by Lynn LaFleur
“I’m sorry.” Her voice cracked. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“But you did, Jade. I’m having a hard time getting over that.”
The agony in his eyes clutched at her heart. She didn’t know what to do to make things better between them.
More tears filled her eyes and her nose began to run. “I need a tissue please.”
He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his shorts. “The bathroom’s across the hall.”
Jade left the room and crossed the hall. She could barely see, her tears were falling so quickly. Rolling off a long piece of toilet paper, she blew her nose. She’d made such a horrible mistake in breaking up with Zach. She’d thrown away the love of a wonderful man in fear of something that might never happen.
She didn’t know what to do to get him back.
She dropped the soiled paper in the wastebasket and turned. Zach stood in the doorway, watching her.
Chapter Twenty
Zach leaned against the bathroom doorway and studied Jade. Her nose was red, her eyes puffy. She’d obviously been crying for a long time.
Despite his anger, his heart swelled with sympathy and love.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Would you like a drink of water?”
“No. I’m…” She stopped and tears filled her eyes again. “I can’t do this. I can’t stand here and have this asinine conversation with you!”
Zach sighed heavily. “What do you want from me, Jade?”
“I want you to love me again.”
“I never stopped loving you. I’ll love you until the day I die.”
“Then why won’t you forgive me? I made a mistake, Zach, and I’m sorry. But I thought I was doing what was best for you.”
“I know,” he said softly.
And he did know that. Jade was a thoughtful, caring person who put the needs of others before her own. Breaking up with him had been because she loved him.
She wiped the wetness from her cheeks. “Do you still want me to go?”
He wanted to take her in his arms and never let go. He shook his head. “No, I don’t want you to go.”
She took one step closer to him. “Does that mean you’ll give me another chance?”
“Are you sure, Jade? You have to tell me you’re sure, because I can’t—I won’t—go through this pain again.”
“I am absolutely sure. I swear I’ll never hurt you again. I love you.” She walked up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and hugged him tightly. “I love you,” she said, her voice breaking.
For the first time in two weeks, Zach could breathe without the sharp pain in his chest. Wrapping his arms around Jade, he returned her fierce hug. He stood with her in his embrace, her tears dampening his shoulder, while he fought his own battle with tears.
He loved her more than his own life.
Several moments passed before he sought her lips with his. He kissed her slowly, tenderly, with all the love in his heart. His body responded to her nearness, his shaft growing longer, thicker. He tried to ignore his randy cock. The feel of Jade’s soft breasts pressed against his chest made that impossible.
She kissed his chin, his cheek, his jaw. “How long will Michelle and Brent be gone?”
Zach swallowed when her tongue darted into his ear. “At least an hour.”
“Make love to me, Zach.”
“I don’t have a bed yet. I’ve been sleeping on a pallet.”
“I don’t need a bed. I just need you.”
“I’ve been working all day. I’m pretty sweaty.”
She frowned. “You certainly have a lot of excuses. Do you want me naked or not?”
Zach chuckled. “Well, when you put it that way…”
Taking her hand, he led her down the hall to his bedroom. He’d placed the pallet beneath the south windows so he could take advantage of the pleasant night air while he fell asleep. It was also hidden from view of the door opening, in case Michelle and Brent came back before he expected them to.
Kneeling on the pallet, he tugged on Jade’s hand until she knelt before him. He quickly pulled off her T-shirt and removed her bra, needing to feel her bare flesh as soon as possible. Once she was naked from the waist up, he drew her back into his arms. Her breasts felt full and warm against his chest.
How easy it would be to take her fast. The two weeks without her seemed more like two months. He knew if he entered her now, he’d come much too soon. He had to push aside his own needs to take care of her first. “Lie down, Jade.”
Jade lay on her back, her head resting on his pillow. “Lift your hips.” She did, and he pulled off her skirt, panties, and sandals with one jerk. Pushing her thighs apart, he lowered his mouth to her pussy.
She was already wet and swollen. Zach inhaled deeply of the scent he loved before he touched her clit with the tip of his tongue. Jade buried her hands in his hair and held his head close to her. He licked her folds slow and gentle, the way he knew built up her desire to a feverish pitch.
“Zach, I need you—Oh, God, that feels good!—inside me.”
He nipped her thigh. “Not yet, babe. Not until you come.” Spreading her lips with his thumbs, he speared his tongue into her slit. “Mmm, you taste so good.”
She arched her back and pulled his hair. He didn’t care. She could pull out every hair on his head as long as she came.
Zach wet his thumb with her juices and circled her anus. Jade spread her legs another inch. He concentrated on her clit—licking, sucking, nipping—as he worked his thumb inside her ass.
A keening moan signaled the start of her climax. She bucked her hips as he pushed his thumb all the way into her ass and suckled her clit.
“Zach!”
Her anus contracted around his thumb. He continued to softly lick her folds as her body relaxed. When she finally released the death grip on his hair, he rose to his knees and unfastened his cutoffs.
“Turn over, babe.”
Zach didn’t take the time to remove his shorts. He couldn’t wait any longer to be inside her. Slipping one arm beneath her stomach, he lifted her and drove his shaft into her pussy with one thrust.
Tight, wet heat. Zach almost came as soon as he entered her. He took a breath and rested his forehead on Jade’s shoulder, trying to bring his hormones back under control. He didn’t want to come yet. It was too soon.
Jade gripped his thigh with one hand. “Zach, please,” she rasped, raising her hips.
“Give me a second, sweetheart. I don’t want to be rough with you.”
“I don’t care if you’re rough. Take me however you need to.”
Her words made him groan. Later, he and Jade would make love with soft music and candlelight. Now, he needed to fuck her slick pussy rough and fast.
He began to pump his hips, driving his cock deep inside her. “Raise your ass more. Yeah, like that.”
Her whimper urged him to thrust even faster. Soon he was gripping her waist and pounding his shaft into her pussy so hard, he pushed her up on the pallet. Jade braced her hands against the wall, rose to her knees, and spread her legs farther.
Raw. Earthy. Incredibly hot. All those words came to Zach’s mind to describe their fucking. His orgasm built in the base of his spine and grabbed his balls. He fought it, trying to draw it out as long as possible. He wanted Jade to come again before he did.
He licked his thumb and pushed it into her ass.
The walls of her pussy milked his shaft. The sensation urged him toward his own release. Zach groaned loudly as his climax tightened his balls. With a final lunge into her wet heat, he came deep inside her.
Despite a powerful orgasm, his cock remained hard. Withdrawing his shaft from her body, he rolled Jade to her back. Holding both her wrists over her head, he surged into her again.
Her eyes were wide and tear-filled, making them sparkle like emeralds. He knew her tears this time weren’t from sorrow, but from the powerful sensations in her body.
Jade responded with a loud moan. She arched her back and wrapped her legs around his hips. Zach released one of her wrists and slipped his hand beneath her buttocks. He lifted her higher to him so he could thrust even deeper.
He trailed kisses up her neck to her ear. “I love you, Jade,” he whispered.
“I love you, too. So very much.”
“Come for me, sweetheart. I need to feel you come again.”
He’d barely said the words when her body began to shudder from her third orgasm. Zach’s own climax raced through his body. Holding her tightly, he rode the wave with her.
Since he knew his tongue wouldn’t work yet, he didn’t even try to talk for several moments. When Jade unwrapped her legs from around his waist, he drew enough strength to raise his head.
“Wow.”
She giggled. “I’ll go along with that.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “You are incredible in bed, lady.”
She slid her hands down to his buttocks and lightly scratched them. “I have an amazing partner.”
“We’re really good together.”
“Yes, we are.”
He reluctantly withdrew from her body. Moving to his back, he pulled her into his arms. Jade wrapped one arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. Content to simply hold her, he remained silent while slowly stroking her back.
“Your house is beautiful, Zach. You’re a very talented carpenter.”
“I like working with my hands.”
She tilted back her head and grinned at him. “I know.”
He playfully scowled at her. “Sex, sex, sex. That’s all you think about.”
“And you’re complaining?”
“What, you think I’m crazy? I love that you want me as much as you do.”
Her fingers combed through his chest hair. “You make it easy to want you.”
Cradling her jaw in his hand, Zach tilted up her face and kissed her. “Move in here with me, Jade.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“Move in with me. Help me finish decorating this house the way you want it done. Michelle picked out the paint colors, but they can be changed if you don’t like them.”
“Everything is perfect. Michelle did a wonderful job.”
“I haven’t picked out curtains or carpet yet, and it’s obvious I don’t have any furniture. The carpet guys are supposed to be here this afternoon to measure. I think they’ll have samples with them you could look at.”
“Zach, are you sure? We’ve only known each other five weeks.”
“Living together will give us the chance to find out more about each other. There’s still a lot about you I don’t know. For instance, I don’t even know if you like beer.”
She snorted with laughter. “Actually, no, I don’t.”
“That’s it. The relationship is over. I can’t be involved with a woman who doesn’t like beer.”
“I like sex. Does that count?”
Grinning, he dipped his hand down to her buttock and squeezed. “Oh, yeah. That counts big time.”
Turning serious again, he gave her another soft kiss. “Live with me, Jade. Be my lover, my wife.”
“The mother of your children?”
Startled at her question, he didn’t respond for a moment. “What?”
“I’ve…thought about it. If you ever do decide you want to be a father, maybe we could adopt, or hire a surrogate mother, or…something.”
“You said you’d be happy to wait for grandchildren.”
“That was before I fell in love with you. Besides,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes, “the way Bre goes through men, I doubt I’ll be a grandmother any time soon.”
The thought that Jade would do something so unselfish for him made his throat tighten. It was no wonder he loved this woman so much.
“I want you to be happy, Zach.”
“I want both of us to be happy.”
“As long as I’m with you, I will be.”
“Does that mean you’ll move in here with me?”
She nodded. “Yes, I’ll move in here with you.”
Zach rolled her to her back and kissed her deeply. The embers of desire flared back to life as soon as his lips touched hers. He cupped her breast in his hand and rubbed his thumb over the nipple.
“You do realize that since we’ll be living together, we’ll make love a lot more often.”
His little temptress smiled wickedly and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I certainly hope so.”
The End
About the Author
Lynn LaFleur’s writing career has included winning several writing contests. She was a semi-finalist twice in the prestigious Golden Heart Contest of Romance Writers of America. She served on the board of the RWA Chapter in Sacramento, California, for four years, as secretary and activities director.
Lynn can’t imagine ever writing anything except romances. “I love writing about a man and a woman falling in love. If you enjoy the story I tell enough to smile in places, shed a tear at times, or get a warm and fuzzy feeling, that is my greatest reward.”
After living on the West Coast for twenty-one years, Lynn is back in Texas. She works for her small-town newspaper during the day and writes books of romance at night.
Lynn welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
Also by Lynn LaFleur
Enchanted Rogues anthology
Happy Birthday, Baby
Holiday Heat anthology
Two Men and a Lady anthology
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.
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