Wild Irish (Book 1 of the Weldon Series) (31 page)

“
Jesse?” she said softly, breathlessly.

“
Shh, Lex. Just feel me. We’ll talk later. Just feel me inside you, feel me with you, feel all of me.”

She did. So many things stirred inside her, winding tighter and tighter around her heart. A deep tenderness mixed itself up with the exquisite pleasure that steadily spiraled higher, and it was too much. She felt too much. Having him here, touching her so softly when she felt so deeply about him overwhelmed her. Tears sprang to her eyes when she came, and with the waves of pleasure wracking her body, the knot of love for him gripping her heart squeezed painfully tighter.

“
Damn,” he whispered, kissing her softly. “Don’t cry.”

She arched to him, needing more from him as he thrust deeper into her. So deep that he triggered another intense orgasm. “Jesse!” she cried out as she shuddered in his arms.

His release came then. His heart pounded against her chest as his explosion of pleasure reached deep inside her. His body fell heavily against hers and she reveled in his weight, cradled him in her embrace. In that vulnerable moment she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tighter and nothing mattered but being with him.

Unfortunately, reality intruded, slipped right into her mind, and wouldn’t let her go, wouldn’t let her pretend.

“
Jesse. Why are you here?” She pushed against his chest to free herself from him and realized they hadn’t used a condom for the first time. She was on the pill, so she wasn’t overly worried about pregnancy. What did scare her was that she’d have embraced with her whole being having his child.

That set more tears falling. “Why are you here?” she asked again. “We can’t do this anymore. I can’t do this.”

Jesse sat up and she rolled away from him. Somehow she found his shirt and slipped it on, needing to cover herself. Needing some kind of armor to bolster herself.

Hell, Jesse thought as he reached for his jeans and jerked them on. He’d forgotten a condom. For the first time ever a woman had sent him beyond reason, beyond care. God help him, but she had felt too good to stop. He was so shaken by his emotions that he was damn lucky he didn’t catch his dick in the zipper as he jerked it up. He had a thing or two to say about what she had done to him, and he wanted to say it with his pants on. “You’re damn right you can’t do this again.”

She looked confused and he explained. “I’m talking about screwing me six ways till Sunday and then walking out without a word while I was freaking asleep.” He hadn’t meant to yell, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. He’d been so worried about her and then when she wasn’t at the villa, he’d thought the maniac after her had gotten her.

She threw her hands up, yelling back. “I left you a note. I had to go. Our fling had been flung and I had to get away.”

“
Our fling had been flung?” Disbelief added punch to his voice. How could she in any way, shape, or form believe their fling was over. It was far from over. He scrubbed his face then waved his finger at her. “Stop changing the subject. Your safety is the first issue. Then we’ll deal with the flung fling.”

“
You’re blowing the incidents out of proportion.”

She paced past him and he grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Look at me, Lex. Maybe there was some truth to that before if you just looked at the facts. But I operate on another level, a gut one and my instincts tell me that in your case, two plus two added up to big trouble. And not more than thirty minutes after you left that big trouble reared its ugly head.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
You sit first.”

She perched on the edge of the couch. “You talk first.”

“
You’re more stubborn than a—”

“
A Weldon?” Exasperation evident in her voice.

“
Not quite,” he said, not wanting to give her an inch to dance on. “Let me spell the situation out for you. Some maniac took an axe to Nan’s guestroom and left you a colorful note. “AJ is a bitch” was written in red paint on the wall and red paint was splattered all over like a blood bath.”

“
Nan?” The color drained from Alexi’s face and he cursed himself for dumping the worst of it out so bluntly.

“
Nan’s fine.” Moving to the sofa, he sat and pulled Alexi into his lap. She buried her face against his shoulder and he held her. “When I spoke to her this morning, she said that Shakespeare is pissed that his tail is red. Lexi, whoever is doing this is sick, and they’re after you.”

He pulled her tighter against him, feeling a sting of tears in his eyes. “And thank God he didn’t get to you. You have no idea what I went through, how I felt when I got to Nan’s and saw the room and wondered if you’d been taken. God, it could have so easily been your blood splattered everywhere—”

Alexi placed her fingers against his lips. “Shh. It wasn’t. It’s all right. I’m sorry, okay?”

Jesse blinked at the emotion gripping him. “It will never be okay, as long as you’re in jeopardy,” he said looking into her eyes. “Why did you leave, Lex? What did I do?”

She started to climb off his lap and he pulled her back. “Why did you run, Lexi?”

“
I can’t tell you. I had to, okay?”

“
No, damn it. It isn’t okay. You owe me an explanation.”

“
I left because everything became too much.”

He waited for her to say more and she didn’t. “Too much what? Too much sex? Too much company? What?”

“
Can’t you just accept that?” She pushed up from his lap and faced him, her hair in wild disarray, her lips kissably swollen from their lovemaking, her expression sad.

“
No, I won’t let this go. You weren’t a prisoner, so why did you run like one?”

“
You aren’t going to leave me with anything left. Don’t you understand?” She inhaled, as if to brace herself and his gut tightened. “It’s
you
who became too much,” she said. “You mean more to me than just a good time. I want more from you than just sex. I fell in love with you twelve years ago and this week has shown me that I still am.”

Shit. Jesse sprang up from the couch and paced across the room. Love. She loved him? Hell. He felt as if something had grabbed him by the throat and shaken him. “Listen, Lex, this love stuff is— you’re confusing sex with love.”

“
No,” she said sharply, her green eyes sparking with anger and something deeper, passion. “I know what you think and you’re wrong. You were wrong in the past and you’re wrong now. This feeling inside me goes beyond getting my needs met. I think complacency is a getting-your-needs met feeling. Love is something more. It asks for more and it gives more. It gives and demands passion. What I feel for you and what you feel for me is beyond complacent. But I don’t think you can admit that.”

That pissed him off. Why did she think he was here? Fun and games? He marched over to stare into her eyes. “I chased you halfway around the world and you don’t think I care?”

She shook her head. “No. I know you care.”

“
Is that caring not good enough, because it’s not wrapped in a fancy label?”

“
You know better than that.”

“
Then what do you want? We’re seeing where this road we’re on goes. You’re staying with me until we eliminate the threat to you. Can you tell me you’re ready to declare everlasting love and walk down the aisle to wedded bliss tomorrow?”

Alexi froze in mid step as Jesse’s question echoed around her. No, her mind screamed through her emotions even as her heart wondered if Jesse had just asked her to marry him. She knew Jesse in a way she’d never known Roger, and knew that she loved Jesse, but she still needed time to reassure herself about how that love would work out. So what did she want from him? His actions had proved beyond any doubt that he cared for her.

Jesse watched the expressions on Alexi’s face. He could tell his question had caught her off guard. And he prayed like hell she wouldn’t turn to him and say yes to his question. Yeah, he’d just told her he cared and that was true. He’d figured that out in a heartbeat. But as for how much and how far that caring went, he wasn’t ready to say. He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Isn’t being together enough for now, Lex?”

“
Yes,” she said, then exhaled as if she’d unexpectedly come to the edge of a cliff and had safely backed away before falling. At least that’s exactly how he felt, but he had no illusions. That cliff would come again and he hoped by then their relationship would have cooled enough to let her go.

* * *

Alexi awoke the next morning to find Jesse watching her. His expression wasn’t sleepy but brooding. “Good morning,” he said gruffly.

She smiled and touched the crease in his brow. “Good morning. What are you thinking?”

“
What any man’s going to think with a naked woman in his bed,” he said reaching for her. She laughed and rolled away. “Liar, I know that look in your eyes and that wasn’t it.”

“
Maybe you’re too sleepy to tell. Now come here.” Something was different between them, she didn’t know what, but she could feel it. Jesse was quieter, more tense. Yesterday, she’d brushed off the change, thinking that they were both tired from a sleepless night spent flying and worrying.

“
You have to catch me first.” She danced away and ducked into the bathroom, locking the door, and laughed at his frustrated growl.

“
Lexi, let me in.”

“
Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin.”

“
So that’s the way you want to play. Beware. The Big Bad Wolf is going to eat you.”

Laughing, she didn’t bother to answer him, choosing to delve into the steamy spray of a shower and lavender bath gel. She’d barely relaxed when the shower curtain flew open and Jesse snatched her naked from the shower and slung her over his shoulder.

“
What are you doing!” she yelled, trying to wiggle from his grasp even as she enjoyed the view of his firm butt and the feel of her breasts bouncing against his back. His hand rubbed over her bottom, lingering over the folds of her sex then he smacked one cheek slightly. “Hey!” she cried, surprised.

“
The Big Bad Wolf is too hungry to play.”

“
Jesse. Put me down,” she said, laughing. But he ignored her and kept walking. It wasn’t until she felt the heat of the sun on her ass and watched the floor turn from carpet to concrete that she realized he’d carried her out of the villa. “Jesse! Where are you going?”

“
Outside. Where Big Bad Wolves devour succulent morsels.”

“
But we’re naked!”

“
The better to feed upon you, my dear.”

Before she could say anything else, he jumped into the pool. Crisply cool water tingled all over her body. She didn’t even have a chance to react before Jesse’s strong arms brought her up to the surface. Then he grasped her bottom and lifted her out of the water and set her on the slick tile at the pool’s rim. Spreading her legs wide, his mouth zeroed in on her sex.

“
Jesse,” she sank her hands into his hair planning on pulling him off. But he pressed her legs further apart, and she had to release him and brace her hands on the tile to keep from falling back. Her heart pounded. And even as her gaze searched about the enclosed area of the villa’s pool to see if there was any way they could be seen, she knew she wouldn’t move from the heavenly lashing of his tongue.

Her orgasm came in a fast, furious rush. But he wasn’t finished. As soon as she came, he started in on her breasts. Lapping and sucking ravenously until her nipples were hard, aching points that he could pluck between his fingers as his mouth claimed hers in a deep kiss. She throbbed for more. “Jesse, let me feel you inside.”

“
When the wolf has finished feasting,” he said, climbing out of the pool. He picked her up and carried her over to a makeshift bed he’d made out of lounge chair cushions and towels. The warm sun spread a languorous heat over her body. He set her down, pushing her back on the cushions, and kneeling at her side, he renewed his assault on her breasts with tongue and teeth. She writhed with growing need. “Jesse, please.” Reaching for him, she wrapped her fingers around his erection and stroked his hot, velvety, hardness. He left her breasts and moved down her stomach, lying on his side as he grasped her hip, urging her to turn toward him. This placed his erection ripe for her to taste him. She closed her lips over him and sucked him into her mouth the same moment his tongue flicked her hot need and the thickness of several fingers slid inside of her. Her back arched and she swirled her tongue around and around him, drawing him deeper into her mouth. His lashing tongue moved faster and she could feel the rumble of his groans as she sucked harder. Then he pulled away from her and kneeled between her legs. His blue eyes were dark and burning. The bright sun deepened the darkness of his tanned skin and made him so elementally primal that she had no doubt his body would continue to devour hers until she had nothing left.