The Hearts Series

  “Feel better?”

  I nodded and concentrated on the drops of rain trickling down the window, the beat of it as it hammered onto the roof of the camper.

  “What’s wrong?”

  I cleared my throat, my voice a self-conscious whisper. “I thought….it’s silly, but I thought you might join me.” Could I be blushing any more furiously right now? “In the shower, I mean.”

  His lips twitched and a smile formed, and I knew he hadn’t expected me to say that. “Have you seen my shower?”

  I frowned. “Uh, yeah.”

  “And have you seen the size of me?” he went on. Some dirty part of my brain made my mind wander to things other than his height. “It’s painful to admit, but that is not a two-person shower, Lille,” he said, taking a step toward me until his hands were warming my shoulders. “If it were, I’d have been there, fucking you against the tiles with my tongue.”

  Jesus, now there was a visual. All of a sudden, my head was full of his mouth between my legs, his tongue sliding inside me, all wet and warm and delicious. I trembled, and he growled as he backed me up until I was stepping over the threshold of his bedroom. My thighs hit the mattress before I fell backwards onto the thick navy blanket.

  “Tonight, my bed is your bed. Get some rest. I’m going to clean up.”

  I lay there, watching him leave and close the door behind him. Okay, that was not how I envisioned this playing out. My chest was still heaving with anticipation when I heard the shower come on. Frustrated, I turned over onto my belly and buried my face in his pillows. Of course, they’d have to smell of him, and of course that only functioned to raise my frustration levels even higher. I’d just washed, but I could feel that I was wet between my legs. My clit begged for his mouth, my nipples aching for him to do that thing with the match again.

  Jack had said that was child’s play, and already I felt like I was ruined for sex with anyone else.

  Despite my frustration, it had been a long day, and I began to grow drowsy, my heavy eyelids falling closed. I’d almost nodded off when I heard the door open and shut with a soft click. Suddenly, I was wide awake as I listened to Jack turn off the lamp, shrouding the room in darkness before I heard the scraping flick of a match, the sizzling blaze of the flame. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him light two expensive-looking candles that sat on the bedside dresser, and I swear every single muscle in my body tensed. All he wore was a pair of black lounge pants.

  I pretended to be sleeping when he turned to look at me, and a low chuckle vibrated from his chest. That sound was going to be my undoing one of these days. “I can hear your breathing, Lille. I know you’re not asleep.” The mattress dipped down as he sat at the foot of the bed.

  “I was about to be,” I mumbled into the pillow, “until your loud elephant feet clomped into the room and woke me.”

  He continued laughing, low and quiet, and then I jumped a little when he took my bare foot into his hands. His fingers found just the right spot to rub, and I moaned involuntarily. God, that felt good.

  “You’re wound up tight, flower,” Jack whispered as his hands slowly began to make their way to my ankle, then my calf. It was like he knew every muscle and chord intimately, knew just how to rub to turn me into a melting pile of hormones and need.

  Before I knew it, he was kneeling between my legs and massaging my thigh as I made loud and very embarrassing noises that the pillows did nothing to muffle. His deft fingers were so close to my vagina that I had to bite down on said pillow just to keep from grabbing his hand and placing it where I wanted him to touch me the most.

  “Your skin,” he said, and his voice sounded pained. “Your fucking skin.”

  His fingers skimmed over the rise of my arse, then fluttered feather light less than a centimetre from my folds. Touch me, my mind begged, God, Jack, please touch me.

  He emitted a long, agonised groan before he pushed the towel off me, and then his mouth was on my arse cheek, biting. I let out a strangled yelp as he nuzzled where he’d bitten with the tip of his nose. I felt his hand move, and then his fingers were trailing across my wet lips, giving no pressure at all. He was trying to torture me.

  “Please,” I begged, and he grunted, nipping my cheek again with his sharp teeth, then rising up and pulling the towel off me completely. I was naked, and I could feel the soft cotton of his pants brush my skin as he bent over me and palmed my bottom.

  “Seeing this every day kills me, do you know that?” he growled, and I shook with the pleasure of his deep voice and heated words.

  “I need….”

  “Tell me what you need, flower.”

  “I need you to touch me.”

  “I am touching you.”

  “Somewhere else.”

  A smirk. “In time.”

  His hand went to my shoulder and lightly caressed the skin. My tattoo was almost healed, and his touch reminded me I had it. Since it was in a place I couldn’t easily see, I often forgot it was even there.

  “Your ink is beautiful,” he murmured, and his fingers danced along a particular spot. “This is the part I filled in. I feel so fucking proud when I see it, like you have my name on you or something.”

  I sighed, my every pore tingling with his possessive words. Then I felt his weight leave the bed, and a moment later he was back, straddling me as I lay on my stomach. I didn’t know what he was doing until I felt something hot and wet brand the base of my spine.

  “Ahhh,” I cried out. “What was that?” My words were more air than sound as I felt him harden and lengthen against my bottom.

  The burn hit me again, right on the cusp of too much and not enough. It stung, but, combined with my heady arousal, the sting was euphoric. In fact, I wanted more.

  “It’s hot wax, Lille,” Jack said, and his voice sounded electric right then, full of pent-up desire that was slowly finding its relief. “How does it feel?”

  Instead of answering his question, I simply pleaded in the tiniest voice, “Do it again.”

  The deep, erotic sound of approval that followed melted my bones, and I felt the wax drip along my back and pool around my hip. I hissed in a breath and then let the air out in an audible groan. Jack began to move his hips against me, his erection rutting hard into my arse. His fingers found the wax near my spine and rubbed, and then his body was covering me completely as his face fell to my neck. His tongue snaked out and licked all along the shell of my ear.

  “Fuck,” he swore, and the word had never sounded more carnal. A second later, his arm wrapped around my middle, and he was pulling me up onto all fours. He knelt behind me, his hands caressing my thighs as the head of his penis nudged against me. There was nothing between us, no condom, and in that moment I had a crazy wish that he wouldn’t put one on. The moment his bare erection touched me, an addictive surge ran through my body, indicative of the heaven it would be to have him inside me raw.

  He took the back of my neck in his hand, twisting so that our eyes could meet. All in a matter of seconds, as his cock continued to nudge teasingly at my entrance, almost going in but then not quite, his eyes asked a question, and my eyes replied with the answer.

  Yes.

  Perhaps all that hot wax was making me crazy and reckless, but I wanted to feel all of him, and pregnancy wasn’t an issue because I was on the pill. His grip on my hair fell away for a second, and then it was back again, this time on my neck, holding on tight as he sank his thick length inside in one delicious thrust. The feel of him, the sensation, the connection, was overwhelming, and my vision blurred.

  He withdrew, and I whimpered before he rammed himself back in. His fingers dug into my neck, erasing Julie’s bruises with his own, marking me as his. Never in my life had I wanted to be owned so badly. His movements grew frenzied, his fucking hard and precise. Soon, his thrusts began to blur into one, and I was nothing but sensation. My brain shut off, words no longer held meaning, and I was only pleasure.

  I was my senses and no more.

>   All I could hear was him.

  All I could smell was him.

  All I could taste was him.

  All I could feel was him.

  All I could see was him.

  With his grip on my neck, he drew my body up, and pumped his hips sharp and quick. I shuddered and moaned as he reached around my body to palm my breast. His hand dug in hard as it travelled down my belly, over my mound and to my clit, where his fingers started to rub, not slow like the other night, but fast. This was all about making me come.

  “I want to feel your muscles contract on my cock,” he rasped into my ear before biting down hard on my neck. A loud, strangled sound escaped me as his length slid in and out, the rhythm of his fingers coaxing me, raising me up into the sweetest possible release.

  “You smell like me. Do you know how much that drives me crazy? God, you’re perfect, too perfect. You make me feel so wretched. I want to consume you, steal your light and make myself a little bit more. You’re more, Lille. I want to be more, too.”

  His words came out harsh and ragged, his breathing filling my ears, and I wasn’t sure if this was the sex talking or if it was sheer, unrestrained, terrifying honesty. I felt my stomach tighten, and his pumps became harsher, his fingers more desperate.

  “Come with me,” he grunted, and it was like the words in themselves were an aphrodisiac, because I shattered right there under his practiced touch and he came, his cock pulsing as he emptied himself inside me.

  As one, our bodies collapsed onto the bed. His weight on top of me was almost crushing, but then he flipped us so that I lay stretched out on his chest. It was just like the other night, when we’d fallen asleep together under the stars. Now the storm raged on outside our peaceful, spent little bubble, rain pounding the roof. Jack stared at me like I was an apparition, a spectre about to disappear as I ran my fingers through his gorgeous hair, let my eyes memorise every inch of his face. His lids fell closed and his breathing evened out, his arms still clutching me tight. I knew he’d fallen asleep when his breaths grew deep, and I felt brave enough to utter the words that were trying to break their way out of my very soul.

  “I think I’m falling in love with you, Jack McCabe.”

  Fifteen

  A picture lost was then found

  “Get the fuck out here and face me now, you bitch!”

  I woke to somebody screaming, adrenaline flooding my system as I shot up in the bed. Jack’s warm body wasn’t under me anymore, and I looked around to find him standing by the window, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he peeked through the blinds. A bang rang out, and it sounded like the person who’d been screaming was now trying to kick the door in.

  I sat up in the bed, heart racing, and Jack’s attention landed on me as he saw I was awake.

  “What on earth is going on?”

  He’d pulled on his lounge pants, but he still wore no shirt, and from the tired look of his eyes, he’d just woken up moments before I had. He came over to the bed and cupped my face in his hands before leaning in and pressing a kiss to my lips.

  “Good morning,” he murmured. “I’m sorry she’s ruining everything. I wanted to wake you with breakfast.”

  “It’s Julie, isn’t it?”

  Jack nodded. “By the looks of it, the police paid her a visit. She’s like a raging bull out there. I’m going to go out, but I need you stay in here. Okay?”

  “Yeah,” I whispered. “Sure.”

  “God, you’re beautiful. I like waking up with you next to me.”

  A small laugh escaped me. “You sound surprised by that.”

  He scratched his head as he rose and gave me a sexy, perplexed little smile. “I’m am, kind of.”

  A moment later, he’d thrown on a shirt and was gone, out to face the wrath of Julie. I buried myself further under the blankets, wishing that I could bury myself so deep she’d disappear and this wouldn’t be happening. Unfortunately, the walls of the camper were thin, and I could hear every word that was said.

  “What the hell do you think you’re playing at? You’ve got five seconds to leave, or I’ll make you leave.” Jack.

  “Your fucking whore went to the police, telling lies about me. Get her out here now. I want to see her.” Julie.

  “Lies? Are you fucking shitting me? Why does she have a head wound, then, huh? Why are there bruises on her neck from your malicious little hands?” Jack.

  “I never touched her. She’s trying to come between us.” Julie.

  “Come on, Jules, let’s go. You’re making a scene.” Mary or Molly, I couldn’t be quite sure.

  “Get off me. I’m not leaving until that bitch comes out here and faces me.”

  A lump formed in my throat. I knew this wasn’t going to end until I went out there. Jack must have left my clothes to dry on the heater by the window last night because they were resting on it, now dry and toasty. I pulled on my jeans and top, then slid my feet into my shoes. I just wanted to end this. Jack looked like he was seeing red when I stepped out of the camper, and he immediately came to stand in front of me, shielding me from Julie.

  “Go back inside, Lille,” he instructed me, chest puffing out. I glanced around to see that half the circus were hovering close by to take in the disturbance. There was nothing like a fight to garner people’s attention, and around here it seemed that Julie was always the centre of the drama.

  “You stupid bitch!” Julie screamed as she lunged for me. I ducked behind Jack, who held his arm out to fend her off. She clawed at him before her sister pulled her away. “They didn’t arrest me,” she said snidely as she glared daggers at me over Jack’s shoulder. “Not enough evidence and no witnesses, obviously, since I didn’t do anything.” Wow, she actually sounded like she believed that as she turned to face the onlookers. “I say we all take a vote to kick her out. She can’t just go around making false accusations, and I refuse to perform another night while she’s still here.”

  My heart pounded at her declaration, and tears began to form in my eyes. I didn’t want to leave. Not now. It felt like Jack and I had only just found one another. There were some murmurings among the onlookers as Jack balled his fists.

  “You’re being a spiteful bitch, Julie. Let it go.”

  I tugged on his arm, and his eyes came to me. “It’s okay. She’s a headlining act. I can’t stay if it’s going to cause trouble with the shows,” I whispered, my voice choked.

  His responding tone was firm as he cupped my cheek. “Get off your cross — you’re going nowhere.” He stared Julie down. “She just needs to chill the fuck out and stop being a temperamental violent fucking lunatic.”

  Julie’s eyes flashed red, and her mouth formed a thin, sour line. “You’re taking her side!? You’ve known me for years and you’ve known her for a couple of weeks, but still you’d believe her over me?”

  At this Winnie stepped forward. “The fact he’s known you for years is the reason he believes her. He knows what you’re like. We all do.”

  “You can stay out of this,” Julie hissed.

  “I thought you wanted us to have a vote,” said Winnie.

  “I do,” Julie scowled.

  “Well, then, let’s vote. All those who believe Julie’s version of events stand by Julie, and all those who believe Lille, stand by Lille.” Immediately, Winnie came to stand by me, taking my arm and squeezing it to show her solidarity. In that moment, I felt unendingly grateful to her. I didn’t know what to expect, but after a couple moments of hesitation, everyone began to come and stand with me and Jack. The only ones standing with Julie were her sisters, and even they seemed a little unsure of their sibling. My heart filled with emotion. These people barely even knew me, and yet they were standing up for me. It was like a strange big family of misfits, and they were making me truly feel like one of them. I didn’t know what to say.

  “This is ridiculous!” Julie wailed just before she cursed everyone out and stormed off. Looking uncomfortable, her sisters went after her.

  Jack tu
rned to me and took me in his arms, his chest moving with a deep inhalation. I looked up at him, anxious. “Is she going to quit? Marina will be mad at me if she quits.”

  “I can’t count the number of times Julie’s threatened to leave. She’s not going anywhere.”

  “More’s the pity,” Winnie put in, then gave my shoulder a gentle pat. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. If she ever tries to lay a hand on you again, you come to me, and I’ll set her straight.” The way she said it made me feel like she genuinely meant it, which caused me to become even more emotional.

  Jack’s arms tightened around me. “It won’t happen again,” he said darkly. “I won’t let it.”

  A few minutes later, those who’d gathered to take in the drama had dispersed, and Jack and I returned to his camper. He made me a breakfast of peanut butter and chopped bananas on toast, and we sat close together on his couch as we ate. It was strange to see such a big, sexy, mysterious man carrying out a mundane task like making breakfast, but I loved it.

  Still, I was in a contemplative mood, Julie’s spiteful claims continuing to echo in my head. If she wasn’t leaving the circus, then that meant she was staying, and that also meant I’d have to be around her for the rest of the summer. Despite Jack stating firmly that she wouldn’t lay a hand on me again, I didn’t know how he could be so sure. And quite frankly, I was scared. Julie was definitely not the full shilling, and I had no idea what she might try to do next.

  Jack kissed me long and passionately right before I was leaving to go get some clean clothes. The ones I was wearing were dry, but they smelled damp from the rain. His kiss put me in a little bit of a daze as I left his camper. I was strolling along, unable to keep a stupid grin off my face, my worries about Julie momentarily forgotten, when I saw King walking ahead of me. He was doing his usual half-drunken stumble, muttering to himself, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle of liquor. As he did so, a piece of paper fell to the ground, and I hurried to pick it up for him.