Burning Wild (27 page)

The golden eyes slashed at him. “Very seriously considering it.” There was nothing humorous in those glittering eyes.

“Jake.” Josiah Trent’s lawyer, Bernard, stood over them frowning at each one of them. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing I can’t handle.” Jake barely glanced up.

“We haven’t got this thing settled,” Bernard objected.

“As far as I’m concerned we have,” Jake answered with deceptive laziness. His arm curled around Emma’s shoulders, his hand sliding down, his fingers absently playing with her hair. “I gave you an answer.”

“You didn’t listen to the proposal.”

“We’ll take it up again later.”

A swift look of annoyance crossed Bernard’s face. “This is so important?”

The golden eyes flickered over the lawyer. Jake brought Emma’s fingers to his mouth. “More important than anything else, Bernard. Now go away.” Deliberately, and quite rudely, he dismissed the lawyer.

Bernard Williams stalked angrily away.

Jake glanced at the gold watch on his wrist. “You finished with your coffee, baby? It’s getting late.” He stood up, one hand drawing her up with him, clamping her to his side, refusing to give her any other choice, the other hand extending to Greg. “It was a pleasure meeting you. I appreciate your taking Emma to the movies.” Carelessly he dropped several bills on the table, paying for the coffee and dessert they hadn’t touched. “We can’t be out late, Patterson. You never know when a little one is going to have nightmares. Right, honey?”

Emma didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Surely he could see the impression he was giving her date. Talking about the children, who was watching them, for heaven’s sake. Kissing her very publicly, practically shoving his tongue down her throat. No wonder people talked about them. Greg already looked as if he might faint. She barely had time to whisper a quick good night before Jake drew her across the room.

“Slow down. Jake, it’s a little undignified running after you in high heels. Your step makes three of mine.”

“You shouldn’t be wearing the damned things,” he snapped, but he did slow a fraction. He glanced down at the top of her silky head, his rough features etched in granite. “You can ride home with me. Joshua will drive the Jeep.”

“They probably left,” she pointed out logically.

“They damn well better not have.”

She put a small, placating hand on his arm. “Are you angry with me?”

“Angry? What the hell would I have to be angry about?” He nodded curtly to several of his business associates. Most of them stared at Emma in open curiosity.

She glanced back to see Greg Patterson standing by their table, looking as if he’d been run over by a truck.

Jake jerked her around when he caught her looking back. “Finding my woman out with another man, dressed the way you are? Why the hell would I be angry about that? I hope you weren’t expecting him to kiss you good night.” There was an audible snap of Jake’s white teeth.

“What is wrong with you?” Emma’s temper began to rise. Something alive ran under her skin, creating a wave of heat that itched as it spread through her body. “I’m not your woman.”

“Like hell, you’re not.” His fingers were an iron band around her arm as he dragged her out to the parking lot.

Jake spotted her two bodyguards immediately. They were lounging against their truck, waiting just as he knew they’d be. Jake held out his hand for the keys to the Jeep, and scowled at Emma when she hesitated.

“I’m perfectly capable of driving myself home,” she protested.

“Don’t,” he hissed. “Just give me the fucking keys.”

Emma dropped the keys into his hand. Jake tossed them to Joshua. “I heard you enjoyed the movie.”

“I don’t appreciate you two following me,” Emma felt compelled to point out.

“You’d better appreciate it,” Jake snarled. “They’re the only reason I haven’t strangled you.” His hands caught her shoulders in a firm grip, gave her a little shake. “You never, ever, leave the ranch without a bodyguard. Not ever. Do you have any idea the kind of danger you put yourself in?”

“I refuse to argue with you over it,” Emma said. “It’s cold out here. And I’m not riding home with you, Jake. Give me back the keys, Joshua.”

“Do you really want to make a scene here in the parking lot, Emma? Because I can throw your ass over my shoulder and toss you in the car, if that’s the way you want it. You’re going home with me.”

She stood toe-to-toe with him, but the anger coming off him in waves changed her mind. He was quite capable of a public scene and he wouldn’t mind in the least. Jake shrugged out of his coat, bundled her in it and stalked to the Ferrari, taking her with him, waiting at her door until she got in. Emma nervously swept a hand through her hair as Jake slid in beside her. He reached across her to lock the seat belt around her. For some inexplicable reason she felt trapped. “Jake?” She said his name softly, gently, wanting reassurance.

“Don’t say anything, Emma.” He didn’t look at her. With controlled violence, he spun the wheel and fell in behind Drake’s truck, with Joshua directly following them in the Jeep.

Emma closed her eyes and lay back in the seat. The tension in the interior of the car could be cut with a knife. He was actually trembling with rage. Seething with it. She could feel it swirling inside of him, dark and ugly and violent. She sighed, wishing she could share the humor of the evening with him, the way Joshua and Drake had acted in the show, the look on Greg’s face when Jake had come over and sat between them. If Jake had been the least bit like Andrew, they would be laughing together.

Once they arrived at the ranch, Jake’s fingers bit into her upper arm and he hauled her right out of the car. Emma went with him into the house just for the sake of peace. But he didn’t release her. He continued on down the hall toward his office.

Emma struggled. “Let go of me, Jake. You’re hurting me.” He wasn’t, but she was suddenly tired, the beginnings of a headache coming on. He was in a foul mood and she didn’t particularly feel like dealing with it.

“I want to talk to you,” he bit out between clenched teeth, thrusting her into the room. “I think it’s been a long time coming.”

Emma stumbled and had to catch at the back of a chair to keep from falling. She kicked off her high heels. “What is it, Jake? I’m really very tired and I don’t particularly care for your mood.”

“My mood?” An eyebrow went up, his fist clenched. “You don’t care for my mood?” His eyes burned with fury.

“No, not really. You’re angry and I can’t understand why.” She hung on to her patience; one of them had to show good sense.

“All the way home I told myself I wouldn’t lose my temper, I’d be perfectly reasonable when we talked. You don’t even know why I’m angry?” His eyes were glittering, a golden menace.

“Not really, no.”

“I hate it when you’re so damned calm. Do you ever lose control, Emma?” He took a step closer, his temper barely held in check. He wanted to kiss that look right off of her face. Two long years of waiting. She was his, made for him. Belonged to him. He wanted to rake his claws over Patterson’s belly and tear out his guts, watch him die a slow, terrible death.

“Who the hell is Greg Patterson? When did he ask you out and why the hell did you go with him?”

Emma tried to fight down her own anger, knowing she could lose everything if she got into a fight with Jake. He owned her home and everything in it, but she couldn’t let him talk to her the way he was. She tried to be reasonable, but there was a part of her that knew she had deliberately precipitated the crisis, and she couldn’t stop herself from pushing him even more.

“If anyone should be angry here, it should be me. After the way you acted, do you think he’d ask me out again? You made it sound as if we had children together, as if we lived together. He probably thought you caught me stepping out on you.”

“Another date!” He caught her shoulders, his fingers biting into her soft skin, hauling her very close to his large, masculine frame. She could feel the heat from his body enveloping her. “You go out on another date and I’ll break his neck. And just so you have it straight, Emma, we do have children together. You do live with me.”

She scowled at him. “You know very well we’re not like that. And you’re the one who said I needed a man.”

“And just what the hell am I?”

She stared at him, blinking rapidly. “You are not the least bit interested in me.”

“I fucking asked you to marry me,” he pointed out, furious beyond anything he’d ever known. “What the hell more do you want?” He swore aloud, too angry to say another word.

Jake jerked her into his arms, crushing her body right up against his. One hand twisted in her hair, the other held her chin so he could claim her mouth. There was nothing gentle or sweet about his kiss. The touch of his lips sent an electric shock running through her. He bit down on her lower lip just hard enough to cause her to gasp and then he was pure male domination, invading her softness, tasting, punishing.

11

EMMA couldn’t move, didn’t dare to struggle, recognizing in that moment how dangerous Jake really was. His strength was enormous, his hunger stark and raw. Fully aroused, he seemed capable of anything. He growled low in his throat, his kiss deepening until he was almost eating at her mouth in an effort to devour her. He drove her backward until she was against the wall, never lifting his mouth from hers. Emma ran her tongue along the edge of his teeth, feeling a sharpness, tasting his desire as he cupped the back of her head and held her there, his mouth moving over hers, turning her body to liquid fire.

Jake captured both her hands in his and drew them over her head, holding her pinned there, his body rubbing along hers like a cat. Something wild in her responded, her body burning with unnatural heat. He was a primitive male claiming his mate, and her bones melted until she was living, pliant silk, and every nerve ending was alive from their combined fiery heat. She shaped her body to his, pressing close, her mouth moving mindlessly beneath his, tongues twining, stroking, his taste bursting through her like erotic champagne bubbles.

She couldn’t think, could only feel, her body going up in flames, needing his. If he was growling, she was moaning, breathless and hungry and so needy she couldn’t stand the weight of her clothes on her skin.

There was nothing unsure about Jake; he made love the way he did everything—ruthlessly, decisively, in total command. At the same time, he was wild, out of control, sweeping her with him in a storm of intensity. His mouth left hers to travel along her vulnerable throat, deliberately biting, suckling, leaving marks of possession on her soft skin. He grasped the front of her blouse and pulled, ripping the thin material down the front, then dragged her skirt from her as if he found anything keeping her body from his touch and sight offensive to him.

As such, he couldn’t seem to wait long enough to even rid himself of her bra. His mouth tracked burning kisses down to the lacy material covering her breasts. Emma heard the low, raw sound escaping her throat as his mouth closed over her breast, right through the lace, teeth scraping, his tongue hot and wicked, swirling over the hard bud of her nipple. His arms, thick with roped muscles, dragged her closer, his mouth pulling with strong, urgent hunger.

He wasn’t gentle—he was hungry, feasting at her, claiming her, small, feral growls rumbling in his chest and throat. “Mine,” he snarled and drew her into the hot inferno of his mouth. “Mine,” he reiterated, his teeth biting down until she cried out and his tongue immediately laved and soothed.

Her body was a furnace, and she arched against him, trying to get as much of her skin in contact with his as possible. His hands moved over her possessively, stroked along her narrow rib cage and small waist, and bit into the curve of her hip. All the while he tugged and pulled at her nipples, teeth scraping, until the line between pain and pleasure blurred and she was crying with need.

Jake yanked her leg up around his, his hand finding her calf, traveling upward, shaping the perfection of her bone structure, moving along her inner thigh. Emma’s hands tightened around his neck, clinging to him, while the world faded away so that there were only his hands and his mouth and the ravenous hunger raging between them. Arousal sent flames teasing at her thighs until her shaking legs threatened to give out.

Emma tried to find enough breath to speak, to make her brain function properly. “Jake. We have to think about what we’re doing.” But she couldn’t think. There was no thinking, only the feel of his hands and mouth and the heat of his body.

Jake’s response was a low growl, rough, achingly sensual. His fingers pressed along her thigh, and she felt the bite of his nails, another mark on her body. Then he grasped her lace panties and yanked, ripping them away to push his palm against her welcoming moist heat, sweeping away every objection she might have thought of.

Emma gasped, her body fragmenting, rippling with life, with pleasure, at his touch. He was everywhere, hard and strong, his mouth hot, right through the lace of her bra. His lips left her breast to travel back up her throat, her chin, finding her mouth, brutal with need, and she wrapped her arms tightly around him, holding him closer, matching him desire for desire.

“Jake, slow down,” she whispered, afraid of her own passion, afraid of the sheer intensity and violence neither seemed to be able to control. She looked up at his face, lines harsh with lust, his eyes hooded and sensual, the irises gone, replaced by burning gold.

Jake felt the leopard pushing close to the surface, rising with the ferocity of his need, and he fought to maintain a semblance of control when there was none to have. His cock raged to be inside her, desperate for the hot, wet silk of her sheath and the pleasure and relief only she could bring to his body.

“I fucking have to be inside you,” he whispered crudely into her mouth, unable to stop himself, while he drove one finger into her fire. He groaned as her muscles clenched tightly around him. Deliberately he pushed deeper, inserting two fingers into her hot, slick channel to test her readiness.

He wanted her there on the floor of his office, where there was no give, where he could hold her down and drive himself deep, taking what was rightfully his. He grasped her buttocks and urged her more firmly against his hand, his fingers sliding deep, gliding in and out of her, while his tongue claimed possession of her mouth. His body was on fire, a strange roaring in his ears. He was heavy and full, beyond aching.