Defender (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 11) Read online

  “Did you want kids?”

  This time Kate did shift in her chair so she could face Jack. He looked politely inquiring, but nothing more than that. What did he think about having children? He’d made it to his mid-thirties without getting married or starting a family. Did that mean he didn’t want them? And what a thing to be worried about, when they’d only shared a couple of kisses and nothing more.

  “Someday. I guess I didn’t think about it that much, because I was so busy with school. Jeff didn’t seem all that interested, although Nancy had started her nagging campaign for grandchildren early on. She’d never thought much of my work on my master’s degree, didn’t see why I had to work so hard instead of focusing on my marriage. There was no way in the world I could have told her that the marriage probably lasted as long as it did because I had school to distract me. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied, I probably would have noticed Jeff’s faults as a husband a lot sooner.”

  Had she said too much? Maybe brutal honesty wasn’t the best angle to take here, although Kate knew she couldn’t take any of it back now. Besides, she couldn’t help but think that it was better for Jack to know everything and make his own decisions.

  He was quiet, and didn’t respond right away. The silence seemed to press on her, so Kate said, “What about you? I kind of got the impression from Jenny that most witches and warlocks get married pretty early, that she was an exception. But you didn’t, either?”

  “No.” Jack moved in his chair, as though he was made slightly uncomfortable by her question. “It’s what was expected, but I didn’t want to get married just because that’s what my family wanted. Anyway, with four older brothers, I didn’t have to worry about making my parents happy and giving them grandchildren. My brothers started in on that while I was still in high school. After a while, everyone sort of let it alone. It was kind of a joke in the clan — Jack, the confirmed bachelor.”

  What could she say to that? In her heart, she hoped it would be different with the two of them, but maybe that was the same hope every other woman he’d ever dated had harbored. Not that she could call what they were doing now “dating.” Even so, she wasn’t going to pretend there hadn’t been other women before her, probably quite a few.

  “This is different, though,” he continued, his voice calm, but with an intensity which belied that calm. “I’m not going to lie, Kate. I’ve been with quite a few women over the years, some witches, some not. I never found what I was looking for. At least, not until now.”

  Her heart began to pound, although she told herself she couldn’t get too hopeful. Maybe he’d felt this same way when he began all those other relationships, only to realize that yet again, something wasn’t working.

  But he got up from his chair and came over to her, reached down and took her hands in his so she would have to stand up, too. His fingers were warm and strong, and she never wanted him to let go.

  “I could say a lot of things right now. That you’re different. That I was struck by you from the first moment I saw you. That I’ve been trying my damnedest to ignore how I feel, because I knew I couldn’t have timed all this more badly if I tried. All those things would be true.” He stopped there, his grip tightening on hers. Not painfully so, but as if he needed to make sure she wouldn’t try to pull away. “But that doesn’t matter if you don’t feel the same way.”

  “I do feel the same way,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper. “I’ve been fighting it this whole time, too. My brain and my heart have been having quite the conversation.”

  “I’ll bet.” He smiled then, and pulled her close. “I want you, Kate. But we can take this as slowly or as fast as you like. Because I know that you’ve had a lot of shocks lately, and I don’t want you to make any big decisions if you don’t feel like you’re ready yet.”

  Oh, she was ready. She could feel it in the way her body responded to his slightest touch, the rush of need for him, the ache in the very center of her being. Would he think less of her, though, for being with him so soon after the two of them had met, especially when that meeting had occurred under such horrific circumstances?

  “I — ” Kate paused and moistened her lips. “I can only think how this is all going to look to someone on the outside looking in.”

  Jack didn’t move, but she could tell from the way his mouth tightened that he hadn’t wanted to hear her say that. However, he remained silent, clearly waiting for her to go on.

  She summoned her courage, the same grit that had allowed her to finally walk out on her marriage even though at the time she didn’t have many prospects — no job, no place to stay, although she knew in a pinch that she could have moved in with her parents, unwelcome as that prospect had been. “But we’re not on the outside looking in. We know how we both feel. And you know that I hadn’t loved Jeff for a very long time, that a piece of paper might have said we were still married, but we sure as hell weren’t husband and wife. So I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t want to wait. I’m here with you now. I don’t want that to change.”

  No chance to say anything more than that, because in that same moment, Jack pulled her to him, covered her mouth with his, deep kisses so she could taste the wine on his tongue and something else, a flavor that was uniquely his. This time she didn’t hold back, but pressed herself up against him, feeling the hard muscles of his chest against her breasts, and something else that was damn hard, pushing against her leg.

  His hands moved up and buried themselves in her hair, and she kept kissing him, dizzy from his touch and maybe, just a little, from lack of oxygen. That didn’t matter, though. Nothing mattered except the taste and feel and scent of him.

  Then he let go of her, but only for a brief moment, just to slip his arms under her, lift her up. They left the Arizona room, and he carried her through the dimly lit house, going down the hall so he could enter the master suite and set her down on the bed. Almost as soon as he had done that, he lay next to her, kissing her again, even as his hands moved over her body, pulling her blouse from her jeans, undoing her belt buckle. The blouse went up and over her head and landed somewhere on the floor, but she wasn’t paying much attention. How could she, when his hands were now gliding over her bare flesh, moving up to unhook the front clasp of her bra, his fingers moving across her breasts?

  She gasped, and knew she needed to see him, too. Fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, and then it was gone as well, revealing his muscular torso, his smooth brown skin, with only a light dusting of dark hair on his chest.

  Jack didn’t give her much time to admire him, however, because his mouth closed on one of her nipples, and she gasped and shut her eyes, then arched up against him. With his free hand, he pulled her jeans downward, taking her underwear with them. A faint clunk as they hit the floor, belt buckle and all, but she couldn’t pay any attention to that, not when his hand was moving upward along her thigh, not when his fingers slipped into her, stroking.

  Oh, God. It had been a long time. Too long. Yes, she had a battery-operated girl’s best friend, but it wasn’t the same. How could it be? A vibrator didn’t know exactly where to touch her, the way Jack was doing now. All of her worry and frustration was gone, replaced by need, replaced by the realization that he was about to make her come.

  Which she did, her body clamping down on his fingers, making sure she didn’t miss a single shudder-inducing moment. And she cried out, knowing it was okay because there wasn’t anyone else around to hear.

  Except the coyotes, she thought with some amusement as she gradually returned to herself. I’ll bet you just gave them a run for their money with all the noise you made.

  Well, she’d just have to make sure she had Jack join in, too.

  Once she’d caught her breath, she took hold of his belt buckle and unfastened it, then undid the buttons on his jeans. Underneath, she could see the way he strained against his dark underwear. Only one thing to do about that.

  Her fingers curled around the waistband of
his pants, his boxer briefs. Down they both went, joining the pile on the floor. And holy hell, he was big. She’d guessed he probably would be, simply judging by the size of the erection she’d felt pressed against her as they kissed, but still…damn.

  Refusing to let herself be intimidated, she wrapped her fingers around his shaft, stroking. He groaned, and more or less collapsed against the sheets, letting her do as she willed. And she knew exactly what she wanted to do.

  She bent down and pulled him into her mouth, savoring the faint saltiness of his skin, feeling the hardness of his flesh. One of his hands moved to touch her hair, but lightly — he wasn’t forcing her, that was for sure. He was letting her be in control.

  Which was exactly what she wanted. She drew him deep into her mouth, then moved back up again, and down again. More and more, while his breathing quickened and his fingers dug into the comforter, holding on to it tightly as she pleasured him.

  Should she stop? No…she wanted to make him come. After all, she was sure they could think of something to do while he was bouncing back, so to speak. So even when he let out a faint sound of protest, as though warning her she was about to hit the point of no return, she didn’t hold back, kept moving her tongue over him until at last his entire body stiffened and he spilled into her mouth.

  Kate swallowed it all, enjoying his flavor, and, even more than that, the way she’d been able to get him to orgasm. After wiping her chin, she moved up next to him and snuggled against his chest.

  For a moment, he didn’t say anything, the only sound in the room his harsh breathing. And then, “Jesus Christ.”

  “Was that okay?”

  “‘Was that okay’?” he echoed, and chuckled. “That was so far beyond okay, I don’t think there’s a word for it.”

  “Good.”

  His hand stroked her hair. “I think I’ll need to return the favor.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Jack didn’t reply, only pulled her up so he could kiss her, lips strong against hers. Then his hands moved down her body, and he was lifting her, pulling her away from him so he could lower her onto his mouth.

  Oh, my God. That was the last coherent thought to cross through her mind, because after that all she could do was reach out and hang on to the iron headboard while he pleasured her with his tongue, slowly, with languorous, perfect precision, as though he thought her the most delectable treat in the world. The orgasm he’d already given her had been intense enough, but she could tell, from the way every nerve ending flared with heat and need, that he’d only been getting her warmed up.

  When the climax hit, she hung on to the headboard and screamed again, a raw sound, the release of too many months without this kind of touch. No, it had been far longer than that; Jeff had never been one to reciprocate when it came to oral sex, and by the time things were falling apart, she was only too glad to avoid that kind of intimacy.

  This…this was entirely different. Never in her life had she come like this.

  And Jack didn’t give her any time to recover, because while the echoes of the orgasm still shivered through her, he lifted her from his mouth and lowered her onto his cock, now obviously recovered from his own climax. It didn’t even matter that he was so much bigger than what she was used to, because she was so wet that she easily slid onto him, let him fill her.

  “Oh, God,” she moaned, and his hands closed on her breasts, caressing her, fingers playing with nipples that had never felt this sensitive before.

  She rode him, and once again felt her body warm with heat and need, so alive, so ready for him. This orgasm was quieter than the last, and preceded his by a few seconds, when he bucked up into her, a deep groan accompanying his climax, as she felt him come inside her. No worries there, though — she wasn’t a McAllister witch, able to recite a charm to ward off unwanted pregnancy, but the pill did just as nicely when it came to that sort of thing.

  And then she collapsed next to him, heart pounding, and he pulled her close, kissing her again, kissing her with a wild abandon that seemed very unlike his usual controlled self. She wrapped her legs around him, not because she expected him to penetrate her again so soon, but just because she wanted as much of her touching him as possible.

  His arms tightened around her. As he lifted his mouth from hers, he said, “Now I understand.”

  “Understand what?”

  “Witches and warlocks…we’re just supposed to know when we’re with the right person. I’d never felt that before. Maya used to tease me when I would tell her I was waiting for the perfect woman. She said the perfect woman was always out there — the real trick was recognizing her when I saw her.” Jack touched Kate’s cheek, then moved his hand downward so he could caress her mouth. “I recognize you, Kate. This was what Maya meant. I didn’t want to acknowledge it at first, because I knew that to anyone looking in, this whole thing would be crazy. But you’re the one. It just took a little while for my head to catch up with my heart.”

  What could she say to that? This was what she’d hoped for with Jeff and failed so miserably to achieve. Knowing that you were with the right person, that something in your soul called out to something in theirs. Even so, she hesitated. This was all so new. She didn’t know if she dared tell him what she already knew in the depths of her soul.

  But apparently he didn’t have the same misgivings, because he said, “I love you, Kate. I think I loved you almost as soon as I saw you.”

  He’d said it first. He was braver than she, that was for sure. “I love you, Jack. Crazy as all this is…I love you. I want to be with you.” She hesitated for a moment, then added, “Even though I have absolutely no idea what we’re supposed to do next.”

  A smile, his teeth flashing white in the semidarkness. “For now? Sleep. In the morning we can start to figure everything out.”

  Sleep. That sounded like a good idea. To fall asleep in Jack’s arms, here in his desert sanctuary. Right then, she refused to believe that anything bad would happen. How could it, when she’d never felt so safe and happy before in her life?

  16

  Morning sunlight slanted across the bed. Jack opened his eyes and blinked, thinking that surely everything from the night before had been some sort of fever dream born of his need for Kate, his hope that they might somehow be together.

  No dream, though, because there she was next to him, her hair a scatter of sun-warmed brown against the pillow. One hand was curled up against her cheek, a curiously childlike position. But she was no child. No, she was definitely all woman.

  As he shifted his position, she stirred, eyes opening slowly. They widened as they appeared to take him in, and a crooked little smile settled itself on her mouth. “Good morning,” she said.

  “Good morning,” he replied. And it was. He couldn’t think of a better morning than this, waking up to her, knowing that she loved him. “Sleep well?”

  “Like a log.” She pushed herself up a sitting position, although she made sure to keep the sheet pressed up against her naked breasts. A tinge of pink colored her cheekbones.

  As much as Jack would have liked to see those beautiful breasts again, he wasn’t going to chide her for her reticence. They’d made love in the dark, with only the light of the moon slipping in past the blinds to illuminate their joining. Now it was bright day, and he wasn’t surprised that she might feel a little shy.

  “How about some coffee?” He already knew that she needed coffee in the morning as badly as he did, so he figured that was a safe question.

  This time her smile was one of gratitude. “Love some.”

  “Coming right up.”

  His clothes were strewn all over the floor, so there really wasn’t any way to prevent her from seeing his naked backside as he got out of bed. Trying to act nonchalant, he slid from under the covers, then went over to the dresser and got out a clean pair of underwear and some shorts and a T-shirt. He dressed quickly, all too aware of her eyes on him. Funny, because this certainly wasn’t the first time he’d
woken up with a woman in his bed — although not the bed here in this house — and yet this was the first time he’d really felt self-conscious. Maybe it was because none of those other women had mattered to him the way Kate did.

  “I’ll be there in a minute,” she said as he pulled the T-shirt over his head. “All my clothes are across the hall.”

  “No worries.”

  As he headed toward the kitchen, he could hear her get out of bed and pad across the hallway to the room that was supposed to be hers, although he doubted she was really going to spend much time there. They’d gotten fresh coffee at Trader Joe’s, so he went about heating up the water and putting the filter and Italian roast in the coffeemaker. No Keurig here; he’d decided it was probably better to have a low-tech coffee solution in a place that would be rented out to strangers.

  He looked around, thinking that he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to use the house as a vacation rental any longer. Now it felt like a sacred place, the spot where he’d made love to Kate for the first time. Where he’d realized that he did love her, that his heart wasn’t the barren ground he’d begun to believe it must be.

  She came into the kitchen, her sleep-mussed hair pulled back into an elastic band, her body now covered in a tank top and some knee-length yoga pants. Well, sort of covered — the clothes fit her snugly, and he could see the contours of her breasts easily enough through the pale green top.

  Just the sight made him begin to harden, and he pulled in a breath, willing the erection to go away until a more opportune time. The sex last night had been spectacular, but now it was morning, and reality had a way of intruding at that particular time of day.

  He busied himself with getting down some mugs as he said, “Coffee should be ready in a few minutes.”