She placed her hands on his chest, fingered the crisp hair and the solid mass of muscles beneath.
"Livvie," he groaned, holding her at arm's length while he breathed heavily and stared at her with questioning eyes.
Smoothing her hands up and down the taut flesh of his upper body, she wrapped them around his waist and slid them up his back. The muscles tightened beneath her hands and the vein at his neck pounded desperately. Suddenly she felt the wrenching surge of sexual confidence. Jack had come to her room for no other reason than this.
He wanted her.
She stood on tiptoes and placed a gentle kiss beneath his jaw. He lowered his head so she could feather tiny kisses across his high cheekbones, the gray specks at his temples, the tiny scar at the corner of his upper lip. His large hands wrapped around her waist and moved downward to grip her hips, pressing them into his groin. Naked beneath her shorts, she was aware of the huge swell of him through the thin material.
While he lifted her up as if she weighed nothing, she wrapped her legs around his waist. His lips covered hers, his tongue thrusting possessively into the soft folds of her mouth. The intensity of the kiss increased as he sucked, bit, urged her on, and she responded as fire danced in her veins. She gripped his thick, dark hair in her fists, pressed his face into her breasts.
Impatient, he shoved up her tee shirt and teased one breast with his mouth, circling with his tongue until she was mindless with desire. Until she was damp between her thighs and insane with the need to feel him inside her.
"Jack, Jack, now."
She tried to reach down and touch him, but he shoved her hand aside. Control slipped away as his strong fingers moved beneath her shorts, surprisingly gentle when they caressed and stroked her, urged her to a frenetic peak until she clamped down on her bottom lip to keep from screaming out. He fastened his mouth to her nipple and suckled while his clever fingers worked their magic between her thighs. She rode the tide of passion that swept her higher and higher to a shuddering peak that drove her over the edge to oblivion.
When she came, it was hard and fast. She throbbed urgently and clung to him for dear life, every muscle in her body straining with each delicious wave. She wanted the thick stretch of him inside her and he accommodated with his long fingers, gripping her tightly as she climaxed around him in shattering, throbbing pulses.
Olivia didn't know what she'd expected from Jack, but certainly not this heart-skittering, mindless pleasure. They collapsed side by side on the bed, his labored breathing matched hers, and their skin slicked wetly with the heavy sheen of sex. Still fluttery and languid from the force of their passion, she folded her body into his, eager for more. For cuddling, for tenderness, for words murmured in the dark. And because she felt his hard erection against her side, for the inevitable release of his desire.
But with a calm she was sure masked lust, he pulled her tee-shirt down over her breasts, adjusted her shorts, and traced a finger from her lips to the juncture of her breasts.
"Sleep with me tonight," she whispered, feeling the steady thumping of his heart beneath her hand.
He shook his head sadly a moment while icy stone settled in the place where her heart should be. "I can't, Livvie."
"I don't understand."
"I can't be with you until this mess of a case is settled, until it's over and done with."
She trailed her lips softly along the fingers that caressed her neck. "Why? Am I that much of a distraction?"
"Hell, yes," he moaned and kissed her hard on the lips for a long moment. Then he broke off and held her by the shoulders. "But that's not the problem, Squirt. There are things I have to tell you. Confessions I have to make."
The long-ago nickname warmed her. "I don't care about – "
"Shush." He placed his fingers over her mouth. "Trust me, Livvie. I can't be with you completely until you know everything, where I've been, what I've done, what I'm dangerously close to becoming." He added with a bitter laugh, "What I'm scared shitless I can't control."
"Then tell me," she urged, nestling closer. "Tell me now."
Although indecision crossed his face, he answered with a tone of firmness and a voice full of regret. "No. I have to wait until this DLK thing is finished."
His lips against her forehead were feathery soft. He pushed off the bed, still wearing his sweats, his erection outlined clearly beneath the fabric. He'd pleasured her, but not taken care of his own needs. Why?
"Why didn't you… I know you want to."
His face darkened and turned hard. "Getting close to me is lethal, Olivia. I may not be able to control myself. It's dangerous for you, me… for both of us."
She remembered the barely contained aggression he'd shown their first time together. This time had been skillful, but ardent with an underlying intensity she'd come to associate with him. Was she responsible? Did she bring out something dark in him? Was that why Jack fought being with her?
With a crooked smile he looked back for a second, then closed the door firmly behind him, and left her alone. She heard the firm click of the lock that signaled he'd closed her out. His withdrawal was a cramp deep in her very center. She wrapped her arms around herself and stared a long time at the spot where Jack's head had dented the pillow beside her. He'd called her Squirt and then left. She had an aching sense of déjà vu.
At 7:45 the next morning Jack walked into the hall and knocked on Olivia's door. After last night the connecting passage between their rooms seemed too intimate to use. He needed to put their relationship back on a professional level. He rapped again while balancing several coffees in one hand.
When Olivia opened the door, she was dressed, packed and ready to leave. "Thanks," she said, her gazed aimed at a spot on his shirt.
"I thought we'd get an early start," he explained.
"Sure, no problem. I have an afternoon class anyway."
"No," he said, "actually you don't."
"What do you mean?"
"I've arranged for someone to fill in for you."
The brilliant eyes he admired flashed like green fire. "You got someone to fill in for me?" Her lips thinned and a tiny muscle in her jaw tightened. "How thoughtful. Is there any other rearrangement of my life you'd like to make?"
Good, he thought. He liked her anger better than her disappointment. "I know you don't like it – "
"Hate it," she interrupted.
"Hate it," he corrected, "but it's not practical for you to carry on with your full teaching load while you assist with the case." He eyed her stiff back as she sat at the desk sipping her coffee. "If you want to back out… "
"Not on your life," she said between clenched teeth.
She finished the coffee, left a few bills for house cleaning, and wheeled her luggage out the door. She waited for him by the elevator. "I've already checked out."
"Good. Let's get going then."
They traveled down to the parking garage in silence. "A deputy delivered the car early this morning." Jack unlocked the trunk and stowed their luggage.
For the first hour on the drive back to Sacramento they seldom spoke and when they did, they tap danced around the real issue. He didn't blame her for being angry. He'd opened a door for her and then slammed it in her face. She had every right to be furious with him. He hadn't explained a damn thing about his life during the past seventeen years. Given her no inkling of his true nature. Of the violence he'd committed. Or the blood on his hands.
The call from Slater came just as Jack dropped Olivia off at the university to retrieve her car. After a short exchange, Jack disconnected. "There's been a new development."
Olivia flung a startled glance his way as if she'd been deep in thought on another matter. "What? What development?"