Page 56 of Fire and Ice

Jack slowly knotted the strings behind her back, letting his warm fingers brush her skin. She shuddered involuntarily in response. When she turned over, he had settled beside her. Propped up on an elbow, his eyes held a mixture of tenderness, lust and amusement. He started tracing the length of her body and brushed his lips lightly on hers.

His brows furrowed when his hand touched an almost invisible tape on her right thigh.

"What's this?" Jack asked.

"Healing tape," Maia replied and nodded to her right arm. "There's one over here too where I got cut in the attack on the loft."

There was a question on Jack's face.

"It's a Swedish-made, special formula therapeutic tape. It speeds up healing and prevents scarring of superficial wounds," she added. "It's ridiculously expensive, but it's subsidized by the AGS. Perks of employment, which is the least they can do since getting shot at and sliced seems to be a job hazard."

Maia had intended to be funny, but Jack's lips thinned in displeasure.

He did a body scan of her body. "Never had any gun shot wounds?"

She winced, remembering several painful incidents. "A few. There's cosmetic surgery for that."

"Damn it, Maia. You think you can simply erase your past," Jack said in a low angry voice. "Is that how you deal? No scars to remind you? All the killing with no remorse?"

"You're such a hypocrite," Maia hissed. "You were a Navy SEAL. Don't tell me you haven't killed anyone?"

Jack swore softly. "God how I wish we were somewhere else and I could have this shit out with you right now while you're in a talking mood."

Maia realized how riled up she was and immediately clammed up.

"And there you go shutting down," Jack sighed. They stared at each other for a moment, Maia glaring up at him, he looking at her with what appeared to be frustration. Then his eyes warmed and he grinned.

"My mom likes you."

"This is making things complicated, Jack. I hate deceiving your parents."

"How are we deceiving them? Aren't we together?"

"Well, we're pretending, remember?"

"Hmmn ... nnn." Jack made a non-reply and began nuzzling her neck.

"Jack?"

"Just go with the flow, babe."

Maia started to argue some more, but Jack slammed his mouth on hers in a devouring, shut-up kiss. She tried to push him away, but Jack partly covered her body with his and deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue ruthlessly into her mouth, her jaw opened so wide she almost couldn't breathe.

"Get a room!" Brett yelled from the helm.

Despite the short notice, Grace was able to pull off a delicious prime rib dinner. After an afternoon of sailing, everyone, especially Maia, was hungry. She piled up her plate with succulent slices of beef and a mound of mashed potato.

Brett eyed her plate and said to Jack, "Great to see you've started dating someone who is more than a size zero and doesn't weigh her food."

"Are you saying I'm a pig, Brett?" Maia said in mock outrage.

"No, I'm saying you're sexy as hell," Brett replied with a devilish grin.

"Stop flirting with my girl, Brett."

"Brett, you need to find a girl of your own," Frances said.

"Kinda hard to do, Mom when I'm in confinement," Brett quipped.

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