Forbidden Fruit (9 page)

“What did you do?”

“Sent the loa away. Most people can’t feel them.”

Wow
. The power she commands awes and terrifies me. “You were right about why we’ve come.”

“I can help,” she tells me. “But it will cost you.”

“Without knowing what you’ll charge, I can’t say whether I’m willing to pay.”

Twila arches a brow, glancing at Jesse. “I like this girl.”

That’s good, right?

“We’re willing to talk terms,” Jesse says. “But not before full disclosure.”

“Then let me spell it out. In return for my aid, Shannon Cheney will come to work for me. People occasionally leave this life without telling me what I need to know. It would help me immeasurably to have someone who can coerce answers from beyond the grave.”

“You can’t?” I ask, before realizing that might sound offensive.

She shakes her head. “My loa can do many things, but they cannot pass to the other side. As I understand, nor can you. Instead, you call the dead back to you.”

That’s a fair assessment. I’m about to agree to her bargain when Jesse presses on my shoulder. “Can we talk in private for a moment?”

“Of course. You have five minutes.” She rises smoothly and steps out of the office, then I hear her moving away.

“You can’t do this, Shan. Your life wouldn’t be your own…Twila will keep you on call twenty-four seven. And she won’t have a reason
not
to kill people. It’ll become more efficient to dispatch her enemies and question them after death. Can you imagine the toll it’ll take on you?”

Not to mention the jump in murder rate. I didn’t think of that, but it makes sense. Twila doesn’t run Texas by being gentle and generous with her rivals. I push out a sigh. “Then I have to turn her down.”

“I think so.”

When she returns, I decline her offer with as much courtesy as I can muster. Whatever she thinks of this, she only inclines her head. “The offer will remain open until the situation is resolved, one way or another.”

Fuck, that sounds ominous.

Once we’re back in the bar, Jesse wraps his arms around me and pulls me close. “Try not to worry. We’ll figure this out. She’s just trying to spook you.”

“It worked,” I whisper.

He rubs my back gently. “I know, honey. Let’s go home.”

Ten

The return trip is much quieter; I don’t feel like joking around. Though it takes a lot to depress me, I can’t shake the feeling that something major’s about to go down—and maybe I would’ve been better off throwing in with Twila, who can protect me, even if she makes me do bad things. Yet I don’t want to be an accomplice in her dark business, either. This would be the classic rock-versus-hard-place dilemma, and I get to be the squishy thing in the middle.

“Hey,” Jesse says, as we exit the highway and drive through the dark Laredo streets toward his apartment. “You know I won’t let anything happen to you, right?”

I feel like saying I understand he’ll do his best to protect me, but there are no guarantees…and I don’t expect him to be my hero. I just want him to be the man in my bed.
Hell
. I’ll eat a quart of ice cream if he makes me sleep on the couch again.

“Thanks,” I manage to reply.

“I know you’re scared. Sad. Confused, too, unless I’m reading you wrong.”

“No, that covers it.”

“What can I do to make it better?”

Despite myself, I grin. “Are you
really
asking me that?”

“Shan. I’m being serious. Sex won’t fix your emotional—”

“Couldn’t hurt. It produces endorphins, you know, and those improve your mood. Doctors have proven that orgasms help with headaches, too.”

“So I can expect you to say
, definitely tonight, baby, I have a headache
?”

“You could stop at
definitely tonight
and you’d be covered.”

It’s easier for me to put aside the bad mood when he’s smiling. My breath hitches a little when his dimple puts in an appearance, creasing his lean cheek. He’s wearing cowboy boots, and I’m discomfited at how hot I find him—from the softly worn chambray shirt to the faded Levi’s, down to those battered boots. He’s all Texas sexy, and I’m incapable of resisting him. To look at me, you’d guess I go for thin, sensitive types with dyed black hair, partial to basements and bad poetry, but no. I’ve never had an eye for pretty emo boys in guyliner.

Jesse parks the car, still amused. He grabs my bag from the back, then comes around to open my door. I follow him up to his apartment, which is even cleaner than the last time I visited. It smells of lemon furniture polish and…air freshener? Yep, there’s a deeper citrus scent circulating.

“Aw, you got me a Glade PlugIn. You shouldn’t have.”

“Anything for you.” He quotes back my words, and I wonder if he means them as fully as I did. My heart clenches a little at the possibility.

“Smooth talker. Is my toothbrush still in the bathroom?”

He draws in a sharp breath, as if he hadn’t thought of it that way before. “Yeah. It’s in the glass next to mine.”

“Then I’ll get changed and wash up.”

There’s no way he can understand how momentous this is. I’m going to take off my makeup
before
he sleeps with me. I’ll sit and talk with him, barefaced. Naked. My heart is pounding so fast as I take my bag from him and head down the hall to the bathroom. I lean against the door, nervous but also excited. If I want everything from him, I must be willing to give it back.

Still, I take my time with my nighttime routine, and it’s hard to work up the courage to step into the hall. With all of the kohl, eyeshadow, lipstick, and foundation removed, I look younger. I hope that doesn’t deter him. I don’t
think
I look like a kid, but he’s not used to seeing me this way, either. He might not want the real me.

Please, want the real me.

Since I own no sexy pajamas, these are simple, a white top with huge blue polka dots, worn with matching shorts. I brush my hair one last time before I exit and head back to the living room. Jesse’s already changed into baggy athletic shorts and a plain gray T-shirt. The soft cotton clings to his chest and shoulders to reveal a lean yet muscular build.

“Come here,” he murmurs.

God, I hope he doesn’t turn on the TV. But I move toward the couch, head down. Jesse startles me by tugging me onto his lap. Well. That’s a good start. Warm hands cradle my cheeks, forcing me to meet his gaze. He skims my face with dark eyes, silently rapt.

Then he whispers, “I had
no idea
you were this beautiful, Shan. No wonder you wear camouflage.”

Heat rockets through me, starting in my chest and working its way down until I’m squirming on his thighs. There’s no way I can survive wanting him this much. I’ll go nova and explode in a cascade of lights, like the umbrella fireworks on the 4
^th
of July. I tuck my face against his shoulder, trembling with the intensity.

“Back home, there was a boy… Funny how clear I remember him when so much else is fuzzy. Late at night, we’d sneak off to the woods. He said he loved me.”

“Sugar, if you think I want to hear this—”

I ignore him because he
needs
to. “We had sex, more than once. I liked it, but I didn’t kid myself that it was anything special.”

“Goddammit.” His voice is a raw ache. “I guess I’m supposed to feel better about fucking you now, knowing I’m not the first? So you’re not untouched, I get it.”

“That’s not the point at all. I’m trying to say,
this
is special. You are. And I’ll never want anyone more than I do you.” That said, I open the floodgates and let him feel…everything, how deep and far my yearning runs. It’s an underground river, racing endlessly toward a sunless sea.

“God help me,” he whispers. “I can’t stop this. Not again.”

“Do you want to?” I’ll
leave
if he feels strongly against it. Seducing him through my own desire is fine, but only as long as he won’t hate me afterward. I want more than one night with Jesse Saldana.

“Not even a little bit.” Abruptly, he shoves to his feet, swinging me up in his arms in the same motion. “You’re coming to my bed tonight, sugar, and if you’re good, I may never let you leave.”

“What if I’m bad?”

“Then you’re
assuredly
not going anywhere.” He growls the reply into my ear.

In ten strides, we’re in his room. Jesse’s bed is made, a striped comforter tucked in around the pillows. He rips it back with impatient hands, then he turns to me. “I want those pajamas off. Now.”

I remember him saying he was gentle and slow, but a hungry wolf shines out of his dark eyes. He’s longed for someone like me, starved even. I don’t need pretty words, flowers, or expensive dinners. I just want to learn the taste and scent of his skin. I want to drown in him.

Deliberately, I strip. Beneath, I’m wearing only simple black panties, but his gaze sharpens. He takes in the body that I know is decent, if not spectacular. Somehow I manage not to cross my arms to shield my breasts. This is where I’ve wanted to be for so long; I won’t back down now.

“Your turn, cowboy.”

I’ve never seen a man shuck his clothes so fast. His shirt goes flying, then he shoves his shorts downward. God, is there anything sexier than a man showing that sweet spot on his pelvis? I love the way his hip curves, slightly concave, with layer of muscle and jut of bone. I could start licking there and work my way to the center.
Mmm.
His underwear shows…everything.
Damn.
I’ve never been this turned on in my life…and he hasn’t even kissed me. Desire washes over me—and Jesse’s head falls back. A groan escapes him. A small damp spot appears on the front of his boxer briefs.

“You could make me come without touching me,” he growls. “But don’t.”

“Then come here.”

In answer, he prowls toward me and shoves me back on the bed. I bounce once, then he’s on top of me. The sudden shock of his heat and weight on me spikes my urgency, and he feels it. I dig my hands into his back as his lips claim mine. It’s a sirocco of a kiss, all heat and irresistible power. He tastes of lime and I, of mint, so our kisses are like mojitos, savored again and again. When he comes up for air, he studies my swollen mouth…and smiles.

“Here’s how it’s gonna be, Shan. You’re gonna take every stroke, one for every time you teased me, each time I went home hungry.”

“Please,” I whisper.

“And I’m going to make you come until you beg me to stop.”

“Won’t happen.” I manage a hint of bravado. “But you’re welcome to try.”

He’s wild with me, just like I knew he could be. There’s no gentleness at the moment, no good manners. Jesse pulls my panties off and then his own briefs. From his night table, he grabs a condom, and though I’d like to put it on him, he tugs my hands away. Tonight, this is definitely his show. I shiver, hard. For good measure, he lifts my arms above my head.

“Lace your fingers together and don’t let go.”

“I’m not allowed to touch you?”

“I told you how it would be…this time.”

Which tells me he’s open to other things, later, but this must be a fantasy of his, one he’s been afraid to explore with anyone else. So I lock my hands and nod. I think he’ll just take me because we’re both so damn hot, but instead he whispers with his fingertips, gliding, stroking, until I arch up off the bed.

“You want me so bad.”

“Fuck, yes.”

“You’re so pretty and slick. Later, I’ll lick you, right here.” A graze of his fingertips drags a moan from me.

“I’ll enjoy that,” I gasp.

I’m panting, but I don’t beg. Need will surely overwhelm him soon. We’ve been fighting this for weeks.

“You know how many nights I yanked my cock, thinking of you?”

“Tell me.”

Instead, he nuzzles and bites a path down my throat, over my breasts, past my belly and onto my thighs. Yeah, he likes using his teeth. When we’ve been together longer, I can see him wanting to leave marks. God, he’s so close; I can feel the heat of his mouth swirling over my hip. My whole body’s trembling now.

“It can’t be more often than I did,” I whisper in an attempt to break him.

And…it works. His control snaps.

Jesse finally fills me in a long, hard thrust. It’s all I can do not to grab on to him, but the restriction on my movement heightens the heat and tension. I can only work my lower body beneath him, so I wrap my legs around his hips. That makes him growl and push faster. Since he was on the edge earlier, I don’t know how he can keep this up. Then he cheats like a bastard and opens himself to me. His lust hammers through me, along with chaotic impressions of how good this is:
so much, more, faster, take, take, claim.
My nails bite into my palms as I come.

And Jesse keeps his promise, somehow. The pleasure loops between us, and I swear he gets off too, but he doesn’t soften. He pushes, grinds, until I’m weak and shivering when he arches into me the last time, his teeth sinking into my shoulder. The pain sparks a soft, weak orgasm, just exhausted flutters. That’s the sign for me to unlace my hands and wrap my arms around him, stroke his back. I’d hold him like this forever, only he rolls away to dispose of the sticky condom.