Название: Wild Revenge
Автор: Sandra Marton
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon M&B
isbn: 9781474045957
isbn:
You’re wonderful, she thought, but she didn’t have the courage. Besides, she knew it had to be something that would make him laugh.
“My name isn’t Addison.”
Jake touched the tip of her nose with his finger.
“No?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Huh. What is it, then? And how come you changed it?”
“If I were to tell you what it is, you’d understand why I changed it.”
“What’s this ‘if’ stuff, McDowell? You’re supposed to be telling me something here, not just telling me your name isn’t Addison.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“They are, huh?” His smile turned masculine and sexy; he pushed her back on the bed and kissed her mouth. “Well,” he said softly, “I guess I’ll just have to find a way to unseal them.”
She let him do just that. Then she smiled and linked her hands behind his neck.
“Okay. You’ve worked your magic. Bend down so I can whisper my secret.”
Jake complied. He put his ear against her lips … and, suddenly, what she was about to tell him didn’t seem so funny anymore.
Nobody knew her real name. Why would she admit it to him?
“You don’t have to tell me,” he said.
“No?”
“No. Because I figured it out. Your real name is Rumpelstiltskin.”
That did it. She laughed. And said, “My name is Adoré.”
Jake didn’t laugh.
“Adoré,” he said softly. “Adoré,” he said again, as he gathered her to him. “It’s a beautiful name, sweetheart. Almost as beautiful as you.”
She blushed.
“You think?” she said with girlish delight, and he tumbled her back against the pillows.
“What I think,” he said gruffly, “is that food can wait.”
“What am I going to do with you, Jacob Wilde?”
Jake bent his head, tongued a tender pink nipple. Addison’s laugh became a gasp of pleasure.
“I’ll help you think of something,” he whispered.
And he did.
ADDISON STOOD in the kitchen, wearing a robe that came down to her ankles, and stared blankly at the old clock ticking away above the stove.
“Midnight?” she said. “It can’t be midnight!”
Jake, dressed only in jeans that rode low on his hips, stood leaning against the door frame, arms folded, bare feet crossed.
She was a delectable sight, and all he could think about was taking her back to bed.
But it was late, they were both hungry, and grabbing a bite to eat seemed a smart thing to do when he had every reason to keep up his energy.
The night wasn’t over yet.
She looked at him. “What does your watch say?”
He looked at his watch, then at her.
“The little hand’s on the twelve,” he said, deadpan. “So’s the big hand. Where I come from, that means it’s either midnight or high noon, honey, and considering the fact that it’s pitch-black outside, my best guess is midnight.”
“Midnight. I just don’t see how—”
She bit her lip. And she blushed.
Damn, he loved that about her! Hours in his arms, hours spent exploring each other, and she could still turn pink as a schoolgirl.
And yet, she had all the confidence a man could want in a woman, in bed or out. You’d never be able to take her for granted; she’d always be an exciting challenge.
You could build a future with a woman like Addison McDowell.
Jake frowned.
What kind of nonsense was that? This was about terrific sex with a terrific woman. End of story.
“You’re right,” he said, taking things back to where they belonged. “Where could the hours have gone?”
The color in her lovely face deepened. Jake relented, straightened to his full height, walked slowly toward her and took her in his arms.
“Either we get some food in our bellies or they’re gonna find just two piles of bones on old man Chambers’s magnificent linoleum floor.”
Addison leaned back in his arms.
“Not a fan of linoleum, huh?”
“Frankly, I can’t tell linoleum from marble. Well, yeah, I can, but it’s that shade of green makes my stomach lurch.”
“It’s called chartreuse.”
“Even worse.”
She slid her hands up his naked chest, loving the feel of his skin, the silkiness of the dark hair across his sternum, the strong beat of his heart.
“We had linoleum in the kitchen when I was growing up. Not green. Pink. We had pink everything. Walls. Rugs. Bathroom.” She smiled up at him. “But I got even. Every single thing in my apartment, walls to floors to furniture, is white.”
“Aha.”
“Aha, what?”
“Aha, that explains old man Chambers’s bedroom.”
“My bedroom,” she said softly.
“Damned right,” Jake said, his voice a little rough.
Addison locked her hands at the nape of his neck. She could feel the very edge of his scar under the tips of her fingers. She wanted to slip behind him, press her lips to the scar, but she knew better.
Jake hadn’t mentioned it again.
Still, she knew it was some kind of concession that he hadn’t put on his shirt when they finally left the bed, especially since he had not once removed the black patch from his eye.
He was hurting. Not outside. He was hurting inside and she hurt for him. It was a helpless feeling, not to be able to do СКАЧАТЬ