Daisy's back in town lt-1

by Rachel Gibson

  "Yes, but -"

  "We can talk later. After we have sex."

  She placed her palm on the front of his T-shirt. His muscles turned hard and everything in him seemed to still -except for his heart, which beat as fast as hers. Making love would make it more difficult to tell him aboutNathan, but it was already going to be difficult. She didn't make a conscious decision to give in to her desire. Itwas just too big for her to deny any longer. It had been over two years now since she'd been with a man whodesired her, and she had no willpower to resist Jack. She didn't want to resist him. He was right, this wasinevitable. "You promise we'll talk later?"

  "God, yes," he said on a rush of breath. His hands grabbed the front of her dress. "Anything, Daisy."

  For days her body had responded to his, seeking an outlet for the passion he'd stirred back to life within her.

  And here it was. Here he was. Right in front of her. She pulled back and looked up into his face. "After you leftlast night, were you with someone else?"

  "Almost, but I wanted you." He yanked her dress over her head and tossed it on the Corvette. She didn't even tryto stop him and her T-shirt joined her dress. Within the natural light pouring in through the windows, she stoodin front of him in her black bra and panties and flip-flops. He didn't give her time to think before he pulled heronto her toes and into his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck, smashing her breasts into his chest ashis mouth swooped down and covered hers in a rough kiss.

  Unable to stop herself, she fell headfirst into a haze of lust and longing. And it felt good. Maybe too good. Thecarnal thrust of his tongue elicited an equally carnal response in her. The feel of his cotton T-shirt and Levi'sagainst her bare skin sent a shiver down her spine. She ran her fingers through his hair as he fed her kisses fromhis hot, wet mouth. She moved against him, trying to get closer, trying to feel more of him. Wanting it so muchher skin tingled with a powerful yearning. Wanting it all. All at once.

  It had been so long. Too long to go so slow. A frustrated moan came from her throat and she dropped to herheels. She felt his long hard erection against her belly as her open mouth tasted the side of his neck. "Jack," shesaid between kisses to his throat. "You taste good. I want to eat you up."

  "Jesus, Daisy," he groaned as his hands roamed her bareback. He pulled the covered elastic from her ponytailand her hair came free and brushed her bare shoulders. He grabbed two fistfuls of her hair and brought hermouth back to his. She kissed him as one of his hands slid down her spine and he unhooked her bra. He pulledthe bra from her and tossed it on the trunk of the red and white car. His mouth came down on hers as his handscame up to cup her breasts. Her nipples puckered in his hot palms, and she shoved her hands beneath his shirtand ran them all over him, his stomach, chest and back.

  He moved his hands to her behind, and he grabbed the backs of her thighs. He lifted her onto the trunk of thecar and her bare feet rested on the wide chrome bumper. The cool metal brought her out of her haze just enoughthat she was aware of palm. With her tongue, she found his pulse just below the head of his penis.

  It seemed she'd just started when he pushed her away. "I don't want to get off that way," he said and gently helifted her onto the trunk once more. He forced her onto her back and pulled off her panties. Then he steppedbetween her legs. His gaze traveled from her face, down her throat to her breasts. He leaned over her andcupped between her thighs. "You make me feel eighteen again," he said as he rested his weight on his forearmnext to her shoulder. "Like I can't control myself." He kissed the tip of her breast as he stroked her slick,sensitive flesh. "Like I'm going to go off before we get to the really good stuff."

  She arched her back and moaned. "Then get to the good stuff."

  "Daisy."

  "Mmm?"

  He kissed her birthmark then brushed the seam of his lips across the tip of her breast. "Your breasts are asbeautiful as ever."

  She might have laughed or argued or something if he hadn't opened his hot mouth and sucked her nipple insidehis wet mouth. Instead she ran her fingers through his hair. She shut her eyes and let the waves of sensation rollthrough her until she feared that she was going to go off before they got to good stuff.

  "Daisy open your eyes and look at me."

  She did. He gazed down at her, his own eyes intense and feverish. He grabbed the condom and tore open thepackage. "I want to see your face when I'm inside of you." He rolled the lubricated latex over the head of hispenis and down the shaft to his dark pubic hair. He put his hands beneath her bare bottom and pulled her to theedge of the car's trunk, positioning her. "I want you to see me."

  She looked into his green eyes that were so familiar to her. "I see you," she said as he grasped her thighs. Heplunged inside of her in one smooth stroke that buried him to her cervix. His grasp tightened on her thighs andher back arched. She cried out in pain and in pleasure, she wasn't sure which was more acute.

  "Damn," he said between clenched teeth, then he cupped her face in his hands. "Sorry, Daisy." He placed a softkiss on her cheek and nose and whispered against her mouth, "I'm sorry. Sorry. I'll make it feel good now. Ipromise." He withdrew, then thrust himself inside with more care, reminding her how good he was at keepinghis promises. Slowly, he gave her incredible pleasure with smooth, measured strokes.

  He stared into her eyes as he moved within her. "Is that better?"

  "Mmmm, yes.,,"Tell me."

  "So good, Jack." She felt weightless and she grabbed his shoulders and held on to him. "Don't stop. Whateveryou do, just don't stop."

  "Not a chance." He tilted her pelvis up without missing a beat of his pumping hips.

  Heat flushed her skin, radiating outward from where they were joined, and she dug her fingers into him. Hisslow pace was driving her mad. "More. Give me more, Jack."

  He kissed her forehead and his breathing rasped against her temple. He plunged faster. Harder. In and out.

  Building. Thrusting her toward climax.

  "Daisy Lee." Her name on his lips sounded almost like a question, as if he pushed them both closer and closer.

  She was mindless to anything but the building pleasure, until she opened her mouth to scream. The sound diedin her throat as wave after luscious wave rolled through her. Her muscles pulsed and contracted, gripping himhard.

  On and on it went as he plunged into her. His breath hot against her temple until finally he shoved into her sohard he pushed her farther up the trunk of the car. He cursed her and God in the same incoherent sentence. Hecrushed her to his chest as if he wanted to absorb her and gave one final thrust. He made a sound deep in histhroat, a sound somewhere between a guttural groan and a long drawn-out ahhh.

  Daisy saw spots behind her closed eyelids, and her ears began to ring. She was going to faint. Right there on theCustom Lancer It was going to happen. Just like he'd said she would, and she didn't care.

  She didn't faint, though. Not really. She was just so light-headed she was afraid to move. She hadn't had sex in along time, but she didn't recall it being so good. It had been. Of course it had been. But where his skin was stuckto hers, still tingled. She'd forgotten that part. Or maybe that had never happened before.

  He remained embedded deep in her body, his chest smashed into hers and his forehead resting on the car next toher right ear. She could feel his heartbeat against her breast.

  She opened her eyes and looked up at the ventilation overhead. Jack Parrish had just taken her some place she'dnever been before. He'd just given her a devastating orgasm that had curled her toes and about made her faint.

  She didn't know what to think about that. In fact, she could hardly think at all. She was too stunned.

  He raised onto his forearms and looked down into her face. A slow satisfied smile lifted the corners of hismouth. "Wow. You're even better than you were at eighteen."

  Daisy looked into his sexy green eyes and felt alive again. Like she'd been dead inside for a very long time andhadn't even realized it until that moment. Like coming into the
sunlight after being trapped in the dark. Rawemotion swept through her, and she did the worst possible thing she could do.

  She burst into tears.

  Chapter Ten

  No one had ever cried on Jack before. Not after sex, anyway. Hell, Daisy hadn't even cried the night he'd takenher virginity.

  He tossed his T-shirt on the kitchen counter and glanced over at Daisy who stood across the room from him, herarms folded beneath her breasts, staring at her toes. He was reminded of the first night he'd seen her since she'dbeen back. She'd been wearing a yellow rain slicker then. Now she had on that stupid Winnie the Pooh dress,the one he'd helped her get back into a few moments ago.

  She'd thrown him a curve that was for sure. One second she'd been having a good time, moaning and scratching,and telling him she wanted more. In the next she'd burst into tears. What the hell had happened?

  He'd excused himself to get rid of the condom in the employee's bathroom, and when he'd returned she'd beenfighting to get her dress over her head. He was halfway convinced that if she'd been able to get her clothes onfaster, she would have been long gone by now. Which might have been for the best.

  She'd been so agitated he had to help her with her dress when what he'd really wanted was to toss it in thegarbage. He'd put her purse on her shoulder, and instead of sending her on her way, like he would have anyother hysterical woman who'd burst into tears on him, he'd brought her into his house. Why, he did not know.

  Except maybe because he'd told her he'd let her talk after they'd had sex.

  Yeah, that was it, but now that his head was dear, he was pretty sure he didn't want to hear anything she had tosay. Unless it had something to do with her getting naked and climbing on top of him.

  He'd thought once they'd had sex, his desire for her would be sated. He'd be over it. He'd been wrong, and thatbothered him because he didn't want to think, about what that might mean. He didn't want to feel anything forher now. Not even lust.

  He reached inside the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk. Before his mind traveled any further in thedirection of the bedroom, he stopped and reminded himself that she was upset and crying and that she wasDaisy Monroe. Three very good reasons why he had to stand across the room from her and keep his hands tohimself.

  "Before I apologize," he said as he shut the door with his foot, "I need to know what I'm apologizing for."

  She looked up at him. She had black smudges beneath her red eyes and her face was all splotchy. "You didn't doanything, Jack."

  He didn't think he had either, but with women, you just never knew. If there wasn't a problem, they'd inventone. "Do you want something to drink?" She shook her head and he raised the milk to his mouth and watchedher over the bottom of the quart container. He lowered the milk and licked his top lip. Maybe he'd been toorough with her. He'd forgotten that she hadn't had sex in awhile. "Did I hurt you?"

  She wiped her cheeks with her fingers. "No."

  He set the milk on the counter and opened a cabinet. He filled a glass with ice and water then moved across thekitchen and handed it to her. His fingers brushed hers and he asked, "Why are you crying, Daisy?"

  "I don't know."

  "I think you do." She looked like crap. Kind of scary, but for some reason, the only thing that scared him washow much he still wanted her. "Tell me, Daisy."

  She took a long drink of her water then pressed the cool glass against her cheek. "It's embarrassing." As if toprove her point, her face turned red and kind of connected the splotchy parts.

  "Why don't you just tell me anyway?" Instead of putting distance between her body and his like he should, heleaned a hip into the counter next to her and folded his arms over his bare chest.

  She glanced up at him out of the corners of her eyes then cut her gaze to the Elmo cookie jar on the counter.

  "Elmo?"

  "Billy's girls gave it to me last Christmas, along with a bag of Oreos. Don't change the subject."

  Her gaze remained on the bright orange cookie jar and she took a deep breath. "I just forgot about sex for awhile." She shrugged. "And you reminded me."

  "That's it?" There had to be more.

  "Well, it was good sex."

  "Daisy, it was better than good." They'd gone at it like two starving people at an all-you-can-eat. All hands andmouths and insatiable hunger. Racing for satisfaction. She'd come harder than anyone he'd ever been with,squeezing an orgasm from him that he felt clear to the soles of his feet.

  It was a good thing she was leaving tomorrow. Because he could tell himself that he wouldn't go after her again,but he'd probably be lying about that. "Saying it was good is like saying the Rio Grande is just a river. It's a hellof an understatement." He put his fingers to her jaw and lightly brought her gaze back to his. Her eyelasheswere stuck together over her shiny brown eyes. He brushed his fingertips across her soft skin then dropped hishand. "Why has it been so long since you've had sex?"

  If it was possible, she turned even redder. "That's really not your business."

  "You haven't had sex in two years, but you have it with me. I think that makes it my business."

  She frowned and set her glass on the counter. Just when he thought she wasn't going to answer, she said, "Forabout the last year and a half of his life, Steven couldn't."

  That surprised him. "And you didn't go elsewhere?"

  "Of course not. What a horrible question."

  He didn't think he was out of line. Fifteen years ago, she'd been having sex with him but had married Steven.

  "Some women might have."

  "Not me. I was always faithful to Steven."

  "He's been gone seven months."

  "Almost eight now."

  "Eight months is a long time to go without getting laid."

  Her gaze slid from his to his mouth, down his throat and stopped on his chest. "Maybe for some people."

  "No, most people."

  She looked away. "You know that old saying, 'If you don't use it, you lose it.' It's true."

  "You obviously haven't lost it."

  She grabbed her glass and he watched her move to the kitchen sink. She looked out the window into thebackyard and took a long drink. She set the water back down and her hands grasped the counter. "I did for awhile. When you live with someone who is dying, sex is not a high priority. Believe me. Your life becomesconsumed with doctor's appointments and trying new therapies. Figuring out the right medication to combatstrokes and seizures and pain management."

  He turned to gaze at her profile. He didn't want to know any of this. He didn't want to feel sorry for Steven, buthe couldn't seem to help but ask, "Was Steven in a lot of pain?"

  She shrugged. "He never liked to admit it, but I know that he was. I'd ask him and he'd just grab my hand andtell me not to worry about him." She laughed without humor. "I pretended not to worry, and he pretendedeverything was okay. He was better at his part than I was."

  "Steven was always better at pretending than either you or me." For years he and Steven had pretended thatDaisy was just a friend. A girl who was a buddy Steven had been so much better at it than Jack.

  She nodded. "He pretended right up until the last day. The night he died, he slipped into a coma, at home." Shelooked across her shoulder and her eyes met his across the distance. "Nathan and I watched him take his lastbreath. If you've ever seen something like that, it changes you. You get real clear about what's important." Sheswallowed hard and added, "About things you have to make right."

  He stood very still as his stomach twisted into a knot. Daisy's words affected him more than he would havethought. He hadn't watched either of his parents die, and for that he was grateful. He had dark enoughmemories.

  "Did you know that coffins have springs in them?"

  "Yeah." He and Billy had had to pick out two. At that time, he hadn't had enough money to afford much ofanything. His parents had been buried without springs and fancy satin pillows. "I knew that."

  "Oh. That's right." She looked back out the w
indow. "I remember your parents' funeral. You were so young tohave such a horrible thing happen to you. I didn't appreciate how horrible then. Not really. I do now."

  Jack moved to stand behind her and he raised his hands to grasp her arms. But before he touched her, he thoughtbetter of it and dropped them to his sides.

  She took an envelope from a pocket in her ugly dress and set it next to the sink. "This is the letter from Steven.

  The one I told you about."

  He really didn't want to read it, and knew that made him all kinds of a bastard. But he really didn't want to bereminded of the black hole of his past.

  "Steven and I never meant to hurt you, Jack. We were all such good friends, and it never should have endedbetween us the way it did. We were so young and stupid. The night we came to you was one of the worst nightsof my life." She paused a moment and said just above a whisper, "You were wearing a white T-shirt that nighttoo."

  Yes, they'd been standing in the moonlight. He'd been pleading with her not to leave him. He'd beaten the hellout of his best buddy, and now his best buddy was dead. Something in Jack had died that night too. For somereason, hearing about it this morning, made it more real then it had been in years. Brought it all back to life.

  Made the places in his soul burn. "Stop it, Daisy." He grabbed her aims below the sleeves of her T-shirt. "Don'tsay any more."

  "I have to, Jack." She looked up over her shoulder into his face. "When you told me that we needed time awayfrom each other, I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. You have to understand how scared and -" He liftedher chin as his mouth swooped down on hers, silencing her with a hard kiss. He pulled her back against his barechest and wrapped his arm around her stomach. He did not want to hear anything he just wanted to feel. Feelher pressed against the length of him. Naked. He wanted more mind-numbing sex again and again until hefinally got her out of his system. Out of his head.

  At first she stood stiff in his arms, her lips pressed together but when he softened the kiss, her lips parted. Asilent invitation to take what he wanted.