Shock jolted a dizzying bolt through his system. Jack stroked his chin and tried to regain his balance. The concept of predestined mates and dreaming of them was so…otherworldly. So weird. Not that he hadn’t grown up with the knowledge; he’d just never believed it.“None of us want to believe that there’s any truth to this malédiction. But facts is facts, yeah. It happens to every man in our line. And now, it’s your turn, with Morgan.”“How did you know when it happened to you?” Jack asked, struggling to accept his grandfather’s claim. “What made you sure, besides the dreams, that Grand-mere was the one?”The old man smiled, deepening lines around his eyes and mouth, leaving no doubt the man had spent a lifetime smiling wide and often. “The moment I met her, I fought a crazy urge to grab her up tight and convince her to be mine. I never wanted to be away from her or see her blue. Most of all, cher garçon, I wanted her happy and I knew deep inside here,” he pointed to his heart, “that
Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the hall and lingered in the shadows. And listened.“What the hell do you want?” she heard Jack snap.A rumbling laugh over the speakerphone in the cottage’s front room echoed down the hall.“I’ll take three guesses as to why you’re so crabby. And I don’t need the last two.”Deke. She recognized his teasing voice, could picture the crinkles of laughter around those dancing denim-blue eyes…so seemingly at odds with that tall, hard body.“Did you call just to annoy me?”“Hell, no. You know I never go for anything easy. Where’s the challenge in that?”“So you called because…?”“I need to talk to Morgan.”Jack hesitated, his hands curling into fists. “Why?”In that one syllable, he sounded somewhere between suspicious and downright pissed.“Did that hard cock of yours make you forget all about the stalker trailing her sweet ass?”“No, you SOB, I haven’t forgotten. And you get your mind off her ass.”“It’s not as if I’ve perfected the ability to reach
He dropped a kiss on her forehead, another on her jaw. “You know I’m not going to hurt you, right?”Slowly, she nodded. “You…You’re right.”“And your friend Reggie. He might be guilty, yes. He might not. Until we know more, don’t assume anything.”Morgan shook her head. “But he’s totally into photography. No one else—”“I understand. Just wait. Deke will keep digging. For now, I think it’s important that you don’t talk to Reggie, not until we know more. Had you planned to call him, check in?”“I tried yesterday. I can’t get a cell signal out here.”“No.” Jack shook his head. “Most people can’t. Will he raise some red flag if you don’t call?”“Not for a while; a few more days probably.”“Hopefully, we’ll have this sorted out by then. Until then, don’t assume the worst. We have one fact that doesn’t make things look good for Reggie, but nothing is absolute. And even if he is guilty, you know he can’t find you here, right?”Wherever here was… “Right.”“In the meantime, I’m here to protec
Jack kissed her once more, trailing his finger through her cleavage, then tracing her nipple. Sensation tingled its way through her breast. Morgan arched into his touch. It felt good, Jack’s fingers on her flesh. She wanted…more.Easing down her body, Jack captured the tip of her other breast in his mouth and gave it a loving lick as his palm smoothed its way across her abdomen. He stopped short of her sex, seemingly contented by fondling the curve of her waist and the slope of her hips.He couldn’t possibly be contented. Who would be? And the silence—it was really getting to her. She felt closed off from him, without any idea of what he wanted, what he was thinking, feeling afraid to communicate her needs to him in the midst of the hush.Frustrated, Morgan reached down between them to grab his cock. Mostly hard, always thick, it filled her hand and then some. She gave a hard little tug on it, rubbing her thumb across the dry, sensitive head.He closed his eyes and pressed into her fi
Jack forced himself to rein in the I-told-you-so smile threatening to break across his face. Too early to smile. He had to make sure he’d really reached her. “Because you need your biggest sex organ, your brain, involved. Vanilla doesn’t really do that. Dominance and submission can be a game or a way or life, depending on how seriously you play. But it absolutely keeps your mind engaged with your body. The promise of pleasure can be every bit as arousing as the pleasure itself—maybe more, as you found out from doing without a mind fuck tonight.”She hesitated, bit that lush, puffed lip that never failed to make the man in him notice. Then understanding brightened her sultry blue gaze. “Yeah. I kept missing the mental piece. Knowing what you were thinking, hearing your voice urging me on.”Now she was getting it. Jack smiled. “What does your current fiancé do for a living?”Morgan frowned at the out-of-nowhere question. Hesitated. “He’s an analyst for some organization in the governmen
Morgan snapped to attention and brought herself back to the present. There would be time for thinking later. The time for obeying was now. With quick steps, she made her way to the center of the room and perched her ass on the table, scooting back until she was fully seated. She crossed her legs, clenching her thighs together to relieve the ache, and waited.With a hot challenge lighting his eyes, Jack placed a hand on each knee and pried her thighs apart, then wide. “Don’t cross your legs to me. When we’re alone, they’re open wide, signaling your availability and showing me your sweet, wet pussy. Understood?”She wanted to be angry that he was going to tell her how to sit now. It was damn demanding. Overbearing. And arousing as his stare made its way down to the wet flesh he exposed, and he caressed her with his stare. A fresh ache tightened behind her clit, gently pulsing in time with her heartbeat.And she understood. This was why she thrilled to Jack’s domination. He was so focuse
She gasped.“That’s it,” he coaxed, easing away. “Pretty.”He teased the wet nipple with the soft pad of his thumb. Pleasure, pain, pleasure again. The lines blurred. All she knew was how much she wanted Jack to cover her, fill her, make her come.Make her his, God help her, for more than tonight.Lifting her hips, Morgan wriggled them, enticing him, silently pleading.Laughter rumbled from his chest. “Oh, I’m tempted. But not yet, cher. Not for a long while.”She sounded a fresh moan of protest—until something sharp with little metal teeth bit into her damp nipple. A gasp tore past her moan and shoved its way past her throat.“Oh, God!” she breathed against the pain.“I know. Take a deep breath. I have a feeling you’ll come to appreciate the bite of the clamp…sooner rather than later.”No. It was horrendously painful, bordering on cruel. She took a deep breath. It didn’t help. Another breath.Jack lowered his mouth to the other nipple, the one his fingers had toyed with previously. A
Had her body already learned to wait for his command?“Lie to me again and I’ll stroke myself, come at your feet, and leave you to ache all night.”Morgan swallowed, never doubting he’d do it. “Please don’t make me say it, sir.”“Last chance,” he grated out, stilling his thrusts completely. “Or I’m leaving.”She squeezed her eyes shut, grappling helplessly between her body’s needs and her fears. Would he judge her harshly? Would he think she was a depraved whore, too?“Tell me,” he cajoled.With a gentle pinch, Jack removed the clamps from her nipples. Blood rushed back into them, swelling them with a burst of need. Yes! Then the sensation rocketed down to her clit.Just as it hit her there, he reached beneath her again, fingers hovering so close to her aching bundle of nerves, she could feel the heat of his hand. But still, he didn’t touch her clit. Morgan moaned. All she had to do was be honest about one itty-bitty secret and he’d give her the best orgasm of her life.This was Jack.