Pushing her legs apart, he stood between her spread thighs. Her sensitive skin rubbed against the flannel of his boxers, sending her into overdrive. Her legs clutched around him. Her body shivered, desperate for more. She couldn’t remember ever feeling this way before, so needy, so desperate. How much had she been missing out on? How much more could Jeremy show her?
He leaned in close, capturing her nipple between his lips and sucking hard. She screamed. The world around her started spinning. As if sensing her unease, Jeremy pulled her closer. He twisted his right arm around her waist, holding her up for his attention. The other lifted her breast up to his mouth as he used his lips, tongue and teeth to devastate what remained of her senses.
“You have no idea how many times I dreamed of these tits while lying next door in my twin bed. How many times I fantasized about sucking these round pink nipples until you screamed my name.”
She ran her fingers through his hair, scoring his scalp with her nails and he responded in turn. He switched sides, taking her other nipple into his mouth and she had to fight hard to remain conscious.
“I’m not sure I could ever walk into the library without getting hard. I spent almost every night of my adolescence dreaming about you in that library, just like this, naked and open to me. Shaking, screaming, crying in my arms as I pulled moan after moan from you. I almost rubbed myself raw fantasizing about you stretched out on one of those tables or bent over the reference desk, your skirt hiked up around your hips.”
She whimpered at the image he painted in her mind. All she wanted was the same. She’d never had those kinds of thoughts in the library before, but she had a feeling when she returned to work on Monday she wouldn’t be able to get rid of them.
Her entire body vibrated. The pleasure of his touch sizzled along every synapse, making her want more. Her clit ached. Her pussy gripped on the emptiness inside. Wetness coated her thighs. She needed more. How was it that Jeremy could do this to her? It was almost as if he’d found a manual to her body no one else had ever discovered. He managed to make her so desperate and craving she didn’t care about anything else.
“Jeremy, I need you.”
She couldn’t deny it anymore, not even to herself. She felt a lot more toward Jeremy than just a physical reaction. It was much more than lust. And at the moment, she couldn’t find a reason to regret it.
“I know, baby,” he responded, moving closer.
He dropped his hand from her breast to skim down her stomach and between her legs to her damp pussy. His fingers glided between her folds. She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath when he found her clit and rubbed the pad of his thumb across it.
“Is that better?”
She moaned and, even with her eyes closed, she could tell he was smiling.
“I guess I’ll take that as my answer.”
Two digits pushed deep into her cunt. She cried out at the sudden invasion, the fullness rippling through her body, right, perfect. Her heart crashed against her ribs. The echo filled her ears, everything else sounding so far way.
He nipped at her ear, waiting for her to adjust. Grazing his teeth down the tender flesh, he sucked the lobe into his mouth, sending tingles throughout the rest of her body. Her nipples tightened into aching points, and her pussy clenched hard around his fingers.
Jeremy chuckled, and for a second, she thought he might say something. Instead, he pulled his fingers out of her then thrust them back, stealing her breath. Everything else faded away—the kitchen, her fears, her doubts—and she refocused on Jeremy.
She enfolded him in her arms, enticing Jeremy’s lips to her own. His kiss was soft and sweet, but at the same time his thumb brushed across her clit in a long, deep caress. She convulsed beneath the touch.
“Jeremy,” she cried out, holding tighter to his shoulders for support.
He kissed the corner of her mouth then down to her throat.
“What is it, baby?” he mouthed on her neck.
He sucked hard on the delicate skin at the same time he pushed his fingers into her. No doubt he’d leave a mark on her. As inappropriate as it was for a grown woman to have a hickey, she was turned on by the idea of his mark remaining on her skin.
Maybe she was having an early midlife crisis. It certainly made sense. Wasn’t sleeping with someone ten years younger one of the markers of a midlife crisis? Was she trying to recapture her youth with hickeys like in high school and getting naughty in inappropriate places?
Not that it mattered. Whatever it was, she didn’t have any intention of stopping it. This felt too damn good to end.
“What do you need?” He made his way down her chest.
She arched her back as he continued to tease her, licking across her nipple but never taking it into his mouth. She almost wanted to scream in frustration, but she loved it at the same time.
“That’s it,” he coached.
Her hips moved in time with his thrusts, shifting her off the counter to impale herself on the thick digits.
“Show me what you want,” he encouraged with the brush of his thumb across her clit.
She whimpered again, pushing hard against his fingers. He tightened his other hand around her back and pulled her closer. His tongue circled each peak of her tight nipples. First with the tip, then the broad, flat surface of his tongue. Moving slowly, deliberately, as though he had all the time in the world to explore her body.
“Come for me, baby,” he mumbled, mouth still pressed to her skin.
He rubbed his midnight scruff against the engorged tip, and fire ripped along her nerves.
“Come now.”
He didn’t have to demand it. He pushed down on her clit, and the choice was taken away from her. Everything in her body seized. Her pussy clamped down on his fingers, she tightened her legs around his waist, pleasure overwhelming her. He glided his hands along her back, soft and comforting. He slid his lips up her neck and across her cheeks in sweet little caresses. His touch kept her tied to the real world as the need threatened to pull her away like a balloon on a windy day.
He continued to stroke her clit, drawing out her orgasm as long as possible. She whimpered beneath his touch, half grateful and half irritated at the never ending satisfaction. Her body shaking, nipples throbbing, she let go, allowing the pleasure to sweep over her, to overtake her, until there was nothing left. Not just the pleasure of the physical, but the joy of being held, of being close to someone again. The joys of being with Jeremy.
Shattered, she held onto him, breathing heavily, trying to gather her scattered thoughts. No man had ever wrung her out the way Jeremy did. His time, his care, his attention. The sweet words he whispered as he touched her. It was all too much.
“I need a condom,” Jeremy whispered against her temple.
His voice sounded desperate and hoarse, almost as though he was in pain. He lay her down on the counter, the tiles cold and clammy beneath her sweat-covered skin. She fought back a groan at the sensation.
“I’ll be right back.” He placed a quick kiss to her hair.
She vaguely heard the pound of his cast hitting the maple paneling as he rushed to her bedroom. It took a little while for her brain to refocus on what he’d said. A condom. Of course he needed a condom. He didn’t want her to get pregnant. He was doing the responsible thing.
What am I doing? They weren’t in the same places in their lives. They didn’t want the same things. What an idiot she was. He was young. He didn’t want children. He didn’t want a family and a quiet life like she did. At least not yet.
He had a booming career. He’d set off on grand adventures, explored the wilderness, and had taken photos of locations so exotic she’d never even dreamed of traveling there. In many ways he was still a kid himself, still wild and carefree. That was the Jeremy she knew. The Jeremy who smiled at her when he came into the library between classes, the Jeremy who was friends with as many jocks as geeks. The Jeremy she loved.
No, it wouldn’t be fair to ask him to gi
ve any of that up. Not for her. Not for what she wanted.
But as much as she couldn’t ask him to abandon his career or the life he’d built, she couldn’t give him up either. Not right now. Not when he was still so close. She’d already come this far. She was naked and laying on her kitchen counter still breathing hard from the last earth-shattering orgasm he’d given her. Damn, he was good at those.
At least for tonight, she had him and she planned to enjoy him. Tomorrow she’d deal with the real world, the quiet, plain world she’d been living in and that would seem bleaker without Jeremy.
He walked back into the room, completely naked. His cock stood straight out from a thatch of dark wiry hair, encased in a thin latex sheath. He paused the second he saw her, his face dropping from the carefree boyish smile he’d sported all night. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
She shook her head, trying her best to push the dark thoughts from her mind. “Nothing. I’m fine.”
He stopped in front of her, clutching her face with his hands and forcing her gaze up to his. His eyes were intense, focused, and so sincere it almost made her cry. “You can tell me. Whatever it is?”
For a moment she almost believed him. She wanted to. She wanted more than anything to tell him what she needed, hoping he’d want the same. But he didn’t. She knew it. And she couldn’t blame him. He still had so much life to lead, so many pictures to take. He didn’t want to be saddled with a family now. But for her, time was running out. She couldn’t wait for him.
Blinking back tears, she enveloped him in her arms, loving the feel of his skin touching hers and needing the connection now more than ever. “I just missed you.”
He pushed the hair back from her face, his hands warm and comforting. She leaned into them, seeking as much of his touch as possible.
“You don’t have to worry, baby,” his murmured against her cheek. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere ever again.”
Thankfully, he leaned down and kissed her, stealing any chance she had to speak. How she wished that were true. She wanted Jeremy forever. She could feel it all the way down to her bones, but it wasn’t fair to him. She loved him too much to trap him to her in a life he didn’t want.
But she had him right now. She still had tonight. And she planned to experience as much of it as she could. To squirrel it away for the lonely future before her to be pulled out and used whenever the night became too quiet and cold.
She kissed him back, taking the caress from soft and sweet to blistering in seconds. She twirled her arms around him, pulling him close until their bodies were entwined. She lifted her legs higher on his hips, reaching between them to find his cock. Wrapping her fingers around him, she slid her grip up and down his length three times, his flesh hard as stone. She positioned his cock at her entrance and pressed down as she lifted her hips off the counter.
They moaned together, his thick cock filling her. Her inner muscles massaged him until he gasped. He gripped her hips, plunging deep. Tingles of sensation rocketed from the bottom of her feet all the way to the top of her head.
“God, baby, you feel so good,” he whispered as she moved with him, thrusting up to meet his hips.
She gripped his ass, stabbing her nails into the hard muscles, holding him tightly while she still could. Tomorrow she’d have to let him go. Tomorrow they’d have to go their separate ways, toward their separate goals.
She threw her head back as he picked up his pace, drilling into her so deeply her entire body vibrated. He took advantage of the position, sucking on her throat and licking the column of her neck.
“You’re amazing,” Jeremy mumbled against her skin. He gazed into her eyes with such wonder.
Her heart skipped a beat.
“I could do this the rest of my life and never have enough of you.”
If only that was possible. The honesty within his eyes almost undid her. He meant it. Truly. No one else had ever looked at her that way, not even Leo. But it couldn’t be. They were both in different places in their lives. They needed different things. And if she tried to force him to conform, she’d only hurt him more in the end.
She couldn’t do that to Jeremy. She cared about him too much to hurt him like that.
Her orgasm stole over her so quickly it surprised her. The pleasure overtook her, stealing all oxygen from her lungs and robbing her of any rational thought. Her pussy clenched around him, holding onto him. She was desperate to feel close to him for one more minute.
Jeremy plunged into her once more, before spilling inside her. His cock jerked along her sensitive inner tissues, bringing tears to her eyes. She leaned her head against his shoulder to hide her sobs.
If only I was ten years younger, I could have this every day.
But she could never change her age just like Jeremy couldn’t change his. There was no point in wishing it. She wrapped her arms around him, memorizing his smell, his touch, and the feel of him, while she still could. She tightened her grip a fraction, loath to release him. He placed a kiss on her head, curling her into his arms.
The obvious truth hit her like a brick against the temple. Another tear leaked from her eye as she lost the fight to her sadness. There was no question in her mind. Her heart would always be his. No matter where he went next.
Chapter Five
Jeremy paced his mother’s kitchen as much as he could with his plaster-encased leg. “I don’t know what happened,” he sputtered into the phone, not caring that he’d screamed into his best friend’s ear. He didn’t care about much anymore. It had been a week since he’d heard from Miranda and he was going out of his mind.
He’d had the most amazing night of his life, except for having to leave at four in the morning to be back in his bed before his mother came in to give him his morning pain pill. He would have liked to have stayed the night to wake up with Miranda in his arms, to make her breakfast, to help her get dressed. His cock throbbed with the idea, and the million others he’d concocted of Miranda since leaving her bed. But she’d been so insistent about his parents not finding him missing. Not wanting to worry them, he’d given in.
He thought she’d had an amazing night too. He’d done everything he could to show her how special, cherished and beautiful she was. All the different emotions he’d felt for her for ten years. He’d thought she’d felt them too. Especially the last time on the kitchen counter when she’d looked up at him with those misty eyes. But if she had, why the hell hadn’t she returned any of his calls? Why hadn’t she come back over to see him or asked him to stop by? Being so close and unable to be with her made him want to jump out of his skin.
Isn’t it doing the same to her?
“We seemed to have such a great time. I thought she did too.”
Brett sighed into the phone. This kind of conversation was not his specialty. “I don’t know, dude. Some girls are just like that. Hot one minute, cold the next. There’s no way to understand it.”
Jeremy shook his head. It couldn’t be that simple. There had to be more to this. Miranda wasn’t one of those flighty girls who changed their minds all the time. She wouldn’t have let him into her bed if she didn’t want him there. So what had changed?
His mind flashed back to that night in the kitchen, the sad look in her eyes when he’d returned after fetching a condom. The image haunted him, floating in his subconscious, tugging at him to remember, to understand. There’d been some other emotion there, something besides simply missing him like she’d said, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.
“Buddy, you got to give this one up. The girl clearly doesn’t want to see you.”
Jeremy clenched his hands into fists, slamming them into his sides, not caring that he’d whacked the cellphone, held tightly in his right hand, against his cast. A pain reverberated up his leg.
He put the phone back to his ear. “She’s not a girl. She’s a woman.”
The most amazing, beautiful, fantastic woman he’d ever met.
“Sorry.” Brett did so
und regretful, but Jeremy doubted it was for calling Miranda a girl. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
Jeremy blew out an exasperated breath. “I know, dude.” It wasn’t Brett’s fault he hadn’t slept more than three hours for the last six nights. He’d had some killer fantasies of Miranda before, but now that he’d seen her, touched and tasted her, the fantasies were a thousand times more intense. They kept him up long into the night, tempting him, torturing him.
“I can’t give her up.” He couldn’t just walk away from her. Not even if that’s what she wanted. “I love her,” he released with a croak.
“I know, dude. But you have to let her go. You called, you’ve left messages. There’s nothing more you can do.”
There had to be something else. There had to be something he could say to convince her. He couldn’t live the rest of his life without her. He grabbed the edge of the counter, intending to turn back and pace the kitchen again, needing the support to balance while he pivoted on his injured leg.
As he reached out, his hand knocked against a stack of mail piled on the counter. Three envelopes tumbled to the floor, unearthing several letters buried in the heap. Two more slid off the pile to the side of the heap. He grabbed the two across the granite countertop, intending to put the letters back in order when he noticed Miranda’s address standing out among the mound. Her name called to him like a neon sign.
It must have been misdelivered. It happened often. As a teen, he’d loved it when one of the Valentines’ letters had shown up at his house. It gave him the opportunity to go over and hand-deliver it to Miranda. Sometimes she’d even offer him a drink or snack as a thank you.
But now, his stomach dropped. Her name stabbed him in the gut. He wanted nothing more than to take the letter next door and see the woman who had occupied his mind every second since he’d slipped out of her house with her sweat still on his skin. But after three unreturned phone calls and a dozen texts without a single reply, would she really want to see him? Did she regret their night together?
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