by Fiona Lowe
He laughed—the sound wicked and utterly delicious—and she gripped the bench as her knees sagged. ‘Bert’s fine,’ he whispered and his hand moved her hair and then his hot, moist mouth settled on the back of her neck. ‘I just wanted to get you in here alone so we could reminisce about the Royal Brisbane.’
Their first time. Hope tumbled over excitement. ‘You set this up?’
‘Oh baby, I’ve been planning this all day. I got Amy to ask you to work and Annie to mind the kids.’
Squee! Everything inside her flipped in happiness. He’d heard her this morning and he’d listened. She grabbed his hand and kissed his palm as the tip of his tongue caressed her skin. She sighed and her head fell back against his shoulder, exposing her throat to his touch. She wanted his touch more than she’d wanted anything in a long, long time and she needed it even more. Her blood pounded thick, molten, sexual hunger through her, extinguishing every thought and leaving only aching, pulsating desire.
‘I did make one mistake though,’ he said, his voice deep and low.
‘What was that?’ Her head lolled as he sucked her skin into his mouth and nipped her. She gasped.
‘If I’d known you were so fucking amazing at sexting, I would have waited until later in the day to try it.’ He rubbed himself against her, his erection pressing hard against the crack of her arse. ‘God—’ his voice was rough and ragged, ‘—talk about blue balls. I’ve been hard for you for hours.’
Her body leapt as ribbons of pleasure streamed through her and she turned in his arms. He gazed down at her with glittering, unfocused eyes filled with hot, pure need. She’d never wanted him so badly. ‘Lock. The. Door.’
His mouth plundered hers and he pushed her back toward the door. As her back hit the wall, his foot kicked the door shut. Without breaking contact with his mouth, she shuffled them sideways and her shaking fingers found the lock and threw it. With tongues still duelling, they crashed back toward the window and fumbled badly with the blinds, but miraculously they somehow managed to drop and close them.
‘Shhh,’ she spluttered in a hoarse whisper, ‘Someone will hear.’
He just grinned down at her, excitement blazing in his eyes. He swung her away from the window and then pulled the curtain around them before pressing her up against the wall. His mouth devoured hers as if she was his air supply and his familiar taste of mint toothpaste, coffee and heat flooded her with promise. He’d always been an incredible kisser, easily able to strip her of all coherent thought. As he took from her, he also worshipped her with his mouth and tongue, reminding her that her sexuality was an equally powerful force.
Her hands tangled in his hair, gripping his scalp as he fumbled with the buttons on her work blouse and then his mouth was on her breasts, licking her through her bra. She dropped her face into his hair and cried out as electric jolts of need jagged through her, culminating deep inside . She was more than wet, more than ready—she was deliciously, achingly desperate for him.
His hands yanked up her skirt until it was bunched around her waist and his fingers slipped inside the gusset of her undies. She half sighed, half moaned at his firm touch sliding against her slickness, expertly building and teasing the pulsing ache of her muscles to fever pitch.
‘Need. You. Now,’ she panted, the words scratching against her dry throat.
Her hands flew to the button on his shorts, tugging hard, and the cotton stalk snapped in her hand. She vaguely heard the tinkle of the button against the floor as it rolled away, but she didn’t care. Her focus was totally centred on the prize behind the zip. Her fingers stumbled on the tag, slid it down and then she heard a short, high-pitched sound of relief—hers—as she wrapped her palm around him. He was divinely thick, hot and hard. For her. Only for her.
She squeezed. He groaned.
She slung her arms around his neck and he bent his knees. His hands cupped her arse and she straddled his thighs before he pressed her back against the wall. She was exhilaratingly trapped and totally at his mercy. She never wanted it to stop. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she lowered herself onto him.
‘Oh baby.’ His words shot out low and rough as he straightened up and rocked into her, filling her completely.
His chest heaved and his eyes glittered with the rush of taking her, and the frantic ache inside her ceased. With a sob of relief, she gripped him hard as he thrust into her, again and again—blessedly hard, deep and wide, and she gave over to the addictive sensations.
‘Kels,’ he panted, dropping into a squatting position. ‘This is amazing, but I’m not twenty-eight anymore.’
Without being aware of doing it, her hands had gripped his upper arms. Through the fog of her arousal she saw the strain on his face and the effort he was using to hold her up. Stifling a sob, she pressed her feet to the floor and kissed him long and hard. ‘Turn me round.’
His eyes lit up at the raunchy suggestion of doggie-style with the extra-urgent chaser of taking her up against a wall. ‘Oh, baby, you sure?’
‘We’ve got later for slow and sensual. Right now I just want you hot and hard and primal.’ She rose up, stripped off her undies and turned around. Pressing her arms up against the wall as if she was about to stretch, she waggled her arse at Grant.
He made a guttural sound as one hand came up and cupped her breast and his other guided his cock into her. She bucked and cried out at the welcome invasion, loving how he filled her to the hilt. She gripped him hard, sucking him into her, needing him there as much as she needed breath. She couldn’t get enough of him.
His hair brushed her cheek, his mouth pressed into her throat kissing her and then his left arm crossed her lower belly, resting against her hips. Pinning her against him, he pushed into her, claiming her as his.
Her right hand crept to her clit as she moved with him, their rhythm consuming them, nothing existing except this moment. The only sound she could hear was their ragged breathing. Sensations built. Need intensified. Pleasure burned so hot and strong it pulled her up and up and up until she couldn’t stand the intensity a moment longer.
Her breathing was short and she was making sharp gasps of high-pitched sound. Grant’s hand came up to her mouth at the exact moment she wanted to scream. She bit down on his fist as her orgasm rocked her, making colours dance behind her eyelids. As the last waves rolled through her, Grant shuddered against her and they both sagged against the wall, a sweaty, panting, satiated mess.
He kissed her ear with infinite tenderness. ‘That was incredible.’
She was still gasping as if she’d just run five kilometres instead of five minutes of sex. She half laughed and half huffed. ‘Like a pressure valve being released.’
She slowly turned to face him and his hands delved into her hair as she cupped his cheeks. Their tongues melded in a kiss that was both charged and loaded with the relief of breaking their own personal drought.
Suddenly they heard voices.
‘I left it in the treatment room.’ Debbie, the personal care attendant, was so clear she could have been on the other side of the curtain.
They both stilled, eyes wide. ‘Oh, God,’ Kelly whispered, immediately fishing her undies up off the floor before shoving her feet through the leg holes. ‘We’ll never live this down.’
Grant zipped his shorts and pulled his shirt out over the now-missing button.
‘Let’s turn Mrs Phillips first,’ Jenny, the night nurse, replied.
The footsteps retreated and Kelly sagged against Grant. Both of them shook with laughter.
‘That was close. Come on, let’s get out of here.’
Grant grabbed her hand and somehow they managed to stop laughing long enough to sneak out through the quiet kitchen without being seen and out into the clear, outback night.
The sky was alight with stars—the Milky Way an awe-inspiring carpet of twinkling silver—and they both stopped to gaze up at it. Grant slung his arm around her. ‘It’s a bit like watching the kids sleep.’
She glanc
ed up at his face silhouetted in the moonlight. ‘You mean, no matter if it’s been a shit of a day, they look so angelic asleep you forgive them anything.’
‘Yeah.’ His tone was contemplative. ‘This country’s so harsh and unforgiving, but every night it puts on a show that keeps you here.’ He started walking slowly, taking her with him. ‘I’m sorry, Kel.’
She slid her hand onto his chest, remembering the sex they’d just had and how they were going home to an empty house where they could do it all over again. She was seriously tempted to say okay and let his apology sit. Then she considered the past few soul-destroying weeks and the fear of their return made her speak. ‘What are you sorry for?’
He sighed. ‘This morning. The last couple of months. Dragging you and the kids out here and then dropping the ball on everything.’
His words surprised her. ‘You didn’t drag us out here, Grant. We came together as a team. It’s just lately I feel like I’m a team of one.’
‘And that’s my fault.’ He scrubbed at his jaw. ‘I’ve been struggling with work and I’m so freaking tired I could sleep for a week. In Brisbane and Longreach I used to be able to turn off and separate myself from work, but out here our friends are my patients, their kids are my patients, and everywhere I turn I see the pain the drought is wreaking on everyone’s lives. All I can do is be here and try and prevent people from giving up.’
His pain made her heart cramp. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you’ve been feeling like this instead of closing yourself off from me?’
He shrugged. ‘I didn’t want to worry you.’
‘Worry me?’ Her voice rose with incredulity as she spun out of his arms and opened their front door. Frustration and disbelief got all tangled up with hysteria at his faulty logic. ‘Grant Wilkins, your attempts to not worry me have scared me to death. I knew you were unhappy, but I didn’t know why. When our sex life dribbled down to almost nothing, I thought maybe you were having an affair or that you’d stopped loving me.’
He closed the door behind them and pulled her into his arms. ‘Kelly, I love you more today than the day I married you. Ten years ago, if someone had told me that was possible, I wouldn’t have believed them.’
She stroked his face and sucked in a shaky breath as she welcomed and accepted his assuaging words. ‘I love you too, Grant, but you have to stop bottling things up and start talking to me.’
He rested his forehead on hers, his mouth tweaking up wryly. ‘You’re right. I have to take the advice I give my patients. I promise to try.’
‘Thank you. I’m going to hold you to that.’ She stroked his cheek. ‘I need you to know that me being late with the car service had nothing to do with the fuel pump failing.’
He frowned at her, confusion clear in his eyes. ‘You think I’m cross about that?’
She nodded.
He pressed a kiss into her hair. ‘Kelly, I was scared for you and frustrated that when you needed me, I was stuck helping someone else. You and the kids are my world and if anything happened to you ...’
‘Nothing is going to happen to us.’ His words made her think about this morning. ‘Why were you so angry about the vibrator? I only bought it because I thought it might help us rediscover our spark.’
He blew out a long breath. ‘Mostly, I was angry at me. It was like on top of everything else I was struggling with, I’d failed you as a husband. I’m sorry, I’ve been a total dick.’
‘Oh, Grant.’ She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. ‘You haven’t failed me. I’ve missed you so much and no matter how much fun a battery boyfriend can be occasionally, it’s no replacement for the real thing.’
‘That’s good to know.’ His handsome face split into a wide grin. ‘Still, seeing as you spent the money, I think we should probably give it a test drive. Why don’t you go warm up the vibrator and get into that sexy lingerie I also found so that I can take it off you.’
He ran the tip of his tongue decadently across her lips, the touch sending sharp and glorious tingles shooting through her. Anticipation soared. ‘Sounds like a perfect plan.’
She walked into their bedroom and found that he’d already laid the lingerie on the bed along with the vibrator and her heart sang. He really had planned everything. She refused to let any seeds of doubt surface that, after two children, her body might not look as fabulous in the fine, lace teddy as it once had, because Grant loved her and thought she was sexy. Nothing else mattered.
She picked up the deep purple, U-shaped vibrator. Grant had said to warm it up so she popped some lube on it and slid the thinner end snugly inside her leaving the other end resting against her clit. Then she put on the teddy and searched the container for the vibrator’s remote control. It wasn’t there.
‘You look amazing.’ Grant walked into the room holding two glasses of champagne, kissed her swiftly and handed her a drink before lying on the bed.
‘Thank you,’ She kissed him again before she lay down next to him propped up on pillows.
He raised his glass. ‘To great sex and talking.’
She thought of Elsie and smiled. ‘To talking and great sex.’ Taking a sip of the champagne, she savoured the fizzing play of the bubbles against her tongue. ‘God, I don’t just love the taste of champagne, I love the feel of it.’
‘What about the feel of this?’ Grant grinned and stuck his hand in his pocket.
The vibrator suddenly buzzed between her legs and she squirmed in delight. ‘You’ve got the remote? You always have to be in control, don’t you?’ she said laughing.
‘Not always.’ He leant in and kissed her. ‘In fact tonight I plan to surrender to you totally and let you do to me what you said you would in those texts. But not until I’ve pleasured you.’
He pressed the remote control again and the vibrations intensified. She shivered and the champagne sloshed in her glass.
‘Let me take that off you,’ he said with a wicked glint in his eyes. ‘I promise it will be waiting for you later.’ As he removed the glass from her hand and set it on the nightstand, he increased the vibrations again.
‘Oh!’ It felt amazing and her legs fell open as Grant rolled in toward her. He gently pushed aside the lace of the teddy and suckled her aching breasts. As his tongue laved her nipples, he pressed the remote control again and again until the vibrator was pulsing against her in a deep, sensuous cha-cha-cha rhythm that was driving her wild.
Her head lashed the pillow, her breath came hard and fast, and gasping sounds shot from her mouth as she lost contact with everything except the pool of sensation that pummelled her. Her muscles quivered, demanding to close around something hard—around Grant—and she shot out her hand, gripping his thigh. ‘Now. Oh god, inside me now, please.’
He shook his head slowly. ‘No, baby. This time you’re going solo and I’m watching.’
‘But we’ve never—’
He kissed her hard, plunging his tongue into her mouth and everything inside her pushed and pulled her to the precipice. And then it dropped her over. Her hands dug into his arms as she came—wave upon wave of pure blissful sensation that rode through her with addictive heat, hurling her out of herself and promising her it could and would happen again.
When her gaze finally came back into focus, Grant was smiling at her and she realised he’d switched the vibrator back to the lowest setting. It was a soothing buzz that said, just keeping the motor running. He held the champagne to her lips and she took a sip and stroked his hair. ‘Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome.’
They’d done a lot of stuff over the years, but he’d never watched her masturbate before. Although technically, as he’d been in charge of the remote, he’d been masturbating her. ‘Did you enjoy that?’
‘Oh, yeah. You’re as sexy as hell when you’re coming. You flushed pink all over, your eyes were luminous and your hips ground against mine as if I was the last man standing and you were desperate for me. We should have tried this years ago.’
; She laughed. ‘Let’s see if this thing is as good for you as it is for me.’
‘I’m in.’
‘I hope so.’
His eyes darkened and she pulled off his shirt as he shucked his pants. She pushed at his shoulders until he was under her and she straddled him, carefully lowering herself over him, sliding him in under the thin wedge of the vibrator. His hands reached for her breasts and she reached for the remote control, pressing it and taking it slowly up through the vibrations. As she rode him, she could feel the thrust of him pressing the vibrator against her G-spot. It was beyond incredible.
She pressed the remote one more time. His hands stilled on her breasts and he bucked underneath her, pushing up hard. ‘Fuck.’
‘I’m taking that as a good “fuck”,’ she said with a laugh.
‘Oh, baby, it’s the best.’
Linking her fingers with his, she moved with him and they took each other up, up, up, until pleasure became pain and then pleasure again as they were flung—soaring out—far beyond themselves. When they tumbled from the heady heights of ecstasy, they fell back together.
Later, they lay in bed cuddled up and sipping champagne while Grant stroked her hair. ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said.
She nudged him gently in the ribs. ‘That sounds dangerous.’
He gave her an indulgent smile. ‘What would you think about us talking to the bank about a loan for a four-seater plane?’
She thought about how he was struggling to find a way of switching off from work in such a small place as Milpinyani Springs. ‘Would it help you?’
‘I think it might help all of us.’ An animated spark lit up his eyes. ‘We could fly to Longreach and Brisbane. We could eat Thai food again and have the occasional Sunday lunch with our parents. Hell, we could leave the kids with them while we go and see a show.’
She laughed. ‘I think just asking Annie to mind the twins one Friday night a month might help too.’