erotic.
One of his hands slipped through her hair, tangling in the waves. The other moved up and down her back. Slowly, so slowly. Not touching anything significant, but still…touching.
He continued to brush his mouth against hers, keeping the kiss chaste yet arousing her until she wanted to grab him, shake him and tell him to get on with it already.
When he licked her bottom lip, she nearly groaned in relief. Fortunately she managed to hold in the sound. She even waited a nanosecond before parting for him. She didn’t want to seem too eager. But then his tongue was touching hers, and staying cool was the last thing on her mind. Not when her blood rushed through her body at Mach 1 and every interesting female part of her began to tingle and ache and move toward begging to be touched.
He kissed her deeply, exploring, teasing, circling. She met him stroke for stroke, wanting to arouse him as much as he aroused her. Not to prove a point, for once, but because a kiss this good should be shared. Because it felt right.
She breathed in the scent of his body. She wished she were physically capable of crawling inside of him so she could know what he was feeling at that exact moment. Instead she tilted her head and continued to kiss him as if this had been her plan all along.
She felt the hardness of his arousal pressing into her midsection. He wanted her. There was physical proof.
It should have been a moment of rejoicing. She should have pulled away and crowed about her victory. She was more than halfway there. But while she did pull back, she didn’t say a word. Instead she stared into his dark eyes, at the fire there, the fire that matched the one raging inside her.
Then she did the only thing that couldn’t possibly make sense. She turned and ran.
Five
If there wasn’t twenty million for charity on the line, not to mention the house itself, Jack would have been on the road back to Texas the next morning. But he was stuck for the month. All the other guys had survived their time at Hunter’s Landing, so he would, too. But he would bet a lot of money that their weeks had been a whole lot less hellish than his.
He didn’t want to think about his most recent kiss with Meri, but he couldn’t seem to think about anything else. It had been different. He’d felt the power of his need for her all the way down to his bones. He’d ached for her in a way that was more than unsettling.
Trouble. Meri was nothing but trouble. She’d been a whole lot easier to handle when she’d been a teenager.
He walked into the kitchen, intent on coffee, only to find one of her team members pouring a cup. Jack frowned slightly, trying to put a name with the face.
“Morning,” the guy said and held out the pot for Jack.
“Morning…Colin,” he added, remembering the smaller man from his arrival.
“Right.” Colin pushed up his glasses and smiled. “Great house.”
“I agree.”
“It belongs to your friend, right? Meri’s brother? The one who died.”
Casual, easy words. The one who died. They cut through him like a razor and left wounds only he could see. “Yes. Hunter had this house built.”
“Meri said this house was being turned over to the town or something. That it’s going to be a place where sick people can recover and regroup. That’s cool.”
It was pure Hunter. Wanting to make a difference even after he was gone.
“How’s the work coming?” Jack asked, not wanting to talk about his friend anymore. “Making progress?”
“Not yet. Theoretically there is a way to increase thrust within the confines of a safe formulation, but the nature of our planet seems to be that going faster and longer always means creating something toxic. Meri is determined to change that. When we consider the finite nature of our resources and the vastness of space, there are going to have to be some spectacular breakthroughs before we’ll ever have a chance to explore our solar system, let alone the galaxy.”
Colin took a quick gulp of his coffee. “The truth is, the next few generations are going to be like the early Vikings. Going off on the rocket equivalent of rafts into a great unknown. If you consider their total lack of technology, the analogy is even more interesting. Because we consider ourselves cutting-edge, but compare what we have now to the first Russian launches. It’s like they used paper clips and rubber bands to hold the whole thing together. But if they hadn’t launched first, would Kennedy have pushed space flight? If you knew the number of modern innovations that came out of the space program…” He trailed off and looked slightly confused. “What were we talking about?”
“How your work was going.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I get carried away.” Colin shifted slightly. “I like your car.”
“Thanks.” The sleek sports car wasn’t practical, but it was fun to drive.
“Get good mileage with that?”
Jack grinned. “No.”
“I didn’t think so. I’d like a car like that.”
“So buy one,” Jack told him. Someone with Colin’s brain had to make enough money.
“I’d like to, but it’s not a good idea. I’m not a great driver.” Colin shrugged. “I get easily distracted. You know, I’ll be going along just fine and then I think about something with work and-zap-I’m just not paying attention. I’ve had a couple of accidents. I drive a Volvo. It’s safer for me and the rest of the world.”
“Okay, then.” A sports car was not a good idea. At least Colin understood his limitations.
“Meri said you own a company that works in dangerous parts of the world,” Colin said. “Interesting work?”
“More of a logistical challenge. People need to be able to work in dangerous parts of the world. My teams make sure they stay safe.”
“Sounds exciting.”
“It’s an easy way to get dead. You have to know what you’re doing.”
Colin nodded slowly. He was blond and pale, with light blue eyes and a slightly unfocused expression. “Military background?” he asked.
“Special Forces.”
Colin sighed. “I wanted to go to West Point. At least when I was a kid. But I was already in college by the time I was thirteen. Besides, I don’t think I would have survived the physical training.”
Jack had spent his six years of service staying out of any kind of officer training. “It’s all a matter of discipline.”
Colin smiled. “Maybe for you. For some of us there’s an issue of natural ability. Or lack thereof. Meri talks about you a lot. I decided she had to be making it up, but she wasn’t. You really are dynamic and powerful. Probably good with women.”
Colin seemed to shrink as he spoke. Jack wasn’t sure how to respond to his comments. What most interested him was the fact that Meri talked about him. Unfortunately that was the one question he couldn’t ask.
“You have a thing for Meri?”
“What?” Colin’s eyes widened. He pushed up his glasses again. “No. She’s great, don’t get me wrong, but we’re just friends. She’s not anyone I would…you know…be attracted to.”
Jack’s first instinct was to grab the little weasel by the throat and ask him what the hell he thought was wrong with Meri. Then he got a grip and told himself to back off.
His second instinct was to walk away, because he didn’t do personal conversations. But then he remembered Meri’s insistence that they help Colin and Betina get together.
He refused to play matchmaker, but maybe a couple of questions couldn’t hurt.
“You’re a lucky guy,” he said. “Surrounded by beautiful women.”
Colin blinked. “Betina’s beautiful.”
