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Her mouth came to his, not some tentative, testing-the-waters gesture. Hanna kissed him the way she had the night they’d had sex. Holding back nothing. Diving right into the fiery-hot attraction.
It didn’t take Jesse long to shift from the “guilt/comfort” mode to this and, despite the bad timing, he welcomed it. He needed this from her. The heat, the need. Because it felt like forgiveness, too. As if Hanna might be able to get past what had happened to her. Of course, that could be all wishful thinking on his part.
Soon, he wasn’t able to think at all because she deepened the kiss and dragged him closer, tightening her grip around him. Jesse took things from there. He did some dragging of his own so he could feel her body against his. So he could take in her scent. Her taste. So he could deepen the kiss and cause the heat to skyrocket.
Even though Hanna likely couldn’t remember this, Jesse experienced some déjà vu. The instant, soaring need. This fire that blazed between them. Suddenly, they couldn’t get close enough to each other, and the deep kisses were fueling the flames higher and higher until he had to have more than just her mouth. Jesse slid his hand between them, cupped her breast and swiped his thumb over her nipple.
Hanna made a familiar sound. A low, throaty moan that revved up his body even more. Of course, he hadn’t needed that, not with this primal ache spreading through him. An ache demanding that he take her now, now, now. But thankfully he managed to hold on to a shred of common sense.
And that’s why he broke the kiss, why he quit touching her, and he pulled back.
“I can take you to bed,” he said, looking her straight in the eyes, “but I have to make sure it’s what you want. Not what your body wants,” he amended when she gave a dry laugh. “I just don’t want you to have any regrets.”
Oh, it’d cost him to say all of that, and a certain part of his body thought he was pretty damn stupid to even bring it up. But this was Hanna, the mother of his son. The woman he was certain he loved. A round of sex would no doubt be amazing and burn off some of this fatigue, but he couldn’t have it putting up more barriers between them if Hanna regretted it. There’d been enough barriers, and this dangerous situation had helped lower them. Jesse wanted to keep them down, and maybe, just maybe, they could have a future together.
He could see the debate she was having with her own body, but she didn’t get a chance to voice her decision because his phone rang. The sound was a jolt that broke the tension, and the moment was lost. Since it could be Grayson with an update, or one of the hands reporting a problem, Jesse had no choice but to drag his phone from his pocket. But it wasn’t them. Unknown Caller was on the screen.
“Bull,” he grumbled. Jesse so wasn’t in the mood to deal with him tonight, but he set up the record function and answered the call.
“I had no part in this,” Bull immediately said. “I want you to know that.”
“No part in what?” Jesse demanded.
“Your father. Boone,” Bull blurted. “He’s on his way to Hanna’s place, and somebody’s going to try to kidnap him.”
Jesse threw off the slam of worry and anger. “Who’s going to try to do that?” he roared.
“Not sure, but you need to get him some help fast.” That was it; the only info Bull gave him before he ended the call.
Jesse quickly pressed his father’s number, and his stomach muscles hardened when Boone didn’t answer. “Call Grayson and let him know what Bull just said,” he instructed Hanna, and he kept listening to the rings, kept praying, until Boone finally answered.
The relief came.
But it was short-lived when Jesse heard Boone’s voice.
“I was driving to Hanna’s when somebody plowed into the side of my truck,” Boone said, his words rushing together. “It was one of those big SUVs, and it flew out from one of the ranch trails. He tried to run me off the road.”
Hell. It was true. Someone was after his father. “Are you all right? Were you hurt?”
“I’m okay. I didn’t stop or end up in the ditch, but neither did the SUV. It’s following me, and I don’t want to take this to Hanna’s doorstep.”
Jesse didn’t especially want that either, but it was their best option. “There’s a deputy and ranch hands here. I’ll alert them that you’ll be driving in. I don’t think the SUV will come onto the grounds once they see the armed men.”
At least, he hoped they wouldn’t, and he put his father on hold while he texted Miguel Navarro to let him know that trouble might be arriving soon.
“Grayson’s on the way,” Hanna relayed once Jesse was back on the line with his father.
Good, because that meant they could maybe sandwich in the SUV and find out who the hell was behind this. But just in case the person or persons behind the kidnapping scheme started shooting, Jesse had to tell Hanna something that was going to put the fear right back in her eyes.
“You’ll need to take Evan into the bathroom again,” he said.
She nodded, sucked in a hard breath and hurried in that direction. Since she knew the drill, she’d secure and stay down, but Jesse hated to have to put Hanna and the baby through this again.
Jesse whipped his attention back to the phone when he heard the loud crash. “The SUV rammed into my truck again,” Boone reported.
That tightened every muscle in Jesse’s body, and he had a too vivid image of his father fighting the steering wheel just to stay on the road. It twisted away at Jesse that he couldn’t storm out to help him, but that could be a fatal mistake for Hanna and Evan. Because whoever was doing this could want to use this to get to them.
“How far out are you?” Jesse asked, trying to keep his voice level. He hurried to the window to keep watch.
