Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) (27 page)

“Yes, Jake.  I can
do that.”

Jacob covered her
mouth with his as soon as the words left her lips, groaning deeply as her
tongue shyly met his, tentatively stroking and tangling with his in a beautiful
dance.  “God, you make me happy, darlin’.  So sweet and brave even when you’re
scared as all fuckin’ hell,” he breathed, cradling one hand against her jaw as
he stared into the blue pools of her eyes and pulled her closer to him, her ass
balancing on the edge of the counter.   

“You won’t hurt me,
Jake,” she whispered, smiling shakily back at him.  “I mean, I know you’d never
hurt me on purpose.  People are bound to get hurt eventually when they’re in a
relationship, but I trust you not to deliberately put me in pain.”

“Never, baby.  I’d
never intentionally hurt you.  You’d never feel a moment’s pain if I could
prevent it.  I promise you that,” he vowed, hating himself because he knew that
tomorrow, she would hurt.  She’d probably feel deceived and betrayed.  And that
was his fault.  No matter how hard he tried to think of a way to spare her the
ugly truth, there was no way to avoid giving her pain when he explained the
initial reason why he’d come to Paradise.  He just hoped like hell that after
tonight she wouldn’t doubt that while he might have arrived here in her town
planning one thing, she’d changed everything for him.  She’d
become
everything to him.

“You take my breath
away when you stare at me like that, all warm and trusting and open.  That look
fills me with pride and humbles me all at the same time,” he muttered, sliding
one hand underneath her bottom to pull her flush against him, her breasts
flattening against his chest as his hand tightened on her narrow waist.  “Feel
what you do to me,” he growled, burying his face against her neck as he rocked
his hips against her, rubbing his denim-covered erection against her softness. 
“I’m so excited that I’m shaking like a teenager here,” he admitted with a
chuckle against her throat while her small hands wandered over his tee shirt
clad back, her touch easing the tension from his shoulders.  “I feel like I’ve
waited my entire life for you to walk into it, Harmony.  You’re inside my heart
now, darlin’.  Now that you’re in there, you should know that no matter what
happens… no matter how good or how bad it gets, I’m not letting you go.”

“Mmmm,” Harmony
hummed against the warm flesh of his shoulder as her fingers crept underneath
his shirt to rub the skin just above his jeans. 

“Say you understand
me, Harmony.  Tell me that you know what I’m saying,” Jake demanded, his jaw
clenching as he held her gaze. 

Lifting a hand to
rest it against his whiskered jaw, Harmony nodded.  “I understand you, Jake.”

It killed him, but
he had to give her one last chance to back away from him.  If she went, when
this nightmare with her ex-husband and Diego was over, he’d come for her
again.  But now, at this moment, he knew that in order to live with himself
later when things did get bad, he had to give her a shot to walk away from him
now.  “I don’t give up what’s mine, Harmony,” he said, keeping his deep voice
low and steady.  “And if you give me that sweet body tonight… if you let me
fill you up with everything that’s me, that’s gonna make you mine in a way you
can never take back.  Fallin’ in love with you has turned out to be one hell of
a learning experience for me.  I thought that at my age, the time for that had
come and gone.  I was wrong.  Since I arrived in Paradise, I’ve learned a lot
of things, but the most important one is that there has never been and will
never be any woman that matters to me the way you do, darlin’.  I hadn’t even
realized that my heart was empty until you and your little girl filled it up
with love.  Don’t you ever doubt that for a single second.  All that bein’
said, eventually, you’ll want to pull away from me.  You’ll want to take it all
back.  I’m not gonna be able to let you do it,” he warned, his hands tightening
against her.  “So, if you wanna walk away from me… from this, do it now. 
Because if you stay in my arms another second, I’m never gonna have the
strength to let you go.”

“You’re fallin’ in
love with me?  You can’t be fallin’ in love with me, Jake” Harmony denied, her
voice shaking as she tightened her hands on the warm flesh of his hips, her
nails scoring the skin. Tears burned her eyes, but she blinked them away
quickly and focused on his face.

“Fallin’?” he
echoed with a hollow laugh.  “No, baby, you’re right, I’m not fallin’.  I
fell
. 
I love you, Harmony Pearl McKinnon, and nothing in this world or the next is
gonna convince me to turn you loose unless you hop out of my arms right now and
tell me that you’re not feelin’ even a little of what I’m feeling right now.”

Frozen, Harmony sat
in the circle of his arms as her throat worked to form words.  “I… you… this…,”
she said, fumbling for the words to explain how he made her feel. 

“I, you, and this
are
real
, Harmony.  All you need to say is that you want it.  Say you
want me and that you won’t run from me when things get tough.  Say you’ll fight
for us when things get hard.  You do that, and I’ll bust my balls to make sure
that you never regret taking that chance on me.”

“I do want what
you’re offering, Jake.  I wanna try to make this work,” Harmony replied, her
voice trembling with emotion.  “And I really want to be able to give you the
words back,” she whispered as two tears rolled from her dazed blue eyes, “I do,
but…”

“I can wait for
those words.  I can wait as long as I need to wait, Harmony, as long as I have
you
,”
Jake returned, his own voice tight with emotion.  “I think all I have ever
needed in my life was you, darlin’.”

“Jacob,” Harmony
breathed, melting against him as the muscles in his arms tensed as if preparing
to do battle.

“You staying or
going, baby?” he asked roughly, his gut clenching as he offered her one last
opportunity to bolt.  “You stay and you know what it means; you know what I’ll
expect.  You go, I’ll give you some time, but then I’m gonna come after you
again because, God help me, but I can’t stay away.”

Trailing her
fingertips up his sides and over the hard wall of his chest until she reached
his broad shoulders, Harmony curled hand hands around his neck and met his
anxious eyes.  The silence was thick between them with the only sound in the
room Jacob’s ragged breathing as he waited for her to make her choice.  “I’m
staying,” she decided with a quiet certainty that no one could question.  Not
even Jacob. 

Jacob’s arms
contracted involuntarily, locking around Harmony like steel bands.  “Christ,
you know how to make a man sweat, woman,” he growled against her lips before
his tongue delved deep, plundering the sweet wet cavern of her mouth greedily. 
Pushing his cock firmly against her covered mound, he felt her moan vibrating
through their kiss, her hips undulating desperately against his hard-on.  Gripping
the hem of her thin tee shirt, Jacob drew back enough growl, “Arms up,
Harmony.”

She lifted her arms
without complaint, her breasts rising proudly behind the lace cups of her bra
as he slipped the material over her head and tossed it carelessly to the
floor.  “Always so damn beautiful,” he breathed reverently, cupping one lace
shrouded globe in his hand and lifting it to press an open-mouthed kiss to the
top of her breast.  Reaching for the clasp at her back, he loosened the
fastener, his eyes glued to the flesh that slowly was exposed to him.  He
groaned low in his throat as he watched her nipples harden underneath the
weight of his gaze.  Thumbing one of those plump berries, his lips found the
other, tugging it gently between his lips and suckling.

“Jacob,” Harmony
whimpered, her fingers winding through his long hair as his lips tugged and
pulled at her breast, his tongue flicking over her nipple with erotic lashes of
his tongue.  “God, that feels good,” she gasped as his tongue circled her
breast, shuddering as sensations battered her.  Her pussy clenched as he
squeezed her other breast in his warm palm, plumping it with rhythmic strokes
of her fingers.

“I love the way you
taste, darlin’,” Jacob muttered, slowly kissing a trail to her other breast and
licking the soft skin with the flat of his tongue.  “Like my own personal peach
parfait.  Creamy and sweet,” he rumbled in a deep velvety voice, letting one
hand drift down her belly to tease the sensitive milky skin just above her
belly button.  Licking the tip of her pebble-hard nipple, he felt her shiver in
his arms, squirming against his cock as she tried to ride the hard length of
his dick through his jeans.  He sucked her breast into his mouth as he reached
for the elastic band of the pair of track pants she’d borrowed from him before
she began painting.  “Lift your hips, baby,” he ordered between soft, slow
nibbles to her breasts.  “I feel like making a meal of you and these are in the
way,” he complained, tugging at the elastic band at her waist.

Catching her
breath, Harmony blinked as her passion-fogged mind processed his demand. 
Capturing his wrist, she shook her head.  “Jake, I need a shower first.  I’m
hot and sweaty, and I’ve been painting all afternoon, honey,” she mumbled
self-consciously into his neck.  “Please?”

Smiling against her
temple, Jacob brushed his thumb against her paint-smudged cheek.  “But yellow
is such a becoming color on you, darlin’,” he teased, nipping her earlobe with
his teeth before dropping a kiss against her forehead.  “But, if you want a
shower, we’ll take a shower, baby.  Wrap your legs around me.”

Quickly obeying his
command, Harmony wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as he lifted her.  “I
can walk, you know,” she giggled as his long strides took them toward the
stairs, each step nudging his erection against her aching, swollen folds.

“Maybe I just like
feeling you wrapped around me,” he returned, shifting his grip to her ass as he
began to climb the stairs.  “Having you all warm and willing, clinging to my body? 
A man would be all kinds of fool to put you down, baby,” he whispered,
squeezing her ass as they ascended the stairs.

“Hmmm,” Harmony
hummed against his mouth before sucking gently at his lower lip.  “Don’t blame
me when your back gives out then.  I won’t have mercy on you,” she warned,
darting her tongue out to lap against the seam of his lips.

Growling, he opened
his mouth to hers as her tongue darted inside, seeking his out.   Her lips
closing around it, sucking hungrily while her little hand snaked between their
bodies to cup his cock through the his jeans.  Hissing a breath through his
teeth, he felt her fighting with his belt, struggling to free his dick into her
greedy palm. 

Turning, he pushed
her body against the wall, pinning her in place with the bulk of his body as he
planted his feet on two steps.  Thrusting his hips toward her as she lowered
the zipper and reached inside his jeans to draw his cock out, he groaned,
sucking the warm flesh at her throat.  “Fuck, baby, we’re never gonna make it
to the shower if you keep that up,” he managed to bite out as her industrious
little hand freed his dick from the confines of his fly.  “Ahhhh, fuck!  You’re
killin’ me by inches.  I never took you for a cruel woman, Harmony,” he rasped
as her hot palm closed around the width of his shaft, stroking it from base to
tip.  “Sweet Christ, as much as I love what you’re doing, you’ve gotta stop
before I give in to my inner caveman and fuck you here against this wall.”

“You’re a big,
strong man, Jake.  I think you can take the torture, can’t you?” Harmony
taunted, encasing him in her hand as she squeezed gently, watching Jake’s face
tighten with pleasure.  “I love it when you talk like that,” she confided, her
own voice smoldering with sexual heat.  “So earthy and raw… like you can’t get
enough of me,” she breathed, crying out when he hiked her body higher against
the hard, unforgiving wall.  Sinking her teeth into her lower lip, she watched
as his head bent and his teeth captured her nipple.  The slight pinch of pain
only heightened the pulsing need building in her pussy.  Digging her nails into
his neck, she kept her hand wrapped around his cock, working it in her grip.

“Christ, darlin’,
I’m beginning to think you wanna get fucked right here, right now,” he grunted,
clamping his jaw and grinding his teeth when her wicked little fist tightened
around him.  “You want my cock that bad, babe? Because I’m happy to oblige.”

“Y-yes,” Harmony
breathed, her back arching as he sucked forcefully at her breast.  “But, I still
want my shower first,” she informed him throatily as she watched a drop of
sweat slide down his corded neck.

“Then let my dick
go, Sweetness.  If you don’t, the only place I’m gonna be movin’ to is between
those long, silky legs of yours to plant my cock deep inside that sweet, wet
heaven,” he threatened, kissing his way back up her chest.

Reluctantly
releasing his swollen shaft, she moved her hands back to his shoulders,
kneading the thick muscles underneath her palms.  “I’ll be good,” she promised
with a sweet smile.  “I promise,” she offered, leaning forward to brush her
damp lips against his.

“Sweetheart,
there’s not a single, solitary doubt in my mind that you’re gonna be good.  You
almost had me comin’ in your hand like a randy schoolboy not twenty seconds
ago.  I can’t imagine what that sassy little mouth and tight little pussy is
gonna do to me, but I can’t wait to find out,” he replied huskily, hefting her
up his chest as he quickly climbed the remaining stairs.