Firestorm (19 page)

“Your wish is my command. Roll over now. Get more sleep. I shall return before we need to go to your father’s bedside.”

On his way out, Bear stopped by the nursery and dropped a kiss on baby Jamil’s plump cheek. His son resembled his namesake—or maybe that was merely Bear’s imagination. On the way to the salon and while a chatty woman styled his hair, he wondered whether he’d ever see his good friend and cousin, Jamil al Hassan, again.

* * * * *

Jake woke quickly when the alarm went off. Kate’s soft, sweet body warmed him.

He had to get up. If he stayed, they’d be going at it again, and it was time they dressed and joined his family at the hospital.

Hurriedly he shaved. Then, he pulled on clean underwear and jeans before waking Kate.

“We need to hurry,” he said as he shook her gently. “The Old Man’s surgery is at ten.”

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“Oh. You should have gotten me up earlier,” Kate protested as she sleepily eyed his state of partial dress.

“I thought you could catch a few more minutes’ sleep while I shaved.” He grinned at the belated modesty she displayed, draping the top sheet around her like a toga.

“I can still see those pert, pink nipples beading up under that armor,” he said. “And I feel something else getting hard.”

She glanced down at his crotch, then drew the sheet tighter as though it was medieval armor. “Oh.”

When she looked at him, she blushed. She wanted him, too. And his cock didn’t give a damn that they had to be at the hospital in an hour.

“Better hurry or we won’t have time to stop for breakfast.” Especially if she enticed him back into bed.

“Will everyone be at the hospital this morning?” Kate asked a few minutes later as she slipped on a clingy dress that matched her eyes over mouth-watering scraps of lace that passed for underwear.

“What? Oh, yeah.”

It was hard as hell to think when they were alone in his bedroom, within spitting distance of a mighty inviting looking bed.

His mouth watered and his cock was hard as stone. And he hadn’t even touched her. All he’d done was ogle the lacy garter belt that ringed her tiny waist, its thin suspenders framing pale, translucent silk that barely veiled her pussy. He couldn't help drooling over her ass, either. It was plump and enticingly bare, with a skinny line disappearing between her cheeks and pointing right at where he wanted to be.

Somebody ought to outlaw those g-string panties. And tight jeans, too, he decided when his began to strangle his balls. Damn it, he’d be thinking about getting in her pussy all day long now, and he wouldn't be able to do a thing about it.

That was a goddamn painful prospect. Jake swore under his breath.

“What’s wrong?”

“This.” He unzipped his jeans and shoved them down far enough to free his throbbing cock. “It hurts, and it’s all your fault. Come here and help me fix it,” he ordered as he grabbed a rubber and rolled it on.

When she did, he lifted her. “Wrap your arms and legs around me and let me fuck you,” he whispered, bunching her skirt up out of the way and nudging her G-string to the side with his cock head before slamming her hot dripping hole onto him all the way to his aching balls.

He had her backed against a wall, her legs spread wide and locked around his narrow waist. Impaled on his huge, hot penis, she couldn’t move.

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She was helpless but not afraid. Helplessly enthralled with the way he rammed her like a piston, hard and deep, over and over. Each upward thrust opened her further, brushed her swollen clitoris, and made her grip him harder.

His lips came down on her mouth, forced it open for his marauding tongue.

“Come for me, honey,” he gasped when he broke the kiss, throwing his head back and fucking her harder, faster than before. “Oh, God. I can’t—”

She felt it coming, that sensation that started in her clit and made her vaginal muscles contract around his pulsating sex. “Don’t stop. Jake…”

“Yesss.” His head braced next to hers against the wall, he held her there for a long time before lifting her off his still-rigid penis and setting her down on her own wobbly legs.

“How was that for a quickie?” he asked, tossing away the condom and stuffing himself back into his jeans.

“Good. Really good.” Her cheeks burned when she met his hot gaze.

“Yeah. Slam-bam, thank you, ma’am, but I’m glad it was good for you, too. We’ll take care of the preliminaries later, when we’ve got more time. Meanwhile, we’d better get going.” Jake handed Kate her purse and practically dragged her out of his condo.

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Chapter Nine

Jake’s family had gathered in the sitting room of his father's hospital suite. They were lucky to have each other for support at a time like this, Kate thought as she recalled her lonely vigil by Pop’s deathbed. She and Jake stood in the doorway for a moment before joining them.

“Is Jacob ready for his ordeal?” Bear asked.

Closing the door to the sickroom, Deb turned to Bear and nodded. “Mother’s sitting with him, but he’s already asleep. The nurse gave him a shot about half an hour ago.

You all may as well make yourselves comfortable, since there’s nothing any of us can do now but wait.”

“Jake will be disappointed. I know he wanted to talk with Daddy before they put him to sleep,” Shana commented. “Here, sit with me,” she invited her husband huskily.

“And just how will Jake be disappointed?” Jake asked when he and Kate came in.

He looked around the room, where his sisters and Bear had apparently settled in to wait for the Old Man to have his operation. “Can I go in and see Dad?”

“Daddy’s already asleep,” Deb said quietly, standing and walking into Jake's embrace. “Mother’s with him.”

Extricating himself from his eldest sister's arms, Jake bent to brush his lips briefly across Leah’s cheek. “You gonna forgive me for forgetting your birthday last week?” he asked, obviously teasing.

“Of course not.” Leah smiled, but her voice sounded strained.

“Hey, I’ll send out for something now if it’ll make you smile. How about a pound of your favorite chocolates?”

Jake was a totally different person around his sisters than he was with her, teasing and cajoling and free at showing his affection. Kate wondered if he would ever act so at ease with her—or any other woman who might be sharing his bed.

Her heart ached. Jake’s family might want him to find a woman to love, but he made it very clear that his heart would stay under lock and key. She forced sadness aside when Jake stepped back to her and wrapped a muscular arm around her waist.

When they sat on the other sofa and he held onto her as if she were his lifeline, she did her best to ease his worries.

* * * * *

Kate looked around the room. Over two hours ago, the orderlies had taken Jake’s father off to surgery. For a while, everyone had chatted aimlessly, as if to ward off Ann Jacobs

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feelings of unease. Then Jake and Scott had gone into a huddle at a desk in the corner of the room, where they were still going over some papers Scott had brought with him.

Ben had joined them a few minutes ago, and his tentative smile and slightly aloof demeanor reminded Kate again of the man she had almost married. She watched him greet Leah, his manner exuding gentle concern.

Jake’s mother had opted to wait with them rather than in a crowded surgical waiting room. Obviously nervous, the older woman smiled as she twisted a lace handkerchief around in her well-manicured hands. Shana sat beside her, obviously offering what comfort she could.

Kate’s heart went out to Adele, for she could imagine how helpless she’d feel if it were Jake lying helpless under a surgeon’s knife.

“What did you say?” Kate asked, brought out of her thoughts by a deep, quiet voice. She looked up and saw Bear standing in front of her, two crystal glasses in his hand.

“Would you like a drink?” he repeated, holding out one of the icy glasses.

“Nothing alcoholic, thank you.” She’d already turned down offers of various alcoholic beverages from Deb and Ben.

“Jake said you wouldn’t want hard liquor, so I fixed fruit drinks for us. I don't drink alcohol, either.”

Kate realized when Bear smiled how easily a woman could fall in love with him.

“Thank you,” she said as she took the drink from his large, nicely shaped hand.

“It’s not that I don’t drink. It’s that I can’t drink much and still function.”

“Don’t let me make you nervous, little one. Shana would kill me if she thought I’d scared you off from her baby brother.”

Kate's cheeks burned. She hadn’t realized her surprise at meeting Bear had been so obvious. “You won’t. Jake hadn’t told me…”

“Don’t be embarrassed. Shock is a natural reaction, one I encounter here often outside the haven of Shana’s family. When people’s reactions are especially vehement, I remind myself that Shana faces the same age-old prejudice when we are with my people.”

Bear’s hawk-like features gave him a fierce look, but they didn’t negate Kate’s feeling that this was a kind, caring man. She saw decency and compassion in his eyes and in the softly upturned corners of his lips. Not to mention that he obviously was one sexy sheikh, at least to his beautiful wife.

He wasn’t wearing the
ghutra
today, and his hair had been cut into a style that was definitely western. In boots and indigo jeans, with a plaid western shirt he’d left open at the neck, Bear looked a lot like Jake.

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She glanced over toward Jake and Scott, then smiled at Ben, who had taken Ruthie from Leah and was patiently lulling the toddler to sleep in his arms. It didn’t escape her attention that Scott glanced Deb’s way frequently, apparently concerned about how she was holding up under the strain of waiting.

In their own very different ways, Kate decided, each of Jake's brothers-in-law demonstrated deep love for their wives.

She turned back to Bear. “Thank you for the drink. Bear, I’m sorry if I was rude last night. It just surprised me to see Jake’s sister with…”

“With an Arab? It surprised my father more to see me with Shana when I first brought her home. Over the years, though, he has come to love her as much as I do.”

Bear grinned. “He has even accepted that I will take no other wives, and that Shana is more than enough woman to keep me happy.”

“J-Jake said you don't keep a harem.”

“No. I don't. This is not entirely because of Shana. Before I married her—before I even knew her, I had decided that one woman would be enough for me. Not many Muslim men keep harems or take more than one wife anymore. When Jake brings you to visit us in Kuwait, you'll learn that most of us are actually quite modern and Western in our outlook.”

Kate smiled. Bear and Shana were way off-base if they thought his being an Arab would scare her away from Jake. She loved him desperately. She wanted nothing more than to be his wife, make a home for him and bear his children.

He could have a relative who was a convicted ax murderer, and it wouldn’t change the way she felt. If only Jake would return her love.

Too bad that was such a big “if only.”

Ruthie stirred in Ben’s arms, making Kate think about Bear and Kate’s children and wonder where they were today. “You’re the only ones who left your children home,”

she commented.

“Yasmin and Selena were tired from the long trip, and Jamil has an annoying tendency to bellow when he doesn’t get his way. My daughters argued with each other and my son howled the entire time we were here with Jacob last night, so we decided it would be less stressful on everybody if we left all of them at the condo with their nanny.” Bear shrugged, but Kate saw the love and pride shining in his eyes.

“What beautiful names for your beautiful children. I’ve never heard the name Jamil before. What does it mean?”

“Handsome.” Bear shook his head as if admitting that embarrassed him. “But we didn’t name him that because we thought he was a pretty baby. He bears the name of my cousin, Jamil al Hassan, whose plane went down in Iraq during the Gulf War.

Though we have expended every possible effort, we have not been able to learn whether he is alive or dead.”

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“That must be awful, not knowing.”

“Yes. It is. We pray daily for his safe return, though hope dims every day when we receive no word from him.”

They chatted easily, as though they’d known each other for years. Kate had no trouble seeing why Shana had fallen in love with her sheikh, or why Jake considered Bear his friend as well as his brother.

“The doctor is here,” Bear said suddenly, leaving Kate and hurrying to Shana’s side.

Kate stayed in the background, moving into the crowd of anxious relatives only when Jake came over and growled that he wanted her with him. Massaging his sweaty palm with her thumb, she stood with the others and listened to the surgeon’s verdict.

* * * * *

“What did the doctor mean?” Adele looked first toward Jake, then turned to Ben when Jake told her he didn’t know.

Kate watched Leah’s husband. It seemed he hesitated, as though choosing his words carefully. Jake’s palm was damp in hers, and from the almost painful way he gripped her hand, she sensed his anxiety.

“Dr. Cohen meant the surgery went well, but that Jacob will have to retire. His heart can’t stand the kind of stress that running a company like GreenTex must create.

Will Jacob’s retirement be such a tragedy?” Ben asked. “He’s years beyond the age when men usually want to sit back and relax.”

Kate watched him put his arm protectively around Leah's distended waist.

“Scott. Jake. What will happen with the company?” Adele's troubled gaze shifted from her blond son-in-law to her youngest child.

“GreenTex will go on as it always has,” Jake assured his mother. “Let’s worry for now about getting Dad well.”

“Will you finally stay home and take your rightful place in the company now, the way Jacob has always wanted you to?” Adele asked, her expression intense.