The wounds of time slowly began to heal as she wound her legs around his waist, and he clasped her closely. Her hands wandered beneath the black leather jacket and pulled frantically at the shirt so neatly tucked into his pants.
She needed to touch his skin, to feel the warm, pulsing heat of the present, to stroke the fires of here and now, and warm the emptiness of the intervening years when they'd been separated by the boundaries of responsibility and pain.
He raised his head to gaze down at her. "Is this a dream? I've wanted you for so damned long--dreamed of this moment, but never thought it would happen."
She lowered her legs to stand and then began pushing at his jacket. He shrugged out of it and threw it toward a chair. She began to unbutton his shirt.
He halted her hands. "Are you sure about this?"
She looked up at him. "Are you planning to leave me again? Or do you have a wife or lover tucked away somewhere that I don't know about? Maybe a few more secrets you haven't shared with me?" She stopped her movements and waited. Maybe he did have more secrets she didn't know about, and the pain began to make its way through her again.
"No, definitely not. There's been no one to take your place. I've never loved anyone else the way I love you, never used those words with another woman."
Again, she reached for him. "I tried, Reed...I tried to go on with my life. But it's been so empty without you. Please," she whispered, "I need you to make love to me. I need to feel you inside me."
He reached for the edges of her T-shirt and pulled it up over her head. "Do you know how many times I wanted to make love to you when we were together? But you were only sixteen, and knowing what my life was like, I couldn't take the chance on making you a part of my hell. I wanted you so badly."
She undid the rest of the buttons on his shirt and pushed it over his shoulders. "I wanted you to make love to me. I wanted to be yours completely. You thought I was too young, but I wasn't, not for you. Wanting you hasn't changed in all these years."
He unsnapped her bra and pulled it from her shoulders, and his gaze heated her skin. "So beautiful," he said as he cupped her breast with his hand. She felt his callused thumb brush across her nipple, and she hissed sharply at the pleasurable contact.
"Oh, yes, Reed," she whispered. "Touch me. Like that. Again."
He brought his other hand up and tweaked the nipple of her other breast and she arched toward him.
His muscles rippled beneath her hands on his chest. Heated desire coursed through her, settling in her vagina. She spasmed with the need to be touched by him, to see all of him, and to have him inside her.
"I've waited a lot of years to see you like this," he growled. "All silk and heavenly delight. You're the angel in my night, the nymph that inhabits my dreams."
"And you're the temptation that has driven me to distraction over the years from wanting you, needing you, and trying to overcome the emptiness of not having you."
She frantically worked at the opening of his jeans and pushed them over his lean hips. The ache inside her began to overwhelm her. Touching his warm flesh sent painful shafts of need coursing through her. How long had she dreamed of this moment? But nothing was like feeling him now, knowing he was really here, with her, wanting her, not just the naïve girl of so long ago, but the woman she was now.
He stepped out of his shoes and pants and she was overwhelmed with the beauty of the man. She reached out to touch a long scar at his hip and almost cried when she realized how he'd probably gotten it.
He placed a hand over hers. "Don't. It's in the past. Let me love you, Jo. Make me feel the here and now. Let me show you how much I love you."
Chapter 4
* * *
He unzipped her pants and pushed them down her legs. She yanked off her sneakers and socks and stepped out of the jeans, left wearing only a pair of lavender cotton bikini panties.
She looked up at him and saw that his eyes were dark pools, but not of pain. What she saw was passion and desire. For her.
"Where's the bedroom?" he growled as he scooped her up into his arms. "Is it the same one you had when we were kids?"
She pointed to the entryway and the stairs. "Up the stairs, first door on the right." She curled her arms around his neck, basking in his hard heat. Right now he wore only a pair of black boxers. She was thankful she'd closed the drapes earlier, and hoped no one could see them now as they'd sure get an eyeful of naked flesh.
"You don't have to carry me, you know. I can walk," she offered, trying to be helpful.
He hesitated at the foot of the stairs and looked down at her. She saw the corner of his mouth turn up into a lopsided smile.
"Think I can't manage?"
She clung tighter to his neck and tilted her head back. "I think you can manage just fine."
He leaned forward and captured her lips, then delved inside with his tongue as he mounted the steps with her in his arms.
She thought it just might be possible that they actually flew up the few steps to the first landing. His kiss fanned the flames of the fire inside her to a fever pitch, and she wasn't sure she would make it to the bedroom.
She pulled one hand free and stroked his chest, her fingers sifting through the dark silken hairs there. The heat of desire consumed her, and she wiggled from his arms as they reached the first landing.
Without breaking the kiss, she slowly slid down his body to stand. Her arms uncurled from his neck and reached for his boxers, pushing frantically to reveal the rest of his hard flesh to her.
They dropped to his feet and he stepped out of them, at the same time pushing her back against the wall. His hands tugged urgently at her panties, until that barrier was removed as well.
Then they were skin to skin, his hard cock pressing against her wet labia, his mouth ravaging hers. Her hands grasped his thick, pulsing tool. Oh, God, he was so big, so hot, and she was so ready to feel all that steely flesh inside her.
She tore her lips from his, panting with need. "I need you now, Reed. Right now. I can't wait another minute." She thrust her hips against him. "Fuck me, Reed. I'm ready for you. I've been ready for fifteen years."
"Damn, I didn't think to bring a condom," he groaned.
"It's all right. I trust you, and I'm using contraception . Please, I can't wait any longer. We'll buy a whole box of condoms later if it makes you feel better."
He thrust her up against the wall, moving between her thighs. Effortlessly lifting her, she wound her legs around his hips.
"Guide me inside you," he growled. "God, I need to be there. I need to feel your silky heat surrounding me, honey."
One arm curled around his neck, and with her other hand, she reached down to encircle his shaft, guiding him to her entrance.
Curls of pleasure stroked at her wet pussy and then exploded as he drove inward. Shattering bolts of electricity enveloped her, and she screamed with his possession as he buried himself inside her slick, welcoming channel.
He shifted her hips, and she felt the tip of his cock nudge against her womb. The heady ache consumed her. "Yes, oh, my God, yes," she gasped, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the wall, feeling every inch of him buried deep inside her, the walls of her vagina expanding to accept and accommodate him. Could anything possibly feel more wonderful than this?
But suddenly there was more, much more, as he began to move. Splinters of light exploded around her as he retreated and thrust inward in long, slow strokes.
Her slick desire coated his hot presence, and his movements grew faster, more powerful, deeper still. She clutched at his ass, gripped the hard muscles, pushing and pulling. Oh, God, she never wanted this to end.
He drove her higher and higher, circled and ground against her clit. She clenched and spasmed around him, more of her juices coated him, her hands dug into his cheeks, then she slid one hand down between his legs and cupped his balls.
He groaned and thrust deep. She felt the powerful shudders of his orgasm overtake him, and she followe
d, quick, fast, and hard.
He brought his mouth down over hers, capturing the scream, returning the sound breath for breath as he spurted his seed deep inside her, spasm after spasm of release.
She felt the echo of his heart thundering in his chest, matching the beat of her own.
She was crushed between man and wall, speared and held there with no thought of ever wanting to move from that spot again.
He shifted, preparing to retreat from her body. Her hands on his ass tightened halting his movements.
"No," she whispered. "Don't. I want you inside me. I don't want to lose this moment, not yet, please."
"I don't want to hurt you. I hadn't meant to be so rough. I'm sorry."
A satisfied smiled rose to her lips. "You most certainly didn't hurt me. I wanted this as badly as you, and you have to know that. Didn't you feel it?"
His cock began to harden inside her; she could feel it beginning to stretch the walls of her vagina.
"Oh, yes. You feel so damn good. I'm afraid to move."
She laughed a deep, throaty laugh. "I don't want you to move. Well, maybe a little."
With that, he began to thrust slowly, their combined juices scenting the air around them with their passion. The sounds of bodies slapping together, tightly melding, releasing, combining. The sounds of heated pleasure erupting from deep within, years of wanting pummeling against them, desire entwining them. No, she didn't ever want to leave this moment.
"Put your arms around my neck," he instructed.
She slitted her eyes open. "Why?" She gripped his ass cheeks. "I like where they are right now."
"I like where they are, too. But I want to get you in a bed. And to do that, we have to get upstairs."
She sighed and moved her hands. "Well, if I must."
And then she decided she was glad she did as he mounted the stairs and she felt the erotic momentum inside her fill her pussy.
"Oh, yes," she breathed. "Maybe this isn't so bad after all."
She felt the rumble of his chuckle against her cheek.
"You like that, do you?" He hesitated for a moment and thrust his hips, grinding against her. He placed a foot on the next step and thrust again.
She groaned as his cock hit a sensitive spot inside her. "Oh, yes. Oh, God, yes." She hung on for dear life as they slowly made their way to the top landing.
Two orgasms later, he finally reached the top of the stairs and turned toward the bedroom. He eased her onto the bed. Unwinding her legs from around his hips, he lifted them upward and draped them over his shoulders.
She screamed with pleasure at the depth he penetrated her.
"Am I hurting you?"
"No," she gasped. "Oh, no. Fuck me, Reed. Hard."
He pulled back and lunged forward, and she screamed as another climax shot through her, pulsing around his deeply-embedded cock.
He brought his hand to her sensitive, engorged clit and she arched up as he began to stroke it.
"You are so hot, so beautiful. Do you know that?" He said as he stroked along her lips, over her clit, and then cupped her bottom, kneading and separating. Then he began moving inside her again, slowly, inch by inch. He retreated and then tunneled deep.
He brought a hand up to stroke the sensitive backs of her calves, and she curled her toes, the mixture of sensations riding her. Another spasming climax overtook her.
He bent her leg and nipped at her calf as his rhythmic demands became longer and more powerful. Then he lowered her legs and came up over her on the bed, capturing her lips with his hot mouth, thrusting his tongue deep inside, possessing her deep moans of pleasure, burying his cock inside her, and she felt his climax pulse through them both.
Finally, he pulled his softening cock free of her clinging vagina and pulled her up on the bed next to him.
He threw one of his hard legs over her and pulled her close. "I love you, Jo. More than a man should maybe and not as well as I would like."
She lay her head against his chest. "I love you, too. It must have been hard for you to come back here. To see the house you grew up in."
Jo heard him sigh. "I have a love/hate relationship with this street. The hate part wasn't bad enough to keep me away from you."
She snuggled closer. "I'm glad about that." She looked up, then reached up to touch his face. "I'm so afraid you'll disappear. That none of this is real."
"It's very real. Probably more so than I deserve."
He stroked the length of her damp spine and she arched against him. She didn't think she'd ever get enough of him.
"There's so much I want to know about you. So many years without you. There was a time I thought we shared everything. This time, there won't be any secrets between us." She cupped his jaw with her hands and looked up at him. "Promise me."
He reached up to clasp one of her hands and brought it to his lips. "I promise," he said just before he placed a kiss at the center.
"Do we have a future together, Reed?"
His eyes were solemn as he looked down at her. "Do you want a future with me, Jo? After everything that's happened? Knowing my history?"
"How can you ask that? You are not your father, and you have to believe that. I do. And I'll bet your mother and sister do as well."
He leaned his head back against the headboard and closed his eyes. She saw the remembered pain. He worried so much about everyone else. Did he ever really have a childhood? Her heart ached for the sad little boy he'd hidden away from her all those years ago.
She still couldn't believe she hadn't known, that there had been no real indication of what was happening inside the house right next door. She doubted her parents knew, because she'd never overheard any kind of gossip that might have indicated a problem.
But she'd been closer to him than anyone else, and she hadn't understood the signs. The desperation in his eyes, the black and blue marks on his body. He'd dismissed every question she'd asked, had offered excuses that she'd accepted. But then not having suffered abuse as he had, how could she have known to push farther beneath the surface?
Looking back, she realized she'd lived in a perfect world and assumed Reed lived there with her. But what he'd done was try to protect her from ever entering his nightmare. She was his safe haven from hell. She, and the tree house, let him rise far above the quicksand that probably seemed to suck at him every day. And she hadn't realized.
Her gaze happened to settle on the illuminated clock face.
Suddenly, she jumped up from the bed, grabbed for an afghan that lay at the foot of the bed, and wrapped it around her.
He looked up at her, surprise on his face. She grinned at him.
"What are you doing?"
"Come with me." She turned away and sprinted out of the room.
"Hey, wait a minute," she heard him yell behind her.
Jo waited at the top of the stairs for him to catch up with her. She heard the squeak of the bedsprings, and turned to watch him walk toward her. Surprisingly, her body heated at seeing him stride through the doorway, his handsome, naked body silhouetted by the night-light in her bedroom.
"Come on." She headed down the stairs. When she reached the bottom, she turned on a small lamp setting on a table beneath the banister.
She hurried toward the back of the house and, after opening the back door, stepped onto the porch.
"Where are you going?" he called. "I'm not exactly dressed to go outside."
She peeked a look over her shoulder. "Not very adventurous are you? I think you're dressed perfectly for what I have in mind." She allowed the afghan to drop to the floor. Good thing it was so late; the rest of the neighborhood should be nicely asleep right now.
She sprinted across the yard in all her naked glory. The cool night air whipped across her skin. She halted beneath the oak tree and looked up at the tree house.
It had been a long time, a very long time, since she'd last mounted this ladder. She'd only climbed two steps when she felt a pair of firm, hard hands at her hips, halting
her progress.
"Hold it right there."
And then she felt a hot, moist tongue against the crease between her cheeks, and she sucked in cold air.
Chapter 5
* * *
"What are you doing?" she whispered.
Damn, she tasted good.
Reed nipped at her buttocks, felt her clench her muscles. She had a perfect body; she'd always been perfect for him. He slid his hands over the curve of her hips, caressing her thighs, as he licked at her crease.
He tasted their passion, her desire. He raised his hand, circled her engorged, sensitive clit, and entered her with two fingers as he continued to nibble at her ass cheeks.
Her groan vibrated through her body as she thrust against his fingers. Her vagina was slick and hot, and, surprisingly, his cock grew hard again at the thought of filling her.
He lifted his head. "Spread your legs," he growled.
"I can't," she moaned. "This ladder is only just so wide you know."
He'd make do. "Then bring them closer together."
"You're kidding."
"I'm going to make you come right here. Inch your feet closer together, and hold on, honey. Remember, this was your idea."
"I had meant for us to get into the tree house first."
Reed chuckled as she moved her legs closer together. "That's it, baby." He added a third finger to the first two and tunneled into her now very tight, slick nest. "You are so hot and steamy. You're like the night air in August--fragrant and sizzling. Do you feel me inside you?" He nipped at her ass and curled his other hand around to her abdomen, his hard fingers finding her swollen clit. He rubbed the hot little nub as his fingers penetrating her began a counter rhythm of retreat and advance.
Her body trembled beneath his ministrations. He felt her rising higher, and sweat trickled down the small of her back as she clung to the ladder.
"Oh, Reed, I can't stand much more." She undulated against his hands, then he felt her spasm around his fingers as she flowed hot, vibrating with her climax. His hands on and inside her body kept her from falling as shudder after shudder overtook her. He again nipped at her cheeks and felt another spasm consume her, again and again.
THE BOY NEXT DOOR Page 3