Jamie's Heart [Amazon Warriors 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (9 page)

“What’s up, bro? It’s good to see you, man,” Cole said with enthusiasm.

Even though he was still struck dumb and concerned by Jamie’s appearance, he smiled and hugged his brother in return. It seemed to break some of the tension in the room as the rest of his family burst into action and stood to welcome him home.

The two women he hadn’t recognized introduced themselves. It turned out he did know one of them. She was a few years older than him, but he knew her to be a very skilled warrior within their tribe. The other woman was incredibly beautiful, flawlessly so. Although he knew her not to be an Amazon, Conrad could sense an immense amount of power coming from her. She must be some sort of magical being, but Conrad didn’t care. He welcomed her to his family with open arms when he learned that both of these women had been recognized as Connor’s true life partners.

Lucky bastard.

Once Conrad had been greeted by his family, he looked expectantly toward Jamie and Jordon.

Jordon seemed conflicted, clearly wanting to welcome him home but worried about how her sister would react.

Conrad took a deep breath and bit the bullet.

“Hey, shorty,” he said lightheartedly as he walked over to where she sat. Nerves ate at him.

She gave him a slow smile and punched him in the arm. He felt a wave of relief at her playfulness, but it also caused his concern for her to grow. Unless she was going easy on him, which she never did, Jamie had clearly gotten weaker since they’d last seen each other.

“Jerk.” It was the only thing she said before she gave him a warm embrace that brought an easy smile to his face, but the embrace didn’t last anywhere near long enough for him.

When they pulled apart, he was quickly surrounded by Jordon’s arms. She had obviously been put at ease with his interaction with her sister.

“All right, everyone, let’s eat. I didn’t cook all of this for it to be thrown away,” his dad ordered.

The rest of breakfast went by much like he was used to—his sisters squabbling, his brothers trying to better each other, and everyone fighting for food.

He couldn’t resist his repeated glances over to Jamie.

Conrad also couldn’t help the goofy grin that spread across his face when he caught Jamie staring at him in return.

* * * *

When Conrad had walked into the kitchen, Jamie had lost the ability to breathe. The ache in her chest she had become so accustomed to flared into what could only be described as a throbbing pain.

Once the initial shock had passed, she had felt such relief that she had had the chance to see him again before she left the tribe.

Jamie had accepted her fate and was making the most of the time she had left, but to be able to spend some time with Conrad, to hold him before her six months at the estate passed was an opportunity she couldn’t ignore.

After breakfast, Jamie and Jordon left everyone sitting at the table while she walked with her sister to the training gym.

“So…” Jordon started to ask along the walk.

Jamie didn’t want to hear it and cut her sister off.

“Don’t even go there, Jordon. I’m glad I get to see him before I leave, but Conrad being back doesn’t change anything. I have accepted what’s going to happen. I thought you had, too,” Jamie said, sounding annoyed.

“I can still hope,” Jordon snapped like a teenager as she stormed into the changing room.

Jamie was feeling deflated as she walked back to the Quins’ family house. She hated hearing the sadness in her sister’s voice whenever Jamie’s fate was brought up.

As she walked through the front door, Mr. Quin grabbed his keys and practically ran out of the house.

“I’m going grocery shopping. I’ll be back in a few hours,” he shouted over his shoulder in haste.

She turned back around to look toward the kitchen, completely confused. Since she couldn’t go to training anymore, she had nothing to do, and she hated having nothing to do, so she spent a lot of her time at the Quin family home, often helping Mr. Quin with chores. Why wouldn’t he ask her to go with him?

“Shouldn’t you be at training?”

When she looked up to see Conrad’s tall, muscular frame standing in the doorway to the kitchen, he was staring at her intently, it started falling into place.

“Let me guess. Everyone else has popped out for a few hours, too,” Jamie said with one hand on her hip, trying to look serious.

Conrad just smirked. “You guessed it.”

“It’s like they want us to be alone or something,” she said, her voice laced with sarcasm as the smile she had been holding back spread across her face.

His family didn’t know what had happened to her all those months ago, but they knew it had to do with Conrad, and she was sure that this was their not-so-subtle way of telling them to sort it out.

He gestured with his head for her to go into the kitchen, which she did. He handed her a drink as they stood facing each other.

“Bit early for a beer, isn’t it?”

“I think we’re both going to need it,” Conrad said as he lifted the drink to his lips and took a long, hard pull on the bottle.

His gaze never left hers for a second.

It was too intense. She had to look away as she had a drink herself. He was right. She did need it.

“So what happened, shorty?” Straight to the point, as always.

She didn’t want to lie, but she couldn’t tell him the truth either, so she settled for something in the middle.

“I’m sick,” Jamie said in a blunt, matter-of-fact way.

“Amazons don’t get sick,” Conrad said, confused.

“It’s very rare, but it can happen.”

He took another drink. “Okay, so what does that mean?”

“It means I’m weaker than I was, which is why I can’t go to training,” Jamie said, shrugging her shoulders.

“How long will you be weakened for?” Conrad’s concern was evident. It was written all over his face. It touched her to see he was worried about her. It meant he cared. The way she had left things with him when he left made her worry that Conrad would be too angry to care about what was happening to her.

“I’m…I’m leaving the tribe next month to…erm…deal with it.” It was the best she could do without, technically, lying to him.

“Deal with it? What the hell does that mean?” His concern was turning into annoyance and frustration.

“It means deal with it, as in I’m not talking about this anymore, so
deal with it
.” Jamie turned away and rubbed her chest where the constant ache was beginning to throb again. She took another drink, nearly finishing the bottle.

Jamie felt Conrad step closer to her.

“What does it mean?” he asked with more authority. He was determined to find out, and she was determined that he wouldn’t.

She strengthened her resolve and turned to face him. He was not going to intimidate her.

“It means I may have to live the rest of my life weakened by my illness.”

“Oh, God, Jamie, I’m so sorry. I should have been here for you.”

Jamie reached up to cup his face in her hands. “You’re here now.”

Conrad stepped closer, pinning her against the kitchen counter, and braced his arms on either side of her.

After what seemed like a lifetime of just looking at each other, he mumbled something about “such an idiot” under his breath as he drank the last of his beer before palming one of her ass cheeks in each hand and lifting her onto the kitchen counter.

Pushing himself between her legs, he moved his hands to cup her face. She was so shocked by his actions she could do nothing to stop him, not that she could now that her Amazon strength had all but left her.

“Who you calling an idiot?” Jamie managed to gasp out in her surprise.

“Me,” Conrad said before he brought their lips together in a searing kiss that melted her to the core. Jamie didn’t even try to resist or question what was happening. She was going to enjoy every minute of it.

It was then that she realized the ache in her chest that had become her constant companion had eased. She could barely feel it.

She pulled back to look at Conrad’s face, just trying to see what he was thinking, why he was doing this. When she looked into his face, all she saw was lust and desire. He yearned for her, and that sent a feeling of such power and strength through her. She felt stronger than she had in months.

This time it was her who initiated the kiss. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him toward her, trying to get him as close as she could, and she planted a firm and demanding kiss on his lips.

Their tongues dueled and battled, both fighting for dominance. It was a kiss filled with passion and longing.

She felt Conrad’s hands move down her neck and over her breasts to settle on her waist as he pulled the shirt she wore from inside her jeans. His callused hands worked her shirt over her breasts with gentle, teasing touches, and he continued to kiss her like he needed it more than his next breath.

He cupped and caressed her breasts, knowing how sensitive they were.

A blissful scream rent the air when he pinched and pulled on her nipples. The action sent shockwaves straight to her now-soaking pussy.

He smirked at her, the cocky bastard, but she could do nothing but smile back.

They continued their kiss. They couldn’t get enough of each other. Would it always be like this?

That question was like dumping a bucket of ice water on her libido. There wasn’t going to be an “always” for her and Conrad. This was as much as she was ever going to get.

Conrad must have sensed her change in mood as he pulled back to look her up and down in concern and confusion.

“What just happened? I lost you. Are you all right?”

He was such a caring man. How could anyone spend time with him and not fall in love with him? She may not have an “always” with Conrad, but she was damn sure they were going to have a right now.

With a shy, sheepish look on her face, she buried her fingertips in the waist of his jeans, pulling him closer and undoing the fastenings.

“It was nothing. I’m right here, and I’m much more than all right.”

He didn’t seem convinced, but with what could only be described as a growl, he dove back into the kiss, and she continued to work at his jeans.

As soon as she could, she pushed his jeans and boxers down to expose his engorged cock. It was as magnificent as she could remember, although how he fit inside her she would never know.

She palmed his cock in both hands and used the pre-cum glistening at the head to glide her hands smoothly from base to tip. She wanted to give him as much pleasure as he gave her.

When he groaned and panted against her lips as he rested his forehead against hers, she knew she must be doing something right.

Jamie moved her hands up and down while rotating her hands in opposite directions, and Conrad seemed to enjoy that. She was enjoying learning what he liked. She wanted to learn more, learn everything, but Conrad had other ideas, and she couldn’t bring herself to complain.

He wrapped one arm around her waist to lift her while his other hand ripped her tight-fitting jeans from her body. She made a grunting sound with the force of it but didn’t complain.

“I’m sorry, Jay, but I can’t hold back. It’s going to be like last time, okay? Hard and fast.”

She just nodded her agreement, too wound up for anything else. She needed release, and she needed it now.

When she was completely bare from the waist down, he pushed her back gently to lie on the countertop. Then he grabbed her by her legs, so the back of her knees were in the crook of his elbows, and surprised her by pulling her toward him so her ass was hanging off the end of the table. Jamie had to grab the end on the counter to stop herself from falling.

Without pause or preamble Conrad thrust himself into her slick pussy in one fluid motion, tearing a pleasure filled scream from her.

They both started moving almost instantly, and there was nothing gentle about this encounter, just pure desperation. In that moment, they needed each other more than they needed oxygen.

Being with Conrad was better than she remembered. It was passion, need, and desire personified. She loved every second of it.

As he continued to thrust into her, touching her on a level no one could, his hand moved once again up under her shirt to squeeze and fondle her breasts. He seemed to enjoy playing with them as much as she loved them being played with.

Jamie was desperate to touch him but wasn’t confident she could let go of her death grip on the counter without falling.

Conrad solved that problem when the hand on her breast snaked round her back and lifted her from the kitchen’s work surface.

Her arms wrapped around his neck, and her hands anchored themselves in his hair without a single thought.

Jamie closed her eyes at the intense feeling flowing through her, as this position allowed for deeper penetration.

“Look at me,” Conrad said with such authority she couldn’t help but obey.

“Bite me.” It wasn’t a request. It was an order, but she couldn’t help but question his meaning.

“What?”

“You heard. Bite me. Leave your mark.”

She couldn’t believe he was asking her to do it. It was something she was craving to do but doubted he’d be so accepting of it again, but now he’d asked for it, she would willingly give him what he wanted.

Without warning, she struck, biting the same spot she had the first time they were together. To her it felt like she was claiming him, letting everyone know he was hers.

“Oh, fuck!” he shouted as his knees buckled as he came and he fell to the floor.

When she landed on top of him, impaling herself deeper onto his twitching cock, she silently screamed her own release. She didn’t have enough air in her lungs for any real sound to pass her lips, but if she could, the whole estate would have heard her.

They sat there kneeling in their embrace for a long time, refusing to let reality invade their time together.

“I’ve missed you, Jay.”

“I’ve missed you, too.”

When she felt the ache once again in her chest, she pulled away, and in an attempt to ease the tension, she smiled and said, “You ever heard of a bed?”