“Tell me,” she whispered.
Madrid could feel himself shutting down, withdrawing, his emotions closing up like a box. It was what he did, and he did it well. He insulated himself against hurt, erected a wall to protect his heart. The protective mechanisms had kept him sane for five years. “Some other time.”
He knew she was going to come to him. He saw intent in her eyes. And knew what would happen if she touched him. He could feel the need churning inside him, the ever-present knot in his gut tightening, the old recklessness roiling like a wild sea.
When she set her palm against his cheek he jolted, besieged by the urge to pull back to a safe distance. But the part of him that was a man—the part that had been alone for five long years—was stronger than the need to protect himself.
“Don’t.” He ground out the words.
But Jess didn’t stop. Rising on her tiptoes, she pressed her mouth first to his cheek, then to his mouth. It was only a light, comforting peck, but Madrid’s heart began to pound. He stood stone still and endured the intimate contact. But his resistance wouldn’t last. And when his control broke, it would be violent and powerful enough to sweep both of them away.
God help them both when that happened, because if Madrid was certain of one thing in this world, it was that everything he touched—everything he loved—died.
As the pleasure of her kiss melted the steel surrounding his heart, he vowed he would never love Jessica Atwood.
JESS KNEW BETTER than to let the moment get physical. Neither of them was in any frame of mind to be considering any kind of relationship, physical or otherwise.
But the womanly part of her scoffed at the idea of turning the other cheek. Somehow she had to get through to him, convince him that they should use her as bait so they could stop the atrocities on board the Dorian Rae. But first she needed to find out what had happened in his past that made him so dead set against letting her help. Why did he blame himself for the deaths of his wife and child?
Vaguely she was aware that he wasn’t kissing her back. But she sensed there was something powerful waiting at the gate. A passion that would overwhelm her if unleashed. A passion so controlled and intense that it both frightened and thrilled her. Jess knew she was playing with fire. But the need to reach him was too powerful to resist.
“Something’s tearing you apart,” she whispered, pulling away just enough to make eye contact. “Talk to me.”
“You don’t want to know my demons.”
“I want to know everything about you.”
His gaze searched hers. “Some things are better left alone.” He started to pull away. “This is one of them.”
“That may be true.” She stopped him with her hand on his arm. “But sometimes things only fester if you don’t talk about them.”
Jess wasn’t exactly sure what happened next. One moment he was gazing at her with an intensity that took her breath away. The next his mouth came down on hers so hard she felt his tooth nick her lip. The power of the kiss stunned her. All she could think was that the beast within him had broken free. A beast that had been hurting and alone for a very long time.
Setting his hands on either side of her face, he ravished her mouth with his. Jess kissed him back in kind, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted more. When his tongue grazed her lips, seeking entrance, she opened to him. A groan rumbled up from his throat and he went in deep.
His kiss took her breath away, stole her logic, her resistance fleeing out the window with it. He leaned into the kiss, and when he moved against her, she could feel the hard ridge of his erection against her pelvis. Her vision blurred as all the blood rushed from her brain to erogenous zones she hadn’t known existed.
She tried desperately to gather the shattered remains of her composure. But his mouth against hers was like a drug and she couldn’t seem to put together more than a passing thought.
He broke the kiss and ran his tongue down her throat to a sensitive place just above her clavicle.
“We…need…to talk…about this,” she managed.
“I don’t want talk.” He punctuated the words by taking her mouth again. “Just this.”
Jess gasped in both pleasure and surprise when he cupped her breasts. She’d never seen herself as a sexual person. But the instant his hands made contact, her body began to weep for him. The sensation was maddening and thrilling at once. She groaned when he slipped his hands beneath her sweatshirt. A flick of his wrist and her bra opened. Then the rough skin of his palms met the smooth flesh of her breasts. A cry escaped her when he took her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers and gently squeezed.
Her blood heated and pounded like fists inside her body. She could hear herself breathing hard, like a marathon runner seconds past the finish line.