See Megan Run (20 page)

She reached across and pulled him to her,
then jumped him. Her mouth was hot and ready on his. She crawled
across the seat into Aiden’s lap, making him forget he was supposed
to be doing the jumping, but this was just fine.

She came up for air. "I hope you don’t
mind."

Aiden gripped the hips he’d been dreaming
about. "Not at all."

She kissed his neck. "I love this truck. It
has great leg room."

He cupped her bottom and squeezed. "Sooner or
later we’re going to have to leave the parking lot."

"Sure." She found a spot on his neck that
made his eyes close in pleasure. "Yeah."

He fumbled for the key and started the car,
repositioning her so he could see. "Don’t move." She ground against
him. "Don’t do that again until I stop the truck. Concentrate on
the neck."

"Okay." She trailed kisses up to his
earlobe.

Aiden shifted into reverse with his foot on
the brake, hoping he wouldn’t kill anyone. He calculated the
distance in his head and blanked when she used teeth.

"You’re supposed to be driving."

"Right. I hope no one is behind me."

She stopped and looked. "You’re good.
Go."

He heard the urgency in her voice and peeled
out of the parking lot.

She went back to doing what she was
doing.

Aiden prayed, a blasphemous prayer, that no
one decided to have a nice walk and get in his way. Her hands were
under his shirt now, her fingers light and hot, caressing his skin.
He turned in the general direction of his driveway and felt his
front right tire go over the curb. He turned off the ignition and
pulled up the emergency brake, just in case. Megan threw her head
back and laughed.

"You cannot park like this."

He opened the door. "Watch me."

Megan’s eyes widened. "Everyone is going to
know."

He turned with her still in his lap.
"Everyone already thinks we’re having sex on an hourly basis." He
grabbed hold of her and slid out of the truck without putting her
down.

"Oh. Aren’t you being manly?"

"Just wait." He turned her around with her
back against the truck and kissed her. Her legs tightened around
his waist, but she pulled back.

"We’re outside. Isn’t this how we got caught
last time?"

Aiden sighed. "People can come out and watch
with popcorn for all I care." He kissed her again and again until
her legs went slack around his waist. "Need me to carry you
inside?"

Her lids were low and heavy when she smiled
up at him. "Might need to." She cradled his face in his hands and
kissed him. Time seemed to evaporate as the urgency melted away to
something else, something more, loosening his limbs and clouding
his senses with her. She pulled back, letting her feet touch the
ground.

"It’s time we go inside," she said.

He took her hand and led her into the house
and into his bedroom. She moved to turn off his light. He put a
hand over hers. "Leave it on. I want to see you."

"Well." She brushed her bangs from her face.
"Is it me, or does this feel like our first time?"

He chuckled at her nervous reply. "I think we
know what to do with our equipment now."

She rolled her eyes. "One would hope."

He reached out to her and she took his
outstretched hand. He closed his eyes and took in her scent. Her
hair smelled of strawberries. Remnants of shea butter lotion clung
to her and the scent filled him. He reached behind her and unzipped
her dress. The thin cotton material was warm from her body. He
opened his eyes to see her irises darken as he pulled the dress
down off her shoulders. His rough palms grazed her skin, and she
shivered.

He dipped his head to the rise of her breasts
and kissed just above her bra line, smelling the perfume she must
have dabbed in the cleft of her breasts. The scent was thick and
seductive. He let the dress fall to her feet and used his tongue
where his hands ached to touch, but he kept them on her arms. He
flicked his tongue under the lacy material and smiled at her catch
of breath. She arched her back, soundlessly telling him,
More
.

"Take off your bra." He watched her,
self-conscious and lips parted, doing as he asked. When her breasts
were free, he sighed. He put his hands back on her arms and
feasted. Her breasts were fuller, but she tasted the same and he
was drunk from it. He moved one hand from her arm and cupped her
mound. He wanted all of her imprinted on his brain. Every taste,
every curve, just her.

"Take them off."

He couldn’t put it into words, seeing her
fully naked in the light. The last time it’d been too dark. Now he
wanted to worship her, wanted her begging, and wanted the torture
of it to be for more than this one night. And because it was all
those things and more, he knelt in front her, taking in the heat,
the wetness, and the taste of her here. He made sure his tongue
reached, caressed, explored all of her womanhood.

When he was sure he’d committed every tender
spot to his memory, he brought her to the edge, and because he was
a glutton when it came to her moans, he slid his fingers inside to
feel her tighten around him. He felt the tremble in her knees as
her body gave way to the pleasure his mouth was giving her.

He felt possessed when she moaned his name.
He knew this wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his memory of her. On
the nights that would stretch out before him, long and endless,
this one climax wouldn’t keep him warm. This one action wouldn’t
bring back the memory of her as if she were lying beside him. And
because it wouldn’t, he kissed his way back up her neck to her ear
and whispered, "More?"

"Yes." He backed her up until they fell
together on the bed. "Shirt. Off."

He chuckled and did as she said. Her hands
were already busy undoing his pants. He bit her neck and reached
between them, letting his finger glide over her. "Unfair," she
murmured.

"All’s fair." He was sure his eyes rolled to
the back of his head when she took him in her hands.

"In love and war," she finished for him and
started her own exploration.

He stopped her and reached for a condom.
"Can’t touch a man like that."

"Why?" she asked, her voice husky.

He finally entered her and felt her tighten
around him. She rewarded him with one of her half moans, half
sighs. "That’s why."

He placed his hands over hers and clasped
their fingers together. He made love to her the way he’d wanted to
since they’d kissed under the oak tree. He kissed her now like a
man too drugged from passion to think straight.

He thrust into her slowly, pulling out even
more slowly, never wanting to leave her, trying to convince her
with every stroke to stay. He could never put into words how he
needed her to stay with him, how he needed to hear her laugh, and
how the need to make her smile was like a drug habit. God, how his
heart broke and mended at the thought of her.

So, yes, with every stroke he was silently
saying
stay, stay, stay
. Because he knew she wouldn’t,
because she was leaving in less than twenty-four hours, because he
knew he could never ask her to stay, Aiden made love to her like it
was his dying wish.

Chapter 19

Megan was fixing the strap on her ankle when
someone knocked on her door. She looked up, and her mouth fell
open. Lynne posed. The cream satin dress fit perfectly. The red
sash under her breasts elongated her waist and made her petite
frame look sexy. Her hair held no highlights. It might have been
the color God had given Lynne, but Megan couldn’t be sure since
she’d never seen it a natural color. It was coiffed and curled, not
spiked. "Well, I’ll be."

"I have a workaholic boss who makes me work
all the time. I figured this would be the one time I could dress
up. From your expression, I’m guessing I look damn good."

Megan smiled. "I can’t wait for you to meet
Uncle Butch. The old man is going to try to take you home."

"Isn’t that Aiden’s sex-crazed uncle?"

"You were listening." Her smiled widened when
Lynne rolled her eyes.

"I listen to everything you say and don’t
say. Oh, and Jane said for you to get your butt downstairs. I think
I like her."

"Wait until you eat her peanut butter
chocolate chip cookies. You’ll be her slave."

"Now I know I like her." Lynne pursed her
lips. "So, can I get the details?"

"Of?"

Lynne placed both hands on her hips.

"Oh. Incredible." And bittersweet and gentle.
No man had ever made love to her like Aiden had. No man had ever
made her feel like she was the end-all and be-all, like all he ever
wanted in this world was to bring her pleasure. Right now wasn’t
the time to contemplate how she feared no man ever again would make
love to her like that.

"I’m ready. If we drag butt any longer, Jane
will knock our heads together."

"I just met her."

"You don’t know Jane."

"Since she does look like she can take me, I
say let’s go." Lynne paused, then said, "Is your mother already at
the church?"

Megan led the way. "Yes, my aunts are helping
her get ready. I’m supposed to be there in ten minutes to get my
makeup done, and then they’ll start the wedding." Megan opened the
door. "We can take my car."

Lynne stayed quiet until Megan started the
car. "And after the wedding?"

Megan’s hands tightened on the steering
wheel. "I’ll leave."

"That’s it?"

"Mom gave me the deed yesterday." Dead
silence. Megan glanced toward the passenger side of her car, from
where she could feel a hole being bored into the side of her face.
"What?"

"If you can’t speak it, then I’m not going to
bring it up."

"Good, because I don’t want to talk about
it." Megan stayed tense for the two-minute drive to the church. She
was really going to miss these short rides to everywhere and
anywhere in town. "You know what? I just heard what I said. I’m
sorry."

"I just wish you’d grab this by the horns and
not let go."

She heard the longing in Lynne’s voice. It
was so unlike her, or at least unlike the woman Megan had gotten to
know over the past six years.

Megan bit back a curse when she saw the
parking lot was already full. She parked across the street.
Thinking about what Lynne wasn’t saying, Megan said, "It’s not so
simple, Lynne."
I wish it was simple
.

Neither woman spoke as they went into the
church. Megan had been happy to see her friend, and now things felt
strained. Finally Lynne spoke, "I’ll see you at the reception."

"I’m here to the bitter end."

Lynne smiled. "It’ll be bitter, all right.
I’ll be by the wet bar if you need me."

Since there was no comeback, Megan went in
search of her mother.

*****

Megan’s spine tingled as she stood on the
church steps. She turned to see Aiden, in a gray tuxedo, looking
smooth and shaved. He was absolutely heart-stopping. She gripped
the bouquet in her sweaty palms. She hadn’t prepared herself for
seeing him again. He’d still been asleep when she left.

Okay, she was a coward. She preferred walking
home to facing him after their lovemaking. She couldn’t put herself
through it, knowing it would be the last time they’d make love. She
had to cut him out of her life a.s.a.p., or she’d fancy the idea of
staying just a little longer, and who knows how long that would
last. It was easier, less painful, to sever the connection now
rather than hold her breath waiting for when the break would happen
later.

His eyes should have been angry when they
focused on her, but they weren’t. She knew him too well to be
fooled by his I’m-fine-with-this-really face.

She held her breath to stop the phantom pain
radiating in her chest. It wasn’t real. She wasn’t having a heart
attack, and she wasn’t about to name it, because once you named
something you gave it power. Instead, all she said was, "Two
minutes until the service starts."

He pulled his lips into a smile. "You look
beautiful."

She hoped her eyes didn’t say, "Don’t do this
to me." She had to keep on her game face, the one that said leaving
was the best idea she’d thought of since...okay, maybe not the best
idea, but nothing else came to mind. "You look handsome. I’m
surprised they got you into a suit."

"Shep threatened me."

"Makes sense."

"Your mother?"

"In the hallway, hiding behind the doors.
She’s been beaming all morning. It was starting to get on my
nerves." They fell into silence, and she was never more relieved in
her life when Chandi gave her signal. "Ready?" Megan asked and he
offered his arm. The memory of how smooth his arm was when bare hit
her, and she hesitated.

"I’m not going to bite."

She felt her face flush. "At least you won’t
at church." Finally the smile reached his eyes.

"Would y’all come on?" Chandi said.

*****

Hours later Megan poked her head into the
kitchen and let out the breath she’d been holding. Jane stood at
the island, stacking food into a small lunch pail. "Hardest working
woman I know." Megan tried to keep the tremor out of her voice.
"Don’t you ever take a break?"

"After today I’m taking a lot of breaks."
With a glance in Megan’s direction, Jane gestured her head toward
the front of the house. "Saw your bags lined up by the door."

"I have a lot to catch up on when I get
home." Megan took a tentative step toward Jane. "So, what are your
plans? I can’t believe you’re not going to be working here full
time anymore."

"I can. I knew sooner or later your mother
wasn’t going to need me anymore." Jane put the bottled water beside
the sandwiches. "Dan’s girls have grown up."

My first goodbye and I’m close to
blubbering
. Megan bit her trembling lip and breathed through
her nose a moment. "True, but when I come back I’m going to need
some company."