She sniffled then whispered, "You knew. Why didn't anyone tell me?"
He cleared his throat. "I had no idea you didn't remember I was there. I don't think Margaret suspected that either. From what she told me, you never talked about it. Ever."
She nodded. "I j-just couldn't. I-it hurt too much. It still does."
A tear ran down his cheek, and he let it flow, unashamedly. "I know, baby. I know. It hurts me so much to know that you suffered so badly. I swear to you that I'll never let anyone or anything hurt you like that again."
She looked at him from puffy red eyes and, in that moment, his heart began to heal. "You can't control everything, Jake."
"I wasn't there for you then, but I'm here for you now. I know I can't control what that sick bastard is going to do next, but I'll die trying. I can't help but wonder if I had told you about Cami from the start, if I'd have been there for you, you'd never had been in that accident."
"Oh, Jake. You can't play the 'what if' game. You'll go crazy. Trust me, I was pretty close. All of it was nothing more than an accident."
He nodded. "Yes, it was an accident. And it's not your fault either." Guilt flashed in her eyes before she looked away. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently, startling a look of surprise from her. "It was an accident. It was no one's fault but that drunken bastard that ran his red light and hit you. You hear me? It wasn't your fault."
She nodded.
"You hear me, but do you believe it?"
She nodded again. "Yes. For the first time, I do believe."
He gathered her close again. "Good."
She pulled back and wiped the tears from his cheeks, and he did the same for her. "Is there anything that my mother hasn't told you?"
"Don't be angry with Margaret. She knew how much I loved you and how much I worried about you. She knew the only way I'd get a little peace was if she answered my questions."
"Is that where you got the information for your file?"
He shrugged a shoulder. "Most of it. Only because she got tired of me after four hours of sitting in her kitchen staring at her until she gave in and told me what I wanted to know."
She laughed and it was music to his ears. "You didn't!"
"You bet I did. I followed her around while she did her housework and even her chores. She finally gave in when she needed to use the bathroom and I vowed to stand outside the door until she told me what I wanted to hear. "
"Poor mama!" She laughed again and he smiled at the sound.
"I love hearing you laugh. I don't care if we can't have children of our own. We can adopt. All I care about is having you in my life."
"Are you sure? The doctors were seventy-five percent sure I wouldn't be able to have any children, but I remember how you talked about having a big family, maybe even a baseball team of boys and girls."
He ran his index finger down her cheek. "We can still have that. There are plenty of kids out there that need a good home. If we adopt one child or ten, they'll be ours."
She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I love you, Jake."
"I love you, too." He rose from the couch with her in his arms.
"Where are you taking me?"
"To bed."
"Lead on."
48
Jake
He slowly stripped them both naked, then lay her on the bed before sliding in next to her.
He was staring at her.
She smirked. "What are you looking at?
"You. You take my breath away."
She laughed and sniffled. "I'm a mess. All red and splotchy from crying, I'm sure."
"Beautiful."
His hands roamed down the smooth expanse of her body, starting at her neck, skimming down over her breasts, pausing to lightly pinch her nipples. When she cried out, his nostrils flared.
His fingertips ran down across her abdomen drawing forth a shiver, and when he reached the thatch of auburn curls between her thighs, he sat up and spread her legs. With anybody else she'd have felt self-conscious. But not with Jake. Never with Jake.
She shifted to rub her nipples against his chest, and he gave her a groan. His hands pulled her, rolling her to her side, then exploring the bareness of her back, over her hips, thighs, then back up to cover her breasts.
She leaned into his hands, loving his touch. He pulled back from the kiss and his eyes dropped to his hands on her breasts, his thumbs brushing her nipples.
"You're beautiful. You've always been so damn beautiful. Look." She looked to where his hands held her breasts. "You fit my hands just right. Like you were made for me." She stared, transfixed, at his deeply tanned hands holding her pale breasts, his thumbs brushing over her nipples.
"I love touching you. But now I have to taste you."
"Please…"
"Please what? What do you want, Lizzie?"
There was no shyness when, without hesitation, she answered, "I want your mouth on me."
He groaned, then lowered his mouth to capture one of her nipples between his lips and her hips jerked against him. She could feel the burning need beginning between her thighs.
"More, Jake."
He didn't need another invitation. He suckled her nipples harder, at the same time sliding a finger between her feminine folds.
"You are wet. God, you're so hot. That's so damn sexy, knowing you want me that much."
"Yes, I want you, Jake. I've always wanted you. Only you."
Her breath caught and her gaze never wavered from his as he, once again, rubbed his finger across her labia. He groaned when he slid his finger into her hot pussy, and she cried out. She needed more. She needed him to move his finger. She just needed him.
"You're so tight, hot, and wet. You burn me up."
Then, thankfully, he moved, slowly thrusting his finger in and out of her, and when his thumb passed gently over her clit, the tingles began. She didn't want to come. Not yet. But when he added a second finger, she knew she didn't have a choice.
The pleasure was so intense, yet the release she ached for was just out of reach. Please God don't let this be one of the times she had trouble reaching climax. His thumb stroked her again and again, driving her closer and closer to ecstasy, but still not there. She couldn't take much more.
She moved her hips in cadence with his finger, panting now with want and need, and when he pressed harder against her clit, she flew apart. Stars burst in front of her eyes, her body quaked with the pleasure of the orgasm that went on and on. His fingers drew out the pleasure, so much pleasure. When she came back to herself, his expression was intense, darkly desirous, and very, very hot.
"That was the sexiest thing I've ever fucking seen."
"Yeah? Well, turnabout is fair play." She tried to sit up and reach for him, but he stilled her with his hands and a shake of his head. She lay back down, confused.
"No."
"No?"
"I want to pleasure you, Lizzie. I want to love you right. Will you let me?"
She answered without hesitation. "Yes."
He smiled then, a heart-stopping smile that made her heart sigh and the butterflies start happy dancing in her stomach. She flung her arms out to her sides. "Love me."
49
Jake
"I already do." He sat up, his eyes caressing her from head to toe. He wanted her so badly, his cock throbbing behind the confines of his jeans, but he would wait. He wanted more than a quick screw. He was going to make love to his woman.
"I changed my mind. I'd like to touch you, too. Taste you."
He closed his eyes and drew in a steadying breath. The woman was going to be the death of him. He could imagine the feel of her hand running along the length of his cock, her lips enveloping him, taking him into the deep recesses of her hot, moist mouth. He grew impossibly harder at the thought and he ached for release.
"Next time. This time I get to do it all."
She pouted prettily. "Well, that's not fair."
He stood, taking the
clothes from the bed and tossing them onto a chair in the corner. "As you said, turnabout is fair play. You had your way with me that night at the loft, and now it's my turn to have my way with you."
"Well, okay then. But could you hurry it along a little? I'm dying to feel you inside me."
He laughed. Only Lizzie could make him laugh when his dick was hard enough to drive nails. He heard her sigh.
"I just love your chest."
He laughed. "My chest?"
She nodded. "It's so muscular and has just the right amount of hair. Very sexy."
"That's all? Just my chest?"
"Well, no. There are other parts of your body that I enjoy very, very much."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. And I wish you'd bring them over here to the bed so we could get reacquainted."
He climbed onto the bed and lay next to her and she reached for him. "Uh-uh. No touching."
She let out an indignant huff and then pouted again. "Okay."
He reached for her and pulled her to him, so they lay side by side. He wrapped her in his arms and just held her. It was the easiest and hardest thing he'd ever done, to wait and not seek immediate relief for his aching cock, but he knew she was well worth the wait.
He reached out, cupped her cheek, and kissed her. A deep, simmering kiss that left them both panting. He pulled back and turned her over onto her back. She met his gaze, her smile smug and sexy, her eyes glazed with passion. His heart leapt at just the sight of her.
He cupped her breast in his hand. Then he teased the nipples with his fingertips, and when she arched her back, he pinched them lightly. She rewarded him with a moan.
He continued his ministrations with one hand, while he trailed the other down to her pussy. She was, once again, eager for his touch as she lifted her knees and spread them, opening herself wide for him. He pressed his throbbing cock against her thigh to try to ease some of the ache. As he slid his fingers through her hot, wet folds, his patience began to untether, and he knew he needed to get her as primed as he was.
He slid a finger inside her, and she let loose one of those breathy little moans guaranteed to unhinge him. He pulled his finger out of her, then pushed forward until his finger was all the way inside her. She was tight. So damn tight.
This time when he thrust and pulled his finger back, he added a second. She gasped again and he paused with two fingers buried inside her.
"Okay?" he asked when she finally relaxed.
"Y-yes."
He pulled back slightly then thrust a little harder and she moaned a little and wiggled against him, urging him on. Not to be one to disappoint her, he began to fuck her in earnest with his fingers, thrusting in cadence with the shift of her hips.
When she was literally writhing on the bed, he felt ten feet tall, and so aroused he thought he would explode just from watching her and feeling the flutters of her pussy around his fingers.
"Lizzie, you're so fucking hot and responsive I'm about to come without getting inside you."
"Do it and I'll make you pay."
He chuckled and then pulled his fingers apart inside her and she moaned. He did it again, then curled one finger to stroke her sweet spot. He glided his fingers in and out of her, stroking and arousing, over and over until her hips were keeping time with his fingers. When he abruptly withdrew them, she whimpered.
"Are you ready for me, Lizzie?"
"Yes."
He positioned the head of his cock at the opening of her pussy. Her hips flexed upwards, seeking his hardness. "Easy, baby."
"I can't." She licked her lips. Leaning forward he kissed the side of her neck, then below her ear, before sucking the lobe between his lips, all the while rocking gently, sliding slowly into her tight channel.
"Jake." She gasped and he paused. Lord, it killed him, but he wanted to make this last as long as possible, prolong both their pleasure.
He rocked his hips a little more. "How does it feel?"
"Incredible."
"Incredible doesn't even describe it." He pushed in a little more, slowly sinking deeper. She wiggled her hips and he sank deeper still. She moaned.
"Damn. Baby hold still. I'll lose control if you move like that."
"Then get in me."
He chuckled and she glared.
He gave her what she wanted. He thrust hard and deep. Her back bowed off the bed and she moaned long and loud.
"No, Lizzie. Keep them open."
She opened her eyes and met his gaze.
"Watch me make you mine as you make me yours."
"Oh, Jake."
He, again, gritted his teeth. "You're so tight. So damn tight."
It wasn't just how tight she was or how hot she was or how wet she was. It was the emotion, the feelings, the enormity the moment. This making love, sealing them together forever.
"More. I need more Jake."
"Move with me, Lizzie. Yeah, just like that." He increased the speed and depth of his strokes and when she cried out again, he lost it.
He plunged into her deep and hard, "Mine."
With each stroke, each thrust, he claimed her with his muttered, "Mine" until she could only respond with a cry of "Yes!"
She met his movements. He angled his cock across her clit on the downstroke, taking her higher.
"Jake," she breathed.
"Just let it come. I'm right here." He moved faster, deeper, harder, and she matched his every move.
It had never been like this.
"That's it, baby. Let it take you. I'll go with you." He quickened and deepened his strokes.
He saw the moment she tipped over the edge. She spasmed around him, her silky walls clenching, squeezing him, holding him, savoring him, making him hers.
Then he thrust once more before he groaned harshly and let himself go. His seed spurting deep inside her. She screamed and he groaned louder as he continued to move and pulse inside her. She kept moving her hips, and his orgasm seemed to last forever.
When they were both completely spent, he rolled to his side, taking her with him, his cock still nestled inside her, his hot breath wafting across her neck.
His heart was whole again.
50
Lizzie
That had been the most incredible experience of her life. They were both fighting for breath. They were sweaty. It was perfect. And she started to cry.
She didn't know how she survived. She knew that for a minute there, she was somewhere she had never been, and knew she'd never go there again with anyone other than Jake. Her fingers tightened around his, and she smiled. Her lover, her love, her life. And he was all hers.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded, then sniffled.
"God, did I hurt you?"
She shook her head.
"Then why are you crying?"
"It was just so beautiful."
He kissed the back of her neck. "You're beautiful. I love you so much, Lizzie."
Her heart felt so full she thought it would burst out of her chest. "I love you, too, Jake. More than anything."
He wrapped his arms around her, their bodies still intimately joined, and linked their fingers.
"You're an amazing lover."
"I aim to please."
"As long it's only me you aim to please from now on."
"It is. Trust me. It's only you."
Tears filled her eyes and she let them fall freely. "I trust you, Jake. With everything I am."
"I love you, Lizzie."
"I love you, too." Now that they'd said it again, they couldn't seem to stop.
They lay together silently, bodies entwined, holding one another tightly, until sleep pulled them under.
51
Lizzie
Breakfast in bed was a great way to start the day. He was enjoying the decadence when the bedroom door crashed against the wall. Lizzie jumped, looked down at her naked body, and scrambled to cover herself with the blanket.
"Logan's been arrested," Ryan announced stalking int
o the room like he owned it.
"Jesus, Ry, don't you knock?" Jake gaped, trying to cover Lizzie's naked body.
"I'm not looking. I swear I'm not."
Jake looked up to see Ryan with a hand covering his eyes, but his fingers were spread apart.
Lizzie choked. "Ryan!"
"What? I'm not looking!" The grin on his face was easily heard in his voice.
Oh hell yes, he was looking, and he was going to get a fist in his face if he didn't stop. Now. "Bro, that might work better if your fingers were pressed close together instead of spread wide apart."
"I'm covered, Jake. It's okay. There's not much up top to see anyway."
"Oh, I don't know—" Ryan began before Jake growled in warning.
"I don't think you want to go there, Ryan." Lizzie warned.
"Maybe." He paused, looked at Lizzie with waggling eyebrows, then smirked at a scowling Jake. "Then again maybe not." He walked over to the bed and sat down in the space Jake had just vacated to put his jeans on, then leaned back against the headboard and crossed his booted feet at his ankles. "Logan's been arrested."
"So you said," Jake sneered from across the room while pulling his t-shirt over his head. "Why?"
"The fingerprints came back from the cigarette butts and it turns out Logan's prints were a match."
"What?" Lizzie gasped.
Jake braced his hands on his hips, legs spread, head hanging. "Damn it all." When he recovered from the shock, all he felt was disbelief. "I wouldn't have expected it to be Logan, but then I guess I didn't know about how he attacked Lizzie in high school until recently either."
"I knew."
This from his brother who grabbed a slice of bacon from the breakfast tray and devoured it with gusto before reaching for his glass of orange juice. Jake shook his head.
"You knew about that and didn't bother telling me? What the hell's wrong with you?"
Ryan shrugged one shoulder as he popped another piece of bacon in his mouth and talked around it. "It was known all over town that Logan had a thing for Lizzie back then. Plus, being as you went out with her, I thought you'd have known that."
When Petals Fall: A Cowboy, Second Chance Romantic Suspense (Chance Creek Book 1) Page 25