Firestorm (5 page)

One minute he’d come across as selfish and unfeeling. Then, before she could bring herself to dislike him, he'd say or do something that revealed a deep-down basic goodness.

Every once in a while, a look of pain would cloud his expression, giving her a fleeting sense of his vulnerability. She recalled him mentioning a divorce, and she wondered what kind of woman had let Jake Green slip through her fingers.

When she glanced up at the band platform a few minutes later and saw him looking straight at her, she sensed this song would be for her. He’d just done an upbeat version of “Take It Easy,” and his deep, mellow voice had teased her senses, made her feel every nuance of longing for home that the long distance trucker in the song must have experienced.

Jake turned to Mel and said something before picking up the microphone. Caught in a magic spell, Kate barely heard the slow cadence of the melody.

In the shadowed lounge, muted spotlights lit his face. The passion in his gaze made her blush. And the lyrics—Kate pretended Jake had written them just for her.

While he sang of making love, sharing more than an affair, she imagined them alone together, him touching her with his callused hands—his expressive mouth—his Ann Jacobs

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big, hard body. Caught up in her fantasy, she was sorry when the song was done and he stepped down from the stage.

“Well?” he asked, bending down and brushing a lock of hair back from her cheek.

“You're good. Really good.”

His touch warmed her, and she had to restrain herself from covering his hand with hers to prolong the tingly sensation that radiated through her body. It was as if he transformed her with his presence, changed her from the shy, gentle woman she'd always been into a sensual being who could meet all his unspoken demands.

“Thanks. Let's dance.” Smiling, he held his other hand out to her to help her from the chair.

And the fantasy went on.

Kate knew she should stop dreaming. Hold onto her sanity. Jake Green was way, way out of her league.

Big city, big money, big chip on his shoulder.

But there was no way Kate could stop herself from drifting into his arms.

She rested her head on his broad shoulder, molding her body tightly to his tough, powerful frame. The feel of his hard, work-toughened body stoked the fire in her soul.

While the music played, she savored her sensual awakening.

“Honey.” His voice was as sweet and languid as the casual endearment he used so often.

She tilted her head back. The blatantly carnal look on his face almost took away her power of speech.

“What?” Her voice was little more than a croak.

“I want you. Let's get out of here before I do something that will get us both arrested.”

He nuzzled her cheek, bathed her skin with the moist warmth of his breath.

Unresisting, she followed him to their table and picked up her purse while he tossed down some bills.

She loved the feel of his hard-muscled arm around her waist. And when he took her in his arms and pressed her against the car door, she forgot to breathe. The searing hardness of him ground into her belly, setting her afire.

God, she wanted him.

But she was afraid of him and of herself, of the fiery passion within her that he so easily awakened.

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* * * * *

She's scared.

The realization hit Jake as he was closing the car door. Kate had trembled when he’d ground his erection into the inviting softness of her belly. And the timid way she’d met his marauding tongue spoke of more than shyness.

It damned well shouted innocence.

He groaned, shifting in his seat to accommodate his swollen cock. He might be a cold bastard, but he couldn’t slake his lust on someone so blatantly unsophisticated.

Not when Kate could have no place in his life beyond a few nights of mutual pleasure.

The Porsche’s powerful engine roared to life when he turned the key in the ignition.

Within minutes they were speeding down the highway.

“Where are we going?” Kate's voice sounded different, huskier and more inviting even than her gentle touch on his arm.

“I'm taking you home,” he said through clenched teeth.

“B-but I thought…”

“I know, honey. I thought so too. But you're obviously not a woman who's into one-night stands. And I've got nothing more to offer. I don't want to use you and leave you.

So I'm backing off.”

“Oh.” Kate sounded disappointed.

His cock was disappointed, too.

Too bad. No matter how much Jake wanted her, there was no way he'd risk coming to care deeply for Kate or any other woman. Not after the painful lessons Alice had inflicted on him about women and their treachery.

But Jake wouldn’t knowingly do anything that would cause Kate pain. His conscience wouldn't let him.

As he drove along the darkened highway lined with tall, spindly pine trees, he tried to curb the desire she’d roused in him so easily with just a word, a simple touch. It had to be horniness born of long deprivation.

The comfortable feeling of rightness he had when he was with her could be nothing but a painful illusion.

* * * * *

For a few hours the other night, while they’d talked and danced and got as close as she figured a man and a woman could while they still had on their clothes, Kate had let her feelings lead her.

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But Jake had shattered those fledgling dreams before they had a chance to grow.

The fire he’d set inside her still burned so hot that she could barely function. Her trip to the grocery store this morning, necessary as it was to replenish her empty larder, had intruded on the persistent tingling longings that were half pleasure, half torture.

Mechanically, she emptied the bags of groceries onto the kitchen table. Pouring herself a glass of cola, she took it with her and went upstairs to brood.

What was wrong with her?

She’d practically thrown herself at Jake—no, she’d definitely done her damnedest to seduce him.

Too bad it hadn’t worked.

When he’d backed off and headed for home, Kate had nearly bitten her tongue off to keep from begging him to stop at one of the motels they passed along the highway.

She still wanted to go to him now, beg him to fulfill the promise in his kisses. Her nipples still tingled when she remembered how they’d felt, pressed into the hard muscles of his chest.

When every cell in her body was calling out for Jake like this, innocence seemed highly overrated. She couldn’t help imagining how it would feel to experience all the mind-boggling sensations she’d read about. The glow romance heroines always seemed to have after their heroes claimed their bodies the way Jake had already laid claim to her senses.

Sitting beside the window, Kate tried not to look toward the drilling site. Instead, she picked up a small framed picture and tried to summon up the pangs of regret that looking at David’s solemn image always evoked.

But her mind was so full of Jake, she could hardly recall why she had ever fallen in love with David. His quiet, self-assured manner had soothed her, but he never had coaxed tingly, frantic sexual arousal from her the way Jake did without even trying.

He’d never had her hot and wet between her legs from wanting him.

She hadn’t been panting to share David’s bed even after dating him for six months and accepting his engagement ring. Kate imagined their lovemaking would have been peaceful and restrained. Boring.

Nothing remotely resembling what she imagined sex would be like with a man like Jake.

David would have made a good father for their children, though. Tears welled up in Kate’s eyes, for all she’d ever wanted had been a home and family of her own. David had fit her picture of the perfect dad, but his love for her hadn't been strong enough to encompass her ailing father.

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She wiped away her tears. It hadn’t taken her much soul-searching before she’d said goodbye to David and come home to care for Pop. Her decision wouldn’t have been nearly as easy if David had ever aroused her senses the way Jake Green did.

“Why didn't you make me want you?” she asked his silent image. “I loved you for your intelligence, for your kindness. You'd have been a good husband, a good father, and a wonderful companion. I’m sure you’d have been a gentle lover, too. But your kisses never made me want more. You never showed me there could be fire.”

Kate set the picture down and turned, drawn irrevocably toward the towering derrick, toward the tall, dark stranger whose image seared her soul.

Jake wasn’t the kind of man to settle down. She should be grateful he had the decency to bring her home and turn down what she’d so freely offered.

Never before in her twenty-eight years had Kate ached for a man. Not even the man she'd once planned to marry.

But she ached for Jake.

She straightened her shoulders. She had to get over this obsession and stop wanting a man who’d told her straight out they had no future together. Forcing herself not to stare out the window, she focused instead on the patterned quilt on her bed.

When the phone rang, she answered it eagerly, anxious for the momentary distraction from fantasizing about Jake.

“Hello…oh, hi, Becky. How's Stan? And the kids?” Kate listened while her friend gave a nonstop report on her family's activities.

“Where were you Sunday? We'd all gone out for a ride and we stopped by your house. The fellow in charge down at your oil well said you and some boss from GreenTex had gone to celebrate the well's coming in.”

Kate held the phone away from her ear. When Becky was excited, her tone of voice got shrill. Someday Becky was going to rupture somebody’s eardrum.

“Calm down,” she said as soon as she dared bring the receiver back to her ear. “I didn't know you were coming or I'd have stayed home. I just got caught up in the excitement when the well came in. Jake Green and I drove over to Hattiesburg to a bar and grill close to the university. He’s one of the owners of the oil company that bought the leases.”

“Ooh. I like his name. Do you like him? Is he nice?” Becky's tone had lightened, but Kate was fairly certain her curiosity hadn't abated.

“‘Nice’ is not a word I'd apply to Jake. He’s obviously well-educated and well-heeled, but he's as tough as you'd expect any roughneck to be.” Heat came to Kate’s cheeks when she recalled just how willing she had been for that particular roughneck to haul her off to the nearest motel. “He's fun to be with. Jake is—well, I guess cynical’s the right word. Of course, he's worried about that explosion I told you about—he thinks Ann Jacobs

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it's sabotage. And I get the feeling he isn’t comfortable, having to be here. But he's not
all
tough.”

“Hey, I'm happy for you. You should get out more, meet more people. It's dumb for you to stay out there in the middle of nowhere. I know you had to take care of your pop, but he's gone now. It's time for you to start living.”

“I know. But Jake already said he wasn't interested in any more than a one-night stand.”

“He's not married, is he?” Becky sounded concerned.

“Divorced.” Kate shut up abruptly. She’d already told her friend enough to keep her speculating for weeks.

“So? Look at Frank and Gilda. He was married before, and they’re as happy as any couple I know. I hope you told him where to go, though, when he mentioned a one-night stand.”

“No. I didn't.” Kate wasn’t about to admit to Becky that it was Jake who’d backed off, not she. “He was being honest. Anyhow, I doubt I'll see him again except about the well.”

It hurt to realize Jake was only a stranger who had briefly touched her life. In spite of the fact that he had made his feelings crystal clear, Kate craved him the way she imagined an alcoholic pined for his liquor.

“I'm sorry I missed you Sunday. Give the kids a hug for me. I’ve got to go.” Kate needed to end the conversation before she broke down and cried.

When she hung up, she stared out the window at the place five generations of her family had called home. The place Pop had begged her never to let go.

He’d die again if he knew she was on fire for a stranger whose traditions were rooted far away from Groveland, Mississippi.

Kate tried to picture her father, but the image that came to mind was a hard-hewn body with the face of a dark angel, eyes that twinkled with amusement one moment before becoming shadowed with emotions from someplace deep inside him where she couldn't reach.

Going back to the window to stare at the drilling site, she let herself hope for a glimpse of Jake.

This yearning was insane. Kate could tell herself that, but knowing didn’t erase the feelings that had begun the moment she’d seen him from a distance.

She craved the solid thump of his heartbeat beneath her hands, the spicy smell of his aftershave. The sight of hard muscles rippling in his arms and shoulders and the velvety feel of his tongue stroking hers. Even if it was only for one day or one hour, she wanted to enjoy the sensual feast she sensed this man could bring her.

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What is that man doing?

Seeing a stranger sprinting out of the barn and down her driveway shocked Kate back into reality. Before she could get a good look at him, though, she noticed flames licking hungrily around the empty stable.

For a moment, she was too stunned to move. Then she bounded outside toward the burning building where some men from the oil well crew were working frantically to put out the burgeoning fire.

Standing back so she wouldn't hamper the men's efforts, she searched each sooty face. Finally she glanced down the hill. She needed Jake to help her cope. Heeding that desperate need, she took off running toward the well. But he wasn't there.

* * * * *

Not caring at the moment whether Blake thought he was enjoying a tantrum much like one of his nieces might throw, Jake slammed his briefcase onto the small back seat of the Porsche.