Stone Passions Trilogy (48 page)

Rolling her eyes at his romantic foolishness, she kissed his thumb as it passed by her lips, “You haven’t even kissed me. At least, not on the lips.”

“Allow me to rectify that most egregious of mistakes.” He bent his head and she could feel his smile against her cool lips and it made her want to smile. Rhys made her smile. When he spoke, his breath twirled its way into her mouth and even that made her smile, “You have the most kissable lips, Jenna.”

“Then shut up and kiss them,” she murmured, curling her fingers into the lapels of his opened shirt and pulling his body closer to hers, wanting to feel the length of him against her.

“Mommy!”

Hearing her name in Ferris’s sweet voice brought her crashing back to reality and she lurched away from Rhys, her face burning with mortification. She had momentarily forgotten the fact that she was buttoned into Rhys’s coat and she had to wait a moment while he set her free.

Smoothing her hands over the knit hat on her head, she met her sister’s laughing eyes as Melanie strode over with Ferris, Vaughn right next to her. With her face in flames, Jenna zipped up her jacket and mumbled, “I was cold and he was warming me up.”

“It
is
awfully cold out here,” Lenni grinned, winking at Jenna. “We didn’t mean to interrupt but the fireworks are over and we thought you might be ready to head home.”

Jenna looked over her shoulder and frowned. While there were a few people milling around, most were starting to head towards to their cars, eager to get out of the cold. Even the strange little man was gone. Surrounded by Rhys’s heat she hadn’t even noticed how much lower the temperature had dropped.

Crossing her arms over her breasts, she looked at Rhys and knew exactly what he was thinking as he stared at the region of her breasts, a slight flush coloring his cheekbones. She had to bite her lips when she realized his chest was completely exposed to the cold winter air. “You’re chest… we should go.”

“Yeah, I think we’re ready,” he said, lifting his eyes and meeting her gaze. Desire burned brightly in the melted chocolate depths and if they had been alone she would have unzipped her jacket and stepped into his arms, pressing her breasts against his chest as she offered him her body. Leisurely, he buttoned up his coat, leaving his shirt opened beneath.

A shiver rippled through her body at the thought. There was some seriously explosive chemistry between the Nosuntres brothers and the Jacobs sisters. It made them all act so rashly, one might say foolishly. Jenna was a grown woman, the mother of a bright and imaginative daughter, and she was standing outside wanting to seduce a man she hadn’t even known a few hours before. There was something seriously wrong with her. Maybe she was finally going insane and this was how it was going to present itself: trying to seduce a gorgeous man on a cold winter’s night whose hair was far pettier than hers

Definitely insane.

“Mr. Rhys?” Ferris asked, looking up at him with her large blue-green eyes.

With an indulgent smile, he squatted down to her level, “What is it, sweetie?”

“I was wondering if you could carry me,” she asked bashfully, which Jenna knew to be an act because there wasn’t a bashful bone in Ferris’s body when it came to people she adored and Jenna knew Ferris adored Rhys. If she was honest she would admit that she adored Rhys, too, at least a little bit. “You see, I’ve been standing and walking around all day and my legs are awfully tired and it would be so nice if someone could carry me and since Mr. Vaughn has been nice enough to carry me here I thought it would be okay if you carried me back?”

His eyes twinkled with laughter but he kept his expression appropriately serious as he nodded his head in agreement, “I think something can be arranged.”

Grabbing her around the waist, he stood up and swung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Ferris let out a squeal of laughter and Jenna’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t thought a heart could skip a beat when faced with something so beautiful and she was struck dumb as he spun around and pretended to be confused, “Oh, no! Where has that little moppet gone? One moment she was here and then the next… Poof! Gone, just like a fairy princess.”

“Mr. Rhys!” Ferris cried out between belly laughs. “I’m right here!”

Rhys spun around, making Ferris laugh harder and Jenna’s heart thump even more erratically. It was ridiculous! She had stopped believing in fairy tales and happy endings when Jeremy was taken from her. Rhys was just a gorgeous guy who could make her laugh and illustrate to her that she was a woman who had needs and appetites, that she wasn’t just a mom or an accountant or an almost-widow. He was reminding her of who she used to be before her world collapsed in on itself and sucked her in.

No matter how much she loved her daughter and her family, she had been living on auto-pilot for almost seven years and had forgotten how to be Jenna. Watching Rhys interact with Ferris, the sparkle of life in his eyes, a vivacity that infused his entire being, she realized she wanted that spark back. She wanted to explore whatever this thing was with Rhys because she had a feeling that he was going to change her life in significant ways. She’d never be allowed to go back to sleepwalking through life with him around. She might never go back to sleep.

Plus, he adored Ferris and, more importantly, Ferris adored him.

“Isn’t he just the best?” Melanie asked, drawing her arm through Jenna’s.

Unable to tear her eyes away from the exuberant man spinning around with her daughter on his shoulder, she nodded, “He’s not bad.”

Melanie playfully swatted at her, “Oh, please, he’s perfect.”

“Nobody’s perfect,” Jenna replied automatically, trying to figure out if Rhys had any flaws, other than a propensity to say and do outrageous things. But she considered that a feature rather than a defect. Of course, she just met the man and it was easy to camouflage even serious flaws for a short period of time. Hell, he probably thought she was as adventurous and fun as he was and maybe once upon a time he would have been right. He didn’t know how… mind-numbingly monotonous her life actually was. The only joys were her daughter and her family. Her job… well, her job was a paycheck. It allowed her to feel like a responsible adult even though she still lived at home with her parents.

When Ferris was born it had been a luxury to be at home, having Melanie there to help out. After a few years it simply became easier to stay, knowing Ferris was safe. Even though she paid rent and lived in an apartment over the garage, she spent most of her time at the main house, with her family. The tradeoff of independence for security was one she struggled with on a daily basis but she hadn’t known what she could do about it.

Melanie’s sudden decision to move out had shaken her to the core and caused her to wake up out of the stupor she had fallen in. Automatically, her gaze went to Melanie, who was hugging Vaughn as if it had been days since she had seen him instead of moments. Lenni’s smile was dazzling and full of love and Jenna wanted that with Rhys.

She was moving too fast, maybe….

“Shall we?” With one arm holding a brilliantly smiling Ferris, Rhys held out his elbow out for her to take, jolting her out of her ruminations. She looked up into his warm laughing eyes and felt as if she could drown. Seeing him with Ferris made her sink a little further. Not wanting to think about it too much, she offered him a smile and looped her arm through his.

“You’re a natural, Rhys,” she murmured, reaching up and brushing a strand of Ferris’s hair from her cheek. She was about to ask him if he wanted lots of children but bit her tongue. That was way too personal, way too soon. Besides, it was nice just walking next to him, breathing in the scent of leather and Rhys and the cold winter air.

A short while later, the small group was standing next to Jenna’s running car and saying their goodbyes, the ambient lights of the city allowing them to see clearly. Ferris’s eyes were heavy and her head was resting on Rhys’s shoulder as she mumbled sleepily, “Can I stay with Aunt Mellie and the gargoyles, mama?”

“No, sweetie,” Jenna grinned, gently stroking her daughter’s smooth cheek. “I promised your grandparents that we would have brunch with them tomorrow and then we need to get some laundry done so you’ll have clean clothes next week.”

Ferris made a little grumbly sound but didn’t protest when Rhys strapped her into the back seat. Rubbing her eyes, she drowsily smiled up at the auburn haired man, “Good night, Mr. Rhys.”

“Goodnight, sweetie,” he murmured, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead. Jenna had to press her hand against her chest to keep her stupid heart from galloping towards Rhys.

After Melanie and Vaughn said their goodnights, it was just Jenna and Rhys beneath the clear winter night and strangely she was incredibly nervous. Leaning against the driver’s side door, she looked up at him as he boxed her in, his heat touching the coldest parts of her soul, “I had a really good time tonight.”

“So did I,” he murmured. His eyes darted past her to the interior and he smiled slightly, “She’s passed out.”

“She’ll sleep through the night.” Jenna smiled fondly as she thought about Ferris and how the little girl always gave one hundred and fifty percent, right up until the moment she crashed. “Thankfully I can still carry her from the car to her bedroom. I’m not sure what I’ll do when she gets bigger.”

“That’s when you get a wheelbarrow,” he said. “It’s a much easier way to move a body.”

The wry comment made her grin and suddenly she didn’t want the night to end, she didn’t want to leave Rhys. Going up on her tip toes, she pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his lips. The stubble of his beard rasped against her tender flesh and the heated musk of Rhys filled her senses. Her desire for him was a pleasant ache deep in her belly and she didn’t want to leave even though she knew she had to go. Keeping her mouth against his, she whispered, “Thank you, Rhys, for everything.”

The corners of his lips curved upwards in a wicked smile, “Throw caution to the wind, Jenna. Let go and I’ll be there to catch you.”

“You make me want things I shouldn’t even be thinking about, Rhys, not when I am a mother and I have so many people relying on me to be sensible.” Stepping away from him, she swallowed thickly. He was so tempting and in this moment she was too tempted. She had no defenses in place to protect her tender heart against such warmth. Beneath the dark night sky, it didn’t matter, but in the morning she’d wake up and remember who she was. And who she was no longer.

With a shaky smile, she reached up and ran her fingers along the carved line of his jaw, the bristles of his new beard growth rough beneath her fingertips. She wanted to touch him and never stop and that was a dangerous wish. Yet being with Rhys seemed… right. Fated. Which was ridiculous because she wasn’t the sister who believed in magic, no matter how magical she felt in Rhys’s sphere. “If I stay any longer I’ll want to stay all night and I have a sleeping child in the back seat and a million reasons why I shouldn’t get involved with you.”

Holding her eyes, he put his hand over hers and kissed her palm, “I’ll call you, Jenna Jacobs and we’re going to figure this out.”

She smiled even as tears glittered in her eyes. She was finally saying goodbye to the past and it was heartbreaking and nerve-wracking and long overdue. “I’ll see you later then.”

“Definitely,” he promised, opening her car door and letting her slide into the driver’s seat. Leaning against the frame, he bent down, his long hair falling forward to brush against her lap, “This is only the beginning, sweetheart. Like I said earlier, I’m not letting you go.”

“Good night, Rhys,” she said softly, feeling the world shift once more.

Chapter 3

By the time she got home, Jenna’s head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. She was looking forward to pouring herself a glass of wine, which she hadn’t done in ages, and relaxing with a steamy book. Her thoughts about Rhys were all muddled and she knew that she was moving too fast but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. It felt so right being in his arms.

As soon as she had Ferris tucked into bed, she grabbed a racy book and went straight to her room where she put on her old nightshirt. Her head was still a little cloudy but she felt good, with too much pent up energy to sleep. She felt like she was eighteen again with the whole world laid at her feet, no longer old before her time with the weight of a life not lived on her shoulders.

As much as she adored her daughter, Jenna needed adult interaction. She craved the intimacy of two adults coming together in the dark of night and connecting on a physical level. Jeremy was supposed to be her other half, to hold her hand when the road became too difficult, to lean on her when his load became too heavy and it nearly destroyed her when he was taken from her. If she hadn’t had her family she would have lost it long ago. All of them had given her so much and she could never repay them.

Hell, Melanie gave up her scholarship to attend culinary school in Paris to help Jenna out, choosing to go to the local college instead and stay home and she never complained. She simply rolled up her sleeves, grabbed a diaper and said that there was always going to be other opportunities but only one Ferris. Then she threw herself into aunt-hood with gusto, as if giving up Paris was nothing. Jenna envied Lenni’s uncanny ability to roll with whatever life threw at her and make it into some fairy tale dream. Birds probably rose up in chorus wherever she went.