Commando (18 page)

“It’s okay,” she whispered after several minutes, opening her eyes. She dug into a small bag she always carried in her pocket. “This is tobacco. We always give a gift to the tree, no matter what its answer is.” Shah liberally sprinkled the tobacco across the tree. With a smile, she tucked the leather pouch back into her pocket. “Ready?”

With a nod, Jake came forward. He approved of the respect Shah held for all living things. The gifting of tobacco was an added thoughtfulness. With quick, sure strokes, Jake cut the tree down. In minutes they’d shaken the limbs free of the snow. Taking the spruce by the trunk, they walked side by side down the long, gentle slope back toward the house.

Halfway down the slope, Shah slipped. With a little cry, she threw out her arms. She’d hit a patch of ice hidden beneath the snow. Jake reached over to try to catch one of her flailing arms. Instead, he slipped on the same patch of ice. Snow flew upward in an explosion as Shah landed unceremoniously on her back. The tree slid on by them. Jake landed on top of Shah.

She gasped as he fell on her. He rolled onto his side to keep his massive weight from striking her fully. Reaching out, he made a grab for her as she continued her slide down the hill. They ended up several yards down the slope, tangled in each other’s arms and legs, covered with snow.

“Jake! Are you all right?” Shah had a horror of him tearing those just-healed muscles. She lay beneath him, excruciatingly aware of him as a man, his weight not alarming, but sending heated, urgent signals throughout her.

He grinned carelessly, enjoying the intimacy the accident had created. “I’m okay. In fact, I couldn’t feel more right,” he gasped, mist forming as he breathed. “And you? Are you okay?” Shah was in his arms, her body pressed against his. She’d lost her cap in the fall, and her eyes widened beautifully as he reached over with his gloved hand and slowly began to remove snow from her hair near her temple.

“I—I’m fine,” she whispered breathlessly, hotly aware of his powerful body covering hers, his arms pinning her against him. Shah’s heart was pounding like a wild bird’s, and as she looked up and drowned in Jake’s hungry gaze, she felt the last of her fear disappear. His smiling mouth intrigued her, drew her, and without hesitation she leaned upward. The smile on his mouth changed, and she felt his arms tauten, drawing her even more tightly to him. Her lips parted, and she leaned upward, closing her eyes.

The world focused for Jake as he covered her lips with his. He tasted the coolness of the air on her soft, opening mouth, tasted the evergreen and a sweetness that was only Shah. Their ragged breath met and mingled as he deepened his exploration of her ripe, willing mouth. Heat twisted and knotted deep within his body, and Jake groaned as Shah’s arms slid shyly around his neck, drawing him down against her. The snow cradled them gently, the cold air in direct opposition to the heat he felt welling within him and Shah. Tipping her head back a little more, Jake unconsciously allowed his hand to move across her jacket, to caress the curve of her breast, and he felt her tremble. It wasn’t out of fear, but out of a fiery longing that was consuming her.

Jake tore his mouth from hers, his eyes narrowed upon her dazed features. He saw the undeniable desire in Shah’s half-closed eyes, saw the glistening softness of her parted lips asking him to kiss her again. Pain throbbed through him, the pain of wanting her more than life itself. With a shaking hand, he caressed her fiery red cheek.

“Let’s go home and finish this,” he murmured in a rough tone.

With a nod, Shah reached out, her gloved hand briefly resting against his cheek. “Oh, Jake, I love you so much…. I was so scared to say it….”

Those words echoed through him, the sweetest music he’d ever heard. He gave a little laugh of relief, rested his brow against her hair. “I know you do, and I know how scared you’ve been.”

She clung to him. “I’ve been so blind. So stupid.”

Jake kissed her with all the tenderness he possessed, and afterward he whispered against her lips, “Blind, maybe, but never stupid, Shah. We had to have the time to build our trust of each other.”

Closing her eyes, her body like a vibrant, burning flame in a way she had never experienced, Shah whispered, “Love me when we get home, Jake? I know I’m not very good but—”

“Hush,” he murmured against her lips, silencing her self-doubts as he captured her full mouth against his. Whatever Shah thought she lacked, Jake was going to try to show her she was wrong, today, this hour. Reluctantly he eased his mouth from her wet lips. “Come on,” he coaxed, helping her sit up and brushing snow off her jacket, “let’s go home. Together.”

The tree was placed in the garage, and Shah held Jake’s hand as he led her in the back door of the house. Her heart was pounding so hard that she thought she might be experiencing a cardiac arrest. Jake’s smile, bestowed upon her as he allowed her to walk ahead of him, soothed her frantic anxiety. On the porch, they shed their outer gear and hung their coats on large brass hooks. Their boots were left there, too, and they padded in their stocking feet through the warm, fragrant kitchen.

“Sweetheart?” Jake pulled her to a halt at the entrance to the cathedral-ceilinged living room. He settled his hands on her shoulders. “This is your call all the way. Understand?” His voice was low, off-key. He wasn’t trying to hide his feelings from her. The need to love Shah was nearly overwhelming, but his concern for her welfare tempered his needs.

She gazed up into his strong, harsh features. “No…everything is right about this, Jake,” she whispered, “I’m ready…. I want this. I want you.”

With a nod, he murmured, “Let’s go upstairs.”

Shah had already conceded that Jake’s bedroom was the loveliest she’d ever seen in her life. Jake had made the stained-glass panes that graced the floor-to-ceiling windows. Broken sunlight shafted through them, lending a softened kaleidoscope of color to the large, open room. The gold-and-red cedar floor glowed as the sunlight slid across its polished surface, creating more warmth. Perhaps most touching to Shah was the dark green knitted afghan that served as a spread across the cedar bed. Jake had told her that his mother, who had died many years ago, had knitted it for him just before her unexpected death, and that he could never part with it, or the memory of her.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Shah ran her fingers across the worn expanse of the afghan. Jake knelt beside her and peeled one sock, then the other, off her feet.

“You have such pretty feet,” Jake said quietly, and he ran his hands across them. “Strong, yet dainty.” He lifted his head and smiled up at her. “Like you.”

She framed Jake’s face between her hands. “You find beauty in everything,” she murmured, her thumbs caressing his cool cheeks. Drowning in his lambent gray eyes, Shah felt his hands slide up her arms and around her shoulders. In one smooth movement, he brought them both across the bed. She lay in his arms, looking up at him, her hand pressed to his chest, the soft polo shirt transferring delightful warmth to her palm.

Threading the thick strands of her hair through his fingers, Jake leaned over, caressing her lips. “Everything about you is beautiful,” he murmured, moving his tongue to first one corner and then the other of her softly smiling mouth, teasing her, tempting her to respond. He felt her slight intake of breath, felt her fingers curl against his chest, and saw her eyes become a deeper gold. “Taste me if you want,” he invited hoarsely. “Touch me like you want, Shah. Explore me. I’m yours….”

Dazed by the molten fire his mouth wreaked upon her lips, Shah drew him down until her lips met and fused with his. The instant they met and molded to each other, Shah relaxed bonelessly into Jake’s arms. His body pressed against hers, urgent and hungry. Her breathing growing ragged, she felt his hand trail down her neck, eliciting tiny tingles, then turn hot and burning as it skimmed the crescent shape of her breast. A little gasp escaped her, kissed away by Jake as he continued to allow his fingers to linger, to caress her until she felt mindless with explosive needs she could no longer control.

Her hand moved of its own accord, and Shah longed to feel him, to tangle her fingertips in the dark, curling hair that covered his broad, massive chest. Sliding her hand beneath the green polo shirt, she felt Jake tense. He groaned as she boldly slid her hand across the flat, hard skin of his belly. Her fingertips slid upward to caress and outline his magnificent chest. The shudder that racked his body incited her, and Shah helped him tug off the shirt.

“You’re just as beautiful,” she whispered raggedly, her fingers buried in the fine, dark hair of his chest. She could feel the thundering beating of his heart, too, and his urgency spread through her.

Jake smiled a very male smile as he eased her back onto the bed. “I like your boldness, your courage,” he told her thickly as he began to remove her red sweater. The moment his rough hand slid beneath the sweater, moving against her rib cage, he saw Shah’s eyes grow drowsy with desire. His smile deepened as he nudged the sweater over her head and her black hair spilled around her like an ebony waterfall. To his surprise and delight, Shah wore no bra, just a white silk teddy. The thin fabric outlined her nipples and made her look even more desirable.

A sigh shuddered through Shah as Jake bent his head, his moist mouth capturing the peak of one nipple through the silken material. A little cry of pleasure tore from her, and she arched upward into his arms. The jagged heat, like powerful bolts of lightning striking down through her, made her weak, and she tipped back her head, surrendering to his caresses, to his loving. She forgot everything, wildly aware of the ache building in her lower body, the hunger stalking her. All she could do was frantically open and close her fingers against Jake’s taut shoulders.

Winter sunlight burst through the stained-glass windows, the colors ripening and darkening across them. Shah felt the warmth of the sunlight, tasted the power of Jake’s mouth upon her own, and felt his hand moving downward, releasing her jeans and nudging them away from her waist. Lost in the heat, the color, the amazing fragrance, she utterly surrendered herself to him. All she could do was react, incapable of thinking coherently enough to try to please him as he was pleasing her.

“That’s it,” Jake said, his voice an unsteady rasp, as the last of their clothing was swept off the bed. “Just enjoy it, Shah. Let me love you this time.” Humbled as never before in his life, he felt her arch into his arms. Her little moans each time he caressed her drove him into a frenzy. She was like a highly sensitive instrument. Somewhere in his barely functioning mind, Jake had to remind himself that Shah had probably never experienced the enjoyment a woman could experience if the man took the time to bring her to that pinnacle of pleasure. Savoring her moans and responses, Jake absorbed the beauty of her half-closed eyes, the parted lips that were silently begging him to continue his intimate exploration.

As Jake’s hand trailed down across her rounded belly, easing her thighs apart, Shah felt her world crack and splinter into a shower of rainbow colors. Each caress, each tender movement, made her cry out, wanting more of him. Frantic, she gripped Jake’s shoulders, begging him for something she couldn’t have defined. Speech was impossible; all she could do was move, press herself to his hard length and plead with her eyes. His smile was tender and knowing as he moved above her. Jake framed her face between his large hands, slowly allowing her to adjust to his greater weight.

Driven beyond her own barriers of fear, Shah arched upward, wanting, needing, Jake. The instant he met and filled her, she closed her eyes. The feeling was shattering, transforming and consuming. With each rocking movement of his hips, he moved deeper and deeper, until Shah truly understood the power of a man for the first time. But this was more than just physical sensation. As Jake slid his hand beneath her hip, angling her upward to meet his thrusts, pleasure burned and consumed Shah. Her head thrown back, a gasp drove through her. Her hands gripped him, and a cry, sweet and low, escaped from her lips.

Jake prolonged the pleasure for Shah, watching her face glow, the sudden flush covering her cheeks as her hands tensed against him. When he felt her begin to relax, only then did Jake release the hold he’d placed upon himself. Plunging deeply inside her, sweeping her uncompromisingly into his arms, he buried his face in her strong, soft hair and released his life within her loving, giving body.

Moments spun and glimmered together like rainbow beads of dew caught in the spiral circle of a spiderweb for Shah. She lay breathing raggedly, pinned by Jake’s weight, his arms holding her tightly against him, his breath punctuating against her face and neck. Weak. She was as weak as a newborn kitten! Wave after wave of incredible pleasure sang through her newly awakened body. She felt Jake’s mouth press against her damp temple, and she unconsciously inhaled his male scent, glorying in his tenderness in the aftermath. The beauty of their being one brought tears to her eyes that slipped out from beneath her dark lashes. Jake kissed each of them away.

Spinning in his embrace like sunlight captured by a cloud, Shah didn’t want to open her eyes—she simply wanted to feel, and then feel some more. Jake’s weight was like a heavy blanket across her. The thudding of his heart raced in time against hers. The power of him still filled her, reminding her that this was what true harmony was all about. Slowly she lifted her lashes. Jake’s eyes were nearly colorless as he tenderly surveyed her, but his pupils were huge and black. His hair was damp, clinging to his brow, and her mouth stretched into a tender smile as she reached up and smoothed those damp strands away with her fingertips.

“I never knew,” she whispered brokenly. “I never knew….” She slid her hands upward to touch and outline Jake’s harsh-featured face. She watched his eyes narrow, and she felt his smile long before it appeared on his strong mouth.

“I didn’t, either,” Jake admitted, his voice rough. “Not like this. Not ever like this.” He captured her full, sweet mouth against his in a long, cherishing kiss that brought a sound of pleasure from Shah. Her moan was like a song to him. Even as they lay there, still coupled, Jake felt himself growing strong within her once again. He eased his mouth from hers, drowning in the sunlight of her eyes. “I want you to be the mother of my children.” He touched her hair, smoothing it away from her face. “I want to fill you, Shah, with myself, with my love. I want our love to grow in you.”