Free Suspicious Ways by Lexxie Couper Page B

funeral,” Ali whispered, her voice barely reaching his ears over the table. Her direct gaze held him. Accused him. “Even Mike seemed confused.”
    “Fremantle was Australia’s sailing capital at the time,” he said, his mouth like dust. “My business—”
    “Don’t give me that shit, Jack.” She cut him off, her eyes scornful. “Your yachts were selling faster than you could design them while you were here in Sydney. You didn’t need to move to Fremantle.”
    Jack couldn’t take it anymore. He leant forward, fixing her with a serious stare. “Damn it, Ali, I made love to you the day of your father’s funeral. The day of. If I hadn’t left, I would have done so again. I wanted you so much it didn’t matter that only two hours earlier you’d scattered his ashes over Sydney Harbor. I was meant to be your friend, your father’s friend, but instead I took you in the yacht he’d built with his own hands.” He slumped back in his seat, raking his fingers through his hair. “And damn it, I wanted to again and again and again.”
    Ali stared at him, silent. An emotion Jack couldn’t read shone in her eyes. Her lips parted.
    “That’s why I moved to Fremantle,” he finished, his gut churning, his chest tight. “Because one taste of you wasn’t enough.”
    “So why didn’t you stay for more?”
    The question punched the wind from his lungs. He stared at her, unable to respond.
    “Why didn’t you make love to me again?” Her voice shook but her gaze stayed locked on his. “And again?”
    With a harsh grunt, Jack removed his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. He could recall that night so easily. Christ, he relived it every night in his dreams. Sweet burning bliss scorched by scalding shame and self-disgust. “I was holding you in my arms.” He lifted his head, meeting her unwavering stare. “Your warm body pressed against mine, your taste still on my lips. I heard a soft noise in the back of your throat, a little catching of breath. I thought it was from pleasure and I wanted to see it in your eyes. Wanted to know I’d affected you as much as you had me.” He shuddered as that moment hit him again. “What I saw was fear.”
    “I—”
    Jack shook his head. “I had no right to use you like that, Ali. It was unforgivable. I’d used you at your lowest point. You had every right to be scared. Hell, you had every right to hate me. It still makes me sick when I think about what I did. Yet even then, even with fear in your eyes, I wanted to bury myself in your body. To make love to you again. I still do.” His words were raw, tearing at his constricting throat. “You’d set me on fire. And I wanted to burn.”
    A long silence stretched between them and nothing existed for Jack in that moment except Ali.
    Her teeth caught her bottom lip and she let out a soft sigh. “I was afraid,” she finally said, “but not of you. I was never afraid of you.”
     
    Jack stared at her. His green eyes seemed to bore into her soul. “What were you afraid of?”
    She swallowed, struggling to find the correct words. “What I was feeling,” she said, pulse beating in her throat like a cannon. “Afraid of the wave lifting me from the ground, from the world. Twisting inside me with such heat I thought I’d die. I’d never felt like that before…” She faltered, dropping her head to gaze blindly at the table. “It was scary in its sheer power. I was over-whelmed. Drowning. How could I survive? What if you didn’t feel the same?” She returned her eyes to Jack. “But the look on your face…you looked at me with such disgust…and then you just got up and left. Without a word. Three days later you left Sydney.” Ali felt a burning sting at her eyes and clenched her jaw. Don’t you dare cry, Graham. Don’t you dare.
    “I couldn’t stay,” Jack’s voice was strained, a choked breath. “You were Andrew’s daughter. I’d used you when you were most vulnerable.”
    “I knew what I was doing,” she said,