.

He shook his head at his teammates, indicating he was out of tonight’s game.

There were shadows under her eyes. She needed someone to help out, take care of her. She probably thought she’d come tonight and they’d have a repeat of their night in the corn field. Then he’d let her go home and take care of her other life all by herself.

Well, if he’d gotten her here with the offer of more, he was going to live up to it.

They’d have the fantasy, but he’d show her he could be part of her reality too. A part she wouldn’t regret having there.

She was his chance of a lifetime as well.

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Epilogue

All-night stakeouts had gotten a lot harder to bear. Knowing what was at home, curled up in his bed waiting for him made him want to just shoot the suspected perps and let God sort them out. Jake grinned at himself, ran a hand over his sweaty neck.

Well, at least they got a good collar tonight.

Out of habit, he tried the knob on the laundry room door and frowned as it turned easily, letting him in. Damn aggravating woman. Even as he had the thought, the smell of coffee and breakfast curled its way around his senses, trying to distract him from his annoyance. But even though he was a man who lived by his stomach, it couldn’t hold a candle to what the sound of her humming in the kitchen did to him.

She hadn’t done that at first, but as time had passed and things had gotten better, he’d found it an endearing habit. One he suspected she was rediscovering. Right now she was singing an off-tune version of a Rod Stewart classic.
You’re in my Soul.

In the beginning, he thought it was his job to be the white knight. He’d already plotted it out. A word to his cousin in the New York DMV, and her brothers would have enough traffic violations on their records that every cop in the state would be pulling them over. If they really pushed him, he’d talk to his college buddy who worked with the Bureau. Tom and Carl would believe they’d been put on the FBI’s Most Wanted list with scum like bin Laden.

However, in the end, it was Stacie who’d made things better. Not just for her parents but for all of them. Jake included. All she’d needed to know was that she wasn’t alone. That she had someone in her corner.

The little spitfire had marched herself up to New York, planted herself in Tom’s office, called in Carl and laid it out for them. Their parents deserved quality care. There was an excellent facility within ten minutes of the house and she’d already talked to the 76

Chance of a Lifetime

administrator about hiring on there part-time, the balance of her hours to be spent in direct care of her parents, in a place where she’d have the resources to give them what they needed. She further informed them if they didn’t agree to kick in where insurance wouldn’t, she’d stand outside their office with a very large sign stating they’d embezzled funds from one of their major clients.