Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents

you’re going to feel love.
    You’l be ready some day and when it’s right, we’l love each other.â€
    She hated what she’d become, what Stavros had made her. She had to give him something. “I’ve always loved you, Jackson. From the first moment your mind connected to mine, I loved you.â€
    â€œHel of a time to tel me, baby,†he said, coming back to her and leaning down, his hand spanning her throat in a brushing caress. “But thank you. I don’t know how the hel I got so lucky, but I’l take it.â€
    â€œI’m the lucky one.†And she was. She had Jackson. She had her sisters waiting for her, ready to help and support her. She had an entire vil age of people who had watched her grow up and wished her wel . So many other young women weren’t as lucky. They had no one to help them through the trauma of rape and assault.
    Jackson gripped her hand and tugged. “Come on. Let’s go watch the sun come up.â€
    El e stood up slowly, letting the sheet fal away, standing in his shirt and her bare skin. “Why haven’t you asked me why I don’t let you wash my hair?â€
    Jackson released her and padded over to the drawers to pul out a pair of drawstring sweatpants. He handed them to her, his gaze moving over her with a disarming gentleness she’d never have associated with him. “You’re not ready. When you’re ready, you’l tel me.â€
    She touched her hair. “I always loved my hair. Mom said it was my best feature, my crowning glory.â€
    â€œYour eyes are your best feature.†He tipped his head to one side to study her. “Maybe your mouth. You have a kil er mouth. Your smile can stop traffic. But I love your hair. Al that fiery red reminds me what a little stick of dynamite you real y are.â€
    â€œNot so much anymore.†She pul ed on the sweatpants.
    â€œYou’re down, El e, not out.†He shrugged into a shirt and picked up a blanket and two sweaters, indicating she precede him out of the bedroom.
    Bomber pushed against El e’s leg as if to guide her and she dropped her hand on his head, feeling reassured by the dog’s presence.
    â€œI’ve got two more dogs coming,†Jackson announced as he pushed open the door, his hand over her head.
    El e frowned as she went under his arm to step outside. “Two more dogs? What do you mean?â€
    â€œProtection dogs. I’ve worked with them quite a bit. A friend of mine trains them. The two coming are very skil ed and I’ve worked with them before. Lisset sel s them, so I asked that when she was ready to let them go, to give me first opportunity.â€
    â€œLisset?†She’d never heard him talk about another woman. Not once. She’d never heard a whisper of him dating, or seen him get a phone cal from a woman. Jonas had never mentioned another woman.
    El e real y looked at him. His broad shoulders, his flat abdomen and narrow hips. He had a very nice butt, which she’d noticed often.
    â€œStop it.â€
    She raised her eyebrow. “You’re pretty darned good-looking.â€

    â€œNo, I’m not.†He caught her hand as she started toward the path leading to the beach. “Not down there. We’l sit up here under the trees and watch the sun come up.â€
    â€œI thought we were going down to the beach.†She had missed walking on the beach with the cool sand on her toes and the wind coming off the ocean in her face.
    â€œWe can’t take a chance of getting sand in your wounds.â€
    â€œYes, we can.†She tilted her chin at him. “I don’t mind a little sand.â€
    It was the first time she’d real y acted like El e. The green eyes deepened to a sparkling emerald chal enge and Jackson felt his heart contract.
    â€œI’m sure you don’t mind, honey, and as soon as your sister Libby gets her butt over here and heals those open wounds, you can rol in sand if you want. In the meantime, we’l just sit under the trees and look at the sea from up here.â€
    Her mouth tightened. “Jackson, it’s no big thing.â€
    He reached out with deceptive casualness, curled his fingers around the nape of her neck and drew him to her, one slow step at a time. “If you had been a smart girl, you would have stayed with your sisters. Then when you wanted to walk on the