Chapter 81
[ 502 words ]
Chapter 81:
She swallowed hard, trying to push down the frantic beating of her heart. She wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling the trench coat tighter.
“You vanished,” Caroline said. Her voice came out raw, stripped of the formal distance she had planned. “Three days. No word. No signal. Nothing.”
Jarrod’s heavy breathing stopped.
The silence stretched. One second. Two.
Then, he moved.
He didn’t just shift; he lunged. His massive frame crossed the space between them with the terrifying speed of a predator.
Caroline gasped and scrambled backward, but there was nowhere to go. Her spine hit the opposite door panel.
Jarrod’s large left hand shot out. His long fingers clamped around her jaw, his thumb pressing hard into her cheekbone, pinning her head against the glass. But his grip trembled, a faint, exhausted tremor that betrayed the iron control.
His face was inches from hers. His gray eyes were burning, but beneath the fury was something rawer. Something that looked almost like fear.
“You think I wanted to stay away?” Jarrod hissed. His voice was a lethal, vibrating growl that rattled her teeth. “Every second I was gone, I was hunting the man who put a scalpel to your throat.”
Caroline’s eyes went wide. Her hands flew up, pressing against his chest to push him away. Her palms hit the rough, rigid texture of a Kevlar tactical vest hidden beneath his dark shirt.
𝖸о𝗎𝘳 𝘯ex𝘵 𝗳𝘢𝘷𝗼𝗋𝗂𝘵𝘦 r𝖾𝖺𝖽 і𝘀 oո 𝘨𝗮l𝗇𝗈𝘃e𝘭ѕ.𝖼𝘰𝘮
“Did you find him?” she whispered.
A muscle in his jaw leaped. He didn’t answer. The silence was the only confirmation she needed.
He lowered his head and crushed his mouth against hers.
It was a brutal, punishing collision. There was no tenderness. He forced her lips apart, his tongue sweeping into her mouth, devouring her gasp. He kissed her with a desperate, starving aggression that spoke of sleepless nights and the terror of nearly losing something he refused to name.
Caroline whimpered. She pushed against his Kevlar vest, but he was an immovable wall of muscle. The sheer physical power of his body pressing against hers short-circuited her brain.
His large hand slid from her jaw to the back of her neck, his fingers tangling in her hair, holding her exactly where he wanted her.
The sensory overload was absolute. The taste of mint and dark coffee, the smell of rain and blood, the crushing heat of his skin. Caroline’s resistance melted. Her hands stopped pushing and curled into fists, gripping the fabric of his shirt.
She kissed him back.
The moment she surrendered, Jarrod groaned. He pulled back just enough to break the seal of their lips.
They were both panting, their breath mingling in the small space.
Jarrod stared down at her swollen lips. He dragged his rough thumb across her bottom lip.
“Don’t ever let me come back to a silent phone again,” he said, his voice a raw, ragged command that cracked at the edges. “Do you understand me?”
Caroline’s chest heaved. Her eyes fluttered shut.
“I understand,” she breathed.
The tension drained from his broad shoulders. He let out a long, shuddering sigh, lowered his head, and kissed her again.
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