“I believe she’s taken odds on that Joe will marry you. She’s probably crocheting you a dress like one of the dolls that cover the toilet rolls.” Merlene rolled her eyes at the thought. “I’ll decline being a bridesmaid thanks.”
Maz blew out a sigh and dropped the napkin she had scrunched in her hand. “I don’t need this. You know my life was fine and average and I was happy plodding through the days.”
“Boring days though.”
Oh yeah, they had been. Like most people she had gone through her days on automatic, doing and saying stuff without any thought at all. “Anyway, it’s not like Joe’s going to stick around regardless of what he says.”
Merlene looked interested. “He’s told you he will?”
“Yes, but the man has been all over Australia and overseas. Amberwarra Falls is not going to be enough to keep him here.”
“But you’re here.”
“I’m convenient.” That was the thing that stuck in her mind. If she had said no to having sex would Joe still be interested? For god’s sake, he had shagged Cheryl, so that in itself made her wonder.
“You still love him don’t you?” Merlene’s smile was soft. “Nah, you don’t have to say the words I can see it in your eyes, mate.”
There was no point lying to Merlene. “Yeah, stupid of me but I do.” It was somewhat of a relief that she could talk to about this without involving the whole town. As the local pub owner, Merlene kept many secrets. “But I don’t want to get my hopes up and then he leaves.”
“I can understand that.”
—
“What do you understand?” Joe smiled at Maz as he came around the corner of the bar from the back door “Is this about Wazza’s bet? And yeah, of course I’ve heard.” That and lot more. Wonder of wonders, Maz still loved him. He wanted to leap over the bar, sweep her into his arms and take her somewhere they could be alone to talk and make love to her until she finally understood that he was never leaving. Joe had every intention of marrying this woman. “How’s your thigh?”
“Stiff and sore, but I’ll get by.”
“So my—er—my massage didn’t help?” Joe smiled at the sudden blush that rose to her cheeks. “Come for a swim.”
Merlene nodded. “That would help relieve tension—er—in your thigh. You two know what I mean.” The smile she exchanged with Joe was conspiratorial.
“There is no water anywhere in town.” Maz pointed out the obvious.
“I have a pool at my place,” Joe told her. It was the perfect solution and he did so enjoy getting Maz all alone to himself.
“That’s right, you bought Rabbit Warren’s place. He put a pool and spa in when he had a fling with the ditzy blonde from the city.” Like most of the locals Merlene was a fount of useless Amberwarra knowledge. “He thought it would make her stay.” She rolled her eyes at that thought.
Maz winced and adjusted her stance. “I’ll be fine.”
Joe felt momentarily guilty. Having sex with Maz so soon after an injury had not been a smart thing to do but it had been excellent. “I’m not asking you to skinny-dip nor am I going to ravish you.”
Merlene sighed and winked at Joe. “Ravishing sounds good.” She moved away to serve a customer.
Maz looked at Joe. “Where would you be if I was in the pool?”
I would be inside you enjoying the buoyancy of the water holding us up. That’s what he wanted to say but Joe knew if he did Maz would be militant enough to back away and be in pain to prove some crazy point. “Do you want me to be one hundred paces away?”
“Well I just think if I am just going there to relax my muscles then you don’t have to be there at all.”
Joe loved it when Maz put her hands on her hips. It was a sign to him that she was trying to keep control in a situation rapidly becoming uncontrollable. “What are you scared of?”
“You know I was doing just fine until you turned up with your gym and made me think about—”
“About us?” It was all Joe could think about. He longed to have Maz in his life for good. She was the only piece that had been missing.
Maz lifted one hand and waved it dismissively. “It was a long time ago.”
They were more an “us” now than they had ever been but Joe refrained from pointing that out to her. “And I broke your heart.” He could never change that.
“Yes.”
“I regret it, but I was a stupid kid.” Joe sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Aren’t we allowed mistakes?”
“Yes, but—”
“That you did not give up on me gives me hope.”
“Just because I never had sexual relationship with anyone else doesn’t mean I was never tempted. I just want more than a quick tumble and a fast goodbye. I deserve more than that.” Others may settle for less but Maz wasn’t about to. Maz stopped dead and clapped hand over her mouth.
Joe smiled. It was as he thought, as he knew in his heart. “You only confirmed what I suspected.” He reached out a hand to her. “I swear I will not touch you unless you ask me to.”
Maz looked worried at that. “O-kay.”
That she didn’t sound at all certain made Joe happy. He knew he wasn’t the only one caught up in the madness of their being together. True love and undeniable lust was too heady a combination to ignore. “You’ll ask me though.”
“I will not, cocky son of a bitch,” Maz murmured as she moved away to serve a patron.
“What a woman.”
—
“What are you doing?” Maz watched wide-eyed as Joe broke through the surface of the water after diving naked into the pool.
“I’m hot.”
He certainly was. As was she now. “I just want to swim.” That’s why they had stopped at her place to pick up her swimsuit.
“I’ll swim with you.”
Maz trod water and looked at him. “What is this?”
“What do you want it to be?”
She sighed. This was like the chicken and the egg talk. It was a never-ending circle. While there was an answer, it was not one Maz wanted to leap at and take. Love was difficult at the best of times. Loving someone who may leave again was impossible. “You just can’t come back, Joe, and expect me to fall in your arms any time you look at me.” Which was exactly what Maz wanted to do. There were times when it was hard to remember this was the same man who had ripped her heart out of her chest and drop-kicked it into a wall making her wonder what the hell she could have done to keep him in her life. Looking back, it was madness for Maz to have thought that way but love did that to the sanest people.
“Don’t you feel anything for me, Maz?”
Oh yeah, she did. Every gooey, sweet, sticky emotion she had inside was for this man alone. “I don’t just fool around with anyone.” That in itself had to prove something to him.
“Is that what we’re doing? Fooling around?” Joe arched his eyebrow in disbelief.
“Having sex then.”
“Yes, and something else.”
“I don’t want to get caught up in you again.” There. It was out. It was much better to lay it on the line. All his crazy talk about coming back for her and wanting to marry her was fine for him to say but she needed more. Maz needed reality. Was Joe her reality? Or was he always going to be the boy from home she pined over? Hell. Do I even love him? Maybe I’m just as infatuated as I was when I was twenty.
Joe made no move to touch her. “Still scared of what you feel?”
“Yes.” And it was love. Blind Freddy could see that.
“So what do you propose, Maz? I need to be with you, to touch you.” Joe’s eyes were honest on hers. “I know you feel the same way too.”
Oh yes. “But I don’t want anything more than that.”
“Really.” Joe’s eyebrows arched with cynicism.
“Yes, let’s just enjoy ourselves and make no plans.”
Joe reached out to touch her. “I’m not leaving, Maz.”
She bobbed away in the water. “I may not be staying.”
Even as Maz said the words, she knew it would never have occurred to her to leave Amberwarra Falls.
“Where would you go?”
I have no idea. “I need to get out and see stuff. I’m too insulated. I only know the same people. Maybe there are better people out there.” Even as she said the words Maz doubted that.
“Men you mean?”
“Maybe.” Again, that had never occurred to her either.
“So in the meantime I’ll do?”
“Yes.”
Joe grinned at her. “Liar.”
Maz sighed. “I have no control with you.” Joe could do what he wanted with her and she welcomed it no matter how much she said didn’t.
“So take some.”
Okay. That had never occurred to her. “How?”
“Do whatever you want with me?”
That was a fascinating thought. “Really?” Her mind went back to that moment in the hotel. She had enjoyed that and she had felt in control.
“Yeah, drive me wild, Marilyn.”
That could be fun.
Chapter Seven
Maz knelt between his spread thighs. “If you laugh at me I will slap you.” She had no idea what she was doing but she kind of liked that. After Joe’s offer for her to take control, they had climbed from the pool and gone straight inside the house. Her swimsuit had hit the ground but her hands had kept him at bay.
“This is about me, remember,” Maz had told him as she ordered him to sit down and be quiet. She remembered that moment in the gym when she had been totally out of control when his mouth descended on her pussy. Maz wanted to see the same reaction from Joe.
“Oh trust me, I am having the most deadly serious moment of my life here. The thought that you would walk away from me now kills me.”
Her hands reached out to encircle Joe’s cock. “You don’t feel dead.” She loved the feel of his penis inside her body, on her breasts, in her hands. It was hard yet velvety soft and the urge to take the length of it into her mouth and suck was overwhelming.
“May I?” There had been times Maz had wanted him so badly that she could barely concentrate on what she was doing. Was Joe aware that every word he uttered made her stomach clench in excitement and her inner thighs sweat? Did he feel the same madness that she did?
“I may cry if you don’t.”
Maz smiled. He had the ability to make her do that more than anyone else she knew. “You always have the correct answer.” Before he could speak, her lips descended on the turgid head of his cock.
“Hmm,” she murmured as she swirled her tongue around the tip. It was as she imagined but even better because it was Joe.
“Oh god,” was all Joe could growl as his hands threaded through her hair to hold her close.
Maybe there was some sort of protocol involved in a blowjob, maybe not. She didn’t care. Maz just wanted to suck that fat cock head into her mouth and drive the man wild.
Joe guessed her thoughts. “I will come if you do.”
“You do what you must, as will I.” Maz gave in to need and sucked the tip inside her mouth. Joe’s hips bucked and her hands went to his thighs to stroke the firm flesh. There was something so raw and sexy and primal about having this man at her mercy. It gave her an unbelievable feeling of power. She sucked more of his cock inside her mouth. The need to taste him was everything.
“Bloody hell…”
Maz could feel the muscles in his legs tense with excitement. She was so wet she was torn between standing up and impaling herself on his length or sucking him dry. She looked up at him, licking her lips. “Do you like that?”
“I love it and I love you.”
“Correct answer.” Her head dropped down for another taste. His groan of excitement urged her on. Although caught up in what she was doing, Maz was conscious of the fact she was the one in control. It excited her. Joe would come but only when she was ready with him fully sheathed inside her. Until then she would enjoy the moment. Maz let his cock slip, pink and wet and shiny, from her mouth. “Tell me something.”
“Anything you want to know I’ll tell you.”
“If I asked you to, would you jack off for me?”
Joe’s body stiffened. “What?”
“I want to watch.” Maz leaned in once more and licked the long vein from the tip of his cock to the base of the shaft, her hands caressing his balls.
“Maz,” Joe choked out, gently pushing her had away. “I want to come inside you.”
Great minds think alike. “And I want to see you lose control.” Maz knew she had him when Joe swallowed hard.
“Sit back on your heels and open your legs for me.” Joe’s voice was husky with emotion.
Maz was about to point out this was her game but she was eager to see how explosive Joe could be. If being so exposed helped that then who was she to argue. “I’m awfully wet. I may drip on the carpet.”
Joe’s eyes locked with hers. “You’re trying to kill me aren’t you?”
Maz did as he requested, spreading her legs. “Maybe. Your turn.”
When Joe fisted his cock, Maz felt a moment of jealousy. That’s mine. But she inwardly shook herself. This was about him losing control. Not her. There was something so hot and primal about a man running his hand up and down his own cock. It was controlled yet there was a sense of urgency that was exciting. Although the climax was assured, it was the look on Joe’s face that gripped Maz the most. His eyes never left hers in his quest to give them both pleasure. Maz almost slid her own fingers to her clit but refrained. She wanted to come but with him in and on her.
“Go faster.”
Joe nodded. “As you wish.”
“Does it feel the same as—”
“When I’m inside you? Oh hell, no.” He pulled harder on his shaft. “Nothing compares to that. You grip me so tightly that I can barely think straight and the heat from your body makes me shiver.”
“Really?” This thought entranced Maz. That she had that effect on Joe never occurred to her. “I never felt that.” But then maybe she was trembling too much herself to realize.
“Oh I do.”
“Um, you’re pulling pretty hard.” Did that hurt? Maz knew cocks were amazingly flexible instruments but she didn’t want to see Joe do any damage to himself. “I’m kind of partial to your friend there.”
Joe grinned. “He’s all yours, as am I.”
The look he gave her was so loving that Maz blinked rapidly for fear of crying. How embarrassing would that be? “What about when my mouth is on your cock?” She saw his hips buck at that thought.
“While amazing, it’s not the same.” Joe stilled his hand for a moment. “Do you really want to see me come?”
“Yes.” It was not something a good girl would have asked to see but good was vastly overrated and knowing this man would do whatever she asked of him made her feel powerful. And loved. It was at that moment that Maz understood something. Joe loved her. In many ways she had denied this for fear of him leaving as he once had. But now, that fear wasn’t there so much. Maybe I have come to trust the man before me and forget the boy who was. “Please show me, Joseph.”
“Anything for you, Marilyn.”
Okay. It was not what she expected. It was one thing to feel him jerk and strain inside her body but another to see the mechanics of hand-induced orgasm. “Huh,” she murmured as watched him.
“Huh?” Joe mimicked, looking at her in amusement. “I’m supposed to be inspiring you with the raw power emanating from my cock.”
“Oh trust me, while I find your cock fascinating and best-friend-worthy, this is different.”
“What did you expect? A volcano?”
“Well it feels that way when you’re inside me.” Although he always wore a condom, the pulse and jerk of him was explosive.
Joe started laughing. “I adore you. Only you, Maz, would say that.”
“I’m sorry.” It was not a flattering thing to say.
“Don’t be.” He patted his thighs. “Com
e here.”
“Normally I would love a ride of that beastie.” Maz side stepped him. “But I’m late for my shift at the Shearer.” She turned and started to walk away. She knew she wouldn’t get far, but like Joe, she was willing to give up some control for what she wanted.
Joe lunged forward and caught her ankle before she could escape. “I don’t think so, lady. You have to finish what you started.” He dropped her lightly, stomach first, to the ground, his body imprisoning hers. The raw, musky smell of male sexuality captivated her senses and made her heart beat faster.
“But the pub.” Though the heat of his body on hers was making the most persuasive argument for staying.
“It can wait.”
“What about the gym?”
“I’ll give you a workout you'll never forget,” Joe whispered against her ear as he lifted her onto her knees.
Yes, please. Maz could feel his already hardening cock against her ass and she knew what she needed. “But, I think—” She choked as one of his hands slid under her body and touched her pussy and she had no idea what she had been about to say.
“O-oh.” His fingers found her clit.
“Is that good?”
Maz sucked in her breath. It was beyond good. “It’s okay.”
“Liar.” Joe kissed the side of her neck. “Tell me what you want.”
Oh, she could fight it but what was the point? She was his. They both knew it. She bore down against his hand. “I want you everywhere.”
Joe blew softly against her neck as he stroked her upper thigh. “Do you want me inside you?”
“Yes.” Maz’s voice was barely a whimper, as his fingers teased her skin.
“What about here?” One long finger pushed into her anus.
Maz jerked forward. “Um…”
“Um?” His finger penetrated through the ring of muscle.
They had never done this before though she had often wondered what it would feel like to have Joe’s cock wedged high up inside her ass. “You’re kind of big.” Was that even doable? Do I want to try it? Oh hell, yes.
“I would never hurt you.”
“I know.” She shivered as a second finger joined the first in her anus. Maz was completely held in place by his fingers teasing the sensitive hole.
Thigh High Page 6