very specific when you were moving back, Laura. You’re off-limits. To everyone.” I shook my head as I chuckled without humor. “He asked me to be your friend. Look out for you—like I would my own sister. Except the way I feel about you isn’t brotherly. The only way I could stop myself from acting on how I felt was to distance myself.”
“But he really likes you—respects you. If we talked to him…”
“I’m twelve years older than you are, Laura. He’d fucking freak out.”
Her chin lifted. “It’s just a number.”
“A big number.”
She shrugged. “Your age doesn’t bother me.” She sighed, looking down into her mug, her voice low when she spoke. “The way you treated me bothered me.”
I lifted her face and stroked her cheek. “I’m sorry,” I murmured. “I hated doing it, but I didn’t know what else to do. You…you affect me deeply, sweet girl.”
“How?” she whispered, turning her face and pressing a kiss to my palm.
“You bring out feelings I’ve never experienced before,” I confessed. “I’ve never felt this…need for another person. I want to protect you, keep you from harm. I want to touch you all the time.” I trailed my fingers along her neck at the slight reddish skin from my scruff. “I want to mark you and let everyone know you’re taken.” I shut my eyes briefly, opening them to meet her intense gaze. “I want to know what makes you laugh and cry. All your hopes and fears. I want to make your dreams come true. I want to be part of your life.” I drew in a deep breath. “I want to make love to you…to fuck you and hear you cry out my name again. I want…I want to be everything to you.”
“But?”
“We’re at different stages in our life, Laura. Your father wouldn’t approve of our relationship. Even if he didn’t fire me over it, he’d be unhappy.”
“I don’t care about his feelings.”
“Yes, you do,” I stated gently. “You adore your father.”
“I adore you.”
My breath caught.
“How do you know we’re at different stages, Jackson? We’re both healthy, happy with our jobs. I’m not a normal twenty-six-year-old. I don’t enjoy clubbing or late nights. My dad has always said I had an old soul—I’ve never fit in with people my own age. I live a quiet life, and from all I’ve heard, so do you.” She covered my hand with hers, pushing it into her skin. “I want to get to know you. Be your friend…and more. Is that such a bad thing?”
“You already are more.”
“Then can’t we…try?”
“I want to.”
She placed her mug on the table and took mine from my hand, placing it beside hers. She slid onto my lap, wrapping her arms around her neck. “I want to as well. Please stop fighting this, Jackson.”
Resting my hands on her hips, I studied her open expression. I slipped my fingers under the loose material of the shirt she was wearing, stroking the supple skin of her back. “I’m tired of fighting you, Laura. I want you. I want you with me. I just don’t know how this will end. I don’t want to hurt you even more than I have already.”
“Then don’t.”
“You’ve already been hurt—your marriage…”
She shook her head. “Craig and I weren’t right for each other. The divorce was a relief.” She laughed ruefully. “He wanted a life of fun and glamour. He never wanted to grow up and be responsible. I thought he was what I needed to be less serious. I was serious enough for both of us.”
“But?”
“I learned there was a difference between being serious and being responsible. His constant need to party and lack of ability to keep a job became very tiresome. I tried. I honestly did. I worked, he played. It just became too much, and when I told him to grow up, he told me to take a hike.”
“He’s an idiot. He should have taken better care of you.”
“Hank would agree with you.”
“I want to take care of you.”
“I want to care for you as well.” She hesitated. “What about you, Jackson? Dad mentioned you were divorced.”
I nodded. “Much like you, I got married for the wrong reasons. We’d been dating a while, and all our friends were getting married. It seemed…the right thing to do.”
“What happened?”
I shrugged. “We were too young. We changed, and what we wanted changed.” I chuckled dryly. “Or what Wendy wanted changed. She hated everything I did. My job, my life—everything. She wanted a businessman—someone who carried a