“I’d say you were in complete control. Not many people could pull off such a solid punch.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” she mumbled.
Spotting a group of large, craggy rocks, he led her away from the surf. Once there, he faced them toward the ocean, settled his hips back against the formation, and positioned her between his legs. She took a deep breath and exhaled, letting her body sink into his. For several minutes they didn’t speak. Just listened to the inky waves rolling over themselves as they raced toward the shore before being pulled back for yet another run.
Jackson slid his hands around her waist, reveling in the easy way she laid her arms over his and let her head fall back on his shoulder. Bending his head, he used his chin to push her hair to the side and nuzzled the smooth skin of her neck. Though he still felt the sadness that held her in its grasp, she at least accepted his affection and even returned it to some degree. The idea of her punishing herself for things in her past that she had no control over churned like acid deep in his gut.
He wanted to say something—anything—to take her thoughts away from the one dark spot of their day together. But the only two distractions he was good at when it came to women—joking around and hot sex—weren’t even close to appropriate. So, for now, he figured it was best to just hold her and let her take the lead on any conversation.
Another few minutes passed, but eventually she broke the silence. “My sister would love it out here. I’d always been perfectly content with city life, but Kat hated it. She liked to read books like Anne of Green Gables or The Chronicles of Narnia. It didn’t matter if the fiction was based in reality or fantasy. As long as she could imagine herself on a farm or in faraway lands, she was happy.”
“Where is she now?”
“I don’t know exactly. Last time I talked to her she was somewhere near Memphis, Tennessee. She might still be there, but chances are Lenny probably burned all of his bridges by now so they would’ve had to move to a different city. Again.”
“Lenny her boyfriend?” She nodded. “You don’t sound too thrilled about him.”
“He’s not anyone I’d want dating someone I care for, much less my sister, but he did get her out of my mom’s house a year earlier than she could have. Regardless of the fact she was only seventeen and it was illegal for her to leave home, she was still better off with Lenny the Loser.”
Jackson thought about how he’d have felt if some guy had swept Lucie off at the tender age of seventeen. The very idea made him violent. No way would he ever be down with that. Hell, it’d been hard enough to swallow the news of her dating Reid, and they’d been like brothers their whole lives.
“Okay, so Kat leaves home with Lenny at seventeen. Then what? Where’d they go?”
“All over the place. He’s made a career out of taking advantage of his friends or his friends’ friends. Kat usually picks up any odd job to get them by and Lenny starts to run whatever his latest racket is to get rich quick. But he always ends up screwing over the wrong people, and they have to pick up and move to a new city to start all over again.”
“Is she happy with him?”
Vanessa’s cynical laugh dropped in front of them like a dead weight. “No. At least not for several years now. But she’d never tell me that. She’s too proud to tell me anything that isn’t positive or necessary. I’ve tried to convince her to come live with me, but she won’t. She thinks I’ll see her as a huge screwup. I’ve tried assuring her I could never judge her when it isn’t even her fault, but it never makes a difference. She’s as stubborn as our mother.”
He placed a kiss on her cheek. “Sounds like someone else I know.”
She turned in his arms, placed her hands on his hips, and gave him a sly smile. “If you think you have me so figured out,” she said in a sultry voice, “why don’t you tell me what I’m thinking right now.”
She was switching the topic to sex for reasons that had nothing to do with being horny. He saw it for what it was: a defense mechanism. He’d seen other women do the same thing before, and he’d only been too willing to follow their lead. Who was he to force them to discuss something they didn’t want to?
But Vanessa was different. She wasn’t just some girl. With every hour he spent with her, he realized more and more just how much she meant to him. And he’d rather deal with permanent blue balls than ignore her pain for a quick fuck.
As she stretched up on her tiptoes to kiss him, he laid his hands on her shoulders to stop her. She furrowed her brow.
“What happened to your sister…,” he began in a gentle tone. “No matter what you think, it’s not your fault.”
“Ummm, o-kay,” she answered sarcastically. “I don’t know if you missed it or what, but I was trying to come on to you just now.”