Hope Smolders (7 page)

“It wasn’t my fault. He’s the one who failed.”

Will frowned. “What? Of course it wasn’t your fault, Jane. Vic’s the bad guy in all this. You know that, right?”

She nodded. “It took me a while to get there. For a long time I blamed myself. I tried to figure out where I failed him, until I realized he was the one who was weak. He was the one who failed. Not me. I was there for him. I’d have done anything for him. He just got so deep into that thing he loved more than me and his kids he couldn’t see straight.”

“I know. Believe me, I know. I can’t tell you how many times I tried to talk to him. Hell, I offered to pay for rehab if he’d just go.”

She shot him a look. “You did?”

“Hell yes, I did. He was my best friend. I’d have done anything to save him. He didn’t want it. He laughed at me and told me he’d rather have the money for another hit.”

She shook her head, not at all surprised Vic had said that to Will. But it did surprise her that someone else had to go through what she had. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. That was a big wake-up call for me.”

“Yeah, I had a lot of those wake-up calls. I stopped trying
to help him, too. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want the help.”

The band started up again. Will held out his hand. “Come on. Let’s shake it off and dance.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.”

“I do.” He tugged her hand and she went with him onto the dance floor. It only took her a few seconds of watching Will do a very unrhythmic groove for the doldrums to disappear. She laughed and started dancing with him. Soon the dance floor was crowded and she and Will were being shoved into each other. She had to move closer to him for self-preservation.

They stayed out there for the next song. Jane needed the stress release, and she liked that Will could care less that he couldn’t dance. He seemed to be having a great time.

And when the band slowed things down on the following song, he pulled her into his arms and held her close. She sighed and enjoyed being held against him, the tough conversation about her ex long forgotten.

“Now this part I can do,” he said, his lips close to her ear as they swayed side to side.

Yeah, he had the holding her close part down really well, her hip brushing against his thigh, her breasts against his chest and his hand clasped tight to hers. When his fingers traced that bare spot on her back, she broke out in goose bumps. And when he pulled back so he could look at her, those whiskey-colored eyes were filled with a hunger that matched her own.

“Ready to get out of here?”

She nodded. He took her hand and led her back to his car. Once inside, he took off on the highway, and she was once again struck by the care he took when he drove.

Vic had always been so reckless. Whenever they’d gone out, he usually drank too much. Which meant a battle over her trying to wrestle the keys from him so she could drive, or white-knuckling it the entire way home, hoping he
wouldn’t kill them on the highway. It was such a relief to be out with a guy who didn’t drink too much and didn’t drive too fast.

It took her a while to notice he wasn’t taking her home. Instead, once they got into town he took the back road to the park. The park was closed, but he pulled into one of the parking spots in front of the lake.

“You do realize I’m not going to strip naked and go skinny-dipping,” she said.

He released his seat belt and looked at her. “I can’t tell you how profoundly disappointed I am to hear that.”

“However, if you intended to take a dip sans clothing, by all means, go ahead. I’ll watch.”

“You would, huh?”

Even in the dark, she caught the gleam in his eyes. The car suddenly seemed very warm and her nipples peaked hard, her sex awakening with throbbing need.

Yeah, she had a very vivid imagination, and when Will got out of the car, her first thought was that he really was going to take off his clothes to take a dip. She wondered if he’d mind if she got a few photos to remember the occasion.

But then he came around to her side and opened her door. “Come on. Let’s take a walk.”

“The park’s closed, you know.”

“My friend Luke is a cop and he’s on duty tonight. I promise you he won’t arrest us.”

“Are you sure?”

He pulled out his phone and punched a button, waiting while it rang. “Hey…Yeah, I know you’re working, that’s why I’m calling…No, nothing’s wrong. My friend Jane and I are over at Hope Park, taking a walk around the lake. So if you do a drive-by and see my car, don’t come and arrest us, okay?”

Jane watched as his lips curved. He looked at her.

“No, we’re not going to be skinny-dipping, moron.”

Jane stifled a laugh.

“Yeah, see you at the gym.”

He clicked off. “Feel better now?”

“Yes. I guess it pays to have friends in high places.”

“Sometimes it does.”

The lake was beautiful tonight. The moon cast its silvery glow over the lake, the water so still Jane was sure she could walk on it. The night was peaceful, just the two of them wandering around there. And because she trusted Will to keep her safe, she was content to walk along the path at the edge of the lake with him. He led her to a picnic bench near the water, then set her on top of it, climbing over the seat so he could nestle his body against hers.

The only sounds were the crickets and the occasional locust. Otherwise, it was so quiet she could hear the wild slam of her heart beating double-time against her chest. Having Will close to her like this sent her breathing off-kilter. And when he threaded his fingers through her hair and brushed his lips against hers, she remembered just how long it had been since she’d felt this sense of anticipation, this wild abandon and sharp desire that threatened to steal her breath away.

Too damn long. She lightly raked her nails up and down his forearms, rewarded with his responding groan. He moved in between her legs and deepened the kiss, pulling her against him, wrapping an arm around her to drag her closer so their bodies fit together. Not exactly the most modest of positions since she had a skirt on, but frankly she didn’t much care. She craved the contact of his body against hers, his tongue sliding inside to lick against hers. She heard a soft moan—hers, as his hand roamed down her back and settled against her butt. She wished they weren’t in such a public place, because the closer he got, the more she realized that he was hard and she was damp, and if they had been at her place, she could get him naked and they could be having sex.

They drew apart, and she was decidedly happy that he was dragging in ragged breaths. “This—was a really bad idea.”

Confused, she looked up at him. “Which part?”

“The taking you to the lake part. I have a raging hard-on and I really want to lay you out on this picnic table, get you naked, and kiss you all over. And that
would
get me arrested.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah. I’m not real fond of being naked in public. Let’s go to my place and get naked in private.”

He scooped her off the table in record time and set her on her feet, then grabbed her hand. The walk back to the car was not the leisurely stroll they’d taken before, though Will did grab her several times and plant seriously hot, deep kisses on her that left her dizzy and so turned on she was beginning to rethink the whole naked in the park thing.

They finally made it back to his car, both of them out of breath. She buckled her seat belt, then looked over at Will, and at his very noticeable erection straining against his jeans.

“Maybe we should just do it in the car,” she said.

He gripped the steering wheel, then looked over at her, pinning her with a look of pure animal hunger that seared her. “Don’t tease me like that because I just might take you up on that suggestion.”

She swallowed, her throat so dry it felt like sand had settled permanently in it. “Drive fast. Okay, not so fast that you’re breaking any speed limits and your friend Luke has to pull you over and delay things. But let’s get to my place in kind of a hurry, okay?”

“Yeah. Gotcha.” He started the car and pulled out, screeching the tires just a bit as he roared out of the park. He kept it just above the legal limit, his hands tense on the steering wheel the entire time.

She figured by the time they got back to her house,
common sense would have prevailed and she’d have cooled down a bit.

Not so much. She’d clutched the armrest the entire time, and it wasn’t because of Will’s driving. He pulled into her driveway and she tried to be calm and rational, but she threw open the car door, her fingers fumbling in her purse for the keys. Will grabbed them from her as they hurried to the front door. With fingers more deft than hers, he unlocked the door and she stepped inside. Before she could find the light switch, he closed the door and had her in his arms, his mouth on hers.

She dropped her purse to the floor, her hand coming up to twine around his neck. She had to stand on her toes to get there, but she needed to touch him. He made it easier on her by grasping her butt and lifting her, pressing her against the door and pinning her there with his body.

Good Lord, the man was strong, holding on to her, kissing her, devouring her with his lips and tongue. His fingers dug into the flesh of her thighs and it felt gloriously, deliciously decadent. She wasn’t sure she’d ever been wanted in this kind of desperate fashion, and she gave it back in kind, tangling her fingers in his hair as she kissed him with breathless abandon.

“Bedroom,” he said, dragging his mouth from hers and talking to her while his lips mapped a trail across her jaw and fixed onto her neck.

She gasped out a moan. “I don’t know. That way somewhere.”

“We’ll figure it out.”

He flipped her around and started walking—in the dark, no less.

“Straight,” she guided him, her mouth on his neck, that spot she’d been fixated on. She licked him and he bumped into something, letting out a curse.

“Sorry. There’s an ottoman there. Take a quick turn around that and go straight past the dining room and down the hall. My bedroom’s the last one.”

“Got it.” He stopped midway down the hall to push her against the wall and suck on that sensitive spot between her neck and shoulder. Would she have a hickey tomorrow? She didn’t care because chills coursed down her spine as shivery sensation rippled through her.

He found the bedroom and held on to her with one hand while he opened the door. He made her feel light and delicate as he proceeded to the bed, making her so glad she’d changed the sheets and made the bed today—just in case.

He deposited her on the bed and came down on top of her, that delicious weight of his rocking against her as he moved his lips over her neck and lower. And when he palmed her stomach, his fingers inching the material of her top over her belly, she fluttered with awareness and need.

She toed her shoes off and he pushed her farther onto the bed, lifting her skirt.

“You smell good,” he said, burying his face in her neck.

His hands were everywhere. One on her thigh, inching toward her hip, the other lifting her blouse and palming her breast. It was all happening so fast, she couldn’t keep up with the sensations blasting her from all directions. And when he lifted her top over her head, all she could do was lie back and let him have his way, because she’d fantasized about this, wanted this—and oh, God, she needed this.

Right up to the point when he reached over and switched on her bedside lamp.

She lifted up on her elbows. “What are you doing?”

“I want to see you.”

“Oh. Uh.” Desire tamped down. “Could we maybe do this in the dark?”

Will cocked a brow, then grinned at her and pushed her shoulders down. “Not a chance in hell, Jane. You’re gorgeous and I want to see all of you.”

She lifted back up on her elbows. “Will. You do realize I’ve given birth to two children, right?”

He loomed over her, his hands planted on either side of
her. “I think you’re beautiful, Jane. And yes, I realize you’re not twenty anymore. Neither am I.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have stretch marks from childbirth.”

He laughed, then pushed her back down on the bed. “No, I don’t. Now relax and let me make love to you.”

She looked up at the ceiling, her earlier excitement replaced with trepidation. His face appeared over hers, and suddenly he was kissing her again. Deep, soulful kisses that made her forget to be conscious of her body and its imperfections. She reached for him, slid her fingers into the soft silkiness of his hair. He laid a hand on her stomach, then over her hip, gradually pulling down her skirt. She helped him, lifting her hips until the skirt slid down her legs, leaving her in only her bra and panties.

He kissed her neck again, evoking chills, then moved his lips over her collarbone and the swell of her breasts. Jane kept her eyes tightly shut, not wanting Will to be disappointed in her. But when he removed her bra and put his mouth over her nipples, she forgot all about everything except the way he pleasured her, teasing her nipple by sucking it. Her eyes flew open and she had to watch his cheeks hollow as he took her nipple into his mouth, then flicked his tongue over the sensitive bud until she thought she might die from the pleasure. And while he plumped and pleasured her breast, he moved his hand over her rib cage and down her belly, making her breath catch as he cupped her sex, drawing out her low moan as he slipped his hand into her panties to tease and torment her.

Her back bowed as she met his questing fingers. He expertly knew right where to touch her, using his fingers to dip inside her, moistening them, and then circling her center of pleasure until she thought she might just die right there.

Taut with tension, she rocked against his hand until he brought her right to the edge.

“Come on, baby,” he whispered. “Let go for me.”

His words, so evocative, so dark and rich with promise, were her undoing. She burst with an orgasm she felt she’d been holding in for years, crying out against him as she thrashed in his arms. He held her as she moaned through it, using his fingers to expertly coax her right to the very edge again. And then he pulled her to the edge of the bed, removed her panties, and put his mouth on her, teasing her with his lips and tongue.