The Rescue Of Jenna West Page 20

  With each gentle caress of his mouth, he said everything she’d never heard. You’re beautiful. You’re mine.

  His breath on her skin, his hands on her body, each touch of his tongue branded her his and melted a little more of her fear, her resistance. His touch filled her with a breathless expectancy. She could feel in him a leashed urgency, yet he didn’t hurry.

  When he pushed off her shorts, her legs reflexively squeezed together. He ran his palms soothingly up and down her back until she relaxed, until she was ready for more.

  When she knelt naked in front of him, his gaze fastened on her. Hunger and pleasure glittered in his eyes. He trailed a finger over her hip, giving her time to adjust to him, time to become accustomed to the heat raging through her body.

  His hands covered her breasts, squeezing gently, kneading, plucking at her nipples. An invisible wire snapped taut inside her. She watched his hands on her and thought she’d never seen anything more beautiful, more arousing, more sensual.

  Liquid heat spread between her legs. He cupped her bottom, pulling her into him. She’d never been touched with such reverence, such gentle awe. She’d never felt as if her next breath might unravel her.

  She looped her good arm around his neck and melted against him. His arousal—thick, insistent, strong—strained against her.

  He looked into her eyes, murmuring encouragement to her, telling her to feel what she did to him. Desire burned fiercely in his eyes, but it was tempered with tenderness.

  Moving his hands over her, he let her get used to the feel of him. On her breasts, her belly, her hips, her back. Large and broad and gentle, his hands cupped her rear and pressed her gently into him.

  She expected trepidation, a flare of panic. Instead she felt only desire, an impatience to have him inside her. Could she shed the last, most intimidating of her fears? Focusing on Linc’s gentleness, she reached down and wrapped her hand carefully around him.

  His eyes dilated and he froze. “Go ahead,” he urged in a strangled voice.

  She dragged her hand the length of him and his breath came out in a ragged moan. Liquid fire rained through her at the sound, the knowledge that she could affect him as powerfully as he did her.

  She stroked him again. He was steel and satin, pulsing warm and heavy in her hand. She kissed him, begging entrance to his mouth with her tongue, following the wild urging in her blood. His hand slipped between them, then grazed the nub between her legs.

  For a second, she stiffened. Fear rushed back, knife-edged and cold. This was Linc. He wouldn’t hurt her.

  “Do you want to stop, Jenna?” he rasped at her temple, his body taut against hers.

  She considered it. Then sweet fire trickled through her and she relaxed, following the call of her body. She leaned into him, loving the feel of her breasts against the tempered steel of his chest.

  Gently, deliberately, he slid one finger inside her.

  Terror flickered. She pushed it away, concentrated instead on the wickedly wonderful glide of his finger, the way her body melted around him. Sleek, delicious heat streamed through her and she sagged against him.

  “Yes?” he whispered against her lips.

  “Yes,” she managed to reply, then caught her breath when he stroked that particularly sensitive spot again.

  He laid her back on the bed, kissing her, his body half covering hers, giving her an easy escape if she chose. His muscular thigh nudged between her legs and she looked down, astonished at the difference between his hairroughened leg and her smooth one. She couldn’t believe she was actually doing this. And liking it. Loving it.

  He murmured sweet words to her, nuzzled her neck, making her body go languorous and soft. Strong, gentle fingers stroked her breasts, rubbed at her nipples and all the while an urgency coiled inside her.

  She stroked one hand along his hip, then moved back to his arousal. He was huge, heated velvet in her hand and she shifted toward him, craving more of him. He kissed her breasts, her belly, blew air kisses against that most secret part of her.

  A white-hot core of need boiled within her, then spilled over. When he slid his fingers inside her, she was sleek and wet and hot.

  “Still good, hon?” he panted against her, his eyes sharp with need.

  She nodded, opening her legs slightly, unable to breathe. His hand laced with hers, then one finger stroked the inside of her palm. Tingles shot down her arm.

  His fingers silhouetted hers, moved up and down each slender one, stroking, weaving in and out, making her ache to have his body joined to hers like that.

  His gaze locked on hers. In the passion-dark depths, she read tenderness and fierce desire. Her throat tightened with emotion.

  She realized he was careful to keep his weight off her and tears stung her eyes at his understanding, his unselfish passion.

  His fingers strummed a desperate song inside her body. Need built, merged with that old anxiety, but she had come too far to stop now. “I’m ready, Linc.” Her voice was rusty and hoarse. “I want to feel you inside me.”

  He swallowed hard and the muscles corded in his neck. Then he pulled her half on top of him. “You set the pace, call the shots.”

  “Really?”

  He grazed a thumb across her bottom lip. “Really.”

  Taking courage from the desire flowing through her body, she lifted herself up and straddled him.

  As the most vulnerable, intimate part of her brushed the heat and power of him, panic surged. She fought it. Keeping her gaze on his, she balanced herself with a hand on his shoulder. He steadied her with his hands on her hips, his arousal brushing the wet heat of her.

  Fire licked at her. Though it didn’t dim her anxiety, she concentrated instead on the tenderness in Linc’s eyes, the leashed restraint in his body. He wouldn’t hurt her. Wanting him, eager now to test herself, she slid down on him. Just a little at a time.

  The struggle for control lashed his features. His legs and arms trembled with restraint and she felt the coil of power in his body, surging up into hers.

  His hips moved and he grimaced. “Sorry. Too soon.”

  That first stroke of his body snatched her breath. He pulsed within her, hot and heavy and foreign. For an instant, Jenna couldn’t move, didn’t know if she wanted to. Then reflexively her body pushed down on his.

  Her tightness stretched to accept him fully and the sharp sensation in her body ebbed away. She stared into his eyes, victory and triumph and sheer joy coursing through her.

  Then her body softened around him and she began to move, led by a force of passion she’d never experienced and now didn’t question. Her gaze locked on his, she gave herself over to a world where nothing mattered but trust and intimacy and Linc gave her both.

  Her rhythm was awkward at first, but he followed, his hands strong and gentle on her hips. When her rhythm turned slow and smooth, her breath escaped in a low moan. She felt new and undamaged. Linc encouraged her with whispered words.

  Then his hands slid up, cupped her breasts and urged her forward so that she lay more fully atop him.

  Her life changed with each long stroke of his body inside hers. She kissed him, long and deep, her tongue sliding against his, miming the way his body stroked hers. Desperation charged through her. She craved his touch everywhere.

  His hands kneaded her breasts, plucked gently at her nipples. And when he firmly bracketed her hips, she began to move faster, driven by a fierce urgency she didn’t understand. Locked in the scent and feel of Linc’s body, all thoughts of the past, of denial, of unfulfillment shattered.

  Operating on sheer sensation, she gave herself over to the magic of Linc’s body inside hers. They moved together, faster and faster, stretching, reaching for something high and bright.

  She heard his whispered encouragement. Her name spilled from his lips in a harsh cry and she climaxed. As shudders racked her body, she cried out in disbelief and triumph. He gripped her hips, thrust hard and deep and fast. Faster, faster, until finally he shud
dered inside her.

  Only the sound of their ragged breathing broke the silence. Sunlight filtered through the blinds on the window, gilding their bodies in liquid gold. Jenna floated on a cloud of sensation. Her breasts tingled and her skin seemed heated from within.

  Her mind drifted as she savored the pleasant ache between her legs, the giddiness in her blood. Linc’s sweat mingled with hers; his chest hair tickled her breast. His hands stroked her hips and his breath warmed her temple.

  Realization unfolded within her. It hadn’t been a disaster. Making love with Linc had been a perfect, eye-opening pleasure. In utter disbelief, she admitted their lovemaking had totally fulfilled her. She’d despaired of ever feeling such completeness again.

  A tear slipped out, then another. She buried her head in Linc’s shoulder.

  “Hey, you okay?” His hands rose to her shoulders, caressing her. “Was it that bad?”

  “It was wonderful,” she sobbed.

  He gently tugged her face up to his, kissing her lips, her tear-soaked lashes. “You’re wonderful.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered, stunned at what had just happened between them, at her total, unfettered response. “Thank you.”

  He shook his head. “Thank you for giving me what I thought I’d never find again.”

  “What’s that?”

  “My heart,” he said simply.

  Silent tears slipped down her cheeks and she pressed a gentle kiss on his lips. Triumph and gratitude and pleasure swelled inside her, filling her soul to painful fullness.

  Linc stroked her back, wound a strand of her hair around his finger. “It’s never been like that for me, Jenna,” he said quietly.

  She lifted her head, searching his eyes. “Really?”

  “Really.” He kissed her long and deep, until she had no doubt.

  She sighed and laid her head back on his chest.

  He chuckled, the sound rumbling beneath her.

  “What?” She lifted her head, swiping at her tears.

  He grinned, unadulterated male satisfaction on his face. “Don’t ever give me that frigid stuff again.”

  She laughed and soon he joined in, holding her close as the scent of intimacy settled around them. Warm and safe, Jenna had never felt such joy, such utter completeness.

  She kissed him softly, then again, sighing contentedly when he deepened the kiss. She felt him grow hard inside her again and drew back, running her finger along his bottom lip. “Want to?”

  “Yes—”

  The phone shrilled.

  She grimaced and he tightened his hold on her. “We’ll just pretend not to hear it.”

  Their eyes locked, reality worming in to their idyll. Both of them knew it could be Mace with news.

  The phone rang again and Linc snatched up the phone, snarling, “Yeah?”

  His body tautened and his gaze sliced to Jenna. Fury darkened his eyes, slashed across his handsome features.

  Dread unfurled within her and she gripped his hand as he replaced the receiver.

  “It was Mace,” she said, already knowing, wondering what now.

  Linc nodded, compassion battling with the rage in his eyes.

  “Ramsey’s gotten to Steve.”

  Horror, uncertainty, panic swirled within her. As they drove, she held tight to Linc’s hand in an effort to keep the panic at bay. Every moment of the ride scraped by, each moment pricking like a needle. Mace hadn’t been able to tell them the severity of Steve’s injuries. Jenna’s chest hurt. She couldn’t breathe.

  They reached the hospital and she and Linc rushed through the halls to Steve’s room. Mace’s partner, O’Kelly, waited for them outside the door.

  He smiled encouragingly at Jenna. “He’s gonna make it, Dr. West.”

  Thank goodness. She nodded, her throat too tight to speak, and stepped into the hospital room. Mace rose from a chair in the corner, his gaze telegraphing concern and compassion.

  Allie, Steve’s fiancée, stood on the opposite side of the bed, holding his hand. Her eyes were red and swollen. “He’s been asking for you.”

  Jenna heard the resentment beneath the soft words. She didn’t blame Allie one bit. What had happened to Steve was Jenna’s fault.

  Jenna looked at him then, and what little relief she’d felt at O’Kelly’s words evaporated.

  Her friend lay on the bed, his face beaten so severely he was barely recognizable. But his eyes glittered at her and he weakly lifted a hand.

  Jenna stuffed a knuckle in her mouth to keep from crying out. She took in his raw face, the bandage around his head, the cast on his left forearm and her knees wobbled.

  Linc wrapped a steadying arm around her. “It’s okay, hon.”

  For a heartbeat, Jenna let herself lean into him, absorb his strength, steady her nerves. Then she rushed to Steve, gently taking his hand, tears sliding down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry. So terribly sorry.”

  Through swollen lips, he mumbled, “Not... your... fault.”

  Allie looked away, wiping her cheeks.

  “It is,” Jenna whispered, struggling to keep from sobbing. “All because of me.”

  Beneath the revulsion she felt at what Ramsey had done, that dark energy twisted inside her. Her hand tightened on Steve’s. “He won’t get away with this. He won’t.”

  “He already has,” Allie said tightly, rage vibrating in her words.

  Steve’s gaze went to her and with an effort, he shook his head.

  Her face crumpled and she looked down. After a few seconds, she took a deep breath, smiling at him. “I’m going to get you more ice chips, all right?”

  He nodded, his eyes beseeching, trying to reassure her. It broke Jenna’s heart. Allie grabbed up the plastic pitcher from the cart beside the bed and fled the room.

  Jenna knew then what she had to do and she finally allowed an idea that had first horrified, then nagged her. Determination budded. She squared her shoulders and kissed Steve gently on the temple. “He will pay for this. I swear to you.”

  “What...are...you...” Steve dragged in a breath, his words mangled, his cheeks so swollen they looked stuffed with gauze “...doing?”

  She smiled, taking strength and purpose from the fury that washed through her, cleansing, burning away the fear. “I’ll be right back.”

  She moved toward the door, but Linc blocked her way.

  “Let me have just a minute, please,” she said.

  His gaze, concerned and protesting, searched hers. Then he nodded.

  She stepped outside. Closing the door behind her, she glanced at O’Kelly who stood several feet away. He smiled.

  She lifted a hand in greeting, her attention going to the woman who stood at the opposite wall. Allie’s shoulders were braced against the plaster and she looked so drained, so fragile that Jenna suspected the wall, and not her own energy, was what kept her on her feet.

  Jenna took the few steps that separated them and pressed her own back to the wall, staring straight ahead. “I’m so sony. I know this is my fault.” Her voice cracked, but she plowed on, “I promise Ramsey will pay for this.”

  Allie stood quietly, the pitcher dangling limply from her hand. Blue eyes, red-rimmed and dull with trauma, finally met Jenna’s. “I know I shouldn’t blame you, but I do.”

  “If I were in your shoes, I’d feel the same.” Jenna struggled to keep her voice even against the rage and horror tearing through her.

  “It’s not really your fault. I know that. Nothing could’ve kept Steve from helping you.” She gave a broken laugh. “If he could, he’d get out of that bed right now and go back for more.”

  Misery razored through Jenna. She didn’t know how to respond. There were no words to ease Allie’s pain or resentment.

  The blonde slid a sideways glance at her, bitterness lacing her voice. “You know, I’ve never been exactly jealous of you, but you always seemed to know Steve so much better than I did. You always seemed to have a part of him I couldn’t reach. Then he told me about the rape
and for the first time, I understood just how deep the friendship between you two is. And why.”

  “I’m glad he finally told you.” Jenna wiped at her eyes. “The idiot thought he was protecting me.”

  Allie smiled then, a calm serenity spreading across her delicate features. “I feel like you’re responsible, in some part, for what a wonderful man he is.”

  Jenna’s eyes burned and she shook her head vehemently. “No, he got that way all on his own.”

  “You are responsible for one thing, Jenna.”

  “I know—” Her heart clenched. How could she ever make this up to Steve? Allie would never forgive her and Jenna didn’t blame her. “If it hadn’t been for me, Ramsey could never have gotten to him—”

  “No, that’s not what I meant. Your friendship with Steve,

  the things the two of you have shared, have made him the kind, caring man he is. He’s told me that many times and I believe he’s right.”

  “I feel the same about him,” Jenna admitted, the pressure in her chest finally easing.

  Allie took a deep breath and turned to look at her. “I want to thank you for that. Steve will be fine. I know he will. I was scared to death when I first saw him, but I know him well enough to know that he was where he wanted to be, doing what he wanted. He’ll protect you with everything in him.”

  “He’ll do that for you, too.”

  “I know that now.” A tremulous smile spread across her face, turning her eyes the vibrant blue of washed sapphires. “And I wish you the very best. I know this has been hell on you.”

  “Thanks.” Jenna leaned back against the wall, feeling drained and energized at the same time.

  Steve’s door opened and Linc stepped outside, relief flashing through his eyes when he saw her. His gaze shot to Allie, then back to her. “Everything okay?”

  “Yes.”

  Mace stepped out behind him, closing the door softly.

  Allie pushed away from the wall, moving back toward Steve’s room.

  Linc’s gaze locked on Jenna. She wanted to go to him, let him hold her, just feel his strength against her and as if he read her mind, he walked over and stood beside her.