The Summer Place

by Pamela Hearon

  Throwing her head back, Summer sucked in a quick breath at the sensation he created as he lowered her back into the pillow, his mouth caressing each inch along the path from her neck to the peak of her breast.

  He sucked a nipple into his mouth, the tantalizing pull making her arch up against him. He took advantage of her raised hips by gliding his hand into her pajamas and caressing her bottom. “Take them off.” She encouraged him and wriggled her hips until she felt the material around her knees. A few good kicks sent the last of her cover sailing. Being naked had never felt this fabulous.

  Rick was everywhere around her. He’d become all hands and mouth and the weight of his hard body pressed the bed down next to her and she rolled to her side against him. She couldn’t anticipate where his touch would land next. He had her gasping for air and she wanted to reciprocate, wanted to feel him and taste him, but he had her so wild with need, she could do little more than claw and pant. Thinking was out of the question.

  * * *

  IT’S LIKE MAKING LOVE TO A little wild cat, Rick thought as Summer’s hands moved through his hair and then scratched along his sides and back while she made little mewling sounds of pleasure. He’d never been with a woman this uninhibited and this passionate...nor one this small. Summer’s diminutive size worried him. Her amazing body was perfectly proportioned, and he had to assume that meant every part of her was tiny. He’d heard a woman could accommodate any size—and he was hardly porn star status—but the tiny body writhing so feisty under the ministrations of his hands and mouth didn’t seem big enough to hold even a man of average size.

  As he hesitated, Summer’s thumbs caught the waistband of his athletic shorts, pushing them down until his erection sprang free, and she stroked her hand tightly along the length of him.

  Her movements felt so good he shuddered and drew back a little, trying to give her the space she needed to evaluate his size. The nymph made quick use of the distance to let go of him long enough with one hand to rid him of the shorts. Then her mouth was on him, sucking in a way that was going to make him lose his rational abilities quickly. He had to act fast.

  * * *

  RICK PRESSED HER INTO THE pillow with a kiss that stopped her breath, but not her determination. She let her hands replicate the action her mouth had been pulled away from and was rewarded when Rick’s hand finally glided past her stomach to stroke between her legs. She opened easily for him, greedy to receive the finger he offered, but knowing it wasn’t enough to extinguish the need for him burning at her core.

  “Rick.” She panted. “I want you in me.”

  She felt his hesitation. “Summer, you’re so small. ...”

  You gotta be kidding me! He was afraid to follow through. She fought to keep her voice calm and lucid. It wouldn’t do to let him believe her words were fueled by frustration. “I’m woman enough. I promise.”

  She nibbled on the shoulder that loomed in front of her mouth as his weight shifted, and she continued to knead whatever part of his body her hands fell on as she recognized the sound of the bedside table drawer sliding open, followed by the sound of ripping cellophane. It ran through her mind to question why he’d brought condoms to the camp, but whatever the reason it didn’t matter much right then.

  After some of the most agonizing seconds she’d ever experienced, Rick settled between her legs, his weight on his elbows, his gaze capturing hers with its heated intensity. “Are you sure about this, Summer?”

  She nodded. “Uh-huh.”

  “I mean, really sure?”

  She ground her lower body against him, punctuating each word as she spoke. “I’m. Absolutely. Certain.”

  He released his breath and reached between them to guide himself, sliding into her with agonizing slowness, as if she were a piece of fragile porcelain he was afraid of breaking. Inch by inch, he filled her until she couldn’t stand the delay any longer.

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Rick, do me before I combust.” She ground the words out as she thrust against him hard enough to bury his full length deep inside her.

  He let out a groan of pleasure. “You’re so tight.”

  “Cut the praise.” She wrapped her legs around his waist. “Just pump.”

  Summer felt his muscles relax as he fell into a rhythm, but they tightened again just as quickly as the thrusting started to heighten the effect for both of them.

  The buildup intensified, and he followed her lead. She raised her hands above her head and pushed against the headboard, wanting...needing to meet and give back his pounding rhythm as he drove into her. She arched her back higher and higher, pressing against him harder, faster and faster until her body and her mind reached their peaks simultaneously and she cried out as relief from the delicious agony swept through her.

  Had Rick been holding back? His movements intensified at her cry. A violent shudder shook his body as the breath-stealing spasms continued to course through her. He kissed her hard and rolled to the side, holding under her knee to slide her thigh atop his. This position kept him firmly planted deep within her. He held her tight against him until her quaking stopped.

  “Did I hurt you?” The arm beneath her loosened its hold slightly, but still kept her close.

  She snuggled her face to his chest. “Of course not. Was I too tight?”

  “No such thing.” His leg still lay between her thighs and he shifted closer, his palm making lazy circles around her rear. “You’re perfect...in every way.”

  He kissed the top of her head, and she tickled his chest with her tongue, and they lay together quietly, words seeming unimportant and useless to describe the delicious bliss she was drenched in.

  Her sensitive breasts picked up the rumble of laughter as it started in his stomach, felt it pull him free from her at last. She poked him playfully. “What’s so funny?”

  “‘Do me before I combust’? Is that fairy princess talk?”

  She laughed, leaning her head back to look into his eyes, which were smiling and sweet, and it ran through her mind that she could look at him looking at her this way for the rest of her life. First-time glow, she told herself, though her heart was sending a different message to her brain. “Hey, even fairy princesses have needs. And if I’d known what kind of magic your wand was packing—” she brushed her fingers along the side of his penis and felt it jerk to life “—I’d have told the girls not to waste the other one.” She tapped the granite star wedged between them.

  He grinned and tucked his hand behind the back of her neck to guide her mouth up to his again. “Has anyone ever told you how amazing you are?”

  “It took a real fairy prince to ascertain that, I think.” His thumb caressed her cheek, and she turned her face to press a kiss into his palm. “But it wasn’t just me.” She breathed deeply, a relaxed breath that filled her lungs like she hadn’t felt in months. “We’re amazing,” she answered.

  The question that had risen vaguely in her mind earlier resurfaced, disturbing her tranquility. She sat up to point at the open drawer beside them. “Seriously, condoms? Were you that confident, or did you just come to camp prepared for anything?”

  Rick took her hands, threading his fingers between hers. “Trust me when I say I was never prepared for anything like you.” He kissed her fingers and her relaxation evaporated into a bubbly sensation like she’d taken a huge gulp of champagne. “Kenny left them. They were his thank-you for the use of the cabin.”

  Rick must have felt the bubbling, too, as she saw the stirring of another erection. She gave him a mischievous grin and crawled on top to straddle him. “Did he leave plenty?”

  Rick shrugged. “That depends, I guess. At the rate of one a day, we could stretch them to last a month.”

  Summer gyrated her bottom against him unabashedly. “But this session only lasts for two more weeks.”

  “Was one of the degrees you pursued in math?” He gave a playful groan as her figure-eight movements had the desired effect.

  “Economics.” She pulled h
er hands loose and brushed his nipples with the backs of her fingers, causing him to suck in a quick breath.

  “I guess if we run out, we’ve got other means we can make use of.”

  Summer reached back with one hand to feel his erection spring to its full length. She feigned surprise. “Uh-oh. I think we might have another snake in the house.”

  Rolling to one side, he flung her to the bed and pinned her with his leg. “Well, this time—” he grabbed her wrists and pulled them over her head, holding them easily with one hand “—we’re going to torture the snake slowly.” He used his free hand to make long, bold, leisurely strokes down her body. “None of that fast catch-and-release stuff like before.”

  Summer closed her eyes and smiled at the delectable vibrations already thrumming through her. “Be sure to thank Kenny for me,” she purred.

  * * *

  “RICK!”

  They were thirteen and flying down the hill on their bikes. Dunk stood on his bicycle pedals, one arm holding a basketball stretched over his head. “Hell-pee-roo!” he yelled.

  Rick scrunched his nose. “What?”

  “Hell-pee-roo! Hell-pee-roo!” Dunk chanted at the top of his lungs.

  “What’s that mean?”

  “Don’t mean nothing. Just made it up. Sounds cool, huh?” He sat down and extended his legs out straight. “Hell-pee-roo! Say it, Rick.”

  “Hell-pee-roo!” Rick yelled. It was fun. He repeated it a couple more times, then they screamed it together.

  Dunk held the basketball up again. “Catch!” He bounced the ball on the middle line of the street, timing it to make its ascent as Rick passed. “Hell-pee-roo!” he shouted.

  Rick scooped it up as it rose from the ground, amazed to find it in his clutch. “Hell-pee-roo!” he answered.

  They laughed.

  “Lemme try!” Dunk held his arm out in anticipation.

  “Hell-pee-roo!” Rick dribbled the ball, not hard...just enough to get it across the line and back up.

  It hit the asphalt and exploded upward, shrinking in size, becoming a bullet, heading straight for Dunk!

  Rick tried to shout a warning, but his voice froze in his throat. He watched in horror as the bullet buried into Dunk’s neck, the force of it pitching his friend from his bike.

  Rick was rushing toward him, picking him up, running with him, aware all the while of bullets zinging around him. Sweat poured from his forehead into his eyes...his ears. He glanced down. Dunk’s eyes were closed. He couldn’t sleep now...had to stay awake. “Dunk!” he screamed.

  “Rick!”

  A voice broke into his consciousness. A light flashed on, blinding him momentarily. He shaded his eyes with his hand, feeling the sweat from his face against his palm. He took deep breaths to slow his heart rate to something resembling normal.

  “You were having a nightmare.”

  “Sorry.”

  “You don’t have to apologize.” Summer leaned over and he was treated to the view of her perfectly sculpted back just before she switched the lamp off. “Are you okay now?”

  “Yeah.” Embarrassed as hell, but okay. Gotta get these damn things under control.

  Her yawn drifted through the darkness. “You sleep at attention. How come?”

  “We were trained to sleep that way.” He scratched his head. “I didn’t realize I still did it.”

  She took advantage of his raised arm to snuggle her naked body against his side. She felt warm and delicious, and he rolled over on his side to wrap his other arm across her.

  His mind drifted back to their lovemaking and, surprisingly, his body relaxed. After one of his nightmares, it usually took a while...if he could get back to sleep at all.

  She kissed his neck. “We’re gonna retrain the tight-ass right out of you, Mr. Warren.”

  “That’s gonna take some strong magic, princess.” He buried his nose in her hair. It smelled nice...like the tea his mom used to make in the afternoon...she’d serve it with honey cakes. He hadn’t thought of honey cakes in a long time. “You’re good for me, Summer.”

  Her breathing deepened, and she didn’t answer.

  He took several long breaths, matching them to hers. If he dreamed again tonight, the woman in his arms would take the starring role at center stage.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  FOR THE SEVENTH MORNING straight, Rick woke up at five but couldn’t coax his body out of bed to run. He would run during quiet time, even though it would be during the heat of the afternoon. An hour of drowning in sweat was a small price to pay to enjoy another half hour of Summer in his bed—and his arms. Hell, with the workouts she’d given him the past week, he probably could cut out running completely.

  It struck him as odd that he didn’t feel compelled to run, and the irony of that thought made him smile. He hadn’t reached the age of thirty-four unmarried by falling in love too quickly. And even the serious relationships he’d been in made him feel as though he would have to give up a part of himself to make it last.

  This morning, he had no compulsion to bolt mentally or physically. He just felt relaxed. Maybe starting out disliking each other had been a good thing. Coming through the bad before the good certainly gave him a much truer perception of the woman he held than all the flirting and courtship crap that went along with dating when everybody was on their best behavior.

  What a woman she was, Ms. Summer Delaney. She took his breath in so many different ways, not the least of which was the way her ass wiggled against him as she woke up just now.

  “You awake?” she whispered, and he pulled her closer and kissed the crown of her head in response. “Can we talk?”

  He stiffened. “Uh-oh. The ‘can we talk’ thing, already?” What had gone wrong? The week had been wonderful, hadn’t it?

  “Tell me about the nightmares,” she said.

  He didn’t want to start the day thinking about them. “There’s nothing to tell.” He closed his eyes. Maybe he could doze back off for a few minutes.

  “They’re every night, Rick.”

  “But they don’t last long.”

  Her sigh had a disgruntled edge. “They disturb your sleep...our sleep...every night. What’s going on?”

  He’d never trusted a woman enough to talk about the story behind them. But Summer understood...or was beginning to understand. He cleared his throat. “I told you Dunk got shot.”

  “Yeah.”

  “He was covering me when it happened. I had an injured kid in my arms.” His stomach clenched at the words. God, he hated talking about it.

  Summer pulled her arm from beneath his and laid it on top, guiding his hand to her breast. “Go on. Tell me the rest.”

  “I couldn’t stop. The kid needed medics.” He closed his eyes and breathed through the pain. “I went back and got Dunk. But he didn’t make it.”

  Summer rolled over to face him, sadness darkening her eyes. “I’m sorry.” She ran her fingertips across his temple. “Have you tried therapy? I mean, it might help to talk to somebody.”

  “I can handle it. It’ll just take time.” He saw the crease form between her eyebrows. “And I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” That was the truth. It was better to leave it hidden in the darkness. He latched on to another subject. “Happy anniversary, by the way.”

  “It’s been a week today, hasn’t it?” He could hear the smile in her voice, and he relaxed. She snuggled her forehead against his neck and kissed his collarbone. “Did I tell you how good you were last night?”

  “Mmm-hmm. I think Kenny might’ve heard you telling me how good I was last night.”

  She sighed. “We’ll need to turn the air conditioner on if you’re going to keep doing those yummy things that make me want to pant so loudly.”

  “Or, if you want to continue sleeping with the windows open, we could stop doing those things,” he teased.

  She looked at him under half-lidded eyes and gave him a lazy smile. “I’ll pant more quietly.”

  “I thought so.”
He kissed her eyelids, admiring the thick lashes that lay against her cheek. In the breaking light of dawn, they glistened like gold threads.

  She opened her eyes slowly. “What are you looking at?”

  “You.” His chest tightened as he used the tip of his finger to trace the side of her face, so delicate in its bone structure. It was difficult to think he’d ever found much wrong with her. “This is the only time of day I get to look at you. I mean, really look at you. During the daylight, I hardly have time to even glance at you, and that bulb—” he pointed to the bedside lamp “—doesn’t begin to do you justice at night.”

  Her lips pursed. “The shadows it puts out make you look pretty hot.”

  He raised on an elbow and tossed the sheet that covered them to the foot of the bed. “Stand up.”

  “Why?” She propped herself on both elbows and tilted her face toward him. “Are you treating me to a stand-up quickie?”

  Rick shook his head, then stopped to consider her willingness. She thought she was the one who was being treated? Her sexual appetite was like no other woman’s he’d ever known. But he felt satisfied right now, like the urge was there and it was good, but it would be even better if he waited. “It’s tempting, but I’m pretty mellow right now. I just want to look at you in the natural light...naked.”

  A tender smile crept to her lips, and she crawled over him to stand at his side of the bed. Her hands swept her hair behind her shoulders, baring her breasts and her nipples, which were standing at attention. Then she dropped her arms to let them hang loosely at her side.

  “You’re beautiful.” His eyes roamed over her slowly, for once taking in her beauty at his leisure.

  “Beauty’s on the inside, Rick. This is all just cover.”

  “I was talking about the inside.” He grinned. “But the cover sure makes me want to read this book.”

  Her eyebrow rose as a smile twitched the corner of her mouth. “Well, it might hold a couple of interesting passages.”