Fury’s Kiss (14 page)

“If I say stop?”

“Then we stop.” His eyes were sincere, and I knew I could trust him.

“Come here.” I gripped his hips to pull him back against me.

“Touch me,” he ordered, and I reached down to free the hot, heavy length of him. My sports bra disappeared, and he lowered me back down to the sun-warmed boards of the picnic table. I barely noticed the rough, splintery friction of wood against my back. Jackson braced himself over me on his forearms and pressed against my core, teasing me through the damp fabric of my shorts. I arched my back as he bent his head to one taut, aching nipple, and I thrust my hips up to meet his.

“Please,” I moaned, begging him. “Now.” Already, I was so close.

I guided his hand down to cover me and he kneaded my center. I skimmed out of my shorts as he stripped off his jeans. I flashed to Clinton Miller again, but another fierce, uncontrollable wave of desire rolled through me, pushing the memory away. I writhed against Jackson, desperate to feel him inside me, but he held back, teasing me.

I reached down to guide him where I wanted him, running my hand up and down the smooth length of his hard cock.

“Fuck me,” I said shamelessly, looking him in the eye. Instead, he pulled away so he could kneel down and run his tongue over me and I gasped. There were no words for what he was doing to me.

“You taste so fucking good,” he growled against me. He looked up to meet my gaze before swirling his tongue against my clit again, then slid two fingers inside of me, slowly. The internal pressure combined with the heat of his mouth pushed me over the edge and I thrust my hips against him as a hot, almost painful orgasm rushed through me. I fisted my hands in his hair and dragged him up my body.

“Now,” I managed again, breathless.

“Now,” he confirmed. He reached for the jeans he’d discarded and pulled out his wallet to retrieve a condom. He rolled it on and pushed into me, and I bit his shoulder to stifle a scream.

He pulled back and I moaned in protest.

He leaned down to kiss me. “Don’t worry, darlin’. I’m not going anywhere.”

He bent his head to my breasts again and sucked hard on my nipple as he set a fast, hard rhythm. He thrust into me again and again, and with each thrust I rolled my hips up to meet him. When he finally shuddered his climax, I came with him. Spent, I let my muscles relax under the delicious, heavy weight of him as he nuzzled his face against my neck, breathing hard. After a too-short, languid moment, he pushed himself back up on his forearms with an exaggerated groan.

“Am I still alive?” he asked, widening his eyes and looking around in mock surprise.

I laughed. This playful, easy side of Jackson was a pleasant surprise. His face was open and friendly, more relaxed than I would have thought possible and I willed the moment to last. I hoped that when the endorphins faded and his mind turned again to the danger his family was facing, he wouldn’t regret what had happened between us. It would be all too easy for him to chalk our intimacy up to me being some kind of low-rent succubus who’d overwhelmed him with my Furious wiles.

“Get off before you crush me,” I joked, pushing against his shoulder as I tried to keep the mood light. “Where’s that Southern charm?”

Jackson pressed closer, already hard again. “How’s this for Southern charm?” He grinned wickedly.

I opened my mouth to answer him—but let out a shriek instead as a stinging wall of icy water rained down on us. Jackson let out a yell of surprise and released me, and I scrambled off the picnic table to duck behind him, hiding like a teenager caught skinny dipping. I had a sneaking suspicion about where the deluge had come from and I couldn’t have been more ashamed if my own mother had just walked in on us. I peered over Jackson’s shoulder for confirmation, then closed my eyes in silent humiliation.

Peering over the fence, garden hose in hand, was elderly Mrs. Hadley from next door. Barely four-foot-ten and formidable as an old dragon, she must have been standing on something to even see over the edge.

“Tara Walker!” she scolded. “Is this any way for a young lady to act? And a Fury, no less! Where is your sense of responsibility?”

My mouth dropped open. “What did you say?” I squeaked from behind Jackson, trying to hide as much of my nakedness behind his broad form as I could.

“I would expect a bit more decorum from a young woman in your position,” my neighbor muttered righteously under her breath. “With great power comes great responsibility.”

She disappeared to coil her garden hose neatly in place on its caddy, and Jackson and I stared at each other. Was she…quoting Spiderman at me?

“Did she just say what I think she said?”

He shook his head in disbelief and shot me a dark look as he got busy scooping our clothes up off the ground. “Do you have any other surprises I should know about?”

We struggled back into our now damp, disheveled clothing, and as I had feared, the anger was back in his voice. I had no idea how Mrs. Hadley could have known what I was, so I offered the only response I could.

“Um…the plot thickens?”

“And you, young man.” Mrs. Hadley popped back into view and picked up her scolding as though she’d never broken off. “In my day, gentleman callers may have gotten fresh from time to time, but they certainly didn’t disrobe in the backyard. For shame!”

Somehow, Jackson managed to respond to the old woman’s surreal accusations with dignity. He strolled over to the fence and gave her his most charming grin.

“I apologize, ma’am.” He laid the Southern drawl on thick. “You are completely right. My mama would be ashamed. But can I ask how—”

Mrs. Hadley smiled at him, mollified by his apology, but didn’t let him finish his question. “Boys will be boys, I suppose,” she railroaded on. “Why, I can’t say that my Charlie didn’t have a little fire in him when he was a young man. There was a time—”

“Mrs. Hadley, I’m so sorry you saw that.” I joined Jackson at the fence and cut her off. Quickly. I was glad she was sufficiently charmed not to turn the hose on us again, but there were limits. Hearing about what had riled up her dearly departed husband in his younger days was a firm one.

“I’d like to introduce you to my—” I paused awkwardly. He wasn’t really
my
anything.

“I’m Jackson Byrne, ma’am,” he saved me.

“Mrs. Hadley,” I tried again, “did you say
Fury
a minute ago?”

“Tara, dear,” Mrs. Hadley replied, peering at me over the top of her bifocals, “don’t play dumb. It’s not attractive.” Jackson snorted, then tried to disguise it as a cough when I cut my eyes at him. “You’d better just come over for a nice piece of apple crumble,” she continued. “We have a lot to discuss.”

“Mrs. Hadley—” I tried again, but the matter was closed for discussion.

“I’ll see you in a little while, dear,” she said firmly, disappearing from view. “Don’t be long, now.”

Her footsteps faded as she went back inside, certain I would join her next door as ordered. Jackson was practically vibrating by the time she was out of sight, and I hoped he would at least wait until my neighbor was safely indoors before he exploded at me.

Instead, he surprised me by letting out a laugh as soon as we heard Mrs. Hadley’s screen door swing shut.

“That was not funny.” I crossed my arms.

“Sure it was.” He leaned back against the picnic table. “Something about this mess you’ve gotten me into has to be.”

I didn’t care for his insinuation that I’d engineered his involvement in what was happening, but I couldn’t help wanting him again. Somehow, he managed to look sexily rumpled rather than soggy and bedraggled, as I was sure as I did. In spite of my self-consciousness, I stepped forward and slid a hand under the hem of his shirt.

But this time, Jackson gripped my arms to stop me from going any farther. “Look,” he said, growing serious, “I won’t deny there’s something between us, but we can’t do this. Ruby and Nora will be back with your roommates any minute now.”

“Fine. But this something between us? We’re going to have to deal with it sooner or later.”

I pressed my palm against the hard length of him to illustrate my point. He groaned and shifted beneath my hand, then sighed and pulled me in against him. I nestled against the hard muscles of his chest and he stroked my hair. Despite the fact that we’d been naked together just moments ago, this was the first truly intimate moment we’d shared, and I felt vulnerable and raw in a way I hadn’t before.

“What are you?” he whispered in my ear. “I’ve never felt anything like this.”

“I don’t know,” I answered softly. All I really knew was I’d never asked for it, whatever
it
was.

Overwhelmed by the events of the past few days, and by Jackson’s uncharacteristic tenderness, a tear slid down my cheek. He brushed it away with his thumb.

“Shh,” he soothed me.

“I just—” I drew in a shaky breath. “I don’t know what’s happening to me, or what this is between us. Everything’s going to hell around me, but I can’t stop wanting you.”

“Hey, come on.” He tilted my chin up so I had to look at him and his mouth twisted in a half-smile. “You think I have a better idea than you do what this is all about? I can’t keep my hands off some stranger, and I just found out she’s some kind of snake woman, too.”

He rubbed my back gently, comforting me. “It’ll be all right.”

I sniffled and nodded my head against his hard chest, comforted. If he kept it up, I was going to have to rethink my perception of him as a macho, arrogant jerk. Maybe I’d been too quick to judge him back at the Stardust.

His next words proved me wrong.

“We just can’t give in to this…attraction. We need to concentrate on figuring out what’s going on with this Fury thing.”

My heart twisted painfully and I raised my head to look up at him. “What are you saying?”

What happened to him not being able to keep his hands off me?

He leaned away from me now. “What just happened was great, but whatever you think you’re feeling, it isn’t real. This is just physical—pheromones or something, from all the changes you’re going through. Besides, I’m too old for you.”

“It’s more than that,” I insisted. “I can feel it and I know you can, too. And you’re not that much older than me.”

“I’m thirty-two. What are you? Twenty, twenty-one? This was a mistake, and we had no business giving in to…whatever it was.”

“I’m twenty-two,” I murmured sullenly. He couldn’t really believe what was between us was just physical, could he? He’d already admitted to never feeling anything like the connection between us before.

But the playful spark between us was gone. Jackson’s hold on my arms tightened, all gentleness gone now, and he pressed his hard length flush against the part of me that ached to feel him inside again.

“You feel that?” he said roughly. “That’s all there is between us. It’s just something that thing in your head is making you feel. It’s not real.”

“Don’t say that. You said yourself you’ve never felt anything like this.”

He pulled away from me, muscles now taut with anger rather than sexual frustration, and brushed past me toward the house. When he spoke again, it was with his back to me.

“Look, I’ve tried to be nice, but you’re not getting the message. This was fun, but I’m not interested in anything more. I’m not able to give you anything more.”

He went inside and didn’t look back.

My heart twisted again and my stomach clenched painfully. OK, that hurt. More than it should have, considering I’d only known Jackson Byrne for a couple of days. But there was still no way I could fool myself into thinking the sharp, stabbing pain in my chest was anything but what it was. I argued with myself, trying to convince my heart that what I was feeling couldn’t be real. I barely knew him, for God’s sake.

But after seeing that playful, relaxed side of Jackson, the way he cared about Ruby, and the charm he’d displayed in the face of Mrs. Hadley’s mortifying interruption, I knew my feelings for what they were. Somehow, I had developed a serious infatuation for the man. Not to mention the amazing, mind-blowing sex we’d just had. Whether Jackson was willing to admit it or not, there was something between us. Something real.

Angry tears of hurt pride and heartache gathered in the corners of my eyes so I pressed my fingertips to my eyelids and tried to will them away. The girls would be back with Nora and Ruby any minute now, and unless I wanted to answer embarrassing questions from an uncannily perceptive five-year-old, I needed to follow Jackson into the house and get cleaned up.

I heaved a deep sigh and squared my shoulders. It was time to put on my big-girl panties, as Alex would have said, and face whatever was coming next. Whatever else Mrs. Hadley had to say, I knew she had gotten one thing right already. Being a Fury meant I had responsibilities to live up to, whether I wanted them or not. And I owed it to myself, and to the little girl who was depending on me, to figure out who was after us.

Chapter 12

When I went back inside, Jackson was nowhere in sight. I glanced through the picture window in the living room and saw that he’d taken a seat on the front steps. He looked miserable sitting there in the sticky July heat, and I felt an uncharitable stab of satisfaction at the sight. If he wanted to get away from me so badly, that was fine with me. He could sit out there and melt for all I cared.