by Mlyn Hurn
Her situation would be different this time. She wouldn't be caught off-guard and she felt a lot surer of herself, all of it thanks to Ruth.
She hurriedly sipped the juice, bending her head and letting her hair fall forward to shield her face. Before she could decide what to do, Daniel and David entered the kitchen. Nonchalantly, they came over and sat down. David sat next to his father, forcing Jack to scoot over and press tightly to her side. Daniel sat next to his uncle. The two young men accepted coffee and eagerly dug into the croissants.
Jack smiled at his sons, proud of them. But he couldn't deny the heat shooting through him as he felt Laena's body against his. He couldn't keep the memories of last night, on his bed, from filling his mind. He was aroused, he acknowledged reluctantly, sitting at his sister's kitchen table with his sons and brother. He looked out the side of his eyes at Laena, wondering if she was as affected by their proximity as he. Half-listening to his sons talk and joke with their uncle, he slid his hand over and covered her upper thigh. He had his answer a second later as Laena jumped and knocked over her juice glass.
Dimly aware his sons were jumping up to get towels, he looked at Laena and found that she was looking at him. No way in hell could he look away. He should move his hand before anyone else noticed. He told himself to do it, but instead he slid his hand a few inches further and covered the apex of her thighs. Laena's eyes opened wide at his bold touch. Jack smiled slightly as he saw the flush staining her cheeks and the sheen of perspiration dotting her upper lip.
Daniel reached over and took her glass while David mopped the juice from the table. Pat clearing his throat drew Jack's attention back to the others. He saw that his sons were taking care of things and then he met his brother's gaze. Pat knew something was going on between Laena and himself. Jack guessed that Pat probably wasn't sure just what it might be yet, but knowing his bloodhound brother, it wouldn't take him long.
Pat spoke a few seconds later. "David? Did you get a chance to talk to your Dad yet?"
Jack was grateful his brother had changed the topic.
Everyone turned to look at David, who flushed under the scrutiny.
Jack saw Pat frown, and he wondered, what the hell was going on?
Laena asked quickly, "Should I go? Perhaps you need some privacy."
"No, it's okay, Laena. Everyone else will know soon enough. Daniel knows, and now Dad knows," David told her with a smile.
Pat looked at his brother. "I take it you don't approve?"
Jack shifted on the seat. "I don't know that approve is the right word, Pat. It is just such a shock..."
Daniel spoke up. "Hey, you've always told us we need to do what is right for us. David wants to farm."
Laena glanced from David to his father. She knew from long conversations with Ruth that for many years it had been assumed, planned and finally executed for the two boys to follow their father's law career. She imagined it was quite a shock for Jack to find that one of them was turning towards his grandfather's career, rather than his father's. She could see the stress in David's face. David probably felt he knew what he wanted and was ready to get on with his life. And she had little doubt that Jack's plans had not included one of his sons dropping out of college.
Pat nodded. "David has spent every summer for as long as we can remember working with me on the farm. Daniel always went into town to work. Neither Chris nor John have shown the slightest interest in farming, so far."
David grinned as he looked at his father. "Just look at it this way, Dad. Instead of college, I'm going into the family business."
Laena knew she should stay out of this discussion, but felt compelled to say something. Very gently, she touched Jack's hand, resting on the table.
His eyebrows lifted and mouth opened, revealing how much she'd startled him.
"If you don't do what you love, Jack." Laena moved her fingers, caressing his skin. "Your life will never be happy and fulfilled. You suffer, your family suffers, and your work suffers." She took a deep breath. Part of her wanted to confide her own disappointments, but decided that she didn't know Jack well enough. Nor did she want to lay her troubles at the family's feet. "No one wins. It isn't often someone can go into farming, because so many family farms are disappearing. It's almost like sneering at fate to deny what seems meant to be."
She stopped abruptly, looking from Jack to David. "I'm sorry. I have no right to be butting in here."
David shook his head. "No, really, it's good to have a woman's opinion, and I couldn't have expressed it better, Laena."
Jack looked at his son sharply. For some reason, his son's words made him feel like something even worse was coming. "Why do I get the feeling there is more to all of this than just farming?"
Daniel laughed as David flushed.
Jack looked from one of his sons to the other.
David shifted uneasily on the seat beside his father. He swallowed hard.
A loud noise, which sounded suspiciously like tennis shoe rubber hitting bone, fell into the silence.
"Ow!" David shouted, reaching down to rub his lower leg. The glaring gaze he shot at his brother was unmistakable. A few seconds later, David blurted his news. "I've decided to get married."
If Jack had thought his Christmas holiday had been odd up to this point, this was the final straw. He coughed and spewed out the mouthful of coffee he had just taken. Unfortunately for Pat, he didn't move fast enough. A moment later, he was wearing the coffee.
Daniel started laughing his head off as David slapped his dad on his back. Daniel struggled to his feet to get some more paper towels, passing them to his dripping uncle.
Laena looked from Jack's stricken face to that of Daniel, still guffawing so hard that he almost fell out of his chair. She partially stood and drew the attention of them all. "Maybe you two should talk this over in private?" she suggested softly.
Jack scooted to the end of the bench seat and stood. He glared from David to Daniel, and lastly to Pat. "There is nothing to discuss." He reached down and grabbed Laena's wrist and pulled her behind him as he strode out of the kitchen.
Laena had to almost run to keep up with him as he walked through the house, past his gaping sisters-in-law in the living room, and down the front porch.
He kept walking until he reached his car. He opened the driver's side only and tersely told her to get in. She barely cleared the steering wheel when he was beside her and started the engine. A moment later, he backed the car down the drive. He spewed gravel as he sped down the road.
"Where are we going?" she asked him a few moments later, watching him intently.
Jack's hands clenched the steering wheel. "Why?" he asked her sarcastically. "Did you have a prior engagement somewhere?"
Laena looked at him surprise. She scooted over to the far door, glaring back at him. "Just because you don't agree with David's choices doesn't give you the right to manhandle me." She folded her arms across her chest and turned to look out the window.
Ten seconds later, the car pulled onto the shoulder of the road. She turned towards him as she spoke. "Now what-"
Jack turned and reached for her, dragging her towards him. "Damn it, Laena! This is manhandling!" His mouth came down over hers and captured the cry of surprise that tried to escape. His kiss was hot and searing. Jack's tongue took her mouth and claimed dominance.
For a moment, Laena resisted. But just like last night, her resistance was futile, and his touch melted her doubts. She kissed him back eagerly. He was fast becoming a drug she seemed to need.
It didn't make sense, and it certainly wasn't what she wanted in her life right now. She was recovering from the lie her marriage had been. She had no business looking at men, period. There were so many things that she needed time to get her head straight about, not to mention trying to shape her life back together.
Jack moved his mouth down the side of her neck, kissing and licking her tender flesh. His hands jerked her shirt free of her jeans. He shoved up the T-shirt and bun
ched it under her arms. In the next instant, he dragged down the cups of her bra and her breasts popped free. He cupped a breast in each palm, molding her firm globes with his hands. His mouth opened on the curve of her neck where her shoulders met. He sucked the skin into his mouth and began to tease and lick the skin with his tongue.
With his hands on her breasts, and his mouth marking her tender flesh, Laena squirmed on the seat. "Oh!"
He lifted his head and looked down at her. He took in the dazed look on her face, the obvious red marks on her neck and down to where his hands squeezed and plumped her breasts. The raging need he felt last night came rushing back, on top of the desire he felt now. He heard the gravelly and rough texture in his voice as he spoke. "Tell me what you like, Laena. Do you like sweet words and poetry? What turns you on beyond your wildest dreams? Do you like to be treated like a princess, or shall I tell you what great tits you have?"
Laena couldn't control the bolt of arousal that shot through her as he spoke. As if he had read her mind, he knew instantly what had turned her on so wildly. His head lowered to kiss and suck her breasts. When he finally captured one nipple in his mouth, Laena's cry filled the car. She needed him, like she had never needed a man before in her life. Never had she been this wild with Jeff. Her hands stroked his back and came around at his waistline, tugging at the snap on his jeans. Her fingers had just found the zipper tab, when she heard the slam of a car door.
Chapter 6
Jack glanced up, angry to see who was disturbing them. The next second, he pulled her shirt down with one hand as he snapped his jeans with the other. Two seconds later, they heard a soft tapping on the rear of the car. Jack knew his face was flushed as he turned to look at the sheriff standing just outside his window.
The other man looked surprised for a moment and then a huge grin split his face. "Well, well, well...what do you know? Here I think I've got a couple of high-school kids necking in their daddy's car, and instead I have...well, let's just say something else entirely different."
Jack ignored the other man's knowing grin. "Hello, Howie. Nice to see you."
Howard Striker continued to grin. "Nice to see you too, Jack. Been a while since I've seen you back home. I'd have voted to keep you fellows in another eight years, but the constitution won't let me."
Jack smiled, knowing the other man was a lifelong Republican. "That's mighty nice of you, Howie. Now, when is the next election for sheriff?"
Howie laughed loudly, leaning down to glance into the car at the passenger. His eyebrows shot up and mouth dropped open for about ten seconds, but then Howie quickly recovered. He tipped his hat to Laena. "Nice to see you, Hunt. I thought Jeff had told me you were leaving town."
Jack looked at Laena sharply, not liking being kept in the dark, about anything. And he realized that he was pretty much in total darkness when it came to knowing anything about Laena. He watched as Laena glanced at the sheriff and then at him.
"I'm staying in town, indefinitely," she replied softly.
Howie looked at her in a considering sort of way, and Laena knew he would probably tell Jeff he had seen her as soon as he could. The two men were friends, having grown up together. Howie looked between the two of them, and Laena was sure he was wondering if what he had thought he was interrupting had really been happening after all.
Howie cleared his throat and straightened back up. He smiled back at Jack again, jesting. "I'll let you go this time with just a warning, but anymore fooling around-" Howie broke off, flushing as if he decided it was better to just drop it and walk away. "Well, tell your mother hello for me, Jack. And happy holidays to everyone."
Jack thanked him and started the engine. He pulled off the shoulder of the road and headed on towards Ruth's house. A short time later, he stopped the car in the long drive. He didn't open the door, though, just turned to look at Laena. "So, you are married to Jeff Hunt. Why are you living in my mother's house?"
Laena stared out the front window of the car. "No, I am divorced from Jeff Hunt. Why? Are you another lifelong friend of the man's?"
Jack shook his head. "I know him. As kids, he hung around with Michael and Janet mostly. I was surprised when he moved back to town a few years ago. He came back to help his father and Michael in their medical practice, didn't he?"
Laena nodded, frowning. "Yes, the great white savior, returning to the small town with his infinite knowledge and skills."
Jack rested his left forearm on the steering wheel as he turned more to watch her as she spoke. "So, what happened to happily-ever-after in small-town USA?"
Laena laughed harshly, turning to glare at Jack. "Are you trying to be funny? Surely you know-"
Jack shook his head. "Hey, I've been away for basically eight years. A lot has happened. I had enough trouble just keeping up with my family."
"We moved back to town, and Jeff found someone else. End of story."
Jack watched the play of emotions across her beautiful face, in spite of her attempts to keep them tightly under control. He reached out and with his hand beneath her chin, turned her to face him. "If there is one thing I have learned in life, Laena, it is that nothing is that simple."
Laena laughed wryly at herself. "You are right, of course. I was a naïve fool, Jack. I stayed at home, cooked his meals when he deigned to show up, cleaned his house and listened to him tell me the time would come and we would start a family. Unbeknownst to me, he was screwing his nurse at the office. Suddenly he comes home one day and tells me he is divorcing me. His nurse is pregnant and he is going to marry her! I think everyone in town must have known, except me." She turned her face from him.
Jack watched as a tear escaped and slid down her cheek. He stared at her profile for a while in silence. He was still dealing with the kick in the gut he'd felt at the thought of Laena pregnant with another man's child. Why that should matter to him was beyond him just then. And now, to make him feel worse, her tears must signify that she was still in love with the lousy, cheating bastard. Hell! This peaceful Christmas in Virginia was going to hell in a hand basket right before his eyes!
"Are you still that much in love with him that you cry over him?" He nearly shouted the question before he could stop the impulse.
Laena shook her head, turning back and smiling at him weakly. "I fell out of love with him a long, long time ago. I just didn't have the sense to face it until this all happened. You know that letter I put in my pocket at the house yesterday?"
When Jack nodded, she went on. "It came from Jeff. I arranged to have my mail forwarded to Ruth's. Jeff thought I was leaving town and moving back to where we had come from in Chicago, where he did his residency. But I met Ruth, and things worked out differently. Anyway, the letter was to inform me of the wonderful birth of his baby son several months back. Now, doesn't that just take the cake? How many divorced men would bother sending their ex-wives a birth announcement? Surely I'm not expected to send a present!"
Jack shrugged, knowing it was best to not answer and just let her talk and get it all out. He watched as she rubbed her fingers across her cheeks. He wanted to touch her, but he still held back.
"I showed the letter to Ruth yesterday when she came upstairs. When she left me, she said she was going to talk Michael into leaving their shared practice. She said 'that would teach the little toad'. I can't believe she called him that!"
Jack moved closer, scooting across the seat. His right hand lifted to the seat back, and started stroking and caressing her silky length of hair. He moved his gaze down and realized that in his haste earlier, he had yanked down her shirt, but not righted the cups of her bra. Her breasts were pushed up blatantly against the shirtfront and her nipples were pointed and long. He had to wonder if she had looked like that when Howie had seen them. He shifted closer once again, and raised his left hand to hover above the tempting, jutting mounds. He finally muttered softly as his hand lowered to reclaim possession.
"You are driving me crazy, woman! All I want to do is fuck you, Laena.
Is that insane? It makes no sense to me." He pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her openly, wetly and lingeringly. His hand caressed and molded the tempting breasts. He lifted his head after a few moments. "I close my eyes and I see your tits. I can feel how big and full and heavy your boobs are in my hands, even when they are empty."
His mouth sucked on the tender skin at the side of her neck. He didn't care that he was marking her flesh. In fact, he sucked harder, wanting to show his possession. His hand continued to move from breast to breast. Laena squirmed on the seat, rubbing against the ridge of fabric in her jeans. Suddenly, the door next to her opened.
Jack maneuvered around her, and pulled her with him. He had the back door open in a split second, and then she was on her back and he was on top of her, his body firmly entrenched between her widespread thighs. It took him even less time to shove her shirt back up so he could once again look down at her luscious breasts.
Her hands squeezed between their bodies and once again, she released the snap on his jeans, and slid down the zipper. Her hands caressed his hardness before sliding inside his jeans. Her boldness surprised Laena, since she had never been like this with her husband. She quickly shoved that thought out of her head. Everything was different with Jack. It felt new, wonderful and wild!
Laena gasped as Jack returned the favor on her jeans, but he tugged down her jeans over her hips and thighs, to dangle off one foot. She was so hot for him and she couldn't believe this was happening. She had never, ever made out in a car. And now she was about to-
Jack pressed forward, letting his cock rub against her wet pussy lips. It went beyond sweet and erotic, and he was about to go totally crazy with need. His pre-cum mixed with her wetness. His need was overpowering him, making him wonder if he was going to lose control. He groaned as he moved forward, slowly easing into her hot flesh, and wanting to make this as mind-blowing for her as it was for him just then. He looked down at her face and saw she was watching him, her lips parted and she breathed so quickly she was almost panting. His gaze moved down and saw her luscious breasts jiggling with her rapid breathing. He couldn't wait one more minute-