Jack (Eidolon Black Ops #8) - Maddie Wade Page 0,10

need to wipe the look of betrayal from her face with another kiss. Astrid’s hurt turned to anger in a second, the heated look going from carnal to deadly and God help him, but he wanted her just as much when she was glaring at him as he did when she had her hands on him.

“You’re a jerk, Jack.” She stood, throwing her towel in her backpack and dropping the cover-up over her head as he stood too.

“I’m sorry.”

Her eyes shot flames at him, and he remembered the deadly woman he was messing with. “What for?”

“Kissing you.” He knew it was the wrong thing to say the second he said it, and he didn’t even mean it. He wanted to regret it, but the truth was, he didn’t. Not at all, but it was too late to take it back now as she stormed up the beach. “Astrid.”

She spun on her heel. “You know what, Jack, stay away from me. I don’t need you making me feel less. I’ve worked hard to be the woman I am, and despite some setbacks, I think I’m pretty awesome. So if you want to play, find someone else because I’m not interested.”

She walked away, and he let her, his mind still stuck on the fact that someone in her past had made her feel less, and he wanted to hunt the bastard down and kill him for ever making a woman like Astrid believe she was anything less than amazing.

Facing the sea again, he knew he’d crossed a line by kissing her, but it wasn’t the one she thought he meant. His only regret was that now he’d tasted her, he knew there was no going back.

Chapter Four

Astrid swiped away angry tears from her cheeks as she paced her room. The tears weren’t for Jack. He’d caught her at a weak moment when her defences were down. The kiss had been more than she’d hoped for. She’d known it would be amazing, but as usual, Jack had exceeded her expectations.

Jack pulling away with regret shouldn’t have surprised her though. She’d never been the woman who made men stick around. Oh, she could attract them with little more than a smile but keeping them had never worked out for her. She was fine with that because she’d never wanted that either. She was too strong, too self-sufficient, and men found that intimidating.

Even her fiancé had walked away saying he found her emasculating. The worst thing about that period in her life had been the realisation that she wasn’t upset or heartbroken, not as she should have been. Humiliated, yes, but she hadn’t cried herself to sleep because Lorenzo had left.

That was when she’d realised she wanted what her parents had. A real, deep, passionate love she hadn’t seen with anyone else. At least until she saw her friends at Zenobi fall in love and find that exact thing.

She stopped and sat on the bed, flopping back so she was lying on the cool, cotton sheets. Jack was dangerous to her because she could see herself falling for him, and it was becoming clear he didn’t feel the same. He wanted her, that much was true, but he could crack her heart in two if she let him in and he walked away. It would leave her shattered.

He wouldn’t do it because he was a pig. She’d seen the way he cared for his team and his friends and went out of his way to help them, but he was closed off. The moment they’d shared by the beach, and his honest admission, had sparked a hope that maybe she was wrong and he had more to offer her. His swift retreat and the regret she saw in his eyes after, had solidified her decision to stay away.

A roll in the sheets with him would probably be magnificent. She had no doubt a man like Jack knew his way around a woman’s body, but she was a survivor, and her heart was more important than any orgasm he could give her.

Standing, she went to the bathroom and flipped on the shower. She needed to wash the salt from the sea out of her hair. Then she’d go and find herself a nice fruity drink with an umbrella and forget the man who dominated her secret fantasies.

As she stripped and stepped into the shower, letting the warm water rinse away the sand that was everywhere, her mind went back to the original reason she’d sought the