Make Me Melt

11


BY THE TIME they reached the beach house, it was nearly nine-thirty. They had stopped along the way for a quick bite to eat, but Caroline hadn’t had much of an appetite. Jason had insisted she look at the dessert menu, and when she’d been reluctant to choose something, he’d selected two slices of chocolate cheesecake to go. They made the rest of the drive in silence, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. Behind them, on the highway, Jason could just make out Colton and Deputy Mitchell in the second car.

After parking in the gravel driveway, Jason came around and opened Caroline’s door for her, before reaching into the back for the box of case files. He intended to take a look at the three cases that she thought might be linked to her father’s shooting. Balancing the box under one arm, he fished in his coat pocket for the house keys, and Caroline followed him along the dark path to the front door.

“I must have forgotten to leave the front light on,” she said offhandedly. “And I also forgot the cheesecake in the car. Be right back.” Jason paused to watch her jog lightly back to the driveway. Deputy Black pulled in behind them, illuminating Caroline with his headlights. Satisfied that she was safe, Jason turned back to the front door and inserted the key, and then he went completely still. The door pushed open before he even turned the key.

Swiftly, he set the box down and pulled his weapon out, motioning for Colton to secure Caroline. He waited as Colton hustled her to the second car and put her in the front seat next to Deputy Mitchell, who was driving. They backed out of the driveway and drove away. Jason caught a glimpse of her pale face in the passenger window of the car before they turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

With Caroline safely out of harm’s way, Jason used his foot to nudge the door open wider, holding his gun and a small flashlight out in front of him. He scoped out the room but detected no movement. Colton was at his side in seconds, his own weapon drawn, and together they did a complete sweep of the house. The rooms were empty, but whoever had broken in had trashed the place. Drawers had been pulled out and upended on the floor, and furniture and lamps had been tipped over. Picture frames and collectibles lay smashed on the floor. A quick check revealed nothing of value had been taken. The judge kept a wad of cash stashed in a drawer in the bedroom, and the contents of the drawer had been dumped out, but the money was left untouched. Whoever had broken in wasn’t interested in stealing anything. They’d either hoped to find someone at home or they were sending an ominous warning.

The French doors that opened onto the balcony had been left ajar. Inspecting them, Jason saw that one of the panes of glass had been smashed, allowing the intruder to gain access.

“Okay, let’s canvas the area,” he said to Colton. “Check with the neighbors—see if they noticed any activity here today.”

As he and Colton circled the house, Jason put in a call to the local police. He didn’t know if the intruders were still in the vicinity, but he knew the extra police activity would deter them from hanging around.

Once they had cleared the perimeter of the property, he called Deputy Mitchell and let him know it was safe to bring Caroline back to the house. By the time they arrived, two cruisers were also on-site. Jason walked over to Caroline, intercepting her before she could even step onto the walkway.

“The house is clear,” he said quietly, not wanting to alarm her any more than necessary. “But there’s been a break-in. Someone disabled the electrical at the service drop, which is likely why the alarm wasn’t triggered.”

“If they wanted me, they could have waited,” she pointed out in a calm voice. “But they didn’t. They just wanted to scare us.”

“Maybe,” Jason muttered, but he knew he wasn’t being truthful.

He had a pretty good sense that whoever had done this was also responsible for the shooting. The implications were frightening, and his mind raced with all the possible scenarios. Had Eddie Green been involved, after all? It seemed more than coincidence that Caroline’s beach house had been tossed only hours after he had confronted Eddie.

Or was someone else responsible? One thing was certain: they were being watched. Whoever had broken into the beach house knew that they were staying there. This was a deliberate attempt to frighten them off. Instead of scaring Jason, it only pissed him off. Nobody would hurt Caroline while he was alive to prevent it. He’d protect her with every resource he had at his disposal, and no sacrifice would be too great.

“Listen, I want you to stay in the vehicle with Deputy Mitchell until I’ve finished talking with the police,” he said, rubbing her arms. Despite the warmth of the evening, she was shivering. “We won’t stay here tonight. We’ll find a hotel.” He gestured toward the house. “I’m just going to grab our gear, and I’ll be right out. Ten minutes, tops.”

“What about my father?”

“I’ve already taken care of it. Extra men are being assigned to protect him. Trust me—nobody is going to get within a hundred feet of the judge, okay?”

“Okay.” She retreated to the cruiser, but she looked shaken and pale. “Be careful, Jason.”

He crouched down on the pavement beside her open door and took her hands in his. “Whoever did this is long gone,” he assured her. “This was done as a scare tactic, nothing more. That means that we’re getting close to finding out who did this, and they know it. They’re getting desperate.”

“Which makes them more dangerous,” Caroline said urgently. “Just watch your back, okay?”

“Always.”

He left her under the protection of two deputy marshals while he returned to the house. Inside, the police were inspecting the damaged French doors.

“We’re not going to be able to do much tonight,” the lieutenant said. “We’ll have to wait until the electricity is restored, or at least until tomorrow, when we have some light. We’ll secure the house and leave a cruiser here overnight.”

Jason nodded. “Get a team in here in the morning to dust for fingerprints, and check the area around the house for footprints, especially where the electrical input was damaged.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jason made his way upstairs. In Caroline’s room, he gathered up her clothing from where the intruders had strewn it across the floor and bed and packed it quickly into her small suitcase. As he was leaving the bedroom, his shoes crunched over broken glass, and he bent down to inspect the floor.


He’d stepped on a picture frame. Turning it over, he saw it was a photo of Caroline and her father, taken one summer when she was just a teenager. He wanted to think that the broken picture was just collateral damage, and that the intruder hadn’t deliberately smashed this particular photo. But someone had used a fat black marker to draw an X over both of the judge’s and Caroline’s eyes, reminding Jason of the stupid cartoons he used to watch as a kid. You knew when a cartoon character was dead because his eyes were crossed out. The home invasion had been personal, and if Caroline had been alone in the house, she’d likely be dead right now.

The thought chilled him.

Swiftly, he returned to his bedroom and gathered up his own discarded clothing, stuffing items into his duffel bag with no regard for whether he wrinkled them or not. He just wanted to get Caroline the hell away from the house.

It wasn’t until he had her in his own car and they were speeding away from the beach house, with the flashing lights of the police cars receding in the distance, that he began to breathe easier. The car carrying Colton and Deputy Mitchell was somewhere behind them, and they’d agreed to rendezvous at a hotel about fifty miles south of San Francisco. Whoever had attacked Judge Banks had sent a clear message: they wanted Caroline, too. It took all Jason’s training and restraint not to slam the palm of his hand against the steering wheel. He was pissed off on a level so deep that he had to shut that part of himself down or risk losing focus on what was important—Caroline and her safety.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly.

He nodded, unable to even summon a false smile for her. “I’m good. I’ll be better once we’re at the hotel, and I’ll be perfect once we catch the goddamn bastard who’s doing this.”

“Did any of the neighbors see anything? I mean, it hasn’t been dark for all that long—whoever broke in had to have done it during the day. How does someone burglarize a home in the middle of the day without anyone noticing?”

By blending in.

For a moment, Jason thought he’d said the words aloud. He didn’t want to frighten Caroline, because she was already pretty freaked out, but he suspected that whoever had broken into the beach house had been dressed in a way that wouldn’t draw attention. A landscaper maybe. Or a cable guy.

He’d send one of his deputies back in the morning to gather information, but for tonight, he just wanted to hold Caroline in his arms and reassure himself that she was safe.

* * *

CAROLINE SET HER bag down on the small chair by the bed, and turned to Jason. She could barely see him in the darkness. He secured the locks on the hotel room door before moving over to the windows to pull the shades. Only then did he flip on the small light next to the bed.

Unlike the opulent suite they had stayed in during her first night, this room was a standard room with only the basic amenities. But it was clean and spacious, and the knowledge that she had deputy marshals in the rooms on either side and across the hall made her feel secure. But having Jason in the room with her was what truly made her feel safe.

She watched as he shrugged off his sports jacket and then unfastened his holster, carefully removing the weapon and laying both the gun and the holster on the table near the window, within easy reach. He pulled a second gun out of the back of his waistband and laid that weapon on the table next to the bed. The sight of the guns had a sobering effect on Caroline, but she understood that if she was going to love this man, she had to accept that this was part of his life.

Finally, he turned to her, and she moved into his arms. He held her for a long moment before she leaned slightly back and looked up at him.

“If I haven’t said it before, thank you for everything.”

A smile touched his mouth. “Everything?”

“You know what I mean,” she said, smiling in spite of herself. “I know you didn’t have to do this.”

“Ah, sweetheart,” he said, bracketing her face in his big hands and searching her eyes. “There’s no way I couldn’t do this. Judge Banks is like a father to me. He’s all I have.”

“Not anymore,” she said, searching his face. “You have me now.”

He gave a low groan, and then his mouth was on hers and he was kissing her as if he thought she might vanish at any moment.

“It’s okay,” she breathed against his mouth. “I’m here.”

If she had been terrified about losing him earlier that day, she could sense that he was having similar feelings about her after seeing the house ransacked. But whereas she had already accepted that she was falling in love with Jason, and acknowledged that she wanted him in her life, she didn’t think he’d had that same epiphany. She knew instinctively that he wouldn’t welcome those feelings. But she also knew that whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was falling for her, too.

Caroline pressed her lips gently against his, shaping the contours of his exquisite mouth. A shudder went through him, and he made a sound. His arms closed tighter around her. Caroline slid her hands along his rib cage and angled her mouth ever so slightly across his, enjoying the sensuality of the kiss.

His arms held her captive as he plundered her mouth, his tongue moving against hers with expert precision. Caroline welcomed his heat and strength, and she could actually feel her body blossom beneath his touch, as if anticipating their joining.

Jason dragged his mouth from hers, trailing his lips over her cheek until her found the juncture of her jaw and throat and pressed his lips to her hammering pulse.

“I want to make love to you,” he said, his voice ragged. “I’ve thought of this all day, but I understand if you don’t want to.”

She pulled back just enough to stare at him. “Are you kidding?” she asked. “I need for you to make love to me. Right now, what you and I have is the only thing that makes sense in this world. The only thing that’s real.”

He didn’t argue. He simply swept her into his arms before she could utter another word and carried her across the room to the bed. Caroline had never before had a man pick her up so effortlessly, and there was a part of her that thrilled to his masculine strength and the way it made her feel.

Feminine.

Fragile.

He set her on her feet next to the bed and, without giving her a chance to change her mind, cupped her face in his hands and slanted his mouth across hers.

“I could kiss you like this all night,” he murmured. “You have the softest lips.”

Tilting her head back, he worked his way down her throat, planting light kisses and gentle bites against her flesh, until Caroline shivered with need. His fingers unhurriedly worked the buttons of her shirt; she felt cool air waft against her bare skin. She didn’t object when he pushed the shirt from her shoulders, letting the garment drop to the floor until she stood before him in just her bra and pants.

“Let me look at you,” he demanded, his voice husky. Caroline blushed as she realized he wasn’t just looking at her; he was devouring her with his gaze, and the expression in his eyes made her feel both excited and nervous.

She wanted this. She wanted this beautiful man and the promise of pleasure that lurked in his eyes. She’d never felt this kind of gnawing lust for a man before. Her gaze dropped to his lush mouth, and a sharp stab of desire speared through her. His lips were too tempting.


Keeping her eyes locked with his, Caroline reached behind her and unfastened the clasp of her bra. She didn’t miss how Jason swallowed hard in response to that sensuous display. However, instead of immediately relinquishing the undergarment, she held it pressed against her breasts, feeling unaccountably shy. Last night had been amazing, but they’d had the lights off. Now there was no hiding herself from Jason. She felt exposed and oddly vulnerable. The expression in his eyes caused heat to rush through her veins and then pool at her center.

She half expected him to pick her up and toss her onto the bed. Instead, he stroked his hands over her bare skin, his fingers finding the dips and curves of her body with infinite care. He turned his face into the arch of her neck and pressed his mouth against her throat. Then he tugged the bra free from her fingers and let it fall to the floor.

Caroline didn’t have time to feel self-conscious before he covered one breast with his big hand, gently massaging her pliant flesh. She gasped at the sensations his touch created, unfamiliar with the cravings of her own body.

His eyes had darkened with desire, the pupils filling up the pale irises. His face was flushed, and the scar on his cheekbone stood out in stark contrast. His nostrils flared, and Caroline knew he was breathing in her scent.

As he cupped her breast, she pushed her hands beneath the hem of his T-shirt. He reflexively tensed, and her fingers skimmed over the muscles that layered his body. She slid her hands higher, reveling in his warm, hard flesh.

He watched her the entire time, and the only indication that her touch affected him was the way his breathing hitched when her fingertips stroked over the small nubs of his nipples.

“Take this off,” she whispered, and he complied instantly, reaching behind his head to grab a fistful of shirt and drag it upward.

She couldn’t prevent a small indrawn breath. His body was designed for a woman’s touch, and she was helpless to prevent herself from running her hand over his chest. She took note of the small scars and imperfections, wondering how he’d gotten the marks.

She traced a long, thin scar that slashed over his ribs, and then a cluster of small, round burn marks just below his collarbone. “Who did this to you?”

He covered her fingers with his own and pressed her palm flat against his flesh. “It’s old history,” he muttered. “Forget it.”

Caroline understood that these were the injuries he’d sustained as an adolescent, and that he didn’t want to talk about it. But she couldn’t let it go, any more than she could prevent herself from wanting to soothe the boy he’d once been.

“I can’t forget it,” she replied. “I need to know what happened to you.” She framed his jaw in her hands, feeling the roughness of his whiskers beneath her fingertips. “Trust me.”

He stared at her for a long moment, and she could see the wariness in his eyes. Finally, he nodded. “Okay. You should know.”

Carefully removing her hands, he walked away, scrubbing a hand across the back of his neck. He radiated tension, and Caroline sensed how difficult it was for him to tell her what she wanted to know. He stood at the window, and when he spoke, his voice was low and rough.

“You know I grew up in Hunters Point. My mother walked out on us when I was about three years old, and I never saw her again.” His tone was flat and emotionless, but his entire body was tense. “My father couldn’t take care of me on his own, so we moved in with my grandmother.” He paused. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”

Caroline nodded. “Yes.” What she really wanted was to go to him, and surround him with her love and support, but she understood that he needed to keep some distance between them. “Go on, I’m listening.”

“By the time I entered school, my father couldn’t hold a job. He was either too drunk or too high. My grandmother went back to work, which meant she was never around. And all I wanted was to avoid my old man. Because when I didn’t—”

“He took his anger at the world out on you,” Caroline finished.

Jason snorted. “As long he had enough booze or drugs to make him pass out, things were fine. It was when he couldn’t come up with enough cash to buy his next fix that he was dangerous.” He angled his head to give her a sardonic look. “When I was eight years old, I started stealing to get money for his heroin. Believe it or not, it was easier than trying to explain the cuts and bruises to my teachers.”

Caroline had dealt with literally dozens of child neglect and abuse cases in Richmond, but Jason’s story wrenched at her heartstrings. What must it have cost him to deliberately ignore his moral compass, and do something that he knew was wrong?

Dragging the bedsheet around her body, she came to stand just behind him, but restrained herself from touching him. “I’m so sorry.”

“I met Eddie when I was twelve. He taught me things that no kid should ever have to learn.” He turned to look at her. “Do you know how many homes I broke into as a teenager? How many people I robbed?”

Even in the dim light, Caroline could see the self-loathing on his face, and she ached to reassure him. “You were young, and desperate. And you never physically harmed anyone. You did what you had to, in order to survive.”

“I made choices that I knew were wrong, and I didn’t care who got hurt.”

“That’s not true. You did care, or you never would have agreed to my father’s conditions. You wanted to change your life, and you did. And the only reason you made those bad choices was to avoid being hurt.”

Caroline wound her arms around his waist until they were skin to skin, absorbing the feel of him. “I’ll never hurt you,” she promised and pressed a kiss directly onto the marks.

With a rough sound of need, Jason lowered his head and caught her mouth in a kiss so passionate that she felt it all the way to her toes. She didn’t object when he backed her up to the bed and pushed her gently down across the coverlet, following alongside her.

The bedspread was cool against her bare back, but Jason’s skin was hot against her breasts. Breaking the kiss, he worked his way unhurriedly down her throat and over her chest, nuzzling her breasts with his mouth. She watched him, spellbound by the sight of his dark head against her pale skin and feeling the rush of heat and moisture between her legs. When he took a nipple into his mouth and drew deeply on the stiffened tip, she gasped and arched upward, clutching at his shoulders.

He tormented first one breast and then the other, ignoring how she twisted beneath him, her hips shifting restlessly against his. He used his mouth to worship her body, moving from her breasts to her stomach, where he teased her navel with his tongue. His fingers moved to the waistband of her pants and released the fastening in one easy flick of his fingers.

“Yes,” she panted as he slowly drew the zipper down. She lifted her torso, helping him to push the garment down over her hips. Jason knelt over her and dragged the pants down the length of her legs until she lay on the bed wearing nothing but her panties.

“Oh, man,” he breathed. “You are so damned pretty.”

Reaching out, Caroline caught him by the waistband of his jeans and tugged until he came over her on all fours, with her fingers still tucked into his pants.

“Take these off,” she urged, needing to see him. “Hurry.”


“I’ll take them off,” Jason said. “But I want to go slow, okay? Last night was amazing, but tonight I want to do things a little differently.”

“Okay,” she agreed, too eager to see him to tell him that she had no intention of going slow. She was past ready for him. Even now, her panties were soaked with desire for him and her sex throbbed. She had no idea if this was how it was for other women, but she found she enjoyed sex. She was still a little tender from the previous night, but even that evaporated beneath the wave of desire that swept over her now.

Leaning back, Jason unfastened the snap on his jeans, and Caroline helped to push them down over his hips. Her breath caught as she saw his erection tenting the material of his cotton boxer shorts. As he stood up to kick his jeans free, she sat up on the edge of the bed. Reaching out, she laid her hand over the hot ridge of flesh beneath the fabric, thrilling at how he quivered beneath her touch.

“I want to see you,” she said and slid her fingers beneath the stretchy waistband to take him in her hand. His breath hissed in through clenched teeth as she curled her fingers around him, and her body pulsed hotly in response.

“You’re so gorgeous.” She sighed, pushing his boxers down to stroke his length. Glancing upward, she saw Jason watching her through half-closed eyes, his face taut. “You know what I want to do.”

“Yeah.” His voice came out on a raspy groan.

Caroline smiled. She’d never felt so sexy or powerful before in her life. This guy was the embodiment of masculine strength and beauty, and yet she literally held him trembling in the palm of her hand. The effect was an aphrodisiac.

She cupped his weight from beneath with one hand as she ran her fingers along the velvety shaft with her other hand. The head of his penis was like a ripe plum, and her mouth watered with the need to taste him again, as she’d done last night. Leaning forward, she ran her tongue lightly over the blunt tip.

“Mmm,” she murmured. “You taste delicious.” Then she took him fully into her mouth.

Jason made a rough sound, a mixture of surprise and arousal. His hands came up to frame her face, his fingers massaging the tender skin behind her ears. Emboldened, Caroline took him deeper, swirling her tongue around him as she used her hand to stroke and caress his length. She pressed her thighs together, squeezing against the sharp throb of desire between them.

“That’s enough,” he gasped and eased her away, his breath coming fast. “Jesus, where did you learn to do that? I won’t last if you keep that up, and I’m not ready for this to be over.”

Reluctantly, she released him and let him push her back onto the mattress. Bending over her, he pressed his mouth against her abdomen. The faint stubble on his jaw abraded the tender skin in a way that made her squirm in delicious anticipation.

“You smell great,” he said and hooked his thumbs into the elastic waistband of her panties, pulling them down in one smooth movement. His lips drifted over the arch of her ribs and over the swell of her breasts until he reached a nipple and drew it into his mouth. Caroline struggled for breath against the erotic sensations of his tongue and teeth, and she threaded her fingers through his hair, urging him closer.

His warm hand skated over her stomach and lower, urging her legs apart so that he could cup her intimately. Caroline’s thighs fell open and she pressed upward against his palm, wanting more of the delicious contact.

“That’s it,” he rasped against her breast and swirled a finger over her slick flesh, parting her folds and finding the small rise of flesh that thrummed with need. “Oh, man, you’re so slippery.”

He circled a finger over her *oris, but it wasn’t enough. Caroline’s skin went hot and her sex tightened hungrily. Someone moaned and she realized with a sense of shock that it was her. She needed more. Now.

“Soon,” Jason promised as if reading her mind. He moved to the floor and knelt between her splayed knees. He stroked a hand along her inner thigh, urging her legs wider, before he bent down and covered her with his mouth.

She gasped and her hips came off the mattress, but he held her firmly in place as he laved her with his tongue and lips, alternately sucking and licking until she writhed helplessly. When he pressed his tongue against her, tormenting the tiny bud of her *, she pushed weakly at his shoulders.

“Please,” she finally managed in a strangled voice. “Stop. I can’t take any more.”

Jason laughed softly. He reached down and grabbed his pants from the floor, fishing through the pockets until he produced a small foil packet. He sheathed himself quickly, but Caroline noted that his hands seemed unsteady.

He came over her again, bracing himself with his hands on either side of her. “I’ll try to go slow,” he said.

“You don’t have to go slow,” Caroline whispered and slid her hands along his back to cup his lean buttocks and urge him closer. She felt him nudging against her most private spot, and she opened her legs wider, arching upward to meet him.

“I’m sorry,” he grunted. “I can’t go slowly—”

He thrust forward in one powerful movement, stretching and filling her until he was fully inside her. He didn’t move for a long moment, his head bent to hers.

Caroline squeezed experimentally, the walls of her channel tightening around his flesh. Pleasure lashed through her, along with an incredible sense of fullness and a growing need to press herself against him.

Then he began to move, withdrawing slowly and then sinking back into her in a series of bone-melting thrusts. His heated flesh dragged at hers, creating a delicious friction that made her arch upward to meet him. The muscles in his arms flexed as he dipped his head and covered her mouth with his, feasting sensuously on her lips. Caroline heard herself whimper, and she drew her knees back and hooked her feet around his waist, meeting his thrusts eagerly.

She wanted more.

Jason complied, sliding one arm beneath her to press her more intimately against the hard drive of his body. Caroline shivered and wrenched her mouth from his.

“Oh, God,” she gasped, clutching at his back. “You feel so good.”

“I want you to come.” Jason’s voice was low and rough.

Caroline could feel the start of an orgasm building where he stroked her, but she didn’t want to climax yet.

“Wait,” she panted and pushed at his chest.

He raised himself up just enough to look into her face, his own expression taut. “What is it? Am I hurting you?”

“No.” She struggled to think coherently. “I’m getting close, and I don’t want this to end yet. I want to try something else.”

Jason gave a disbelieving laugh, but his movements slowed and then he began to pull back. Caroline gritted her teeth and her body followed his, reluctant to release him. She was so close, and she sensed that he was, too. If they continued, he could take her to heaven in a matter of seconds. But suddenly, she wanted to be the one to take him there—to do things to him that would make him lose control.

She pushed at his shoulders, and, with a bemused smile, he rolled away from her. But Caroline didn’t give him a chance to question her; she covered him swiftly with her own body.

“What? Hey—” He laughed uncertainly, but when she dipped her head and traced the whorl of his ear with her tongue, he moaned and collapsed back against the pillows. She pushed his hands up above his head, and slid her own hands down the undersides of his arms, admiring the impressive bulge of his muscles. Her fingers continued downward, and she scooted backward until she straddled his thighs.


Sitting up, she looked down at him. Her breath caught at the sight he made. He was the embodiment of every fantasy she’d ever had. He lay prone beneath her, but there was nothing remotely relaxed about him. His entire body was rigid and his eyes glittered as he watched her through half-closed lids.

“Now it’s my turn,” she whispered. “I’ve thought about doing this with you for so long....”

She leaned forward until her breasts brushed against his chest. She traced her lips across his. He cupped the back of her head and drew her down for a more thorough, satisfying kiss. Caroline had intended to tease him, to maintain control of their love play until he begged her to release him. But when he smoothed his free hand along her flank and then reached between them to touch her intimately, she knew she was lost.

She gasped into his mouth and settled more fully against him. He used his hands to splay her thighs even wider where she straddled him. Then there he was, hot and thick, moving into her little bit by little bit, until Caroline made an incoherent sound and pushed back, thrusting him fully into her.

“Ah,” he groaned. “That almost feels too good.”

She silently agreed and slowly raised herself up until he was nearly free of her body, before pushing herself down once more, burying him to the hilt. The feeling was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. The hot, throbbing sensation increased as she moved on top of him, gripping him tightly. His hands were on her hips, guiding her, and he watched her face through pleasure-glazed eyes. When he slid his hands upward to cup and knead her breasts, she closed her eyes in mindless bliss.

“Yes,” she breathed. “Oh, yes.”

“Look at me.”

The words were soft but insistent. She opened her eyes and stared down at Jason, seeing the raw, masculine desire on his face.

“I want you to look at me when you come,” he rasped. The tautness of his expression told her he was close to losing control, and his words were enough to send her over the brink. Her orgasm slammed into her, and it seemed the only thing anchoring her to earth were Jason’s hands, holding her. She might have closed her eyes but for his command.

“Look at me.”

And when he reached his own climax, their gazes were locked on one another, until with a last shudder of pleasure, he smiled into her eyes and tugged her down until she lay replete against his chest.

Caroline felt sated and so completely drained that she could barely keep her eyes open. The sound of his heartbeat thudded beneath her ear, lulling her into sleep. With one hand, he stroked lazy patterns over her skin. She was only distantly aware of him pressing a sweet, tender kiss against her face before he tugged the blankets over them both. As she snuggled closer to his warmth, one thought filled her mind—she loved him.