Chapter 21

T hey had dinner and after walking Darby, settled onto the sofa as it grew later. Darby settled on an old pillow by the sofa and promptly curled up to sleep.

Jace watched her channel-surf. Kara landed on ET . "Oh, look! Didn't you love this movie?"

He considered. "Yeah. And no."

She playfully touched his nose. "Lots of good advice in it. Be good."

He jerked a thumb at the back porch. "No, bee careful or bee sting."

"Wasps are not bees, Jace." She laughed and tucked her feet beneath her legs.

Confession time. He had to tell her the truth.

She had become such a part of him, wriggling past the hard barricade he thought was his heart, and wrapping herself around it. Kara was in him, around him. He smelled her perfume when he took coffee onto the lanai to enjoy the sunrise and the sweet scent of jasmine. He heard her gurgling laughter in the childish giggles of his neighbors' children splashing in the pool. He felt her loving concern when everything in this life seemed so crappy and he thought he'd never overcome his equally crappy origins. She forced him to see the good in people and the joy instead of the grimness and despair. Kara made him feel like he was at last worthy of loving someone and being loved in return.

Jace wondered how she'd react. For years, he'd been ashamed of his parents, his dysfunctional childhood. And yet, now more than in the past, he wanted to come clean with her. Let her know the answers to all the questions she'd asked.

Gently, he took the remote from her hand and turned off the television, setting the device on the coffee table.

"Kara, there's something I need to tell you. Something I should've told you a long time ago. It's about my family, and why I never wanted you to meet them."

Kara took a deep breath. "Jace, I'm listening."

Jace turned his head, meeting her gaze.

The weight of his secrets pressed heavily on his shoulders, and he knew he needed to share them. She deserved to know the truth about the man she'd met back at the rest stop.

He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. "I wasn't always on this side of the law, Kara. You know I've been undercover in this motorcycle gang, but what you don't know is that my family has deep ties to this world. My father, the guy you met? He was a DP—in fact, a founding member."

Jace hesitated for a moment, struggling to find the right words. "My father lived for the thrill of the open road and the chaos of the club. My mother, she tried her best to keep us together, but it was tough. She worked two jobs just to make ends meet."

No judgment on her face, only concern. Kara listened intently. "Go on."

Hell, this was tough. He felt like his insides were grated raw. "When I was a kid, I looked up to my dad. I craved excitement, adventure and motorcycles, just like he did. But when I was fifteen, I went with my dad to a bike rally and I saw my old man kill someone else."

Eyes wide, she leaned close, clasping his hand. Her touch anchored him, giving him the courage to continue. Not even Rafe, his closest friend, knew everything.

"I saw him get into a heated argument with another biker, and it turned violent. I watched him kill the guy right in front of me. It was brutal, Kara, and I'll never forget the look in my dad's eyes. He looked as if...he regretted it, but it was too late. He got arrested, tried, convicted for second-degree manslaughter.

"After that, my dad was imprisoned, and my mother remarried. She distanced herself from me, probably because she was afraid I'd turn out like my old man." Forcing out the words, he felt raw emotion close his throat. "I was left to fend for myself more or less, so I joined the Army at seventeen. My legal name is Jason Beckett, but started telling everyone my name is Jace. Because my parents always called me Jason. My small way of making my own distance from them."

"Jace, I had no idea. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that alone."

Nothing but compassion in her blue eyes, compassion and sorrow. Jace felt a surge of pure relief amid his boiling emotions. "Guess I never wanted to tell you because your family was so...perfect. I was ashamed."

"Ashamed?" She shook her head. "With everything going against you, you made something of yourself, Jace. You fought the odds and won. I'm proud of you. That took a lot of courage."

Relieved at her reaction, he studied her expression. "I wanted to make a difference, babe. I never wanted to be like my old man."

Kara cupped his face gently. "We all have our pasts and our secrets. What matters is who you are now, and I see the good in you. I see the man who fights for justice and to protect ordinary people like me. I'm proud of you, Jace, and I'm glad you finally told me."

Longing raced through him. Yeah, life was full of unexpected twists and turns, the kind he enjoyed taking on his bike. You had to lean into the curves, embrace the unexpected and learn to adapt. He'd done plenty of that. So had Kara.

"You know why I love you? Not in the past, but now?"

The question made him blink. He shook his head.

"Because you're many things, Jace, but you make me feel like I'm a better person than I once was—you give me a safe zone where I can tell you my hopes and dreams and the journey is worth it. You make me feel alive again."

"You make me want to be a better man, Kara," he said softly, touching her face. "The kind who can't forget his past but can move ahead of it and embrace every damn little bit of joy in life...like loving you."

Their lips met in a soft, reassuring kiss, sealing a connection that had been fractured by silence and fear. In that moment, Jace felt a weight lift off his shoulders. After facing his past, he felt ready to forge a new future.

He kissed her, leisurely, languid kisses, recalling their tangled past when they couldn't wait to see each other. Jace dropped tiny kisses along her chin, her throat. She made a humming noise of pleasure that aroused him further.

Never had he needed a woman more, not merely for sex, but something deeper and much more significant. If he couldn't have her, he'd lose his grip on sanity.

"Kara," he murmured.

He hardly recognized his voice, deepened by sexual urgency. His cock hardened painfully.

With languid grace, she kissed him back, slowly caressing his bearded cheek. Kara nuzzled him with her own cheek.

"Your beard, it tickles. Feels different," she murmured.

Blood surged to his groin as he envisioned how she'd feel with his beard tickling a different part of her.

Desire cranked up as she kept kissing him. No more leisurely kisses. He was too cranked up, too aroused. Jace pulled her into the bedroom and almost ripped off his shirt.

"Condom," he said, barely managing to get the word out.

Kara shook her head. "Pill. It's safe."

"I want you so much," he muttered. "If you want to back out, do it now."

In answer, she unbuttoned her shirt, her heated gaze never leaving his. As he tugged off his boots and removed his clothing, Jace held on to control with a thin thread.

With a soft sigh, she divested herself of clothing until she stood before him, fully nude.

They fell onto the bed together, kissing.

She'd dreamed of this moment and after years of missing him, it finally arrived. How she'd missed his heat. His passion.

Jace's mouth was as warm and firm, as delicious as she'd remembered. Jace cupped the back of her head as he devoured her mouth, licking and teasing.

Her own desire remained barely leashed, as urgent as the heat in his blue eyes. With a rough growl, he lunged, pushing her naked body back onto the bed.

Kara was the one touching him, her eager hands exploring the body she once loved so well. Her mouth against his skin, trailing tiny kisses over the hard line of his jaw, his throat.

A sharp intake of breath as she saw the silvery stretch of old scar tissue on his chest. "Dear Lord, Jace, what happened to you?"

"Bullet wound. It healed."

"It hurts me to see you like this," she whispered. "I wish I could have helped."

Kara kissed the scar tissue, her mouth sliding over a wound that she never knew he'd had.

She kissed the inside of his thigh, then stroked a finger along the underside of his rigid cock. Jace dragged in a deep breath as she encased his erection in her hand and took him into her mouth.

Closing his eyes, he let his head drop back. He tasted exactly as she remembered—strength and steel. She enjoyed every groan wrung from his throat, the exquisite pleasure she delivered to him.

Then he pulled away, his gaze glittering. Jace rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him.

Understanding, she straddled him and sank deep into him, moaning with the erotic pleasure of having Jace at last inside her. Strong hands on her hips, he helped her ride him.

Every delicious stroke brought her higher and higher, cranking the sweet tension higher until she was panting. She was so close, close...

His mouth encased one hard nipple. He bit lightly.

Screaming, she shattered, her nails digging into his muscled chest. Then he joined her, his own cries echoing with hers.

Kara fell against him, panting, her perspiration mingling with his, her hands splayed against his rigid chest. She couldn't think about the future or the consequences of what they'd done.

Tomorrow would arrive soon enough.