The road less travelled...

Chapter Nine – Jarod’s Final Visit

Tribes
Cakobau
Annabelle-Marie
Andrea
Hayden
Jarod
Mike
Peter
Rachael
Tiffany

Naulivou
Bob
Candy
Chris
Louise
Meredith
Michael
Richard
Sarah

Parker dropped her keys in the drawer of the small table that stood beside her door and removed her gun, carefully placing it in its hiding spot in the linen closet. She carried the few items she had purchased from the supermarket into the kitchen before returning to the living room. Turning on the lights, she sat on the sofa and eased off her shoes, stretching her feet and wriggling her toes. Despite the change at the Centre, she continued to wear the power suits and high-heeled shoes in order to ensure that her authority, which had only increased since Raines and Lyle had disappeared into their respective T-boards, was not questioned.

A faint sound in the dark doorway leading to her kitchen made her start and she leapt to her feet, hand going instinctively to her waist and cursing inwardly as she recalled putting her gun away.

“Hey, it’s okay,” a familiar voice stated from the darkness. “It’s me.”

“Jarod.” His name hissed between her clenched teeth, but she let her fists relax at her sides and sank back down onto the sofa.

“That’s not like you, Miss Parker,” the Pretender remarked with a grin as he strolled into the room and moved the fire screen away to reveal the glowing embers. A few pieces of carefully positioned kindling and the flames leapt up the chimney.

“You’re usually much more alert,” he continued, his gaze focused on the fire as he stoked the flames and then added two of the large logs from the woodpile that stood next to the fireplace.

“Clearly I’m out of practice with you,” she said absently as she stared thoughtfully at the now-cheerfully burning fire. Inwardly, she was astonished with herself for not noticing that and several other minor changes around the room. A usually empty decanter was now half-filled with red wine and two glasses stood next to it. Her slippers lay on the floor almost beside her feet. She slid them on and curled her feet up under her as she watched him stoke the fire into roaring life.

“To what do I owe this dubious honor?” she finally asked, when it became clear that he was not going to begin the conversation.

“You don’t believe it was merely for the pleasure of your company?” he asked with another of the maddening grins that always riled her.

“Not a chance,” she retorted flippantly. “You know full well, if I hadn’t put my gun away…”

“Now, now, Miss Parker,” he retorted, his eyes dancing as he sat in the armchair with its back to the window, “there’s no need for that. After all, it’s not as if chasing me is a major part of your life now, is it?”

Suddenly the penny dropped. She understood, at least partly, why Jarod had given up his anonymity. It was not merely to protect his family, although that was certainly a major incentive. It was also to make a point with her. The rules had changed. He had changed them. And now he wanted to see how she would respond. A feeling of obstinacy made her stay dumb. He watched her for a moment before realizing her feelings and speaking to break the increasingly awkward silence.

“We have unfinished business,” he said softly.

“I don’t think we do,” she retorted, trying to ignore a nervous fluttering in the pit of her stomach and the memory of Jarod’s warmth as he had come ever closer to her as they sat before another fire on the other side of the world. She understood, too, why he had set things up here, what he hoped to create. She only hoped she would have the strength to resist – if she even wanted to. And that was by no means definite.

“You aren’t chasing…”

He offered this with a teasing smile and a knowing look in his eye that said, as clearly as if he had spoken, that he knew there was no answer she could give that would not support his argument.

“I don’t want to play games with you,” she protested.

“All I want is that promised happy ending,” he told her. “After all I’ve done for you, don’t you think I deserve it?”

“This isn’t an ending,” she argued, sitting up straighter.

“No,” he agreed with a sly smile, “it’s not.”

But it could be a beginning.

The words hung in the air between them and the only sound in the room was the crackling fire.

She stiffened as he stood up, but he only moved to the fireplace and, his back to her, stared into the flames. She knew he was giving her a choice – if she took the opportunity to leave the room, he would be gone in minutes and, she guessed, it would be a long time before they saw one another again. For an instant, she thought of the gun she had stored away so carefully in the linen closet, but any desire she might have had to return him to the Centre was long gone – had been ever since her return from Carthis. Besides, she had a feeling that he might enjoy watching her try to control him and she was determined not to give him the satisfaction.

The only lights in the room that were illuminated were on either side of the mantel and this put her at a disadvantage when he finally turned back to face her – he could see her face, but his was in shadow. She was sure that he was at least briefly surprised to find her still in the room and if she had glimpsed that emotion in his eyes, it would have given her some sort of advantage. As it was, the dim light meant that the moment slipped away before she could properly grasp it.

She stiffened again as he crossed the room, avoiding the coffee table only by a miracle, and then sat on the sofa. They were separated by a mere matter of inches and she felt her skin crawl at his proximity. Then she noticed that his arm was stretched along the sofa, almost touching her. Only by holding herself stiffly upright could she stop him from making contact.

“What do you want?”

The question, which she had meant to say so aggressively, came out like a murmured breath so that Jarod’s eyebrows twitched a little as if unsure he had caught the question. A slight nod of his head told her that he believed he had and that he knew what she was asking.

Instead of answering, he closed the small gap between them, one hand coming up to caress her chin for the brief instant before his lips brushed hers.

She meant to give him no satisfaction, to allow him that one kiss – she owed him that, after the way he had given up his privacy and that of his family to give her freedom, but she meant to stop him if he came too close and crossed the boundary that she had mentally established as the furthest she would let him go.

Unfortunately for her resolve, her hands seemed to have a mind of their own and first one and then the other began caressing Jarod’s cheeks and running themselves through his hair. Without realizing it, she relaxed against him. Her body responded to the increasing urgency of his touch as his tongue slipped between her lips and began a gentle exploration of her mouth. She moved closer, forcing him back, taking control of the situation and feeling more like herself once she had done so.

She placed a hand on his stomach and pushed him away, only a few inches, but just enough that she could look into his eyes, hearing herself having to pant for breath. Much to her annoyance, he was perfectly calm and under her fingers she could feel his taut stomach muscles moving in regular, even breaths. His eyes danced with a wicked light. He understood her perfectly – it was one of the things about him that annoyed her the most – and he knew what this brief moment of hesitation meant.

“Enough?”

“Bastard,” she growled, before smothering, with a fierce kiss, the chuckle that had begun deep in his throat. It gave her satisfaction to hear a ragged breath in her ear when they finally broke apart and to know that she had nearly choked him. He deserved it. He was a bastard to come here and take base advantage of her like this. She refused to consider the idea that she had been secretly longing for a moment like this ever since Ochee had interrupted them on Carthis.

As she backed away – only a few inches – she realized that her bra straps hung loose on her shoulders and the buttons of her shirt, underneath the sweater she wore, had been unfastened. She had been equally busy – his fly and zipper were undone – but she pretended not to notice and glared at him, shoving at his shoulder with her spare hand.

As he had been precariously balanced on the edge of the sofa, this push was enough to force him on to the floor, but he had hold of her arms and pulled her down with him.

They made love right there on the floor. It was unspeakably annoying to her, when she realized later, that the coffee table had been pushed closer to the fire in order to allow them enough room – that Jarod had moved it there before she even got home, having clearly anticipated her response to his presence. That would come much later though. For the moment, she had no time or leisure to think, at least until they were lying together in front of the dying fire with the first rays of sunlight starting to peep in at the window.

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