Phoenix Rising (17 page)

“I never should’ve fucking let her outta my sight!” Connor growled, knuckles white on the steering wheel.

“I swear Connor, you’re all gut reaction and no brain. Think for a minute, will you? I know she didn’t lie about her intention to get a divorce. You know it wasn’t her choice to begin with. Why would she lie? What did she have to gain? She loves you.”

“You still think that?”

Alex pursed his lips. “You don’t?”

Forcing his emotions in check, Connor remembered a whispered conversation in his bedroom. She told him her husband left her. She also said it hadn’t upset her. She never loved him. Why? Because she loved Connor. How had he returned her love? He’d sent her back home with the same bastard that’d tied her in knots to begin with.

Connor’s mind conjured a cherished image of Jessa splayed out before him, pussy glistening with her creamy arousal, begging him to slide his cock deep inside her.

Alex’s sharp voice forced him back to the moment. He was pounding the steering wheel. “Hey, stop killing my car. You can fix this tomorrow.”

“I’ve got to go now.” Connor started to flip a U-turn.

“Are you kidding? It’s two a.m.!”

“If that fucking bastard lays a hand on her body, I’m going to kill him!”

“This isn’t the time for territorial bullshit, Connor. You’re going to have to do some groveling tomorrow, and you need to calm down.”

“Groveling?”

“Did you ever get around to telling her about your past?”

Connor groaned. “Tonight, at the station.”

“What did she say?”

His heart was ripping in two. “She accepted it, no questions asked.”

“Then I suggest you start getting your apology ready, mate.”

Chapter Twenty

“Jessa, baby, open your legs for me. I want you.”

The voice didn’t sound right. Where was Connor’s velvet rasp? And the scent was all wrong. Connor’s musky sandalwood smell had been replaced by a vaguely familiar soap with unpleasant memories attached to it.

Jessa’s eyes flew open. Will was dry humping her prone body. He had one knee wedged between her legs and was trying to scrape her pajama bottoms away from her waist.

“God, you’re gorgeous, doll. Have you lost weight?”

Did women actually go for those kinds of lines? Jessa vaguely wondered how desperate Ginny had been to buy Will’s particular brand of bullshit.

She struggled a little with his invasion. He was nowhere near Connor’s size but he was deadweight. Where Connor’s delicious weight was all muscle and control, Will flopped around like a fish.

The thought of Connor gave Jessa strength. She grunted and applied more force. “Get. Off!”

Will bounced, but actually mistook it for some bizarre kind of foreplay. He murmured nonsense and wetly nuzzled her neck. Jessa wriggled violently and managed to get one leg free. Raising it as high as she could under the circumstances, Jessa buried her heel in his thigh. The resulting charley horse made him squeal like a little girl and roll away from her.

“Oww! What the hell?” he whined as he held his leg and tried desperately to massage the cramp.

“Get off! Could I be clearer, Will?”

“You’re my wife! If I want to make love to you, I will!”

“And I can say no! It’s this neat little trick I learned while you were out screwing around!”

Will was stunned to silence.

“And by the way, I’m not your
doll
!”

God, if felt so good to voice an opinion once in awhile. Jessa swung her legs over the side of the bed and launched into the bathroom where she immersed herself in scalding hot water to wash the stench of Will away from her skin.

Connor had to forgive her. She couldn’t live like this anymore.

Jessa had played dead for the nineteen years she was married to Will. She’d gone through the motions of a productive life but she hadn’t lived. She hadn’t lived until Connor’s abrupt entrance into her life. Until he’d forced Jessa out of her narrow-minded comfort zone and into the sexual awareness she’d unknowingly longed for her whole life.

From the moment he’d forced her to admit that she loved to watch Alex and Isabel fuck to his blatant exploration of her body on top of the bar, Jessa had started waking up. And she wasn’t in any hurry to go back to her old life. Not without a fight.

Jessa wasn’t an idiot. She knew that Connor had loved a woman named Melanie who’d royally screwed him over. He was stubborn and tenacious and arrogant as sin. But somehow, Jessa was going to make him understand that her heart belonged to him and only him.

What if she couldn’t convince him, couldn’t make him listen?

Jessa rested her forehead against the cool tile of the shower wall and turned the water off. What would happen to her if Connor refused to believe her? What if he turned his back and walked away?

Living under an overpass would be better than Will’s luxury prison.

Jessa emerged from the bathroom ready to do battle. But the only one in the bedroom was Marissa.

“Mr. Will has gone down to breakfast, Ms. Jessa,” Marissa said, plumping a pillow on the bed.

Jessa went to the closet and dug around for the stash of clothes she’d left behind the day before. Before Anne’s visit when everything had seemed so cut and dried. They were some of the racier ensembles Morgan had put together. Jessa figured the racier the better. She was about to show Will one hundred and one reasons he didn’t want to be married to her.

Reason number one, Jessa refused to keep quiet anymore.

Jessa clomped across the marble floor in her combat boots. It was difficult to keep a straight face when Will caught sight of her from the dining room. The short pleated camouflage skirt barely covered the tops of her silk stockings. Little black bows peeked out with every step she took. Connor’s favorite black corset top was semi covered with a second skin olive green knit top that did nothing to hide the enormous amount of cleavage spilling over the top of the corset. The outfit was more daring than Jessa would’ve normally gone for. But at this point, more was good, and shock-and-awe was better.

Jessa had pulled her hair up into a messy knot that flattered the curve of her neck. A hint of cosmetics enhanced the fullness of her lips and the invitation in her eyes. It was an invitation Jessa would not be extending to Will.

Will froze with a piece of toast halfway to his mouth. “What in God’s name are you wearing?”

“Clothes?”

“Are you planning to walk down the street and wait on the corner for your next trick?”

“No, my pimp hates it when I freelance.”

Will sputtered into his coffee.

Jessa held her temper. Sitting down, she made certain to show plenty of leg. She settled into a chair and poured a glass of orange juice from the carafe. She was thoroughly enjoying the tension-laden silence. It was nice to be on the aggressive end of it for once.

“So,” she began conversationally. “Did Ginny stop kissing your ass and licking your balls, or what?”

Will coughed. “I’m sorry?”

“I said,” Jessa cleared her throat and raised her voice
à la
Eric Cartman. “Did Ginny stop kissing your ass and licking your balls?”

“Things just didn’t work out.”

“Aw, was being a daddy too much for your commitment-phobic ass?”

“No, her children needed more attention than my job allows me to give them.”

“Wow, did you think that up all on your own?”

“What is your problem, Jessa?” Will snapped. “I take you back after you make a whore of yourself in that disgusting bar downtown with some convicted murderer, and this is how you thank me?”

“Attempted murder.”

“What?”

“Connor was never convicted of murder. It was attempted murder.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, doll. I’ll try to get it right next time.”

“You do that.”

More silence. Jessa slathered butter and jam on her toast with impunity. She added two slices of bacon and an egg. When the calorie-ridden concoction was ready, she picked it up and took a huge bite before chewing blissfully.

“Aren’t you worried about your fat intake, doll?”

Jessa swallowed. “Do I look like I am?”

“Well, no but it’s never too early to start.”

“It’s amazing.” Jessa prepared for a second bite. “But all the fucking I’ve been doing lately has really shed the pounds. I feel like I could eat just about anything.”

Will let it slide, probably because the coward couldn’t think of anything to say. “I heard Anne has tried to file for divorce from Jason.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Poor thing, she’s got no chance.”

“You don’t think so?”

“No, of course not. Jason is a respected psychiatrist and an important member of the community.”

“Yeah, a real important member, especially to all of those hookers he keeps in high heels.”

“You have no idea what you’re saying.”

“Why? Because I should just lie down like a dog and let you do who or whatever you want? Or because Anne can’t possibly have a prayer since she’s the spurned wife and not the cock-carrying member of your little cheaters’ club?”

The venom in her voice finally got through to him. Will put his paper down and slowly leaned toward her. “Get over it, Jessa. That scum-sucking convict doesn’t even want you anymore. You saw it in his face last night, just like I did. He thinks you lied to him.”

Jessa sucked in a deep breath. “Do you think it matters about Connor?”

“Without your big, bar-owning boyfriend, you’ve got no place to go, doll.”

“Never underestimate a woman, Will. Never.”

Jessa daintily wiped her mouth with a starched cloth napkin and set it down. Scooting her chair away from the table, she stood and straightened her skirt.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Where do you think you’re going? I’ve no doubt you could find some pimp to take you on, Jessa. But do you really think it’s worth it?”

Jessa was done. Done with their nasty barbed words and cold silences, done with the double standards and country club bitches. It was time to do something for herself. She stood up and left the table without another word.

Will sprang to his feet but Jessa was too quick. She skated across the polished marble in her thick-soled combat boots, yanked the front door open, and leapt to the bottom of the stairs.

“You’re acting like a child,” Will said, his tone oozing condescension.

Movement in her peripheral vision distracted Jessa from her next verbal assault.

Connor was standing in the yard, big and beautiful and about as approachable as a demon from hell. He looked just like he had on the first day Jessa laid eyes on him. The sunlight burnished his caramel-colored skin and lovingly bathed the rugged ridges and valleys of his body. His arms were bare, his black cotton tank top tucked into the waistband of his black cargos, thick soled work boots on his feet.

“Jessa!”

The sound of her name in his gravelly voice rolled through Jessa trailing exuberant joy in its wake.

Will snagged a belt loop on her pleated skirt. “Don’t you dare.”

“Let go. And don’t ever touch me again.”

“I’m your husband.”

“Not for long.”

“I will not be made a fool of!”

“Sure you will. You need to know what it feels like.”

Fury danced in Will’s green eyes. His palm lifted to deliver a slap to Jessa’s face. She steeled her body, prepared to take whatever he could dish out but the blow never came.

His expression changed to horror when a huge calloused hand caught his wrist and wrenched his arm around. Will yelped like a whipped puppy as he sank to his knees to avoid the punishing pain twisting his arm from its socket.

“I think she told you to let go,” Connor growled.

“Get. Off. My. Property,” Will gasped.

“Gladly, but Jessa comes with me.”

His mouth slid like silk over her name. Jessa lifted her eyes and searched his angry gaze. The hell black eyes softened and Jessa saw acceptance in their warm glow.

“You came for me,” she whispered.

“Alex says when I get angry I’m all gut reaction and no brain.”

“Alex is correct.”

“Forgive me?”

“You don’t even have to ask.”

“What do I do with this piece of shit?”

Jessa had almost forgotten Will. He was still hanging from Connor’s fist by his hand. His bloodless face was pale and he was panting with exertion.

“I’m so sorry,” Jessa said with the graciousness of any proper Southern Belle. “I think I forgot to properly introduce the two of you. Will, this is Connor. Connor, this is the piece-of-shit-husband I’m leaving. You can let him go if he promises to be good.”

Connor stared into Will’s pasty face and lifted an eyebrow in silent question.

“I wouldn’t touch that bitch if she was the last woman on earth,” Will sneered.

“Now that ain’t nice,” Connor rumbled. “But I appreciate your understanding of how things are going to be. Jessa is mine. And that’s all you need to know.”

Connor dropped Will on the edge of the neatly manicured lawn and pulled Jessa into his arms. Her heart swelled as she loved over every detail of his beloved face. A few shadowed bruises lingered from the previous night, and the gash over his left eye was probably going to scar. But he was hers, scars and all.

Will scrambled, crabbing backwards away from Connor. “You’re not going to get shit in the divorce! You won’t get a cent of alimony when I’m done with you!”

Jessa leaned around Connor’s bulk and laughed at her husband. “You never got it, did you? I don’t
want
anything from you. Not anymore.”

Connor swept her into his arms and walked away from Will. Jessa didn’t have a backward glance for the husband and home that had dominated her life for nineteen years. She was too busy wondering at the incredible man she’d managed to find quite by accident.

“I love you, Connor,” Jessa told him firmly. “I don’t remember if I ever told you that.”

Jessa almost didn’t get the words out. Connor’s full lips descended on hers like a warm tidal wave. Everything around them ceased to exist, and the world creaked to a halt. Nothing mattered but the warmth and pressure of Connor’s lips. They were softer than she’d ever imagined them to be, and they pressed lovingly against hers until Jessa yielded everything. His tongue slid inside her mouth and rubbed alongside hers in a maddening rhythm that perfectly mimicked the ebb and flow of their lovemaking. Jessa moaned against his mouth. Connor tasted better than she ever could’ve imagined, sweet and spicy and male and magnificent. No matter how long he’d waited to give her this first kiss, it had been worth it.

She whimpered in protest when he pulled away. Jessa could feel a tremble in the arms cradling her body. Connor pressed his forehead to hers and Jessa was shocked by the naked emotions stirring behind his black eyes.

“I love you, Jessa. I don’t care what happened before. The past can stay there. The only thing that matters is you and me.”

“I sure hope you meant that, Connor, because I’m going to hold you to it.”

He grinned wickedly. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”