She grimaced.
He allowed himself a rusty chuckle. “Guess we can surmise you’re not much of a beer drinker.”
“You wouldn’t happen to have a nice bottle of Merlot on hand would you?”
“Fresh out.”
“Too bad.”
The curve of her grin enticed him to forget with an intoxication that beat anything waiting for him in a bottle.
Northern Lights continued to shoot their paths, silver and pink fingers of light surging across the sky. He had a beautiful woman beside him on Valentine’s Day. It was the perfect setting for seduction—any other night.
Dee scratched a fingernail along the beer label. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m making these memories up, creating a past that I want to have.”
“Do you really believe that?”
She glanced at him. “No. But it’s easier to accept than thinking about a child going to bed without his or her mother.” Her fists clenched. “Damn it, Jacob, why isn’t anyone looking for me?”
The frustration in her voice slayed him—and justified his near-savage need to touch her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I don’t know.”
Her head fell to rest against his chest. “You would never do it, let someone you care about fade away.”
But he’d done just that with his sister.
Jacob shoved the thought aside for the moment and focused on Dee.
She relaxed against him. “When I have these flashes, I know how I felt. Even when I can’t see everything, the emotions are so clear.” She tilted her face up to his. “I love this child, so it must not be a stranger after all. How can I feel so much for a person I wouldn’t even recognize on the street? Is that crazy?”
“Not at all.” The warmth of her seared his side, firing a need to pull her closer. But first he had to know. “What about when you’re asking for the water-wings? How do you feel about the person you’re talking to? What do you hear in response?”
“Airplanes,” she blurted, then looked down at the beer bottle between them, still cradled in her hand. “Silly, and not at all helpful.”
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 him. “Here, take it before I finish it all.”
Their fingers 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 himself from Dee, Jacob emptied his longneck with a final swallow. Damn, but he could taste her on the glass. And damned again if he didn’t intend to indulge in a fuller sampling 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 from his mouth, couldn’t stop wanting to kiss him again. But she wouldn’t be the one to make the first move, not this time. Parking lot lights shimmered with a muted glow while she waited, thirsty for the taste of Jacob.
Reaching past her, he set aside the longneck. His arm brushed hers, the heat of his chest warming her until her br**sts 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, maybe for all the wrong reasons, just as she’d needed him after the doctor visit. Suddenly what should be wrong felt incredibly right.
She swayed forward.
“Ah, Dee.” He groaned her name, low and husky, more beautiful coming from his mouth than a simple syllable should have any right 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 combed sensuous paths along her scalp.
Endless seconds later, Jacob’s mouth skimmed hers. Relief swelled through her as she nestled where she’d burned to be all day, all week, for as long as she could remember. He claimed her mouth. Claimed, and demanded she do the same in return. He tugged on her bottom lip, enticed until she opened to accept him.
Dee decided she’d acquired a taste for beer after all, or maybe it was the way the rich ferment tasted on Jacob’s tongue. The warm tang of it induced a heady rush. Surely the buzzing along her every nerve was a by-product of alcohol.
Yeah, right.