Entranced

Chapter Six

Jack woke better rested than he’d been in…well, forever. He shifted and heard a low moan that made his cock stiffer than steel. Morning wood, he thought, knowing he had to have gotten a few hours of sleep to feel so good.

As he tried to get a handle on what had happened after he’d laid down to rest, Heather murmured his name and stretched on top of him. He put a hand on her back to keep her from falling off, liking that she’d cuddled close in the night. But when his hand met bare skin, he froze.

She rubbed her cheek over his chest and sighed, and he gritted his teeth, because he wanted to roll her over and thrust deep, no questions asked.

Almost of its own volition, his hand moved, tracing her slender back, feeling the soft skin and strong spine of the woman not afraid to go toe-to-toe with him. For all that Heather was pretty, pleasant, and intelligent, she didn’t seem to know she shouldn’t fuck with his control.

The word fuck brought back hazy images of her stroking him, of him coming hard down her throat, of tasting her sweet flesh, then taking her all over again. She felt so warm against his chest. God, it had been so long since he’d actually slept with a woman. After Melissa, he hadn’t been able to bear sharing his bed, couldn’t trust himself to sleep with a potential enemy.

He’d planned on catnapping with Heather, nothing so relaxing as full-out REM. Jack could control his sleep patterns, another quirk of his abilities. Since learning that not even Melissa—his most trusted partner—could be counted on, he’d developed a thick skin for survival.

Yet…something felt off. He was different. Felt different.

Jack frowned and forced himself to stop stroking her back. “Heather, wake up.”

She mumbled something and squeezed his arm.

When she sighed his name, he found himself smiling. Smiling? Definitely something wrong. Yet instead of shaking the woman and demanding to know what the fuck had happened, he soothed her into a deeper sleep. “Dumb-ass,” he swore at himself before checking the time. His watch light showed the hour had reached eight, and he turned off the alarm before it beeped. They’d need to start moving again.

But… He didn’t want to wake her. She’d been a real trouper yesterday, even if she’d been dishonest about not wanting him. The woman could deny it until she was blue in the face, but she wasn’t a good liar. She’d suck at poker. Because the way she looked at him told him in no uncertain terms that she desired him.

He thought again about her going down on him, about her swallowing more than his cum but some kind of energy as well. Fanciful imaginings—or had the woman played him the way Melissa had?

Again, the rage that should have been there when he thought about that traitorous witch failed to appear, and he worried because he liked this new calm. It wouldn’t last, of course, but maybe Heather had done something to him to mute the emotion.

“And maybe I should wring her neck for fucking with my brain,” he said out loud, determined to stop being such a pussy. His internal thoughts weren’t like him, not at all. When he grew upset, he had no problem sharing his feelings. So why all this tiptoeing around Heather Stallbridge? The Jack Keiser of PWP legend would have strung her up by her fucking wrists and demanded she tell him the truth. He’d scare her into confessing all.

But the thought of hurting her literally hurt him. He would have rubbed his heart if she hadn’t.

“Shh. It’s okay. I’m here,” she said in words barely audible.

Yet Jack comprehended what she’d done. The damn woman had fucked with his head, and as he thought hard about it, he recalled all she’d said and done while he’d been out of his mind in la-la land, wanting a piece of her prime pussy.

He had to work to curse her to hell and back, when he still had a hard time being mad at her about it. Drumming up some anger she more than deserved, he forced himself to restore his inner shields. “Wake up.” He rolled and dumped her on her ass. Which would have been payback enough if the sleeping bag hadn’t slid off her, unveiling the nicest pair of breasts he’d ever seen. With the light of day giving him the perfect view of two beautiful tits, his hard-on throbbed like crazy.

“Jack?” She yawned and blinked at him, like a sleepy sex kitten begging to be fucked. “You okay?”

“No, I’m not.” He hated that he finally managed to look away from her body and got lost in her eyes. “I’m fucking calm. What did you do to me?”

“I eased your pain.” She smiled at him, and he wallowed in a heavy dose of love and lust that scared the piss out of him.

None of his feelings made a lick of sense. Nor did the fact that he was easing his pants down and watching her do the same. They didn’t speak as he lowered himself to her. He entered her in one smooth thrust and kissed her when she moaned his name.

Their rhythm spoke of lovers long known to each another. He pushed, and she pulled him closer. Their mouths meshed, and she flowed with him, giving while he took, submitting while he dominated.

Not frenzied or hurried, their lovemaking was slow, passionate, and all-encompassing as he moaned her name and came inside her, pouring into her while she squeezed him tight and cried out, cutting into his back with her sharp little nails.

When Jack’s brain returned from its hiatus to heaven, he glared down at her, irked to see her green eyes smiling.

“Good morning.”

He withdrew from her but didn’t move away. “Shouldn’t you have morning breath, at least?” She fucking still smelled like flowers.

Her grin widened. “You’re a coffee drinker, aren’t you? Caffeine addicts are the worst kind of morning people.”

Swearing, because he could use a cup of black joy, he rose and buttoned up his pants, then stalked out of the cave. He returned some time later, clean and awake, thanks to the very cold stream. She passed him with a pat to his ass that had him growling again. Although a part of him wanted to laugh.

She fucks with your head, and you’re happy about it? This is just like Melissa, only worse, because you’re not mad. Yet he couldn’t find it in him to be angry. Had to be the aftereffects from what she’d done. And just as soon as he could stop reeling from the pleasure from her fine body, he’d lay into her.

As he redressed and dug through his pack for their breakfast, she returned completely dressed in a sweater and jacket, her hair in a braid.

“Oh good. Food. I’m starved.” She glanced behind her at the front of the cave. “We’d probably better get going.”

He ate with her in silence while she chattered about the beauty of the country and her liking for Germany as one of her favorite places to go when not working.

Jack did his best to be patient, but he had to bring it up. “What did you do to me?”

“I, well, I healed you. Mostly.”

He fumed, yet even as he saw her guilt, he couldn’t help noticing her concern, and her empathy gratified him. “Without asking?”

“I’m sorry. I wish I could say I wouldn’t do it again, but I’m right now itching to take away more of your pain.” She clenched her fingers tight. “I don’t normally fix without permission. It’s not right.”

“No, it’s not.”

“But it’s…this place. The Source is driving me to use my abilities. The closer we get to it, the more I’m driven.”

He frowned. “How so?”

“You don’t feel it?”

“That power beneath my feet? In the air? Yeah, I feel it. But it’s not making me crazy. I don’t have the urge to beat anyone to a pulp. Well, maybe you,” he said in a low voice.

But instead of scaring her, the way his tone and mannerisms often worked on those he dealt with, she smiled.

“You would never hurt me.”

“Why? Because you have a hold on me now? You can control me?” His worst fear, and she fucking knew it.

Her smile faded. “No, Jack. Never. You told me about Melissa, and I know how badly she hurt you. I felt it.” She rubbed her heart, right over the spot where he felt a throbbing emptiness in his own chest. “Her attack left a psychic wound. That’s what I had to heal. It was wrong, not an emotional scar, because you have plenty of those. But it was an unnatural break in your energy.”

“I’ve never felt it.”

“Oh? Then you’ve always been such an arrogant, angry jerk?” She flushed when she said it, and he had to laugh.

“Jesus. Jerk is the worst you can come up with?” Yet as he considered her words, he knew he’d been much worse since his time with Melissa. He’d considered it his due to be such an untrusting bastard since being nearly killed by someone he’d considered a partner. But maybe it was more than that.

“I’m sorry I’m not as insulting as you’d like, but I’m telling you, you were never an ugly person. The leftover scarring from what was done to you hurt you emotionally.”

“Obviously.”

“But psychically as well,” she finished. “Now you’re calmer. You probably aren’t as angry about life in general.”

“Well, I did just fuck the hottest pussy on the planet.”

She turned a pretty pink, and he wanted to take her all over again. Not the best time to be a randy fool while in the middle of an operation.

“But, considering there’s been enough time for them to be coming after us, I guess we’d better go.” He finished eating with her, and they stood. He grabbed her wrist. “But don’t think we aren’t going to talk later about you taking too many liberties,” he said in a low voice.

This time, she shivered and looked away.

HEATHER TOOK A deep breath and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. She followed Jack on the second day of their trek to the Source. According to the compass and map, at this pace, they had another half a day to reach their destination. As much as she wanted to fulfill a family legacy, get some answers, and finally be the one to do what her brother couldn’t, Heather didn’t want her time with Jack to end.

He was growly, grumpy, and mean. He barked orders, or at least he used to. Now he just bossed her with quiet commands, his gaze hard and knowing whenever he looked at her. He stared with eyes that knew what she looked like naked, and he never let her forget it.

Yet the care and gentleness buried deep down inside him continued to show itself. In the way he helped her over rough patches of stone or downed trees. The way he insisted she eat and drink before he took his own sustenance. His way of always putting her behind him when a loud or uneven sound concerned him. He groused about the weather; first too warm in town, unnaturally so, now “too damn cold.” Pulling her to a stop to fuss over her jacket and pack, making sure she had enough on to keep her warm while pulling out more from her load to add to his, lightening her pack.

“I can carry it.”

“Shut up.” There was no bite in his tone. “I’m bigger than you, and what I’ve got on my back is like a pillow. I can carry more, and that way, you won’t be slowing us down. I have a feeling we need to make better time.”

She would have argued, because she didn’t want him to have to coddle her, but she trusted him. Instead she nodded. “Yes, Jack.”

He seemed surprised, though his expression never changed. She was coming to read him pretty well. For all that they’d just met, had incredible sex, were on the run, and had had more incredible sex in the span of only two days, Heather knew Jack better than she’d known anyone she’d ever met.

And the stubborn man knew her too, if only he’d admit it.

They continued their walk, and she decided to talk to him, wanting to share. She had no idea what tomorrow would bring beyond trouble and danger. Heck, when Jack returned her to Owen, as he harped whenever the subject came up, she might not see him again. That was if she remained in Baltimore.

“I’m thinking of moving back to Bend, permanently,” she said out of the blue.

He stumbled and cursed at a root that dared trip him. When he turned to see if she’d noticed his clumsiness, she kept her gaze on the ground and fought a smile.

“Yeah? You tired of Baltimore and jet-setting already?”

“Please. I told you I’m not part of that crowd.” She wrinkled her nose. “I never have been, which is why I’m so bad at business. Owen does all the schmoozing. I’m pretty worthless.”

“Not to hear him tell it. Guy won’t shut up about you.”

“Really?” She knew Owen loved her, but she hadn’t thought he respected her. He was constantly telling her how to run her life, how to be better at business. “What does he say?”

Jack kept walking, but he slowed down as he answered. “Owen says you’re smarter than he is. That if you wanted to, you could run the company and take it faster and farther than he has.”

She huffed. “He was pulling your leg.”

Jack shook his head. “Nope. Said your energy pulls you in another direction, but if you wanted, you could pretty much run the business. He’s glad you don’t like socializing, because it keeps the wolves off your pretty tail.”

“He said that?”

She could hear Jack’s grin. “Not in so many words.” He paused. “Didn’t warn me off you, though.”

Good for you, Brother. Owen had probably sensed what she had—what a fine man Jack Keiser was under all his bluster.

“He probably never thought you’d be attracted to me.”

“Yeah, probably.” Jack didn’t sound like he believed her. “So I’m curious, because you haven’t said why you never asked your brother for help on this.”

She sighed. “You really want to know?”

“I really do.”

“Fine. You know Chronicles was stolen?”

“My team recovered the book. It was stolen over a year ago from some warehouse where your family stores a whole bunch of supernatural crap. Nice hobby, by the way, collecting cursed objects.”

“Not all cursed,” she protested. “Just…strange in nature.”

“Right. Well, your ‘strange in nature’ stuff is keeping my guys in business, so I can’t complain. Anyway, we recovered Chronicles. Then Owen was upset because you have it, but he seemed to have lost you. I figured he was being overprotective. Then he asked me for help. Your brother is pretty closemouthed about family, so I knew if he was worried and asking for my help, something was wrong.

“From everything he said about you, you two have a great relationship. He didn’t say anything about you being psychic, but that you help out with your charity work. Of course, Owen practically hums with power. I had a feeling you had some serious mojo of your own.”

She wondered if Owen had confided in Jack just what he could do. She doubted it.

“I asked him why his pretty little sister, who just loves him to distraction, wouldn’t ask him for help. He couldn’t say.”

She was glad Jack continued to walk in front of her, so she wouldn’t see his face when she answered. “I wanted to prove myself. There, I said it. It sounds childish and stupid, but it is what it is.”

He stopped, and she banged into him. When he turned around, he just stared at her.

“Look. Chronicles was left to me for a reason. The book traces back to when there was a huge boom in Stallbridge power. It’s really important, and for the first time ever, I was able to help the family in a way Owen can’t.”

“Come again?”

“Oh, you’ve met him. You know my brother. He excels at everything. He took the company’s profits, and at the age of just eighteen, doubled them. He’s a genius. He’s nice and kind and handsome…”

“Wait. Nice and kind?”

She ignored his feeble attempt at humor, feeling sorry for herself all over again. “He’s like a superhero, and I’m his lame younger sister. The pretty one who has no head for numbers. Oh, she can heal, but nothing she does helps Stallbridges. I know. It’s a petty thought. I save lives. I heal people, and I’m thankful every day that I can do what I do. But just once, I wanted to save my family. I wanted to be the one who helped Owen deal instead of the other way around.”

Jack just stared at her, and she felt an inch tall.

“Well? Say something.”

“Man, you are one messed-up woman.”

She sighed.

“I mean, you’re sexy as hell, rich, powerful…and demented. Why the hell would you put yourself in danger to prove yourself? You have nothing to prove, Heather.” Jack took a step closer and cupped her chin, grazing her cheeks with his rough hand. “You’re smart, sexy, a little loopy, and clearly out of control with this healing thing.”

He glared at her, but his approval lifted a weight off her shoulders she’d been trying for years to lighten.

“But you’re special. Really, truly special. You shouldn’t need the validation, but I get that you do.”

She blinked. “You do?”

He nodded and released her chin. “When I was just out of college, my parents passed away. I still keep in touch with my aunts and uncles and cousins, but I was an only child. When my folks were gone, I was really alone. I felt like I had to prove myself to my parents. And they were dead, so how fucked-up is that? At least your brother is alive.”

She shook her head. “You wanted to live a better life for your parents. I’m just a spoiled rich girl trying to show she’s more than her wallet and her looks. And by doing so, I put you in danger.” She swallowed hard at the enormity of what she’d actually done—was doing. What if Jack got hurt protecting her, and she couldn’t help him? Had her obsession to be the family savior pulled her so far away from doing the right thing?

“For God’s sake. You’re not going to cry, are you?” Jack asked in a thick voice. “Look. If I wasn’t here, I’d be somewhere else getting almost killed for pay. So think about it this way. One, I’m not your brother, so you don’t have to prove anything to me. Two, Owen’s safe at home, because you’re here with me. Three, if the shit hits the fan, you can heal me. And hell, we’re just going to some energy vortex with a magical book only you can read, in a town lost in the Twilight Zone full of psychic whack-jobs who want nothing more than to kill us. What could possibly go wrong?”

They stared at each other for a moment before Heather broke down laughing. His deadpan delivery brought tears to her eyes, as did the fact she was such an idiot, and Jack didn’t seem to hold that against her. When she could catch her breath again, she saw the warmth and happiness in his gaze, and she smiled back at him, glad that of all the men sent to help her, Jack had been the one she’d been given.