Love Uncovered (Forbidden Fruit) (5 page)

“Okay, but don’t look until I tell you.”

“Freak,” he said, but the word held affection not criticism.

“Maybe, but it’s my tits, my rules. Turn your head; I can’t see your eyes behind your sunglasses. I’ll tell you when you can look.”

She watched to make sure he followed her directions. When she was satisfied he wasn’t looking she rearranged their life vests so she could comfortably stretch her back over the seat. Grinning like a fool, she grabbed the sunscreen and peeled off her t-shirt. The sun felt amazing on her naked breasts, hot and wanton. She wasn’t ready to do the full Monty in the canoe. Topless was one thing, but she was keeping a layer of cotton between her and the bottom of the boat. Instead she unbuttoned and unzipped her shorts, opening them just a little at the top. She lay over the seat and let her head fall back, offering her full breasts to the sun and Max.

“Okay, you can look.”
She kept her own eyes closed and hidden behind her sunglasses.

“You are so fucking beautiful.” The naked appreciation
in his voice sent heat and slick arousal to her sex.

She thumbed open the sunscreen and squirted some onto her belly
, more than she needed if she was honest. Feeling like some kind of sex goddess instead of someone’s mother, she started to spread the lotion over her skin. When her hands cupped her breasts, Max groaned, spurring her on. She rubbed the lotion on her sun warmed skin, making smaller circles as she got closer to her nipples. It felt so good. It never felt this good when she touched herself before. Part of it was the wantonness of being naked in the sun, but an equal part was hearing Max’s breath and knowing what she was doing turned him on, too.  She pinched her nipples with lotion slicked fingers, sliding and tugging on her deliciously aroused flesh.

“Christ, Jules.” He breathed the words, his voice strangled, and she froze unsure. “No,
don’t stop. God, please don’t stop. “

Smiling from the inside out, lost in the pleasure of the heat of
the sun and the hunger in his words, she gave herself over to the sensation of her hands stroking her breasts. Her hands slid on her heavy, full breasts as she cupped them and stroked toward the tips. When she reached her nipples, she pinched and tugged, stretching the rosy peaks before her hands slid off.

She’d always loved it when Max played with her breasts, but this was different. Knowing he was watching her, getting excited by what she was doing made it all more intense. Her panties
were wet and her sex swollen. For the first time, she wondered if she might be able to come just from touching her breasts. She shifted, wriggling a little and her clit throbbed. If she could just get a bit more friction. A few quick strokes with her fingers to her aching clit and she knew she could get herself off. Max would like watching it, too. She was so excited; she’d be willing to do it, but she didn’t think sunscreen was meant to go there. She was pretty sure is would hurt and put a major damper on her libido. She shifted again and felt her wet panties clinging to her sex.  God, it wasn’t going to be enough, she thought, blowing out a frustrated breath.

“Come
for me, baby. Touch yourself,” Max said, almost as if he could read her mind.

“Can’t.”
She panted, so turned on she was having a hard time remembering why she shouldn’t. Sunscreen. “I’m afraid it will burn. My hands are covered with sunscreen.”

“Mine aren’t.” Max picked up the paddle and dug into the water like he was fighting the rapids he used to run. The canoe sped through the water
toward a grassy spot on the shore. Not waiting to steady the course from one side, Max shifted the paddle to the other side of the canoe and cold drops of water splashed on Julie’s hot breasts and belly. She squealed like one of their girls and struggled to sit up clutching her t-shirt to her chest.

Paddling like a mad man, Max didn’t miss a stroke.
“Sorry, babe. Hold on. We’re coming in.” He looked like a man possessed, sending the canoe rocketing across the lake toward the shore. He also looked incredibly strong and capable. Watching his arms bunch as he pulled the boat across the water, she remembered how much she used to like to watch him. His back, shoulders and arms had always been so strong – still were – like there wasn’t anything he couldn’t carry. She’d watched them lift her sleeping children and felt them wrapped around her. She wanted to see them while he paddled – see the muscles bunch and strain, naked in the sunlight.

“Take off your shirt. I want to see you, too.”

“In about five minutes, I’ll take off everything,” he said, a slow grin turning up the corners of his determined mouth. “But I’m not slowing down until I get us on dry land and get my hands on you. God, Jules, I want you so much; I can hardly breathe.” He kept paddling, not missing a stroke while he spoke. “Hold on” was as much warning as she got, giving her just enough time to grab the sides of the canoe before he ran the bow up onto the grassy shore. “Out.”

Still clutching the t-shirt to her breasts, she took a few steps down the center of the boat, intent on not falling. When she reached solid ground, she bent down to grab the rope to pull the canoe further onto land, but Max was there already, yanking the boat onto shore.
He stood, stripped off his own t-shirt before yanking hers away. Wrapping his strong arms around her, he pulled her against his naked chest, the hair deliciously abrading her already swollen nipples. There was still enough lotion on her skin for them to slide against each other and she rubbed herself over him like a cat.

He groaned and bent to capture her mouth. His kiss was fierce, possessive and unlike the tender pecks they’d both grown used to.
This is what they mean when they talk about devouring each other, she thought before her brain dissolved in the heat of him.

His hands stroked down her back before slipping into her open short
s to cup the full curves of her butt. He hauled her tighter against him and she felt the thick, hard length of his erection.  She stretched up on her toes and fitted him into the cleft between her legs, groaning into his mouth as he thrust against her needy clit. He broke the kiss and looked around almost frantic. They were standing in a grassy patch, but no one mowed or made hay this far back. At least not that kind of hay. The grass brushed her calves. She wanted him desperately, but she didn’t really want to lie down in the high grass. She wasn’t the kind of woman a man lifted and fitted around his waist, not even one as strong as her husband. She made a frustrated noise, part whimper, part growl.

“No blanket.” Max let go of her, grabbed their discarded shirts and started stomping the grass down in a small circle. That fact that he looked as frustrated as she felt and very determined soothed her. He spread their t-shirts out on the flattened grass and then stripped off his shorts. She watched as his cock sprang free
and licked her lips. It was his turn to groan. “I won’t make it if you do that. Come on.” He tugged at her shorts and she fought the urge to take him in her hand. Damn sunscreen. She stepped out of the shorts and he added both pairs to their nest. “Here, baby, get on your hands and knees.”

Julie hurried to comply, kneeling on their clothes
, open and so ready for him. Before she got settled he was behind her, kissing the back of her neck and sliding his cock between her legs. He reached around her and pressed his fingers into her wet folds. When his fingers found her clit, her hips bucked. His cock slid along her folds, torturing her but not penetrating her.

“Please Max. Fuck me.” She spread her knees farther apart, tipping her hips back to try to catch the head of his cock with her swollen opening.

“As soon as you come, baby.” He bit gently at the place where her neck met her shoulder and stroked her clit with a skill earned from years of intimacy. He knew her body as well as she did and in moments she was screaming his name with her climax.  They were blissfully alone with no one to interrupt them and no need to be quiet. When he bent her over and slid inside her, she didn’t bother to try to censor herself.

“Fuck. God, so fucking
good.” She cried out as he grabbed her hips and pounded into her. She went down to her elbows and arched her back, giving him deeper access to her core. With her head raised and eyes closed, she lost herself in the smell of sweat, sex and the bruised grass and dissolved into the feeling of him sliding inside her.

“Jules, God, Jules.” He chanted the words and hearing him fight for control increased her
own desire. He bent over her, covering her like an animal, and when he reached around the stroke her, she exploded, convulsing around his cock even as he pulsed inside her.

“What would you change?” she asked, reaching for the beer.

The post coital trip back across the lake had been an itchy, sweaty affair. Neither one of them had wanted to stay on the water long enough to catch fish. They shared what hot water the generator could manage and ended up grilling burgers on the deck. He bit into his second burger while he thought about her question.

“What would you do differently?” She handed the bottle back to him and he took a long pull before he answered, wanting to be honest but sensing the dragons around them.

“I want to do some of the stuff I used to – rock climb, get outside more. It felt so good to paddle even for just a few minutes today. I miss that part of myself.”

“I never asked you to give it up.” Defensiveness crept into her voice.

“I know. It wasn’t you, but what kind of asshole would I be if I demanded time alone in the woods and left
you to take care of three kids? Especially when the girls were little and then Jake came along.” He let his words trails off. Things had changed for both of them when Jake came along, but God he loved his son. He loved all of them. He’d be lost without Julie and the kids.

“Sometimes would be okay,” she said, balancing her plate on her lap. “I wouldn’t mind sometimes if it made you happier when you were with us.”

Max smiled and reached for her hand, brushing a kiss across the tips of her fingers. They sat side by side, hands twined, for a few moments in the growing dusk and watched the sun start to sink below the horizon. The lake reflected back the corals, salmons and smoky purples of the sunset and Max was struck by the simple pleasure of sharing a beer with his wife and watching the sun set. After all these years and everything they’d been through together, she was still his favorite person in the world. How many people got to say that after sixteen years? Fucking that up would be a sin.

“I love you, Jules.” He squeezed her hand and watched her smile out of the corner of his eye.

“I love you, too.”

He waited for her to raise the bottle to her lips before he spoke again. “And it’s not just because you let me fuck you in a hay field in the middle of the day.” She spluttered on her mouthful of beer and he grinned at her.
“Although that was memorable.”

She stood, still coughing a little and reached for his empty plate
. “Light the fire, stud. I’ll go get dessert.”

As the sun went do
wn, the temperature started to drop. Unfortunately, the bugs came out, too. Max bent and lit the fire in the red clay chiminea. It was cracked and flaking from years of hard use, but it let them have a fire without burning down the deck and knocked the bugs back to tolerable. He’d managed to settle himself in the Adirondack to watch the fire when Julie came back balancing a bag of marshmallows, a box of graham crackers, chocolate and a skewer. He hurried to help her before she stabbed herself.

“
S’mores,” she said, the triumph in her voice making her sound decades younger than she was. She dropped the s’more fixings on his lap and knelt in front of the fire. “Here, I’ll toast; you fix them.” She stuck a marshmallow on the end of the skewer and held it over the fire. In moments, it had started to flame and was quickly turning to charcoal. “Crap!” She yanked it from the fire and blew furiously on the burning sugar.

With her hair piled on her head and the fire lighting her face she was so beautiful she
took his breath. He watched as she flung the burnt treat and licked the sticky bits from her fingers. She looked so free and unencumbered, like there was nothing more important in the world than toasting marshmallows with him. God, he loved her. He’d missed this so much, missed her, his Julie laughing and playful. She reached for the bag and he put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back to him.

“You should wait a couple of minutes for the fire to die down. Come here.” He tugged until she was settled between his legs.
Resting his hands on her neck, he used the pads of his thumbs to rub the base of her skull.

“God, that feels good,” she groaned, practically purring. She draped her arms over his legs
and melted into him. They sat for a few moments, watching the fire while Max rubbed her neck and shoulders.

“What about you, Jules?
What would you change?” He felt her stiffen under his hands and forced himself to sit still and wait for her response. She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around her knees.

“I don’t know.” He voice sounded small and sad and he fought hard to keep from rushing in and explaining to her why she shouldn’t want change anything. Even as he thought it, he knew it wasn’t true. Neither of them had been happy lately. “I don’t like myself very much anymore. Hell, I don’t recognize myself most of the time. I miss who I used to be.”

It was his turn to freeze. “Do you wish we hadn’t done this – got married, had the kids?”This time his dragons closed in on the circle of their fire.

“
No, of course not.” She reached back to catch his hand. “I love you and the kids. You are the most important things in the world to me. But I’ve gotten so used to waiting on all of you.” She hurried on before he could interrupt. “You didn’t expect me to, I know. But I did. It’s what I knew. It’s what my mom did – still does. I got so caught up in trying to figure out what all of you wanted, somewhere along the way I forgot what I wanted.”

“Would you rather be who you were before?”

“Would you?” she challenged.

He thought for a moment
, struggling to keep from getting angry and defensive. “No, I’m smarter than I used to be and kinder. You and the kids made me deeper, and less selfish. My life is richer, if not my bank account. I wouldn’t change that.”

“Me, either.”
She squeezed his hand. “But I miss parts of myself. I think you and the kids do, too. Nobody can be happy with me snapping all the time.”

“It’s not my favorite thing,” he said, leaning forward to kiss the top of her head and take some of the sting out of his words.

“Told you.” She reached for the bag of marshmallows and stuck one on the skewer. She held it over the coals forming in the bottom of the chiminea, turning it as it browned. “Get the crackers ready.”

He held a graham cracker out for her perfectly toasted marshmallow and plunked an enormous chunk of chocolate on top. He sandwiched the gooey, sticky mess between another
cracker and held it out to her.

“
No, you eat that one. I’ll toast another one for myself.” Max arched an eyebrow at her and she laughed. “I’m not being a martyr. I want mine a little darker, but not as dark as the first one.”

She started on her marshmallow and he took a bite of the
s’more, holding his hand out to keep from dropping crumbs all over both of them.

“Good grief, that’s sweet.”

She wrinkled her nose and held her toasted marshmallow out for a graham cracker. “I know. I got the milk chocolate for the kids. I’m bringing the really dark stuff for us next time.” He put a slab of chocolate and a cracker on hers and watched as she took a bite.

“Ugh, it is sweet. It always seems like such a good idea, but I think I like the toasting better than the eating.” She took another bite and then held the half eaten
s’more out to him. “Do you want the rest?”

“If I have to.”
She laughed as he took the treat from her.  When he finished licking his fingers, they sat back to watch the fire, Julie nestled between his legs. He stroked the soft skin of her neck and played with the tendrils of her hair.

She sighed, letting her head fall back. “This is so nice. I’ve missed this so much. Time together just you and me.”

“Me, too.”

“I don’t want to go back to being angry all the time. How do we stop it?”

He stroked while he thought, his fingertips soothing and at the same time promising pleasure and heat. “We take time for each other like we do for the kids and everything else. We’re more important than the other stuff that eats our time. We take time even if it’s just a couple of minutes to share a beer. And if we forget, we’ll remind each other. Max held out his hand, pinky extended, and she hooked her little finger with his.

“We remind each other.”

It started to drizzle but neither of them jumped to get up. Max felt the back of his hands and arms grow damp and watched the drops hit the red clay, evaporating on contact. “We better go in. The fire should be okay.”

Julie started to stand, but b
efore she could turn to the door, he caught her and pulled her in for a kiss. He fit his mouth to hers, tasting the sweetness of the s’more and his wife.  “I love you, Jules. More than anything.” She wrapped herself around him and he kissed her, sheltering her in his arms as the drizzle turned to rain.