Authors: Jasmine Haynes
The boys clambered into the
backseat, their excited chatter filling the minivan. “We caught frogs today,
Mom,” and “Peter got in trouble on the playground today, Mom.” She loved their
prattle, the enthusiasm of youth, the battle for each to tell her his news
first, tripping over their words, laughing.
Today, however, in the midst of all
their babble, she wondered how on earth she was going to serve dinner on the
same kitchen table where Jace had given her such pleasure.
“Taylor, are you sure this is
right?”
Friday morning. Each minute ticking
by seemed like an hour.
“What’s the matter, Evelyn?”
“This says the checking account has
a negative balance.”
That couldn’t be right. Frowning,
Taylor punched up the file. It
was
negative. Where had she gone wrong?
Don’t ask that. She’d gone wrong
the moment she’d thrown herself at Jace in his truck. She’d gone wrong in her
kitchen. Twice. But she didn’t regret it. Not one single moment. She merely
felt sad that it would have to end.
“I’ll go through it, Evelyn.”
Scanning a couple of pages, she saw her error immediately. She’d put an extra
zero on one of the checks she’d entered. Could happen to anyone. Except that
she usually double-checked everything she input. Then triple-checked the
balance. “Here it is. I’ll fix it.”
“Is something bothering you,
Taylor?”
Taylor stiffened. Her mother-in-law
had already been at the front desk when she arrived. They’d shared coffee,
talked about what Taylor was supposed to bring for Sunday’s barbecue, and what
time she’d drop off the kids tonight. Nothing unusual in all that. Nothing
suspicious.
“Everything’s fine, Evelyn. Why do
you ask?” Now, that was a stupid leading question.
“You seem preoccupied. It isn’t
like you to make mistakes.”
It was only one. Except that
yesterday she’d forgotten to take the receipts down to the bank. And she’d
forgotten to pass on a message from the Montgomerys about some additional work
they’d wanted done. Which had sent David and Mitch back out to the property to
finish up.
What was she supposed to say?
I’ve been unfaithful to your
eldest boy’s memory with your youngest son. And I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop
after tonight.
“I’m a good listener, honey.”
Taylor smiled. “I know you are, and
I love you for it.” And for the first time since Saturday, she didn’t lie to
her mother-in-law. “I need to work this one out on my own.”
After tonight. After she’d finally
done the dirty deed with Jace. That would be the cure. Then she’d stop the
insanity. She had to.
* * * * *
He’d never get her out of his
system.
It had been all Jace could handle
not to call Taylor since he’d made love to her in the kitchen two days ago. He
hadn’t come, he hadn’t even gotten inside her, but what he’d done to her was
making love.
This morning, he’d done all the
loading and hauling while David, Mitch, and his dad did all the cutting. He
hadn’t trusted himself in the trees or with a chain saw in his hand.
He was counting down every hour.
Ten hours till Taylor. Six hours till she was in his arms. Four hours until he
filled her with everything he had, everything he was.
He quit at five and headed to his
apartment. He wasn’t a guy who gave a rat’s ass what he wore, but he picked
black for tonight. Black jeans and a black button-down shirt. Taylor always
looked at him when he was wearing black, and he’d long suspected she had a
thing for the color. He took his truck by the car wash, stopped at the
superstore for a blanket and a bottle of wine. She liked the sweet stuff. He
chose a white burgundy for something unusual.
He pulled up next to the old barn
at Miller’s Pond before eight. The sun hadn’t quite set, and it shimmered
across the water. He wished Taylor could see it that way.
Miller’s Pond and the old barn was
a hot make-out spot when he was in high school. In recent times, the pond had
taken a backseat to the video game craze and the call of the mall.
Kids these days didn’t know what
they were missing.
At eight-thirty, she hadn’t
arrived.
He started to sweat at eight-forty.
At eight-forty-five, fifteen
minutes late, she pulled in beside him. She didn’t get out right away. Instead,
in the last of the twilight, she simply looked through her window at him. His
heart jumped to his throat. She’d changed her mind. But at least she was here.
He could change it back for her. All he needed to do was put his hands on her.
He grabbed the blanket and the wine
off the seat beside him and climbed out. She hadn’t opened her door when he got
to her. Reaching past her through the window, he took her keys out of the
ignition and threw them on the passenger seat next to her purse.
“What are you doing?”
“Making up your mind for you. Get
out.”
“I wasn’t going to—”
“Yes, you were. You were going to
tell me you couldn’t go through with it.” He died a little inside thinking
about it. If she said it, he’d go crazy.
Her dress rose up her thighs as she
slid out. Barely more than a flowery slip with little straps holding it
together and a row of buttons down the front, he wanted to rip it off and bury
himself inside her right on the front seat of her minivan.
He shook with how badly he needed
her.
Taylor put her hand to his cheek, a
sweet scent rising up from her hair to captivate him. “I’m sorry I was late.
The kids were making a fuss. But I’m not leaving, Jace. I want you.”
He held her palm to his lips and
closed his eyes.
You’re losing it, man.
Christ, he’d lost it over her a
long time ago. He just hadn’t known how badly.
“We have tonight. But then it’s
over.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to
say it didn’t have to end. But he’d promised he wouldn’t ask for anything. He
prayed she’d do the asking for him. Fear that she was stronger than him cleaved
his heart in two. “I know.”
“You brought me wine.” She took the
bottle from his hand.
If tonight was all he’d get, he’d
take it. “I forgot the glasses.”
“It doesn’t matter. I haven’t drunk
wine from the bottle in...” She laughed, a light sound that burrowed beneath
his ribs. “Well, I guess I never have. It’ll be a first.”
He needed to give her a lot of
firsts. The first time she came under the moonlight with him. The first time
she’d had a man buried to the hilt in three years. With her hand in his, he led
her down to the water. Later in the year, the mosquitoes would be out. For now
though, the night was warm, the lap of the water at the reeds gentle.
Slipping the blanket from beneath
his arm, she spread it out on the grass, then sat.
“You look pretty in that dress.”
“You look nice in black.”
She said it so shyly, his heart
flipped over. Pulling the bottle opener from his back pocket, he came down
beside her, then worked the cork. “Ladies first.”
She drank, a sip. “Mmm, that’s
good. Nice and sweet.”
He felt like a teenager, wanting to
make everything perfect. “I remembered you liked it sweet.”
Her lips glistened with wine. He
swallowed, then leaned in to touch those luscious lips with his. Her flavor and
the drink’s sweetness burst in his mouth. He pulled away before he dragged her
down and had her right then. They didn’t have a lot of time, but he wouldn’t
rush this.
Stretching out beside her, he
propped his head on his hand, holding the bottle loosely in front of him. “How
was your week?”
She smiled. Her eyes sparkled in
the first light of the rising moon. “It was good, Jace. How was yours?”
“Fine.” Better than any he’d ever
known. He touched her, she’d touched him. That was everything he’d ever wanted.
“Are the kids looking forward to summer?”
“Yes. Brian’s going to camp at the
end of July for a week. And Jamey’s doing junior camp at the same time.”
“You’ll miss them.” She’d be
lonely. He could only hope she’d need him to ease the loneliness, but July
seemed too far away.
“Yeah. But they like it.” She
smiled again and took the bottle out of his hand for another sip. Then she laid
down beside him, tucking her hand beneath her cheek. “Cork the bottle, Jace, so
it doesn’t leak.”
He did as she said, tossing it down
to the bottom of the blanket. He’d planned to seduce her, but she touched him
first. Just her hand on his chest, smoothing down his abdomen, then back up to
his right nipple.
“Thank you for what you did the
other day.”
“Dessert,” he murmured,
concentrating on the mesmerizing feel of her palm caressing him. “You were like
dessert.”
“I was nervous when I drove up just
now.”
“I know.”
“But I’m not nervous anymore.” She
tugged on his hand, pulling it to her breast. “Remember what you said on the
phone?”
“Which part?” He undid the first
button, then the second, until suddenly her dress was open to the waist.
“The part about teasing my
nipples.”
He slid his hand in the opening,
cupping her firm bare flesh. “You’re not wearing a bra.”
“I figured that when you said not
to wear panties, you meant I shouldn’t wear a bra either.”
Oh God. He’d forgotten about the
panties, though how he could have, he’d never know. “Are you naked under this?”
“Uh-huh.” She punctuated with a nod
and a smile.
“You make me nuts, you know.”
“Ditto.” Then she laid flat on the
grass and spread the opening of her dress.
She had the most beautiful breasts
he’d ever seen. They weren’t large, but they were high and firm beneath his
fingers. She’d carried two children, yet remained perfect. He dipped his head
and took a nipple in his mouth. She arched into him, stroking the back of his
neck as she held him to her. She tasted of strawberries or some other sweet
fruit. He cupped her other breast with his hand and played with the nipple as
he sucked her. She wriggled, moving closer into him.
“Lord, that’s good,” she sighed. Then
she reached down and undid the rest of her buttons. All the way to the hem.
He looked down the length of her as
the dress fell open. The slight roundness of her belly, the soft thatch of hair
at the juncture of her thighs, and legs, endless legs. He remembered them
wrapped around his head.
“Take off your shirt,” she
murmured. “I want to feel your skin against mine.”
He sat up, jerked at the buttons.
Damn, he should have worn a T-shirt. So much easier. She helped him push it off
his arms, then tossed it to the other side of the blanket.
He came down on her, glided a hand
along her thigh. Her skin was so soft, so smooth against his. Then he took her
lips, played with her tongue, angled for a deeper, sweeter penetration of her
mouth.
He’d show her how good they could
be together. He’d make her need him.
Her leg slid along his, her thigh
to his hip. She caressed his back and sides with long strokes. “You feel so
good, Jace. Make me feel good.”
Make love to me, Jace.
Taylor trapped the plea inside.
He’d thought she’d changed her mind. He couldn’t know how badly she wanted
this. Too badly to consider backing out. Badly enough to lie and sneak.
“I’ll make you feel better than
you’ve ever felt, Taylor.”
He worked his way down her body,
from her throat, to her breasts, across her belly to the place he’d been
before.
He parted her with his fingers,
sliding across her clitoris. She closed her eyes. “Make it better than the
other day.” Which was a tall order. A huge order.
He pushed two fingers inside her,
then put his tongue to her, working in and out, hitting all her sensitive spots
at once. She rose on her elbows.
“I want to watch you.”
Under the moonlit sky, the sight of
him between her thighs was the most erotic she’d ever known. He touched her
with total concentration, igniting a fire in her body, playing her like a
sexual prodigy. She reached the peak, exploded and fell over the edge before
she’d even known she was starting the climb. Her orgasm rushed over her like a
hot, wild wind. She knew she cried out, she knew Jace held her down, stretching
the pleasure peak out until she couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.
He crawled up her body, resting his
hips between her legs and rocking gently against that same spot so that she
couldn’t completely come down from the orgasm.
“Was that better?”
“The best,” she whispered. “Now I
want you inside me.”
He reached to his back pocket, came
back with a condom packet, then slid off her body to his side. He was quick,
practiced, the jeans popping easily, the wrapper tossed aside, and the condom
in place. She felt a momentary twinge. But then she’d never minded his bad boy
image before. She hadn’t thought too much about how many women he’d had.
Or how long he stayed with them.
Jace grew bored quickly.
“Come here.” He pulled her on top.
She straddled his hips. With the
feel of him between her legs and his hard cock slipping slightly inside her,
she stopped caring about anything else. She wanted him. She wanted Jace.
She rose above him. He slid in so
easily, filled her so deeply. “Oh God, Jace.”
“Fuck me, Taylor. Please.”
He put his hands at her waist and
guided her movements, his hips rising to meet hers, driving home.
“I am so glad it was you, Jace.
Nobody else. Just you.” She leaned down and took his lips, sealing her mouth to
his in rhythm to their grinding hips.
Then suddenly she needed more,
something she hadn’t realized was so important. “I want you on top. Please,
Jace. Make me come with your body on mine.”
He held her ribs, then rolled them
until he was above her. She opened her eyes to meet his glittering gaze.