How Forever Feels (20 page)

He set her on the bed, then scrambled to get out of his runners and soaked jeans. He had one leg out before he stopped and hopped around to get his balance.

“Shit. Do you have any—?”

“Medicine cabinet in the bathroom.” It flashed through her mind to tell him not to bother, but there was no time for that conversation right then, so instead she watched him trip his way out of his other pant leg as he stumbled out of the room.

Sounded like he might have fallen against the wall a few times but he made it back in one piece, minus the jeans, and stood just inside the bedroom door in nothing but his bulging Captain America undies and a grin, waving the condom like a champ.

“Not sure why you keep them in the bathroom, but you have no idea how happy I was to see the box hadn't been opened,” he said. “I mean, too bad for you, but…
yes
!”

“Nice,” she smirked. “Thanks for the sympathy. Now please tell me you brought more than one.”

It took him about two seconds to run there and back again, returning this time with the whole box clutched in his hand.

“Easy there, Captain America, I'm just one girl, remember?”

Laughing, he tossed the box on the bedside table and followed Maya to the middle of the bed, where he made short work of her tights and his boxers, then took his sweet time kissing his way up her body.

He started at the top of her foot, his big hands smoothing over her bared skin first, leading his lips up her calf, warming her, making her tremble, then laughing against the side of her knee when she fisted her hands in the sheets and hissed out a curse.

She thought she'd die when his hands eased up her thighs so close to her core, but no matter how much she squirmed or begged him to help her out, to put those hands to good use, he just breathed a kiss against her and kept moving.

“Four years, Maya.” He unwrapped her fists from the sheets and laced his fingers through hers, pressing them back against the bed as he kissed his way across her abdomen and around her belly button. “This first time…we're going to get there…
together
…but not until I'm buried good and deep inside you.”

“Jeezus Jack,” she whispered. “Say that again and there won't be time for you to…oh!”

He hovered over her, giving her time to adjust, before grinning down at her. “You were saying?”

“Shut up.” She wrenched her fingers free and dug them into his hips first, then his ribs, not to control him, but because she just needed to touch him, to feel more of him as he moved inside her with long deep strokes.

The only thing missing was his hands on her; she needed to feel that, too.

“Jack.”

“Yeah, hang on.” Laughing softly, he rolled onto his back, pulling her on top so she straddled him, taking him deeper yet. “Jeezus, Maya.”

Setting her hands high on his chest, she raked her fingers down to his belly as she lifted herself almost all the way off him before lowering herself again, so slow, so deep.

Every inch of her screamed for release while still begging for more—more Jack.

Leaning in to kiss him, she started at his grinning mouth, nipping his lip, then gasping when his hands wrapped around her hips and lifted her higher and higher until she could just feel the tip of him, then lowering her again, slowly,
excruciatingly,
dragging all sorts of desperate pleas and curses from her throat.

“Please.”

“Please what?” He chuckled. “Please more or please stop?”

“Those,” she gasped. “Both.”

She arched her back a little, pushing herself down on him, trying to ride the crest of insanity before she exploded. She almost made it, too, but then his tongue flicked over her breast and she just about came undone right there.

“Oh—”

Her cry had hardly formed when he pressed his fingers over hers and guided her down to where they joined, where their combined heat made them both suck in a breath.

“—my—”

That was all she got out before he wrapped his other hand around her hip and held her down as he pushed up one last time. They exploded together, cursing and laughing as she collapsed onto his chest, her name still fresh on his lips when he pulled her in for a long slow kiss.

It was so more than just a kiss, though. It was the feel of her own body pressed against his, their hearts thudding against each other; it was his fingers, so strong, so gentle, dancing up her spine with such tenderness; and it was him pulling the blanket over them like a cocoon.

And it was all of him, still buried inside her, and both of them so very happy to keep him there.

“Well,” she sighed, tucking her face up against his neck and breathing him in. “Was it worth the wait?”

“You make it sound like we're done,” he murmured. “We're just getting started, but hells to the yeah it was worth it.”

If it wasn't for the fact that Pete had been alone at the hotel for way too long, Jack would still be in Maya's bed with her, still touching her, still tasting her, and still grinding out her name whenever she ran her fingers down the length of him.

Just thinking about how many times she'd done that made her smile into her pillow.

The only time they'd let go of each other was when she got up to throw his clothes in the dryer, but even then he'd followed her out to the machines and pressed himself against her back while he leaned in to kiss her neck. And those hands…
ho-ly
…they didn't touch, they worshipped, and her breasts had been their altar.

She'd slept a little after he left, but it was a rare day she stayed in bed past seven anyway, even on Sundays when her shop was closed. She didn't know what time Jack would be back but she couldn't look like this when he got there.

God, looking the way she did, it was a wonder he hadn't run screaming out of there hours before.

She needed to be clearheaded when he got back, because she needed to tell him about Griffin, and she needed to do it without scaring him off. Before that, though, he needed to tell her what happened last night. He'd muttered something about going to Genie's, but that was as much as she'd gotten out of him before he'd rolled her over and put his mouth to much better use.

Her girlie parts were still tingling.

Showered and dressed, and with the sheets in the wash, Maya had just taken a bite out of her piece of toast when the doorbell rang. Giddy, she almost fell as she rushed down the stairs. She twisted the lock, yanked the door open, and once again cursed herself out for not using the peephole first.

“Griffin! Hi!”

“Hi.” As good an actor as he was, he didn't even try to pretend he didn't notice her reaction, just blinked his piercing blue eyes and winced a little. “I left you a message last night saying I'd be in town, but I'm guessing you didn't get it. This is a bad time, isn't it?”

Worst imaginable and yet so perfect.

“Uh, no, it's…it's fine. Come on in.” Before closing the door behind him, she poked her head out and looked around the parking lot, then grinned at him. “What? No entourage today?”

His mouth lifted in a half-smile. “Lip like that's part of the reason you're still single, you know.”

“I know.” Apparently her choice of sleeping attire was the other, but that would never be something Griffin had to worry about.

Just like the other times he'd come over, he was dressed in an expensive-looking suit, this one all black, from the jacket to the shirt, right down to the shoes. And just like the other times, she still couldn't quite wrap her mind around the fact that Griffin-freakin'-Carr was sitting in her living room.

After the requisite hostess bit of making small talk while she brewed him some coffee, they sat down and got straight to business.

“So,” he said, leaning his elbows on his knees. “Have you decided?”

Maya swallowed hard and nodded. If he'd shown up twenty-four hours earlier, she'd still be nodding, but the answer would have been completely different.

“I'm sorry, Griffin. I can't.”

He didn't look surprised. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised.

“You have no idea how close I came to saying yes,” she said. “Or how much it kills me to say no.”

“Then say yes.” He sat back in his chair looking wholly uncomfortable. He'd once told Regan he wasn't used to people telling him “no,” and apparently that hadn't changed. “We both want this, Maya. You said yourself that after what happened with your ex, it would take one hell of a miracle for you to trust anyone like that again, that adoption would be harder as a single parent and—”

“I know, I said all that, and I was right, too. The thing is…” Did she want to tell him about Jack? No. It was still new, still too new to share, especially with someone outside her core circle,
especially
when she wasn't even sure what was going to happen with him. “On paper, it's ideal.”

“But?”

Maya sighed, resigned to the fact that Jayne was right. “But I want more.”

“More what? More money?” A glimmer of hope sparked to life in his eyes. “The paperwork I sent you outlines all that: the house, the monthly support payments, schooling, medical expenses.”

“We're in Canada,” she said, laughing lightly. “Medical expenses aren't the problem.”

“Then what? You want a new car? Done. You don't trust that I'll make good on these promises? No problem, I'll give you a lump sum payment right now, just tell me how much to make the check out for.”

“It's not the money, Griffin, though you're making a hell of an argument. When I said I wanted more, I meant more, like the whole kit and caboodle. I want the fairy tale.”

The glimmer flickered a second longer then died. “You understand, of course, there's no such thing anymore, and that as two single parents both focused on the care of our child, we stand a much better chance of making it work than we would if we were married.”

“Married?”

“I'm not saying we should get married.” He took a slow sip of his coffee, winced, then set it down again. “I'm just saying that most marriages end in divorce, and most of those divorces are vicious. With this arrangement, there wouldn't be any of that, because we'll have agreed to terms beforehand, and once I sign a deal, I never renege.”

“I'm sorry.” And she truly was. If he wanted to have a child half as much as she did, she knew exactly what this was doing to him, but the difference between her and him was, of course, blindingly clear. “You understand, of course, that you're Griffin-freakin'-Carr and there's probably a million women out there who'd be only too happy to have your baby. I mean, seriously, step outside—you'll probably meet half a dozen in the first block.”

“Hardly.” His face softened as he sighed. “I wanted it to be you, Maya, because you wouldn't be like those other million women. The fact that you took this long to think about it proves that. And even if there were a million women—which is a nice stroke to my ego, thank you—how many of them do you think would agree to it because they want a child as much as I do, and how many would do it just to get their name in a magazine?”

“Okay, well, you might be on to something there, but still.”

Griffin let his head fall back against the couch and stared straight up at the ceiling, his fingers tapping out an uneven rhythm against his mug.

“What's with the women in this town anyway?” After a long moment, he finally lifted his head and laughed, shaking his head slowly. “A year ago I offered Regan a job as my personal stylist and she refused, and now you're refusing to have my baby. Is there something in the water here or are all you Canadians so disagreeable?”

She started to laugh, then stopped when she heard the door open downstairs.

“Oh boy,” she murmured. “Okay.”

“What?”

A second later, Pete charged into the room, tail swishing, tongue hanging out, and headed straight to Maya first, then over to sniff the new guy.

“Who's this?” he asked, lifting his mug out of Pete's reach while he gave him a one-handed chin rub.

“This is Pete, most handsome boy ever.” She pushed off the couch and made it to the apartment door just as Jack stepped inside. “And this is Jack.”

“Holy shit.” Jack stopped dead in his tracks, mouth open, not even blinking. “You've got Griffin Carr in your apartment. Griffin-freakin'-Carr's petting my dog.”

“Yes.” She laughed. “And he's going to be covered in dog hair if you don't do something about Pete.”

Maya wrapped her hands around his arm and tugged him in a little farther.

“Jack Rhodes, Griffin Carr.”

As Griffin pushed up off the couch to shake Jack's hand, his eyes narrowed and his head tipped slightly.

“Jack Rhodes. Why do I know that name? Jack Rhodes.”

While Griffin went back to his spot, pondering that, Jack's eyes widened at Maya in a silent kind of “what the hell” question, but she just shook her head.

“So, uh, Griffin…can I call you Griffin?…What brings you to—”

“Jack Rhodes!” Griffin exploded. “No way…You're not…Apollo1-and-2-Jack-Rhodes are you?”

“Uh, yeah.” With a look of uncertainty, Jack's gaze flicked from Griffin to Maya and back. “Is that bad?”

“Holy shit—Jack Rhodes! I love those games! My nephew got me hooked on the first one when it came out—before TMJ picked it up—and then I made my assistant stand in line for six hours to get me a copy of the second one the day it came out.”

“You did not.”

“No shit. Dude almost quit on me that day. My nephew's going to stand in line for me for the third one.”

“That's…” Jack's grin kept getting bigger. “Griffin-freakin'-Carr plays Apollo. I don't believe it.”

“I don't believe I'm sitting here talking to the guy who came up with the idea for those games! Mercy's the best!”