Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10
“My car!” Emily cried and dove toward it.
“Emily, wait.” Jack snagged her arm and pulled her back. “Whoever did that could still be here.”
Jack ducked down and looked beneath the vehicle. He straightened and walked with her to inspect the damage.
“This was my father’s car. He gave it to me when we came to live here.” Emily pressed a hand to her mouth. “Why are they targeting my family? What have we done to deserve this?”
“Nothing.” Jack took his phone from his pocket, called 999 and reported the damage. He slipped an arm around Emily’s shoulder. “I’m sorry this is happening to you and your family.”
“I don’t know what I can do to make it stop. I can’t control anything about this situation.” She leaned into him, thankful for his strength. “I’m a take-charge kind of person. This is killing me.”
“Yeah.” Jack’s arm tightened around her. “I hope we can fix this.”
“At the rate attacks are escalating, I’m not sure it can be fixed until something catastrophic happens.”
“I’ll install cameras tomorrow, and we can look around and see if there are other buildings nearby that already have some kind of video surveillance. Maybe they have a camera with a view of the side of your building.”
“We can try that.” Emily sighed. “I’m tired to the bone, missing my father, brother and uncle. What’s worse is that I’m losing hope.”
“Don’t,” Jack said. “We’ll figure this out.”
In the meantime, his arm stayed around her, holding her up as they waited.
A member of the Garda arrived fifteen minutes later to take the report.
Once he was gone, Jack and Emily climbed the steps together.
Emily unlocked the door and waited just over the threshold while Jack quickly checked the interior for intruders.
When he finished searching through the three-bedroom flat, he returned to her. “It’s clear.”
She didn’t move from where she stood, her heart racing despite her exhaustion.
Jack took her hands in his. “Do you want me to stay? I know I wouldn’t feel comfortable being alone after all that’s happened.”
Emily frowned. She’d been self-sufficient for much of her life with a mother who had worked long hours and a grandmother who couldn’t do everything for her grandchildren. She’d been the one to make their lunches and help Finn with his homework. When Emily had gotten her driver’s license, it had been her responsibility to take him to and from school. “I like to think I could protect myself from an intruder.” She shook her head. “I’m not so sure now. There were three guys who attacked my uncle. I don’t even own a gun. I’m not sure you can own a gun in Ireland.”
“Just because someone stays with you, doesn’t mean you’ve failed at anything. It means there’s more safety in numbers.” He squeezed her hands gently. “I trained in hand-to-hand combat. I could be your first line of defense.”
She stared up into his incredibly blue eyes and gave him a crooked smile. “You’ve already done so much for me.”
“I’m here anyway. If you or your place is attacked, maybe I can stop whoever makes that attempt, and we can get to the bottom of who’s behind all the trouble.”
“How can I repay you?”
“You don’t. I expect nothing. I’ll even sleep on the floor in front of the door.”
“No way. You’ve already slept on the floor one night. I wouldn’t let you do that again. Not when there are three bedrooms in the flat.”
“So, you want me to stay?” he asked. “No pressure, if you don’t.”
“Yes, please,” she said softly. “Otherwise, I don’t think I’d sleep at all.”
He nodded, released her hands and stepped back. “Good. I probably would’ve slept on the landing outside your door whether you wanted me here or not. I don’t feel right leaving you alone. But if it’s all the same to you, I could sleep on the sofa in the living area, the better to hear if anyone tries to break in.”
She twisted her lips into a grimace. “The sofa’s all yours, although it might not be long enough.”
“I’ll make do.” He reached around her, closed the door and locked the deadbolt.
Emily walked past the sofa. “I’ll get a blanket and pillow. You can help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Although I have to warn you, there isn’t much. I eat most meals in the pub. I see no need to cook for only me. Therefore, I don’t stock the fridge. I do have some nice wine if you’d care to have a glass. It might help you come down off that adrenaline rush.”
“That would be nice,” he said with a smile, then glanced around. “Would it be too much to ask to use your shower? I don’t have extra clothing as all my things are at the hotel where I left my suitcase, but I would like to clean up.”
“Of course,” Emily said, her cheeks heating at the thought of a naked Jack in her shower. “The bathroom is in the hallway. There should be fresh towels in the cabinet. If you set your clothing outside the bathroom door, I can run them through the wash so you’ll have clean clothes by morning.”
“That would be amazing. Not that I want to cause you any more work after the night and day you’ve had.”
“It will be no problem,” she said.
“I’ll leave the door ajar to listen for anyone trying to get in,” he said.
“Okay,” Emily said as if a naked strange man in her bathroom was an everyday occurrence. She hurried into her father’s room to find something that might fit Jack.
The two men were both tall, but her father had been thicker around the middle and not nearly as broad-shouldered.
After digging through Seamus O’Brien’s closet and dresser, Emily found a pair of pajama bottoms with a drawstring he could use to tighten what might be loose around his middle. She found a plain white T-shirt in his underwear drawer and passed on actual briefs, confident no man borrowed another man’s underpants.
She shivered at the thought of Jack going commando under the pajama bottoms, even as she silently chastised herself for such shocking thoughts about the man who’d saved her life. He had done nothing to indicate he was even slightly interested in her. And why should she be interested in him?
Just because he had an amazing muscular physique, wicked smile and startling blue eyes that seemed to look right into her soul, that shouldn’t be enough to make her mind take it to a different level. Like imagining him naked in the shower and wondering what it would feel like to smooth soap over his back.
Oh, man, she must be so tired that she was hallucinating. Emily gathered the clothing, left her father’s room and carried the items to the bathroom door Jack had left ajar. Intent on leaving them on the floor just outside the door, she thought better of that and nudged the door a little wider to pass them through to the counter just inside.
The sound of water spraying and splashing captured her attention. Her gaze went to the shadowy figure moving behind the shower curtain, his arms raised to his head. Then they dropped, sliding down his body.
Emily sucked in a breath, any evidence of exhaustion flushed away on a rush of blood pumping swiftly through her veins. For a moment, she froze, unable to tear her gaze away from the man behind the curtain.
Then he bent, the water shut off, and Emily was still standing in the doorway with the clothes clutched to her breast when a hand swept the curtain aside.
Jack’s eyes widened. “Sorry. I didn’t know you were in here.” He snagged the towel hanging on the rack beside the shower and wrapped it around his waist, covering his magnificence.
What else could she call it? It was long, thick and protruding as straight as an arrow, even as he draped the towel over himself.
Emily swept her tongue across her suddenly dry lips before she could make her mouth work. “I brought you,” she swallowed hard, dragging her gaze from that to his dancing eyes, “these,” she finished in a rush, slapped the clothes on the counter and darted into the hallway.
A deep chuckle followed her, making her cheeks burn with embarrassment and something else.
Desire?
Emily couldn’t deny the amount of desire rushing through her so quickly and thoroughly that she could barely breathe.
To give her hands something to do besides shake, she hurried to the pantry, snagged a bottle of wine and fished a corkscrew out of a drawer. It took her several attempts to insert the corkscrew into the cork because her hands refused to cooperate.
As she eased the cork out of the bottle, she fought for composure. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen a naked male body before. She wasn’t a virgin or a prude. But she’d never seen a body so incredibly perfect as Jack’s, from the muscular expanse of his chest, tapering to a narrow waist, firm buttocks and... Well, he was the whole package, including his package.
Emily’s heartbeat slammed against her ribs as she tipped the bottle.
She jumped when a hand covered hers.
“You want me to do that?” Jack asked, taking the wine bottle from her hand.
“Sure,” she squeaked, swallowed and tried to sound like a normal, unaffected person. “While you pour, I’ll just duck into the shower myself.”
He set the bottle on the counter and captured her hand as she turned to escape. “Hey,” he said in his deep, gentle tone that melted her insides into a goo. “If you’re afraid to be alone with me, I can sleep on the landing. It must be hard to let a relative stranger into your home.”
She stared at where her hand rested in his. He held her fingers loosely enough she could easily pull free—if she wanted to.
The thing was, she didn’t want to pull free. She wanted to touch more than just his hand. The more she thought about it, the faster her breathing became.
“Seriously, I don’t mind sleeping on the landing,” he said and started to drop her hands.
Emily didn’t know why she did it, but she curled her fingers around his and held on. “No. That’s not necessary. I’m not afraid to be alone with you.” She swallowed hard. “If I’m afraid of anything, it’s of my body’s reaction to yours.”
His voice lowered to a sexy murmur. “Interesting.” He freed one hand and brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Is it acting like mine is reacting to yours?”
Emily looked up into his eyes. “I don’t know. Perhaps if you described it...” she said, her voice barely above a whisper, her gaze captured by his.
“Like it wants to slide naked against yours.” He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed the backs of her knuckles. “Go,” he said. “Get your shower before I do something we might both regret.”
Emily wanted to tell him that she wouldn’t regret anything if it involved her touching his body and him touching hers. Still, how did she take it that one step further? She wasn’t all that good at seducing a man. In her previous, short-lived relationships, the man had always been quick to fall into bed naked.
In comparison, those men had nothing on Jack. They weren’t even in the same league.
Her cheeks still burning, Emily grabbed panties and the old flannel pajamas she always wore to bed. Nothing sexy about that shirt, though the soft, worn fabric always felt good against her skin.
Once she made it across the hallway into the bathroom, Emily turned, pulled the door toward her and locked it.
Her gaze fixed on the lock, wondering what would happen, if anything, should she leave the door open? Would he walk in like she’d walked in on him? The thought of that big, beautiful man standing there naked got Emily’s pulse racing all over again and her body overheating.
She unlocked the bathroom door and opened it just slightly, telling herself it wasn’t to tempt the man, but to listen for any intrusion through the front door.
Ha! She needed to call it what it was... She found the man deeply attractive.
Emily turned on the shower, adjusting the temperature to cool enough to tamp down her overactive sex drive. If she was going to drink a glass of wine with the man, she’d have to control her urges. A cold shower might drive down her raging libido enough she might actually hold her wine glass and her side of any conversation.
The shower’s spray took Emily’s breath away. For a moment, she held firm. Inside, she wasn’t getting any less heated. With a sigh and a shiver, she adjusted the temperature to a little cooler than comfortable and hurried through the motions of scrubbing the day’s grime from her body and hair. Once she’d rinsed soap and shampoo from her body, her skin was chilled, and she felt a little more in control.
She was dressed in flannel pajamas—sexy? not — and tackled her tangles until she had them smoothed into straight locks, falling freely down her back almost to her waist. After brushing her teeth, she glanced one last time in the mirror. Clear of makeup, she wasn’t beautiful, but not exactly ugly. And what did it matter? She wasn’t trying to seduce the man in the other room. There she went again, introducing that word seduce into her thoughts? Well, he had said that he didn’t want to do something they both might regret and that he wanted to get naked with her. Had she dressed in flannel to discourage him? Well, it was too late to change into something more revealing.
Her pulse kicked up, and her heart hammered against her ribs. Heat flooded her body, pooling low in her nether regions.
So much for a cold shower.
Emily pulled the bathroom door open, pressed her palms to her heated cheeks and stepped out, barefoot, wearing flannels, her skin sensitized to the fabric brushing across the tips of her nipples.
Jack stood with his back to her in the living room, wearing the pajama bottoms that had belonged to her father.
On her father, they’d just been pajamas. On Jack, they emphasized his narrow waist where he’d cinched the drawstring. The T-shirt she’d given him stretched taut across his chest and arms. She suspected it was too tight to be comfortable. If she got the nerve up, she’d suggest he discard it.
“Is this your mother and father?” Jack waved a hand to the portrait on the wall of a young couple smiling up into each other’s eyes.
“Yes, it is.” Emily approached, coming to a stop beside Jack. The photograph was the same one she’d seen hung in her mother’s room in Boston. She’d thought her father had abandoned them, sending them back to the States because he didn’t love them. She’d asked her mother why she’d hung the picture. Her mother had said that it reminded her of how much they’d loved each other. They’d had their whole lives ahead of them, full of hope and love, only to be separated for most of their marriage. It made her sad to think of them and all the time they’d lost.
Emily had witnessed the sadness in her father’s eyes. That, plus her mother’s dying wish, left her melancholy. She turned toward the wine to find the bottle still full. “Did you decide against a glass of wine?”
Jack followed her. “No. I prefer to have company when I drink wine.”
“If you’d rather have beer, I have some in the refrigerator.”
“I’d love some wine,” he said. “Would you like me to pour?”
Emily nodded. “Please.” She let him pour because her body was trembling. Not from fear, but in anticipation of what could happen—if the man was truly interested.
Jack poured two glasses of wine and handed one to her. He held his up and touched it to the rim of her glass. “To finding the Flamethrower.”
“To finding the Flamethrower,” Emily echoed and sipped her drink.
Jack drank half his glass of wine before staring across at her and back at the photo in the frame. “You look like your mother.”
Emily smiled. “She was a beautiful, kind and caring woman. We were fortunate to have her for as long as we did. I wish we could’ve had her for a lot more time than we did. But we made the years count. She loved us with her whole heart. And she loved our father as well.” She glanced up at Jack. “What about you? What was your childhood like?”
“Not nearly as interesting as yours. Unlike your parents, mine divorced when I was six. My mother went off with another man while my brother and I stayed with my father. He did the best he could, working and raising two mischievous boys. He taught us the value of hard work and showing up. And though she left him, he never spoke badly of my mother.”
“Where are they now?” Emily asked.
Jack smiled. “After my brother and I graduated from high school and joined the military, my father found the love of his life and is happier than I’ve ever seen him. The two of them live on a little five-acre farm in Kentucky and raise a variety of animals. Now that Dad’s retired, he has all the time in the world to do what he wants. Though he doesn’t push the idea, I think he’s waiting for grandchildren to spoil.”
Emily glanced over the rim of her glass. “And are you and your brother going to give him any, or are you like so many young people these days, choosing not to have children?” She sipped from her glass, her gaze on him, surprised at how interested she was in his answer.
He shrugged. “It was part of my plan until I lost Laura.”
A strange tug of envy pulled at her gut. What was it like to love someone so deeply that when you lost that person, you lost the desire to love again? What was it like to be loved so deeply? “You must have loved her very much,” Emily said softly.
Jack nodded. “We were young, excited to find each other in a wartime situation and eager to see if the magic extended back in the States.”
“And you didn’t get to test that theory.” Emily drank the last of her wine. “I guess I’ve never really been in love. Infatuation and lust, yes. But love?” She shook her head and set her glass on the counter. “Not the kind of love you had with your Laura.”
“What I had with Laura was a long time ago. I was a different person, so young and na?ve.” He set his glass beside hers on the counter and faced her. “Would we have stood the test of time with our careers in the military? I don’t know.”
“And never will.” She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Do you think you’ll ever fall in love again?” she asked and immediately wished she could take back the words. “You don’t have to answer that. It’s none of my business.”
“Do you think you could quit talking about my first love long enough for me to do this?” Jack cupped the back of her head and captured her mouth with his in a passionate kiss that melted every bone in Emily’s body. She leaned into him and curled her fingers into the white T-shirt to keep from sliding to the floor.
His tongue swept past her teeth to caress the length of hers in a slow, sensual glide as his other hand wrapped around her waist and pressed her body close to his.
The evidence of his desire pressed into her belly, sending electric currents racing through her and heat coiling at her core.
Emily forgot about her uncle’s attack, forgot that she had almost been kidnapped, forgot the hateful words painted on her Mercedes and everything else. Her world revolved around that kiss, his hands on her body and the fire igniting between them.
Her hands crept up his chest and around his neck. She wrapped her calf around the back of his leg and pressed her sex against his thigh. What was happening was so good, intoxicating and mind-blowing. The only thing that could make it better would be if they were naked.
Then Jack pulled back, his hands curling around her arms, warm and strong. Cool air swept between their bodies as he stared down into her eyes. “You can slap my face and kick me out of your home, if that’s what you want. It’s just that I’ve wanted to kiss you since you first filled my glass full of beer and set it on the bar in front of me.”
She laughed, her hands sliding downward from his neck to rest on his chest, the thin cotton T-shirt not much of a barrier between her skin and his, but more of a barrier than she would have liked. “Is beer that important that you want to kiss the one who serves it?”
He chuckled. “Only if the bartender can sass with the customers, cut them off when she knows they’ve had enough and still smile at a stranger.” He touched a hand to her damp hair. “And if she has hair the color of wheat at harvest time and eyes that mirror a storm-clouded sky, it’s pure bonus.”
Warmth spread through her chest at his words. “If you’ve wanted to kiss me from the start, why did you wait so long?”
“I don’t normally go around kissing strangers. That could get me slapped, kneed or arrested.” He winked. “Look, I’m a guest in your home. I didn’t invite myself in to take advantage of you. I really am concerned about your safety. But seeing you all beautiful and cozy in pajamas...” He shook his head. “I couldn’t help myself.”
“I never knew flannel PJs could have that effect on a man,” she said.
Jack grinned. “It’s not the flannel so much as the person wearing it.”
“Agreed,” she said with a wicked smile. She resisted reminding him that he’d said his body wanted to slide naked against hers. If he still felt that way, they’d get there soon enough. If not, she wouldn’t look completely needy and desperate. Okay, so maybe it wouldn’t hurt to be a little needy. Eager might be a better description. “Are you going to kiss me again? I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I want to do so much more than kiss you. Again, I’m just a guest in your place.”
She reached behind his head and pulled him down to her, surrendering her mouth to his.
When they came up for air again, she leaned her forehead against his chest, remembering how to breathe. “The part where you said your body wanted to slide naked against mine... Did you mean it?” she said, her voice breathy, hopeful. “You never let me tell you what I want.”
“I’m listening,” he whispered against her ear.
“I want the same,” she said and lifted her head to stare into his eyes.
For a long moment, he said nothing but held her gaze. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “And don’t worry. I know you’re not from around here and won’t be staying after you’ve completed your assignment. I don’t expect any declarations of love or promises to call me later.”
His brow furrowed. “No strings?”
“None. Just two naked bodies, sliding skin to skin.” She took his hand and led him toward her bedroom. As they passed the bathroom, Jack leaned through the doorway, grabbed his wallet off the counter and continued with Emily to her bedroom.
Once through the door, Jack dragged her pajama top over her head and tossed it across a chair.
Emily dragged his T-shirt over his taut abs and tried to lift it over his head.
Jack took over, yanked the shirt off and sent it flying toward hers.
A frenzy ensued as they stripped the clothes from each other’s bodies and fell across the bed, hungrily touching, kissing and stroking.
Jack started at her lips and worked his way down to her breasts. He rolled her nipple between his teeth and flicked it with his tongue until she arched off the bed, wanting so much more.
Moving agonizingly slowly downward, he skimmed his mouth across her ribs and lower still. He cupped her sex, slid his fingers into her channel and swirled.
Emily’s breath caught in her throat. She lifted her hips, urging him to take more.
Instead, he pulled free and maneuvered his body lower, spreading her legs wide to settle between them. He gently parted her folds and leaned forward to flick his tongue across her clit.
“Oh, my,” she cried, her back arching off the mattress.
When he flicked again, she reached for his head, her fingers weaving into his hair.
He worked her over, every flick or nibble building the tension, tighter and tighter. She held her breath, on the edge and ready for that moment when her body rocked with her release. Sensations rippled through her for long moments. She rode the wave all the way to the shore, collapsed against the mattress and drew in a deep, satisfied breath, her heart still pounding.
“Wow,” she said. “I mean... Wow.” Her hands still in his hair, she tugged gently as the tension returned. She wanted more. This time, she wanted him inside her.
Jack rose on his hands, leaned over her and kissed her.
Then he reached for his wallet on the nightstand and removed a packet from inside.
Emily took the packet from his fingers, tore it open and rolled the condom over his engorged cock, loving the feel of velvet-encased steel. At the base, she rolled and fondled his balls and then got down to business. She guided him to her entrance, then gripped his hips and brought him home.
He slid in slowly, allowing her channel to adjust to his size. He sank deeper and deeper until he filled her completely. For several long moments, he held steady. Just when she couldn’t wait any longer, he moved out almost all the way, then back in.
Impatient now, she tightened her fingers around his buttocks and set the pace, urging him to go faster and faster until he was pumping in and out, skin slapping against skin.
Emily lifted her hips to match, driving him deeper.
Once again, that beautiful tension spiked, and her breathing grew ragged. She was so close. Then she pitched over the edge into her second orgasm for the night.
At the same time, Jack’s body stiffened. He thrust once more, burying himself deep, his release throbbing inside her channel.
As he slowly relaxed, he dropped down, covering her body with his.
His weight made it hard for her to breathe, but she didn’t care. She could die a very satisfied death after that.
Jack gathered her in his arms, rolled them onto their sides and kissed her temple. “Wow,” he said. “Just... Wow.”
Emily laughed and snuggled against him, resting a hand on his chest. “That was amazing.”
“Too good for a one-night stand,” he said. “It deserves several encores.”
“Mmm.” She sighed. “Agreed. A performance like that deserves a longer run.”
“And top billing,” he added.
She lay against him, happy and sated after phenomenal sex. But after a while, her happiness dimmed as she found herself wishing for more. Yes, she knew he was only there until they found the Flamethrower, and she’d promised she wouldn’t ask for his undying love or even a call back for a second date.
But damn, she wanted both.