Page 125 of Drive
Jacques blinked once, and then his smile grew beyond his control. Soon, he laughed at himself, shaking hishead.
“I’m a fool,” he murmured before covering her face withkisses.
Rainey pushed at him, frowning. “What? Why? Why are you a fool?” she asked, near-panicked. “For lovingme?”
Laughter bubbled up from his chest. “No, woman,” he said, grasping her interfering hands and pinning them by her head. “For thinking I didn’t need to hear you say it. For thinking I could give you more time. I’m a moron… Say itagain.”
Her smile reshaped the universe. “I love you, Jacques.” She tugged her right hand, and he released it. She immediately brought it to his face. “I love you somuch.”
I’ll never get tired of hearingthat.
He understood what a leap it was — after all she’d been through, after all she was going through — to say the words aloud. Even if he’d said them first. She’d never believe it if he swore under oath, but she was the bravest woman heknew.
And she washis.
The thought spurred his desire. The hunger to claim her again with his body now that he’d declared the contents of his heart overtook him. Jacques pushed up on his knees, settling between her legs. His hands landed on the fly of her shorts, and within seconds he’d dispensed with both those and the lace panties he’d one day have to take more time toenjoy.
But nottonight.
“Are you tired?” he whispered above her. Smiling, Rainey shook her head. “Good. You heard me say how much I love you, but now I need to showyou.”
Then — with his able body, his poet’s heart, and his wicked imagination — hedid.
Chapter 28
Rainey’s bodyshot off the bed as she awoke to a trifecta of noise: an uncommonly loud accordion, a man’s voice lifted in song, and Archie’s incessant and highly disturbedbarking.
Her heart was already in mid-gallop when her eyes peeled open, and she had to blink against the assaulting sunlight that nearly lit the unfamiliar roomablaze.
Where amI?
She turned her head to the left where Archie zipped back and forth, barking furiously at a closed door that seemed to blast Cajun music like some kind of South Louisiana hellmouth.
“Archie!” she scolded. “Hush!”
As soon as the words left her lips, Rainey felt warm limbs surround her, and Jacques’s gravelly groan centered her atlast.
“Damnit, Pal,” he grumbled, and before Rainey could reply, he yanked a pillow over both of their heads, muffling the painfulcacophony.
“What’s happening?” she pleaded under the shelter of the pillow, and Jacques pulled her into his embrace as though protecting her from the rest of theworld.
“Pal is happening,” he croaked, his voice a low roll of discontentment. “I can’t apologizeenough.”
Beneath the covers, she reached for his hand and brought it to her still-racing heart. “It scared the shit out ofme.”
Jacques pushed himself up, knocking the protective pillow off their heads and looking down at her with a stormyexpression.
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered, clearly feeling the rapid staccato of her heart. “He’s not trying to scare you. He thinks he’s beingfunny.”
Rainey’s eyes bugged. “He knows I’m here? I mean, for sure he knows Archie’shere…”
Jacques gave her a rueful smirk. “Oh, he knows you’re here,” he said, collapsing on his side next toher.
Rainey rolled to face him. “But how do youknow?”
His brow arched. “You hear that song he’splaying?”
Of course she could hear it. Everyone on the block could hear it. The accordion wheezed happily, and Jacques’s grandfather’s voice rose with impressive volume. “I hear it, but he’s singing in French. I can’t understandit.”
