Someone Who Loves You: SKULL Book Two

And More Desires...

    THAT one touch did it. That one touch was going to undo him. f*****g rip him to shreds. He could feel exactly how it was going to undo him. Riley always had a way of unravelling his senses, making him fly apart. Reducing him to a pile of f*****g jelly.

    Crawling under his skin.

    Right where he wanted her...

    He shook himself. "She had to take a jab at me and Jord."

    Her green eyes held his. A glint of passion sparkled in them. "Really?" She shook her head, ran a hand through her short pixie cut. "Oh, Jace, I'm sorry."

    Jace was suddenly nervous. What the hell? He strode over to the window. "Eh, it's nothing," he shrugged.

    He heard Riley sigh disgustedly. "For God’s sake, Jace! It is a big deal! I mean, how long are you going to have to live being compared to your father?"

    He faced her then. "For as long as people look at Jordan and me and still see Lazarus." He said his father's name bitterly. It left an awful taste in his mouth, made him want to gag. He let out an equally bitter laugh. "We're used to it."  

    Riley shook her head, and his eyes raked over her lovely figure as she strode over to him. "People have no idea what he was really like, apparently. He was a monster. And the fact that his mind broke made him a monster far worse than before."  She went to him and took his hand again. "None of us -- and I mean none of us -- know what he was really like or who he really was."

    "Ri," he breathed, the touch of her palm was warm, welcoming. It heated his own hand.  He raised his brows in a sad expression. "There are some things about the incident that cannot be undone."

    She c****d her head at him. Her eyes bore into his. "I am sure there are. Laz literally left you and Jordi with no other choices." A shrug. "It happened. You didn't ask to have him for a father. Didn't ask for that life." Her hand went to his chest. "You did what you had to do." She touched his face. "The point is, people are people. They either understand or they don't. Certain people get tunnel vision and refuse to look beyond that tunnel."

    Jace drew in a breath at the touch of her fingers upon his face. Oh, yes, she was certainly going to rip him to f*****g shreds, undo him completely. Those fingers left scorch marks on his stubbled jaw, and he felt the blood travel to his c**k again. She always had a way of making him fly apart.

    Yep. He was going to be a pile of f*****g jelly before this was over.

    But he curled his own fingers under her chin. His hazel eyes narrowed as something occurred to him at her words, "We're not talking about me and Jordan anymore, are we?"

    Time to stop thinking about your dick...

    Riley rolled her eyes. Those wonderful, beautiful, green eyes "Ida has it in her head that Mia was drunk."

    Jace blinked. "Oh, for--" He scrubbed a hand over his face. "Seriously?"

    She rolled her eyes again, shrugged. "The minute she heard "drunk driver" it was her silly, stupid idea that Mia was under the influence, too." 

    Jace swore. "Jesus..." He pulled her close when he saw the tears in her eyes. Okay, that did it. Tears in Riley's eyes? No f*****g way. Not going to happen. She needed to be the happy, smiling Riley he knew and cared for. "Well," he said looking earnestly at her, "you were right."

    Riley looked up at him, something flashed in her eyes. Something he found himself wanting. "Uh... I am?" she asked.

    He chuckled. "Sorry, didn't mean to change subjects so fast."  He blew out a  breath. "You and Aaron were right." He shook his head. "Her wounds were inflicted before the crash. I was looking at some pictures of the so-called wreck, and you were right.” Jace said as she moved toward the window.  "I don't know there's just something... off."

    “So, it wasn’t an accident?” Riley asked. When he shook his head, she exclaimed, "I knew it!  I mean, I'm no detective, but even I could see there was something not right about the whole thing!"

    Jace shook his head “Nope. Not an accident.” He sat on the window seat. “As you said, Mia wasn’t even in her own car.”

    Her delicate face twisted as she tried to process that bit of information.  “I knew it!”

    Jace took a shaky breath. Smart and beautiful Riley... He took her hand.  “We’ll figure this out, Ri, promise.”

    She nodded, her side sweep of bangs shifting delicately. The new hair style framed that lovely face nicely, showed off her cheekbones and her green eyes more. The sun streaming in the window made her skin glow, giving her a rosy tint. She sat next to him on the bench. "Then who's?"

    "That is the next thing we need to figure out. And we will." His eyes drifted to her lips. The thought of kissing her made him... hard. Even now, his c**k was pushing against his jeans, threatening to burst out...  

    God, he wanted her! He drew in another shaky breath.  Only she had the power to do that... wreck him. And the thoughts that were forming in his head were starting to cloud the rest of his mind. All he could think of was how he wanted to be with her, be inside her, have her legs wrapped around his body as he drove himself into her...  

    Down boy... And yet he found himself wondering could they be together again? Could they get past everything and have a future? He didn't know, but he sure as hell wanted to find out.

    Riley looked at him, a sad smile on her pretty lips. A tear snaked its way down her freckled cheek. "Mia didn't deserve this, Jace," she said sadly.

    "No, baby, she didn't. And we are going to make it right for her."  He looked at her, the sun from the window making her cheeks glow a pretty, coppery rose. Gold highlights shone in her hair, and oh, s**t, that wonderful lemony-mint scent that was on her pierced his olfactory senses. Heart thumping in his chest and blood rushing to his d**k again, he felt what little control he had left slipping away. 

    Screw it...

    And he kissed her.

        "ENOUGH!" Jordan finally bellowed.

    Ida, to her credit, immediately clamped her mouth shut.

    Meanwhile, Gemma stomped off.

    Jordan watched her go. He turned back to Ida, the infuriating harpy. She was one step away from pissing Gemma off completely.

    The minute Jace went upstairs, the minute Jordan stepped in the door, Ida let loose the disparaging remarks. About him, about his brother, and about letting a man into Riley's bedroom.  But what really pissed Gemma off was the slander she spouted about Mia.

    An insinuation that Mia had been drinking and how she had never thought her own niece would have become a barfly. 

    Ida started to open her mouth again, but Jordan held up his hand. "Ida," he warned "You can think whatever the f**k you like about me and my brother. I don't give a s**t about that. But, I swear to f**k, if you ever smear Mia in front of Gemma or Riley again, you and I will have a full-blown come-to-Jesus-meeting, Marine style." He took her by the arm, opened the door.  "Now, do us all a favor and go back to your own house!"  

    Ida was still sputtering when Jordan shut the door. He then went to the dining area, where Gemma stood, staring out the large north-facing window. "Gem?"

    She sniffed angrily. "And she wonders why Uncle James could barely tolerate her." The furious remark hung in the air like a thick, black cloud. "The woman has a poisoned tongue."  Her Welsh lilt became more pronounced when she was angry.

    Jordan grinned and laughed. "That's funny," he said when she raised an eyebrow at him "Because earlier I was thinking she's a bit of a harpy."

    Gemma let out a snicker. "Now, that is an appropriate assessment," she giggled. She then sat down in one of the chairs surrounding the table. "So, were we right? Did Aaron confirm things?"

    Jordan nodded "Yeah. There's something hinky about that whole f*****g wreck."

    Gemma let out a sigh of relief. "I agree."  There was a pregnant pause. "But what?"

    "And you were right," Jordan said, taking a chair and stradling it. "Mia wasn't even in her own car."

    Gemma's eyes widened as she processed that bit of information "Bloody hell… I knew it. We knew it." She glanced at him. "And?"

    "The whole thing looked staged, somehow. I mean, I know we just saw photos, but even I could tell there was something staged about that f*****g accident." He let out a sigh. "We are gonna work on it while we are here. Is Eric still on the police force here?"

    She nodded. "He even has a new partner."

    Jordan whistled. "Well, f**k. What happened to Jon?"

    "He was injured on duty about a year and a half ago," Gemma replied. "Stevie was supposed to be temporary, but she became permanent.  Jon's new partner is Heath Stewart."

    "Heath? Really?" Jordan shook his head. "Shit..." he chuckled. “Stevie, huh? Awesome!”

    Gemma was looking out the window again. "Ida is going to be so very disappointed tomorrow."

    Jordan watched her for several long moments.  Her hair was still that pretty coppery red, those eyes still brilliant blue. Her skin was still that creamy.... He shook himself.  "Oh?" he asked, hoping to take his mind off of the woman in front of him. "How so?"

    Gemma's blue eyes looked at him. "Lyle Simmons is reading Uncle James' will tomorrow."

    "Ah, I get it.  She ain't gonna like it."

    She shook her head. "Oh, no. See, in April of last year, the girls and I came down for a visit, and once we got here, Uncle James wanted us to be witnesses to the changing of his will." She stood, then, indicating the house with her hands. "All of this? It's ours. Well, Mia was to be included, but you get the idea."

    Jordan nodded. "He cut Ida out?"

    Gemma eyed him. "He sold most of the farmland, in lots, for development. The farming days were over. That pissed Ida off, mainly because she didn't get any money from it."  

    "Wasn't her land to sell."

    She nodded in agreement. "Of course, because she raised such a hissy over it. Uncle James found out that Ida had been stealing certain things for pawning and selling."

    Jordan's brows drew together. Now, he had known Ida was a bad seed, but he didn't know she was that bad. "What the hell?"

    Gemma nodded, a frown on her face. "Yes.  And it was some of Gran's heirloom jewelry she sold." She set her mouth. "It seems she got hooked on opioids after she'd hurt her back a year ago." She sat back down. "Anyway, she can complain as much as she wants. Uncle James added a no contestation clause to the will."

Interlude: 

    f**k!

    Jace Corvino was kissing Riley. Kissing her!

    No. No. No. That can't... NO!

    His jaw set. Jace Corvino had crossed a line. Riley was his, not Jace's. She would be with him, not Jace. She was meant to be with me and no one else. Not even Jace Corvino.

    He stared up at the window a bit longer, watching them kiss.

    Enjoy it while you can, Corvino. It'll be the last one you get from her.

    He came to a conclusion then.

    Jace Corvino must die.