Chapter Twenty Two

"You don't have to read my mind, to know what I have in mind."

She was singing.

She was singing off key at the top of her lungs.

He wasn't sure what she was singing, but he knew for sure she was butchering the song.

"Honey you oughta know/Now you move so fine, let me lay it on the line/I wanna know what you're doin' after the show," Elizabeth droned and Jason had the urge to find a pair of ear muffs. "Now it's up to you, we can make a secret rendezvous/Just me and you, I'll show you lovin' like you never knew."

Jason wished the others hadn't abandoned him. In situations that included intoxicated friends, Brenda and Emily as well as Johnny were good at diffusing the problem without a hitch. They had more experience than he did dealing with drunks. The few times he had come across drunks they were dock workers that he had helped throw out of Jake's without a second thought. He couldn't exactly leave his very smashed nanny to fend for herself. He could only imagine the kind of trouble she would get into while under the influence of alcohol.

"That's why, I'm hot blooded, check it and see/ I got a fever of a hundred and three/ Come on baby, do you do more than dance?/ I'm hot blooded, hot blooded," Elizabeth continued on, making Jason wonder if she even knew what she was singing.

"I want you to want me," she sang into his ear. "I need you to need me."

He cringed as she hit a high note. With his eardrums ringing, Jason desperately looked around his living room. His hands were occupied and there was no other way to prevent Elizabeth from singing.

"Elizabeth," he pleaded. "Keep your voice down."

"I'd love you to love me/I'm begging you to beg me," his nanny continued on.

Suddenly, Elizabeth began to squirm in his arms. It took Jason a minute to realize that she was dancing. Then, she paused and the enforcer sighed in relief. He had the urge to massage his ears.

"I can't remember what comes next," she mumbled. Placing an elbow on his shoulder, a look of deep concentration fell over her delicate features. "Didn't I—" She paused again and she mouthed a few words. Then her sapphire eyes lit up brightly. "I remember!Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you crying!"

"We have to be quiet," Jason tried to break through her dazed mind. "Lil is sleeping and waking her up only means grumpiness in the morning."

"But Lil loves this song," Elizabeth argued. "We sing and dance to it."

Shaking his head in frustration, the enforcer shifted his nanny in his arms and started towards the stairs. They were only three steps up the stairs when she broke into the second act of her performance. In a hoarse voice, Elizabeth started singing the song again, picking up from a completely different verse. Leaning the back of her head against his shoulder, she sang while he carried her to her room. She slurred a few more words before she buried her face into the crook of his neck.

"I want you to want me/ I need you to need me/ I'd love you to love me/ I'm begging you to beg me/ I want you to want," she sang against his neck, her words muffled by the position of her mouth. He felt every sweep of her mouth against his skin as she crooned out the song.

Ignoring the roar of his blood, Jason continued up the stairs to the second floor landing. Reaching the hallway, he took in deep breaths and swiftly walked straight down the empty corridor. It was half way to Elizabeth's room that the enforcer began to regret his rush to discover who had invaded his home.

Her hands.

Her talented digits. The hands that had affectionately combed through his daughter's locks. The hands that had lovingly cleaned Lil's scrapped knees were now instruments of torture. They were sending every nerve ending in his body screaming in frustration. The brief moments that he had been caressed by Elizabeth had been a taste of heaven. Tonight it was different.

Tonight it was heaven and hell rolled into one.

One hand innocently played with the hair at the nape of his neck, the other…the other ventured dangerously low on his back. A few inches shy of the waistband of his boxers.

Swallowing roughly, he attempted to disconnect his brain from his body. It didn't work. His mind couldn't disregard the feel of an artist's hands on his body. Her teasing hand discovered every contour and muscle of his back. Her restless digits traced the muscles that flexed as he carried her to her room. They brushed over the muscles that tightened in anticipation of the closeness of their bodies.

Her palms were as supple as he had remembered. The heat that her hands possessed trailed over his skin, enveloping him in a warm cocoon.

His heart screamed its consent to welcome the life that Elizabeth was full of, but his conscience begged to differ. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with her for the rest of the night and ask her to stay. But he couldn't, she had to decide to stay on her own not because she felt obligated. She was drunk and the thought of anyone taking advantage of her filled him with rage. To be the person to take her without her permission only sent the horrid taste of self-disgust rushing to his mouth. He wanted Elizabeth to come to him when she was sober and certain that she didn't want to be anywhere, but with him and his daughter.

Thrusting aside the cloud of emotions hovering over him, Jason proceeded down the hallway. He felt every glide of her fingertips over his skin, but he reminded himself of the consequences that would follow if he acted on his desires. Consequences that would destroy the very fragile relationship that Elizabeth and him shared.

A heavy sigh of relief escaped Jason's lips when they safely passed Lil's door.

His sigh soon turned into a groan of frustration.

She was singing again. She wasn't singing as loud as before, but her voice faintly echoed in the hallway.

He paused at her door. Shifting her in his arms, Jason leveled their gazes. Her beautiful cobalt eyes were glazed over, but he found himself gazing into an emotion he hadn't seen earlier.

Sadness stared back at him.

A steady sorrow that blanketed the sparkle in her eyes.

The grief that soon fused with loneliness.

He had seen this look in her eyes before. When Elizabeth had shared her past with him, her eyes had reflected the pain she had felt as well as the loneliness. But he had never seen her that miserable since that day on the beach.

Stunned at the depth of the emotion, the enforcer stared far longer than necessary. Snapping himself out of the daze, he managed to open the door to Elizabeth's room without dropping her. Stepping into the room, Jason used the moonlight shining through the open curtains to make out the room. Her bed was in the center of the room, flanked by nightstands, a single streak of moonlight fell elegantly over her bed. All he had to do was get her under that covers and make it safely back to his room or the shower.

Walking over to the bed, Jason balanced Elizabeth against his chest and used his free hand to pull back the snowy white covers. With the covers pulled back, the enforcer shifted his mind back to get his intoxicated nanny to her bed. In the process of lowering Elizabeth down onto her mattress, Jason never expected what hit him next.

Instead of laying limp in his arms, his nanny decided to wind her arms around his neck and bring him crashing down along with her. Moments before they came down and her back hit the mattress, Elizabeth wrapped her thighs around his waist and locked her ankles, leaving him no room to move away.

His body instantly came alive at the heat that scorched his bare skin. Squeezing his eyes closed, he held his breath, begging his body to cooperate with his mind and shut down on the petite body that withered beneath his much larger frame. He heard his own labored breathing as well as her soft moan as she arched her back under him, pressing her chest more intimately against his.

He felt her chest and rise and fall as she drew in one breath after another. The sensation had him grinding his teeth in restraint. Thighs he had had the privilege of caressing in what felt like a lifetime ago, snuggled around his waist sent his blood pulsing. He felt his body tense and was sure if Elizabeth had been sober she would have felt his length pressing suggestively into her abdomen.

Reminding himself to breath, Jason swallowed past his suddenly very dry throat. Eyes still closed, he rested his weight on his elbows and then grabbed hold of Elizabeth's small wrists. He ignored the delicate bones in his grasp and did his best to gently disengage her arms from around his neck.

For a petite woman, his nanny had the grip of iron. "Elizabeth, you need to let me go," Jason muttered, still tugging at her wrists.

"Okay," she mumbled, finally letting go of his neck.

The enforcer exhaled and planted both hands on either side of Elizabeth's body and regretfully raised himself off of his nanny. Upper body released from her tempting touch, Jason became determined to free the rest of his body from Elizabeth's hold and make a run for it before he did something he would regret.

Clenching his jaw, Jason did his best to pay no attention to every fiber of his being that screamed in protest to stay. He did his best not to notice how perfectly their bodies aligned. She was made for him. From every curve to contour, she fit him like his other half.

Eyes still closed, he focused on the now worn resignation letter sitting in the drawer of his office desk. There was still six days left before she left. Six days to persuade Elizabeth to forget all ideas of leaving the Morgan household. It also meant he needed to escape her grasp as quickly as possible.

Ready to hoist himself off of Elizabeth's supple body, Jason balanced his upper body on one hand and grabbed hold of one of her ankles with the other. The softest of touch on his face had him grow perfectly still. Her gentle fingers traced the features of his face. They trailed over his lips. They parted on their own under her touch. He felt her pointer lightly run over his closed eyes.

Against his better judgment, he opened his eyes and found himself staring into blue orbs of temptation.

Running her hands through his wayward locks, she gazed up at him with a sweet smile on her luscious lips. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful your eyes are?"

Voice hoarse, he could only croak in response. "No."

"Well, they are. They take my breath away," she whispered to him in a low voice.

Frozen in place, he could only stare down at her. She was admiring his eyes when he wanted nothing more than to admire her body. He made no move to get in control of his emotions or remove himself from her room. He stayed perfectly immobile watching the soft rise and fall of her chest. The crystal dependent that now rested out of place at the hollow of her throat once again winked at him in the moonlight. Unable to restrain himself, Jason traced the scattered silver chain with his index finger until the pendant fell into its rightful place between the valley of Elizabeth's breasts.

He heard her breath catch and her heart thud under his touch. He took in the sight of her flustered face. The way her chest rose and fell under his, pressing against him whenever she drew in a deep breath. His eyes raked over her upturned face. His gaze lingered on the desire he read in her hooded darkened cobalt eyes. Finally, his eyes dropped to her lips and he swallowed the groan of pain to be within reach of pleasure, yet deny it.

Pale pink and pouty, Jason was mesmerized by the lips he had kissed earlier in the evening. He watched fascinated as her tongue appeared between her parted lips and brushed over them. He stared at her glistening lips and slowly his resolve weakened.

He needed another taste.

Another taste of her supple lips under his, opening for him and gifting him with her sweet, intoxicating taste.

Just one taste.

Unconsciously, his hand found its way under her head and gripped the chocolate locks that covered her pillow. Clenching his fist in her hair, Jason savored the feel of the silky strands in his grasp. Using his hold on her hair, he closed the distance between them. His eyes instantly fell to her lips again. He felt her warm breaths brush against his own lips.

"Just one taste," he whispered to her before he captured her lips.

Instantly, the hunger he felt to have her seized him. He brushed his lips over hers again and again, fighting the urge to deepen the kiss. Under his lips, she stirred, grasping the back of his neck and molding their bodies from chest to waist. He shuddered at the touch of her wet tongue brushing against his bottom lip.

He didn't withdraw, but kissed her fiercely. Opening her mouth, he tangled their tongues in a frantic dance of desperation. Both his hands fisted in her thick hair, he lowered all his weight onto her petite frame and vaguely realized that every curve of her body fit his perfect. Slanting his mouth, he plundered the deep caverns of her mouth and demanded nothing less than her submission.

Every bit of restrain Jason possessed disappeared and he gave in. He drew back from her for a moment, chuckling at her outraged moan of objection. He returned to her only to nip at the corners of her mouth. When she began to grow restless beneath him, Jason moved away from her lips to place an open mouth kiss on her chin and continued on. At the first brush of his lips against the column of her throat, Elizabeth threw her head back, offering herself to his touch and he gladly accepted.

He kissed and licked his way down her neck, enjoying every moan and gasp that escaped her lips. Her legs tangled with his and he felt the heat of her body consume his. Reaching the neckline of her top, Jason paused to only run his tongue parallel to the V cut that left the skin between her breasts exposed. She arched off the bed to meet his touch and as a result pressed his aching erection against her mound.

Taking in a deep ragged breath, the hand that was cradling Elizabeth's head trailed down her spine to the knot that held her top together. Without a moment of hesitation, the enforcer pulled one end and felt the knot easily give away for his hand to instantly meet smooth skin. Using his other hand, Jason pushed away the offending top and felt his heart come to an abrupt stop for a moment before it took off on a gallop.

His eyes feasted on the sight of Elizabeth finally bare beneath him. Tentatively, he raised his hands over one of her breasts and paused before finally cupping her with his bare hand. She moaned in response, giving Jason all the invitation he needed. Lowering his head, he licked one of the sensitive tips.

"Jason," she gasped and he couldn't help, but smirk.

There were no words to describe the beauty before him. She was perfection personified. Swallowing roughly, he flicked his tongue numerous times before finally giving into the anxious brunette beneath him and taking the dusty tip into his mouth and suckled. He used his mouth and teeth to draw one moan of pleasure after another from her, all the while causing the other nipple to harden beneath his ministrations.

Jason felt her nails dig into his back, but didn't pull away. He forged on, paying equal homage to her other breast. A deep chuckle escaped him at the cry of pleasure that slipped from Elizabeth when his teeth clamped down on her ravished breast. One hand grasping her velvety soft thigh, Jason buried his face between her breasts and fought for control.

The need for just one taste had turned into more than one. A fire that he had never felt before burned inside him. He wanted nothing more than to possess the woman breathing heavily before him and bring them to the height of pleasure. He wanted them to stay like this forever. Their bodies inseparable and twined together for eternity.

Dragging in one breath after another, Jason closed his eyes and listened to her heart. Her wonderful heart that was racing just like his. He listened and reminded himself that she was leaving. That she was way past tipsy. That they were skating on thin ice and he may have just sent them crashing down with his lack of restrain on his lust.

Inhaling deeply, he ignored the tightness in his lions and raised his head to lock eyes with his very breathless nanny. He stared into her glazed cornflower blue eyes and observed the change in them in the moonlight.

The desire slowly faded away from her expressive eyes to be replaced by a tenderness that took his breath away. Gazing down at her, Jason saw nothing, but her and the emotions that flickered in her eyes.

His eyes closed on their own accord at her gentle touch. She caressed his now scruffy jaw. He leaned into her touch and drew comfort from her. He still had time. He could win her over and give his daughter the life she wanted as well as Elizabeth. He could have a whole family and cherish it as he never given the chance to a lifetime ago.

He needed her.

He needed her like he never thought he'd ever need someone in his life before.

He needed her in his life not just for his daughter, but himself.

It all came tumbling down on him as he remained in her arms, cheek against her smooth palm, bare chest against hers, and drawing in deep calming breaths.

They were motionless in time, when Elizabeth finally broke the silence.

"I never saw myself here again," she rasped. "My heart aching for someone."

Instantly, his eyes snapped open. Jason searched Elizabeth's face for signs of regret, but only found bliss laced with sadness.

"Except this time, it's different," Elizabeth continued, her eyes fluttered close and her arms tightened around his waist. "My heart doesn't belong to me anymore. I've lost it forever."

She flashed him a weary half smile.

"I wish you could see how much I love you."