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“Jake!”

He pressed his palm to her mons and slid two fingers into her sopping channel just to ease the immediate need.

“Oh! I want you everywhere at once. In my mouth, in my pussy. I want your mouth on mine, but I need your tongue on my clit too.”

Her fingers danced across his scrotum and squeezed gently, sending his cock into spasms. She slid her hand to the sensitive spot just below the crown and squeezed hard enough to hold back his come.

He brushed her mouth and fingers away and grabbed for a condom. With a snap of latex that stung and heated his already overheated cock, he was ready.

He rolled onto her, sliding between the cradle she eagerly offered. The moment she felt him settle, she clutched at his hips and pulled him close, grinding her pubis against his.

“Be inside me, Jake, please, finally, be inside me. I need you.”

The plunge into her was slow and easy as he allowed every millimeter of sensation and heat to grip them both. Penetration at this agonizing pace made her blind with need. Her vaginal walls grasped and pulled at him, coaxed him deeper and deeper, clinging and releasing as he pressed in.

It had been forever since she’d felt this fullness. And never had she felt so complete.

With every slide, he penetrated more fully while she opened slowly, needfully, her acceptance of him rapturous and oh so natural.

She watched his face, heavy with concentration and connection. “I love you, Lexa, I do.”

His cock slid home.

“I care for you too,” she said on a whimper, feeling the truth rise up and grip her heart. Rocking up toward him, she sighed into his mouth in a deep, need-filled kiss.

He rode her slowly and gently while love spiraled from his heart into hers. She kissed his nose, each ear, and even his cowlick between smiles of joy and acceptance. “I can’t believe what’s happening to me, Jake. I—Oh! Jake!”

His eyes glittered, then closed as she felt his tight control slip.

Her orgasm gathered in a knot of need and tight nerves. Jake tipped his pubic bone hard against her, and she carried him along into ecstasy.

He groaned and gathered her close to hold her while his spasms blasted into her. The pummeling she took from the sparking heat and his tightening body rose inside her as she tipped over the edge and crashed.

She kissed him and tasted the salt of tears. His? Hers? Lexa didn’t know, or care.

T
heir hearts pounded as one, each of them trembling. Jake held her close and tight, her arms and cradle a sanctuary he never wanted to leave.

Exhaustion hit him hard as he nuzzled the heated flesh between her earlobe and neck.

He rolled off the bed and lifted her. She weighed so little, and he was used to hard physical labor. Her head lolled against his shoulder, her expression sated and loose. “Is it crazy to feel this much for you this soon?”

“Crazy? Cursed? What’s the difference? It’s more real than either of us has ever had before.”

She thought of her previous boyfriends and her lukewarm response to them. “You’re right.” She looked up at him as he carried her through the doorway into the bathroom. “You were right about the spirits too. What just happened was all us.”

He took her into the shower and washed them both in the tight corner unit. Tempting images of a water-drenched pussy slid through his mind, but he resisted dropping to his knees to eat her into oblivion. She needed to rest, and he wanted to give her time to think. Pushing her now could backfire.

After the shower, he watched as she slid into one of his work shirts and quietly slipped out the bedroom door.

She was gone a long time, but tempted as he was to follow, he figured she needed her space.

He’d had a lot of years to ponder the curse, while she’d just been hit with more than any normal person should be expected to accept.

He rolled into position and sank into a dreamless sleep.

Lexa found the photo album where she’d left it. The marble-topped side table showed up clearly in the moonlight. The leather felt cool to the touch, but it would warm soon.

Crossing the hall, she slipped through the dining room and turned right into the conservatory at the front of the house. Octagonal, with high windows in every panel, the hush enveloped her and even her breathing slowed to calm.

Here was the spot, she knew. It was here that Annie fell for Matthew while they worked side by side to build this fantastic addition. She trailed her fingers across the panes of glass, imagining the plants and aviaries Belle would have put in here. All gone now. From what Faye had said, the elderly woman she’d inherited from hadn’t been able to maintain the mansion.

But whispers and shadows showed her the way it had once looked. As if a curtain lifted, daylight filled the half-built conservatory and she saw a boyish-looking person in work pants sawing a two-by-four on a sawhorse. The lad removed his hat to swipe his sleeve across a sweaty forehead, and she knew it was Annie she was seeing.

Matthew, tall, lean, and handsome, was approaching from the cliff. He’d been swimming, and water still dripped from his sculpted body.

The look on her great-grandmother’s face at the sight of her man stunned Lexa, and she knew what it was their spirits wished for her.

The images faded as the light retreated to darkness again. She settled in a patch of moonlight and opened the photo album.

The next morning, Lexa felt the bristle of Jake’s leg hair, the knobbiness of his knee under her calf, and she reveled in the sensations that made up Jake MacKay. He smelled like desire and man with a twist of sex musk added to the mix. She nuzzled her nose next to his ear, felt him grin in response.

She tested her thoughts, considered her level of morning desire, and knew she was alone in her own head. Nice.

“Last night was fabulous, Jake.” She replayed the way he’d taken his time with her. The first slide inside her had been so slow, so complete, she’d tilted into an orgasm the second she’d felt his fullness.

“Sorry I fell asleep. I wanted more.” His voice was early morning rough, and she loved the sound.

“I didn’t. It felt right to make love slowly, completely, knowing we were alone in our bodies.”

He tilted his head to look at her. “This is good, Lexa. We have a good thing here.”

He was right. This crazy thing they’d fallen into was unbelievably great, but she still needed to keep things light. Falling for a guy within hours was just about the craziest, least likely thing for her to do. “Tell me. Was it a witch or a gypsy who cursed you and all your male relatives?”

His chest rose and fell with a chuckle. “I don’t know how it started. All I know is, when a MacKay touches a special woman, there’s an electrical charge they can’t escape.”

“Like the one we share?” Her heart picked up speed. She lifted her head to see his face. She got a great view of his straight nose and strong jaw, but he didn’t turn toward her. She settled back down and slid her fingers through his chest hair.

She palmed his chest over his heart and pressed. “Can you feel it here?”

He nodded. “Deep as can be.”

“It runs under my skin like an itch…but travels lightning quick,” she said.

“Does it settle into something softer?”

“Eventually. And it’s always lighter after an orgasm.” The need for which was building. He felt good and strongly solid in a world that had gone all kinds of wrong. Hell, so wrong she believed she’d actually spoken to a ghost yesterday.

“It lightens up for me then too.”

“I’m not frightened by it, though. Not anymore.” Intrigued, curious, comforted, but not frightened. “Should I be afraid?”

“Not unless you hate my guts.”

She laughed. “That’ll never happen.”

He rolled to his side and cupped her cheek. The hum of heat trailed down to her low belly as she studied his serious expression. “It’s more than touching a special woman, Lexa.”

“More?”

“It’s love at first touch.”

She huffed out a ragged breath. Love. He’d said it before, during the throes of orgasm, but she’d been quick to deny it. She was quicker now. “You’re kidding, right?”

He shook his head.

She skittered off the bed, falling on her ass in her haste. “No, not love. Lust,” she said, needing his reassurance. “That’s easy. Lust is easy.” She nodded her head like a marionette, unable to stop. “I can do lust.” She motioned from her chest to his. “We can do lust.”

But her belly flip-flopped, and her heart hammered. He couldn’t mean it.

“It’s love, Lexa. For me it will always be love.” He sat up on the side of the bed.

“But we live on opposite sides of the country. We have businesses to run.” Damn that midnight vision. She wished she’d never gone downstairs, had never set foot in the conservatory.

“I know.” He scrubbed at his hair, revealing his cowlick, and for a moment she saw him as he’d have been as a little boy. “No one ever said love was convenient.”

Her heart cracked at the idea of Jake as a child. Having a child, being a father. A father for her child. The images refused to clear. Someone or something had put them inside her head. She raised her face to the ceiling.

“Stop making me think of these things!” she called, but got no response. The room was silently still. She whipped around to look at the window, but fluttering lace curtains was the only response she got.

It was Annie, her great-grandmother; she just knew it. Annie and Matthew had brought Jake here. For her.

To give her a chance to know love. Their kind of love. The forever kind.

She squeezed her eyes shut for a long moment. Popped them open quick as a wink. She spun in a circle but caught no movement, not even a shadow.

Her own family! Messing with her life. How rotten was that?

“What are you thinking?” Jake asked.

“Never mind. We need to dress and get out of here. I have to think.” She glanced around at the walls again. “By myself, away from sneaky, pernicious ghosts with nothing better to do than mess with my mind.”

“We’re out of here,” agreed Jake.

It was Saturday and playing tourist made sense while Faye put in some hours at her store. The likelihood of getting a contract to redesign the gardens was unlikely for this year at least, but she wanted to remain on friendly terms with the woman just the same. There was always next year.

They found Faye in the front hall, putting the finishing touches to the veil of her hat. “Liam loves me in these. He says I look mysterious,” she explained. This Liam fellow was right—Faye looked like a ’40s mystery woman. Faye studied Lexa, then turned her gaze to Jake. “Going out?”

“Will we be able to?” Lexa asked with a glance over her shoulder. Yesterday’s mad dash seemed like an escape.

Jake held her close to his side, tensed and ready.

“Of course you can leave. There’s nothing holding you here.” Faye took one more glance in the mirror and smoothed the tight waist of her light wool jacket. This time she looked like a forties film noir star. The veil was the perfect accent. Beneath it, her lips looked moist and luscious, painted red and full.

Jake and Lexa brushed past quickly, taking in the amused chuckle of more than one woman. Neither of them looked back to see who or what else was watching them leave.

And laughing about it.

Hours later, they’d been to Pike Place Market, then walked the downtown Seattle area. They’d gone up the Space Needle, even ridden the monorail, a relic from the World’s Fair.

All the while, he’d waited for her response to his L-word. Acceptance would come; he just wanted it sooner rather than later.

But for now he was content to spend the day with her doing nothing more than holding hands and talking. They ate ice cream, shared a pizza from a takeout window, and watched people everywhere they went.

Her delightful imagination intrigued him. Throughout the day, she’d created stories about the couples they saw. These people just met, that couple had problems, that guy was still in the closet and the wife didn’t know.

Now, on the waterfront, the state ferries glistening white on the waters of Puget Sound, he dug out his cell phone and called Miami. Jed had been on his way to do the estimates he’d blown off because of his date last night.

The date Jake still hadn’t asked about. Jed answered immediately.

“How’d it go?” Jake asked.

“Fine, son. Just fine.”

“Did you get the estimates done?”

His father sighed. “Yes.”

“So the electrician got the wiring done in the Mitchell’s kitchen?” It was Saturday, but the electrician was backed up and had agreed to work.

“He’s a pro, just like everyone else on the job. You hire the best, you get the best. Isn’t that what I taught you?” The edge of anger in his voice was new. Jake hadn’t heard it in so long, he’d forgotten the old man was capable of snapping.

“Yes, sir, that’s what you taught me.” Along with respect. And how to love a good woman. He cut Lexa a glance.

In profile, she was even more gorgeous. She had one of those well-defined jawlines that some women wore well. Delicate but sharp.

He asked a few more questions, and with each response, the old man’s voice grew more exasperated until finally he blew. Another thing Jake hadn’t heard in too long.

“Son, if you keep treating me with kid gloves, I’ll kick your ass when you get back. On second thought, don’t come back! Not until you’ve had a real vacation.”

“What?”

“Look, Jake, I know I’ve given you cause for concern. Losing your mother nearly took me too. But this babysitting’s gotta stop. I want my life back, and you need yours too. Go get laid or something. But don’t come back here until and unless you’re ready to let me be.” Then he was gone.

He turned to Lexa. “He hung up on me.”

She turned her face away, but he still caught the shadow of a smirk on her lips before she did.

“What?” He touched her shoulder, the snap between them sharp, like the crack of a whip. He drew his finger back. Maybe it was more than sexual awareness that brought the buzz to life.

Maybe the zing came from other emotions too.

She dropped her chin. Then she raised her head and turned to look at him, her eyes clear and edgy. “Whenever we get away from the house, our real lives intrude. I’ve been thinking about how I can help Faye with the gardens without it costing a lot, and you’ve been calling your dad. I counted at least seven calls in four hours.”

Jake took a step back, releasing the grip on her shoulder. She rotated the shoulder he’d been touching, then smoothed it a couple times with her palm. “Thanks, that was a real burner.”

“I’ve had a lot of worries with my father in the last few years. He used to be a crackerjack, but now—”

“But you make him sound like an invalid, Jake, and I can’t let go of my work ethic long enough to spend a day away. How will we manage a relationship this way?”

“It’s a step in the right direction to hear you admit we’re in a relationship.”

She grinned. “I want one with you. I just don’t believe long distance can work for people.”

“Another thing we agree on.” But the invalid comment stung. He hadn’t been treating his father like an invalid. Jed needed him. “A man’s supposed to be responsible and dependable and be there when his family needs him.”

“And that’s one of the things I like best about you, Jake. You’re rock solid.”

He nodded, pumped that he finally had her admitting she wanted a relationship and had noticed some of the things he took pride in. “So, if you were looking at us from a distance, what story would you come up with at first glance?”

Her lips tilted upward in a come-hither look that rocked his foundation. “Looking at us from a stranger’s point of view, I’d say we could barely keep our hands off each other. That we were in the first blush of sexual heat but quickly moving into real intimacy. That we wanted to share the important things about ourselves.”

“So we’re in the getting-to-know-you stage.” He nodded, happy enough. “And after a little more study?”

Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she considered. When she spoke, it was with consideration of each word. “I’d say we were trying to find a way to be together but had a lot of obstacles.”

He had no response but to gather her close and set her head under his chin while he stared up at the cloud-studded sky.

“I looked at the photo album last night. Faye was right—after the formal studio portrait, the photos were of picnics and dances. They used to hold parties outside by the gazebo. I saw a Victrola in the background of one picture. The lawn was strewn with tables and chairs, the tablecloths fluttering in the breeze. What fun they had.”