Page 33 of Homicide in Water Creek

She nodded, wiping her eye with her shoulder, nonchalant. She didn’t want him to see her tears, but he did, and they soaked into his heart as a reminder of his complacency. “You’re right, but the doctors said it rarely recurs in adulthood. I was barely an adult when they found it, and they figure it had been growing for some time. I had two choices back then, and I chose what I thought was the best. I could have had it amputated and guaranteed it wouldn’t come back, or I could have had the surgery and taken the chance it might. Considering the improvement in medications, surgery, and radiation therapy, I decided to take the chance one more time. So far, so good.”

Caressing her cheek tenderly, King offered a smile he hoped would say what he couldn’t. “Your strength has always made me feel weak, but knowing this, on top of everything else, leaves me without words.”

She leaned in, her lips inches from his. “Why don’t you forget about words then?”

Her lips finished their journey, and he forgot everything but what he could say with his heart.

Chapter Fifteen

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered against her lips.

Laughing softly, Jacks buried her face in his chest. “You keep saying that. I must wear all my emotions on my sleeve.”

“Not at all,” King assured her. “You wear them on your face. I know every look of despair in your eyes. I know every smile. Every frown. Every laugh. Everything. I know it all. I know you want to make Jackson proud because you carry his name, but more because he’s been the only one here for you. You want to prove your worth to him, still, after all these years, even though the reality is you just need to be yourself. Don’t live for someone else, baby. Live for yourself. Live every day like the sun might not come up tomorrow. If you do that, I promise you, you’ll have no regrets in this life.”

Stroking his cheek, Jacks reveled in the feel of his whiskers against her palm. “I wish I were that brave.”

“Oh, no, darlin’, you’re braver, smarter, and stronger than you give yourself credit for. You’re holding back, afraid to fall. Cut the ropes, baby. I promise I’ll catch you.”

The way Jacks looked at it, she had two choices: trust him with her heart or hurt him with her words. Gazing into his eyes for a few moments, the answer was clear. “I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything, baby,” he promised, sitting up on his elbow.

“Would you, uh, take my pants off?”

The look in his eyes changed to pure, unadulterated emotion. She saw joy, desire, and a bit of fear too. “You want me to take your pants off? You already removed the brace.”

Trying to smile, her lips quivered more than anything. “You told me to cut the ropes. That’s what I’m doing. I’m not wearing the brace, so you’ll have to catch me.”

King’s lips brushed hers for no more than a moment before he grasped the waistband of her pajama pants. “I won’t have to catch you, sweet Jacks. I’ll already be carrying you.” He lowered the pants, and his breath caught at the sight of her red lace panties. He closed his eyes and swallowed. “You’ve already surprised me, darlin’.”

She smiled and winked, then lifted her hips off the mattress. He worked them down to her ankles, then lowered his lips and kissed his way across her thigh. She pulled back, not wanting him to kiss the puckered, hollow divot if he kissed her knee.

King kept a firm grip on the back of her leg and raised his gaze to meet hers. “Jacks, cut the ropes. I’ve got you.” He massaged her leg to make his point until she relaxed her knee and let her leg go limp again.

Seeing the look of relief and trust mingling on his face was more than she could bear. Her eyes closed as his lips traced the scars that ran up and down her leg. They brushed across the radiation-damaged skin and the bones that jutted out in places they shouldn’t. He kissed every inch of it until she was putty in his hands.

“So strong,” he whispered as he slid the pants completely off.

“I hope you’re not a leg man.” It was meant as a joke, but it came out sadder than she’d intended. Maybe because she was afraid he was a leg man. Maybe because she worried the leg was more than he could bear to look at every day. All she knew was that trusting the process was harder than anyone had ever said it would be. Especially when the process no longer let her hide from the man she’d dreamed about for years.

He crawled the length of her again, his hand cradling her cheek. “I’m an everything man when it comes to you. My favorite part of you isn’t your legs, though.”

His gaze drifted to her chest, forcing her to bite back a smile. “I do have a damn fine rack,” she agreed as he groaned and rested his forehead against her chest. She ran his hair through her fingers, the feel of his soft locks trapped in her hands heady and titillating. “A doctor once suggested I have them reduced since I’m so little everywhere else.”

“Oh, please no.” He was begging, and she laughed evilly as his head bounced where he had tucked it into her chest.

“Don’t worry, I refused. It just didn’t seem right to mess with Mother Nature like that, you know?”

He looked up and braced his chin where his forehead had been. “You’re good at torturing me, baby. You know that, right?”

“There’s only one way to end that torture, King,” she promised, running her hand through his hair. She sat up and grabbed the bottom of the sweatshirt, lifting it over her head. He caught her hands before she could finish the move, though.

“We can’t, baby. I don’t have any condoms with me.”

“We don’t need them,” she promised, leaning in to kiss his lips. King took over and he kissed, nipped, sucked, and licked them until neither of them could breathe. “I have us covered, and I’m clean. I made sure of it after…” Jacks didn’t finish the sentence, but the bob of his Adam’s apple told her he knew exactly what she meant.

“Are you sure? When I said to cut the rope, I wasn’t implying—”