“Your brothers were a mess for months,” he bit out, pushing his fingers through his hair furiously before glaring back at her. “Cord still gets drunk every year on the anniversary of his mother’s death and what he believed was yours. They suffered, Kenni. Guilty men don’t suffer like that.”

He was asking too much of her. Ten years of running, uncertain who to trust or where to run, and he wanted her to just let go of all that?

They wouldn’t care to kill Jazz as well, or Slade, Zack, or Jessie and her unborn baby.

“I can’t take the chance.” She refused to. “They’ve killed anyone willing to help me, Jazz. Friends Gunny trusted, then Gunny as well. All I had left was the identity he put in place for me in case of emergency. I can’t bear to lose anyone else I care about because of this.” Her voice hitched painfully, one hand reaching out to him beseechingly. “You have to let me go…”

“The hell I will.” He was on her before she realized what was happening, his hands gripping her arms again, jerking her to him. “You’re going nowhere, Kenni.”

“Don’t force me to go unprepared, Jazz, please.” The plea was rough, forcing itself past a throat tight with tears. “Don’t make me run like that.”

“Run!” Nose-to-nose, he drew his lips back into a snarl, his gaze burning into hers like laser fire. “I fucking dare you to run. The minute you do, I’ll call those brothers of yours. I’ll tell them everything I know, Kenni, and when they catch up with you there will be hell to pay for thinking, even for a second, they’d ever harm you.”

“And if they get themselves killed instead?” The cry was torn from her, the thought of her brothers hurt, or killed, more than she could bear. “Even if they’re not involved, Jazz, they’re in danger. Just as you, Jessie, Slade, and Zack are in danger if you try to help me.” She gripped his arms desperately. “Let me go!”

“When hell freezes over…”

CHAPTER 9

Kenni wasn’t prepared for the depth of heat and hunger Jazz unleashed on her. She wasn’t even certain what caused it.

When his lips moved over hers, though, they were wild. This wasn’t just erotic hunger. The feel of his need, the heavy groan torn from the very depths of his soul as he picked her up in his arms and moved for the bed, tore away the last fragile shield she’d kept around her heart.

She was defenseless now. All the aching hunger and need she’d trapped within her for the past years poured free. And every desperate emotion that had silently gathered inside her for this man was revealed.

She should have left Loudoun months ago. But she’d held on instead and eagerly awaited each glimpse she’d had of him. She may have pretended to herself that she avoided him, but Kenni knew now, very little had mattered other than keeping her identity hidden, and seeing Jazz.

And she had waited for this. For the stomach-clenching pleasure that swept over her as Jazz laid her back on his bed, his lips moving to her jaw, running down the sensitive line of her neck, and igniting the most exquisite sensations in their wake.

How was she supposed to live without this now? she cried out silently as Jazz leveled up, then quickly turned her to her stomach.

The gasp that parted her lips was one of excitement and surprise.

“Stay there,” he growled as she moved to turn back. “Right there, or I won’t have enough control to get my damned boots off, let alone my jeans.”

Kenni buried her face in the comforter, her fingers clenching in the blankets beside her head at the guttural sound of his voice.

“Damn, you have the prettiest fucking ass, Kenni,” he groaned as one boot could be heard thudding to the floor. “It has the sweetest little curve. Makes a man want to do nasty things to it.”

She trembled, a shudder of anticipation racing through her. She’d heard just how erotically intense Jazz could get. How his bedroom games could go for hours. How he could go for hours.

“Spread your legs for me,” he ordered, the graveled sound of his voice sweeping through her senses and laying any objections she might have to waste. “Slow and easy, baby.”

A whimper escaped her lips before she even realized she’d voiced it. She spread her legs for him, uncertain in this position, unable to see him or to gauge his intentions.

“Takes trust to just lie there, doesn’t it, Kenni?” he said before she felt his lips at her ankle like a sensual brand. “To just let me look. Or touch.”

A fingertip caressed the material running between her thighs, the sensation causing her to jerk at the exquisite pleasure as it lanced straight to her swollen clit.

“Your pussy’s so wet your panties are damp, isn’t it?” he groaned.

Kenni whimpered, forcing her hips to remain still rather than lifting to him and begging for more.

Callused, warm hands cupped her rear, squeezing gently as she felt his weight move to the mattress between her thighs. Then his hands smoothed over her hips, up her side as he came over her. She shivered as he brushed his lips against her ear and felt his larger body covering her, sheltering her.

Hungry male lips moved to her neck, her shoulder. The heat of his erection, iron-hard and throbbing, pressed against her rear.

Rolling to his side Jazz eased her to her back, his blue eyes mesmerizing as she gazed up at him.

“Ah, Kenni,” he crooned, his voice rough, possessive. “I waited far too long for this.”

His lips covered hers again, sipping, licking at her tongue, drawing her into chaos, causing her to forget to question what he had waited for.

Lifting her hands to his biceps, her nails bit into the hard, powerful muscles as he pushed her cami up her stomach to her breasts. His lips eased from hers as he pulled back, his eyes heavy-lidded, watching as she lifted her arms and allowed him to pull it free of her.

His hand lowered, cupped the weight of one breast and as she watched, his head dipped down, lips parting to cover one hard, aching tip.

Kenni cried out, arching closer to the feel of his lips suckling at first one hard tip then the other. Deep, heated pulls sent shards of sensation forking from the sensitive nub to the weeping center of her body before striking at the swollen kernel of her clit.

And his hands were never still.

Strong, callused fingers and palms stroked and caressed her body, fueling the flames burning through her senses.

“That’s it, baby,” he crooned as her fingers buried in the heavy length of his hair to hold him to her. “Show me what you like.”

Show him?

She could barely breathe, let alone guess at what she liked. Every touch he gave her, she liked.

She wanted more.

When he captured her nipple between his teeth and tormented it with his tongue, she lost her breath. Tremors of sensation rocked her body, tightening her muscles as she whimpered against the storm building inside her.

Above her, Jazz groaned as though in pain before releasing the swollen tip. His lips moved from her breasts, hot, hungry kisses spreading lower as he hooked his fingers in the band of the boy shorts she wore and pushed them over her hips.

Desperation had her arching, aiding the removal of the last barrier between his flesh and hers. She needed to get closer to him. She had to still the pulsing, aching sensations tearing through her as they tightened in her vagina and around the sensitive flesh of her clitoris.

“Jazz.” Heat rushed over her as she felt his nails rasp along her side to her hip. His lips brushed against her abdomen, little flicks of his tongue driving her crazy with pinpoints of prickling pleasure as his other palm caressed her inner thigh, slowly parting her legs farther.

“Kenni, so sweet.” He nipped at the side of her hip then licked across the little burn.

“You’re killing me.” Whimpering, desperate to ease the aching need tormenting her, Kenni tried to arch closer to him again.