BlackJack (A Standish Bay Romance Book 1) (10 page)

“You should’ve told
me you were coming. I would’ve picked you up at the airport.” Then a thought
accosted her. “How did you know where I live?”

He smiled. “First.”
He kissed her lips with a loud smack. “I wanted to surprise you, and second, I
called your editor.” He kissed her quickly again. “Nice guy.” He chuckled. “He
actually threatened my life if I didn’t take...let’s see how he put it? Ah yes,
the threat went like this, ‘fragile care of your heart, body and soul.’ The
dramatic type I see.”

His bag hit the
floor with a dull thud as he pulled her tighter. “I have three days off, and
all I could think about was you. I told myself I could wait for you until I
cleared my name, but it’s a lie. I want you so badly I ache all over from
needing you. I told myself I needed to stay away to keep you safe from your
attacker. However, I rationalized my decision to come here by telling myself no
one would know where I am or where you live.”

Chapter Eight

Shannon drowned
in his eyes radiating lust, need and desire, and she melted, not giving her
safety another thought. Words were no longer needed. Cole proceeded to possess
her lips, and Shannon lost all coherent thought except for the taste of his
delicious mouth. The feel of his warm hard body wrapped around her soft pliant
one. Their tongues did the dance of lovers gone way too long without each
other’s nourishment. Their bodies entwined in desperation, the need for the
joining of two lost souls finally coming together as one. His warm hands
traveled up the back of her shirt as she heard someone clear his throat.
Cameron
.
She’d forgotten about Cameron. Shannon released Cole and turned to face her
son.

“Honey,” she
said a little breathless. “You remember Cole?” She felt herself blush from the
tips of her toes to the top of her head. How stupid she mused, of course he
remembered Cole. Her nerves were rattled over having her son find her in such a
steamy embrace. Not to mention what Cole’s kiss had done to her. And his hands,
his body. Oh God, his erection!

Cole shook Cameron’s
hand and smiled at him. “Good to see you again, Cameron. I hope you’re working
on your music,” he said with a deepness to his voice Shannon had heard only a
few times before.

Cameron beamed
with admiration. “Yes.”

“Cameron, why
don’t you go back in your room and finish your homework,” Shannon said, hoping
her son got the hint that she wanted some privacy with Cole.

Cameron glanced
from his mom to Cole and grinned. “Sure. I’ll catch you both later.”

Cole looked
uncertain once they found themselves alone. “Jesus, how stupid of me for not
thinking about Cameron. Is there a hotel nearby I can stay in?”

She took his
hand in her trembling one and led him up two flights of stairs to her bedroom. After
turning into him and kissing him until they were both breathless once again,
she looked at him, knowing all her feelings spilled out from her eyes and she
didn’t care.

“Your hotel
room awaits. That is, if you don’t mind a roommate?”

He yanked her
up against his chest. “Cameron. You mean him right?” he said with a mischievous
gleam in his eye.

“If you want to
be his roomy, but I had someone else in mind,” she said as she held him tightly
back, not ever wanting to let him go. Not quite believing he was here. Whenever
she started thinking she’d never see him again, he showed up. Their weird
connection coming through.

Shannon left
Cole to shower while she went and finished cooking supper. When she approached
the stove, she found the chili boiling hot and ready to eat. Cameron came and
sat at the kitchen table, his eyes watching her with a teenager’s curiosity. Damn,
she could feel herself start to flush, and it had nothing to do with the spices
from the chili she’d just sampled.

After serving
up two bowls of chili topped with cheese and heating cornbread in the
microwave, she sat down at the table opposite Cameron. His face beamed with
exuberance as he babbled on and on about Cole and how cool it was he was
staying with them and not to worry, there stood two floors between her bedroom
and his, he wouldn’t hear a thing.

She dropped her
spoon in shock and her jaw opened.

Cameron
continued, “Besides, no one can make as much noise as Dad and Cheryl.” He
rolled his eyes. “She’s a screamer and Dad, he howls like a werewolf during a
full moon. I’m surprised they don’t wake the neighbors. Old Ms. Smart would
have a stroke if she ever heard them. The old lady probably never had sex in
her life.”

Shannon stared
at her son in shocked disbelief as he went on and on about John and Cheryl’s
sex life. She could not possibly be having this conversation with him. And was
she not mistaken, but did he just give her permission to sleep with Cole? Not
that she needed it, nor was it any of his business. Or was it? Shannon never
did get a word in edgewise as Cameron talked, ate and left the kitchen for the
family room before she could find the words to express her thoughts, never mind,
having eaten any of her supper.

Alone at the
table, she buried her face in her hands and laughed at the absurdity of their
dinnertime conversation. Not a typical mother, father, two-point five kids and
a dog conversation. At least she didn’t think so. Sitting at the table and
laughing was how Cole found her.

“Care to share
the joke?”

She looked at
him and laughed some more. “Why not, sit down and I’ll fix you supper and tell
you all about it.”

She told him
what Cameron had said. He laughed and grinned at her, pinning her with his sexy
eyes. “You did say Cameron’s bedroom is two floors down.” He winked. “That
might be far enough for what I have in mind to do to you.”

She threw her
napkin at him, laughing. “You have no idea if I make any noise, and what about
you?”

He grinned at
her and she melted. “Care to come upstairs with me now, and we’ll see who
screams the loudest? We can make it a contest to see who can be the quietest. But
I guarantee,” his voice became soft and downright sexy as sin, “you’ll lose.”

Oh my God! She
began to tingle all over from his offer. She’d love nothing more than to go
upstairs with him, but she couldn’t now. Not until Cameron went to bed. And
even then, could she? Hell it was only seven—she’d never make it, not with her
body burning up. This was something she’d wanted since she first set eyes on
him in the hotel suite playing his guitar. His muscles rippling, his intriguing
tattoo fascinating her, and oh, she couldn’t forget his molten brown eyes sucking
her in like sweet, creamy chocolate. Oh, he’d definitely done something to her
the night they met, and she’d never been the same because of it. No. Never the
same. And at some level that thrilled her. On another level it terrified her as
her heart was torn wide open.

While she
cleaned up from dinner, she heard Cameron ask Cole if he would jam with him. Cameron
went to his room and brought up two acoustic guitars. They spent hours playing
together while Shannon sat curled up on a large overstuffed leather chair beneath
a fleece blanket. She listened with love and pride to the two men in her life
create beautiful music together. Watching Cole strum his guitar was like
watching him make love. He looked all intense and gentle, using his long
graceful fingers to make the instrument sing for him. She couldn’t wait to be
the one his fingers made sing. She fidgeted in the chair as her body craved his
fingers on it.

At one point Cameron
brought out pen and paper, and they created a new song together. A beautiful
song. The lyrics were potent and sad, causing Shannon to shed silent tears
every time Cole glanced her way, which was often. The lyrics were about a boy’s
lost love and finding her again later in life, only to lose her again to a
terrible tragedy. She wondered what inspired her son and Cole in their song
writing. At midnight, she finally made Cameron go to bed. He had school the
next day and he would be exhausted.

After he left,
Cole looked at her from his position on the couch with his eyes so hot and
intense Shannon squirmed in her seat. In that instant she knew he would make
her sing tonight. Finally, she would know what it felt like to make love with
Cole. And suddenly she couldn’t wait any longer. She jumped up and gave him a
sultry look that had him following close on her heels.

Once inside her
room, she quickly shut and locked the door, then proceeded to light several
candles on the nightstand. It amazed her she was able to accomplish the task with
her hands as unsteady as they were. She was nervous, anxious and downright
burning up with sexual need. And her voice had deserted her.

***

Cole watched
with heavy lidded eyes and a tightness in his groin as she slowly unbuttoned
her blouse. It took longer than it should have, but she finally slid it off her
shoulders and Cole sucked in air. Her arms reached behind her back and
unclasped the black lace bra she wore, and it joined her blouse on the floor. Once
again he sucked in air to his desperate lungs. She was breathtakingly beautiful
standing in front of him naked from the waist up. Her blue eyes dark with lust,
her skin flush, and her breasts small, round and perfect.

The candlelight
flickered around the room, casting shadows, making her seem more erotic. Neither
of them moved as Shannon continued to undress down to nothing but creamy white
skin causing Cole to nearly drop to his knees as his body went weak at the
beautiful, sensual picture she made. He wondered if he touched her just so,
would she be moist and warm and waiting for him.
Oh yeah
! Cole proceeded
to undress, taking his time as he enjoyed the sight before him, a sight he’d
waited far too long for. He couldn’t wait to taste, touch, love and possess
every luscious creamy inch of her.

He stood fully
erect ready for the feel of her body sheathing his. Slowly he went to her, not
quite believing this was happening and whispered her name, “Shannon.” He put
his hands on the nape of her neck and kissed her. Slow and teasing. He sucked
on her bottom lip and nibbled it. She moaned into his mouth, waiting for him to
deepen the kiss. He didn’t. He left her mouth to discover uncharted regions. He
lingered as he found her pleasure points, behind the ear, the hollow of her
neck and the spot between her breasts.

“Cole,” she
purred out.

“Yes, my love?”
He didn’t wait for an answer as he tore his mouth from her breast and dropped
to his knees to explore lower into exotic territory, moist and damp as a
tropical rain forest. He parted her thighs with his warm hands and made the
most incredible discovery known to man. He discovered the innermost core of a
woman’s body, the sweet nectar that drove men crazy. He’d dreamed about this. Her
taste, her scent, but it paled in comparison to having the real thing. He drank
from her, tasting and teasing with his tongue, unable to quench his thirst. He
was like a man gone days in the desert without water, and this woman was his
savior. Her fluids were his nourishment. He drank from her deep well and was
rewarded when her body trembled with release. He continued to drive her higher
and higher until she cried out in mercy and collapsed down to him, breathless
and shaking. Cradling her to him, he caressed her breasts as she recovered. And
he wondered what he’d done in this lifetime to deserve her?

“Hmm, that
feels so good,” Shannon murmured. “You have the most talented hands. When I
watched you play tonight and you made your guitar sing, I wanted it to be me. I
imagined your hands on my body, making me sing.”

When she opened
her dreamy eyes, they were nearly black and so sensually erotic he knew he
needed her now. He laid her back on the floor and groaned out as she parted her
thighs in welcome, causing him to nearly lose it at the sight of her. “Condom,”
he mumbled. Shit, he needed a condom. He scrambled to his backpack and
frantically hunted for the box he’d put in there. After putting one on, he
covered her body with his and spoke her name as he thrust deep and hard into
her wonderfully warm and welcoming body. As they joined as one he knew he would
never be whole again without her in his life. This woman he’d known for such a
short time, completed him. She was the other half of his soul, and he’d been
searching for her his entire life.

He moved slowly
at first, pulling out almost completely. His eyes locked with her dreamy ones,
and he noticed they became a mesmerizing shade of black when she was in the
throws of passion. Reaching for her legs, he wrapped them up over his shoulders
and buried himself so deep inside her, he thought he would be lost forever. He
wanted to be lost forever.

One more hard
push and he felt her body spasm around his and she cried out, “Cole,” over and
over again. He finally lost it, his body tensed, then trembled as he came,
filling her completely. They lay collapsed together, naked, and on the floor. When
Cole crashed back to earth, he managed to mumble.

“Shannon?”

“Hmm?”

“That was
better than any dream I’d conjured up these past weeks. But I have something to
ask.”

“Ask away.”

“The floor’s hard—can
we go to your bed?”

She giggled and
kissed his neck. “Why not.”

Cole, in one
quick move, scooped her up into his arms and laid her back on the bed,
snuggling her into the curve of his body and burying his head into her hair. He
loved the way she smelled. He would never be able to smell jasmine ever again
without thinking of Shannon. And before he knew what he was doing he breathed
out, “I’m so in love with you.” Then he drifted off to sleep, for the first
time in forever feeling content and loved.

***

Shannon smiled
to herself as she pulled Cole’s arms tighter around her waist. Tears pooled in
her eyes and her heart pounded with love for him. Never, ever, had sex been
like that for her. This was the stuff dreams were made of, and she hoped this
dream went on indefinitely. She couldn’t believe he loved her. He not only
showed her with his body, his actions, his tender touch, he told her as well
with incredible words that stole her breath away. She knew it must be hard for
him to love and trust after what he’d been through with Lindsey. The fact he
trusted her with his delicate, once broken, and discarded heart, caused
emotions to well up inside her she’d only written about.

She hadn’t
known she was capable of feeling emotions this strong or a love so intense. And
to know he felt the same only added to the sensations racing through her veins,
causing her heart to swell against the confines of her chest.

Feeling the
steady beat of his heart thump against her back, the tickle of his breath on
her neck, the warmth of his hard body pressed against hers caused Shannon to
slowly drift and join him in contented sleep, not to wake until morning.