“Yes, that’s what my company does. When I left the Army, I wanted to start my own firm. Being a consultant didn’t give me enough control. Someone has to rebuild roads in places like Iraq, and our job is to keep those people safe.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“We know what we’re doing.”
“Weren’t you supposed to be a lawyer?” she asked.
“I joined the Army after Hunter died.”
An interesting way to cope with grief, she thought. But then, maybe the point had been to be so busy he could just forget.
“What do your parents have to say about all this?”
“They’re still hoping I’ll take over the Howington Foundation.”
“Will you?” she asked.
“Probably not. I’m not the foundation type.”
She wasn’t either, but so far it wasn’t an option. Her father seemed content to spend his money on the very young women in his life. Hunter’s foundation ran smoothly. She had her trust fund, which she never touched, and a nice salary that covered all of her needs. If Hunter were still alive…
“You have to deal with your grief sometime,” she said.
“About the foundation? I’m over it.”
“No. Hunter.”
Jack’s mouth twisted. “I’ve dealt. Thanks for asking.”
“I don’t think so. There’s a whole lot there under the surface.” He’d let down his best friend. That had to bug him. Jack had let her down, too, but for once she wasn’t mad at him. Maybe because she’d had a good cry after looking at all the pictures she’d found and felt emotionally cleansed.
She looked at him. “On my bad days I tell myself you’re a selfish bastard who played us all. On my good days I tell myself you wanted to stay but couldn’t handle what you were going through. Which is it?”
“Both.”
* * *
Meri waited until nearly midnight, then climbed the stairs to Jack’s office, prepared to let herself out onto the balcony and enjoy the beauty of the heavens. She didn’t expect to find him on his laptop.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she grumbled as he glanced up. “It’s late. You need your rest.”
“I see you’ve changed your seduction techniques. These are interesting. Less effective, in case you were wondering.”
“I’m not here to seduce you. I have more important things to do with my time.”
He glanced out the French doors toward the sky. “I see. And I would get in the way?”
“You’re going to ask a lot of irritating questions. You won’t be able to help it. I’ll try to be patient, but I’ll snap and then you’ll get your feelings hurt. I’m just not in the mood to deal with your emotional outbursts.”
Instead she wanted to stare at the sky and let the vast beauty heal her soul. Okay, yes, getting Jack into bed was her ultimate goal, but there was a time and place for work and this wasn’t it.
“I suspect my feelings will survive just fine,” he said.
“No way. You’ll go all girlie on me.”
She shouldn’t have said it. She knew that. She hadn’t actually meant to challenge him—she was simply impatient to get out into the night and use the telescope.
He stood without speaking and moved around the desk until he was standing in front of her. Looming, actually. She had to tilt her head all the way back to see into his eyes.
“You think I’m girlie?” he asked in a low, slightly dangerous voice. A voice thick with power. A voice that made her realize he was a whole lot bigger than her and that there were a couple of floors between her and help.
“Not at all,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean to say it. The words just slipped out. Bad me. You should probably stalk out and teach me what for by leaving me alone.”
Instead he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Do you play all the men in your life?”
She swallowed. “Pretty much.”
“Does it work?”
“Mostly.”
“Not this time.”
He cupped her cheek with his hand, bent down and kissed her.
She’d sensed he was going to and should have had time to brace herself. It was just a kiss, right? No big deal. They’d kissed before, and while she’d liked it, she’d managed to keep perfect control…sort of.
But not this time. The second his mouth touched hers, she started dissolving from the inside out. Technically that couldn’t be true, but it felt true. Heat poured through her, making her want to move closer. Again something that didn’t make sense. The closer she got to Jack, the more their shared body temperature would rise. Wait—it wouldn’t rise exactly, it would…
He moved his mouth against hers. This wasn’t the angry, something-to-prove kiss he’d given her at the gym. That had been easy to deal with. This kiss was different. It offered instead of taking. He applied just enough pressure to make her want to lean in and do a little demanding of her own.
Without meaning to, she reached up and rested her hands on his shoulders. He pulled her close until they were touching all over. Shoulder to knee, man to woman. He was hard and unyielding, a combination she found wildly erotic.
One of his hands slipped through her hair, tangling in the waves. The other moved up and down her back. Slowly, so slowly. Not touching anything significant, but still…touching.
He continued to brush his mouth against hers, keeping the kiss chaste yet arousing her until she wanted to grab him, shake him and tell him to get on with it already.
When he licked her bottom lip, she nearly groaned in relief. Fortunately she managed to hold in the sound. She even waited a nanosecond before parting for him. She didn’t want to seem too eager. But then his tongue was touching hers, and staying cool was the last thing on her mind. Not when her blood rushed through her body at Mach 1 and every interesting female part of her began to tingle and ache and move toward begging to be touched.
He kissed her deeply, exploring, teasing, circling. She met him stroke for stroke, wanting to arouse him as much as he aroused her. Not to prove a point, for once, but because a kiss this good should be shared. Because it felt right.
She breathed in the scent of his body. She wished she were physically capable of crawling inside of him so she could know what he was feeling at that exact moment. Instead she tilted her head and continued to kiss him as if this had been her plan all along.
She felt the hardness of his arousal pressing into her midsection. He wanted her. There was physical proof.
It should have been a moment of rejoicing. She should have pulled away and crowed about her victory. She was more than halfway there. But while she did pull back, she didn’t say a word. Instead she stared into his dark eyes, at the fire there, the fire that matched the one raging inside her.
Then she did the only thing that couldn’t possibly make sense. She turned and ran.
Five
If there wasn’t twenty million for charity on the line, not to mention the house itself, Jack would have been on the road back to Texas the next morning. But he was stuck for the month. All the other guys had survived their time at Hunter’s Landing, so he would, too. But he would bet a lot of money that their weeks had been a whole lot less hellish than his.
He