Jack (Eidolon Black Ops #8) - Maddie Wade Page 0,34

over in either direction, and his body could be sitting cold in the morgue. She swallowed, her breathing coming fast as she stood abruptly and backed away.

Waggs was suturing the wound now and covering it with gauze.

“Firefly? Where are you going?”

Her eyes shot to Jack as he stood, ignoring Waggs who grunted something at him. Tears hit her eyes and cotton seemed to fill her ears as she moved away from the reality, not wanting to face it.

Jack stepped towards her, and she found herself in his arms, surrounded by his scent now tainted by the smell of blood. His mouth at her ear. “Talk to me, firefly. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Her body shook, and she knew it was adrenaline leaving her body, but it was more than that, it was the abject fear that Jack could have died and how she felt about that. This, whatever it was between them, was bigger than she’d thought—at least on her side. She should pull away, run from the truth today had revealed but she didn’t, she stood in his arms and shook.

She heard the door click and realised Waggs had left the room.

Jack lifted her in his arms, and she let out a squeak. “Jack, your shoulder.”

“Will be fine.” He carried her to his bed and placed her in the middle, coming to lie beside her and gathering her into his arms. The sheets smelled like him, clean and fresh like the ocean with woodsy undertones that made her think of their date. Her head rested on his good shoulder, his hand rested on her hip, holding her body flush to his, and she could hear the steady beat of his heart.

“Tell me what’s going on in your head.”

It was such a simple question, yet the answer was anything but. “I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do, Astrid.”

“You could’ve died.” Her voice shook on the last word, and she had to pull in air through her nose to keep the panic from consuming her.

“But I didn’t.”

“But you could have, Jack. You shouldn’t have done that.”

“I’m finding I’m doing a lot of things I shouldn’t do when you’re around, firefly, but that wasn’t one of them. When I heard that shot, it wasn’t even a conscious choice. I just knew I had to protect you and, news flash, I would do it again and again.”

“Why?” She knew she was blatantly fishing but needed to know.

“Because despite not wanting you there, you seem to have found your way under my skin. In that second, Astrid, I couldn’t breathe for the fear that you’d been shot. Nothing else mattered. Not the Queen or the job, only you.”

She smiled against his chest, her lips brushing the warm, naked skin. “You like me.”

“I already told you that.” He sounded a little grumpy, and she looked up as he dropped his chin to look at her, his eyes warm and expressive.

“No, you like me, like me.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

His lips twitched acknowledging the lie he told her as his lips captured hers in a deep kiss that drove the terror and panic from her body, replacing it with lust and something she wasn’t willing to accept. He rolled her so she was pinned beneath him and she welcomed the weight of his hard body pressed to her. The evidence of his desire for her pushed into her where she needed relief the most. His hand swept down her hip and up her thigh, pushing the silky fabric of her long skirt up, the callouses on his hands from the work he did lighting up her skin with need.

His tongue licked at her lips, and she opened for him, loving the way Jack kissed her, as if it was his sole focus and not as a means to an end as some men did. He seemed to be in no hurry to move things along, just enjoying his mouth and hands on her, but Astrid felt an ache build between her legs.

The need to feel his hands and mouth on other places on her body grew with every swipe of his tongue until she was a mass of writhing desire against him. “Jack, please, I need you.” Her hands ran over his chest, feeling the slight tickle of hair under her fingertips, the ridges of muscle she wanted to taste.

“What do you need, firefly?”

Her hands smoothed over his abdomen, and felt his belly quiver as he growled against her lips, which was the hottest thing