Ashton Hill Valentines

"Hey, you, did you sleep well?" Jack asked.

"Until I woke up to a cold and empty bed," she said before she could stop herself. "I thought you had a meeting?"

"I do, but I wanted to say good morning to you and check what your plans were for today. See if I could convince you to have lunch with me," Jack sounded happy and amused on the other end of the phone. That fact alone only served to irritate Lara. How dare he be happy when she was dying on the inside realising that what they had was ending.

"I need to study today, I haven't gotten anything done for the last two days, and this is my day off," she said shortly. "It's good you left, now I can get on with the things I need to do." Her tone was hard and abrupt, possibly more so than she had meant, but she was determined to protect herself against this dangerous, dangerous man. "Why don't we meet for lunch tomorrow," she offered.

"What?" he asked incredulously down the phone line.

"Tomorrow," she repeated. "We've been together every available minute since Sunday night. It will give us both some breathing room," she said reasonably.

"You need breathing room?" he asked, trying to process what she was saying and cursing that he had left the way he had this morning leaving her a note.

"I think we both do, don't you?" she said in a clipped tone. "I have things to do, and you should get to your meeting. See you tomorrow, Jack." Lara ended the call. She was proud of herself and how cool she had sounded during the call. She put a hand on her chest feeling her heart still beating rapidly. It had taken a lot of willpower, and she wasn't sure she could have been so brave and strong if he was here and she had to look him in the eyes. For now, however, she had at least one day to get her head on straight and start protecting herself against his brand of seduction.

*****

Jack sat staring at his phone for a few minutes wondering how that call had gone so wrong. He called Paul Ashton to delay the meeting for a few hours due to an emergency and swung his car around and headed back to the town.

Lara had barely finished her coffee and was standing in the kitchen contemplating a shower when the hard knock on her door made her jump. She considered ignoring it, but the knock became a pounding, and she went to answer it before it disturbed her neighbours. Swinging open the door she felt her heart do a little flip in her chest as Jack stood there looking angry and frustrated.

"Did you forget something?" she asked.

"Yes," he ground out from between clenched teeth.

"Well, come in and get it then. Hurry, please, I was just about to have a shower," she said snippily and took a step back, allowing him to come in. He had no right to be angry with her, he was the one who had left her alone in bed without a word.

Jack took a step inside, closed the door, making sure it locked, and swept her up into his arms, kissing her and carrying her toward the bedroom. She squealed and kicked to no avail. He was obviously much bigger and stronger than her.

"What are you doing?" she almost shrieked at him, but being held tightly against his body, feeling his familiar warmth, her resolve faltered slightly.

"You said to come in and take what I want," he said and shrugged, as if carrying her weight was no more burdensome than that of a cat.

"I said come in and get what you had forgotten. It wasn't an invitation to take whatever you liked!" Lara admonished.

"I forgot you," he gave another shrug and kissed her hard and deep before throwing her onto the bed. He loosened his tie as she watched. "Didn't you get my note? I said I'd be back," he said plaintively.

"Your note said you'd call, which you did," she argued. "I didn't know that you'd be back. I assumed you had gotten me out of your system and were getting ready to move on, let me down gently with a note." She didn't know what it was about Jack that made her constantly bear her soul to him like this, and it irritated her as much as him being in her bedroom right now excited her.

"You seem to have forgotten that you're under my skin and in my head. I can't stop thinking about you," he removed his shirt at the same time he toed off his shoes. He removed his pants and underwear, exposing his erection, and stared at her intently. "This is what you do to me, every time I think about you. You gave me a taste of you, and I'm hooked like an addict, you can't just take that away because I suck at writing notes." He crawled up her body, taking hold of the boxers she wore and drew them down her legs.

"You can't just come in here and..." he cut off her complaint with another deep kiss and began drawing her tank top slowly up over her chest, giving her every opportunity to stop him if she really wanted to. He broke the kiss and removed the top, watching her breasts bounce, and pulled her to him.

"We're good together. Better than even I imagined, and I knew it would be amazing," Jack said between kisses, his hands moving over Lara's body and feeling her respond to him in the same way.

"You're right, the sex is amazing, but it takes more than that to build a relationship. Or is this just a booty-call for while your home on leave?" she asked directly.

"You can trust me, Lara, we can work this out," He said, rising up above her. "I have leave owing, so we can find time to make this work," he faltered, unsure if you could call two days a relationship, "For both of us."

Lara wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe him so badly. She closed her eyes and said nothing, giving in to the powerful need and arousal she felt for this man, wanting nothing more at that moment than to feel him moving within her. Yet he hadn't moved, and she opened her eyes to look up at him, a little embarrassed that he was looking at her so intently as if trying to read her mind. She could stand the scrutiny no longer and took matters into her own hands, moving quickly and taking him by surprise; she rolled, pushing him onto his back and straddled his hips.

Helping her up into a sitting position, he placed his hands on her hips as she rolled them, grinding her pussy down over his rock-hard cock and letting out a small moan that sounded more like a purr of satisfaction and need. His hands moved up to her breasts to tease at them as she continued the slow sensual dance above him.

Lara could feel the hot flesh of his cock sear into her and rub against her clit as she ground down on him. His teasing hands made her even hotter as he pinched and played with the hard nipples that proudly stood out above her softly rounded breasts. Lifting her hips slightly, she positioned his cock at the entrance of her pussy and sank down onto him, letting out a long low moan as she stared into his eyes.

Jack watched the point of impact, seeing his cock slowly disappear into her tight pussy. He groaned at her before looking up into her eyes as she rolled her hips, grinding down into his pelvis, ensuring she took all of him. Jack once again gritted his teeth as he let her take the lead, moving up and down his cock slowly, moaning loudly in pleasure.

"Fuck," he groaned finally, and he sat, taking her in his arms and rolling her over onto her back. He pulled her legs up, practically doubling her over and began to pound into her, losing himself in the feel of her.

Lara squealed in surprise. This was what she needed, what she wanted, from him. A man who would and could just take her, take what he wanted and needed in a hard, deep fuck. She could barely move in the position he had placed her in, but she rolled her hips and clenched her internal muscles around him as they both gasped and let out low moans of pleasure.

He felt the shaking muscles in her legs moments before her body stiffened below him, her pussy clenching and pulsing around his pounding cock, releasing him to give up any pretence of restraint. He fucked her hard and deep, his own climax slamming into him with equal force. Letting go of her legs, he collapsed on top her, quickly rolling to his side and pulling her with him, not wanting to crush her but not wanting to break the intimate contact either.

They lay entwined in each other's arms, breathing heavily, both of them lost in the feelings of satiated bliss. Jack's hands caressed her body as the small trembling waves continued to roll through her, marvelling once again at how such a beautiful package held such a sweet and amazing woman on the inside as well. He knew he had fallen for her, hook line and sinker, in just a few days. He held her tightly, almost unwilling to let her go again.

"What happened to your meeting?" she asked once she regained her senses.

"I rescheduled, I told them I had something important to take care of first," he grinned.

*****

Chapter 7

Over the following week, Jack and Lara became busy in their professional lives as well as in their personal lives. Jack was careful to tell her when he needed to be at meetings and call if they ran long after her reaction to the note he had left the first time he had left to attend a meeting. In return, Lara told Jack about her friendship with Carly and the fact that she was helping her out as last-minute orders came into her website.

With four days until the festival, the nominees for citizenship awards were publicly announced and included Mary Delaney for her tireless community work as a midwife and community nurse. She asked her sons to accompany her to the dinner being held for the nominees, as well as Annie and her husband.

Lara had reassured him she would be fine and that she planned to have dinner with Carly, because they both deserved a break from making chocolates. Jack left her reluctantly and went to have his family night to celebrate his mother's nomination, leaving Lara to wait for her friend to arrive.

Carly arrived fifteen minutes later with a lasagne and a bottle of local wine that they both liked. They settled around the kitchen bench to put together a salad to go with the lasagne and poured the wine.

"He's amazing! Simply amazing!" Carly gushed.

"Yes, I think you've mention that already," Lara laughed.

"It's not just the sex, you know," Carly blurted out. "I mean, there is sex, amazing sex, but there is more to it than that. We talk. I told him about my online business, and he had a lot of great suggestions."

"Oh, like what?" Lara asked, genuinely curious.

"One of his friend's mother has an online business. She started with cookies, but now she makes all kinds of stuff. He said he'd organise for me to meet her and get some advice," Carly explained. "She's very successful, apparently. He left a message for his buddy to text him the name and website details."

"So, if you got the internship with Gina you'd move to the city, which just happens to be conveniently where he's based?" Lara cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh God, I hadn't thought of that! I couldn't, could I? I mean, maybe I could, but he'd probably freak thinking I was chasing him there," she paused and added the carrot she'd been grating to the salad. "Maybe he'd want to see me again after the festival," she considered almost to herself. "Not just because the sex is amazing, but because we have a real connection."

"A real connection?" Lara inquired.

"I can't explain it, it's special. Harry's amazing! Not just in bed, but he's just got this great attitude about everything. The way he talks about his life, his SAS buddies, his challenges, he's so inspiring."

"You know what I think? I think you're going gooey over the guy after all your talk about giving as good as you got for the festival. You know he's just here on leave," Lara cautioned her. She'd been thinking all the same things about Jack and was finding it increasingly difficult not to get carried away the same way Carly was about Harry.

"No way!" Carly rolled her eyes as if the whole notion of her getting gooey over a guy was ridiculous. Lara could see the signs though, because she was living in that gooey mess herself, not that she had ever mentioned Jack to Carly, because she knew it was only temporary in the logical part of her brain.

"Don't get me wrong," Lara held up her hands. "I think it's great. Every woman should feel that messy, sticky sort of gooey-ness at least once in their life. So, other than great sex, what's it like to date the town's resident bad boy?" Lara asked.

"Dates? Umm, well, he took me for a ride on his Harley the other night. We went up to Romeo's Rock," she grinned.

"On his Harley? Tell me you did it on the Harley," Lara giggled. "Better yet, tell me you did it with the engine running."

"No, he took a blanket and a picnic in his saddlebags. We sat on the edge of the lake and watched the stars," Carly explained. "It was sweet and romantic, not a bonk on the back of his bike!" she rolled her eyes.

"That sounds great," Lara agreed, wondering if she and Jack would have the chance to do something like that before he left with their work schedules. "Where else have you gone?"

"I made him dinner one night, and he stopped in at the bakery and helped me out a couple of times when you weren't working," she admitted.

"That sounds sweet," Lara smiled.

"Oh, it was, and delicious," she giggled and licked her lips. "I guess between work and the festival stuff there just isn't a lot of time for organised dates, we just play it by ear, really. Take things as they come," she continued to giggle. "I know I sound crazy, and he will be gone in less than a week, but I can't help it," Carly said.

"Me either," Lara said under her breath, and looked horrified as she realised what she had done. "Sorry, I just remember that feeling. It's amazing falling in love, and I am so happy for you, Carly, even if it's not destined to last." If only she could take her own advice life would be a lot easier, she thought.

Carly seemed to take Lara's excuse as valid, and the girls continued bantering, with Carly often lapsing back into telling Lara how amazing Harry was. It was late when she was finally packing up her stuff to head home. Carly was hopeful that after the ceremony Harry would stop by, and she wanted to be home at a reasonable hour.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Jackson Delaney," Carly stopped a moment before getting into her car and gave Lara an inquisitive look. "It seems I'm not the only one with a rush of endorphins this week. You owe me an explanation, my friend," she grinned at Lara. "But if he's here, then that means I will have some fun tonight too!"

"You better hurry then," Lara laughed with her friend and wished the two hadn't crossed paths. It would be hard enough to live with her own memories once he was gone, but to have to talk about him with Carly was going to be impossible to bear. Carly, however, seemed in no hurry, and although she had started her engine, she waited until Jack was close enough to greet him.

"Hello, Jack," she grinned. "How was the dinner?" she asked from her car.

"Great, it was nice to see mum get some recognition for her job. How was your dinner?" he asked politely, stopping at her car door.

"Amazing, as always, I just love her," she said glancing at Lara. "Don't you?"

"She's pretty special, that's for sure," he agreed easily and looked up at Lara, who seemed to be uncomfortable. "Good to see you, Carly," he patted her door and moved away from the car as she drove away, then jogged up the steps to take Lara in his arms and kiss her, knowing that Carly was still watching. He felt her stiffness and grinned. "You didn't tell her about us, did you?" Jack asked.

"No," Lara admitted. "She's so happy and wrapped up in... the guy she's seeing at the moment, it's hard to get a word in," she gave a half smile. She hadn't mentioned Harry's involvement with Carly before, and she wasn't sure why she hadn't said something now. She imagined Carly would tell Harry about seeing Jack here, and he would find out anyway, but it didn't seem her place to say anything. "Besides, it's no one's business but ours, is it?"

"I imagine the people at Kelly's realise I'm not there every night before closing just to play pool," he said with a frown as they walked into her apartment.

"True, but they aren't going to want every detail and to compare... you with the guy she's seeing," she stopped herself again before mentioning that Carly would want to compare the twins. She was so open and straightforward about all things sex that it sometimes took Lara by surprise and made her blush from her toes to her scalp.

"Why would she want to compare me with anyone?" Jack continued to frown as he closed and locked the door. "Wait, don't tell me she's the woman who has Harry all twisted up?" he looked at Lara with wide eyes. He had been right, there was a woman, and it was Eric's little sister! No wonder he had kept it on the down-low.

"Harry is all twisted up?" Lara raised her eyebrow.

"He hasn't been himself," Jack mused with a chuckle. It occurred to him that Harry was about to find out about him being here with Lara tonight and that he had lost the challenge. He'd need to make a point of catching up with him tomorrow if he didn't see him for their morning run.

"I see. Well, good for Carly," Lara grinned.

"Good for Harry," Jack echoed the sentiment. "Guess we don't have to worry about him anymore."

"We were worried about him?" she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you did go on a date with him," Jack accused.

"I told you I wasn't planning on seeing him again. Why would you be worried about him?" she frowned, confused now and remembering how jealous he had been of that date.

"It was more a figure of speech," Jack said, seeing her mood change and not wanting to ruin the night by saying something about the dumb challenge he never should have accepted in the first place. "He never said anything, and I had guessed there was a woman, because I've hardly seen him and didn't know where he'd been taking off to, now I know." He gave the best explanation he could that he thought would appease her. It was the truth, he hadn't lied, he just didn't tell her about the challenge, because it was obviously over, had been over for a week. Whether they went to the Valentine's ball together or not, he knew without a doubt that she wouldn't be going with Harry, especially now.

"Now you know, and he will know where you have been taking off to," she pointed out.

"So? It's not like I've been hiding it," he shrugged. "I'm at Kelly's every night you are working," he chuckled.

"I guess, but we've never really had a date, have we... in public where people can see," she said, thinking about her conversation with Carly about her dates, or lack thereof.

"Come with me to the Valentine's Ball? I've asked you more than once. I have to go because my mother has been nominated for an award and I don't want to go alone, I want to go with you," he asked.

"I was thinking about lunch somewhere nice, not the ball. But if lunch goes well, who knows," she smiled.

"Great! Let's do it tomorrow. I have a meeting in the morning, but I can pick you up at twelve," he grinned.

"Or I could meet you," she offered.

"No, if it's a proper date, I'll pick you up," he said adamantly and gathered her into his arms. "With you working nights I just hadn't thought about a date like that. I wasn't hiding anything, trust me on that," he bent his head and kissed her. "Speaking of picking up," he placed his hands under her ass and hoisted her up his body, feeling her wrap her legs around his hips. Then he walked purposefully toward the bedroom.

*****

Chapter 8

Lara sat at her computer looking at the beautiful blue dress and considering how much it would dip into her meagre savings. She heard the knock on her door at twelve and clicked the button to finish the transaction and put an express delivery on it so it would get there before the ball. She checked her reflection one more time as a second knock came. This was their first official date, and she was wearing a dress. It felt strange after living in jeans and shorts for the past few months, but she smiled and swished the loose knee-length skirt before going to open the door.