Chapter 27

“Time out!” Jackson yelled, tossing the football underhanded to Sam. He pulled Sabrina aside and asked with labored breath, “What was that?”

“I broke a nail.” She thrust her hand in front of him.

He snorted. “Deal with it.”

“But it bent way back, and now I’m going to lose it. It really hurts.”

“So you can’t pass. You can’t catch. You can’t run.”

Sabrina scowled. “I can too run. I’m the best runner out there, next to you.”

“Then what’s this?” he asked, doing a limp-wristed impression of her running.

“You suck! I can’t help that.”

Jackson laughed. “Strong wrists and loose fists, okay.” He demonstrated.

“Don’t blame me. I’ve got three brothers and no sisters, so I got hit with the entire dose of estrogen in our family.”

He grinned and cupped the back of Sabrina’s head, hauling her in for a kiss. “Forget I said anything. I prefer it this way.” He looked at her thoughtfully. “Think you can block?”

“I can trip.”

“Play to your strengths, honey.”

They high-fived, then rejoined the game, but the outcome wasn’t exactly a big surprise. They got creamed by Andy, Aaron, and their twenty-three-year-old cousin Cody. Afterwards Jackson, Sabrina, and Sam went to sprawl in the shade with cold beers, licking their wounds. They weren’t alone for long. A crowd slowly grew around them, kids and adults, men and women, and there was laughter and jeers, insults and affection in abundance.

Toni leaned close to Sabrina and asked softly, “Did you hear? We’re trying again.”

“You’re really doing it, huh?”

“Nice choice of words,” Toni laughed. “But yes, we both want one more, though I’m told it probably won’t happen right away. With Kipp, Andy just looked at me and I was pregnant, but I’ve been on birth control so long it needs time to leave my system. Doesn’t mean we’re not having fun trying, though. At least we were until your parents showed up. You wouldn’t take them off my hands for a couple nights, would you? After watching Andy play today, I’m about ready to pounce on him. My man is seriously hot.”

Sabrina laughed. “Sorry, can’t. Besides, I’m already sharing my crappy bed.”

Toni looked at Jackson, who was laughing with Aaron about something. She smiled. “He’s great. I’m so happy for you.”

“Not with Jackson,” Sabrina rushed to explain. “My friend Tanya broke up with her boyfriend recently and landed on my doorstep.”

“Oh.”

“But I don’t mind. It just means that we go to his apartment instead. It’s a lot nicer anyway. Believe me.”

Toni laughed and they bumped shoulders affectionately.

Sabrina wore a contented smile during the prolonged good-byes, grateful for the way her family had welcomed Jackson into the fold. But now, seven hours later, all she wanted was time alone with him. By the glances she’d intercepted throughout the day, she knew he felt the same. They were constantly searching for each other and sharing silent looks of helplessness and longing. It had been a long, difficult week spent apart.

Sabrina brushed her hand lightly over Jackson’s arm as he drove through the neighborhoods. Then she realized they were on a street she didn’t recognize.

“Where are we going?”

He pulled along the curb and leaned across to look out her window. “That’s my old house.”

“This is where you grew up?”

“Yes.”

“It’s nice.”

He smiled. “I liked it. Good place to raise kids if that’s your thing.” At her frown, he explained, “It wasn’t my dad’s.”

“Does your mom still live here?”

“No. She’s got a townhouse on the east side now.” He looked down the street. “That house belonged to the Crandalls. Over there,” he nodded, “the Washingtons.” He pointed across his body to the opposite side of the street. “Schmidts, and the Allens. The Allens’ house used to be yellow. I wonder if they still live there.”

“Can we see your bedroom from here?”

“It’s the two windows on the upper right.”

“Ever sneak out?”

“Not that way. I would have broken my neck.” He smiled and pointed. “I wiped out on my bike right there when Brad Crandall, Rob, and I decided to build a jump.” He raised his chin and showed her an old scar. “Eight stitches. I split it right along the bone.”

“Ouch. Any other injuries I should be aware of?”

He held up his right hand. “I broke these two fingers in a fight after school when I was fourteen and surging with hormones. I haven’t fought anyone since.”

“Did you win or lose?”

“I kicked his ass. Guess that’s all it took to keep the rest of the guys from challenging me.”

“I remember those fights. They always upset me so much I’d run away as soon as one broke out. I couldn’t watch. I would cry sometimes afterwards even when I didn’t know the boys punching each other.” She shuddered, remembering all the pain.

He brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “Would you stay with me tonight?”

“Sleep over?”

“Yes.” His thumb stroked along her cheekbone, and she leaned into his palm and closed her eyes.

“Yes,” she said softly.

They dropped by her apartment so she could throw a bag together. Tanya was out, so Sabrina wrote a note and left it on the table, closing the door silently behind her.

****

While the Jacuzzi filled, Jackson sat on the edge and ran his hands along Sabrina’s stomach, her waist. He hooked the bottom of her shirt with his thumbs and lifted, finally smiling when her bra appeared. He snagged that, too, and her breasts tumbled out the bottom.

“Can we take all this off?” he asked, tugging at the shirt.

Sabrina laughed and pulled it up and over her head. She needed help with the bra because he’d twisted the back and she couldn’t unhook it now.

He sighed and pulled her in between his knees. “Better.” Jackson’s warm mouth latched over a dusky nipple.

“Mmm.” Sabrina moaned softly, feeling him draw the last of her tension right out of her with his mouth. Using her fingers, she combed his hair back tenderly, enjoying the peaceful intimacy between them.

“Was your parents’ divorce hard on you?” she asked.

He eased back from her nipple and raised her breasts from underneath so he could nuzzle between them. Kissing the inside swell of one, he sighed against it and finally said, “No, the marriage was hard on us.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

He hooked his hands behind her and leaned back to look her in the eye. “It was a bad marriage. My dad was a self-absorbed serial cheater who was never home. Eventually my mom stopped caring so much and maintained face, but it always bothered me. She was willing to settle for a loveless marriage and a sterile relationship for the damn house? I loved her. I wanted so much more for her.”

“How old were you when they divorced.”

Jackson laughed. “Thirty-two.”

“What?”

“Joint assets. The old man basically moved out when I went to college, and they had little to do with each other after that.”

“Still.”

“I know,” he said, shrugging. “I only started talking to him again this summer. My mom begged me not to cut him out of my life. Can you believe that?”

“How’s that going?”

“We play golf once a week, and I’ve been to his house now. We’re both trying.”

“My home life, even with three bossy, domineering older brothers, sounds boring in comparison.”

“Lucky you.”

She kissed him for that. “Water’s ready.”

“Oh, right.” He shut off the tap and turned back with a smile. “This isn’t going to work.”

“What’s not going to work?”

“This.” He hooked his fingers into the waistband of her shorts and tugged her closer. His hands went right to work undressing her, and every newly exposed area of skin got a soft kiss. She shivered as she stepped out of her panties.

“Get into the water,” he said, his hand running down her arm. “I’ll be right with you.”

She stepped into the deep tub and sank into the warm water with a sigh. Turning her eyes on Jackson, she waited expectantly for the striptease. He whipped off his socks and grabbed the bottom of his shirt.

“Slower,” she ordered with a cockeyed grin.

His brows rose. “Slower?”

“Slower,” she repeated, with an affirmative nod.

“This works for you?” He lifted his shirt an inch at a time, exposing his taut abs, his dark little nipples, his awe-inspiring throat and biceps, and finally his messed-up hair. Her fingers twitched to comb it back again. “Slow enough for you?” he asked with a sexy grin.

“Very nice.” She shivered with pleasure. “Continue.”

He chuckled and dropped his shirt, then slid his fingers under the waistband of his black shorts and slowly eased them down his hips. She had to swallow when his hip bones emerged. She stopped breathing altogether at the first sign of hair.

“Hang on,” he said, frowning. He pulled his shorts out and looked down the front. “They seem to be hooked on something. Ah, I see the problem.”

“Is it serious?” She craned her neck to take an interested peek.

“I’m not too worried.”

“Would you like my help?”

He raised an eyebrow. “That might be nice. If you could just hold it back, I think we can get the shorts down the rest of the way.”

She rose out of the water, dripping like a mermaid, and leaned over the edge with her hand outstretched. “Tell me if I’ve got it.”

“Oh, you’ve got it,” he said, his expression pure bliss.

“But am I doing it right?”

“Sweetheart, you could teach a class.” With nothing to impede them, his shorts slipped easily down his legs and he stepped free. “You can let go now,” he said with a wink.

Sabrina laughed and settled back, her arms stretched out along the back of the tub as he climbed in with her.

She looked around the tiled surround. “Why didn’t you tell me you don’t have candles? I have tons—but then I’m a candle kind of girl. I could have packed a few.”

“We’ll just have to make do this time.” His eyes settled on her and he smiled. “You’re too far away.”

Jackson opened his arms and Sabrina swam into them and floated against his body. “Ready for a little excitement?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah. Let me have it.”

The sound of the jets rumbling to life drowned out Sabrina’s moan of pleasure as he guided her down onto his lap. Jackson stretched back, one hand on her hip, one toying with her breast and let his head drop onto the folded towel behind him. His eyes drooped closed.

“So that’s it?” she asked. “You’re just going to lie back like that?”

He chuckled. “Giddy up.” When she didn’t move he cautiously peeked out through his lashes and found her watching him with an impatient frown. “I’m kidding,” he laughed, giving her a solid bump from underneath.

“Wait, wait, we’re splashing over the side.”

“Well what do you suggest?”

“Slow easy movements.”

“Like this?”

“Oooh,” she gasped, her entire body quivering. “I have nothing more to teach you, Grasshopper.”

Jackson grinned and sat up, drawing her flush and flushing against him. “Kiss me.”

Just the slightest shift forward brought unexpected rewards, and Sabrina sighed as their lips sealed.

“You don’t say.” He smiled and rolled his hips slowly beneath her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes and Jackson slid his hands down to her hips, guiding her movements to match his in a sinuous dance that rippled them on the inside but barely agitated the water above.

“This is nice,” she murmured, roughing her cheek over his before venturing on to flick her tongue teasingly up his neck. “You taste salty.”

“You taste sweet,” he said licking below her jaw.

Sabrina eased back and slowly opened her eyes and found him watching her. That’s when she felt truly naked, vulnerable. She realized every hitch of her breath, every soft surprised gasp she made as he gained more ground, was being analyzed and recorded. He was mapping her on the inside, delving into every nook and cranny by simply tilting her hips and adjusting her angle on his lap. Jackson was methodically learning things she didn’t know herself, triggering unsuspected responses, confirming them, and moving on to the next. She was confused, unsure how she felt about this tactical approach, yet she was so dizzy from the array of pleasures he was giving her she simply couldn’t dwell on it, either.

He picked up her hand and kissed her fingers before setting her hand gently back on the water. Then he cupped the side of her neck and squeezed, brushing back her damp hair. “Give me your feet,” he said.

“You’re not going to tickle me, are you?”

“No. You’ll like this, trust me.”

She brought her feet around, and he caught her ankles. “Better lean forward,” he told her.

Giving him a wary look, she grabbed his shoulders and lowered herself as he spread her feet out wide on the bottom. Her breasts flat against Jackson’s chest, she was in a full stretch on top of him.

“Can you hold that?” he asked.

“For how long?”

“We’ll see.” His hands locked over her hips and he pressed her down as he drove up deep inside of her.

Sabrina gasped, astonished at how open she was and where Jackson was. He found her sweet spot and flicked and rubbed against it with almost imperceptible muscle control. She felt a rush of heat wash through her and started to shake and sweat.

Jackson smiled as he watched the flush of pink spread across Sabrina’s face, down her neck, and across her chest. Pleasure was only a moment away, and he anticipated hers more than his own. He gave her another deep, grinding roll of his hips, and she clamped around him and moaned. She was a woman on the edge, and he held her there, trembling.

“Look at me,” he murmured, his fingers easing gently under her. Just the slightest brush stopped her breath and Sabrina’s lashes fluttered. “No! Look at me.”

He didn’t want to miss anything. His climax was a long way off, but that was just fine. It would have clouded his focus on hers, and that’s where he wanted his attention, entirely on Sabrina. He wanted to experience this with her and understand her better. Then, to his dismay, he saw a flash of fear and vulnerability in her eyes just as his thumb nuzzled and circled, but then she was gone, seizing violently, a mere passenger on this journey and no more in control than he was. It felt like he was being swallowed whole, consumed bit by bit, and it made Jackson’s heart race, but it was Sabrina’s eyes that actually devoured him.

Now he understood the flash of fear he saw because it was his fear, too, reflected back at him. What he demanded from her, what she unwillingly shared, was intensely personal, raw and intimate. The body had sex, the eyes made love, and that’s what he unwittingly asked for, what he didn’t want to miss this time. By locking eyes, he’d forced a confession out of her she wasn’t ready to make, and now he felt ashamed.

His own release forgotten, he held Sabrina close and comforted her, though she probably didn’t realize that’s what he was doing. He was giving her time to retreat to her emotional corner and shield herself again. It was the least he could do.

Over the course of the night they made love several more times. He could finally call it by the right name now, but he respected the shutters between them and didn’t intrude again.

****

“And my new office is huge,” he said, topping off Sabrina’s morning coffee. “I wasn’t sure if the furniture was staying or going until Friday, but I lucked out. It’s gorgeous, deep cherry, silky smooth to the touch.”

“Do you get a secretary now?”

He nodded, pouring a bit of batter into the crepe pan and rolling it around. “Her name is Marjorie. I don’t really know her very well yet, but Yeager said she’s fantastic, and from what I’ve seen so far I believe it.”

“Make sure she knows about your allergies.”

“Trust me, she knows. That woman is on top of everything.” He flipped the delicate crepe and turned with a smile. “Well, that’s my week. How was yours, and don’t forget Monday night. What’s the story there?”

He tipped the crepe onto the growing stack and poured another. Turning back, he was shocked to see Sabrina dunking a sausage into her coffee.

She laughed at his look of disgust. “It’s good.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Monday—Monday, Monday, Monday…” She hemmed and hawed, trying to find an explanation that wasn’t too shocking. “Tanya and I let our inner artists out that night.”

“Your inner artists, huh? What, did you do some graffiti?”

“This stays between us, right?”

“Who would I tell?”

“We didn’t actually do serious damage.”

He burned that crepe when he turned to stare at her, leaving it too long on one side. “What exactly did you do?”

“We decorated Brian’s car inside and out. She still had a spare key and we knew where he liked to park it.”

“I see where this is going,” he said, tipping the pan over the garbage and dumping the ruined crepe.

“I wrote insults on the windows with tub crayons. Tanya put Astroglide on his wipers and sprayed silly string all over inside the car. We were just about finished putting shaving cream on all the tires when he drove up in a different car and chased us.”

“So I happened on the great escape.”

“Not so great, but yeah.” She dipped the sausage again and he shuddered.

“That’s gross.”

“Try it,” she said, holding it out to him.

“I don’t think so.”

“Try it.”

“Bossy.”

He shut off the heat and strolled over. “You better give me credit for this when we get into our first fight.”

Sabrina grinned and dunked the sausage, twice, anticipation in her eyes. He shook his head and leaned across the counter, finally opening wide.

She fed him, and after he chewed slowly and thoughtfully, she asked, “Good, huh?”

“Well, it’s not terrible. Let’s just say it’s an acquired taste and leave it at that.”

He went back and picked up the plate of crepes, bringing it over and rinsing his mouth out with a swallow of coffee along the way. They rolled and fruited their own breakfast, and he eyed her oily coffee with disgust.

“You’re a weird woman. So then what?”

She laughed. “Oh, right. Anyway, getting caught red-handed, we pretty much expected Brian to call the police, so we weren’t surprised when a cop showed up at the Oasis the next morning asking questions. You would not believe the way Tanya was flirting with him.”

“Did you get into trouble?”

“No. It turns out it was Brian’s word against ours. We were careful not to have anything personally incriminating with us, which was a good thing because we lost our bag when we took off. I was afraid I was going to have to call Andy to get us off.”

“Nice to have a lawyer in the family.”

“I’ve never pestered him for legal advice. I usually just use him for brute muscle when I move.”

He stabbed through a slice of crepe and chased after a bit of strawberry. “How many times have you moved?”

Sabrina laid down her fork and silently counted off on her fingers. She hid them and blushed. “Too many times.”

“Explain.” She popped a blueberry into her mouth and gave him a half-hearted evil eye. He laughed and goaded her. “Come on.”

“Well, I don’t think college should count.”

“Fine.”

“Hmm. Okay, after I dropped college, I moved into a basement apartment not that far off campus, and that was awful. Mice had the run of the place. I just happened to look at it on a good day. The next apartment was crawling with spiders. I can’t stand spiders. They’d get between the sheets sometimes.” She shuddered at the memory. “Then I moved in with a casual acquaintance because she had a spare room open up unexpectedly.” Sabrina snorted. “Unexpectedly. People left her high and dry to cover the entire rent because she ripped them off constantly. She was a thief.”

He wiggled an eyebrow at her and smiled. “Continue.”

“That’s when I moved into Mrs. Starkey’s. I was so glad to get my own place, one that wasn’t vermin-filled and damp, that I didn’t even notice her nasty scowl or worry about that demon dog of hers. He nipped me in the ankles—twice—when I first moved in. After that I was always on guard. He liked to go for the Achilles tendon and hang on. Hurt like a bugger.”

Jackson was shaking with laughter now. “Mrs. Starkey, I remember her well. Sweet woman. So this apartment…”

“Is the latest in a long string of great moves.”

“Well, you’re creating memories, and it’s not the destination but rather the journey that makes it worthwhile, as they say.”

“Who says?” She dipped another bite of sausage in her cup, but he snatched it away before she could eat it and pitched it into the garbage disposal. “Hey, why’d you do that?”

“I couldn’t stand it anymore. Sorry.”

“Because you asked so nicely, I’ll stop,” she said sarcastically.

“Thank you.”

“So what’s next?”

“Feel like shooting some hoops?”

“I’m not very athletic.”

“I know,” he said chuckling. “Why do you think I suggested it?”

She flicked a sloppy strawberry at his head and he ducked just in time.

“I didn’t mean it,” she said, laughing nervously as he stared at her. Sabrina bolted off her chair, running for the living room with Jackson right behind her.

He tackled her easily, carrying them both over the back of the couch. The air whooshed out of Sabrina as Jackson landed on top of her.

“Are you okay?” he asked in alarm.

Sabrina took a deep breath, nodded, then wrapped her arms and legs around him, tugging him down for a kiss.

He nestled into her and kissed her back, taking the kiss deeper. “Or we could just stay in,” he said reasonably.

“Now you’re talking.”