The Proposal & Solid Soul - Brenda Jackson [37]
He had dated women in the past but had never loved any of them. He’d known better than to do so after that fiasco with Mona Cardington in high school. He’d admitted he loved her and when a new guy moved to town weeks later she had dumped him like a hot potato. That had been years ago but the pain he’d felt that day had been real and at seventeen it had been what had kept him from loving another woman.
And now he had fallen head over heels in love with a Southern belle, and for the time being would keep how he felt to himself.
AN HOUR LATER BELLA lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, still inwardly fuming. How dare Jason put her in such a compromising position? No one would think he was sleeping in the truck. People were going to assume they were lovers and he was sleeping in her bed, lying with her between silken sheets with their limbs entwined and mouths fused while making hot, passionate and steamy love.
Her thighs began to quiver and the juncture between her legs began to ache just thinking of how it would probably be if they were to share a bed. He would stroke her senseless with his fingers in her most intimate spot first, taking his time to get her primed and ready for the next stage of what he would do to her.
She shifted to her side and held her legs tightly together, hoping the ache would go away. She’d never craved a man before and now she was craving Jason something fierce, more so than ever since he’d tasted her there. All she had to do was close her eyes and remember being stretched out on her kitchen table with his head between her legs and how he had lapped her into sweet oblivion. The memories sent jolts of electricity throughout her body, making the tips of her breasts feel sensitive against her nightgown.
And the man causing her so much torment and pleasure was downstairs sleeping in his truck just to keep her safe. She couldn’t help but be touched that he would do such a thing. He had given up a nice comfortable bed and was sleeping in a position that couldn’t be relaxing with his hat over his eyes to shield the brightness of the lights around her yard. Why? Was protecting her that important to him?
If it was, then why?
Deep down she knew the reason and it stemmed from him wanting her land and Hercules. He had been up-front about it from the beginning. She had respected him for it and for accepting the decision was hers to make. So, in other words, he wasn’t really protecting her per se but merely protecting his interest, or what he hoped to be his interest. She figured such a thing made sense but…
Would accepting the proposal Jason placed on the table be in her best interest? Did she have a choice if she wanted the hold lifted on her trust fund? Was being legally bound to Jason as his wife for a minimum of a year something she wanted? What about sleeping under the same roof with him and sharing his bed—she’d accepted they would be synonymous—would they be in her best interest? Was it what she wanted to do, knowing in a year’s time he could walk away without looking back? Knowing after that time he would be free to marry someone else? Free to make love to someone else the same way he’d make love to her?
And then there was the question of who was responsible for throwing the rock inside her house. Why was someone trying to scare her off? Although she doubted it, could it be her parents’ doing to get her to run back home?
She yawned when she felt sleep coming down on her. Although she regretted Jason was sleeping in his truck, she knew she could sleep a lot more peacefully knowing he was the one protecting her.
BELLA WOKE TO THE SOUND of someone knocking on her door and discovered it was morning. She quickly eased out of bed and slid into her bathrobe and bedroom shoes to head downstairs.
“I’m coming!” she called out, rushing to the door. She glanced out the peephole and saw it was Jason. Her heart began beating fast and furiously in her chest at the sight of