Secret Vows (Hideaway (Kimani)) (17 page)

“What do you feel like eating?” she asked, opening the refrigerator’s French doors and checking bins filled with fruits and vegetables.

He stood at the coffeemaker, grinding beans. “It all depends on what you’re making for Sunday dinner.”

Greer peered over her shoulder. “What do you want for dinner?”

“Anything, baby.”

She glared at him. “That’s not telling me what you want.”

“Chicken or fish. It’s your call.”

Opening the freezer drawer, Greer found plastic bags labeled with their contents and wrapped in butcher paper. She picked up a package of chicken cutlets. “I’ll make chicken marsala, roasted vegetables and linguine with garlic and oil.” The double wine rack on the countertop was stocked with wines ranging from whites to full-bodied burgundies.

“That sounds good.”

They’d settled on dinner but now she had to decide what to prepare for brunch. “Do you eat grits?” she asked Jason as the aroma of brewing coffee filled the kitchen.

Folding his arms over his chest, Jason found himself awed by the sight of a woman moving around his kitchen. The scene of domesticity would be imprinted in his memory forever. It was definitely something he could very quickly get used to.

“Does a cat lick its whiskers?”

She smiled, scrunching up her nose. “I take it that’s an affirmative.”

“Can I help you with anything?”

“I could use your help dicing an onion and green pepper.”

“Are you making shrimp and grits?”

“No. I’m going to make red gravy with sausage. Once the pork is cooked, I’ll remove it from the casing and add it to the sautéed onion and pepper.”

Jason pumped his fist. “Da-yum!” he crowed. “What have I done to deserve someone like you?”

“If you don’t know, then I can’t tell you,” she teased.

Greer couldn’t explain, even though she’d agreed to live with Jason, why she felt more married to him than she had in the two years she was married to Larry. She rarely cooked because Larry utilized the services of a cook that had prepared his meals before they were married. He had a very sensitive stomach and required a bland diet. Greer had found herself adding condiments to what she considered barely palatable dishes. It had been another reason why she’d been so thin. After several bites, she found it impossible to finish even the smallest portion.

The coffee finished its brewing cycle, and Jason topped it off with steamed milk drizzled with pure Mexican cocoa syrup. He gave the first cup to Greer, kissing her forehead. “Enjoy.”

She took a sip, her eyebrows lifting a fraction. “Nice. Why does your coffee always taste so good?”

Jason brewed another cup for himself. “The beans are Jamaica Blue Mountain.”

“It’s no wonder. It’s the most expensive coffee in the world.”

“Yes. But I get a family discount because Cole-Diz International Ltd. has coffee plantations in Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Mexico. A couple years ago they bought a large share of Regina’s husband’s coffee plantation in Bahia, Brazil.”

“I thought Aaron was a pediatrician.”

Turning slowly, complete shock freezing his features, Jason stared at Greer. “Do you remember everything I say to you?”

She lifted her shoulders under the oversize white T-shirt. “I told you before, I’m a good listener.”

Jason shook his head. “No, Greer, it’s more than that.”

“What do you think it is?”

“I have an uncle who remembers everything he sees and hears.”

“What are you trying to say?” Greer knew she sounded defensive because she preferred Jason to be direct rather than evasive.

“I’m saying, like my uncle Joshua, you have the ability of total recall. He attended West Point, and after graduating, he was recruited for army intelligence because of his special gift and the fact he was fluent in five languages other than English. Tell me now. Am I living with an intelligence agent?”

Greer rolled her eyes. “You’re either addicted to
Homeland
or you’ve seen too many James Bond movies.”

“Why are you avoiding the question?”

“I’m not avoiding it, Jason. And, no, I’m not an intelligence agent. Does that answer your question?”

The tightness around Jason’s mouth deepened. “No, it doesn’t. You told me you took French in high school and college, yet you claim you can remember only a few words.”

Greer cursed Jason for his perceptiveness. He may not have total recall, but it was apparent he did have above-average intelligence. This was evident when he was able to play any piece without sheet music. “I hated French. I used to tune out the lessons. I learned enough to pass, and I didn’t care if it lowered my GPA.”

“Why didn’t you take another language?”

“I had a choice between Spanish, Italian and German, and by the time I wanted to change my schedule, it was too late. The other classes were filled, so I was stuck with French. Can you please take out an onion and a green pepper and dice them?” she asked, deftly steering the topic away from her.

Jason gave her a snappy salute. “Yes, ma’am.” Picking up the remote, he turned on the receiver with the iPod programmed with more than a thousand of his favorite music selections. He sang under his breath to Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t That Peculiar” as he peeled the onion and diced it.

“You must like old-school,” Greer remarked as she filled a saucepan with water for the grits.

“I do,” he confirmed. “I grew up listening to the music from my father’s generation, and I loved it. That’s when record companies used live studio musicians and not prerecorded tracks. After I finish composing a piece, I record it using all the instruments, then I merge them into a single track.”

Greer sang along with Jason to the songs she was familiar with, their voices blending harmoniously. He was one of those songwriters who had a very good voice, but when she complimented him, he claimed his brother’s voice was superior to his. He was unable to disguise the pride in his voice when he bragged that Gabriel had won three Grammy awards and an Oscar for a soundtrack before he’d celebrated his thirtieth birthday.

They worked well together and, within the span of an hour, they’d become a couple in and out of bed. Jason startled Greer when he took her arm and pulled her close. “Dance with me, baby.”

Wide-eyed, she stared up at him. “I can’t, Jason. The food is going to burn.”

He swung her around, turning off the stove top. “Satisfied?” he whispered. The harmonious voices of The Dells singing “Oh, What a Night” pulled him into a spell from which Jason never wanted to escape. He hadn’t made love to Greer because that wasn’t a priority. Getting her to trust him not to hurt her was.

Greer wondered if Jason knew what he was doing to her as she sunk into the contours of his hard body. He was a constant reminder of what she’d been denied for years. She was a normal woman with passions she’d repressed until desire had become a stranger. And she knew her feelings for him had nothing to do with being rational or even close to logical. A former Navy SEAL operative had asked her to protect someone for which assignment he’d been paid an enormous sum, and she’d agreed, in exchange for his ghosts assisting in identifying her unsub. She checked in electronically with her supervisor every ten days, and so far she had nothing to report. Her supervisor had advised her to take her time; once warrants were issued, the agency wanted to make certain, beyond the shadow of doubt, that the names and locations targeted in the raid were accurate and able to stand up in a court of law.

Anchoring her arms under his shoulders, she rested her head on his chest. They danced in place, their hips swaying and dipping in unison; she smiled. “I remember my grandmother, God bless the dead, warning me about grinding with boys.”

Jason chuckled. “That’s because she knew, after grinding with a girl, boys could tell if they would let them go a little further and perhaps cop a feel. And if they were truly lucky, then they would get into those sweet drawers.”

“Nana said no man was getting into her panties unless she was his wife. But on the other hand, my mother warned me about buying a pig in a poke. She claimed no woman should ever buy a pair of shoes without trying them on.”

“I like your mother’s perspective much better than your Nana’s.”

“Different times, different mores.”

“Thank goodness for that.”

“I thought you were old-school, Jason,” Greer said accusingly.

The song ended and Jason eased back slightly. “I am when it comes to music and relationships. You’ll never have to concern yourself with me cheating on you.”

“If you did take leave of your senses, then you wouldn’t have to worry about cheating with another woman because I’d hurt you real bad.”

Throwing back his head, Jason roared in laughter. “Yeah, right. What are you? A buck twenty? And you talk about taking me out.”

Lowering her arms, Greer took a step backward. “I’m still not telling you how much I weigh.”

“It really doesn’t matter. The only way you could take me would be with a gun, sweetheart. And you’d better not get too close before you get the chance to squeeze off a round because I’d have you on your cute ass in about two seconds.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Have you had marital arts training?”

Jason crossed his arms over his chest, the muscles in his biceps bulging from the motion. “MMA.”

“No! You do mixed marital arts fighting?”

He gave her a smug grin. “Yep.”

“Do you compete?”

“I did a few times. The last time I competed, I almost broke my hand.”

Greer’s grin matched his. “So my man can kick some ass.”

“If I have to.”

“Then we share something more in common than just music.”

“What’s that?”

“I have a black belt in tae kwon do.”

Jason blinked. “You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not. After Gramps passed away, Nana came to live with us. She volunteered to chauffeur me and my brother to piano, ballet, karate and soccer practice. Cooper hated piano and of course he wouldn’t take ballet, so we took karate together. And before you ask, yes, Larry knew I was trained in karate. That’s why he attacked me when my back was turned.”

Jason reached out to place his fingers over her parted lips. “I want this to be the last time you ever mention his name.”

Wrapping her fingers around Jason’s wrist, Greer held his hand in place while she pressed a kiss to his palm. He’d rubbed a lemon over his palms to eradicate the smell of onions. Her tongue flicked over his fingers before she took the middle one into her mouth. Time stood still as they were locked in a trance, their gazes meeting and fusing as she suckled his finger.

* * *

A groan came somewhere deep in Jason’s chest, and he hardened so quickly he felt slightly light-headed. He managed to extricate his finger, his hands going around Greer’s waist. Wordlessly they communicated what each wanted, and he picked her up, taking long strides that carried them out of the kitchen and across the living room to the staircase. He prayed he wouldn’t ejaculate until he joined his body with Greer’s.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he walked through the anteroom and into the bedroom. The sound of rain lashing the windows and skylights had become the accompaniment to a yet-to-be-written symphony of love.

He placed her on the bed with a gentleness he hadn’t known he possessed, his body following hers down. Greer was beyond special; she was extraordinary and unique. She was the woman with whom he’d fallen in love; the woman he wanted as his wife and the mother of his children.

They’d talked about marriage but not about children or where they would live. He had two homes and Florida was closer to her parents in Virginia than Oregon was. But then he had to consider her relationship with her uncle. Burying his face between her neck and shoulder, Jason breathed a kiss there.

“Are you using protection?”

Greer closed her eyes. “No.”

She’d stopped taking an oral contraceptive once she was assigned to desk duty. A female agent going undercover always faced the risk of being raped, and/or becoming pregnant if she were to engage in a physical relationship with a perp. Fortunately for her, she hadn’t been faced with either dilemma.

Raising his head, Jason cradled Greer’s face. He was buying time to slow down the rush of desire in his loins. He’d promised her long, leisurely lovemaking and if his heart didn’t fail, then that was what he would offer her. “Do you want children?”

Greer laid her hand alongside his clean-shaven jaw. “Eventually I would like to have one or two babies.”

He smiled. She’d given him the answer he wanted. “So would I.”

Chapter 14

R
emoving the pins from Greer’s hair one by one, Jason began the intro to their dance of desire. She’d shampooed her hair, and instead of blowing it dry, she had braided the damp strands and pinned them into a twist. A wealth of coconut-scented corkscrew curls lay over his pillow. He’d had erotic dreams where Greer was in his bed, and he was making the most exquisite love to her. However, his dreams were about to become a reality. He’d fantasized about her from the first moment he saw her, and knowing that fantasy was to be fulfilled was mind-boggling. This encounter wasn’t about taking pleasure but giving it. Twentysomething Greer Hill’s life had been filled with deceit, duplicity and crazy, and now it was time for Greer Evans to experience the full range of trust, love and passion.

Jason dropped the fistful of pins on the bedside table. “You’re not going to need those.” Resting a hand on her flat belly, he gathered the hem of her shirt. “And you’re not going to need this.” Sitting back on his heels, Jason divested her of the T-shirt in one smooth motion.

Greer, staring up at her soon-to-be lover, resisted the urge to cover the bra with her hands. She was certain Jason could see her rapidly beating heart through the lacy fabric. She was a mass of nerves. Why, she thought, was she reacting like a virgin, curious and yet fearful of what was to come?

“I’m going to do things to you that you may not like or be familiar with,” Jason continued in a tone that sought to put Greer at ease when she bit on her lower lip to stop its trembling. “And if you don’t like it or if I inadvertently hurt you, I want you to tell me. If you can’t go all the way, I want you to tell me to stop, and I will.” Sliding a hand under her hips, he pulled the pants down her hips and off her legs and feet.

Greer released her lip and nodded. “Okay.”

He unhooked her bra, slipped it off and held it between his thumb and forefinger. “Pretty, but totally unnecessary. You have perfect breasts.”

She covered her breasts with her hands. “I can’t go out without a bra.”

“When we’re together, you don’t have to wear one.” Jason hadn’t lied. Greer’s breasts were small, but full, firm, perched high above her rib cage. He dropped the bra on the floor beside the bed. “Let’s see what other goodies you’re hiding under lace and silk.” Fingers that had the ability to caress keys to create music sent currents of desire racing through Greer. Flashing his wolfish grin, he removed her bikini panties, tossing them over his shoulder. “And panties are definitely optional.”

Smiling, Greer breathed in deeply to rid herself of a sudden attack of nerves. She welcomed the banter because it gave her time to prepare for what was to come. “If I prance around without underwear, then you’ll have to do the same.”

Supporting his weight on his forearms, Jason lowered his body, the hair on his chest grazing her nipples. “I don’t think so, beautiful. You can prance around without your bra and panties because nothing on you moves. I’m afraid if I prance, I’ll end up spraining my package. Can you visualize me going to the doctor and asking him to give me a sling to hold my family jewels in place because they hurt like hell every time I take a step?”

Greer giggled like a little girl. “Okay. You’re exempt from going commando.”

Jason’s tongue traced the outline of her mouth with an agonizing slowness before it slipped through her parted lips. “Thank you for being reasonable.” His tongue worked its magic, moving in and out of her mouth and precipitating a familiar throbbing between her thighs.

She’d become an instrument with Jason using it to make the most incredibly beautiful music. She was soaring, desire heating her blood. Greer couldn’t get close enough to Jason as she pressed her swollen breasts to his chest. She was on fire—everywhere.

Her hands searched under his T-shirt, fingertips feathering over the solid muscles in his broad chest, fingertips leaving tracks in the thick mat of hair. The hair on his body excited her. Larry’s skin had been almost as smooth as her own. She gently ran her fingernail over his chest.

“Baby. Oh, baby,” Jason chanted hoarsely, his hand roaming intimately between Greer’s thighs. Withdrawing his hand, his mouth replaced his fingers. He wanted a natural woman and Greer was that and more. He could touch and kiss her everywhere without restraints.

Writhing beneath him, Greer couldn’t stop the moans escaping her parted lips. “I need you so much,” she pleaded.

The silent, sensual energy he projected made her need Jason whenever they shared the same space. At first she’d believed it was because it’d been more than seven years since she’d been intimate with a man but she was proven wrong the night she sat on stage and sang directly to him. He’d accused her of seducing him when it’d been the reverse. She’d spent years waiting for someone like Jason to restore her faith in the opposite sex. There hadn’t been time when she was undercover to establish a relationship. However, some of the agents she’d worked with had asked her out. If she did go out, it was to join a group at a favorite restaurant or bar for dinner and drinks.

Greer had celebrated her thirtieth birthday with her parents and brother and each had expressed concern that she would spend the rest of her life alone. She had wanted to tell them the lack of a man in her life was none of their concern, but smiled instead and said she was quite satisfied with her current lifestyle.

Greer needed him and Jason needed and wanted her. He halted his sensual assault long enough to undress and reach for a condom in the drawer of the bedside table. He watched her watching him as he slipped the latex sheath over his erection, smiling when she opened her arms and her legs to invite him to share their love in the most intimate way possible. He moved over her, his hands beneath her hips permitting her to feel his hard pulsing length against her belly while trailing a series of slow, shivery kisses down her neck all the while she whispered his name.

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me, baby?”

Greer caressed the length of his back, making her aware of the unleashed power in his strong male body. “Yes. It’s the same thing you’re doing to me,” she said breathlessly.

“You make me want you in spite of myself. And you make me need you when I know it makes me vulnerable to the pain I won’t be able to bear if you left me.”

The chill that washed over Greer had nothing to do with the merging of desire and passion but Jason’s plaintive entreaty. He’d exposed his vulnerability as surely as he’d opened a vein, letting his blood flow unchecked. Handsome, wealthy, and talented Jason Cole had exposed himself while silently communicating his continued existence depended upon her staying with him.

The notion buoyed and chilled her at the same time, and suddenly she felt like a pregnant woman whose every action and decision she made impacted the future of her unborn child. Although flattered, Greer didn’t want to carry that responsibility. They’d talked about marriage, but in the abstract. She had fallen in love with Jason, but her future wasn’t as clearly defined as his. Even if Chase and his people were able to thwart those who’d targeted Jason for death, there was still the question of her tracking down the unknown subjects responsible for illegal gun sales.

Her arms went around his neck. “I’m not going to leave you.” She sounded more confident than she felt.

“Thank you, my darling.”

“Gracias, mi vida.”
He continued to thank her in English and in Spanish as he journeyed down her scented body, and then staked his claim as he buried his face between her thighs.

“J-a-son,” she said, his name coming out in three instead of two syllables as his teeth gently massaged the nodule of flesh at the apex of her thighs. “I...I...”

“It’s okay, baby,” he mumbled, not releasing her flesh. “I’ll go slowly.”

He’d promised Greer long, leisurely lovemaking and Jason took his time arousing her passion until she shook from her head to her toes, holding on to the sheet in a deathlike grip. He reversed his journey, kissing her softly and allowing her to taste herself on his tongue. Taking her right hand, he pressed it to his erection. “Let’s do this together.”

Greer’s fingers circled his tumescence, squeezing gently. Jason was larger than any man she’d slept with. Together they guided his throbbing sex into her wetness. She moaned softly when her celibate flesh opened slowly to accommodate his swollen girth.

“Am I hurting you?” Jason asked in her ear.

Greer smiled dreamily. It was the best hurt she’d ever experienced. “No.”

He laughed softly. “I had no idea you’d be this small and tight.”

She pressed a fist to his back. “You’re talking too much.”

Jason took that as his cue to stop talking. Nothing mattered. Not his music. Not Serenity Records. He forgot everything as he supported her hips in both hands and thrust into her pulsing flesh with the force of a tornado racing across a swatch of land, sweeping up everything in its path. The intensity of their lovemaking matched the rain slashing the windows as they climbed to heights of an ecstasy in an act that merged lovemaking with raw, unadulterated possession where they’d become one.

Greer felt the pulsing grow stronger and stronger, and if she didn’t let it go, she would pass out from the rapture holding her captive. Desire raced through her body like a lit fuse, heating her blood to the boiling point. Jason had said he loved her but those were words uttered much too often and glibly. However, his lovemaking communicated silently that he did indeed love her.

The beginning of an orgasm seized her, and she attempted to hold it at bay. She didn’t want it to end; she’d waited too long to experience the sensations that reminded her of why she’d been born female. Her orgasm was not to be denied as she surrendered to the most exquisite ecstasy she’d ever known. The first one was followed by another, this one stronger and more intense. They kept coming until she arched off the bed, screaming Jason’s name followed by incoherent mumbling as tears streamed down her face.

Greer’s sighs of repletion hadn’t faded completely when Jason surrendered to the passion he’d withheld from every woman with whom he’d shared a bed. Growling deep in his chest, he caught the tender flesh at the base of her throat at the same time he ejaculated, the pulsing continuing until he felt as weak and helpless as a newborn.

Reversing their positions, he cradled her smooth legs between his. “Are you all right?”

“I’m wonderful,” Greer crooned.

“That’s because you are wonderful. I don’t think we got it right this time. We’re going to have to practice some more before we’ll be able to take this show on the road.”

She looked into the large, deep-set golden eyes peering back at her. They were dancing in amusement. Looping her arms around his neck, Greer pulled his earlobe between her teeth. “How many more practice sessions do you think we’ll need?”

“Let’s see. If we make love on average of at least five times a week—”

“No, you didn’t say five times,” she said, cutting him off.

“Okay,” Jason conceded, grinning, “I’ll settle for three. Three times a week times fifty-two weeks a year comes out to one hundred fifty-six. Then if we multiply that by just say fifty years and...” He paused doing the calculation in his head. “That adds up to seventy-eight hundred.”

Greer rolled her eyes at him. “You wish. Fifty years from now you’ll be lucky if you can get it up to even think of poking me with it.”

“My father is in his seventies and he’s still knocking boots with my mother.”

“How do you know?”

“Because one day I heard her call him a randy old goat.”

Throwing back her head, Greer laughed, the sound bubbling up from her throat. “You need to move out of your mama’s house.”

“I am.”

“When, Jason?”

He blinked, all traces of levity missing in his expression. “I’ve decided to make Serenity West my permanent home.”

Greer felt her heart stop before it started up again. “Why?”

“Are you saying you don’t want to live in Oregon?” He’d answered her question with one of his own.

“No...no. I’m not saying that.”

“When you mentioned Bobby cutting back on his hours, I assume you’d eventually take over running Stella’s.”

She nodded. “Once he retires, I’ll own Stella’s.”

Jason kissed her forehead. “Do you plan on running it?”

“Of course.”

“That settles it. We’ll live here.”

A slight frown creased Greer’s forehead. “What’s going to happen to your company in Florida?”

Jason kissed her again, this time over her left eye. “Don’t worry about that. I have enough relatives versed in the ins and outs of running a business to step in for me.” He didn’t mention he would have to talk to Ana about replacing him. “I’ll stay on as musical director and producer, and if I have to travel to Florida on business, then I’ll schedule my visits where they don’t interfere with whatever we have planned. And if I have to rehearse with an artist here on the West Coast, then I’ll book time at a Portland recording studio because I don’t want them coming to our home.”

Her eyes grew wider. “You’ve planned all of it out, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I have. I never do or say anything until I’ve thought it out.” He combed his fingers through her tangled hair. “If you don’t want to live here, then let me know now.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Where would we live if we move from here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you’d prefer someplace else. We could also live closer to Portland.”

“You’re giving me a choice as to where we live?”

Attractive lines fanned out around Jason’s eyes when he smiled. “Baby, you claim you love me, but you haven’t taken the time to get to know who I am. I will always give you a choice about anything that affects our lives.”

With Larry, she hadn’t had choices or even a single vote. She had wanted to be the good wife; there was talk they were to become the next generation of power couples groomed for the political arena. Once Larry’s father was elected to the Senate, Larry had planned to run as a representative from their election district. Greer had been so blinded by the political rhetoric and the promise that she and her husband could affect change that she hadn’t realized she’d been manipulated until it was too late.