This Crazy Love: Swoon Series Page 6

  Something flashed in his eyes. “Fuck,” he muttered.

  Just like last night, the collision of our lips was fierce, and then Jackson instantly gentled, drawing back slightly, brushing his lips back and forth across mine.

  Dear God. This man was going to slay me. Our kiss dissolved into a heated, sensual tease. With seductive nips, darts of his tongue inside my mouth, each one teasing me just a little bit more, I molded myself to him, melting like lava inside.

  Jackson had this opposing effect on me. My need for him was so great, I was restless and anxious, bordering on frantic for more. At the same time, I felt caught in a web of languid desire. I could kiss him forever.

  He took his time, drawing back to dust kisses at the corners of my mouth, sliding across my lips, and then sweeping his tongue inside when I gasped. He took a step, nudging me until my back bumped the door. One palm curved over my bottom, holding me tight against his arousal. The other cupped my nape, his thumb brushing over the wild beat of my pulse along the side of my neck.

  When he lifted his head, I was gasping, gulping in air, my heart thudding so hard and fast, my entire body was vibrating from the beat. Jackson dusted kisses along my jawline before he caught the sensitive lobe of my ear in his teeth and sent hot shivers racing through me.

  I was hyper-aware of the hard length of his arousal, cradled at the apex of my thighs. His calloused palm scattered sparks over the surface of my skin when his touch slid up under my T-shirt. His lips traveled down my neck, each point of contact sending slivers of fire through me, every sensation spinning to my core.

  Somewhere along the way, his knee slipped between my thighs, creating just enough pressure that my hips were rocking over it, sweet, piercing jolts of pleasure making me gasp. My sex clenched. Jackson made me wet by simply getting close. Throw in a kiss for the ages, and I was drenched with arousal. The moment he put his hands on me, I melted like butter.

  “Jesus, Shay,” Jackson muttered, his rough drawl making me tight inside.

  Dear God, this man might be able to make me come just from talking. He flicked the clasp between my breasts, roughly shoving my shirt up. “Fuck, even better than I remembered.”

  His mouth closed over a nipple, the warm, slick suction making me cry out as I buried a hand in his hair and held on. I was wearing jeans, not exactly conducive for anything quick and easy, but I was finding not much got in Jackson’s way. While he was teasing my nipples, alternating between them with licks, light pinches, and his teeth grazing over them, he had my zipper down in no time and lifted my knee, making room to tease his fingers into my panties.

  He murmured against my breast, the vibration alone making my pussy clench. “So wet, so sweet.”

  His fingers slid across my clit, swollen and wet. He sank one finger, and then another, inside of me, the tight space limiting motion, creating intense pressure while his thumb circled over my clit.

  Lifting his head, he murmured, “I need to taste that sweetness.”

  Dragging my eyes open, I watched as he drew his fingers out, placed one, and then the other, in his mouth as he tasted my juices.

  It was the hottest thing I’d ever seen. I’d never had a man talk to me the way he did—endearments mingled with the slightest bit of dirty talk.

  “Delicious,” he murmured, that single word making my pussy clench.

  I almost came, a piercing throb of pleasure weakening my knees. Then, his lips were on mine again, and I tasted the salty evidence of my arousal in his kiss as he buried his fingers inside my pussy again.

  My climax was swift and devastating. His thumb pressed down on my clit. With two thick fingers buried inside me, the pressure that had built inside spun loose so abruptly I cried out. My head banged against the door behind me, and my body shuddered roughly, my channel clamping down around his fingers.

  Jackson caught my cry in our kiss, teasing me a bit more with his fingers as the shudders slowed. He gradually gentled our kiss, his lips brushing across mine as he slowly drew his hand out. The sound of him pulling up my zipper was loud in the quiet space.

  “We’ve got company.”

  I was so stunned, so disoriented, I didn’t even hear the sound of footsteps until Jackson said something.

  He moved quickly, stepping back. In a matter of seconds, he tugged my clothes into place. All the while, I simply leaned against the door, barely able to pull myself together, with pings of pleasure echoing through my body.

  Voices passed by the door. “Yeah, I thought he came in here, but I guess not,” Dani said.

  “I’ll go check his office,” Wade replied.

  “Shay,” Jackson said, his tone low.

  I gave my head a little shake and pushed away from the door. I wanted to say something, but clearly, now was not the time.

  “You stay here, I’m gonna head out there. Wait a few minutes, and the coast should be clear.”

  “Where should I go?” I asked, so disoriented I didn’t even know where the hell to go.

  “Well, since Dani’s here, it would be the perfect time to come upstairs. We’ll check in about the office stuff.”

  I felt myself nodding. Jackson stood before me, something flickering in his gaze, but I didn’t know how to read it. After a moment, he nodded and turned away.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jackson

  “It’s perfect!” Dani exclaimed, clapping her hands. “Even when Ash is here, all of us are too busy. This could just be Shay’s job. That, and the rescue stuff.”

  “Works for me. As it is, we’re way behind on accounting, and our website is out of date. If you can keep up with the reservations for the lodge, I’ll let her take over the rest. Once she’s up to speed, I think you can hand that over too,” I suggested.

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Dani replied. She paused, her eyes narrowing as she regarded me. “I like Shay.”

  “Shay’s great,” I said, as I surveyed the wreckage of my desk with papers scattered across it.

  “Of course she’s great. But I mean, I really like her. I think you like her too.”

  I looked across my desk at Dani. “Of course I like her. She’s like family. I mean, her brother’s one of my best friends, and she and Ash used to be really close,” I said, fighting not to think about what had just happened in the tack room. Losing control wasn’t a problem for me.

  Shay sent me skidding sideways inside. She ripped my control right out of my hands and made me half-crazy.

  Dani cocked her head to the side. “You’re dancing around what I mean and you know it, which proves me right. You have a thing for Shay. I think she’d be good for you,” she said, pursing her lips and pinning me with her bossy look.

  I ran a hand through my hair. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Dani. Don’t get started on your matchmaking. You tried to set me up with that girl who worked here last summer. Shay’s an old friend. Don’t try to do that with her.”

  “That girl has a name, it’s Tiffany,” she said sharply.

  I sighed. “Right, Tiffany. I didn’t mean to be rude. You make it sound like I forgot the name of someone I used to date. Nothing happened, so don’t make it something it wasn’t. That was your agenda, not mine. Can we drop this please?”

  Conveniently, there was a knock at the door. In the few minutes since I left Shay behind in the tack room, I still had the taste of her arousal on my tongue, Wade had come and gone, and Dani remained behind when I told her I wanted to talk about my idea to have Shay pick up the slack with the administrative side of things.

  “Come in,” I called, expecting to see Shay and bracing myself for my body’s reaction.

  She stepped through the door, glancing from me to Dani. “Should I close the door?” she asked.

  I had only closed it behind Wade when he left solely because I needed some kind of warning when she showed up. “No need.”

  “Okay.” Her expression was controlled, but her cheeks were still a little flushed and her lips were swollen from our kisses. I ordered my
self not to think about the way her pussy felt clenching around my fingers when she flew apart. She slipped into the chair beside Dani, across from my desk.

  I dove right into talking, anything to keep me from thinking too hard. “I was just telling Dani that we discussed having you take over the office stuff, and she’s all on board. I figured we could go over everything now, while we’re all here. I’m gonna be honest, things are a bit of a mess. Dani handles the scheduling for the lodge, but Ash and I handle the vet clinic scheduling, and the supply orders for the farm and the lodge, except for the kitchen. Ash usually takes care of the website for the rescue, and fields calls for requests to take new animals and coordinate potential adoptions. I fly by the seat of my pants, and Ash has only been here every other month or so.”

  Dani chuckled. “Both of you fly by the seat of your pants when it comes to this stuff. It’s kind of a miracle this place is running okay. We could really use someone who could just make this their job.”

  Shay looked between us. “I’m happy to help. Why don’t you show me where to start? If it’s disorganized, I’ll get it organized.”

  The three of us settled at the round table in my office. I didn’t know whether Dani did it on purpose or not, but she moved over when I came to sit down, which meant I had no choice but to sit in the chair between them. I could smell the scent of Shay, which left me distracted as hell.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when it was all over. Dani appeared to sense I was getting irritable and took Shay with her over to the lodge, ostensibly to show her the online calendar she used for scheduling.

  As soon as they left, I pulled up the trip calendar and saw one was scheduled for tonight. The best thing would be for me to get the hell out of here.

  I lay on my sleeping bag in the darkness, looking up at the night sky. Although spring was here, it was still cool when you were close to five thousand feet above sea level. There was a bite to the air, crisp and invigorating. The stars were strewn above like diamonds on velvet.

  I wished I could blame the cool air for my lack of sleep. Among many reasons for taking on my father’s dream, I found peace when I was outside. I also found animals far less complicated than humans.

  Usually a few days of hiking and sleeping outside was refreshing, a true break from the busyness of my day-to-day work around the lodge. Yet tonight, I was restless in large part because I had taken this guided trip out of Wade’s hands mainly to try and escape Shay. Or rather, my undeniable attraction to her and how quickly it was spiraling out of my control.

  I was wide awake after a five-mile hike, when I should’ve been fucking tired, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Shay. I’d replayed our encounter in the tack room a few too many times already. Just thinking about it now, and electric heat spun through me. She was fucking glorious when she let go.

  She was also dangerous. As soon as she asked me to kiss her, I lost my damn mind. I knew, I fucking knew, the first kiss was bad enough. But what happened today? Damn. When I buried my fingers in her sweet pussy, I was done for.

  She ruined me, slayed me. I wasn’t even a guy who talked much when it came to sex. With her, I couldn’t fucking shut up. The taste of her hit me like a drug. I almost groaned aloud as I lay in the darkness on a sleeping bag two-thirds of the way up a mountain. The group I was guiding was conveniently four different couples. They were mere feet away from me in tents, and here I was, ready to go another round with a woman who wasn’t even with me.

  As I drifted in and out of a restless sleep that night, I told myself I just needed a few days to get myself together. I’d be able to handle it.

  Chapter Twelve

  Shay

  “So, will the following Wednesday work for your appointment?” I asked politely.

  “Well, I guess it’ll have to do,” the woman said, a curt edge to her tone.

  “Dr. Stone will certainly appreciate your understanding. I have Brandy down for next Wednesday, okay? Thank you so much.”

  This was my tenth phone call. Jackson had decided, without any notice whatsoever, to pick up one of the hiking trips and lead a group up a nearby mountain to spend two nights. The return day landed on one of his vet clinic days. With only two days scheduled each week for the clinic, it didn’t leave much room for moving appointments around.

  My transition into managing the office end of things, so to speak, had been a skid. I’d spent more time than I preferred apologizing for the abrupt rescheduling of people’s beloved pet appointments.

  I wanted to tell them I was probably more frustrated than they were. Because, you see, Jackson hadn’t even bothered to tell me he was leaving either. I discovered that little tidbit when I returned to the house to change and Dani called over to invite me down for dinner in the lodge. When I arrived, everyone seemed to think I would know why Jackson had decided to lead the trip.

  I had no clue. Although, I sensed it had something to do with our wildly-out-of-control encounter in the tack room.

  I was pissed. I didn’t have any expectations, but a little courtesy would have been nice.

  With a sigh, I glanced at the computer calendar in front of me, relieved to see I had successfully rescheduled all of the appointments. Standing from the desk, I stretched and looked around the office. It was rather bare bones. There was a picture of Ash and Jackson together when they were kids, alongside a photo of Jackson and Remy during one of their visits here.

  I remembered that halcyon summer—a hot, hazy summer in the mountains. Long days riding horses with Ash, lazy days spent by any number of mountains, lakes, and rivers, where we could cool off in the water. My parents were still alive, and the world felt as if it held me in a summer cocoon.

  It was the summer after I graduated from high school and before I started college. I was young and, upon reflection, startlingly innocent. I had no idea I would start dating a man a few years later who would rob me of trust and all sense of safety. Beyond the terror of experiencing Clint’s abuse, it was the lingering aftereffects that had their claws in me.

  That summer was a few years before Jackson and Remy stayed with me for a weekend and that silly kiss happened. Before I met Clint and my world skidded off its tracks in private, while everything looked perfectly fine on the outside.

  Jackson hadn’t quite rocked my world with our first kiss, but he had now. Twice. Even though it had been two days since he left, every time I replayed it—which was quite a bit—my body still reverberated from the climax he had given me with his fingers.

  Just thinking about it now, my skin got hot. Every time I recalled the look on his face when he licked my arousal off his fingers, I nearly melted on the spot.

  I spun around quickly, my eyes landing on the messy desk just as I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. With the hardwood floors and stairs, it was impossible for anyone to sneak up on me here. Not many staff ventured over here. There were a few guys who helped out with the horses and the rescues, but people rarely came up to the offices. The lodge was definitely busier, and it was much closer to the staff lodging. It hadn’t escaped my attention I was the only person other than Jackson staying at the farmhouse. I knew if Ash were here, she’d be staying there as well. But for now, she wasn’t here.

  I wasn’t sure how to interpret that, or if there was anything to even interpret.

  Dani stopped in the doorway, flashing a bright smile. Her brown curls were pulled up in her usual ponytail, her green eyes crinkling at the corners. She tended to wear jeans and cowboy boots paired with a T-shirt, and today was no exception. In the kitchen, she stuck to comfortable tennis shoes.

  “Hey, thought I’d come over and see how things were going. I was just thinking maybe it’s convenient Jackson’s gone for a few days. You can totally take over the office. Let’s organize this place,” she said, strolling in and sitting down in the chair at the round table in the corner.

  “Coffee?” I asked as I stepped over to the small table by the wall where a fresh pot of coffee was waiting. “I
just made some a little while ago. It’s nice and dark.”

  “I’d love a cup,” she replied.

  I quickly filled two mugs, holding them in one hand as I grabbed a couple of creamers and sugars in the other. Sitting down at the table across from her, I slid a cup over to her. “Didn’t know if you liked cream or sugar, so I brought both.”

  “I like it black, or with just a dash of cream.”

  “I’ll split a creamer with you,” I replied as I opened one. At her nod, I poured half in my mug and handed it over. After I took a few sips, I leaned back in my chair with a sigh. “Do you think it’s okay for me to organize the office however I want?”

  Dani shrugged. “Of course.” She waved her hand toward the messy desk. “Jackson isn’t very organized here, which tells you how much he hates it. I mean, hell, he’s a Marine. His schedule is set in fucking stone. He knows he’s got to deal with the admin stuff for this place to run, but he’s never really developed a system. Ash has done a little better, but she’s here and there. Ever since she met Kyle, she hasn’t been here as much.”

  I wanted to be nosy about Ash, but I didn’t feel quite right about prying. She was one of my closest friends and had been there for me even after we grew apart, when Clint isolated me from all of my friends.

  Dani cocked her head to the side. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. I’m sure you’ve heard enough comments about Ash’s boyfriend to realize we all think he’s kind of a jerk,” she said, effectively demonstrating her mind-reading abilities.

  I took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. “I gathered. Please tell me he’s not hurting her.”

  “Oh, hell no. God, I think he’s an ass, but I’m not gonna pin that on him. No. It’s just that he’s a player. He’s handsome as the devil too. He wooed her, and she fell for it. She claims that she’s not looking for anything serious, but while he’s busy fucking around, she’s not with anybody other than him. She acts like it’s not a big deal that they’re just friends with benefits, but that’s not her personality,” Dani explained.