Midnight Kiss (13 page)

She glanced at Will, who watched her closely. “I’ve never seen anything so exquisite. You made this, didn’t you?”

He nodded solemnly. “Don’t you want to look inside?”

“I do.” Barely able to tear her gaze away from his, she started to open the lid, but it didn’t immediately lift.

“Here, press this.” His gloved hand was too big, so he bared it, then pointed to a tiny recess.

Jordan marveled that those big hands could perform such delicate craftsmanship. With trembling fingers, she pressed against the recess and heard a click. The lid opened slightly, and she raised it to peer inside.

Jordan gasped again. Delicate as the air, a slender golden chain rested on dark blue velvet, a heart worked in hammered gold dangling from it, a blood-red ruby nestled inside the gold. She lifted it in her fingers and watched it catch the light, then darted her gaze to Will.

He looked less certain of himself than she’d ever seen him. Vulnerable. She thought she liked that, and she smiled.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

There was no way she could tease a man whose heart was in his eyes like that. No matter how much it frightened her or what accepting this might mean.

But she had to ask. “What does this mean, Will?”

“’Tis only a little trinket, nothing special.” But his eyes told the lie.

“Will, I…”

“Let’s see how it looks.” He shed his remaining glove, then took the necklace from her. “Turn around.”

Jordan obeyed, and he fastened it around her neck, then opened the top of the jewelry box wider so she could examine it in the mirror. The heart lay nestled just below the hollow of her throat, the ruby catching the light.

Will’s finger traced around the heart, and his touch burned against her skin. Their eyes met in the mirror.

Jordan swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “Will, I’m overwhelmed. The necklace… I’ve never had anything so delicate. And the box is incredible…. I can’t believe you made this. You shouldn’t be building
houses. You’re an artisan. You could make a fortune on something like this.”

“Ah, but a fortune isn’t important to me, Jordan darlin’. I don’t want masses of people buying work I completed in haste to satisfy a banker. Money is not the measure—it’s the pleasure in the eyes of the recipient that’s my reward. The hours I spend are precious to me, and I will not invest them to be paying overhead or keeping my attention on the bottom line. This work is my joy, and I only ask to be present to see the reaction when my work is received.”

“Did you see what you needed tonight?” She couldn’t imagine the hours this must have taken.

He held her gaze in his. “Yes, darlin’, I did.”

“I’m glad, because for once in my life, words fail me.”

He chuckled softly. “Now, that in itself is a feat to trumpet.”

“Want your thank-you kiss now?”

He shook his head. “I want out of this suit first.” Will shifted beneath her.

“Wait—let me.” Carefully, she laid the jewelry box on the side table. She removed his hat first, then his beard. Beneath them, his face was shiny with sweat, his shaggy hair matted down. She ran her fingers through it, lifting the strands and blowing through pursed lips to cool him. He closed his eyes and sighed in pleasure.

Then she began unbuttoning the jacket. “Good grief,” she laughed. “No wonder you’re sweating. Poor man—is this a down vest underneath?”

“I had to make it look authentic, and I couldn’t gain fifty pounds in time.”

She laughed, unzipping the vest, while he peeled off
the eyebrows. She stripped the vest away but stopped in midgesture at the sight of his muscular frame clearly outlined by a sweat-soaked T-shirt. “My, Santa, what nice muscles you have,” she attempted to joke through a throat that had tightened with lust.

Jordan was touched to realize that Will was blushing, actually blushing. He leaned forward and pulled the jacket and vest from behind him and dumped them on the floor. When she started to rise, he used his other hand to pin her to his lap. “You’re fine right here.”

But she wasn’t sure anymore. He’d played havoc with her heart for weeks now. The kisses they’d shared glowed in her memory like a beacon. And now he’d thrown gasoline on the fire with his gift.

She was so afraid he’d put her off again if she asked him to make love to her. She bunched her muscles to escape, but he stopped her once more.

“And would you be planning to renege on your thank-you, then?” His gaze pinned her, suddenly angry and fierce. “Is it because of the fellow you were with a few nights ago?”

“What fellow?”

“The one with the black leather jacket.”

“You were watching me? Spying on me?” She reached for the clasp of the necklace. “Forget it. Take this back. Take all of it.” She leaped from his lap. “Get out.”

He rose, towering over her. “I won’t. I wasn’t spying. I’d had the thought to come see you because I missed you. But you were up to your old tricks, weren’t you?”

“So what if I was?” But she hadn’t been. Jordan had thought about it, yes, but only because she wasn’t
ready to make Will any promises they would both regret down the road.

“How can you do that?” His expression was thunderous. “You’d brought me a window—damn it, a perfect one. Then you went out with some bloody oaf who’s not worth half of you because you’re frightened of what’s between us?”

Not worth half of you.
Even now he defended her. She had to make him leave. She couldn’t give in, couldn’t let herself— “I said get out. You don’t know anything, you, you
bloody oaf,
” she spat.

Those blue eyes speared into her, taking their time—too much time, damn it. Studying her like some bug on a pin.

Then a smile spread across his face.

“Don’t you smile at me.” She pointed at the door again. “I said go away. And take your gifts with you.”

“You sent him packing, didn’t you? But you won’t admit that because you’re scared. Come here.” He took a step toward her.

She took a step back. “Don’t touch me.”

He didn’t slow, and she couldn’t seem to move. Then his big hand was on her cheek, and he was examining her too closely, seeing too much. “You fight yourself as much as me, darlin’ Jordan. Why are you so afraid for me to love you?”

“You can’t love me, Will. Don’t.” She closed her eyes. “Please don’t.”

But it was too late. His lips were on hers. At first gentle and soft, easing hers into parting, then sipping, tasting with small, deadly kisses, each one crushing her resistance with their tenderness.

“Jordan…” He groaned and drew her into him, that hard body that felt so much like a shelter in which she could hide. Where she could leave behind so much pain, so much sadness….

His mouth cruised over her face, down her throat, stealing the breath from her as his hands untied her robe.

For a second, she stirred, aware of how unsexy her flannel boxers were.

“Shh. I’ll never think of Yosemite Sam the same way again, darlin’.” His soft chuckle faded as his mouth danced a new and devastating glissade over her skin. He bared her body as he was baring her heart, walking her slowly backward toward her bedroom, then impatiently, gloriously sweeping her up into his arms.

I can’t promise,
she wanted to protest.
This won’t last,
she needed to warn him because he was so good, so kind, so…

Sexy. Sweet heaven, the man was driving her out of her mind, taking time—so much of it, too much of it until she would scream—to tease at odd spots on her body, avoiding the clearly sexual and in the process, driving her up and up and up….

Until his hand covered the thatch of hair at her thighs, his touch both electrifying and somehow cherishing.

Jordan crested with a cry. Soared and floated for endless moments as she marveled that he’d made her come without ever even—

“Oh, dear mercy…” Was that her voice so high and thin as his tongue swirled around her nipple?

She felt his chuckle against her more than heard it. “Will…”

“Shh, sweetheart. Relax.”

Relax?
Then Jordan realized that he’d stripped away his own clothes. She watched that big, hard, warm body cover hers.

Oh, how good he felt. How much she relished the sensation of him—she, who was nearly always on top. Who preferred it that way. In control.

But Will was teaching her how little she knew as he continued his assault on her senses, devastating her every defense, dismantling them as though they were a child’s building blocks. “Will, let me—” She was rising again as his fingers, his tongue, his heated breath… “Don’t—”

“Again, darlin’ Jordan.” His voice was warm honey. Darkest velvet.

“Will, I want you in—” Then all thought fled again as her body came apart, as she flew higher still.

But for once, she wasn’t alone. Will kept her safe as she flew. She rode on thermals like a hawk, an eagle soaring into the crisp blue air, the beautiful and welcoming sky.

In the piercingly sweet aftermath, she floated back to earth. “Jordan,” he said, voice strained and taut now. “Look at me. Darlin’, look at me.”

Jordan opened heavy eyes to see his blue ones wide open, hot and beautiful and fierce. “I love you, Jordan Parrish,” he said, and before she could voice the caution she knew she should—

With a bold thrust, he made them one.

Jordan’s back bowed. Every cell of her body screamed with a freedom, a bliss she’d never before experienced. She was safe and she was flying and Will was with her and he loved her and—

Will found his release as she went sailing. Together they rode the night sky. Jordan clasped him tightly, pressing every inch of herself against him in fear, in ecstasy, in demand…longing…yearning…

I love you,
he’d said.

Oh, I love you, too, Will.

But her heart wept, knowing she couldn’t say it.

Because she could never love him as he deserved.

W
ILL AWOKE WITH
Jordan’s head pillowed on his shoulder. A slow, satisfied smile emerged as she whimpered at his movement, then curled more tightly against him.

God, she was sweet. Would anyone who knew her recognize the woman who’d given herself up to him again and again throughout the night?

I have you now, my Jordan. I know you as no one else does.
Something very primal prowled inside him.
And they never will. You’re done with playing around, sweetheart, whether or not you realize it.

He’d been voracious—they both had, their love play at turns tender and bawdy, each one surrendering, each one conquering. Greedy and gentle, fierce and flirty, Jordan Parrish was what he’d been waiting for all his life.

He would, by God, have her. Though, he told himself with a wry smile, she wouldn’t make it easy on him, of that he was certain.

She was his miracle, but that was not to say he expected prickly Jordan Parrish to magically turn soft overnight.

He chuckled quietly.
Or ever,
he hoped. Her spirit was half the appeal of her. She only needed showing
that love was real. That he could be trusted with that frightened heart of hers.

Full of cheer and optimism, Will rose from Jordan’s bed, energy coursing through him. He looked around him for clothing, then realized all he had was a Santa suit.
Ah, well, and didn’t you plan this out poorly, my boy?
He shrugged on the red pants, cinching them up in gathers where the padding no longer took up space, then walked into her kitchen area. He was starving. Nothing like a good full night of loving to stimulate the appetite, now, was there?

A glance in her refrigerator had him sighing in dismay.

Right. This was Jordan, after all. Well, surely she’d be hungry, too. He began a pot of coffee, then strode toward her bedroom while it was brewing. For a moment, he simply stood beside the bed, enjoying the sight of her, all the hard edges smoothed off.

Prickly, yes. Quite likely always would be.

But enough gentling, and his cactus would bloom with the force of his loving.

For now, he was famished, and if he yielded to the temptation she presented, they’d be in that bed for hours yet, only to be found sometime later, victims of starvation.

A shower, then.
Keep your hands off her, boy. Let the woman sleep a bit.

Will sighed and headed for the bathroom.

S
UNLIGHT FILTERED INTO
the loft, a soft whistling barely audible over the sound of the shower. Jordan frowned, then smiled and burrowed deeper under the covers as she remembered the night before. She missed
the warmth of him, even as she groaned. Yes, Will was a morning person, apparently cheerful from the moment he awoke. She always had been, and always would be, a creature of the night.

Night. Oh, such a night. Jordan stretched in delight, recalling the hours just passed, the wonder of making love with Will.

I love you,
he’d said. And not just once.

She sat up straight. No, it was too soon. Too…
Oh, Will. You think you love me, but…

In the mirror across from her bed, the ruby at her throat winked in the sunlight. For a second, Jordan let herself feel how much she wanted all of this to be real.

Even though she knew her limitations in a way she wished Will would never have to.

Oh, give it a rest. It’s Christmas.
The day she normally barely endured suddenly glowed with fresh promise. They could take one day and indulge in the fantasy, couldn’t they? After all, wasn’t everyone else living in a dream world today?

Jordan sniffed the air as the rich scent of coffee drifted toward her. There could be real advantages to life with a morning person. Left up to her, coffee often had to wait until she got to the office.

Will’s whistle stopped, replaced by song. Jordan stretched again, then smiled. Wide. With an unaccustomed energy, she leapt from the bed and padded toward the bathroom. Moments later, she pulled back the shower curtain.

Will started at the intrusion of cold air, followed by her undoubtedly cold skin against his back.

She snuggled closer, warming herself against him.