River's Redemption: Blackwater, Book 5 (3 page)

“But if you hadn’t been trying to avoid me, you never would’ve been there at all.” River lifted their linked fingers and kissed her knuckles one by one. “These last few months have been hell without you. I’ve missed you,” he admitted. When his mouth teased Jeanette’s wrist, he could feel the beat of her pulse as it quickened. The wild heat of her passion all but simmered under the surface. Just a taste. He could allow himself that much of her.

River pulled her a little closer, causing their mouths to brush together. Damn, a gentle glide with his tongue was all it took to set River on edge. There was a sweet promise hovering in the air. The promise of pleasures galore if he chose to throw caution to the wind.

Maybe this once he could touch heaven.

Jeanette wasn’t like any other woman he’d known. She drew him in, made him ache with need and unspent desire. His loins grew heavy, and his erection threatened the fly of pants. Just that quickly, he needed her. Yet this was the one woman he couldn’t have. He couldn’t give in to his body’s demands. He couldn’t take her that way, because he had nothing to give back to her. He was too screwed up. She deserved so much better than his messed-up ass. He felt bound, utterly powerless, and that was not a good feeling for a man.

He prided himself on keeping his distance with women. He liked them, all shapes and sizes, but he kept the relationships strictly physical. Somehow, without even bothering to try, this one small powerhouse had managed to tie his insides into knots. All logic flew out the window as a voice screamed at him to take what she offered.

And Jeanette
was
offering. She gave her consent in the way her body melted into his, the way her hands clutched at his chest, and when she let loose a small moan, he knew he had to stop lest he take her right in the middle of the living room floor. But as he pulled away without allowing his tongue to journey inside her mouth, River felt an odd sensation run the length of his spine. Too late, he realized what it was, and before he could react, he was unceremoniously yanked away from Jeanette. He stumbled over a footstool and landed on his ass.

River shook his head. “What the fuck?”

“Oh my God!” Jeanette stepped in front of him as if to protect him, hands on her hips. “Mike, what on earth has gotten into you?”

“This is him, isn’t it, Nett?” the unwanted visitor asked. “The guy you’re always talking about. The one who doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.”

Well, didn’t that just piss him off? Whoever the tall blond was, he had a pet name for Jeanette. Fan-fucking-tastic, this day just kept getting better.

Chapter Three

Jeanette turned to help River to his feet, and he let her. Once he was upright, he yanked her to his side and raked her with a look that demanded she stay put until he got some answers. She glared at him as if willing him to play nice.

River decided he didn’t really feel like playing nice to a man who knew Jeanette as
Nett
. “I would introduce myself, but you seem to know me pretty well already.” He looked down at Jeanette, curious what she’d said about him. She blushed. With her long, shiny, dark brown hair in a wild and wavy mess around her shoulders, her cute ass encased in a pair of soft, tight, black cotton shorts and red short-sleeved T-shirt, she looked good enough to eat. And damn if River didn’t much care for the fact that another man was getting an eyeful of Jeanette looking so fucking adorable.

River stepped closer to the guy until they were toe-to-toe. “She’s never talked about you,” he said, his voice low and even, belying the storm brewing inside him. “Wonder why that is?”

“River.” Jeanette seared him with a look. “Men and your testosterone,” she muttered as she glared at Mike. “You seriously need to chill. I already have a headache, and you aren’t helping.” Mike arched a brow, and Jeanette issued one last warning. “You two will play nice and introduce yourselves like civil adults, or I’ll be the one doing the butt-kicking.”

River heard her words, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to take his eyes off Mike. The guy was all but devouring Jeanette with his gaze, and he was doing it right in front of River. That was about more than he could take. She was his, dammit.

No, wait. They were friends. Nothing more. Right?

Fuck, things were getting complicated.

“For Nett, I’ll be a good boy,” Mike said. He held out a hand as if he hadn’t just knocked River to the ground. “Name’s Mike Forrester. A…good friend.”

River clutched the man’s hand and gave it a quick, firm shake before releasing him. He didn’t much care for the way the guy had said
good friend
, as if to imply there was something more intimate between them. River had had just about as much baiting as he could take. “Jeanette, would you mind brewing a pot of coffee?”

Jeanette shook her head. “No way am I leaving you two alone together.”

Mike smiled brightly, as if he were having the time of his life. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart?
What the hell was that all about? He knew damn good and well that Jeanette wasn’t seeing anyone. She’d been too busy with schoolwork. As a matter of fact, with the exception of him and his brothers, River didn’t think there were any other men in Jeanette’s life. So where had she managed to meet Mike?

“Fine,” she muttered, “but if anything is busted, you’ll both pay dearly. I’m in no mood for any more crap today, I swear to God.”

After she was out of sight, River turned to Mike. “Who is Jeanette to you?”

Mike stared at River with interest. “Like I said, we’re friends.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched, the only outward sign of his rising anger. “Bullshit. I see the way you look at her.”

He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Sure, at one time I had a real thing for her. A man would have to be blind not to find that sweet charmer attractive. I even gave it a try once.”

River’s anger grew as Mike’s words sank in. “She’s not for you.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, well, she turned me down flat. We’ve been good friends ever since.”

“She’s never mentioned you to me,” River mused, a little hurt that Jeanette had kept the other man a secret. “Care to explain that?”

“There’s plenty she doesn’t tell you, Jennings,” he said. “And just so we’re clear, if you hurt my dear friend, you
will
pay.”

Who the hell is this guy?
River hadn’t told him a damn thing about himself, and yet Mike seemed to know plenty. It put him at a disadvantage. “Thanks for the warning, Mikey.”

“River,” Jeanette groaned as she came back into the room.

Her irritation was plain as the nose on her face. “For you, I’m playing nice, sunshine,” he told her. They both knew how ugly things could get otherwise. “Let’s not push it.”

Was that possessiveness Jeanette detected in River’s tone? Since when? She could handle his anger, she could even handle his bad moods, but she wasn’t sure she could handle him if he chose to get possessive with her. He was a throwback to medieval days. Back when men found a woman they wanted and simply dragged her off to their castle. What the woman wanted was irrelevant.

She counted to ten and kept her calm, barely. She would not allow her anger to drag her along in its wake. Truth was, she couldn’t excuse his domineering behavior, but she did understand it to some degree. She had her own streak of possessiveness, after all.

She moved closer to him and watched as he kept his icy-green stare trained on Mike. She touched his cheek with her fingertips, enjoying the feel of the rough stubble there, and instantly gained his full attention. “Mike is my friend, very possibly my best friend. It’s not fair for you to treat him as if he were some creep off the street.”

River’s face closed down in an instant. “I thought you and I were best friends. Yet not once in all the time we’ve spent together have you told me about him. Why?”

Jeanette had no idea she had the ability to hurt someone as strong as River Jennings, but she could tell by the look in his eyes that she had done exactly that. She would rather walk on hot coals than cause him pain. “I never meant to keep it a secret,” she murmured. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen him that it just didn’t occur to me.”

River stared so attentively that his lashes didn’t even flicker. It moved her to act impulsively. Rising up on her tiptoes, she touched the thin line of his mouth with her lips. It was meant to be a friendly peck, nothing more. At first he remained perfectly still, as if unsure what to make of her. Jeanette began to grow nervous, but as she tilted her head to the side to better fit their mouths together, she felt him softening. His sinewy arms came around her first, pulling her into the cradle of his body. He took over the kiss then, forcing her mouth open, demanding entrance. His kiss wasn’t gentle and coaxing. And it sure as hell wasn’t a friend kiss either. This time, he was claiming her.

Oh God, she’d dreamed of such a kiss from him. Ached for it. Now that it was finally happening, she was too stunned to properly react. To take full advantage of it. His lethal strength wrapped her in a cocoon of passion and lust within seconds. River went to her head so quickly, it wasn’t at all fair. But to hell with it. She wanted his swift, lustful kisses as well as his soft, gentle touches. She wanted the whole of him, not just the easy friendship anymore. Not just the tame part that he let her see. She wanted the wild part of him he kept so well hidden.

She realized no matter what her future held, this dark and mysterious man would always have her heart. She’d handed it to him the day she’d tripped and landed at his feet in the ninth grade. He’d picked up her books and helped her up. The smile he’d graced her with had sent her careening headfirst into love.

She’d known, even then, that the instant their gazes had locked she’d met her other half. She’d tried to deny it, to run from the pull of desire that was constantly between them, but it was like running from her own heart. Futile. In the end, she would happily surrender to River, and he would happily claim her like a pirate claimed the booty of a ship. But where would that leave her when he tired of her? Where would her heart be then?

Just when River thought nothing could breach the wall of anger he’d erected, he watched Jeanette go on tiptoes to kiss him. And she did it right in front of Mike. She was proving that River was the one who held her desire in the palm of his hand. That she would surrender to him if only he’d let her. Lust surged hot and heavy through River’s blood, and suddenly he forgot what a bad idea it was to mix friendship with passion.

Sometime between Reilly showing up that morning and Jeanette’s friend dropping in unannounced—and unwanted—River had decided he was no longer interested in keeping his distance. He burned to make love to her. To see her coming undone in his arms. But he wouldn’t let things get carried away. Jeanette was too sweet, too good. She would wither and die if she was tied to a man who couldn’t even sleep a single night without demons haunting his dreams. She would eventually lose that bright smile he’d grown so addicted to. It would kill him if he screwed that up.

Still, he had only so much self-control. And when he heard Mike clear his throat in an effort to remind them they were not alone, it was the perfect opportunity to push her from him. He had to get himself under control, or he’d forget all of his well-thought-out plans.

He broke the kiss, both of them breathing heavily, and tried to calm his thundering pulse. She frowned up at him, clearly both confused and turned on. Did she have any idea how badly he wanted her? Needed her? She mistook him ending the kiss as a rejection. He couldn’t let her go on thinking such silly notions.

River cupped her chin in his palm and caressed the cute little cleft with his thumb. “I very much want to continue. You have no idea how much I want to continue, sunshine,” he murmured. “But now isn’t the time.”

“I don’t understand you sometimes,” she replied.

“What if…what if I hurt you?” he asked. “What if I screw everything up between us?”

“I’m not afraid of that happening,” she told him. “I’m not made of glass.” She slapped him playfully on the chest. “Although I am frustrated with you. Like twenty-four-hours-a-day frustrated.”

He groaned as he smoothed his fingers down her chin to her neck. He touched her erratic pulse, and Jeanette watched while one corner of his mouth tipped upward in that sexy, ornery grin of his. He winked, as if he knew exactly how easily he got under her skin. Geez, she was so freaking transparent around River. A drooling, pathetic mess.

Jeanette allowed her gaze to travel the length of River’s big, hard body, and she noticed that certain parts of him were most definitely alert. Hmm, apparently she wasn’t the only one overheating here. The thought made her feel loads better.

If I have to suffer, then at least I’m not alone.

“If you two can stop ogling each other for a few minutes, I’d like to tell you why I’m here.” Mike’s gaze darted from River to Jeanette, then back to River. “I’d like to talk to Jeanette alone, if that’s okay.”

River was about to tell Mike where he could stick it when Jeanette spoke up. “That’s fine. River was just leaving anyway.” She dared River to say otherwise, fixing him with a steely glare. “Right, River?”

He smiled, and it wasn’t all that nice of a smile either. The look he gave Jeanette merely said,
No way in hell am I leaving you alone with this guy.
It was clear he not only didn’t trust Mike, he was also still reluctant to leave her side since the mugger had all her personal information.