Savor the Danger (16 page)

“Sounds amazing.” She tucked one leg up under her. “I've seen the setting sun at Dare's, but not the sunrise.”

“You like being near the water?”

“I love it. Everything smells better, and there's this peace that just settles over everything and everyone.”

That was exactly how he felt. “Maybe we can take a boat ride later. One side of the lake butts up to a steep rise, but there are a few homes down toward the south cove. Mostly farmland. In the early morning, you can see the cows along the shoreline.”

“Definitely a boat ride.” She smoothed her hair and leaned her head against the seat back. “I'm sorry I fell asleep on you.”

“You needed the rest.” And he'd enjoyed watching her, just being near her, knowing that finally she was his.

“You do, too.” She half turned toward him and put her hand on his biceps. The touch felt affectionate and interested in equal measure. “With all you've been through, you have to be running on lost reserves.”

She made him sound like a wuss. “I'm okay.” More than anything else, he wanted her again.

When would he not want her?

A smile slipped over her face. “You don't have to be macho for me, you know.”

That burned his ass. “I'm not.” That she thought he might be playing a tough guy sounded even more insulting. “I'm just…me.”

“You're pretending that nothing happened.”

He snorted. Nothing all that much had, at least not to him. “The drugs have worn off. That bullet didn't hit me. We're both safe. What'd you want me to do? Whimper? Curl up in the backseat while you drove?”

“Maybe just admit you're tired.”

“I'm horny,” he told her with succinct honesty. “If you were up for it, I'd take you straight to bed for another couple of rounds.”

“Wow.” She drew a deep breath. “Enticing as that sounds…”

Knowing he'd lost all finesse, he laughed.

“I need food, and sleep and a shower. And I want to see your home, your land.”

His lust deflated. “I should have left you alone until things were settled.”

“No.” She smacked his arm. “I wanted you, too, remember? But I'm not used to sex, period, much less sexual excess.”

And even though he didn't remember their first time together, she said he had been excessive. Add in what he did remember, and of course she wanted to pull back a little.

He glanced at her, and memories crashed in. “You are so small.” His abdomen knotted. “I'll have to be more careful with you.”

Talking sex always left her flustered.

“I don't want you to do a single thing differently.” She ducked her face. “Just remember that while you might be invincible, I'm happy to admit I'm all too human.”

He blew out a breath and reminded himself to be patient. As he'd told her, his place was livable but sparse on furnishings.

There was only one bed, so if she thought to put too much space between them, she'd just have to think again.
For every night together, he planned to sleep with her, whether or not they had sex.

“Okay, so it's still early. Once we're at my place, we'll catch up on our zees. When you're feeling more bushy-tailed, you can soak in the Jacuzzi tub. That ought to help revive you.”

Through half-lowered lashes, she studied him, then asked tentatively, “You plan to go back to bed with me?”

“Yeah.” He rolled a shoulder. “I wouldn't mind sleeping. And until someone tracks down dumbass—”

“You mean Marc?”

“—there's not a whole lot that can be done from my end.”

She fell silent for a heavy beat of time, then asked quietly, “And after they do locate him?”

A surge of determination flexed his hands on the wheel. “I want to talk to him.” For Alani's benefit, he kept his tone void of menace. “He knows something. I'll find out what.”

“It wasn't him in the silver BMW.”

“You don't know that, but so what? Guys like him have cronies who do most of their dirty work.”

“A crony who has a car costing more than a hundred grand?”

Yeah, okay, so that sounded off in many ways. “I don't know, babe. But I'll find out.” He pulled down the gravel drive to his home.

Alani sat up straighter. “This is it?”

He liked her tempered excitement. “Yeah. I'm pretty much hidden by trees, but this whole area is monitored.”

Oaks, elms and sycamores grew so thick at either side of the road that, with the branches spread out, they formed
a sort of canopy. It was as if they were driving through a green cave but with dappled sunlight everywhere. Jackson slowed for a rabbit that looked at the car, twitched its whiskers and finally hopped away.

Farther down, he pointed out some deer to her. Birds darted in and around the trees, occasionally doing a kamikaze dive in front of his car. Alani gasped each time, even though the birds avoided colliding with his windshield or tires.

Finally the front gates came into view and, beyond that, the house.

Aware of Alani's silence beside him, Jackson pulled off his sunglasses to enter the gate code. “Like Dare's, it's run by a keypad, but you can use a remote when leaving the property. There's an intercom and sensor device so that I always know when someone approaches.”

She nodded, looking beyond the gate to his home.

Uneasy, Jackson waited for the gates to open and then drove over the long paved driveway to the house. “It's a ranch, but set up like separate quarters all connected. I liked the architecture of it.”

“It's amazing.” Her gaze went all over the house, from the garage attached by a utility room, to the main entrance and to the jutting master suite.

“Not a whole lot is done yet, but eventually the basement will be finished. There'll be a fourth bedroom down there, an exercise room and a recreation room.”

He pulled into one of the three attached garages and turned off the car. Alani immediately slipped on her sandals, opened her door and stepped back out of the garage to look around.

Shielding her eyes, she looked up at the tallest trees with awe.

“I deliberately built around the trees,” Jackson said as he joined her.

“I'm glad. It's perfect.” She headed up the walkway to his massive front door.

“We could have gone in through the garage.”

“I want to see the outside first.” She circled around to the side of the house, picking her way along the wild-flowers and weeds.

“I haven't even touched the yard yet.” He wished she'd slow down and say something, maybe tell him her thoughts. She didn't know it, but through the process of choosing the house plans, the location, he'd been thinking of her. Considering her reaction.

She stopped on the back porch and looked down at the lake. Ducks swam by. Off in the distance, a fish jumped.

Alani brushed away a fly, then tipped her head back and breathed deeply.

He liked seeing her here, like this.

On his property.

“It's going to be a scorcher today.” But the July morning had nothing on his internal heat. “In a few more hours, the humidity will make you sweat as soon as you step outside.”

“I don't mind a little sweat.”

No, she wouldn't. Slipping his hands around her, Jackson brushed aside her hair, nuzzled the side of her throat and kissed the softest part of her neck. “When you're up for it,” he said suggestively, “I'd like to lay you out here on a blanket and make you scream with pleasure.”

She quickened. “In the open?”

“Yeah.” He lifted one hand to rest just under her breast, and felt her heartbeat thumping. “It's private enough. But I'd be able to see every inch of you.”

Her hands settled over his. “You already did.” Her voice quavered. “Before, I mean.”

“But it wasn't enough.” He was starting to feel like a masochist. “Until then…” He stepped back from her, wrestled with and conquered his control. “What's first? A tour, coffee or sleep?”

She turned to face him. “If I drink coffee, I won't be able to sleep.”

“Then let's go back to bed for now.”

Her palm settled over his chest. “Won't that be…hard on you?”

“Yeah.” He grinned crookedly. “But it'd be harder knowing you were alone in my bed, all sleepy and warm and sweet.” He took her hand and led her back around to the front. “I'll show you the master suite, and you can get settled while I unload our stuff.”

As she looked everywhere, he took her in through the garage, through the vaulted kitchen and entryway, and down a connecting hall into the bedroom. Once there, he turned her and cupped her face. “I'm still working on things, so this is one of the few finished rooms—and the only bed.” Did she understand?

She eyed the spacious room and the big bed, made up with a few pillows, sheets and a quilt. “It's big enough for a whole family.”

She said that tentatively, almost like a question.

The thought threw him. Sure, the house was spacious, with enough rooms to accommodate most family units. But as a rule, family was never one of his considerations. He didn't think of his folks since they'd never really been a stereotypical family, and while he'd enjoyed the women he'd been with, he sure as hell hadn't looked at them as the start of a future. Sex was for relief only, and he was
careful when it came to protection, so kids of his own had never been a concern.

Briefly, he thought of Arizona—but no. He didn't want to go down that path right now. He'd told Alani what she needed to know, and the rest would wait.

Hell, he'd just gotten her to admit there was something between them. For now, he wanted to enjoy her—and only her.

Guilt prodded him, but still he joked, “Your brother has no interest in being here, babe.”

Something shone in her eyes, something elusive and female and wary. Her fleeting smile lacked genuine warmth. “Maybe for a visit.”

Relieved that she didn't push it, Jackson nodded. “Maybe.” Much, much later, if he had his way. “For now, there's just the two of us, and we'll be sleeping close.” He wouldn't mind having her right on top of him—or better still, under him. He kissed her mouth. “Okay by you?”

She reached up to run her fingertips over his jaw, down his throat. “All my life I've slept alone, but I wouldn't have if I'd known how nice it is to sleep with someone.”

“With
me,
” he clarified, in case she had thoughts of trying it with anyone else.

“Yes.” She touched his bottom lip. “I do like sleeping with you, Jackson.”

“Good.” She could so easily twist him into knots. When she touched him, even in such a sweet way, maybe especially in a sweet way, he wanted to get inside her. “I need to secure the house, do a quick check of things.” And that'd give him a chance to bank the fires a little. “I'll be right back.”

“Take your time.”

Like hell. He wanted to hold her as she fell asleep. It was important to him that she get used to being with
him in all ways, that she enjoy it as much as he did. In less than fifteen minutes he ran through a check of the alarms, locks and monitors.

When he came back into the bedroom, he found Alani in nothing more than the T-shirt and panties, looking out the private patio doors from his bedroom to the back of the house.

He knew she could see the lake, the hills, nature and privacy.

His attention narrowed on her, on her beautiful legs and the way her blond hair hung down her slim back, how the T-shirt barely covered her ass, captivating him. He'd known more beautiful women. He'd known sexier women—and more sexual women.

He'd known women who concentrated on making him wild in bed.

But none of them were Alani.

Lost in thought, she looked very reflective and a little withdrawn. Did she resent being stuck here with him? Was she worried about that ass Tobin, or fearful of the threat?

Was she already wishing she could get back to her job, her home, her routine?

Jackson realized he was fretting, second-guessing himself, and that annoyed him. He'd gone hand to hand with murderers, been in shoot-outs with human traffickers, traveled over borders to retrieve kidnapped victims and dealt justice to the ones who'd taken them, all without fretting. He knew what to do, he did it, end of story.

Frustrated, he dropped her suitcase and his duffel bag. Alani looked up.

Even as they watched each other, her uncertainty, her nervousness beat at him in waves…until a yawn overtook her.

Full of mumbled apologies, she covered her mouth with a hand.

Jackson relaxed again. While she was here, he'd take care of her, pamper her; he was good at making women feel special. Usually in bed, but so what? He'd handle the “out of bed” stuff, too.

After turning back the covers, he patted the mattress. “C'mon, sleepyhead. In you go.”

Barefoot, she padded over the thick carpet and climbed in. “I'm sorry I'm so tired. I didn't get much sleep last night, or the night before.”

“Because of me.” He didn't want her worn out, but he enjoyed knowing he was responsible for her exhaustion. “Because of
us.
”

“True.” Liking the sound of that even more, he drew the drapes to shut out much of the morning sunlight. Gray shadows now filled the room.

“I can't believe you're not more tired. After being so sick, you've gotten as little sleep as I did.”

“But I'm a man.”

“And that makes you impervious to weakness?”

No, but as a man he wanted her enough that he barely noticed other discomforts. She probably wouldn't appreciate hearing that, so instead he said, “I've done without sleep plenty of times. Guess I've adjusted to it.”

With Alani watching his every move, he sat on the end of the bed to remove his boots and socks, then peeled off his T-shirt. He stood and disarmed himself, putting the weapons on the nightstand at his side of the bed.