SomedayMyGoodOleBoyWillCome Read online

  Her skin was the color of toasted earth. Raw, remarkable, beautiful, he could pick out and identify some of her scars from childhood all the while he found some new ones. There was one on her cheekbone that he traced with one finger, causing her to shudder. “I remember when you got this one,” he purred. “Fell out of a tree house.”

  Derek moved to her shoulder. “Don’t know where you got this one.” He slid her bra strap off her shoulder, kissing the scar, tracing it with his tongue and tasting the saltiness of her skin. Jacey trembled. He stood upright, tipped his head thoughtfully, and slid the other strap down. He moved behind her and unhooked her bra before dropping it to the floor.

  Her back was just as sexy as he remembered. Gathering her hair, he pushed it out of his way and trailed a finger down her spine. He touched her inside the curve of her hip, and the small of her back. Lightly, almost featherlike, but with the impact of a full frontal assault.

  Derek put his head right next to Jacey’s and spoke into her ear. Low and seductive, his words came, “I have never seen a woman more beautiful than you.” He cupped her shoulders before sliding around to move briefly over her hardened nipples and on down to her flat stomach, where they hovered. With little kisses along her neck, Derek molded himself to the contours of her body.

  Still behind her, he undid the buttons on her fatigues. When they were open he pushed them down over her curvaceous hips. Jacey’s head fell back against his naked shoulder, exposing her neck to his mouth. “I want to go slow, Jacey, but I can’t.” Derek was disgusted with himself.

  Jacey reached behind her and slid her hands down his thighs, over the jeans he still wore. “I don’t care, Derek. It’s with you, that’s all that matters.”

  Her words made him king of the world. Seconds before he threw her onto the bed, he looked across the room and saw the reflection of them in the large mirror. “Look at us,” he ordered into her ear.

  * * * *

  Eyes heavy with desire, Jacey opened them and saw what he was talking about. They were so close together it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. At that moment she realized that they were two halves of the same whole. His strong arms surrounded her, protecting her from harm. He had a wide stance as if he were ready to take on the world.

  For once Jacey felt feminine and small as she looked against Derek’s larger body. Spending her life with spec ops men, she tended to lose her femininity, but here against the muscular body of the man she loved, she looked protected.

  His hips bucked against her butt as his hand covered her thin cotton panties. He slid a thick finger inside her, echoing the motion of his hips. She was slick, hot and wet, and her core sucked his finger, not wanting to let go.

  She moaned again as his finger was joined by a second one. Jacey’s legs were about to give out when she felt his arm tighten around her waist, holding her still. His teeth nibbled on her earlobe before sucking it into his hot mouth.

  “Derek,” she panted as she reached the crest.

  “Look at yourself,” he demanded as he increased the tempo of his hips and fingers.

  Jacey opened her eyes and watched herself find release in Derek’s arms. Her legs had wrapped around one of his as his muscular arm supported her weight. She wore one article of clothing, and that had his fingers jammed up under it. Her skin was flushed and she had a sheen of sweat all over her body. She had her own arms up around his neck.

  As the shudders began to engulf her body, his lips found hers. Tongues entwined and rolled on each other. Souls became one.

  “You are beautiful.” He removed his fingers from her body and spun her around to face him so he could kiss her properly.

  “Oh, Derek,” she began just as her cell phone went off.

  Immediately she moved away from him and pulled it off of her pants to say, “Thompson.” A smile crossed her face, “Brandt. So soon?”

  Her face turned into a scowl before she looked over at an identical scowl on Derek’s face. “Just a sec, Brandt. I have someone here who needs to hear this as well. Hang on.” Jacey set the phone down and threw on her clothes before grabbing a hold of Derek and pulling him downstairs with her as well as a set of wires that she connected to the speaker phone in the kitchen. “Still there, Brandt?” she asked.

  “I’m here,” he said.

  “Me too,” came another voice that she recognized as Gavin.

  Jacey grabbed Derek’s arm and tugged him beside her, placing a notebook and pen by her left hand. She tried not to notice the way his jeans bulged in the center. Or the way there was sweat on his upper body.

  “All right. Glad you are here as well, Gavin. I’m here with Derek, he has the same concerns that I have over them.” She looked at Derek, who had lost his scowl and had confusion on his face as he washed his hands at the sink. “Guys, Derek and I grew up together. Derek, these are good friends of mine, Gavin Rawlins and Brandt Fowler. Gavin is an architect and Brandt is in construction. I asked them to look into Turner Construction.”

  Derek was astounded. He knew the name Gavin Rawlins, everyone in the south did. The man was an architectural genius, not to mention a billionaire. He didn’t know that Jacey knew him. But he was grateful that she had connections in high places. And somewhat jealous.

  “Go ahead, y’all, tell us what you found out.”

  “Brandt, why don’t you start?” Gavin said.

  “Fine. I did some digging right after I got off the phone with you. They are a construction company but not a legit one. They’ve pretty much been blackballed by every respectable building company. They’re into strip mining, not building. They don’t care about the environment and even less about the people they hurt to get what they want.”

  Derek placed a drink beside Jacey as she jotted notes down. Brandt continued, “Somehow they always manage to weasel their way out of being sued. I’m not sure if they pay people off or what, but some of their clients have been injured after demanding a monetary refund or just a flat out refusal to do business with them. I still have Clint looking into it, but that’s what I got from some people right off the bat. Go ahead, Gavin.”

  Gavin’s rich voice filled the line. “Well, I also found out about the strip mining. So whatever they are after is going to deal with something in your soil or underground. I checked some of the companies that they claim to have used for architectural expertise and none of that is true. Bottom line, they are con men—good con men, but con men just the same. I don’t know what they want but they are ruthless. Cops haven’t been able to touch them since they do it all nice and legal like, but I wouldn’t trust them.”

  Gavin paused before continuing and they heard the sound of children screaming in the background. “The younger one has been married and divorced seven times that I can find a record of. The elder about six. That was how they got access to the property they wanted. Married the girl and then the rest of the family would have accidents. So far they can’t prove anything but…” he trailed off.

  “What happened to the wives?” Jacey asked, meeting Derek’s expression. He had leaned on the counter across from her.

  “Some died and some just disappeared. A few say he wanted someone younger, older…you know, just some crap,” Gavin said.

  Brandt spoke up. “You aren’t going to marry one of them, are you?”

  “Hell no,” Derek snapped. “My cousin is engaged to David, Jr., not Jacey.” He moved back beside her.

  “Derek, be nice,” Jacey admonished. “Okay, guys. Thanks so much for getting back to me so fast.”

  “Jacey,” Brandt said. “These guys are dangerous. Be careful.”

  “I can protect her,” he inserted.

  Both men laughed. “Jacey can more than take care of herself. But just the same,” Brandt said. “Call if you need help, she says. Okay?”

  Derek’s eyebrows rose at Brandt’s statement.

  “Got it. Thanks, y’all. I have to figure out what I am going to do with this information now.”

 
; “Sorry it wasn’t better news. Goodnight,” Gavin said and hung up.

  “Me too, babe. ’Night.” Brandt hung up also.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jacey pushed the power button on her phone. “Shit!” she swore as she ran the information through her brain again.

  “Who were those guys?” Derek asked.

  Too focused on what she was going to tell Honey, Jacey didn’t want to string him along. “Husbands of friends of mine.”

  “What did he mean she would come if needed? Who is she?” Derek questioned as she took apart the wires she had set up.

  “Brandt’s wife Serenity is an ex-Marine.” She glanced at Derek and shrugged with a half-smile. “Okay, as ex as a Marine can be.” They both knew the old adage “once a Marine always a Marine.”

  “She was also a bodyguard for a while. He meant that she would come down and assist if needed. But I won’t call her, she is pregnant with their first child and I will do nothing to jeopardize that.”

  Derek nodded and remained where he was.

  Jacey applauded his strength. At the same time, silently, she cursed him for not hauling her up against his strong body and kissing away her slim, remaining resistance. She sat down across from him, wanting desperately to touch him but knowing she couldn’t. Talk was the issue they faced right now.

  “Both of them are contentedly married?”

  “Happily. Can we focus on what we are going to do here?”

  “Kill them? I just don’t know what they could want,” Derek said as he leaned over and looked down at the notes she had made.

  “I guess the only thing to do would be to dig and see if there were any special minerals under your property or something like that. But that doesn’t change the fact that it is going to break her heart when she finds out.”

  Jacey looked at Derek, only to find his gaze was not concerned at all, in fact it was heating up rapidly.

  “Derek. Are you listening to me?” She waved a hand in front of his face. “What is the problem? I have been calling your name for like a minute and all you do is stand there.”

  “I was thinking of how much I enjoyed the feel of your mouth on mine and other places on my body.”

  While his words brought a rush of warmth to her lower body, she managed to control herself. Barely. “Don’t start that. We have a serious problem here.” She gestured to the paper in front of her.”

  “Where does this leave us?” His lean body unfolded from the stool and he flowed around the kitchen island, coming closer and closer to her. Jacey knew he wasn’t talking about the situation with the Turners and Honey.

  “You don’t know me, Derek, not anymore.” She looked up and watched as his bare chest filled her line of sight. Damn, this man is fine.

  “I have thought about you for the past seven years.” His hand swept up to caress her flushed cheek. “Do you know what kind of hell I’m in without you in my life? What it did for me to imagine you with another man? Even hearing you talking as you did to that Brandt person when I first got here. I want you back in my life. I would sell my soul if it would bring you back to me.”

  “Shut up, Derek. Don’t say things like that. Please.”

  Jacey raised her hands to push him away, but at the contact with his solid chest they just remained there. Motionless. Adhered to the feel of his strong body under hers.

  “What? That you’re everything to me? Why? Why don’t you want me to say that, Jacey?” His second hand joined the first and he made sure that she remained looking at his face.

  Black into blue, obsidian into sapphire, they stared at each other for a long time. Jacey’s hands moved up and pushed her fingers to linger in his hair’s thick length.

  “I don’t think you know what you are saying. Just last night you said you hated me.” Her eyes never wavered from his and her fingers never left his hair.

  “I was angry. Jacey, you are my beacon of light. What we had seen out there and done bothered me more than I wanted to admit. But even before that, I had begun to sink into a darkness that didn’t wish to let me go. Not until you. I know you better than any other man you could ever meet and date.”

  He growled the word date.

  “Since you were four. I know you better than anyone ever will.”

  “I know how old I was when we met. I’ve changed since I left here. You haven’t known me in fifteen years,” Jacey protested.

  “I’ve known you since then. And that night I got to know you very, very well. You know it. I felt something else that night and I know you did too. You had to. What we had was too amazing, too unique, and too awesome to just be passed by and hardly remembered.” His eyes darkened.

  “We had one night,” she stated firmly.

  Not giving into the memory of his rough hands sliding over her body. All the places his tongue teased and the way he made her scream and yell throughout the night. Not giving into the memory, no sir. Jacey blinked rapidly as she realized she had begun to breathe much faster and harder. Not to mention what had transpired between them upstairs earlier in the night.

  “We could have a lifetime,” Derek said.

  His gaze was direct as it bore into hers. Every touch of his deep blue eyes flamed her blood even more.

  “Kiss me,” she whispered.

  “I won’t be able to stop a second time, Jacey, the first time was hard enough.” He warned as his mouth closed the distance between them.

  “No stopping.”

  “What about your phone?”

  She wiggled on the stool as she grew wet, imagining him thrusting deep inside her. “No stopping.” She tugged his head down to meet her upturned lips.

  Derek didn’t miss a beat. He caressed her mouth with his own, lips nibbling before his tongue swept over asking for entrance. Soon they were lost in a kiss so deep, so passionate, so hot that it would make the Sahara feel like the Arctic circle.

  Rising upright, Derek anchored his hands under her butt as her legs wound themselves familiarly around his waist. He carried her up the stairs for a second time that night and this time he didn’t remove her legs until he was over her bed. And there she dropped.

  As she bounced on the mattress of her old bed she looked at the dark-haired man standing over her. His chest was bare, showing her the defined pectorals and abdominal muscles he had. A light covering of hair was on his chest.

  Her gaze moved down to the blue jeans that had molded themselves to his body. His erection was obvious as it strained against the fabric of his pants. She knew exactly what his large size would do to her. And her body trembled at the thought.

  Rolling into a kneeling position, Jacey began to crawl across the bed towards him. Sitting back on her haunches in front of him, she reached out and placed her hands on his hardened pectorals.

  Slowly she drug her hands down across his washboard stomach and connected with the waistband of his jeans. His low groan filled the room. Jacey looked up and met his smoldering gaze before she turned her attention once again to the button holding his pants closed.

  Drawing her lower lip into her mouth, she carefully unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans. Not pulling the pants down, she just slid one hand inside them and his boxers to wrap her hand around the throbbing erection that needed to be freed.

  “Jacey,” he said in a long drawn out groan.

  “What, Derek?” She purred her question as she grabbed his ass with her other hand.

  “Don’t tease me, princess. I want you too much to play games right now.”

  “Then take off your clothes.” Her gaze flew up to meet his blue one. “I don’t want to wait either.”

  It seemed he was naked in less time than it took her to blink. Jacey removed her clothes in record time as well and before long their naked bodies were pressed together on the mattress.

  Derek had settled his large body between her spread thighs. The tip of his erection poised for entrance but he hesitated. “I don’t have protection,” he murmured.

  “I’m not on a
nything.” Jacey groaned in disappointment.

  With a mind of its own his thick erection began to slip inside her wet, willing body. “Tell me to stop, Jacey,” he begged even as his hips sent him further into her velvet heat.

  Eyes rolling into the back of her head, Jacey lifted her hips to help him slip in easier. “I can’t.” She moaned as the feel of him inside her sent her body into ecstasy. “Just don’t come inside me.”

  “I can’t make that promise,” he ground out as he began to retreat from her warmth.

  Who the fuck cares? Jacey took the decision away from him. With a jolt she wrapped her legs around him and brought him to her. A low moan left them both as he filled her as only he could. “Aww Jesus,” she cried as her body shook with an orgasm.

  “One,” he purred into her ear as his hips began to thrust.

  Coming down off her high she asked, “One what?”

  “Orgasm. I don’t think that is nearly enough for you.” His lips began to suck on her neck, oblivious to the fact that he was going to leave a mark.

  “What about you?” She groaned as her hips lifted to meet each of his powerful strokes. Her fingers dug into the sensitive skin on his shoulders as he bucked harder into her.

  * * * *

  The feelings racking his body were too intense for him to formulate a complete sentence. He continued to pound into her and pray for control as orgasm after orgasm overtook her body.

  Derek felt the familiar tightening in his body and knew it was time for him to pull out of her. One more stroke was what he told himself as he felt her nails scrape over his skin as she shuddered yet again around him. His body answered in kind and Derek felt his cock spurt deep within her as he shook with the intensity of his ejaculation.

  Sweat covered and breathing ragged, he collapsed on her body. Her body trembled around his cock and sent the shockwaves through him as well. His mouth was open to get all the air he could and her arms fell away from his back.