Page 33 of Jack of Hearts
“To the ends of the earth.” Her eyes widened at that, and he couldn’t help but smirk. “You think I won’t?”
“I think you excite me and scare me at the same time. You aren’t like any man I’ve been with before, and I’m not sure what to do with you.” She lifted her hand and scraped her palm across his cheek. “Tell me, Alex, what do you want from me?”
There were so many answers to the question she kept asking. He wanted to claim her body, marking it so no other man would ever touch her. He wanted to lose himself in her goodness, hoping some of it would rub off on him. He wanted to tell her who he really was so that they weren’t starting off whatever it was between them based on a bed of lies.
He put his hand over hers, leaning into her touch, and gave her the only answer he could. “I want to know Madison Parker. There’s a saying in the biker world. It isn’t the destination, but the journey. Take a journey with me, Mad.” She pulled her hand away, and he felt the loss of her warmth.
“You have a way of never answering my questions, yet still making me want to agree to anything you ask of me.” She stepped back. “Am I stupid for wanting to be with you?”
Disappointment laced her voice, and he had to grit his teeth to keep from telling her everything. “You have questions you want answered? Fine. Let’s get that over with.” He took her hand and pulled her out onto the balcony. He knew he was being an ass, but there had only been two women in his life that mattered, and one had left without a backward glance. The other one now stood against the railing with her back to him as she looked out over the ocean. She wasn’t happy with him, and he couldn’t blame her.
He rubbed his fingers over his eyelids. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d gone years without thinking of his mother, but since meeting Madison, he’d thought of her to the point where he had searched the Internet, looking for her trail. The only thing that had kept him from using his FBI resources to look for her was Nate finding out, and he would. For whatever reason, his big brother refused to even consider searching for their mother.
If he could just figure out how Madison and his mother connected in his mind, maybe he could stop being a jerk.Your mother left because she had enough of you three snot-nosed boys. Look at the three of you. What woman would want you?
Hearing his father’s voice in his head, Alex wondered if he was losing his mind. Was that his fear? That his father was right, and he could never be a man a woman could love? To hell with that.
“Mad,” he said, coming to stand next to her. “Ask me your questions.”
Troubled green eyes snared his. “I think my cousin is a drug dealer. Do you know if that’s true, and if it is, are you involved?”
Hell. Of course she would ask the one question he couldn’t give an honest answer to. “What makes you think something like that?”
She eyed him before turning her gaze back to the ocean. “That’s an evasion tactic, you know. Answering a question with a question.”
It was. He put his hands on the railing, staring down at them. Because of his martial arts training, they were hands that could kill. As a boy, he had carried buckets of slop almost as heavy as his skinny body, the handle of the pail leaving indentations for hours after he’d finished his chores. His right pinky was slightly bent from the time his enraged father had broken it, leaving it to set on its own.
They were hands that longed to roam over the soft skin of the woman standing next to him, who was waiting for an answer, and if he didn’t tell her something as close to the truth as possible, that would never happen.
He shifted to face her, leaning his hip against the rail. “I don’t do drugs. Ever. Nor do I deal. I can’t speak for your cousin.”
“So why are you friends with him? That night after the birthday party, where did you go with Ramon and Trina?”
She sounded like she had something sour in her mouth when she said Trina’s name. If he’d known there was a party and that Madison was there, he would have waited downstairs for Ramon. It would have saved him from having to lie to her, but as he stared into the green eyes that had captured his attention from the moment he’d seen her, he couldn’t do it.
“We went to his friend’s place. I only went along because he asked me to, and I didn’t know Trina was tagging along until it was time to go.” He put his finger under her chin and lifted her face toward his so she could see the truth in his eyes. “I have zero interest in Trina, and that’s the honest truth.”
“She’s a man-eater.” A slight smile appeared. “I know that’s catty, but it’s information you should know.”
“I already had that figured out.” He put his arm around her shoulder, leading her to the deck chairs. On a table between them was a bottle of wine and two glasses. He filled them, handing one to her.
“This is really nice. I have to tell you that I envy your view.”
The view was great, but he only wanted to look at her. “Where’d you go to high school?” He truly wanted to know everything about her, but he also wanted to get her talking about anything other than her cousin.
“Miami High. You?”
“Forest High in Ocala. That’s where I grew up.”
As they talked, asking questions of each other, he relaxed and enjoyed having her with him. She was a bookworm, and when it came up again that he liked the J.D.Robb romance books, she made him promise to read a romance of her choosing.
“What have I gotten myself into? You’re not going to make me readFifty Shades, are you?” he asked, teasing her.
She laughed, surprising him when she crawled onto his lap. “Maybe instead of making you read it, I’ll do a show-and-tell.”
“Even better.” As she lowered her face toward his, all he could do was stare into her eyes, now dilated with desire, and wonder if he had enough willpower to resist carrying her off to his bed.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
