Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
He looked back at me—and I could’ve drowned in that look. Not anger. Not annoyance at what I’d said. Just understanding. And something deeper. Jamie pushed the stroller inside and stepped forward, eliminating the distance between us. All the tension and confusion melted away, leaving only one thing: hot-furious desire.
“You remember when I first told you we were going home? We’d just gotten reacquainted?” Jamie spoke. Smooth, deep, low, soft, as if he meant to heal me with his voice. “Of course, that Siberian Laika had scared you.” His arms came around me. And I leaned into him before I could stop myself.
Images from that night, a night of freedom from enslavement, danced in my head. His voice had sounded like a dream. His eyes held the same smolder while he now crushed me to his chest, telling me he remembered every detail. “Of course I remember,” I murmured. “Those dogs scared me half to death.”
He chuckled low, husky. “When I told you we were going home, Jordyn, I didn’t mean a place.” The vow in his tone carried every word he’d declared. Everything about him was a truth I could believe in.
“What did you mean?” I’d gone breathless in his powerful embrace as my cheek planted against his chest. A strong, steady heartbeat made me want my heartbeat to match his. Had to be crazy. This had to be crazy.
This had to be … love.
“Unfortunately, JorJor. I can only explain it in certain ways. Words don’t carry enough weight. Actions do.” Jamie dropped his lips on the crown of my head. He then captured my mouth with his own in a kiss that wasn’t hungry. Frantic. Or lustful.
But intentional. A kiss that told me he was right here. That he would always be. A kiss that claimed all my inhibitions and me right along with it. I lost myself in the feel of his powerful arms wrapped around me. This man had confronted darkness, face-to-face, and refused to bow.
Desire pulsed through my veins, and the taste of him left me dizzy. I rose onto my toes for more. And there it was again—that ache.
The want.
The way my body remembered being used and twisted that memory into craving something I didn’t even understand anymore. The pull in my gut whispered, You need more.
Jamie kissed me again. I opened for him. Let him in. But even as he held me like I was something sacred, I felt a war inside of me. Because he wasn’t chasing lust or feeding hunger.
He was steady.
Too steady.
And that terrified me.
Was this enough for him? Was I enough?
Or worse—was I too much because this wouldn’t always be … enough for me?
“I need you, Jamie,” I whispered. Having been used by men for their own selfish pleasure and hating the entire species since I could remember, I was confused as to why I craved Jamie both physically and emotionally.
But I couldn’t help myself.
My toes ached from trying to reach more of him even though his mouth was already on mine. Beyond breathless, I told myself I was going to love this man even if it was the death of me. But how? I didn’t understand Jamie’s sexuality. I didn’t understand the confusion swirling through my mind. And I didn’t understand how I could have Jamie because my heart shuddered every time I recalled that he was ace. That simple fact terrified me more than anything Aleksandr Chelomey ever could because Jamie MacKenzie hadn’t let me go yet. In fact, he’d lifted me into his arms.
19
LONG BEACH
Deputy Chief Nolan McGregor
I popped another Rolaid in my mouth and washed it down with a swig of whisky. I twisted the silver lid on my flask and tossed the package into the passenger seat while behind the wheel of a borrowed vehicle across the street from the MacKenzie residence. Sounded like suicide, but the windows had the darkest tint. In fact, in my days on the beat, I’d have pulled a sedan like this over and handed the owner a ticket. It had less than 70 percent visible light transmission. Must be why it sat in a police garage. That and I could still smell the scent of cat urine—fainter now—that was comparable with the production of methamphetamines.
I wanted to roll down the window. But I told myself that at any minute, Jamie MacKenzie would pull up to his parents’ house, and of course, I’d do a one-man drive-by. That would end the Marine Raider.
Marine Raider … If someone had come up to me and told me this personally, I’d have said, “Yer arse and parsley!” That person was talking rubbish. But I’d seen him on the telly. Corporal Jamie Mack. That was why the Nazi couldn’t find him at first. What a hoot!
Shaking my head at the thought, I glanced around. The lights were out, at least. I hoped everyone was in a deep slumber and nobody had gotten up to take a leak and glance out the window. It would compromise my position. Nae. The tinted windows.