Wild Rain (19 page)

Reese bucked up in automatic response, but he stilled almost immediately. His hands remained on her breasts. “Sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“No,” she answered, as surprised as she was truthful. She focused her thoughts on relaxing like he’d asked, feeling him slide a bit farther into her. Her breath sucked in little gasps as he lifted his hips ever so slightly beneath her. Her nails dug into his shoulders, but she didn’t tense.

His head dropped forward, and his mouth closed over one nipple. She moved on him. He
groaned and thrust under her again, but kept his mouth on her. He spread hot wet kisses across her chest much like she had his, capturing her other nipple. This time she started rocking on him, and couldn’t stop.

The tightly coiled need inside her started to slowly unwind. She’d found what she’d hunted for earlier. The answer to her elusive need. Her body took over, going after it with a single-minded intensity that sent any thought but completion spiraling away.

Reese’s hands dropped back to her hips to hold her, to control the rhythm. He slowed her, and she fought against it.

“Jillian, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Dammit, Reese, you’re killing me. Let go.”

She tightened her knees, seeking to tighten the muscles inside of her. And then she found control over them. She clenched, he groaned. She moved, he followed. Her movements became wild, frenzied. She exulted in the sleek, powerful body under her that matched her thrust for thrust.

Gloriously, shamelessly, she rode him.

And he gave her the ride of her life.

And then she was there. On the brink of discovery, of capturing that mysterious something she’d …

Reese’s hand found her, she leaned into it. And exploded. A scream of release was wrenched from her throat as her whole world rose up in a sudden swirling vortex of sensation, and then suddenly everything
burst as if tiny firecrackers had been attached to each and every nerve ending in her body and they’d all gone off at the same time.

And in the center of the fiery explosion, Reese shouted her name and arched under her, finding his own release.

Jillian collapsed against him, her chest heaving, skin damp, pulse pounding so loudly, she couldn’t think. Didn’t want to think. She hadn’t gotten over feeling yet. Thinking was a concept she simply couldn’t realize.

Reese lifted his hand to her head, smoothing the tangled strands of her short hair with fingers still trembling from what had just taken place between them.

When he could, he cupped the back of her head and lowered his mouth to hers. He’d meant to kiss her gently then hold her against his chest again. But he found he couldn’t leave her mouth. It was sweet and swollen, and he kept his lips gently on hers as their breathing slowed and their hearts gradually found their natural rhythms.

Languor crept over him, filling his muscles with sweet lassitude. And still his mouth stayed on hers. He wanted her right here like this, forever.

And then it hit him with the force as violent as the hurricane that had ripped apart her house.

For the first time in his life, he’d had unprotected sex. Reese Braedon, the man who controlled every aspect of his life within his power
never
left
something as easy and important as … that … up to fate.

And he knew damn well she wasn’t using anything.

He closed his eyes and let his mouth drift from hers down to nuzzle her neck. That’s when the second blow struck.

Why in the hell was he still kissing her? Why wasn’t he panicking? Why wasn’t his mind instantly formulating all the ways to deal with this unplanned event.

His mouth landed on her pulse. And the sweet pressure of her life beating against his lips brought him the answer.

He wasn’t upset because … he wasn’t upset.

Holy bloody hell.

After a moment, Jillian shifted away from him. She pressed her cheek against his shoulder, then leaned forward to drop a light kiss beside his ear. “Reese, this … I feel … we need …” She tried to pull away from him.

His arms quickly circled her, holding her tightly to him. He turned his head so his mouth was against her ear. “No, don’t. I know we’ll have to talk about this. But not now, okay?”

She didn’t squirm, but she didn’t settle back in his arms either. “Reese—”

He sighed, not wanting it to get difficult yet. “Jillian, I imagine I’ll screw this up quickly enough as it is. Just let me …” He pulled in another breath, held it, then let it slip slowly past his lips.
He dropped a kiss on her temple. “Just let me stay … inside you … like this … for a little while longer.”

After what seemed like eons, he felt her relax. Joy, a fierce, unexpected sense of contentment filled him. He looked down at the top of her head and smiled. Never in his life would he imagine he’d be so damn lucky to be holding a woman like Jillian in his arms.

He didn’t want to think about what was going to happen later. And there was always a later.

Suddenly Jillian tensed again in his embrace. His first thought was denial. To rebel against it being over too soon.

Then he heard it. The unmistakable sound that Jillian must have heard.

A helicopter. Close. And getting closer.

“Who in the hell would have a chopper here this soon?” Jillian asked, lifting her head from his chest.

Reese had a sick feeling he knew exactly who it was.

Reese managed to drag his pants on and locate his shirt fast enough to be only seconds behind Jillian. The instant she’d realized the helicopter was coming closer, she’d muttered, “Cleo,” and was off of him and dressed in a flash, then out the clinic door.

Not exactly how he’d envisioned ending their interlude.

Reese paused in the doorway, watching Jillian motion the chopper toward the front corner of the compound diagonally across from the pond and Cleo. It was the only place with enough free space to land the machine.

It occurred to Reese as he limped across the littered grounds that instead of being disappointed about this sudden turn of events, he should be relieved. He was certain that Regina Ravensworth was in that helicopter, and equally certain that as soon as Jillian realized her mother had hired him, both of them would be politely invited to get the hell out of there.

He watched Jillian step back as she watched the helicopter swoop in. The wind created by the rotors whipped her short hair around her head and rippled her T-shirt against her small frame.

Yeah, relieved.

No sticky good-byes, no unwanted entanglements. No clutter. Just how he liked it. How Jillian liked it too. They should both be downright ecstatic.

So why was his heart pounding harder the closer he got to the slowly descending chopper? Why was there an ache tightening in the center of his chest that felt like it might strangle him? And why in the hell did he feel like nothing in his life had prepared him for what he was likely to endure in the next several minutes?

He stopped several feet behind Jillian. He wasn’t even certain she knew he was there. Maybe that was just as well.

No one descended from the helicopter until the rotors had slowed to a pace that no longer kicked up any wind. Then the small hatch door opened.

Jillian took a step forward as the door inched open, but froze in midstride as the slender brunette stepped out and graciously allowed the pilot who’d scrambled around the front of the chopper to help her down.

“Mother?”

“Jillian, darling!”

Reese watched as the older woman slid her silk scarf from her perfectly coiffed head and tucked it into her small shoulder bag. She was wearing a khaki-colored silk ensemble with razor sharp pleats bisecting the pant legs and shoulders. No visible wrinkles marred the expensively tailored fit. With gold at her neck, ears, and wrists, and expensive imported leather sheathing her dainty feet, Reese imagined Regina Ravensworth, at fifty-something, still managed to turn heads young and old wherever she went.

Regina kept her gaze fixed on her daughter. Reese noted how careful she was not to look at the rest of the property. Her set expression told him that she intended to sweep her daughter out of here and never allow either of them to reflect on what he was certain would simply be referred to in the future as “that unfortunate incident.”

Reese’s pulse kicked into gear again—only this time in irritation, rather than trepidation. Didn’t she have any idea how much this place meant to Jillian?

Regina rushed to her daughter, who hadn’t budged since the chopper door had opened. “Jillian, sweetheart, I’m so relieved!”

Reese watched Regina stop just in front of her motionless, silent daughter. She hid it well, but Reese could tell she was uncertain how to proceed, uncertain whether or not Jillian would rebuff any further show of affection. He could only imagine how uncomfortable that made a woman like her feel. It didn’t bother Reese at all to watch her deal with it.

After a split second, Regina let her hands drop to her sides and satisfied herself with a quick air kiss beside her daughter’s cheek.

Jillian made no return gesture. It wasn’t until Regina stepped back and looked her daughter up and down that Jillian finally moved. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, finally folding her arms across her waist. “Regina. Why are you here?”

“Well, isn’t that a bit obvious?” Perfectly sculpted nails fluttered as she spoke. “I was worried half to death when I heard you wouldn’t evacuate.”

Jillian’s eyebrows narrowed. “And just how did you hear that?”

“I … have my sources.” She hurried on.
“And when I didn’t hear from Mr. Braedon here, you can imagine how frantic I became.”

Jillian’s arms loosened, her hands dropped to her hips. “You knew the name of the evac person sent here? Your sources must be incredible.”

“Well, of course I knew who he was.”

“Jillian,” Reese spoke for the first time.

Jillian looked over her shoulder, clearly unsurprised at his presence behind her. “What?”

Regina didn’t give him a chance to answer. She took a step toward Reese. “And if you think you’ll be paid for this rescue effort, you are sorely mistaken. I understood you were considered the best—”

“Regina, he’s a volunteer. He doesn’t get paid for this.” She glanced at Reese. “Do you?” She shrugged and went on before either Regina or Reese could speak. “It doesn’t matter.” She faced Regina. “It wasn’t his fault I didn’t leave. In fact, it’s
my
fault his life was put at risk.”

“Jillian—”

“Mr. Braedon,” Regina said, interrupting his second attempt to explain. “I appreciate your tact regarding my instructions, but when I hired—”

“I won’t take money for this, Mrs. Ravensworth,” Reese cut in, his frustration growing at the way this conversation had spun quickly out of his control. “I know you think you had Jillian’s best interests at heart, and I can’t blame you for wanting to secure her safety.”

Jillian turned slowly toward him. “Reese, what are you talking about?”

Reese sighed, but finished what he was saying to Regina, although he kept his gaze locked on Jillian while he spoke. “In your place, I can honestly say I’d have done the same thing. Or at least tried. But she’s a grown woman”—Reese’s body seconded that, his muscles clenching too tightly as he watched the horror of comprehension dawn slowly on her small face—“and while I don’t agree with her reasons for staying here, risking her life, I do think she has the right to make that choice herself.”

He turned his head to Regina for a split second. “So you don’t have to fire me. I stopped working for you several hours ago.”

“Reese?” Jillian took a half step in his direction, then stopped. Her hand lifted, then dropped to her side.

Reese closed the small gap, wanting to touch her, not knowing if he’d ever be given that right again. He certainly wasn’t going to force the issue now, in front of her mother.

“Jillian,” he said quietly, although he sensed Regina was hanging on his every word. “I should have told you. But Regina had asked me not to. And when I realized we were trapped here anyway, I didn’t see the point in angering you with the information.”

“Angering me?” Her eyes widened. “Angering me?”

“I didn’t know what the deal was with you and
your mother, then. I don’t know it all now. But no matter why I was here to rescue you, the fact is it was still my job and I failed. We were stuck together no matter what. Put yourself in my place. Would you have told me?”

Jillian’s eyes remained hard for several nerve-racking moments, then her shoulders relaxed and her jawline softened. “I suppose not.”

Her chin dipped, and Reese lifted it back up without thought as to how the action would be perceived by Regina, not really caring. “I’m sorry,” he said so softly, only Jillian could hear. “I would have told you. Whatever happened between you and your mother, you have to know it has nothing to do with me. Once I realized we were trapped … Well, I was on my own. What I did, anything I did, I did because I wanted to.”

“You’re right about one thing. You were just hired to do a job.” She lifted her chin from his touch and stepped back. “And now it’s over.”

She turned away.

“Jillian!” Regina stepped forward, her tone strident.

Jillian turned back around, resignation clear on her face. “You got what you wanted, Mother. I’m alive. I’m safe.”

“But, but …” Regina sputtered, then quickly regained her control. “Jillian, dear, surely you can see now that you can’t stay here.” At her daughter’s immediate defensive posture, she amended, “At least, not until you renovate … or whatever. I
insist you come stay with Harold and me for a … while. This must have been a simply horrifying ordeal for you.” She looked at Reese, speculation over the exact details of said ordeal clear in her expression. “I’m sure that after a few months … or weeks, you’ll be in a much better frame of mind to deal with”—she waved her arm around, but didn’t actually look—“all of this.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Regina.” Jillian raised her hand to deflect her mother’s continued attempt to persuade her. “I have a lot to do and the sooner I begin, the sooner I can get this clinic operational again.” She paused for a moment, searching for the right words to placate her mother. “I appreciate your offer. And your help.” Jillian resisted the urge to look at Reese. “Really. But I’m okay.”