Rose was laughing as Jack led her into a small, shabby building. Her curls were plastered to her neck. Her dress was soaked through. Her shoes made a loud squishing sound when she walked. But she didn't care; in fact, she barely even noticed.
"What's so funny?" Jack asked, a laugh of his own escaping.
"I don't know! I—I just—" She doubled over and clutched her stomach. "I—" She squeezed her eyes shut. Just breathe.
Jack laid a hand on her shoulder. "You all right?"
She nodded and looked up at him, her eyes sparkling. "I'm more all right than I've ever been in my whole life."
He gently took her hand. "Me, too."
They were on the verge of becoming hopelessly lost in each other's eyes when a loud thump filled their ears. Jack pulled Rose closer and wrapped a protective am around her shoulders. She hugged him tightly and pressed her cheek against his chest. A sigh of relief escaped her throat as she realized the sound had come from a small wooden box being dropped onto the floor by a stern-looking middle-aged woman. She stood across the room, her arms folded across her ample chest, and eyed them with obvious disgust. Suddenly, Jack was uncomfortably aware of the fact that not only were they both soaked, but Rose's thin dress was clinging to her in ways that left nothing to the imagination.
He drew himself up to his full height and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, ma'am," he said. "We were hoping to rent a room for the night."
The woman's mouth thinned. "Are you married?"
"Yes," Rose said quickly. Jack shot her a surprised glance. She gave his leg a light kick. Just go with it!
The woman's eyes drifted from Rose to Jack. Sure you are. She snorted quietly and picked up a pencil from the table in front of her. "You'll have to sign this," she said, pointing at a large open book with her head. Jack stepped forward and took the pencil. Her gaze burned into him as he carefully wrote Leonard and Virginia Stephens. Rose smiled slightly as she read the names. How did he come up with those? She knew exactly why he hadn't put their real ones, and it had more to do with a fear that Cal would find them than anything else. They hadn't discussed the possibility that Cal was looking for them, but that was only because neither of them had felt like stating the obvious. How could he not be? Especially after the way Jack humiliated him today. Rose's stomach twisted at the thought of what Cal would do to him if he found them.
He handed the pencil back to her and reached for Rose's waiting hand. "Anything else?"
"Well, there's a little thing called money."
"Oh." Jack shoved his free hand into his pocket. "Right." He pulled out a handful of damp, crumpled bills. "How much?" he asked, hoping it wasn't more than what he had.
She stared at Rose's dress, mentally calculating its cost. "Usually it's fifty cents a night, but for you it's a dollar."
Rose's cheeks burned. Her hands clenched into fists and she lifted her chin. How dare you! she screamed silently. How dare you presume to know anything about us!
Jack lightly ran his thumb along her palm. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye; his lips turned up slightly at the corners when she met his gaze. "I love you," he mouthed.
*****
"I'm just gonna…uh…stand over here while you…" Jack made a circular motion with his hand. "You know."
"While I spin around?"
He hunched his shoulders and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "While you…" He just couldn't seem to say the words. While you get naked a few feet away from me. His cheeks burned. Shut up!
What? You've thought about it. Don't try to act like you haven't. Remember after the dance when you stayed up all night because—
Shut up!
Rose drew her arms around herself and shivered. The temperature had plummeted once the storm began, and it was even colder in their room than it was outside. "You need to get out of those clothes," Jack said, no longer caring about the fact that she would be naked if she did. "You need to get into bed," he added. "Where it's warm."
Her voice was small. "All right."
Her heart began to pound as he turned to face the wall. You don't have to do that, she thought. You could—
What? He could what? Watch you?
Rose shivered again, but not from the cold. The thought of Jack watching her undress made her hair stand on end. She slowly untied the sash on the back of her dress and started on the buttons. She threw a quick glance over her shoulder as she stepped out of the dress and let it slide to the floor, forming a puddle of silk at her feet. Jack was staring intently at the wall, his hands still jammed into his pockets. His shoulders were tensed, as if he were bracing himself for something.
"You aren't looking," she murmured disappointedly.
Part of her had hoped he would be while another part had just assumed he would be. After all, wasn't that what men did? Wasn't that why her mother always told her to be so careful around them? And if Cal's behavior was anything to go by…
"What?" Jack asked, ignoring the urge to turn around.
"Nothing. It—it doesn't matter."
"Okay."
"Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you help me? Please?"
He slowly turned around. He swallowed a gasp. Rose's hair had begun to dry and it fell freely around her shoulders. A few small curls framed her face, making her eyes seem even greener. Her underclothes were white silk. Wet white silk. His eyes traveled over her body, taking in every curve, every bit of bare skin. His breath caught in his throat when his gazed landed on her breasts; he didn't know if it was just him or if they really were threatening to spill out of her camisole. Her nipples were perfectly round and visible in a way he had never allowed himself to think possible.
"Jack?" She took a step toward him. "Are you—"
"I'm fine," he said quickly. "I'll be all right. W—what do you need?"
"Could you unlace this for me?" she asked, turning around. "I can't quite reach it."
He nodded dumbly. His hands were shaking so badly he could barely hold the laces. "I don't understand why they put you in these things," he muttered.
"Neither can I. Sometimes it hurts just to breathe."
And just like that, his hands were steady again. "It does?"
She nodded. "If it's laced tightly enough. I try not to let it get that tight, but it isn't really up to me."
"It is now," he said solemnly. "You don't ever have to wear one again if you don't want to. You don't ever have to do anything you don't want to again," he added.
She looked at him over her shoulder. "Thank you." She didn't say it, but they both knew she was thanking him for more than unlacing her corset.
*****
"You can't stay like that! It's freezing in here!"
Jack rubbed his hands together and blew on his fingertips. "I'll be fine." He gave a forced smile. “It's not so bad."
"You're lying. I have three blankets on top of me, and I'm still cold."
"I'll go see if I can find you another one," he said, moving toward the door.
"No!" She sat up, making sure to keep the blankets pulled up to her throat. "You don't have to do that," she said softly. "There's another way I could get warm." She couldn't believe she was actually saying the words out loud. "And so could you."
"Rose—" His words were lost in a gasp as she let go of the blankets covering her bare chest. His breathing quickened. "Rose, you can't," he whispered.
A small smile spread across her face. "You said I never have to do anything I don't want to do again."
"I didn't mean this," he stammered. "I didn't mean…" Why are you fighting her? Why aren't you naked already? He closed his eyes. I can't do that. I can't take advantage of her like that. She doesn't realize what she's saying.
"I know exactly what I'm saying." He opened his eyes and saw that she had crawled forward; the blankets were now twisted around her hips. She gazed up at him, love and lust mingling in her eyes. "Come to bed, Jack."
*****
"Can I open my eyes yet?"
"Not yet," he said. He grabbed the blankets and pulled them back; in one quick movement he hopped onto the bed and pulled all three blankets up to his chin. "You can open your eyes now."
"I don't know why you made me close them in the first place. It isn't as though I'm not lying beside you," she teased. "What would it have mattered if I saw you undress?"
He ducked his head. "You shouldn't be lying beside me. I shouldn't have done this." He lurched forward as though he were going to leap back out of the bed.
She laid a hand on his arm. "It's too cold for you not to be out of those wet clothes and in bed. And didn't you say I was your wife?"
"You're the one who said that."
"You didn't deny it."
"What was I supposed to say? She isn't my wife, but I wish she was?" His jaw dropped. "I said that out loud, didn't I? I'm sorry. I—"
"Did you mean that?" She moved her hand from his arm to his face. "Do you really wish I was your wife?" He nodded slowly. "I dreamed you were. After we danced…after I finally fell asleep…" His hands began to shake again; the urge to touch her was almost overwhelming.
She slowly stroked his cheek with her fingertips. "I dreamed about it, too," she said.
He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. This can't be happening, he thought. This isn't real. When I open my eyes, she won't be here anymore. But when he opened them a moment later, she was still there.
He held as breath as she took one of his hands in hers and brought it up to her lips. She ran her fingers over his palm, tracing the lines as she went. "What do you see?"
"I see you."
"And?"
She looked up from his hand. "You wouldn't hurt me."
"Never," he whispered hoarsely. He cupped her cheek. "Never."
"There are only two things I want, only two things I care about," she said, gazing into his eyes. "And only you can give them to me."
"Just tell me what they are."
"Just one for now," she said, lying back against the pillows. His hand dropped from her face to her shoulder as she moved. She glanced down at it. "Lower."
"What?" he asked breathlessly.
"Put your hand lower, Jack. Touch me."
He gently slid his fingertips down her throat, stopping just before he reached her breasts. "Touch me," she said again, more insistently this time.
"I don't deserve to," he whispered. "I shouldn't be—I'm not—" He let out a yelp of surprise as she grabbed his hands and placed them on her breasts. He looked from his hands to her and then back again.
"Don't be afraid," she said. She squirmed slightly under his touch, causing a ripple of pleasure to shoot through both of them.
He slid his hands down her breasts, pausing briefly to trace circles around her nipples with his thumbs. He grinned slightly as she gasped in response. "You told me to touch you," he murmured.
"I know." She moved into a sitting position. "But you aren't the only one who gets to touch."
He was too busy staring at her exposed upper body to notice one of her hands slip under the blankets. "What d—" A low moan escaped his throat as her fingertips slowly moved up his thigh.
She raised an eyebrow. "Such a reaction," she teased. "I haven't even done anything to you."
"You have," he said, reaching down and taking her hand in his. There was still a voice in the back of his mind telling him to stop, but he pushed it away. He would stop when Rose's voice told him to.
Her eyes widened. He lowered her hand slowly, giving her time to pull away. He sucked in his breath as she wrapped her fingers around him. He watched, his heart pounding, as she pulled the blankets down. They had both long since forgotten the cold that had driven them into bed in the first place. She murmured something to herself, but he couldn't make out what it was. There was a slightly puzzled look in her eyes. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine…." She slid her thumb along his shaft. He groaned quietly. She smiled, as if pleased by his response.
"You don't have to do this," he said.
She looked into his eyes. "I know that. I want to do this. I know I shouldn't want it, but I do. And I want it to be with you." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. "I don't want anyone else's hands on me ever again."
Jack pressed his hands against her back, pulling her closer. He kissed her as he lowered her onto her back. "You don't have to worry about that," he whispered.
She closed her eyes as his lips moved across her jaw, down her neck, and then over her breasts. She moaned softly and twisted her hands in his hair as his mouth closed over one of her nipples. "Jack…"
He stifled a moan of his own as he felt her squirm beneath him. Her legs parted slightly. He slipped a hand between them. He glanced up at her face; her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were dark. "Is it okay?" She answered by arching her hips and pushing herself into his hand.
*****
"We can stop."
"No. Keep going, Jack."
*****
"Keep going, Jack. Keep going…Jack! Jack! Jack!"