Reckonings. Cynthia Eden

her hold on him. She liked touching him. Odd, when she made a point not to get physically close to too many people. “I’m not talking about plenty of men right now. I’m talking about you.”

      His eyes gleamed. “You’re a direct woman. I like that. I don’t have time for lies and tricks.”

      Too bad. I’m all about lies. “You’re a man with secrets,” she threw right back. “So don’t give me that line. Everyone is more than they appear to be. We all wear masks for the world to see.”

      His hold tightened on her waist. “You keep surprising me. Not many people can do that.”

      The heat from his body was wrapping around her. Tempting her to get closer to him again. To put her head back on him, to let go, just for a little while.

      “I do want to kiss you,” Davis said. He seemed to be staring at her mouth, and, nervously, she wet her lips. “I’ve wanted that for a very long time. Probably since the first day I met you.”

      Was he serious? Or just trying to charm her into bed?

      “But what do you want, Jamie?”

      Ah, now he’d just called her Jamie and not “Doc” like he often did. She’d rather grown used to hearing his drawl when he used that little nickname.

      And what do I want? She stared up at him and knew that—for an instant—she’d like to let go of her fear. To just feel. To just get lost in a man’s arms and in his kiss. It would be wonderful to act like any other woman. To simply let go...

       Do it.

      Davis McGuire was one of the good guys. He and his brothers helped people. They were all ex-military. Davis was a former SEAL. Tough, but good. True hero material. Sure, the things he’d done might scare her because she realized the guy knew how to fight hard and dirty but...

       He won’t hurt me.

      If there was any man she could trust, it should be him.

       But you trusted the wrong man before.

      His head lowered toward hers. “One kiss.”

      One. One sounded fair. Or maybe that was just the champagne talking. She found herself leaning up on her tiptoes. Clutching his shoulders. Their lips were almost touching.

      Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe she’d already let things go too far. But...

      One kiss. What could it hurt?

      Jamie opened her mouth. Her lips pressed to his.

      One kiss.

      It should have been gentle. It should have been light. It shouldn’t have wrecked her world. Passion like that wasn’t real. It was in movies. It was—

       Consuming.

      His arms wrapped around her as he brought her even closer. His tongue thrust past her lips, and he kissed her deep. Kissed her hard. Kissed her as if he’d been desperate to taste her for so long.

      And she kissed him the same way. As if a flood of need had just erupted within her—and it had. Passion burned, and she couldn’t get close enough to him. Couldn’t touch him enough. She knew desire, she’d certainly felt it before. This was different. This was...

      Jamie kept kissing him. She stopped thinking and she just felt.

      * * *

      THE HUNT WAS OVER.

      It had been such a very long hunt. So many miles. So many years. She’d run from him. Hurt him. Lied to him.

      But he’d found her. He’d found his Jamie again. And it was finally time to claim her once more.

      He stared at her little house. So very far removed from the home where she’d lived when she was his. The stars glittered behind the house. There were no nearby neighbors. No one to watch out for Jamie.

      No one to hear her scream.

      He smiled. Would she be scared when she saw him again? Or happy? Probably both. After all, Jamie had been bad, so he’d have to punish her. At first.

      But he loved her. She loved him. That was what mattered most.

      He headed toward her door. This was the first time he’d gone so close to the house. Because it’s time to have my Jamie again.

      His gaze flickered down, and he saw the welcome mat. So warm with the spray of flowers across the top. So Jamie. His head tilted back and he gazed at the wind chime that hung near her front door. His fingers lifted and brushed against that chime, sending a light peel of music drifting in the air. Then he reached for the door. Locked, of course, because Jamie was the careful sort. Quickly, he glanced under the welcome mat, hoping she’d left a key out for him.

      Not there.

      Like that was supposed to stop him.

      He walked around her house. Found a nice, easy-to-reach window. He grabbed a rock and threw it right through that glass. The window shattered—

      And an alarm split the air.

       What the hell?

      A dog started barking, snarling from inside the house, and he saw a very sharp pair of teeth lunge toward the broken glass, as if the beast were trying to get out of that window and come after him.

      He hated dogs. Jamie knew that.

      Damn her.

      Backing away now because he knew the alarm would mean the arrival of cops, he kept his eyes on that growling animal. The alarm and the dog...they wouldn’t stop him. Nothing would stop him, not now. His plans had been put in careful motion. He’d be back. He’d get his Jamie again.

      He’d searched long and hard for her, and she would not get away from him again.

      He’d see her dead first.

      * * *

      DAVIS PUSHED JAMIE against the trunk of the nearby tree. The lights gleamed down on them, as her body responded—hell, the woman was about to drive him right out of his head.

      He couldn’t stop kissing her. Her sweet taste was making him frantic. Champagne and candy...that was what she tasted like. And she was definitely making him feel a little drunk.

      He’d wanted her since the first moment he saw her. That sun-streaked blond hair, her gleaming blue eyes...and her full, sensual lips. It was her lips that had really caught his attention. Jamie had an incredible mouth. Bow-shaped, sensual—he’d wanted her mouth under his.

       And now I have her.

      Only he hadn’t quite realized he’d go full-on nuclear once he actually got to taste her. Normally, control wasn’t an issue for him, but...

      He kissed her harder. Her curves pressed against him, and Jamie had plenty of perfect curves. Full breasts, round hips. She was—

      Ringing.

      Davis stilled. Then his head slowly lifted, mostly because Jamie was pushing against his chest. She fumbled to pull a phone from a hidden pocket in her dress—very hidden. Her fingers were trembling a bit; he could see that small shake clearly.

      Jamie had been just as affected by that kiss as he had been. Good to know.

      “I—I’m sorry,” Jamie said. “But I have to take this call. It could be an emergency.”

      He knew she handled plenty of emergency cases in her practice. Just a few months back, she’d been called out when the groom—Mark Montgomery—had discovered that his prize stallion had been poisoned. Only Jamie’s immediate response had saved that animal. Others in the area relied on her, too. Jamie was the best vet they’d seen in those parts in a very long time.

      So he backed away. He sucked in a deep breath. And he adjusted his pants because he was seriously