by Vivian Arend
She laughed. “Whatever is on your mind has you all tangled up. Push it aside for a little while, and let’s go have some fun.”
He wasn’t sure he was up for hitting the dance floor or anything like that. “You want to go somewhere else tonight?”
She tilted her head from side to side. “I’ve had enough of being the center ring at the circus. I was thinking more somewhere to stretch our legs.”
“The trail? Down by the river?”
“I don’t want to go back by the river yet.” Janey made a face. “I made a bit of a fool of myself the last time.”
Another thing he should’ve thought of sooner. “How’re you feeling? Any lingering aftereffects?”
“God, I hope not.” She pointed ahead of them toward the turnoff for the wilderness park. “Of course, you must be twice as happy that I’m not acting up, so you don’t have to babysit me tonight.”
“Well, not all of it was bad.” Len slipped a hand off the wheel and rested it on her thigh. “Trust me, I enjoyed it when you started taking off your clothes.”
The low growl that escaped her just made him grin harder.
“Are you really going to taunt me about that?” she asked.
“Hell, yeah.” He glanced over. Her lips were thrust forward in a slight pout, but amusement danced in her dark eyes, along with a healthy dose of lust. He took the corner a little too fast, and she swayed, soft curves connecting with his arm before he caught hold around her waist and pinned her in place.
“I want to make some memories I can look back on,” Janey murmured. “Right now you’re the only one who’s sure what I did last night.”
“And you’re the only one I will ever tease about it.” He put the truck in park, turning off the ignition to give her his full concentration. “I kinda like having something to tease you about, but what happened last night is between us. I promise that’s as far as it will ever go.”
Janey sat for a moment, staring seriously before nodding.
Anticipation rose between them. He was still holding her waist, his hand resting on bare skin. So soft and warm, he could hardly wait to explore.
And her lips—she’d just licked them. Her tongue had darted over the full bottom swell and left it wet. Every bit of him was ready to finally get to satisfy his cravings. She was the one he’d wanted for so long. The only one.
She tilted her chin and glanced at him from under her lashes. “Want to go for a walk?”
Janey was across the bench seat and out the door before he could respond one way or another. He took a deep breath and hit the ground, adjusting himself as discreetly as he could under the guise of closing his door.
She met him at the front of the truck, her hand held out. He slipped her fingers into his, amazed how the electric shock of anticipation turned his entire system alive.
“You have anything big happening at the garage in the next while?” she asked.
“Typical maintenance and summertime vacationers. Nothing too exciting.” All his attention was on the connection between them. She had strong hands, probably from swinging a hammer and all the other tools she used on a regular basis. But while she had calluses, she’d done her nails, and she must use cream or something because she was still a lot softer than him.
Jeez. He was holding her fucking hand and ready to write poetry about it.
They strolled along the trail for a good hour, talking easily like people who had known each other for a long time. Well, Janey talked. Len listened, slipping in the occasional word or comment, which was more than usual.
But it was comfortable, and a sense of peace he’d been lacking for a long time grew stronger.
Although, on another level, the tension between them was real. They might’ve been walking side-by-side, but he still could see and admire everything about her. The mesmerizing curves he’d gotten up close and personal with only the night before. He’d felt her body pressed against his. There’d been a layer of clothing between them, his, but the memory was enough to make him want to hurry his step. To get to the end of the loop and back to the truck, so he could take her home and see what happened next.
Except…
He was drawing a line tonight. Just because they were finally going out, it didn’t give him the right to simply take her home and give into the lust raging through him.
He glanced over, and Janey winked, slipping her hand from his to pace backwards down the path in front of him. She wiggled her hips a little harder, and leaned over, the curves of her breasts swaying slightly as she moved.
Dark hair hung low enough the ends of her hair would have just touched the pale red nipples he’d admired the night before.
“You keep looking at me like that,” she teased, “and I’m going to spontaneously ignite.”
“You’re looking mighty fine. I’d hate to see you go up in flames.”
She pulled to a stop, and he stepped close enough she had to tilt her head back to stare at him. “I don’t know. Little bit of burning could be fun.”
Janey pressed her palms to his abdomen, slowly sliding upward until she reached his neck.
Len imitated her in terms of catching hold around her waist, and this time when he tugged her against him, they both let out enormous sighs.
Her smile increased. “I’ve been looking forward to this forever.”
“Not nearly as long as I have,” he confessed.
He kept one hand planted firmly in the center of her back. The other he used to cradle the back of her neck, controlling her and angling her the way he wanted as he leaned forward. Slowly. Ever so slowly.
Warmth brushed past his cheek as her breathing increased in tempo. The rock-solid length of his arousal was pressed to her body, and she shifted her hips slightly. Enough that he couldn’t stop a groan from escaping.
Their mouths so close, but not yet touching.
Her gaze dropped from his eyes to his lips. “What’re you waiting for?” she whispered.
He wanted to say something—hell, he wasn’t sure what. Something borderline romantic, maybe.
Only when her tongue darted out there was no way to convince his brain to wait any longer. He closed the distance between their mouths, pressing their lips together. Lightly. Once.
Then again.
She eased open her lips, so he did the same, and the taste of her shot through him, setting off warning bells. It was every bit as good as he’d hoped for, and far, far more enticing.
Their bodies were locked together as he took her mouth and controlled her. Kissed her as if this would be the only chance he had, and he needed her in his system to survive.
He hadn’t lied. He had wanted this forever, and holding back had taken considerably more strength than he’d ever imagined. Now he took every bit of the restrained longings, and the waiting, and used them to experience her as fully as possible.
It wasn’t enough to kiss her. He kissed her lips. He kissed her cheek. He planted a row of kisses along her jawline until he reached a spot underneath her ear that sent her squirming against him. If it was possible, he grew harder, his cock aching for release.
Still wasn’t enough. Janey moaned as he put his teeth to her earlobe and nibbled. Changed tactics to trace the tender surface with his tongue. He was rewarded with a full-body shiver that sent him twirling toward the edge.
“Oh, Len. Yes, I like that.” She dug her fingers into his shoulders, clutching the fabric of his shirt as she tried to get closer.
He couldn’t resist going back to her lips. To the tease of her tongue against his. But with every rub between them, danger approached rapidly.
And when she snuck a hand down his body, circling over his chest and tweaking one of his nipples before crossing his abdomen to tug his shirt free from his jeans, Len knew he wouldn’t survive. Not if they continued for a second longer.
He caught hold of her hand. “Not here. Stop, Janey.”
The sound of utter devastation escaped her throat. “I’m ready for more,” sh
e complained.
He was ready to do that spontaneous-combustion thing she had talked about earlier. “Not here,” he insisted.
She took a deep breath then, thank God, eased off her death grip enough he could put some space between their bodies before he had an accident.
“Take me home?” Her words came out husky and low.
Len swallowed hard. “Yes.”
She’d obviously forgiven him for being a bonehead in the restaurant. By the time he’d gotten her home, he’d recovered some of his missing brain. He caught hold of her hand as they walked to the back door, bracing himself for the coming storm.
Before disaster struck, he was going to enjoy kissing her all over.
He waited until she’d used her key before twirling her between him and the side of the house. The porch light was still off, but the stars were out, and the moon and the streetlights gave enough light to send shadows dancing everywhere in the yard. Silent witness as he picked her up and pressed her against the wall with his body.
Damn him for being a sick bastard and punishing both of them like this, but he simply couldn’t resist feeling her heat once more. She wrapped her legs around him and smiled.
He took her lips, and this time there was not only the newness of the connection, but a touch of familiarity that only made it better.
They kissed until they were both breathless and he was one second away from exploding. He tugged his lips from hers, and they stared into each other’s eyes. Her pupils were huge dark moons against the golden brown irises.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Her expression changed to complete shock as he carefully lowered her to the ground.
“Len?”
He didn’t trust himself to speak, so he turned and took the stairs off the porch as quickly as possible, two at a time, afraid if he hesitated he’d reconsider.
“Len.” This time her voice was a lot louder and a lot more demanding.
He tossed her a wave. “Give me a call tomorrow. I’m free all day.”
He hightailed it back to his truck as fast as he could as all sorts of excuses why he should turn around filled his head.
Chapter Five
No one could torture you like family.
“I swear if he starts singing that kid’s song one more time, I’m going to rip his head off,” Len threatened. “I don’t give a shit who’s sitting in what tree—unless it’s to toss a rope over a limb and hang Troy high.”
His youngest brother grinned, but this time it appeared Len had some backup.
Mitch stepped away from the welding bench. The tattooed flames on his hands and arms rippled as he cracked his knuckles and gave Troy the evil eye. “I’ll cut him into small pieces so it’s easier to hide the body.”
“You two have no sense of humour,” Troy complained.
“Or maybe the problem is you couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.” Mitch retorted. He twisted towards where Clay and their dad, Keith, were pulling a diagnostic. “Can we send him out for coffee or something?”
“He’s just teasing your brother about his new girlfriend. It’s not as if you weren’t doing the same thing three minutes ago,” their dad shouted back.
“But Mitch’s joke was funny,” Clay offered. “Troy hasn’t mastered the art of the insult yet.”
“He’s still wet behind the ears. He’ll learn eventually,” Mitch grinned evilly, ducking around the tire station to get away from Troy.
The only one in the room who wasn’t family paused in the middle of his tune-up. Or more exactly, Len had to correct himself, the only one in the room who wasn’t family by blood. Gage Jenick had joined the family in a decisive way over the past year, and while the wedding still had to take place, he and the youngest of the Thompson family, Katy, were not only rock-solid, they were the parents of the cutest little baby Len had ever seen.
He didn’t mind being Uncle Len one bit. As long as he got to give the kids back when they got stinky or started to make noise, his siblings could crank out all the rug-rats they wanted.
His usual mode of staying silent was working in his favour even as the conversation once again narrowed in on him and Janey’s change of relationship.
“What I want to know,” Gage said, “is why now?”
Len shrugged.
“Oh, come on. The girl has been around forever. And she’s been chasing you forever.” Mitch agreed with Gage. “Did you just now figure out what to do with your dick—?”
Their dad swatted Mitch on the shoulder as he walked past. “If you’re going to take the conversation in that direction, I’ll be the one who goes to get coffee.”
Good-natured chuckling accompanied his words, though. No way the man could’ve survived raising five kids through puberty on his own without having had some extraordinarily blunt conversations.
Keith Thompson wasn’t the type to beat around the bush and keep it all hush-hush. In fact, Len’s earliest memories about getting the talk pretty much matched everyone in the room.
Clay confirmed it by bringing the topic up on his own.
“I’m not about to talk about my sex life in front of you, but you really going to pretend like we don’t know what goes where?” Clay chuckled. “I think the first time I asked you a question you deliberately called me, Mitch and Len, and sat us down in a row. And the details flew.”
Keith paused with his shoulders to the exterior door, the lines around his eyes crinkling as he smiled back at his boys. “No use in doing that job more times than I had to.”
“Yeah, maybe. But you know that day? When I asked where did I come from?” Clay folded his arms across his chest, the move making his shoulders look even wider, showcasing the resemblance between him and his father, and all the siblings in the room.
“Yeah?”
Clay chuckled lightly. “Daniel Coleman told me he’d been born at home, and someone else at school said they were born in this big hospital in Calgary. That’s all I was wondering about. Imagine my shock when instead of telling me which hospital you’d taken Mom to, you started talking about erections and safe sex.”
A collective howl went up from the lot of them as their father gave his oldest son an admonishing finger wave then pushed open the door and vanished outside.
The amusement continued for a while, dirt talk and stories ringing out between working on jobs and taking turns to respond to the new customers coming to the front desk. A brief respite from the teasing Len knew would soon be back.
Sure enough, during the next lull, Gage closed in on him. “You know you have to tell me some details about what’s going on, because otherwise Katy will never get off my back.”
“My little sister can interrogate her friend by herself.”
“Not the same.” Gage grinned. “Of course, I’ll also get to hear about all of your downfalls over the next while, so please make sure you don’t screw up too badly. But if I had some juicy tidbits to share with Katy the next time she’s pissed off at the entire male species, that would ease my way.”
“Spill the beans for the good of mankind,” Clay teased. “Or if not for that reason, do it because I’m curious as all hell. You and Janey.” He shook his head.
Len paused. “You don’t think I should be dating her?”
More than one of the guys responded with a rude noise, only Clay was the one who answered. “I think you should’ve started dating her years ago. The last I heard, when she finishes the renovation she’s planning on rejoining her family in Calgary. You haven’t given yourself much time to make this work.”
“Make what work?” Troy asked. “He’s dating her. They’ll fool around a little and have a good time. There’s nothing saying it’s supposed to be a forever thing.”
Strangely, it was Mitch who interrupted. His brother with the who-gives-a-fuck attitude who was now engaged to a cop, of all people. “Don’t be so down on the forever shit. It’s kind of an awesome feeling.”
They’d all gathered in a circle, work tasks forg
otten. Len figured this was part of the experience. Getting his brothers on board would only make it easier down the road when Janey left.
Mitch was right, and he was totally wrong. What Len wanted was forever. It’s what he had always wanted with Janey, and what he’d worked so hard to avoid stepping into. Since he knew he couldn’t give the woman everything she deserved, he’d refused to give her anything.
Her leaving…changed things.
Maybe he was being selfish, to take for a little while, but he was human. Janey wanted it, and he was too weak to say no to a temporary touch of heaven.
So he turned to Troy instead and acted the ass. “Exactly. Doesn’t have to be forever, but it’s gonna be a hell of a good time while it lasts.”
Clay’s eyes narrowed.
Len put up a hand before he could say anything. “Don’t.”
Again, it was Mitch and Gage who backed him up, the two of the lot who Len figured would have the most problems with him and Janey being a temporary thing.
“Let Len alone,” Mitch ordered. “This is between them.”
“Except for the usual caveats that if he hurts her I will be obliged to hurt him, because Katy will expect me to.” Gage was almost apologetic, but Len understood.
The last thing he intended was to hurt Janey. Hell, that was the whole reason he’d avoided getting together with her in the first place. That was why every night for the past week he’d left her at the door with a kiss and nothing more.
Actually, he was the one in danger of getting hurt. He kind of thought he’d seen her eyeing the hammer and nails the last time he’d been in her house.
The buzzer by the main door went off as someone stepped from the office into the working garage. The lot of them twisted to see who it was, and laughter hit instantaneously.
Janey plopped her fists on her hips and stared them down, her gaze narrowing. “Gee. I wonder who you were talking about?”
She stuck out her tongue before bounding across the floor in a direct path for Len.
“Good luck,” Gage whispered before he drifted away.
Len would need more than luck to survive much more anticipation.