Down to the Bone (10 page)

Maneuvering on his crutches, he went to his room. He was tired, but there was one last thing he needed to do. He got onto his computer and did a quick search. He found the website he was looking for and with it the information he needed. It was time for him to evolve.

MID-DECEMBER

“The position of the foramen magnum suggests Toumaï was bipedal!” Mark argued.

“That doesn’t make it a predecessor to hominids,” Dion countered.

That was the big debate for PAC that evening, and Liddy really didn’t much care. She sat, curled up on the leather recliner, staring at the three other anthropology students, thinking all the while about Jarrett. She’d written up a dozen e-mails and erased them before ever clicking on Send, while hypocritically checking her inbox for messages. She’d summoned up his number on her cell phone and then lost the courage to actually dial it. But she kept hoping he’d call her. He hadn’t.

He was preoccupied, of course. A healing kneecap and finals week around the corner. Likely, however, he also had no wish to talk to her. Which she could live with so long as she knew there weren’t any bad feelings between them.

Live with it yes, but she still felt like something inside her had been shattered to bits like all the bone fragments she studied. And she doubted there was any way of gluing it back together again.

“If Toumaï was a hominid,” John interjected, “then either the dating on the fossil is wrong or chimps and Toumaï—”

“And what if Toumaï was just an ape?” Dion wasn’t going to let that go.

“Or a dead end,” Liddy murmured. The doorbell rang. Liddy didn’t feel like moving. “Mark, could you get that?”

Mark vacated his corner on the couch. Liddy heard the door open, but kept her eyes listlessly on the coffee table. Nachos again. They really needed some variety.

“Um, Liddy?” Mark squeaked, as if frightened, and she blinked up.

Jarrett, wearing a heavy winter coat and balancing on crutches, was in her living room. He looked like a wounded giant. Liddy got to her feet. Everyone was gawking at him, especially Mark who looked like he was having nerd flashbacks of being beaten up in high school. There was a jock in their midst, his expression seemed to say. Should he call the police?

“I came to join the discussion,” Jarrett said. “Hybridization, right? That’s what the website said.”

“Jet...” Liddy said awkwardly. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk. Can we talk?”

The PAC people didn’t even wait for her answer, they were already grabbing their stuff.

“We’ll continue next time,” Mark said snatching up his backpack. In short order, and with no few backward glances, they were out the door.

Liddy stared after them, then turned her attention to Jarrett. “Take your coat?”

Jarrett allowed Liddy to help him off with his things. She settled him on the recliner, legs up.

“How is it?” She nodded to his knee in its plastic cage.

“Got almost my full range of motion back, and I should be able to do without the brace real soon. Thanks for asking.” Jarrett kept his tone light, but inside he was terrified...and aroused. Liddy’s lemon pie fragrance had woken up his sleeping hormones.

“Listen—” he tried, then stopped. He’d come here prepared, as for an exam, all possible questions and answers in essay form. Gazing on her, however, he found himself mute.

“Jet?” she asked, concerned. She was adorable, Jarrett thought, in her blue tank top and yoga pants, striped socks on her feet. He loved the way she carried her weight in her hips, the plumpness of her upper arms. He loved her elfin face and dark hair, and those playful Clark Kent glasses. And he loved that damn skull tattoo on her shoulder!

“God, I missed you,” he croaked, and, nabbing her with one arm, brought her onto his lap. He kissed her lips and her cheeks. Removed her glasses and set them aside before kissing her again deeply. He felt her heart beating against his as he flicked his tongue to meet hers.

She released a sigh and sunk in against him. “I missed you, too,” she whispered back.

Her clever fingers worked open his jeans and Jarrett gasped as her small hand touched on his straining cock through the fabric of his shorts. He, in turn, tugged at her waistband. Liddy helped him get her pants off; her top followed. She wasn’t wearing a bra, which was fine with Jarrett. He went right for her nipples. As he set his mouth to one, she let out a cry, her warm behind squirming on his erection until he was close to losing it.

Hoping to slow things down, he backed off from tonguing the nipple to nuzzle the softness of her breast. Inhaling the fragrance of her skin, however, excited him more. Next thing he knew, he was  back to licking at her areolas, loving how they tightened, the sensuous texture of that smooth-roughness. She moaned and bit at his neck, making his trapped cock ache with desire.

Tugging at her underwear, he asked. Demanded.

“Wait,” she gasped, prying his hands away. “Wait. You are not going to rush this like last time.”

With trembling fingers that told him she shared his excitement, she unbuttoned his flannel shirt and got him out of it. Then, shifting off his lap, helped him tug his jeans and briefs half-way down his thighs.

“Someday, I’m going to get you completely out of your pants,” she murmured, as Jarrett felt his cock come free.

Liddy hadn’t gotten that good a look at Jarrett’s cock the first time. Now she did. It was tall and tantalizing with a wet, spearhead crown. The balls were covered in a down of golden hair, already high and begging for release. Well, she could provide that, she thought, reaching to adjust a lever at the base of the recliner
.
The back went down, causing Jarrett to grunt with surprise.

Then Liddy slipped off her underwear.

“What are you doing?” Jarrett asked as she shifted around. He felt her hard nipples brush his belly, and then her breath on his cock. It strained and twitched to meet her.

“Trying to keep my weight off your hurt knee,” she said, and suddenly she was straddling him, head down at his dick. He gasped, not only because she’d just taken his sensitive cockhead into her hot mouth, but because her pussy was right there, right where he could get at it.

Fuck. Jarrett inhaled her perfume, moaning both at its fragrance and the sensation of Liddy’s lips and tongue mouthing his dick. He was salivating himself: her moist, rosy opening, her swollen pussy lips and the glistening clit were right there. Waiting. Just waiting for him. Wrapping his arms around her thighs, he leaned in for a taste.