Looking For Trouble (17 page)

"Well, isn't that charitable of you...you're
just gonna
let
me and Jazzie be together," he drawled
sarcastically with anger, the likes of which he'd never known,
pouring through him. "So nice...and
so
fucking wrong," he
told her then took a meaningful step toward her, and said in a low
gravelly tone, "If it isn't obvious to you, who I want, then you
need to pay closer attention, or I need to give clearer signals,"
then he jerked her up to stand, before slamming his mouth over
hers, claiming it and her, showing her how he felt, making her pay
for the effort it had taken him to hold back from touching her,
since she'd been back in Bowie.

Pulling her tighter against his body, Wade
ground his hips against hers, then dragged his mouth away from hers
and hissed, "Does that feel like I don't want you, Jess? I stay
that way, every time I'm around you." Wade leaned in and kissed her
again, then said near her ear, "You drive me stark raving nuts with
all your misconceptions and drama, but I can't help it, I want to
be inside of you every minute of every day."

Jess moaned then put her hands on his face
and covered his mouth with hers, kissing him deeply. Wade opened
his mouth then teased her tongue into an erotic dance, and put his
hands on her butt, pulling her firmly against him. When she rotated
her hips against him, blood rushed from his head to parts south,
and he got lightheaded. "Whoa, baby...we need to slow down," he
panted then pulled back from her, because as much as he wanted her,
he needed to make her understand this wasn't just about sex.

She looked up at him with smoky passion
glazed eyes and he wanted to take her right there in the parking
lot, but it was a public place, and he wasn't as crazy as he used
to be. "I want so bad, Jess, but I want to get to know you, too. We
need to find out if there's more than heat between us, for Angel's
sake," he told her earnestly.

"For Angel's sake?" she said in a broken
whisper, then pushed away from him. "If that's why you're doing all
this Wade, just forget it. I want what's best for her too, but we
don't have to have a relationship to be good parents to her. We can
date, or be married to other people, and still be good
parents."

Wade's heart stopped and a sick feeling came
over him at the thought of Jess with someone else. "Is that what
you want...to be with someone else? Date other people?" he huffed
out a sigh, then told her, "Because that's sure as hell not what I
want."

"No, that's not what I want, either. Dating
isn't a priority for me...my daughter is," she told him then turned
away.

"She's my priority too, but
you
deserve to be happy too," he told her then grabbed her shoulders
and made her face him. "This isn't just about Angel, sugar, it's
about you and me, but if there
is
something there, she
benefits too."

"And if there's not? What then? What if we
try this out and it doesn't work? I can't see us hating at each
other, and trying to raise our daughter."

"I will never hate you Jess, you've given me
the greatest gift ever, and I'll never forget that, or regret that
you're her momma," he told her seriously, then added with a
chuckle, "Even if I'm pissed off at you, which is likely to be a
common thing."

She hesitated a moment studying him
intently, then gave him a wobbly smile and said, "Okay, then we'll
give it a try...because I can't stop wanting you, even though I've
tried, and even though you piss me off too. But I'm not going to
share, Wade. If we're doing this, it's only you and me, until we
find out."

"Same goes with you, darlin'...just me and
you, until we decide. I don't share either," he told her gruffly,
then added, "And no more Aerosmith...no more angels."

CHAPTER EIGHT

Jess had just laid Angel down on the bed for
her nap, and she huffed out an exhausted breath, then wiped her
hand over her forehead. The bunkhouse was tidied up, her daughter
had her bath, and lunchtime bottle, and Jess had a chance to take a
break now, but all she could do was worry about her best
friend.

It had been a week since she'd said the
nasty things she had to Jazzie. They'd played the first three
nights of their contract at the bar in town, and it had gone very
well. Red, the owner said that he'd gotten a lot of feedback from
the customers, and they loved her and the band. The crowd on
Saturday night had been wall to wall, and Red was thrilled, he told
her they were welcome to stay there, as long as they wanted.

She hadn't seen much of Travis, but he told
her he had some good things working, and would get with her soon to
give her a rundown. He also told her he'd set up arrangements for
some studio time with a good facility in Dallas, so they could cut
demos whenever she had some new songs ready.

Things between her and Wade were good,
they'd been spending time together, and getting to know each other,
but Jazzie was still mad at her, although Jess had apologized to
her several times. Jazzie had even moved out of the bunkhouse and
was now staying at the bar, probably to get away from her, which
made her feel even worse. Sometimes when words were said, they
couldn't be reeled back in, so Jess had made a vow from now on, she
was going to think before she let them loose.

Since Angel was born, Jess's emotions seemed
like they were out of control, she got the blues a lot, and did
things she wouldn't have done before she gave birth, obsessed over
things that wouldn't have upset her before. Before Angel, she'd
been pretty laid back, and took things as they came. She had never,
ever
spoken to her best friend like she had that afternoon
at the bar a week ago.

Cassie Matthews had given birth about six
months ago, maybe she'd go talk to her about the mood swings and
irritability, and see if she'd had the same problem...it had to be
connected to having Angel somehow. Jess didn't know her all that
well, but there was nobody else she could talk to about it.

Although Wade had introduced her to Sabrina
and Cole Jackson, and his godson Will, the other night when they'd
had dinner at their house, they lived out in the sticks, and she
felt more comfortable with Cassie, because she saw her almost every
day. When Cassie came to the barn to feed the horses, she usually
checked in on her and Angel too. Maybe when Angel got up from her
nap, she'd head over to the house, and talk to her.

Wade was out working with the cattle manager
today, so he probably wouldn't be back for several hours. He worked
so damned hard, and was usually beyond exhausted when he came in at
night, but he always made time to play with Angel and talk to her.
She was starting to realize that he wasn't anything like Ray. Wade
was a good man, trying to be a good father, and she was damned glad
he
was Angel's daddy, instead of Ray, or things would have
been vastly different for them.

Jess went to the closet and pulled out the
old acoustic guitar she'd had since she was twelve, then grabbed
her song notebook and a pencil. It was time she got back to
writing, because she needed new songs to demo, and it relaxed her
anyway...maybe it would help with the mood swings. If anything, the
last three months had given her a lot of angst to put into her
music, that was for sure. Maybe she could make some iced tea with
the lemons she'd been sucking on lately.

She shut the bedroom door behind her, so she
didn't disturb Angel, then walked into the living room and pulled
the coffee table close to the sofa and laid down, leaning back on
the arm, then she flipped open the notebook and started to hum and
strum. Before long, she was lost in the process, and her
thoughts.

"I don't need diamonds and pearls, just an
angel and my baby girl," came to her mind, and she went with it,
scribbling furiously in her notebook. Before she knew it, the
lyrics had about written themselves, and she was fine tuning the
melody and adding music.

Excitement poured through her, as the
feeling of creating again sent adrenaline coursing through her.
When a song was good, she felt it deep inside of her, she knew it,
and the feeling was like none other in the world. That end product
was something that nobody else in the world could produce, her
baby, her brainchild, her brand of magic.

When she finished tweaking things, she
decided to give it a real run through, and started singing it with
feeling, while her fingers strummed the notes on the guitar. She
was so into the song, she didn't hear the barn access door open, or
see Wade standing there watching her.

After she played the last note, she closed
her eyes and took a deep breath, then smiled. "Not too damned bad,"
she said.

"You take my breath away, baby..." Wade said
and she spun around on the sofa with a big grin.

"How long have you been standing there?" she
asked him, a little nervous as to what he thought of the song.

"Long enough to know you are amazing," he
told her with glittering eyes and walked over to her, then grabbed
her hand and pulled her to her feet, and into his arms.

Before she knew what was going on, his mouth
was on hers and the heat of his kiss converted the adrenaline in
her veins into rampant desire and she was tugging at the hem of his
t-shirt, shoving her hands underneath, so she could feel his skin
against her palms. With a moan, his hands moved under her shirt
too, then up her ribcage to cup her breasts.

Tingles of pleasure shot through her, when
his thumbs lazily traced her nipples and they peaked, wanting more,
needing more of his touch. Jess pressed her body against him, then
pulled her mouth from his panting. "I need you Wade, now...no more
waiting," she told him breathlessly, then slid her hand down his
body to stroke his hardness through his jeans.

He growled, then swept her up into his arms,
and strode swiftly down the hall to his bedroom. Flinging open the
door, he walked to the bed and gently laid her on the mattress then
took his hat off and tossed it across the room, and sat on the edge
of the bed to take off his boots. Crawling into the bed, he grabbed
her shirt and pulled it over her head, then unfastened her bra. His
heated gaze raked over her breasts and he sucked in a sharp breath,
then put his mouth on her, and Jess almost vaulted off of the bed
the sensation was so intense. His fingers quickly moved to the snap
on her shorts and then her zipper.

She shoved them off of her hips, along with
her panties then sat up and pushed him back on the bed, reaching
for the button on his jeans, "You have too many clothes on," she
said desperately needing to feel him. When she got his zipper down,
she slid her hand inside his jeans to hold him and moaned, "You
feel so good, it's been so long..."

Wade lifted his hips and Jess pushed his
jeans and boxers off his long legs then laid down half on top of
him and kissed him running her hands all over his body, letting out
all the feelings for him she'd bottled up inside of her too long.
Her body ached for him, and he needed to know that.

He kneaded her butt with his hands, and
moaned when she circled her hips against him. Pulling his lips from
hers, his dark eyes glittered, as he told her in a strangled tone,
"Put me out of my misery, darlin', I need you so fucking bad," then
he lifted her astride him and found the nub at the top of her
thighs and massaged her there.

Jess threw her head back and screamed his
name, as waves of hot pleasure shot through her, and she moved
involuntarily against his erection. She slid along his hard length,
ramping up the electricity coursing through her.

His hands on her hips stopped her, and he
groaned breathing hard, "I want to be inside of you when I come,
sugar...slow down." Jess lifted her hips and moved over him, about
to impale herself on him, and his hands clamped down on her.
"Condom, baby...in the dresser." God, she was so on fire for him,
she hadn't even thought about it, she just wanted him inside of her
now
.

Scrambling off the bed, she ran over to the
dresser and flung open the first drawer, rifling inside. "Not that
one...top left," he told her and she went to the other end, and
slid open the drawer. She found the box of condoms...they were
right under a pair of tiny hot pink lace thongs, she couldn't
picture him wearing. She pulled out a foil packet in one hand, and
hooked her finger in the elastic of the thongs and brought them out
too.

"I like your taste in underwear...I want to
see you in these, before I use this," she told him snidely and held
up the condom.

His face reddened and he coughed, then told
her, "I haven't been celibate for the last year, I'm sure you
haven't either..."

"I've been pregnant, so that's not real
conducive to having hot sex, Wade," she said sarcastically. "Men
don't typically find big bellies, or pregnant women, a turn
on."

"I beg to differ there, sweetheart. I would
have been so turned on by that, I couldn't have kept my hands off
of you. We'd have had so much sex, you wouldn't have been able to
walk straight," he said in a deep gravelly tone.

Surprise and pleasure surged up inside of
her and Jess flicked the panties over her shoulder, then hobbled
back to the bed and crawled up to him. Wade grabbed her up in his
arms and rolled her onto her back, kissing her senseless, his hands
skimming over her body, fanning the flames inside of her to inferno
proportions.