Broken (The Broken Series Book 1) (11 page)

Jack obviously knew the area far better than I did, so I let him choose our route. I’d been walking beside him for twenty minutes or so when we reached a small forested area.
 

“It’s lovely here,” he said. “I’ve always liked it.”

When we got to the edge of the woods, I stopped walking. “We can stop here for lunch,” I said. “I can sit on the ground.” The grass looked pretty comfortable.
 

“No.” Jack’s mouth set in a stubborn line. “We need to go into the woods. There’s this really nice spot by a stream, and it’s…” He looked away for a moment then gazed back at me almost shyly. “It’s really beautiful,” he said.
 

By the way he looked at me, I could tell it meant a lot to him. I couldn’t refuse, although I knew it was sensible to stay here and it would be easier to get back. There was something about Jack Harding that made it very hard for me to say no.

I frowned. “How far is it?”

“It’s not far at all. Maybe five minutes more. It’ll be fine.”
 

I peered in through the trees. There was dappled sunlight on the floor of the woods, but the trees were pretty close together, and there were a few felled trees as well as a carpet of leaves on the floor.
 

I bit my lip. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to get the chair in there.”
 

“No, I’ll just take my crutches,” he said. “I feel good. I’ll be fine.”
 

After what happened yesterday, I really wasn’t convinced. But before I could make any more objections, he’d grabbed both crutches and stood up and started walking towards the trees.

I sighed in exasperation and grabbed the picnic basket from the back of the chair. It was much heavier than I’d expected, and I began to regret packing the bottle of alcohol-free wine Maria had given me to take. It was so damn heavy.
 

As we walked along the basket kept hitting my shins. It was really starting to annoy me.

“Do you need me to carry it?” Jack asked.

Was he crazy? He was on crutches! “I’m good, thanks.”

We’d been walking for only two or three minutes, when the picnic basket hit my knee and my foot caught on a stupid tree root at the same time. I was starting to think this basket had some kind of vendetta against me, and I couldn’t break my fall because both hands were occupied with the dumb basket.

I let out a totally unglamorous squeak and pitched forward head first.

I had no idea how he did it, but Jack managed to catch me before my head hit a tree trunk.
 

I got to my knees as Jack leaned on one of his crutches and supported me with his other arm. It didn’t take long for my dazed brain to realize that I was on my knees and my head was directly opposite the fly of his jeans.
 

And as my eyes slowly and lazily traveled up his body, I couldn’t help but think how easy it would be to stay on my knees in front of him and reach out to unbutton… I blushed furiously.

When my eyes eventually traveled up to his face, I saw him grinning, really mischievously, like he knew exactly what was on my mind and he was quite aware of the affect he had on me.
 

He cupped my elbow with one of his hands and helped me to my feet. This was dangerous territory. I was too close to him. I knew that, but I couldn’t step back.
 

I could smell the clean, warm scent of his skin and something minty on his breath. I let out a shaky breath. My face was literally inches from his. My eyes were fixed on his lips. I should have moved away, but I didn’t.
 

I was frozen and that was when it happened.

He leaned in, millimeter by millimeter, in agonizing slow motion, until finally, his soft, smooth lips touched mine. It was barely a kiss, more of a caress, as his lips covered my mouth.

I didn’t stand a chance. I kissed him back. My tongue touched his and it was like a bolt of electricity lit up every nerve in my body.
 

It felt so good … but I should not be doing this. This was definitely a bad idea.

Reluctantly, I came to my senses and took a step back.
 

I looked up into his face, and then I wished I hadn’t. His whole face had darkened with desire. His eyes burned into mine.

He was no longer the light-hearted, teasing version of Jack. The intensity in his gaze sucked me in, and I wondered what it would be like to give myself to him completely.
 

“Hey,” I said, trying to get some control back. “What are you doing, are you crazy?”
 

“You let me kiss you,” he said. His voice was so low and sexy it sent tremors straight to my stomach and lower down.

I pretended to be outraged. “You took me by surprise.” I could feel the heat traveling up to my chest and then my cheeks. I was blushing again.
 

“You look so sexy when you’re taken by surprise.”

My mouth dropped open. He was teasing me again, damn it.
 

He grinned, and I broke eye contact. If I looked into those eyes again, I’d be lost.

“I’ll tell you one thing, Jack Harding,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “You’re definitely not backwards in coming forwards.”

He laughed. “What is that supposed to mean?”
 

“I don’t know.” I frowned. It was something my mother used to say about me. “It’s an old saying. It means you’re a bit too forward.”

“Well I suppose that’s better than being backwards,” he said.
 

He reached out and held on to my index finger, and my hand entwined in his. Just that simple touch had me wanting more. Much more. My head was spinning.

I pulled away, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “Let’s get to this stream and have some lunch,” I said, forcing myself to keep my voice calm and level.

He sighed and pointed off to the right with one of his crutches. “It’s this way.”
 

Jack told the truth when he said the stream wasn’t much further. We reached it in about five minutes, and it really was beautiful. The water trickled down over a series of rocks, producing a miniature waterfall. The smell of the forest around us was fresh and green; it was like a fairy tale forest. The stream widened and opened up into a beautiful pool as we walked further down.
 

Unlike back in the garden where the sun was baking down, the air here was cooler, but I still felt hot and sticky. I imagined stripping off and taking a dip in the cool water.
 

“Wow,” I said. “You were right. It is beautiful.” I walked over to the stream and trailed my hand in the cool, crystal clear water, and then looked back at Jack over my shoulder. “Is it safe to swim? Have you ever swum here?”

He was looking at me again in that heated intense way he had.
 

“All the time, when we were kids,” he said.
 

“I’ll have to bring my bathing suit another time.”
 

“Well, you could always skinny dip,” Jack said and gave me a wink. “I won’t tell anyone.”

I grinned despite my best intentions. “Yeah,” I said. “That’s not going to happen.”
 

He shrugged and grinned back. “Shame.”

I set up the picnic basket and pulled out the lunch that Maria had helped me put together in the kitchen that morning. We had chicken legs, salad and sandwiches to go with our alcohol-free wine.
 

As I poured our wine into little plastic goblets, I screwed up my face. I’d had alcohol-free wine before and I hadn’t been particularly enamored with it. But as Jack had taken those strong pain-killers yesterday, real wine wasn’t an option. Unfortunately.

“Wine?” Jack took the plastic goblet enthusiastically.

“Maria found it for me. It’s alcohol-free.”
 

Jack gave me a look. I didn’t think he was impressed.

“It’s actually pretty good,” I said and took another sip. It wasn’t very cold, but other than that I couldn’t say anything bad about it. It tasted real enough to me.

We chatted over lunch, and I made sure the conversation stayed away from any kind of innuendo that could get me in trouble. I also carefully diverted Jack off the subject of my past, which basically meant, I grilled Jack for an hour about Monaco and his career.

I first realized something was not quite right just after we drained the last drops of the wine.

I was feeling a happy, warm glow…the kind of feeling I got after drinking a couple of glasses of normal wine.

But Jack… Well, there was no two ways about it. He was drunk. Seriously tipsy.
 

“Shit,” I said and grabbed up the bottle. The name and description of the wine was written in French. Was this normal wine? It had to be. Holy crap. I was in trouble.

“We better get back,” I said.

“No, no, I want to stay here,” he said, clumsily grabbing my arm and pulling me towards him.
 

“It’s nice just being here with you,” he said and my heart flipped flopped.
 

Don’t take this seriously, my inner voice ordered. He’s drunk and you are the only female around. Don’t go thinking you’re anything special.
 

My inner voice is a total bitch.

Jack still had his fingers clasped around my wrist. I was sure he could feel that my pulse rate had spiked.

“It’s nice forgetting about everything,” he said. “I can feel almost normal.”

He pulled me forward, so I was practically sitting in his lap. Damn, he was strong.

“So this is normal for you?” I said. “Taking women down to your secret stream and suggesting they go skinny dipping?”
 

I was trying to be flippant, hoping he wouldn’t notice how his words affected me.

He laughed and reached up a hand to my cheek and traced my jaw softly with his finger. He then took my hand and pressed my palm to his lips. It sent tingles all the way up my arm and through my body. I could feel the heat growing inside me. How did he do it? A few simple touches and I was putty in his hands.

I tried to pull my hand away, but he held on to it.
 

I didn’t think he realized what he was doing to me. I was so close to him right now, and it would be so easy to just lean and kiss those delicious lips again. To trace my tongue along his lower lip, to taste him.
 

But somehow I held back. Somehow I remembered that I was supposed to be here doing a job. One that I’d not been doing very well so far.
 

I had to be the worst care-giver in history. Yesterday I let him overdo things and he ended up in agony and today I’d got him drunk.
 

Could I be any worse at this job?
 

But he was not giving up.

He pulled me closer towards him, so now I really was sitting on his lap. I didn’t know what to do, or where to put my hands. I mean, I knew where I wanted to put my hands… but that was another story.

“Just sit here for a while and pretend,” he murmured.
 

“Pretend what?” I asked, with a shaky voice. Being this close to him was driving me crazy. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight and it was the best feeling in the world. I could feel the steady beat of his heart. At least his was steady, mine was racing. The warm scent of him was all over me. I wanted to lean forward and drink him in. My fingers itched with temptation… to touch… to feel. I clenched my fists. No, this wasn’t right.

His eyes were closed as he said, “Pretend you like me, pretend I’m not broken …a cripple. Just pretend…”

I stiffened in his arms. “What are you talking about? You’re not a cripple and that’s a horrible word.”
 

“Pretend I’m not damaged then.”
 

“You’re not damaged, Jack. You’re going to be fine.”
 

Jack sighed and looked at me sadly. “So you can’t even pretend, not even for five minutes?”

My God, his eyes. I could drown in those deep, dark eyes.
 

I didn’t know what game he was playing. It had to be obvious to him how much I liked him. I blushed at whatever innuendo he mentioned. I got all shaky whenever I was around him. There’s no way he couldn’t have noticed… not after the massage… It was impossible.
 

I didn’t know why he was playing with my feelings like this. I liked happy, teasing Jack, I wanted him back. I didn’t want to deal with melancholy, drunk Jack.

I pushed his silky, dark hair back out of his eyes. “Do you know what, Jack? You’re drunk.”
 

The look of shock on his face was comical.
 

“I am not,” he said, slurring his words. “That’s ridiculous. You said it was alcohol-free. Besides, I’ve only had two glasses. I can hold my licq…lick…” He paused for a moment, took a deep breath then said, “I can hold my alcohol.”
 

I couldn’t help it then. I giggled and laughed. Really laughed for the first time in ages, and it felt good.