End of Day (Jack & Jill #1) (42 page)

He climbed in bed and shut off the wall light between them. “I don’t wear anything in bed at home.”

A soft whimper came from her side of the room. His heart hammered in his chest but not nearly as hard as it was in another area of his body.

“I can’t get to sleep. I’m too …”

He swallowed. “Too?”

“Turned on, horny, in need of a release.”

“I don’t want to know that.” He gritted his teeth, willing his hand to not slip into his pants.

“Well I didn’t want to know that you normally sleep in the nude.”

“Then you shouldn’t have asked.”

“I need my sleep, Jones, or we’re both out a grand tomorrow.”

He massaged his temples. “Well what do you want me to do about it?”

“Ugh … I don’t know. Let’s just do it. Let’s have sex.”

It was a brilliant idea. She read his mind.

“Good night, Jessica.” His conscience was an evil, blue-balling bastard. “What the hell?”

“I
need
it, Jones,” she whispered in his ear while climbing on top of him.

His dick was so hard she nearly snapped it clean from his body while grinding her pelvis into his. The situation was volatile and extremely time-sensitive. Four layers: her barely-there lace panties, the cotton sheet, his pants, and his briefs that were wearing thin against his erection and the rowing motion of her hips.

“N-not a good idea,” he lied.

She thrust her tongue into his mouth and clawed at his chest. “Mmm … do you have a better idea?” she murmured against his neck, working her mouth down to his shoulder.

He didn’t.

Starting at her hips, he slid his hands up her body, stopping at her breasts, squeezing them as she moaned in response.

“Oh God, Jones … I need this so bad.”

It was impossible to abandon a woman in need. Luke shoved her top above her breasts and sat up with a desperate jerk as his mouth devoured her. She cried his name, arching her back, as his tongue slid across her nipple. The desire to crawl inside her body and never return sucked every last coherent thought from his brain.

The sensible doctor was nowhere to be found. A man with his own needs clenched her small waist and guided her body over his, cursing all four of those damn layers. Her head dropped to his shoulder as her hands clutched the muscles along his back.

It happened so fast—without warning.

Luke flipped her over and kissed her, pinning her to the bed with the weight of his body.

A deep grunt that sounded like an animal catching the fatal end of an arrow vibrated from Luke’s chest as he rolled to the side.

“Oh my God!” Jessica flipped on the light. “I-I’m so …” she stuttered with her hand cupped over her mouth, kneeling on the bed beside him. Tears sprang from her eyes as her words lodged in her throat. The regret on her face cut so much deeper than the bite on his shoulder and the torn skin on his back.

She broke down before his eyes because
he
couldn’t control himself. Him … not her.

“Jess.” He pulled her into his arms.

“Not you…” she sobbed “…I w-wasn’t supposed t-to do that … n-not to you.”

“It’s okay.
I’m
okay.”

She pushed away from his grip—blood on her lips, blood on her fingernails. “It’s not okay! You rolled over on me, pinning me down, and … and I-I lost it because I’m a fucking psychotic monster.”

“Jessica,” he said in a reprimanding tone.

She shot out of bed and ran to the bathroom.

“Jess.” He knocked on the locked door, unable to hear anything but water running. “Open up.”

“I just … just … give me a minute.” Her words, a mournful plea, gutted him.

He sat on the end of the bed and waited. Every accolade he’d ever earned weighed heavily on his conscience. He was a fraud and the broken woman behind the door was proof. They couldn’t go back to a doctor-patient relationship, yet every step forward felt like a detour.

She opened the door. In that moment he knew it would be his life’s purpose to give her everything—his body, his mind, his soul, his very. Last. Breath.

“I’m so sorry.” She sucked in a shaky breath, holding it together, once again proving her immortal strength. Crawling on the bed behind him, she pressed a warm wash cloth to the cuts.

He held his breath, stopping time to commit to memory the way his heart ached for hers. It was the most incredible feeling in the world. He’d never felt more alive. She eased off the bed and stood between his legs, cleaning the bite mark on his shoulder.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me.” She kept her eyes on his shoulder.

His hand covered hers. When she looked at him, nothing else in the world mattered. “Jessica Day …”

She bit her lips together, a new round of tears swelled in her eyes, her breath captive in her chest.

He took the washcloth from her and brought her hand to his lips, kissing the inside of her wrist. “I’m so … very … one-hundred percent … madly in love with you.”

Relief flooded from her eyes in uncontrolled tears. He pulled her into his arms and held her like his life depended on it.

“What if—”

“Shh.” He kissed her just below her ear then whispered, “No what-ifs. I’ve got this. I’ve got
you
—I’ll always have you.”

*

The good news?
Luke loved her. The bad news? Luke loved her. It had been the most emotionally draining and romantic night of Jessica’s life—until they crawled into separate beds and went to sleep. Maybe they could live like a ninety-year-old couple—forego the sex, sleep in separate beds, but eat together and hold hands on long walks.

At two a.m. the alarm sounded. She crawled out of bed and grabbed their two fruit smoothies from the small refrigerator. Luke didn’t even open his eyes when she nudged him to wake up, but he followed her orders: drink this and go back to sleep. Her regimen for race day started with breakfast at two, sleep, wake, hydrate, and kick ass.

Several hours later, Tony Bennett serenaded her in her dreams about hearts being left in San Francisco. It was so real, as if her mind had a volume button allowing each word to get louder and louder until she opened her eyes.

“Good morning.” Luke grinned, sitting on the edge of his bed at a safe distance. His phone was on the nightstand beside her and Tony Bennett was indeed serenading her, but not in her dreams. “I called Tony and told him it was a big day for you so he agreed to be your alarm clock.”

Jessica smiled. “But he had a prior engagement and couldn’t fit me into his schedule so you downloaded his song from iTunes.”

“Are you going to call me out on such inconsequential details for the rest of our lives?”

Her heart stumbled over its next few beats.
The rest of our lives?
She sat up in bed as he moved over to her, cupping his hand behind her head and pulling her to his lips.

“Oh, uh … wait.” She ducked out of his hold and crawled out of bed.

“What are you doing?”

“Brushing my teeth,” she mumbled over a mouth full of suds while internally frowning at the puffy eyelids in the mirror.

He peeked around the corner. “Really? You won’t kiss me until you’ve brushed your teeth?”

“Really. That shit’s only sexy in movies and books.” She wiped her mouth with the towel then wrapped her arms around his neck.

“So you wouldn’t kiss me if I had morning breath?”

“As long as I didn’t then yes.”

“That makes no sense.”

“It does. I’m human. My shit stinks and my mouth tastes like rotten mothballs in the morning. You, however, always smell like sin and sex mixed with some expensive soap. I think you could bottle your sweat and sell it for a hundred dollars an ounce.”

“Shut up and kiss me.” He plunged his tongue into her minty-fresh mouth confirming his sinfully sexy appeal that left her feeling tipsy and breathless.

He released her and she grabbed the vanity to steady herself.

“I’m going to go a week without showering or brushing my teeth to see if you change your mind.”

“You do that. I bet you’ll have a harem trailing you as your pheromones multiple and age like a fine wine.”

He shook his head. “Get dressed. We’ve got some money to win.”

*

Kelly texted Jessica
that they’d meet them in the lobby after she and Gabe grabbed breakfast. They didn’t follow Jessica’s well-researched nutrition plan for race day. Their loss.

“You need to tell Kelly that we went to Tahoe together,” Luke said in the elevator on their way to the lobby.

Jessica pulled the bottle of Smart Water she’d been nursing away from her mouth. “Why?”

“Because my parents had dinner with their neighbors, who happen to be Gabe’s parents. Basically everyone
except
Kelly knows I took you to Tahoe.”

“Gabe didn’t tell her?”

“Nope. Said she’d be less than pleased if she heard it from anyone but you.”

“Got it.”

The elevator doors opened.

“Good morning!” Kelly squealed, jumping up and down. All that energy was wasted on a greeting and she wasn’t going to be able to retrieve it on the last leg of the race.

Jessica grinned. “Luke took me to Tahoe a couple weeks ago. Sorry, I forgot to mention it. Are we ready to go?”

Kelly’s eyes bugged out. “Wait … what?”

“I was stressed about
things
and he thought I could use a getaway so we went to Tahoe. I did some manual labor with his dad. Luke sat on his ass reading and then took his sister to lunch. We watched fireworks from the houseboat, and I unsuccessfully tried to seduce him by skinny dipping in the lake. Felicity packed us a to-go bag for the road and we arrived home Sunday night. Now … is everyone ready to go?”

Crickets.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She slung her bag over her shoulder, grabbed her bike, and gestured with her head toward the hotel entrance. “Lets go, peeps. I’ve got some ass to kick and names to take.”

They found parking at the event, checked in, and got all their equipment and energy packs in place. The women were going first.

“I just sat on my ass reading all day, huh?” Luke pulled Jessica into his arms, earning a gasp from Kelly behind them.

“I call it like I see it, Jones.”

He grinned, the adoration shining bright. “See you at the finish.”

“Be careful and don’t die on me.” She leaned up and kissed him.

“Die?”

“Yes, it happens. Usually during the swimming.”

“The adrenaline surge.”

She nodded. “A shitload of adrenaline. Everyone racing into the unpredictable waves, idiots swimming over the top of you or kicking you in the face, so just … be careful.”

“I’m flattered you care so much.”

She shrugged. “Don’t be. I’m really looking out for myself. If you die I may never find another guy who ‘gets’ me.”

He smacked her ass. “Show Kelly how it’s done.”

“I heard that,” Kelly yelled as Jessica jogged to catch up to her on the way to the start.

Gabe rested his hand on Luke’s shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. “Ready to pay up?”

“Wanna up it to three grand?”

“You’re insane,” Gabe chuckled. “But hey … I’ll take your money.”

Several hours later Kelly and Jessica waited at the end of the course, watching the men’s group trickle through the finish line.

“I’m ready to crash.” Kelly drizzled the last few drops of her sports drink into her mouth and leaned against Jessica. “Those waves were brutal today and I swear the wind about knocked me off my bike. By the time I started running, my tank was completely drained.”

“Yeah, it was a hard one today.”

“Shut up,” Kelly grumbled. “I feel like you’ve been scamming me for years.”

“Here they come.” Jessica lifted on her toes to get a better view.

“See … Gabe was nice enough to wait for Luke so they could finish together.”

Jessica laughed. “What makes you so sure Luke didn’t wait for Gabe?”

The guys crossed the finish line far from first place, but the weak grins on their faces said they were in fact pleased to have made it to the end still standing. Luke spotted Jessica first with his unspoken question. She played the somber defeated part long enough for Gabe to take a look and get his hopes up. He patted Luke on the shoulder with a can’t-win-’em-all look of arrogance on his face as they ambled closer to Kelly and Jessica.