Call It Destiny (13 page)

„You’re so sleek in some places and so soft in others,“ he breathed.

Heather searched his tightly drawn face, knowing her nipples were responding to the grazing action of his palms. She could see the satisfaction in his eyes when he felt the tautness in her.

Her tongue moistened her suddenly dry mouth. „Jake, I think I’m afraid of you. I’ve never been afraid of a man in my life.“

„Was that why you left me at the altar this morning?“

„Yes.“ The answer was simple and painfully clear. For the first time she admitted that basic truth. „I would be afraid of any man who could manipulate me the way you did. It’s only logical.“

„Heather, I don’t have your charm and your easy way with people. I go after what I want using different tactics. I don’t have any choice. I couldn’t risk losing you.“
 

„Taking me like this won’t tie me to you,“ she told him throatily, uncertain in her own mind of the truth of that statement, but needing to make some protest.

„We’ll talk about the future in the morning.“ He bent his head to kiss the curve of her breast. „Take off my shirt, Heather. I want to feel your skin against mine. Please.“

There was such unexpected need in his plea that Heather found herself obeying without even thinking about it. Her trembling fingers went to the buttons of his khaki shirt. He raised himself far enough from her to enable Heather to push the garment awkwardly off his
shoulders, and then with a groan he lowered himself once more. The cloud of dark curling hair on his chest seemed to scorch her skin as he crushed her to him. He had a strange power to make her unbearably sensitive and he seemed to know it. Know it and use it.
 

With strong urgent movements Jake unfastened Heather’s belt and the jeans she wore. He rolled to one side, pulling her with him until he could shove the clothing down over her hips. Her white satin panties, the ones that had been bought to wear with her wedding dress, came with them.

Wonder and flaming male desire flared in his eyes as Jake luxuriously moved his palm down the full length of her nude body. Heather found herself responding fiercely to that undisguised hunger. Her fingertips traced the pattern of Jake’s chest hair to the point where it disappeared beneath his jeans, and she heard his growl of pleasure. It seemed as though it was the most satisfying sound in the world.
 

„Your fingers feel like little bits of fire on my skin. I love the way you touch me, Heather. And I want you to touch all of me.“ He released her to fumble with his own belt. The bed moved beneath Heather as Jake abruptly got to his feet and stepped out of both jeans and underwear in one lithe motion. Then he hesitated a moment beside the bed, looking down at her.

„Do you want me, Heather? Can you give me that much at least? I need you so much tonight.“

„Do you, Jake?“ She lay watching him beneath the veil of her lashes, hiding the agonized uncertainty she was feeling. There was no doubt about how her body reacted to him, but the element of fear she had identified earlier still existed. Heather had never felt anything resembling the complex state of passion and wariness she now experienced.
 

„Yes. Oh, God,
yes!“
 

Mutely she opened her arms to him, unable to hide
her own desire. He came back to her in a rush of strength and need that dazzled. In a fever she opened herself to him, parting her legs at his touch, lifting herself in silent pleading invitation.
 

The hard thrusting shaft of his masculinity was poised near the juncture of her thighs, but Jake made no move yet to take possession. Instead he kissed her deeply while his fingers moved between them.

„Oh, Jake!“

His intimate touch made her soften like molten gold. Jake moved his head to her shoulder and used his teeth with exquisite care.

„Touch me, Heather. The way I’m touching you. Please, honey. I need it so.“

Tremulously she obeyed, her hands moving down the length of his back to the flat planes of his hips. Convulsively she clenched her fingers there and heard his muffled response. Encouraged, she stroked his thigh, finding the inner surface as he shifted slightly. And then he was thrusting himself into her palm.

„Yes! Oh, Heather, I’m on fire for you.“

He pushed himself through her fingers, seeking the more satisfying warmth and tightness of her body. Heather gasped as he probed the entrance to her throbbing feminine core. For an instant fear rose up to stifle her breath and send a wave of panic through her system.
 

„Heather, don’t fight me. You can’t fight me. It’s too late.“ Suddenly he was overwhelming her body’s instinctive protest, sheathing himself deeply inside and drinking the cry of excitement and fear from her lips.
 

Heather clung to him, her nails biting into his skin, her legs tightening around his. She had no other choice. It was as if, finally, after all these years of working and wondering and waiting, everything really was
right.
 

That sense of Tightness was not something she had ever expected to feel in a man’s arms. She had never
dreamed it could be satisfied in such a way. But this was the answer she had been seeking. She knew it in the very depths of her being without understanding it. The world narrowed down to a single brilliant focal point. Tonight Jake Cavender was the only thing in her life that truly mattered.
 

He swept her into the powerful rhythm of his love-making, tuning her body’s response to his. Her pulse leaped and the desire in her shimmered in reaction.
 

„Jake! Oh, Jake!“

„Let it happen, honey,“ he rasped. „Just let go and take me with you.“

He sank his fingers deeply into the flesh of her buttocks and Heather cried aloud. Her whole body seemed to convulse. The next instant she was rippling with endless streams of satisfaction and pleasure. It was unlike anything she had ever known. She heard Jake’s answering shout of release and exultation and then they were locked together in a world of shattering intimacy.

Long moments later it was the realization of that intense intimacy that drove Heather to stir in Jake’s arms. She had never known that feeling of complete union with another human being. Her relationships in the past had all been carefully controlled. They had never been allowed to intrude on her most fundamental emotions. Strange that it had been the unleashing of those elemental passions that had left her open and vulnerable to Jake’s overpowering seduction. She had been right to keep those passions reined for so many years.
 

Beside her, Jake opened his eyes. „I don’t suppose this was the most conventional wedding night on record, but then I had a feeling you weren’t going to be a very conventional sort of bride. In spite of your usually charming personality.“

She searched his face, seeing the relaxed humor in him along with the deep masculine satisfaction. She had achieved that, Heather found herself thinking. She had
brought him that satisfaction. Whatever pleasure and fulfillment he had given her; she had provided equal value. A good team.
 

„What’s wrong?“ Jake propped himself up on his elbow, concern shadowing his gaze. He touched the corner of her mouth with his thumb. „What are you thinking, Heather? A moment ago you were feeling as good as I did.“

„I was thinking about how everyone says we make such a great team.“

„Ah. You were applying that phrase to our current situation, is that it?“ A grin tugged at his mouth; the first real grin Heather had ever seen on him. „I’m inclined to agree. We make a fantastic team in bed. But I knew we would.“

„It’s not funny, Jake.“

He sobered. „You’re still afraid, aren’t you? Afraid of what we have together.“

She lowered her eyes, not wanting to admit either that she still knew fear or that they really had found something unique together. But his forefinger lifted her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze.

„We are a good team, Heather. And as far as I’m concerned, tonight was our wedding night. We belong to each other now.“
 

She moved her head restlessly, desperate to refute his words for some reason she couldn’t fully explain. „One night in bed changes nothing.“

„It changes everything.“

„You really are used to getting what you want, aren’t you?“ she whispered.

„I think we’re both accustomed to working hard for what we want. And we’re both used to reaching our goals. Don’t accuse me of arrogance, honey, unless you’re willing to apply the same label to yourself.“

„Whatever arrogance I had is gone. You’ve made me realize just how weak and manipulatable I really am.

Except for that scene at the chapel this morning you’ve been able to handle me as if I were clay.“

His face hardened. „Heather, listen to me….“

„I suppose it’s rather amusing on some levels. After all, I’m the one who’s supposed to be so good at handling people. It looks as though your methods are more successful than my so-called charm, doesn’t it?“

„Hush, honey. You don’t know what you’re saying.“ Jake brushed her lips with the tips of his fingers. „Once we get a few of the details ironed out, you and I are going to be a perfect team. Just as everyone says.“

Heather took a deep breath. „I don’t think I want to be part of the team.“

His gaze narrowed. „You don’t have a whole lot of choice anymore.“
 

„Yes, I do,“ she managed with a resurgence of pride. „I told you earlier that this night would be on my terms. It’s not a wedding night, Jake.“

His hand tightened abruptly at the curve of her shoulder. „Then call it a night of surrender. Your surrender. If you have to spell it out, so be it!“

He moved, forcing her deeply in the bedclothes as his hardening body came down oh hers. Her skin, still damp from their previous encounter, came alive under his bold touch.

Heather cried out softly, half in protest and half in surrender, and
then she was once more swept away by the passion that flowed between herself and Jake.
 

Hours later Heather woke
to find herself curled closely up to Jake’s warm body. The quiet hum of the air-conditioning unit was the only sound that reached her besides the occasional passing car. It was past midnight, almost two in the morning. She had been held in the grip of shared desire and the shared exhaustion of the aftermath for almost a whole night. Her wedding night, she thought bleakly. No, her
night of surrender. Jake had been right on that score. She had given herself completely, glorying in the satisfaction of pleasing him, allowing herself the exquisite happiness of being pleased by him.
Allowing
was not the correct word, she acknowledged as she stared into the darkness. Accepting, welcoming, craving, hungering. Those were far more appropriate descriptors.
 

She had lost her head yesterday morning and she’d lost herself that night.

Lying here in the shadows of the passion-rumpled bed, Heather faced the reality of what had happened to her. Her rage yesterday morning had stemmed from more than just the fact that she’d been outmaneuvered. She’d felt betrayed on some level even though logic told her she had no one to blame but herself.

Jake was right when he’d claimed she was every bit as arrogant if not more so than he was. She’d come back to Tucson on her own terms, she’d said. But it was devastatingly clear to her that the only way she could stay would be on Jake’s.

And now she had to deal with what it all meant. The kind of betrayal she had felt and the knowledge that her pride had been overcome by Jake’s sensual assault were suddenly matters of paramount importance. Never had she allowed a man to play such havoc with her mind and body. She had to confront the fact that Jake had power over her. Only one explanation accounted for that power.
 

She had fallen in love with Jake Cavender.

A frisson of genuine fear tingled through her veins. She was vulnerable. Vulnerable to a man. Somehow she had never imagined that being in love left a woman in such an emotional tangle. Shaken by the realization of what had happened to her, she was unaware that Jake was awake until he moved slightly beside her.
 

„Heather?“ His voice as thick as a sleepy lion’s, Jake moved his face into her tousled hair. „Go back to sleep, honey.“

She shook her head and then realized he couldn’t see the negative gesture. He felt it, however.

„What is it, Heather?“

„My parents,“ she whispered, reluctant to tell him the truth about what she had really been thinking. „I have to call them. After what I did yesterday….“

„Don’t worry about your parents. I told them I’d bring you home in a few days.“

She turned her head on the pillow, seeking his eyes in the shadowy light. „Jake….“
 

„I also told them why you ran. That you must have found out about the sale of the Hacienda. If it’s any consolation, your mother was on your side. She was absolutely furious.“

„But she always supports my father!“ Heather exclaimed, shocked.

„She didn’t this time. She read the riot act to Paul and me. And then I told her I’d find you and bring you home.“

Bring you home.
Heather felt a wave of panic at his cool words. She wasn’t ready to go home, she thought frantically. She needed time to assimilate the impact of the emotional assault she had experienced. She needed time to deal with the knowledge that she had fallen in love. A woman deserved the right to adjust to such a disorienting sequence of events in her own way, Heather told herself forcefully. Time to regain her composure and her thoughts. Time to understand the full potential of the radical twist her life had taken.
 

„It’s not that simple,“ she whispered.

„It is if you’ll let it be.“

„Jake, I need some time to myself. Time to think. You’ve turned my whole world upside down.“

„We’re even, then.“

„No. Your world is all neatly organized, humming along exactly as you planned. I want some time to reorganize my own world. Some time by myself.“