RECKLESS - Part 3 (The RECKLESS Series) (2 page)

I was just telling Jace about the community garden that my parents had helped create in our neighborhood, and how it had brought more than just our family, but our entire community together, when we turned off on an exit somewhere in Oklahoma.

I had to admit, once we’d crossed the state line, my heart had done a few flip-flops. For all I knew, he could be absolutely crazy and was taking me somewhere to bury my body. Granted, he didn’t seem like that kind of guy, but hadn’t I read a report somewhere that said serial killers were often charismatic? Jace would definitely qualify with his sexy voice, taut muscles, perfect hair, and witty sense of humor.

Of course, that would be silly, especially since we were having such a great time. And, charismatic or not, I couldn’t see Jace killing anyone or anything. So I forced my overactive imagination back into hibernation as we chatted about music—all the greats, of course—Seattle and what it was like living there, and of course, family life.

Sean had come up a few times, which had created an awkward silence here and there, but how do you pretend that five years of memories don’t exist? Thankfully, Jace had been pretty understanding about it, had even laughed with me over the time that Sean fell out of a tree trying to impress me back in high school.

Once our fits of laughter died down, Jace asked, “So, what was the point of the tree?”

I shrugged. “Something about being able to fly, or some crazy shit. Said I gave him wings, or something as equally cheesy.”

“Sounds like he stole the Red Bull commercial.”

“Probably.”

“Oh, that’s rich,” Jace said, chuckling as he shook his head.

But now, we were there, sitting in the parking lot of the place he’d planned to take me. There simply weren’t words for the oasis he’d found in the middle of open fields and oil rigs. I was out of the truck, taking it all in, before he even switched off the ignition.

My heart went to my chest as I took it all in, the waterfall, the swimming holes, the creek, all the trees and plants... he’d found me a waterfall. It reminded me so much of home. “Jace—“

He stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, staring out at the rocky waterfall with me. “I know, right?”

“It’s beautiful,” I said, breathlessly.

He placed a kiss on the back of my neck and I could feel him smiling against my skin. “Almost as beautiful as you.”

We stood there a while longer, watching the water trickle down the rocks, the children laughing and playing on the slides and in the stream, the wind flitting through the trees, before I finally turned around in his arms. “When can we swim?” I asked, sounding more like a child than an almost college grad.

He bobbed his head back and forth, his eyes rolled up, as if he were contemplating my question. About the time I felt like I might burst, his face lit up. “After you kiss me,” he said, tilting me back and then bringing his lips to mine in one of those sweeping romantic moves that you only see in movies. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to get my heart rate up.

“Well, Mr. Richardson, aren’t you quite the romantic?” I joked, playfully smacking his chest as he pulled me upright.

“Always,” he whispered against my mouth just before kissing me again.

He tasted like mint and sugar, probably from our coffees. I didn’t care why, though; I just wanted more of him, and suddenly, I would have gladly skipped the swim for a little more of that kiss, but a squeal was coming from behind us.

I broke the kiss and whipped my head around to see where the sound was coming from. Two kids were standing at the top of the slide, arguing over something. “Think we should help?” I asked Jace, seeing no one around that had noticed the two kids but us. Granted, they were probably old enough to be swimming on their own, just apparently not old enough to work out an argument on the slide.

“Nah, they’ve got it,” he said. “And if they can’t work it out, I’m sure their parents will pop up.”

About that time, a woman with huge sunglasses, blonde hair, and a one-piece swimsuit started walking through the water toward the slide. “Aiden, give your brother a turn!” I heard her shout.

“See?” Jace said, taking my hand and leading me back to the truck. “All good.”

“How did you know?” I asked.

He shrugged and smiled just before pulling my overnight bag from the back. “Momma bears never let their cubs wander far,” he said, grabbing his bag next.

I held my hand out for my bag but he just raised an eyebrow at me and then headed for the shop a little ways away from the shore, both of our bags still in hand.

“I can carry my own bag, you know,” I said, feeling pretty useless at the moment.

“Of course you can,” he said over his shoulder, but refusing to slow down. “But you shouldn’t.”

Rather than argue, I moved faster to try and catch up with him and asked, “Where are we going?”

“To change, of course.”

Twenty minutes later, I stepped outside in the lime green bikini I’d bought at the beginning of college. This was only my second time wearing it; the first was while in Corpus Christi with Becca. Back then, I’d been in the company of my best friend. This time, I was with a man who looked like he wanted to devour me in a single bite with those lusty eyes of his.

“Wow, you look even more beautiful than I imagined,” he said as he swept his gaze over me.

If I’d had a towel to wrap around me right then, I probably would have done so. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the attention; there was just something about the hunger in his eyes... I’d never felt something quite so intimate in such a public place and it made me a little self-conscious.

“Thanks. You do, too.” I said, taking in every inch of his flesh—from the tattoos swirling up his arm and over his chest to his perfectly chiseled abs. From there, my gaze drifted to the hairline that trailed down his stomach to the place where his swimming trousers met. Heat warmed my cheeks as thoughts of tracing that line with my tongue crowded my head.

Just when I thought I couldn’t take the heat a second longer, Jace closed the distance between us. I thought he was going to kiss me, take my hand---anything but what he actually did . . .

“Put me down!” I squealed, pounding on his back as he tossed me up over his shoulder. He ran down the beach toward the water with me and my ass in the air, on full display for anyone that cared to see it. “Jace Richardson, don’t you do—“

Splash!

Water went up my nose and into my mouth. My limbs flailed as I tried to find the bottom of the swimming hole. I came up swinging.

“Hey, hey!” Jace was backing away from me, laughing so hard that he actually lost his balance and fell over in the water.

That didn’t stop me though.

I climbed on top of him, still whaling away at his hard biceps. I was pretty convinced that the punches were hurting my fists more than they were his arm, but I didn’t care. “I can’t believe you threw me in the water like that! I could have drowned!”

“In three feet of water?” he asked, laughing as he wrapped an arm around my waist.

Next thing I knew, I was on his lap, the churning water around us dying down. With a gentle finger, he brushed away the locks plastered to my face and then moved his hand to the back of my head, tangling his fingers into the wet mess. My heart quickened as he pulled my face to his. My breath caught in my throat when he bit at my bottom lip.

Oh God, I was drowning, only it wasn’t from the water.

“Jace,” I muttered against his mouth. “There are kids here.”

“I’m sure they see their mommies and daddies kissing all the time.”

“But—“

“Shut up and kiss me.” Almost forcefully, he grabbed both sides of my face and pulled my lips tighter against his.

We could have been kissing for five minutes or an hour, and I wouldn’t have known the difference. I lost myself in the water lapping around us, the taste of his lips, the way his tongue grazed over mine, and the erection I could feel growing beneath my ass.

Finally, Jace broke the kiss and shifted a little beneath me. “The things you do to me,” he whispered against my face. “If only you knew.”

Not really sure how to respond, I rested my forehead against his for a moment, trying to calm the panting that had taken the place of normal breathing; any worse and I’d have been hyperventilating.

“Ready to check out the falls?” he asked, shifting again.

I turned my head to look at the waterfall—small by Washington State standards, but still no less beautiful. “Can we?” I asked, turning my face back to his.

“Let’s go!”

For the next few hours, we played like children, going down the slides, splashing each other in the water, exploring the caves above the falls—it felt so much like home that for once, I didn’t miss the clouds or the rain or the water. I just existed in the moment, a moment that I already knew I’d spend the rest of my life cherishing.

When it started to get dark, Jace pulled me up to shore, unpacked our gear and started a fire. While he set up our tent, I cooked some hot dogs and grilled corn on the stationary grill near our tent. After dinner, we sat around the fire, told ridiculous ghost stories that wouldn’t have scared a single one of the kids that ran playing and squealing around us, and made S’mores. By the time the park quieted, all the kids tucked into the sleeping bags and the parents likely exhausted from corralling said kids, we were ready to head inside for the night.

Only, I also wasn’t.

Butterflies were swarming around in my gut as I thought about what might happen inside that tent; it was the same thing that happened in almost any tent shared by co-ed college students. The day had been so wonderfully perfect. But was I really ready for what was about to happen? A part of me most definitely wanted but the rest of me wasn’t sure.

Jace must have noticed my hesitation because, just before he climbed into the tent, he turned around to look at me. “Hey,” he said, squeezing my hand. “We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. That’s not why I brought you out here.”

That was all the butterflies needed to go from angry and swarming to simple fluttering.

After we were inside the tent, he pulled me down to the ground next to him. For a while, he just held me to his chest. We talked about family some more and he told me what it had been like growing up as an only child, the son of a musician and his wife, in the state of Texas.

“The Midwest wasn’t an exciting place to grow up, but my parents did the best they could to make it fun,” he said. “They took me to Six Flags every year. We’d come up here to the falls several times over the summer. But it was mostly my mom. The things I did with my dad... they were different.”

I lifted my head and looked at him. Though I may have imagined it, I had been sure I’d felt him stiffen at the mere mention of his father. “Different how?” I asked.

“He... My mom never really approved of the activities he took me out on. Concerts, gigs, that sort of thing. For the most part, it wasn’t really that big of a deal, but at a concert over in Dallas, he and the band members got trashed. They forgot about me, left me there at the pavilion overnight.”

“Oh, God, Jace, I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged it off but I heard the hard swallow and the thundering of his heart beneath my ear. “He and his mates, they... They’d gone to some club.” His voice had become deeper, gravelly. “When he didn’t come home, my mom started to worry. She called the police. Eventually, they found me curled up under the stage, asleep and shivering. After that... my dad never came home again.”

“I—Jace—“

“It’s okay,” he said, shaking his head—whether to dispel the memories or dismiss my concern, I couldn’t tell. “It was a long time ago.”

Tense, quiet minutes, with nothing but the sound of the crickets and the wind passed by. I wanted to say something—anything—to shift the mood back to the light-hearted conversations we’d had all night, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know a thing about crappy dads that forgot you at places or got trashed or left your mother. I didn’t know anything about growing up in a broken home.

“Tell me about your parents,” Jace finally said, apparently sensing my discomfort.

“My dad, he’s a huge goofball. My grandparents used to tell me stories about how he would come home every week with a note from the teacher for acting out. Total class clown.” I couldn’t help the smile that surfaced at the mere mention of my dad. “He’s super smart though, and he works for Microsoft.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, does programming of some sort. I never really understood his work, really, but he was the one who taught me how to use Word when I started writing news articles.” I laughed a little at the memory of my so-called stories. “They weren’t anything really newsworthy though, just a menacing dog that dug into everyone’s trash, a feature on bullies—that one was tough. I interviewed a couple of school bullies and asked them why they felt like they had to intimidate everyone. It actually turned out to be quite the eye opener.”

“I’ll bet,” Jace said with a laugh. “And your mom?”

“She’s a writer, probably where I got the desire to write from. But she writes fiction. I never really could get into the whole imagination thing. I preferred facts, tangible things.”

“I can tell.”

I smacked his chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That you overthink things sometimes.”

I lifted my head to look at him, my eyebrows raised. “Like what.”

Jace shifted beneath me, rolling onto his side until we were facing one another. “Like this,” he whispered just before bringing his lips to mine.

My heart fluttered at the tender way his tongue brushed against my mouth, gently pleading for entrance. On a hitched breath, I opened and allowed him in, my body stiffening, clenching at the mounting excitement bubbling and brewing beneath my skin, as if I might were some inactive volcano about to erupt. A muffled moan escaped my lips when he reached across the small space between us, grabbed my ass, and pulled me up against his erection.

His hands and fingers traveled along the length of my body—my neck, my collarbone, my shoulders, my arms, my side—all leaving behind a blazing trail. When he reached my hips again, his hand traveled toward the front, along the hem of my jean shorts, up underneath the frays of the cutoffs. My chest heaved in anticipation as he brought his hand to my abdomen, and then to the button of my shorts. I was clinging to his shirt, his arms, anything that would keep me from floating away... until his fingers popped that damn button.

“Jace,” I gasped, completely out of breath and afraid I was about to make a horrible, terrible decision.

“
That’s
what I’m talking about,” he groaned. “Baby, I can feel your body. I know what it wants. Why do you keep letting your head get in the way?”

“It’s—It’s not that easy, Jace.”

“Really? People do it all the damn time, Andrea.”

I could tell he was getting frustrated, but I did have a right to say no about my body. “So that makes it okay? To jump from one guy’s bed to the next?” I screeched. My voice could have woke the entire park, but I didn’t care. “To just go from five years of a relationship to—to—“ I didn’t even know how to finish that thought, so I left it hanging in the air.

Jace inhaled deeply and shut his eyes. “That’s not what I’m asking here, Andrea.” He spoke softly, as if trying to counteract my explosion. “I’m just asking you to be in the moment, here, with me. Not living in the past five years. I’ve only got six weeks, Andrea. Six weeks of your time, your attention, and I want to make it count. I deserve all of you.”

“With sex?!” I huffed, pulling away from him. “Sorry, but if that’s what this is to you—“

Rather than allowing me to squirm free, Jace grabbed a hold of the belt loop of my jeans and yanked, pulling me flush against him again. “Not with sex. Well, not
just
that. Everything. I want to make you laugh. I want you to smile. I want you to know what it means to live in the moment, to be free, to not plan something for once. If sex is a part of that, then I’m ecstatic. It doesn’t have to be, though. And trust me, if your body wasn’t saying what it’s saying... let me put it to you this way, I can almost guarantee you’re already wet. You want me, Andrea, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Let me give that to you, appease your curiosity. It’s there for a reason.”

I tried turning my head away but he grasped my chin gently and lifted, forcing my eyes back to his dark browns. “I want you to be happy. You’ve had so much love and support in your life; I can tell by the way you talk about your family. But somewhere along the way, it’s like you became afraid of failing, afraid that you might make a wrong turn. Sometimes life takes a wrong turn, Andrea. Sometimes that wrong turn is exactly what you need.”

“But... “ The tears were starting to fall now. He’d hit the nail on the head; I
was
scared of screwing up, getting it wrong, wasting time. I didn’t have a real reason behind it, not one that I could think of. But that fear was there, nonetheless.

“No buts, Andrea,” he said, wiping away the tears with his thumb. “You’re not going to get it perfect. No one can, not even you. Because there is no such thing.”

This time, it was me that sought out the connection, the warmth of his lips, the taste of the creek still on his skin, the scratch of his stubble against my chin and lips. I needed his words, his touch; I needed anything he could offer me in that moment. I’d never known what it meant to live life free of worry, without planning every step of every path.

But I wanted to learn.

I lifted my body and straddled his gorgeous midsection. My hands explored every curve of every taut muscles. My mouth demanding more of his as he moaned out my name. The sound, soft and luxurious as silk, sent a shiver through my body. I let the fiery sensation carry me, allowed it to direct my body, permitted it access to my hips, which were now rocking, moving in time with his in our own perfect symphony.

“Please?” I panted, my mouth barely even leaving his. “Show me.”

He growled and, in one swift move, he had me on his back and was hovering over me, his legs positioned between mine. He wasted no time at pulling my shirt over my head and away from my arms. My nipples hardened the moment the cool night air hit them. His lips seared them with warm, wet licks as his fingers worked their way back down toward the button of my shorts. His mouth followed that trail, across my rib cage, down my stomach, along my hips, and finally the hem of my shorts.