"How's this feel?" she asked as her palms slid down his hard muscles, then up again.
"Like something I could get used to." The heat from his skin warmed her hands, and she felt the contours andtextures as she learned the definition of him all over again.
"Daisy?"
She looked down at the back of his head. The dining room light shone through his dark hair, picking out strandsthe color of coffee. "Hmm?"
"When we were at Lake Meredith, you said you've missed me." He reached up and grasped her by the wrist. "Isthat true?" He looked over his shoulder at her. His intense gaze told her the answer was very important to hint"Yes, Jack. It's true."
He pulled her arm down around his chest and said, next to her right cheek, "I missed you too, Daisy Lee. Allthese years I've missed you more than I knew." His placed his free hand on the left side of her face. "More thanI ever wanted you to know."
Her chest got light and achy, and she lowered her mouth and said against his lips. "I love you, Jack."
He closed his eyes and let out his breath. He was quiet for several long moments then he said, "I have alwaysloved you. Even when I didn't want to."
"Turn around," she whispered.
His eyes opened. "What?"
"Stand up."
As soon as he stood and turned toward her, she put her hand on his shoulders and pushed him back down again.
"I don't know what happens next for us," she said as she pulled up her dress and sat in his lap facing him. Hespread his thighs and her bottom hit the seat of the chair. Her bare feet hung over the sides. "Whatever it is, Iwill always love you. I can't help it."
His hands slid up and down her thighs as his green eyes looked at her through his lashes. "I'll show you whathappens next." His palms moved to her waist and his fingers searched the lie on the side of her dress.
She settled more firmly between his legs and asked, "is that a tent pole or are you happy to see me?"
A blatantly sexual smile pushed the corners of his mouth upward. "Both. Wanna see?"
"Oh yeah." She moved her hands from his shoulders and down his chest. Her palms covered his nipples and sheleaned forward and kissed the side of his throat. The thick towel and the thin layer of her panties separatedthem.
Jack tugged and the top of her dress loosened. "Raise your arms," he told Daisy. She did as he asked, and he slidthe dress above her waist and pulled it over her head. Her hair fell free about her bare shoulders, and Jacklooked into her brown eyes, at the passion staring back at him. He tossed the dress on the floor, then covered hernaked breasts with his hands. Her puckered nipples poked the centers of his palms and he brushed them with histhumbs. Her lids lowered a fraction and she licked her lips. He knew her. He knew the weight of her against himand the beat of her heart in his palms. He knew the sigh of pleasure on her lips and the scent of her skin.
This was Daisy. His Daisy.
"Are you sure your shoulder doesn't hurt?"
Shoulder? He didn't give a shit about his shoulder. The only pain he felt was in his groin. "Nothing hurts as badas wanting you." Every fantasy he'd ever had had begun and ended with Daisy Lee. Now here she was. Exceptfor a strap of silk panties, naked in his lap. If he had his way, she would never leave.
Her soft hand slid down his belly and she pulled at the towel around his waist. She unwrapped him like aChristmas present, then reached inside and closed her fist around his erection. He was so hard he throbbed. Hesucked in his breath. He looked at Daisy, past the rose-colored lips of her breasts, down her tan abdomen andbelly button to her tiny white panties. Within her small hand, she held his thick shaft. She brushed her thumbover the head. Lust pulled his gut into a hard knot and he had a difficult time drawing air into his lungs. Hewrapped his hand over hers and moved it up and down, sliding within the soft velvet of her palm. She leanedforward and kissed his throat. Her warm moist tongue leaving a trail of fire.
He raised her face to his, and his hungry mouth slanted across her lips. He gave her hot, feeding kisses; therewas nothing tender or soft in what he gave this time. The moment his mouth touched hers, it was greedy, amaddening chase and follow. A slick advance and retreat of hot tongues and mouths. She arched into him,crushing her hard nipples into his chest and shoving her crotch against his erection.
He wanted this. He wanted it every damn day of his life. He wanted the drive of her tongue in his mouth, theweight of her in his arms, the catch in his chest when he looked into her eyes or buried his nose in her neck.
He wanted her. All of her. Forever. He loved her. He'd always loved her.
Jack stood and the towel fell to the floor. He set Daisy on the kitchen table in front of him and looked down intoher dazed eyes.
"Lie down, buttercup." She rested back on her elbows and watched as he kissed her breasts and sucked herpuckered nipple into his mouth. He worked her over until her breath was choppy, then he worked his way south.
He sucked a patch of skin next to her belly button and reached for the chair behind him. He pulled off herpanties then sat between her thighs.
"Jack," she said, her voice a dry whisper. "What are you doing?"
He put her bare feet on his shoulders and kissed each ankle - "I'm going down." He bit the inside of her thigh ashe brushed his thumb across her slick clitoris and pushed a finger deep inside where she was very hot and verywet. He parted her slick flesh and placed a hand beneath her bottom. He raised her as he brought his mouthdown on her.
She tasted like Daisy. Good. Like sex and desire and everything he'd ever wanted.
She moaned his name as her head fell back. He kissed her between her legs. In the same spot he'd kissed herfifteen years ago - only he was better at it now. Better at knowing how to use his tongue and how hard to drawher into his mouth. He teased and sucked until she used her feet to push him back.
She rose from the table and stood in front of him, a little unsteady on her feet as she looked down at him. "Iwant you, Jack."
He picked up the towel from the floor and wiped his mouth. "I need to get a condom."
She stared at him as if she didn't know what he was talking about. Then she said, her voice heavy with passion,"How long has it been since you've had sex without a condom?"
So long he couldn't remember. "Probably the last time I was with you fifteen years ago."
She smiled as she grabbed the towel from hint and tossed it aside. She grasped his shoulders, then she put herfeet on the low rung at the bottom of the chair and stood. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed herstomach. "I had my period last week," she said as she lowered herself over his lap. "I won't get pregnant thistime."
He might have protested. He might have questioned her more, but the head of his penis touched her slick crotch,and he slid inside her hot wet body. There was no thought of protesting anything after that.
A groan tore into Jack's chest. Her hot flesh surrounded him and a shudder worked its way up his spine. Her lipswere parted. Her breathing shallow, and her cheeks were flushed pink. The hunger in her brown eyes wasfocused on him as if he were the only man who could give her exactly what she needed.
She squeezed her muscles around him and he felt every ripple of her fight passage. He had to fight to keep fromcoming right then and there. Every cell in his body was focused on her. On the way she felt inside. On thewarmth of her contracting muscles. On the sharp pain and dull ache twisting his groin.
"Goddamn," he swore and he moved his hands to her hips. "You feel so good." He lifted her and brought herback down. It was like white-hot liquid enveloped him, and he didn't think he'd felt anything as good as theinside of Daisy.
She raised her hands to the sides of his head and brought his mouth to hers. "I love you, Jack," she said as theymoved together, building a slow and steady rhythm that turned into a fever. He grabbed her behind and broughther down hard, again and again. Driving up as she pushed down, and everything got a whole lot hotter andwilder. Their breathing became ragged with the punctuating thrust of his hips. She gra
sped his bare shouldersand clung to him as the walls of her body pulsed around him. It went on and on faster, harder, pumping into heragain and again until the air whooshed from his lungs.
Daisy moaned and squeezed him fight, pulsing and constricting around hint. The strong contractions of herorgasm wrung a release from him that he felt up into his chest. He came deep inside where she was hot andslick, and even as he pumped into her one last time, he knew he wanted more.
He wanted it forever.
Daisy didn't burst into tears this time. She almost did the next time, though. Jack took her hand and led her tohis bed where he made love to her again. He was so sweet and loving and drew out the torture until she'd had amultiple orgasm. The first of her life, and that had her feeling kind of weepy.
She lay on her stomach on blue sheets. The rest of the bedding was in a tangled heap by her feet. Jack lay halfon top of her; his arm around her waist, one leg between hers. His groin pressed into her behind and hip. A lampflooded the bed with warm yellow light, and the only sound in the room was of heavy, spent breathing. Theirskin was glued together and a warm fluttery afterglow settled on her flesh. She hadn't felt this happy andcontent in a very long time. Jack loved her. She loved him. Things were going to work out for them this time.
She thought Jack had fallen asleep until he moaned. "My God, it just keeps getting better. I didn't think anythingcould top the chair."
Daisy smiled.
"Damn, did you just come twice?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
His hand stirred at her waist, as if he tried to lift it but didn't have the energy. Carefully, she turned onto herback and looked at him. His hair was stuck to his forehead and his eyes were closed.
"What time is it?" she asked.
His lids fluttered open and he lifted his arm from across her stomach. He looked at his watch and said, "Early."
She grabbed his wrist and looked at the digital face. "I have to get going before Nathan gets home."
Jack rolled on his side and spread his fingers wide on her stomach just below her breasts. "Don't leave," hemurmured as he kissed her shoulder.
"I have to." She sat up and pushed the hair from her face. "But I'll come back for breakfast."
"Don't leave Lovett." He lay on his side and raised onto his elbow. "You and Nathan should move here."
She'd been thinking along those lines too. She just hadn't known he had also. "When did you decide this?" sheasked and looked down into his green eyes.
"Probably when we were fishing, but I got serious about it yesterday when we were swapping spit in yourmomma's front yard and I didn't care who was watching." He sat up and took her hand in his. "I wanted peopleto watch. I wanted people to see us together. I wanted people to see us kissing today. I want everyone to knowthat you're mine." He kissed her fingertips. "I want a life with you and our son."
It was exactly what she wanted too. Hearing him say it made it less scary.
"I love you, Daisy Lee. I've loved you all of my life."
She looked into the pain and passion in his gaze. "I love you too, Jack." But, a little voice in her head wondered,was it enough this time? It hadn't been last time.
She excused herself to go to the bathroom, and when she returned, Jack had pulled on a pair of jeans. Whileshe'd been in the bathroom, he retrieved her dress and panties and they lay on his rumpled bed. She stepped intoher panties and he helped her with her dress.
"So, what are you going to feed me for breakfast?" he asked as he adjusted a strap on her back.
"I'll think of something good."
"Something with whipped cream?"
She fled the strap at her side. "And a cherry"
He placed his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest. "I love cherries," he said against the side ofher neck.
His bare chest warmed her skin and she had to fight the urge not to turn and kiss his neck. If she did that, shewouldn't make it home before Nathan. "Jack, I want this to work between us this time."
He squeezed her tight. "It will."
He sounded so confident she almost believed hint "Let's talk to Nathan about it together."
"Whatever you want."
"I don't know how he'll feel about moving to Lovett, and I don't want him to think we're moving too fast." Shestepped out of his embrace and smoothed her hands over the wrinkles on her dress. "It hasn't been a year sinceSteven's death, and I don't want him to be uncomfortable with you and me together." She looked about the floorto see if he'd remembered her shoes. "I don't care what other people think, but! don't want Nathan to think we'retogether just to replace his dad." Her shoes must still be in the kitchen, and she returned her attention to Jack.
The loving man who'd just held her and assured her everything would work out this time turned to stone rightbefore her eyes. His shoulders straightened. His jaws clenched and his gaze hardened.
"What's wrong?"
He walked across the room, passed the yellow light that spilled into the gray shadows. "How long do we have tocall Steven 'Nathan's dad'?"
Daisy watched his bare back and said, "I thought you might be getting over that."
"I thought so too." He yanked open a dresser drawer and pulled out a T-shirt. "But I don't think I'll ever get overwhat that bastard took from me."
She closed her eyes for several painful heartbeats. "Don't talk about Steven like that."
He laughed without humor. "That's rich." He shoved his arms through the short sleeves. "You defending StevenMonroe to me."
"I'm not defending Steven."
He pulled the shirt over his head and down his stomach. "Then what are you doing?"
"I loved Steven for most of my life. He was not only my husband; he was my best friend. We laughed and criedtogether. I could talk to him about anything."
"Could you talk to him about how you felt about me?"
She'd almost had it this time. Almost, but it was slipping through her fingers like sand.
"Deep down the pit of your stomach where it gets tight at just the thought of being with me." He stalked backacross the room and stopped just inches from her. "Did you tell him that?"
"No, but he knew." She looked up into his face, at the passion and bitterness in his green eyes. At the samepassion and bitterness she'd seen the first night she'd seen him. "Being with Steven wasn't at all like being with you. It was different. It was...
"What?"
"Calm. It wasn't scaly. It didn't hurt. I could breathe around him. I didn't feel like if I didn't touch him, I woulddie. Like a part of something inside of me belonged to someone else."
"Isn't that the way it's supposed to feel? Isn't it supposed to feel like I want to smash you against my chest sohard I can still feel you after you leave?" He grabbed her shoulders and slid his hands to the sides of her face.
"Breathe the same breath. Feel the same heartbeat as you melt inside of me?"
Tears stung her eyes and she didn't even try to stop them. Her heart was breaking and her dreams had justslipped through her fingers. Again. "It's not enough. It wasn't enough last time. And it isn't enough this timeeither."
"What does it take, then? I love you. I've never loved any woman the way I love you."
She believed him. "Forgiveness," she said as the first tears spilled from her eyes. "You have to forgive me, Jack.
You have to forgive me and you have to forgive Steven, too."
He dropped his hands from her and took a step back. "That's asking a lot, Daisy."
"Too much?"
"Where Steven is concerned, yes."
"And me?"
He looked at her and his silence was her answer.
"How can we be together if you can't forgive me of the past?"
"We won't think about it." He grabbed his boots and shoved his feet inside.
"For how long? For how long won't we think about it before it comes up again? Tomorrow? A week from now?
Next year? Do you really think we can live
with that between us?"
"I love you, Daisy," he said without looking at her. "It's enough."
"You also hate me."
"No." He shook his head and his gaze met hers. "No, I hate what you did. How could I not hate that you keptmy son from me?"
"What I did was wrong." She wiped her tears from her face. "I admit that. I should have told you about Nathan.
I was scared and a coward. One day turned into one year. One year into two, and the longer I put it off, theharder it got. There is no excuse." She held out her hand to him, then dropped it to her side. "You have tounderstand. Steven -"
"Oh, I understand Steven," he interrupted. "I understood him the night y'all stood in my front yard and told meyou were married. I understood that he loved you as much as I did and when he saw an opportunity to take youfrom me, he took it. He took my son too. And what you have to understand is, I can't just forget something likethat."
"I'm not asking you to forget, but if you and I are to have a future, you have to get past it."
"You say it like it's easy."
"It's the only way."
"I don't know if I can. Especially where Steven is concerned."
"Then we can't be together. It would never work."
"Just like that? You get to decide?" He pointed a finger at her and slashed his hand through the air. "You get tosay 'get over it' or get out of my life? You get to tell me how to feel?"
She shook her head and gazed at him through the blur of her tears. She breathed past the searing pain in herchest. She knew Jack felt it too. It was there in his raw gaze, and just like the last time, there was no way to stopit. "No. I'm telling you that you have a right to your anger. You have a right to it for the rest of your life. But itseems to me very lonely company when you can have so much more if you could somehow let it go."
Chapter Twenty
On the drive to Daisy's, neither of them spoke. The deep purr of the Shelby's engine was the only sound withinthe dark interior of the Mustang. Jack pulled the car next to the curb, and Daisy looked at him through the inkydarkness one last time. Giving him one last chance to change things that he could not change. To say the wordsthat he could not say.
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