Trouble Me: A Rosewood Novel (38 page)

Of course Travis had loved every bite of Margot’s eggs. How could he not, when he was crazy for her and had been for as long as Jade could figure such things out? She wasn’t sure Rob would be so forgiving of her nonexistent culinary skills.

By six o’clock, Jade had a bowl full of chopped canned tomatoes, a mound of chopped basil, and a slightly smaller one of garlic. She’d even pinched a loaf of Italian bread from Jordan, who always seemed to have stuff like that in her kitchen, and had asked how to make garlic bread.

Who would’ve guessed it was so easy, a mere question of slicing the bread and then slathering it with melted butter, olive oil, chopped garlic, and some chopped parsley? If she hadn’t been so nervous, wondering when and then
if
—as the clock ticked with unnerving loudness—Rob was going to show, she might have even enjoyed the whole adventure in cooking.

At the moment it felt too much like she was waiting for a guy, and not just any guy but one that she desperately wanted to please. And when the knock came on the front door, a part of her was alarmed at how everything inside her went a little loopy, in tight circles of joy, at the prospect of seeing him. Of spending an entire night with him. How had this happened to her?

Perhaps that was why she was so determined to play it cool when she opened the door. “Oh, hey,” she said as her heart cartwheeled against her ribs.

“Hey.”

She stepped back to let him enter. She was glad he was wearing a thick charcoal-gray sweater that zippered at the collar with his jeans. If she’d had to raise her hands to take his jacket, he’d have seen she was trembling.

“Have you eaten? I was just fixing something,” she said ultra-casually.

“No, I haven’t. I came straight here after dropping Hayley off at Posey’s.”

Was it because she was trying to play it cool that he seemed reserved in return? Stranger still, even though she could sense his aloofness, she was equally aware of the weight of his gaze as she led him past the living room and dining room into the kitchen.

As she’d never really tried to do more in her kitchen than grab something from the fridge or cupboard and go, she hadn’t realized how small the space was. Or maybe it had shrunk. Somehow she couldn’t avoid brushing against Rob as she rummaged in the cabinets, looking for a pot in which to cook the pasta. Every time she brushed him, her pulse leaped. Lord, she was supposed to cook in this state?

Normal, act normal
, she coached herself as she filled the pot with water.

“So how was your night yesterday? Do anything special with Topher McCallister?”

She sloshed water onto the floor, narrowly missing her shoes. With a muttered curse, she set the pot on the stove, grabbed a dish towel, and swabbed the floor—extra-thoroughly to give her time to think. Straightening, she tossed the damp towel onto the counter. “How’d you know I was with Topher last night?”

“Because I saw you. I was having a beer at the bar with my brother Scott. You were sitting at a table with Topher. Obviously you didn’t notice me.” He folded his arms across his chest and gazed at her levelly. “That was quite the kiss.”

Damn. She could only imagine what he was thinking. “Would you believe it was supposed to be an alternative to a friendly handshake? You see, Topher had just decided to buy Carmen, one of the horses I’ve been working with. Unfortunately, Topher went a tad overboard in the PDA department.”

Rob still wore that closed expression on his face.

“Wait. You’re not jealous, are you?”

She’d posed the question teasingly and was instantly appalled at herself. But she wasn’t in the habit of having to account for her actions to a man, of having what she did be important. It occurred to her, too, that perhaps she wanted to rile Rob a little and put a crack in the reserve she sensed in him.

But she didn’t really want to make Rob jealous, did she? Because that would be bent. Was she that much like her mother that she needed to be given proof that she was special? Was this why her mother had been seeing another man? To make Dad jealous?

And if she was anything like her mother, what was to prevent Jade from behaving with the same foolish cruelty? Her doubts made her feel as fragile and shallow as spun glass, brittle and too easily broken.

As the silence stretched between them, she wondered what else she might destroy.

Rob’s sigh broke the silence. He dragged a heavy hand through his dark hair. “Jealous? Yeah, I was. Still am, I guess. Tell me, Jade. Did you and he continue the kiss in private?”

At least she had the answer to one of her troubling questions. Rob’s admission hadn’t given her any twisted pleasure or triumph.

Shoving aside the rest of her worries, she shook her head emphatically. “No. I left the Horn and went over to Hawk Hill, Jordan and Owen’s place, and read
Duck on a Bike
to my nephew Neddy. He’s got the barnyard
sounds down pat, which makes him far more entertaining to hang out with than Topher. And despite what you think you saw, Topher’s a lousy kisser. Truly.”

A smile had appeared on Rob’s face, and it lifted the corners of his mouth. It lifted her heart as well. He closed the distance between them and pinned her against the edge of the counter. She felt the tantalizing heat of him through the denim of their jeans.

“Nothing’s worse than a lousy kisser,” he observed.

“You can say that again. Of course, I’ve been terribly spoiled of late,” she said, her body tightening in anticipation of Rob’s certifiably excellent kisses.

His grin erased any remaining traces of tension in his expression. “Topher’s all wrong for you, anyway.” He lowered his head slowly, until all she could see was the electric blue of his eyes.

“And you’re so right?” she whispered.

“Yeah, I am.”

His kiss proved it beyond a doubt.

His lips teased with a few fleeting brushes, letting the taste and whisper-light pressure beguile her before they settled over her mouth to claim her wholly. With a mew of pleasure, she invited him to enter, and his tongue swept inside as his arms tightened around her, fingers slipping under her green cardigan to stroke the curve of her waist.

Like a match to kindling, his touch set flames of need dancing over her. She trembled, greedy for more. Molding herself against him, she nibbled and licked the underside of his freshly shaven jaw, the corded column of his neck, the shell of his ear. She smiled as his breathing changed, becoming heavy and labored. Her hands swept over his frame, setting his muscles aquiver, and her hunger grew.

She hadn’t realized that knowing Rob as a lover, knowing his body, its pleasure points, and what aroused
him to a fever pitch, would increase her desire so. Even in her mindless state of need, she recognized that this was special, that what they had was extraordinary.

It wasn’t simply that Rob had all the right parts and moves. It was some deeper connection between them that took their lovemaking to a new and different plane of experience.

Her hands moved to his waistband to tug open his belt, pop the metal button of his jeans, and then hold her breath, the better to hear the quiet rasp of his zipper as she drew it down. It was almost as thrilling and sexy as the low rumble of laughter emanating from his chest.

“In a hurry?” he whispered as his mouth traveled to the hollow behind her ear, alternately tonguing it and then letting his teeth nibble on her lobe. Her cardigan open now, his fingers stroked the sensitive flesh of her abdomen in long, leisurely sweeps.

“Yes.” The single word was all she could manage, for as she spoke, her hand found him. Rock hard and yet wondrously alive, he throbbed heavily in her grip, the promise of sensual bliss. Closing her fingers around his shaft, she felt him shudder, and his breath came out in a long hiss. “And I’m hungry.”

“Hungry?”

She smiled. “Ravenous. For you.” Continuing in the spirit of complete openness, she confessed, “My dinner will be a poor second. I can hardly cook.”

“Ah, sweetheart, then I am definitely the man for you. In all ways,” he added, with what could only be called a cocksure grin.

“So it’s all right if I sample the goods?” She let her fingertips circle the head of his cock, grinning as he growled low in his throat.

“Be my guest.”

He’d made her scream with pleasure when he was deep inside her. Later, he made her moan in delight when he slipped a forkful of tomato-garlic-coated spaghetti into her open mouth. He’d not only cooked, but he’d sponged and wiped the counters while she put the dishes away (the least she could do after he’d provided such a delicious meal) and then led her back to bed to spend the rest of the night making love.

In between, they dozed, his forearm wrapped about her, his breathing steady against the shell of her ear, his muscled body curled about hers, his solid presence protecting, comforting.

They talked too. Holding hands in the dark, they talked about Hayley and how funny and clever she was. Then Jade spoke about her family and how good it felt to be contributing to Rosewood Farm’s success through her riding program and the training she did with Rosewood’s young horses. But it was when Rob told her about the arrests he’d made the day before that she knew beyond a doubt: She’d fallen totally and completely in love with him. And the feeling was as scary as she’d thought it would be.

At the words
drug runner
and
Glock
, cold fear gripped her. She turned in his arms, desperate to see his face. “You arrested a drug runner? And he had a gun? You could have been killed.”

“I can handle myself.”

“But …” The fear was attacking her brain, making her thoughts sluggish.

“I’m a cop, Jade. My job has its dangers. For the most part they’re few and far between, but I’m never careless. You and I both know from experience that a life can end at any time.”

He was right. A life could end at any time, whether from a terrible, tragic accident or simply from doing the job one loved. Just as being a police officer held risks,
so, too, did the kind of riding Jade did. He wouldn’t ask her to stop riding—the sport was in her blood and marrow; being a cop was an equally integral part of who Rob was.

“I’m glad you’re safe,” she said quietly, determinedly beating back the fear.

“I do have at least a couple of reasons to live.” Taking her hand, he’d pressed his mouth to her knuckles, and her heart squeezed at the gentle gesture.

This was it, she thought. She should tell Rob how she felt, let him know that she’d fallen for him. Openness in a relationship, along with safe sex, was what she’d always advised to the readers in her column.

But dispensing words of wisdom was a lot easier than putting them into practice. Being upfront about Topher’s kiss had been easy. He meant nothing to her. Revealing that Rob held her heart terrified her.

Keeping the words locked inside, she gazed at him, searching out his features in the shadows of the darkened room.

“Just stay safe, okay?” she said, pressing her mouth to the base of his throat and feeling a sweet piercing pleasure as he pulled her closer still, settling her against the muscled wall of his chest.

“Always,” he promised.

Cocooned in his embrace, she listened to the rhythm of his breathing deepen and slow, only then whispering the words she’d been too scared to utter before.

“I love you.”

H
E COULD
get used to waking up with Jade. It wasn’t even dawn when her alarm clock buzzed, but Rob found himself smiling anyway. An armful of warm Jade was a great reason to smile.

Remembering their lovemaking from the night before made his smile grow. Then, when she rolled over to sprawl on him, her breasts pressing against his chest, her hair a mad tangle teasing his skin, and her eyes glowing with a happy mischief, another part of him grew too.

Jade was nothing if not observant. Brushing her thigh against his erection, she said with a playful grin, “Top of the morning to you too. Feel like taking a shower with me, big guy, before I go take care of my ponies?”

“I’m pretty sure that answer is what’s termed a no-brainer.” He laughed.