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Abruptly she tipped back the bottle for a long gulp at odds with her pinky waving defiantly in the night She swiped her wrist across her mouth and passed the beer back to hiers brushed as he reclaimed his drink He wanted her, wanted to lose himself in her softness, her innocence

With a last, token effort at distancing hineck with a final s Daain if he didn’t intend to indulge in a fuller sa of undiluted Dee

Chapter 9

D ee watched Jacob lower the bottle, his lips still damp from the beer they’d shared She couldn’t look away froain But she wouldn’t be the one to hts shilohile she waited, thirsty for the taste of Jacob

Reaching past her, he set aside the longneck His ar her until her brsts tightened in response beneath her coat His eyes stilled her and embraced her with a stormy blue desire, an ache mirrored inside her

She could see he needed her,reasons, just as she’d needed hi felt incredibly right

She swayed forward

"Ah, Dee" He groaned her na froht to be

His hand shot up to cup the back of her head, tuck under the hat and flick it free Her hair swirled around her as his fingers co her scalp

Endless seconds later, Jacob’s h her as she nestled where she’d burned to be all day, all week, for as long as she could remember He claimed her ged on her bottom lip, enticed until she opened to accept him

Dee decided she’d acquired a taste for beer after all, or ue The war her every nerve was a by-product of alcohol

Yeah, right

Locking her arms around Jacob’s neck, she explored the breadth of his shoulders as his restless hands slipped beneath her coat to her back, down her waist God he was big, yet no longer inti as she’d feared the first tith of him She’d learned he used his size for protection rather than intih Without breaking their kiss, Jacob lowered her to the quilt and blanketed her with his body as their legs tangled Dee danced her tongue against his, learning the taste of Jacob, which only served to send her into another dizzying spiral of pure sensation

They rolled until she landed on top, and she found she liked it there Jacob shifted to take her weight fully upon hi her soe, even in such a funda the truck bed Dee tried to block out what she didn’t want to hear The beer bottle clanked, spinning until it shattered against the icy parking lot

"Jacob--"

"I’ll clean it up later" He nuzzled her neck again, but the moment had been broken, as well

Realization chilled Dee ? Not fivememories of the fa all over Jacob like soer because of Valentine’s Day sentimentality

Dee pushed herself up beside hi his arm over his face

His ared her knees to her chest in counterpressure against an ache with Jacob’s naize"

Jacob jackknifed up as he raked his hands through his hair It wasn’t long hair, but she’d ed to make a fine mess of it all the saht do with his if she wasn’t careful

"What is it with me, Jacob? I told myself it didn’t matter what had happened before, only what I do now, but I can’t even keepabout you, like your favorite ice cream or why your friends call you Mako" She squeezed her knees harder, pushing all the air free until she could only whisper, "What kind of a woentle "I don’t knohat the hell was going on in your life before you caether, I do knoho you are, the person that’s real, underneath any layer of entled to a caress "There’s an innocence and goodness in you that’s rare, special Don’t doubt it for a rasp his words with both hands and accept them simply because Jacob said so But that kind of blind faith, a dependency, also raked over an innately pragmatic part of her

She had to prove to herself she wasn’t simply a "Mrs Smith" who drooled over any man "Then why do I want to lie back on that blanket and finish this?"

Jacob’s jaw flexed

Dee’s shivered in response "Not smart, huh?"

"Nope" His hand shook as he hooked her hair behind her ear A lone trailer of the Northern Lights shio inside now"

"Right Of course" She scralanced over her shoulder Heaven help her if he called her back "Yes?"

"Butter pecan ice cream And Mako started out as Maaco, like the auto repair coine on any vehicle Later the spelling tweaked to Mako, as in the shark, because it sounds cool" He tipped back his head, eyes tipped toward the stars, conversation over

His words settled into herwith his assertion that he knew her very well, regardless of time She wanted…She didn’t knohat

A final look at Jacob confirmed he’d withdrawn fro the vibrancy of his beautiful eyes like the aurora lighting the sky then slipping away leaving the world feeling colder and darker than before

In spite of all her intentions to be his friend while she pieced her life together, she’d done it again She’d thrown herself at hiht She hadn’t thought to push hi time

Still wished she hadn’t pushed him away at all