Page 35 of Homicide in Water Creek

“I can’t,” she said, her voice laced with frustration. “I can’t kneel, King.”

She barely had the words out when he rolled her onto her back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about that. Are you okay?” Nodding, she was far too transfixed by his beautiful eyes to feel embarrassed. “I’ll go slow. Tell me if you need more time. You’re in control.”

He settled between her legs, his fingers cradling her chin as he gazed at her. She could feel him at her entrance, his thighs trembling as he waited for the right moment to take her. Jacks wanted to push forward and end the torture, but she sensed he needed this more than the release building inside him. Once he broke the barrier between them, he’d never be the same again. Neither would she, and she was okay with that.

She moaned, holding his face in her hands. “Now, King.”

Then he thrust forward, her name a moan on his lips. He held himself above her with ease as he plunged into her with long, deep thrusts of desire and passion she had never experienced with anyone else.

“I can’t hold on, Jacks,” he cried, his eyes closing on their own.

She stilled until he opened them again. “Keep them open,” she demanded as he thrust forward. “I will follow you anywhere, King. Just let me see where you’re going.”

His thighs quivered, and he thrust twice more before her name fell from his lips, buried inside her as they became one for the first time.

“You’re incredible,” he whispered as they were snuggled together under the blankets, their breathing even again after twenty minutes of dozing in and out.

The breath Jacks sucked in was shaky. “All these years that I’ve been a bitch to you, I was trying to uphold my end of the bargain. It was the only way I could get from day to day while knowing you were in this town and I couldn’t have you. It was the only way I could keep from throwing myself at you and begging you to love me. I tried to distract myself with Boone and push you away with him at the same time. I realize now how screwed up it was, and I regret it.”

“No,” he whispered. “We needed Boone. If you hadn’t been involved with him, you wouldn’t have found Vonita. If you hadn’t found Vonita, we wouldn’t be here tonight. Boone wasn’t a mistake. Boone was a catalyst.”

“A catalyst to bring us together.”

“To finally admit we belong together,” King whispered, trailing a finger down her cheek.

It took Jacks several attempts before she could speak. “You don’t know how badly I wanted to believe we could love each other without losing our families.”

His lips met hers in a brief, supportive kiss. “We can.” The two words were laced with such desperation that her heart ached for the lonely man inside him. “We’re adults, and my granddaddy can’t deny I did what he asked. I left Water Creek, but in the end, I came back. More than that, I stayed. I stayed, Jacks. I’m staying. I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying in Water Creek to protect everyone here and to be with the woman I love. You. So you can keep fighting it, but whether it's tonight or three years from now, you will have to admit you love me. God knows I’ve loved you every day since I was eleven, and I’m tired of pretending I don’t.”

Her gasping breath was the only sound in the room as her chin trembled. Gazing into his eyes, she saw the pain of every day they had been apart. “You love me,” she said. It wasn’t a question. It was an affirmation.

“I do. Saying it released all the pain in my chest, baby. Say the words, and you’ll understand.”

“I already did.” She nodded. “I already did.”

“No, you didn’t. Say it. Say the words, and then you’ll understand what it means to be truly free of your past. Say the words. I love you, Jacks. It’s amazing how it feels to say that.”

He caressed her face, kissing her lips and then tracing her jawline to her ear, where he tugged her earlobe, sending shivers down her spine. “Say the words, baby,” he whispered.

Jacks shivered. “I love you, King,” she whispered. “I’ve always loved you.” She’d forced the words out as though they had held her hostage long enough. Once they were free, she sagged against him.

He pulled her tightly to his chest. “How do you feel?”

“Incredible. Weightless.”

There was no reason to keep score anymore. Love won.

Chapter Sixteen

Jacks slammed through the door of the sheriff’s department and called out, “King, are you here?”

“That’s Sheriff King to you!” he yelled, and she snorted as she set her bag on the desk.

“That’s not what you were saying when your tongue was down my throat!”

His snort of laughter was loud and clear as she walked toward his office. She leaned against the doorjamb and grinned at him.

“I’ve missed you.”