Page 9 of Rainwater
With his back to Jay, Corey didn’t see the vindictive, hateful look that crossed Jay’s face before he left, but Jennifer did and she was suddenly afraid for Corey. A thin shiver of warning trailed down her spine.
“This is becoming a habit with you,” she said while she tried to massage some feeling back into her hand.
“I could say the same thing for you, darlin’. It looks like you do have more than one life, huh?”
He moved the hand that was rubbing her wrist and swore softly when he saw the beginning of a bruise. Very gently, his fingers caressed the sensitive flesh and goosebumps shivered over her skin. He continued to rub her injury, a distant look on his face.
“You should have let me teach him a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget,” he said, his voice thick.
“It wouldn’t have made me feel any better,” she countered as she tried to slip her wrist out of his big capable hands. But he gently held on, his thumb moving over the palm of her hand with smooth distracted strokes.
“I would have felt a lot better,” he murmured as if in a daze. He brought the abused flesh close to his mouth.
The warmth of his breath had her stomach doing tiny flips. Tenderly he kissed the red skin, his hand sliding down her arms, around her back as he urged her close to him. “Better?” hequestioned, the concern in his eyes warming her. “He didn’t hurt you anywhere else, did he?”
It didn’t take much urging from him to get her closer. He’d showered and smelled of soap and shampoo and a tantalizingly delicious aroma that was completely his own. Jennifer couldn’t answer. The tenderness in his eyes jammed the words in her throat, a tenderness and aching loneliness that left her emotions raw. Then it happened. The deep need to hold this man in her arms stole over her. Hold him tight and rock him until the wrenching pain in his eyes went away and never came back. Oh, how she wished for that right. The right to put her arms around him.
He knew what it was like to be abused.
With that realization, she lost another little piece of heart to this man she’d met only hours before. “No,” she said softly.
He moved his head closer, his eyes focused on her mouth. “Are you sure?” His voice thickened with a longing that tore at her heartstrings. He gave her ample time to evade him if she wanted to.
“My mouth.” Her answer was just a puff of air as his lips dropped to hers. His kiss was gentle warmth moving over her mouth, a sweet insistent pressure that she couldn’t resist.
She was certain that he never meant to deepen the kiss, he’d only meant to brush her mouth. But unable to stop herself, her mouth softened beneath his seeking lips, broadcasting to him loud and clear her surrender, her invitation.
With a soft moan, she tangled her fingers in his long silky hair, searching for the sensitive nape of his neck.
He moaned softly into her mouth. How could she know that he loved being touched there? A shiver of pure pleasure jolted along his nerve endings.
His tongue touched the corner of her mouth and she parted her lips, giving him access to such sweetness he thought his knees would buckle.
Their tongues entwined, tasting each other with a fierce need that left them both weak.
He drew her closer, his arms closing around her while he kissed her with a deep hunger that was surprising in its immediate force. One hand came up to cup the back of her head, his mouth moving frantically over hers. His body shifted to accommodate her soft curves until she was close to him as two bodies could get without actually joining. It was an intimate kiss, a kiss of two souls who had long since been apart and were finally discovering one another again.
With a small sound, she clung to him, unnerved by his desire and silky demands of his tongue, reacting to him as she had never reacted to any man. Just as she knew she would. The intimacy of the kiss was stunning in relation to the short time she had known him. She couldn’t help wanting more.
When his mouth moved from hers, she was weak in body and reason, barely able to stay upright. My God, the man could kiss the socks off her. She couldn’t seem to think this close to him.
There was just this deep abiding fire that he had lit inside her with that toe-curling kiss, so deep that she felt she had just been taught by a master. She was feeling things now for which she had no labels. A powerful wanting that shocked her, the implications frightening, the impact of suchrecklessnessterrifying to a woman who didn’t want to lose control of the wild, reckless nature she held rigidly in check. Especially to a loner. A man who would break her heart.
His voice was husky, almost bereft. “Does this mean that you now owe me two home-cooked meals?”
He caught her off guard, but only for a moment. She had expected him to apologize for kissing her, but she should haveknown better. Outlaws never apologized. Her smile was pure mischief. “How about a home-cooked meal with an apple pie thrown in?”
His eyes rolled and he smacked his lips. “Offer me a scoop of vanilla ice cream on that pie and you have yourself a deal and a friend for life.”
She didn’t want to be his friend. He slowly let go of her and she felt suddenly disconnected as he stepped back. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.
Once again the distance was there in his eyes, and maybe a flash of regret. Quickly she gave him directions to her home and he promised to be there at seven sharp.
“I do have to warn you,” she said with a little lurch in her stomach. “I have a mildly precocious thirteen-year-old daughter.”
The only indication of surprise he gave was the lifting of his eyebrows. He cocked his hip and raked his hand through his hair in such a knee-melting sexy motion that Jennifer couldn’t concentrate on his words.
“You don’t look old enough to have a thirteen-year-old daughter, but I’ll look forward to meeting her.”
