Part 15 (1/2)

”People are going to think we got into a fight.”

”We did.”

Despite the lingering fear and the cold realization of how differently things could have turned out, Abby smiled.

Across from her, Jake concentrated on keeping the ice against her temple. His left hand rested gently on her bicep. Slowly, she felt him relax one degree at a time. The hard lines of his face softened. She hadn't realized it before, but Jake Madigan made a frightening picture when he was angry.

”You're making a habit of saving my life, you know,” she said.

”That's my job.”

”Well, you're really good at it.”

He looked her straight in the eyes. ”I'm good at a lot of things.”

Abby swallowed hard, felt her heart kick against her breastbone. She wanted to say something back to him, but her brain seemed to have short-circuited. She wanted to think it was because of the stress of the situation. The storm. The close quarters. The madman with a gun. But she knew her reaction had more to do with the way he was looking at her.

Images from their tussle in the snow that morning came to her unbidden. Her lying in the snow. Him on top of her, solid and warm and pressed against her as intimately as a lover. She tried not to think about the kiss-she knew better than to toss gasoline into a flame-but the memory taunted her with its forbidden sweetness. She remembered the look of utter astonishment in his eyes when she'd pressed her mouth to his. The way his body had jolted. The instant of his surrender. Then his firm mouth had taken hers captive. He'd s.h.i.+fted closer. The growl of frustration in his throat when he'd realized he couldn't get any closer. All the things he'd done to her mouth with his tongue....

Yes, she thought dazedly, Jake Madigan definitely knew how to kiss a woman. She wanted him to kiss her now. Wanted his firm mouth against hers. Wanted to feel him surrender to her.

Desire flickered like a hot flame in her belly. She told herself none of this was going to matter in the long run. That she could give in to the needs churning inside her and kiss this man and not suffer any consequences. It wasn't as if a kiss was going to change anything. It certainly wasn't going to mean anything. It couldn't.

She stared up at him. His flint-gray eyes had softened to the color of a twilight sky. That magical moment between day and night when the stars were born and the last vestiges of the sunset died on the horizon.

”What are you thinking?” she whispered.

”Things I shouldn't be.”

”Why not?”

”Because I know better.” His jaw flexed. ”So do you.”

Abby knew they were playing with fire, and getting much too close to the flames. She knew she would probably be the one to get burned. But for a little while she didn't want to care. She didn't want to think about repercussions or right or wrong. All she wanted was for this man to kiss her.

She knew he was going to an instant before he moved. He leaned toward her, his eyes darkening like the summer sky before a storm. Abby thought she was prepared. But the instant he touched his mouth to hers, all bets were off.

Jake didn't just kiss her. He devoured her mouth with a hunger that sucked the oxygen from her lungs and left her head spinning like a top. The floor tilted crazily beneath her. If she hadn't reached up and put her arms around his shoulders, she would have slunk to the floor into a boneless heap.

His mouth fused to hers, and Abby's senses exploded. She tasted heat and the heady taste of aroused male. A man who knew what he wanted and wasn't afraid to take it, consequences be d.a.m.ned. She heard labored breathing, but she wasn't sure if it was his or hers. Bright light burst behind her eyes. All the while, his mouth danced with hers, an unyielding partner who liked to lead and didn't mind stepping on her toes.

At some point, the cold compress left her temple. She felt restless hands on her shoulders, skimming down her back, then lower. His shoulders were like steel beneath her fingers, corded and fraught with tension. It had been a long time since a man had touched her, and Abby's senses heightened to a fever pitch. Every touch, every shudder, seemed multiplied exponentially, racing through her body and exploding in her brain like a powerful drug.

His hands fell to her hips. Large hands that were calloused from manual labor, yet gentle enough to heal wounds and ease pain. He held her against him with those hands and she could feel the hard length of him at her feminine core, straining closer, burning her with the intensity of his need.

She opened her mouth, for a breath or maybe to gasp, she wasn't sure, but he took the opportunity and deepened the kiss. His teeth clicked against hers, his tongue going deep, penetrating her. Abby accepted him, rode with the dizziness stealing her equilibrium. In the back of her mind she wondered how she would survive this. If he could knock her senseless with just a kiss, how was she going to react if they took this any further?

Jake couldn't remember the last time he'd lost his head. Maybe the day he'd been fifteen and watched little Jimmy Baine get sucked under the ice.

He'd known he was going to do something stupid and screw this up sooner or later. The writing had been on the wall since the moment he'd sat in on the briefing at RMSAR headquarters and seen this woman's mug shot and those incredible violet eyes.

Kissing her like this definitely qualified as stupid.

And he'd definitely lost his cool.

But she made his blood pound like no other woman he'd ever met. One taste of her mouth and he couldn't stop. He couldn't even see straight. The woman made him crazy with needs he swore he'd never give in to, made him glad to relinquish the control he'd always prided himself on having. Made him wonder if maybe she was worth making a mistake for.

Need and frustration coiled and snapped inside him as he kissed her. Arousal flared hot and deep in his groin. And her mouth... Her mouth was making him nuts. She tasted sweet, like ripe, succulent fruit, and Jake wanted to devour her.

Kissing this way wasn't his usual modus operandi with women. Jake had always prided himself on being a gentleman. On being slow and thorough and sure. He respected women and treated them with dignity. He was a gentle lover and never caved in to urgency. He'd never been p.r.o.ne to wildly hot kisses and groping like some fuzz-face teenager struggling with his first bout of hormones.

But he couldn't stop kissing her, didn't want to stop touching her. He didn't care about consequences or regret, or pause to think about where this might lead.

Her body was soft and fragile and warm against his. Her scent was inside his head. The feel of her body against his was in his blood, setting his veins on fire. Kissing her, he ran his fingers through her hair, tangled them in the thick ma.s.s of curls. He wanted to get lost in her hair. He wanted to get inside her. Wanted to feel her wet heat wrap around him.

She was pressed snugly against him. He could feel her b.r.e.a.s.t.s against his chest, her heart raging against his, and felt another layer of his control flutter away. Running his hands over her hips and sides, he slipped his hands between them and cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She gasped and arched. He molded her flesh with his fingers. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were small and firm and filled his palms like soft fruits. Even through the thick fabric of the jumpsuit, he could feel the hardened peaks of her nipples.

His control teetered. Growling low in his throat, he deepened the kiss. The need to touch her jumped through him like an electrical surge. Sweat broke out on the back of his neck.

Gently, he unzipped her jumpsuit, slipped his hands inside. Making a small sound in her throat, she arched against him. His knees went weak at the feel of her bare flesh against his palms. He caressed her nipples with his fingertips. She s.h.i.+vered in his arms. He slid his hands down her belly, over taut, quivering flesh. His fingers brushed the soft cotton of her panties. His heart went wild in his chest, the need pounding through him with every beat. She whispered something in his ear, but he couldn't hear her, didn't understand the words. Every cell in his brain focused on the pleasure coursing through him. The pressure of her mouth against his. The softness of her flesh. Her scent inside his head, driving him crazy with the need for more of her.

His fingers found the crisp curls at her vee. She stiffened against him, but he didn't stop. He separated her, then dipped two fingers into wet heat.

Abby jolted in his arms, crying out softly.

”Easy,” he whispered, and began to stroke her. Once. Twice.

When she opened to him, Jake closed his eyes and he was lost. To reason. To sanity. He was as lost as any hiker had ever been in the vast wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. The ache in his groin was a physical pain. A sweet ache that echoed through his body like the flu, intoxicating him like a drug, making him believe in the impossible and want crazy things.

s.e.xual contact with an escaped convict was definitely crazy.

Jake had made plenty of mistakes over the years. He figured he'd learned something from most of them, and the lesson had been worth the cost. This was different. If he let this go any further, it was going to end up costing both of them far more than they were willing to pay.

What the h.e.l.l was he thinking throwing his career away for a convict? A woman who had no compunction about manipulating him to get what she wanted? A woman who threatened his control so that he was willing to risk everything he'd ever worked for for just one taste of her mouth?

The questions dragged him back to his senses. Back to his own personal code of honor. To his career as a law enforcement officer. To his dignity. Back to a situation that was every bit as dangerous to him as the man with a rifle outside.

It took every bit of discipline he could muster to pull away from her, but he did. His body wasn't happy about it, and frustration snapped through him like a bull whip. He knew better than to risk everything for something as simple as l.u.s.t.

The problem was, there hadn't been anything even remotely simple about what had just happened between them.

”This is wrong,” he said in a hoa.r.s.e voice.

She stepped back, her cheeks flushed, her lips kiss-bruised and wet. Grasping the edges of her jumpsuit with white-knuckled hands, she reached for the zipper and jerked it up to her chin. Her violet eyes were wide and wary and didn't quite meet his. She was breathing hard, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s rising and falling with each breath. He could still feel the warmth of her flesh against his palms. Her wetness on his fingers. The hard nubs of her nipples where they'd brushed against his chest. Frustration burned him. The realization of how close he'd come to making an irrevocable mistake shamed him.

”I'm...sorry,” he said. ”I shouldn't have let that happen.”

Turning away from him, she hugged herself as if from a chill. Her shoulders were rigid. Her head down. He wanted to go to her, but he didn't. He could only imagine how she must feel. Used. Humiliated. And he refused to acknowledge the sharp edge of need stabbing him in the gut.

Jake didn't usually feel the need to talk. Silence usually suited him just fine. Even so, he found himself scrambling for something to say. ”That was...my fault.” The words sounded lame even to him.