Strong Enough (Tall, Dark, and Dangerous #1)(12)

I struggle to keep my wits about me. It’s a struggle I lose. His nearness is too much. His emotion, something he has showed so little of, is too overwhelming.

“I . . . I . . .” I don’t know what to say. His reaction is so surprising that I’m struck temporarily speechless. I hold his gaze, let it wash over me until I see the golden orbs flicker to my mouth. I lick my suddenly dry lips and when his eyes return to mine, they’re full of fire of a different kind.

“While I’ve got you here,” he snarls, “might as well get this out of the way.”

With no other warning, Jasper lowers his head and crushes my mouth with his own. He’s so forceful, so . . . angry, that I remain stiff in his arms. Until the moment that I begin to taste the real Jasper, the Jasper that he hides beneath his gruff exterior.

I taste softening in the way his fingers loosen their grip. They caress rather than restrain, coerce rather than demand.

I taste dominance in the way his lips move over mine. He is in control, but he is sure to make certain I enjoy every second of it.

I taste acquiescence in the way he groans into my mouth. He didn’t want this, but like me, he can no longer resist it. There’s something between us, something that has a life of its own.

And, finally, I taste desire in the way his tongue slips inside to tangle with mine. He is heat, he is gravity. He is the center of all my senses. He is consuming.

Just like those few seconds when he first walked into my life yesterday morning, life ceases to exist outside his presence. He took my breath away then and he’s taking my breath away now. There are no fears, no reservations, no other people. There is only Jasper and this insane attraction I feel for him. He is wild and raw, dangerous and tempting. He’s a sleek, powerful animal, seeking to thrill and to destroy. He overcomes, he devours, he possesses. He refuses to share his kill with anything else. For a heartbeat, I’m his. His prey. Not necessarily willing, just helpless to fight against him.

And then, God help me, I respond. My body takes over and I lose myself in this kiss, in this moment. In this man. I arch my back, pressing my aching breasts into his chest. With every muscle, every nerve, every fiber, I strain toward him, drinking him in with my body, my soul, my mouth. Unwittingly, I unleash the animal I thought I’d already seen.

With a fierceness echoed in the growl that trembles into my open mouth, Jasper spins, plastering my back to one of the large, concrete columns that support the overhang. He tilts his head and deepens the kiss to a level I’ve never been before, to a height, to a depth, to an intensity I’ve never known. He punishes me with the pressure of his body, but he soothes me with the soft lick of his tongue. I feel him everywhere. Within, without, penetrating, radiating.

The kiss comes to a slow, tantalizing end that makes me want to whimper when Jasper breaks the contact. And then I’m free. Free to breathe, free to speak. Free to think and see and hear, but I don’t. I don’t do any of those things. I can only feel, like the residual sting of a burn. A burn so good.

“Jesus H. Christ!” he mumbles, rasping his cheek over mine, his breath tickling my ear.

I want to beg him for more. I want to know what he’s thinking. Why he did that. What’s to become of me since meeting him. Because I know I won’t ever be quite the same. I have no reason to suspect that, only pure intuition. A feeling. A strong one.

He raises his head, but he doesn’t push me away, which further surprises me. He just stands, holding me against him, staring down into my eyes.

I watch Jasper watch me, both of us reeling from the heat of that kiss. But then, to my bewildered amazement, I see his expression harden little by little until I can’t see what he’s feeling anymore. I just watched him bury it. Purposefully. Resolutely. The strange this is, I know it’s still there.

It has to be.

Doesn’t it?

“Let’s go get a couple of rooms,” he says in a hoarse voice.

The Jasper of moments ago is now hidden, hidden beneath a matter-of-fact exterior, smothered beneath unruffled feathers. Meanwhile, my world is still rocked and my feathers are still standing on end all over my body.

What the hell just happened?

I’ve never witnessed such absolute control. It’s a bit mindboggling, which is why I pay no attention to the muted greens of the lobby or the broad smile of the twentysomething girl behind the counter when we enter the lobby. It’s also why I pay no attention to what Jasper is saying or how the clerk responds. I stand off to myself, a few feet behind him. Thinking.

I’m spinning with sensation, which opens the door to more sensation. Thoughts war, feelings battle, guilt descends. I realize with utter dismay that I forgot all about my father, all about my woes twice within a thirty-six hour period. Granted it was only for a few seconds, but that doesn’t make me feel any better. What kind of woman lets a man so totally consume her?

One who’s never met a man like Jasper.

I’m shaken from my troublesome musings when the object of my turmoil turns and hands me a thin envelope with a number scribbled on the front. “You can have 213. It has a view of the pool.”

“Where will you be?”

“Right next door, beside the stairwell.” Something tells me he arranged that on purpose. I bet he’s one of those guys who likes to sit facing the door in a restaurant, too. It makes me wonder all the more what goes on inside his head. I can’t imagine a more complex man. “You can go on up. I’ll get our stuff.”