Page 37 of Drive
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I madeit.”
Jacques’s jaw unhinged. “You made it?” He took the hem of the sweater between his fingers and tried to study it in the dim light. “Youknit?!”
“Crochet,” she said, pride evident in hersmile.
He rubbed the woven cashmere of the hem between his thumb and forefinger. “It’s incredible,” he said in a hushed voice. “You’re really good. This is what you should blogabout.”
Her light giggle rippled through the night air, tickling him and making him chuckle. She could so easily turn him into a fool, and for the first time in his life, Jacques didn’t care. With the fingers of his right hand, he traced the scalloped edge of her sweater where it hugged her left shoulder. When she shivered beneath his touch, it was all Jacques could do not to kiss her again. But he wouldn’t be deniedlong.
Between driving and getting things going with Heroine, Jacques knew he’d be busier now than even when he was with Epoch, but he had no doubt about it. Making time to get to know Rainey was now a definite priority. And that thought returned him to the one that had been nagging at him for the last fiveminutes.
“We’ll leave your bike here, and I’ll come back for it in the morning,” heannounced.
Jacques watched her blink at him, her head inching back so she could take him in. “Why?”
He moved his fingers from her shoulder and took the hand in her lap. “I don’t like the idea of you riding it at night. Not down JohnstonStreet.”
A crease appeared between her pretty brows. “I do it all the time,” shesaid.
Squeezing her hand, Jacques laid it out. “Rainey, I like you, and I like where I think this is going.” He watched her eyebrows lift in surprise, and her lips parted on a slight gasp.Fucking adorable,he thought, wanting to taste them again. But he kept going before she could speak. “But I don’t like to worry. And, baby, I’d worry if I let you roll out of here on your bike. It’s not safe. If I know anything about anything, it’s how easily some wasted asshole can ruin lives. You’ve got no protection from that on abike.”
Rainey’s lips disappeared between her teeth. Her eyes rounded, and she nodded quickly. “Okay.”
“Okay,” he said, nodding too. “Glad that’ssettled.”
She cracked a shy smile then. “You like where you think this is going?” she askedmeekly.
Jacques threw back his head in laughter, clutching her to him. The few people who’d sought the quiet of the courtyard all turned toward his outburst, but he didn’t care. He tipped her face up to his and muffled his laughter against her lips while she shook with her own laughter in hisarms.
And then Jacques did what he’d wanted to do all night. He turned her left shoulder toward the shadowed fence, and in darkness, he kissed his way down her neck. Even in the veil of night, the glow of her skin rivaled the moon. Jacques pressed his lips to the erotic slope where her neck met her shoulder, and he let his tongue taste herflesh.
The shuddering of her breath made his cock ache, and he moaned his hunger into her skin. He felt her fingers glide into the back of his hair and take hold. It was an unspoken claim, and he lovedit.
“You’re gorgeous,” hewhispered.
“Jacques…” was her breathy reply. His name had always made him self-conscious. It was so Cajun, so conspicuous; as a kid, he would have traded it for the AmericanizedJackin aheartbeat.
But the way she softened the“J”of his name was sensual, and the consonant close of thec-q-ucame from her throat, not her mouth, so his name was deeper inside of her in a way that made himdizzy.
He let himself taste the sweetness of her a moment longer before pulling back. But when he did, he saw that her eyes were half-lidded, her lips glossy as if she’d just licked them. The animal in his blood wanted nothing more than to pick her up in his arms and run for the nearest cave. That half-lidded look belonged to him, and he wanted to guard it, to give her more, to watch itevolve.
Instead, Jacques buried that urge. He needed to start the second part of his set. And Kate and the girls would probably arrive soon. He gripped Rainey’shand.
“C’mon, beautiful,” he said, getting to his feet and taking her with him. “I have a song I want you tohear.”
Chapter 10
Ilike whereI think this isgoing.
Rainey hadn’t stopped hearing those words echo in her head since they’d come back inside. That declaration and his kisses had left her a littledrugged.
They had even pulled her away from John Lee’s memory and the agony she felt every time she had to think about theaccident.
And Rainey wasn’t sure how she felt about that — how kisses and a few tempting words could draw her out of her greatest pain. Because it wasn’t something she could talk about without losing her shit for the better part of an hour orso.
And in that hour, crochet helped. Books helped. Music helped. Archie helped. But even with those, it was about an hour before the vise of pain opened enough for her to exist with any sense of peace. Talking about it never helped. People always said the samething.
It wasn’t yourfault.
