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Everything she had been keeping in came out in an unstoppable tide. The façade of acceptance and strength crumbled. She sobbed against his chest as sorrow and guilt built into an excruciating crescendo and then slowly ebbed, leaving her empty and drained. She listened to his steady heartbeat as she calmed.
“I called your mom. She’s always been so nice to me. She invited me out here, so I said yes, and then this morning, she…” She swallowed hard. “I-I was so worried that she…”
The fear that once again, she would have to deal with a parental figure dying shattered her. The added stress of facing her ex-husband had pushed her to the limit, leaving her with no shields to hide behind.
“She’s going to be fine,” he said.
She nodded, and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
She sniffled and brushed her hand over damp flannel. “Wetting your shirt.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
She wanted to sleep, wanted it so badly her head throbbed, but her mind wouldn’t shut down. So many things were waiting for her in New York, things that couldn’t be put off forever, and here she was in the mountains crying on her ex-husband’s shoulder. The practical side of her brain told her she needed to extricate herself from Roth and put some much-needed distance between them. But she was finally warm. And his arms around her felt good. Good enough for her to stay right where she was.
“I haven’t been able to sleep more than a few hours since he passed,” she said, her voice as dazed as she felt. “I’m tired of being tired. I came here to get away…”
When her breath hitched, he stroked the side of her face.
“You’re fine,” he said gently.
“I’m not.”
“You will be.”
His scent tantalized her. She nuzzled his neck and then tasted his skin. Was it her imagination, or did his heartbeat stutter? That encouraged her to put her mouth on his neck. She sucked gently, taking her time, nursing the area with kisses before she sat back to examine her handiwork.
“Jasmine.”
Her mind was cloudy with grief and exhaustion, but the dark hunger on his face called forth her own. This man had hurt her more than any other man on the planet. Once upon a time, she would have sacrificed everything for him, and now… now, he was a stranger, one who she had amazing chemistry with. Her volatile feelings for him mixed with her grief-stricken loneliness.
She rested her forehead against his and surrendered. “Fuck me.”
His eyes bored into hers. “Why?”
“Because I’m tired of thinking.”
He didn’t move. She cupped his face and shifted on his lap and felt the hard ridge of his penis between her legs. Her pussy clenched. She knew what it felt like to be beneath him, knew he could wring her dry and leave her so satisfied she couldn’t think.
“One night,” she murmured.
He didn’t look the least bit lover-like. He looked savage and angry. Her mouth curved at the corner as she stroked his sinister face.
“Is that what you want?” he growled.
“What I want,” she whispered as she let herself fall into the abyss, “is a night when I don’t worry about what’s waiting for me in New York. I want a night when I don’t have to think about who I am or what’s expected of me.” Her hand glided down his neck, between his pecs, down his abdomen, and landed on his tented crotch. “I want one last night to work you out of my system and not feel guilty about it.”
“I’m not noble,” he ground out. “If you let me have you, I’ll take.”
“Take,” she challenged as she wrapped her hand around him. “And don’t you dare let me think.”
Chapter 4
He grabbed her face, angled it the way he wanted it, and kissed her. This time, there was nothing sweet about it. Her mind went blank as he applied pressure on her cheeks, forcing her mouth open to accept his tongue, which invaded with a sensual thrust that made her nipples tingle. He tasted like buttery cornbread and something intrinsically him, which tickled the back of her mind and evoked memories of their past.
She fell into him. There was no need to think, no need to strategize or worry because he knew what he was doing. In this arena, no man could match him. She discovered that after the divorce. He taught her to love savagely and hold nothing back. He told her she could let go with him and be who she wanted to be… and then he abandoned her.
