Bursting With Love (15 page)

“Hi. I got your message,” she said.

Jack’s eyes darted around the room. He didn’t know what to say. He just knew that he needed to see her, to be with her. “Sorry I rambled.”

“I like rambling. How are you?”

He heard the smile in her voice, and his heart soared. “Good. A little better, even. Savannah, can I see you?” He didn’t mean to be so blunt, or to say it so forcefully, but he had no control when it came to Savannah. Her allure was too strong.

“I thought you had to deal with your life.”

Jack paced. “I am.”

“In a day?”

He pictured her arching her perfectly manicured eyebrows, and it made him smile. “I didn’t say I was healed. I said I was dealing with it. Savannah, I can’t stop thinking about you.”

She lowered her voice to a seductive cadence. “That’s because we did all those dirty things, and it’d been so long since—”

“No, Savannah, it’s not, so you can just stop right there. I’ve never been a guy who gets off on sleeping around, and that part of me hasn’t suddenly changed. There have been plenty of women who tried to bed me. It doesn’t take much to find a person to fool around with if you want to.”

“To
bed
you?” She laughed, but Jack could tell she didn’t think it was funny.

“You’re so frustrating. You know what I mean. There have been opportunities, and if that’s all I was looking for—hell, if I’d been
looking
at all—I’d have hooked up with them, but I wasn’t looking.”

“Are you now, Jack?” Savannah asked.

The question threw him for a loop, and before he could configure an answer, honesty slipped from his lips. “No, I wasn’t looking then and I’m not now. Jesus, Savannah. I have no idea why or how you got to me, but you did, and that’s something, isn’t it?”
Isn’t it?
Or was he so out of touch with his emotions that he didn’t even know what was real anymore?

“I wasn’t looking either, Jack.”

He shook his head and covered his eyes as a different type of tears filled his eyes.
What the hell is wrong with me?
Jack’s stone-faced facade cracked, and he didn’t know how to handle it. He lowered himself onto a chair, and with a shaky voice, he said, “You weren’t looking, and you called back. I couldn’t stay away. Maybe we were fated to meet.”

“Fated,” Savannah whispered.

“I want to see you.”

Her voice took a seductive turn. “I want to see you, too.”

“Forgive me for being lame, but it’s been a long time since I’ve done anything like this.”

“Called a woman?”

“Well, yes, that too, but I was thinking more along the lines of even setting up a date.” Jack sat up straighter. With Savannah, even the most uncomfortable things were easier to handle.

“A date? Like, a Friday-night-date type of thing?”

The idea of waiting that long to see her was torture. “It’s only Tuesday.”

“Where are you?” she asked.

“Home.” The word resonated in a way that it hadn’t in a very long time. “Bedford Corners.” Jack rose to his feet, and four determined strides later, he had his keys in his hand. “An hour ten away if I go fast.” He stood with his phone in one hand, the keys and the doorknob in the other, while he waited for her answer.

 “Go fast.”

SAVANNAH HAD NEVER been so nervous in her life. She pressed her palms against the window and stared into the darkness, watching the street below. There were so many butterflies in her stomach she was afraid they’d fly out of her mouth if she tried to speak. She’d showered and changed her clothes five times, finally deciding on a pair of designer jeans and a black, sleeveless V-neck blouse.

The roar of a motorcycle engine crawled down the street below, sending a thrill right through her. She watched as the driver maneuvered the bike into a parking spot, and she scanned the street for another open space for Jack. The driver’s powerful arms clutched the handlebar, and as he turned to look behind him, Savannah caught a clear view of his broad, muscular back, and her eyes dropped to the familiar sexy vee of his waist.
Jack
. She gasped a breath.
A motorcycle? That’s so hot.
His powerful thighs clenched the bike. The same powerful legs that had held her up in the stream and rubbed against her thighs at the boulder. She watched him climb from the bike and remove the helmet, then shake his thick hair free. She turned away from the window, her body humming with anticipation.

A few minutes later, Savannah opened the door. Jack’s broad shoulders filled the doorframe. His legs were planted hip distance apart, straining against his Levi’s. In one hand, he held his black helmet, and the other arced out from his side, the veins in his biceps ripe from the ride over. On the mountain, there was nothing to give perspective to Jack’s size. Now, with his head nearly hitting the doorframe, he seemed much taller. A smile lifted the edge of his lips as he took a step forward, and his free hand engulfed the curve of her hip.

“Hi,” he whispered as he leaned down to kiss her.

One word from his smooth, rich voice was all it took to steal her breath and any chance she had at making small talk. The rough stubble of his cheek brushed against her face, and the combination of his soft kiss and the rough scratch sent her heart racing.

He closed the door behind him, and Savannah took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, trying to regain her composure. He smelled clean and earthy, a smell she’d come to think of as simply
Jack
.

“How was your ride over?” Savannah said, to stop herself from saying,
Kiss me again. Please kiss me again.

“Too long.” Jack didn’t smile. He didn’t move toward her or even look for a place to set his helmet.

He locked his eyes on her, and it was Savannah who took a step forward, placed one hand on the waist of his pants, and curled her fingers around his leather belt. She placed her other hand on his shoulder and stood on her tiptoes, but still the distance between them was too great. Jack met her halfway, settling his lips over hers. His lips were tender, his breath minty. Every swipe of his tongue was sensuous, erotic. He pulled back long enough to set his helmet on an end table, then pulled her to him once again in a long, delicious kiss. Savannah’s knees weakened and, as if he’d felt the shift in her energy, Jack pressed her to him with one large hand on the center of her back, while the other found the back of her neck as he had the first time they’d kissed. Being enveloped by his strength while he loved her mouth was so sumptuous that a needy moan slipped from her lungs into his. He drew back, and Savannah gasped—not for air, but for him to return to her.

“I’m sorry. I can’t seem to stop kissing you.” He lowered his mouth to her neck, grazing her with his teeth before stroking the tender spot with his tongue, hard and continuous.

Savannah arched her neck back, and he dug his hands beneath her hair and cupped the back of her head, then brought his lips to hers again.

“Savannah.” Her name was one long, hot breath.

No man had ever taken control of her body with nothing more than a kiss before. She could barely think, much less find the words to respond. Instead, she took his hand and led him down the narrow hallway to her bedroom. She took a step into the room, and he stopped on the other side of the threshold. She reached up and touched the cheek she’d been thinking about all afternoon and felt the tension beneath her palm.

“Jack?” she whispered.

His eyes caught hers with an ardent stare, but Savannah felt something else coming from him like a wave—nervousness, fear, sadness? She couldn’t be sure.

“Your bedroom.” He looked down at her and swallowed. “Savannah, I’m not sure I can go in there. I don’t trust myself.”

“Jack, I think we’re past that. I know it’s been a long time since you’ve been with a woman, but when a woman asks you into her bedroom, you don’t need to trust yourself.”

“That’s not what I mean.” He pulled her close and brushed her hair from her shoulder. “I haven’t even slept in a real bedroom for ages, much less been with a woman in one. I’m not sure if any weird stuff will go through my head. Savannah, I’m sorry. I know that this must sound strange coming from a man, but I’m just on the brink of dealing with everything, and I want to be close to you more than I want to breathe, but I don’t want to risk my past sneaking in.”

She wondered, briefly, if Linda’s ghost would always be between them. Then guilt swooped in, trailed by Danica’s advice.
If Jack turns out not to be ready—and there’s a hell of a chance that he’s not—then what have you lost?
She knew the risks. Jack was still bathing her with his dark eyes. The worry and want in his eyes coalesced, drawing Savannah closer. She realized that she wanted any amount of time she could have with him. An hour, a day, a week. Self-preservation stopped her from thinking any further into the future.

“I probably shouldn’t have come, but I couldn’t imagine another second without seeing you,” he said.

“Don’t be silly.” She led him back to the living room. “I have a glorious sleep sofa that has never been opened. It’ll be new for you and me. We can make our own memories.” There was no way she was going to wait another day to be next to him again, and from the way his eyes followed her as she crossed the floor and turned off the lights, then lit candles on the dining room table and on the windowsill, she could tell that he didn’t want to wait either. Jack pulled out the couch, and Savannah dressed it with the decadent satin sheets Josh had given her the previous Christmas. At the time, she’d thought they were a ridiculously lavish purchase that she’d never use. Now she couldn’t wait to feel the silky softness against her skin when she was beneath Jack’s hard body.

MOONLIGHT STREAMED THROUGH the window and danced off of the flame, casting a romantic flicker of shadows across the luxurious sheets. Jack had never wanted any woman the way he wanted Savannah, and as he watched her come to his side, then felt her feminine fingers slip beneath his shirt and across his abs, he thought he might lose it from just her touch. He had to taste her again, had to feel those sweet lips on his, and he lowered his mouth to hers. He’d almost forgotten how good it felt to kiss a woman, and as he learned the contours of Savannah’s mouth, it was as if no other woman had ever existed. His eyes blinked open at the thought, and he drew back. Savannah’s lips were ripe from their kiss; her eyes filled with desire.

This is right. So very right
.

Savannah reached for his belt buckle, and he grabbed her hand. “Not yet. I don’t want to rush. I want to savor every second with you.”

Her eyes opened wide, then narrowed as a smile lifted her lips. He ran his hands along her silky shoulders. “God, you feel good.”

She flushed, and he kissed the rosy blush on her cheek, then trailed kisses down her jaw to the spot just below her ear. He nibbled her earlobe, and she breathed heavier, held him tighter. When his lips found the gentle curve at the base of her neck and she arched her head back again—God, how he loved when she did that—pressing her breasts against him, every ounce of him wanted to rip off her clothes and take her right there and then. But Jack’s interest in Savannah ran deeper than sex, and he planned on showing her just how much deeper.

He slipped his finger beneath the straps of her blouse and slid them down her arms to the crook of her elbow, exposing her firm, round breasts. He lifted her chin and kissed away the new flush that had risen.

“You’re beautiful.” The rosy pink of her nipples teased him, and he had no choice but to lower his mouth to her breast and stroke her taut peak with his tongue. Her flesh pebbled beneath his tongue, and she let out a breathy sigh of pleasure. Jack had to have more of her. He cupped both of her breasts and brought them together, then ran his tongue from one to the other. Her fingers slid under the back of his shirt and dug into his back, spurring him on. There were so many things he wanted to do with her that he’d never done with anyone else. As he unbuttoned Savannah’s jeans, then pushed his hand down to her belly, he ran his finger over the Band-Aid sized patch. She had him completely losing his mind, and knowing she’d taken care of things for both of them made her all that much sweeter.

“Birth control pat—” she whispered.

“I know.” He settled his teeth on her neck and kissed her roughly, then pushed his hand lower to her bare pubic area. She licked her lower lip, and all sorts of sexual thoughts ran through his mind. Thoughts he’d never had with any other woman. He wanted to experience every inch of Savannah’s body in every way he could, and he wanted her to do the same with him.

He took her in a deep, rough kiss and curled his finger against her wetness. She was so hot and ready that he had to stifle the urge to come undone. The friction of her jeans against his hand and the pulse of her insides urging him deeper set him in motion. In one swift move, he pulled her jeans down to her ankles and she stepped from them; then he ripped her shirt over her head, knowing that his hunger showed in his hard stare and in his raging cock, trapped beneath his jeans.

Savannah fumbled with his belt, and again he held her wrist and shook his head. If he had any hopes of lasting, he had to take his fill in other ways first and bring her to the heights she deserved. He set her on the edge of the mattress and laid her down, then used his feet to spread her legs apart so he fit between as he came down upon her.

“Let me cherish you.” The huskiness of his own voice surprised him, and he buried the surprise in another kiss. He could kiss her all night and never tire of it. She kissed him eagerly, plunging her tongue against his, then taking his lower lip in her teeth and pulling back gently. “You’re gonna make me come just by doing that.”

Savannah licked her lips, and he groaned again. When had he become so greedy? He moved down her body, licking the crest of her breasts, groping the perfect dip of her waist, and finally, he grabbed the tender curve of her hips and slid her farther up on the bed.
Go slow
.
Slow, slow, slow
. She pushed his shoulders, urging him lower. She was so open to him that it filled his heart, and as he dragged his tongue in one slow swipe, tasting the sweetness between her thighs, he wanted nothing more than to make her feel good all over. She arched toward him. His body trembled with urgency as he licked her again, this time deeper, feeling her gentle pulses of excitement against his tongue. The throbbing in his jeans sent his heart racing faster and faster. Savannah dug her fingernails in his shoulders, pushing him against the arch of her hips, and every hope he had of going slow fell away. With one last swipe of his tongue, he settled his mouth over her and flicked her sensitive nub with his tongue, then thrust his tongue deep inside, feeling her thighs tighten against him and feeling her body tremble within his grasp. He used one finger to tease her as he lapped at her wetness, then thrust the index finger of his other hand inside of her, soaking it with her heat. She gasped and dug her nails deeper. Jack gritted his teeth against the sharp pain and slid the wet finger beneath her, searching for the only other place he could enter her. He lifted his eyes long enough to see Savannah’s eyes fluttering closed.

“Okay?” His voice shook.

“Yes. God, yes.”

He pushed his fingers into her, rubbing her with his other hand, and continued stroking her with his tongue.

“Jack. Jack. Jack.” Her words came out in long, heady pants.

“Come for me, angel,” he urged. He licked her faster, harder, thrusting his finger in and out as the orgasm enveloped her and she bucked against him. She flung her head from side to side, breathing hard and clenching the sheets in one fist while clawing his shoulder with the other.

“OhGodohGodohGod,” she cried.

Jack wanted to rip off his jeans and thrust himself into her, but she was so beautiful when she came. Her breasts heaved up and down as she rode the crest of her release. A gratified smile lifted her lips as the tension in her legs eased. Jack knew she’d be ten times as sensitive at that very second. He lowered his tongue to her once again, teasing her before grazing her with his teeth.

“Oh God, Jack.” She writhed beneath him, and he felt like the luckiest guy in the world to have been the one to bring her such pleasure as her body convulsed again in another rush of pulses.

A high-pitched cry escaped her lips, and he had to capture it. He pulled his finger out slowly, and as she gasped her disappointment, he was on top of her, his mouth over hers, and she was licking her own juices from his tongue, thrusting her tongue into his mouth with such fervor it made his body shake. Jesus, every sensation with Savannah was heightened, more erotic. Jack wondered what he’d experienced before and realized that whatever it was, it had made him happy at the time. What he had before was good. What he had with Savannah was magnificent.

She grabbed his cheeks. Her eyes flashed open, dark and impassioned. “Take me, Jack. I want you.”

He knew once he started he wouldn’t be able to stop. Every kiss made him want her more. He wanted every tender touch, every taste, and every moment to last forever. None of it was enough. He pushed himself from the bed and unbuckled his belt, then stepped from his jeans and briefs. His formidable erection sprang free, and as he closed his eyes and drew his shirt over his head, he felt Savannah’s slim fingers wrap around him. She stroked him with one hand and cupped his balls with the other. Jack threw his shirt on the floor and looked down at her before his eyes closed against the pleasure of her wet mouth on his hard length. He tangled his hands in her thick hair and let her lead the dance as she took him deeply into her mouth and then drew him out slowly. God, she was killing him, a slow torturous death. He didn’t want to come in her mouth. He wanted to be inside of her. He wanted to be gentle and loving, but every fiber of him ached for release.