So was she, weak with desire. How embarrassing. They spent some time wandering around the parking garage before she realized she’d brought them to the wrong level, and then there was a clumsy, silly moment when they both headed for the same side of the car. Their elbows brushed and she stumbled, her knees weak.
He laughed, apologized and climbed in the passenger side of the car.
“You okay, Lou?”
“Yeah, fine, just dropped the keys. Excuse me—” She fumbled on the floor, her face perilously close to his thighs. How easy it would be to reach for his zipper.
Her fingers closed on the keys before she embarrassed herself further and she concentrated on getting in Reverse, steering and getting them safely out of the airport.
“How are Peter and Chris?”
“Doing well. They’re getting a bit of a break from guests. They say hi and ask that you take a look at your email. The Paint Boys send their love. They went off to do a short job on an Italian contessa—that’s what they said. I think there’s a villa involved.”
“Not necessarily,” she said. “How’s your family?”
He shrugged. “Okay. Dad’s in the cottage. We—Mac and I—worked on it, doing it up with him, though I think Mac was using it as an excuse to procrastinate on his deadline.” Lou tried to ignore the jolt she felt at the mention of Mac. “Graham’s at my sister’s—she’s going to have the baby around the time I get back. She’s huge and complaining all the time.”
So his mother was still in hiding. Lou suspected she’d be back for the birth of the grandchild and wondered if Rob had thought of that, too.
“What’s Mac doing now?” she said, eyes fixed on the road.
“He went to London to see his little girl. He didn’t say what he’d do next.” He peered out of the window into the dark. “Are those mountains?”
“Yes.”
“Cool.” He yawned and rested his head against the glass.
“Take a nap if you like.”
“I’m okay.”
But the next time she glanced over, he was asleep. She allowed herself one self-indulgent lustful gaze at his sprawled thighs. His hands, curled and relaxed in sleep, still bore newly healed scars from his time downstairs at Paradise Hall.
She made a deal with herself. If he wasn’t interested, they’d be fine together, just being friends. But if he was interested…her mind wandered into some tantalizing possibilities. He’d checked her legs out pretty thoroughly. Of course he’d seen her bare legs—and much more—before, but it was different when she was wearing a dress with the mystery of what she wore underneath. What sort of panties was she wearing today, anyway? She vaguely remembered picking out her Walmart specials, colorful cotton in a pattern of stylized flowers more suited to an eight-year-old than a grown woman. First thing to do when she got home was change those panties or abandon them altogether.
She sighed. Here she was acting like a teenager, while the real teenager in the car slept. She couldn’t predict what would happen and she wouldn’t fantasize. Not while she was driving. Maybe later, alone, in bed, where she could take the fantasy to a satisfying end. Maybe she’d think through, and in much greater detail, the possibility of pulling over and unzipping him, tangling in the backseat, or taking him in her mouth while he gasped and twisted beneath her. Or his fingers, busy between her legs—she squeezed her thighs together—and…
Flashing lights and the blare of a horn warned her that she was wandering into the path of oncoming traffic, and she got herself back into her lane and back into a rational frame of mind. She should enjoy this time with Rob, whatever the outcome, and make saying farewell to the ranch as happy a time as it could be.
Meanwhile, there was something satisfying and tranquil about this silent drive in the dark, the bulk of the mountains on the horizon blotting out the stars, with only the occasional headlights of a passing car to remind her that others existed outside their little world. Rob slept on, peaceful.
* * *
WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT THE HOUSE she tried not to check out his butt as he hauled the backpack out of the car. He tipped his head back and looked at the stars, much clearer and brighter than any night skies she’d seen in England. The dogs bounded up to them in the house, sniffed at Rob and decided he was their newest and dearest friend, bumping against his legs and demanding attention.
“Nice place,” he said politely, a hand on each dog’s head.
“Push them off if they’re a nuisance. Leo is the brown one, Saturn is the border mix.”
“Why did you name a dog after a car?”
“After the planet. I have English tea. Would you like some?”
“I’d rather have a beer, if you don’t mind.”
She passed him a bottle. “I should warn you that the legal drinking age in this state is twenty-one.”
“Bloody hell.” He twisted off the bottle cap.
She fixed him eggs. It was odd to have him in her kitchen, and the awkwardness of showing him the bed in the study—or not—lay ahead.
“What’s going to happen to the animals?”
“I’m leaving them here, except for Maisie, my horse. I sold her to a friend whose daughter used to come over to ride her. So she’s in good hands.”
“You’re leaving your dogs?”
“They’re farm dogs. They like people but they’re attached to the territory and to each other. They’re friends with my neighbors’ dogs. They quite often go visit and hang out. And my buyers really like them.”
“They’re getting the cows, too?”
“Oh, yes. They love the idea of being gentleman farmers, just like Julian. They plan to get goats and chickens, too.”
“Yeah, that sounds nice. My mum had chickens.”
“My neighbors sell me eggs. We do a lot of trading and bartering here. I used to trade eggplants for eggs.”
He laughed and got up to put his cleaned-off plate and cutlery in the dishwasher. Nice, a well-trained man, rinsing them off first, too. “Where are you going anyway, Lou?”
Wasn’t that the big question? “It’s not certain.”
“Back to Paradise?”
“Possibly. A friend in the town has offered me space in her house. I have to write my dissertation, you see, and I can teach a few classes at the university. I haven’t really decided yet.”
“I know, it’s none of my business.” He ambled into the adjoining room. “Okay if I watch TV?”
The dogs accompanied him. She heard him click from channel to channel before settling on something with a lot of gunfire, typical male. She spent a lot of time wiping off the counter and range and table, not that they needed them, and retrieved her voicemail messages, which included the daily exasperated, affectionate call from Peter.
“Loulou, are you out communing with the cows again? Give us a call, dear, or email or something. We miss you. Bye.”
When she went to join Rob, he was fast asleep, shoes off, stretched out on the couch. Saturn and Leo were snuggled up to him. They gave Lou guilty, challenging looks.
When she turned the television off, Rob didn’t stir.
“Down!”
Both dogs slunk off the couch. After letting them outside, she told them to go to their own beds, although she doubted they’d stay there. She laid a throw over Rob and opened the door to the study at the far end of the room, where the bed was made up, since she’d decided that was the path of lesser embarrassment. He already knew where the bathroom was and by def
ault where her bedroom was. It was hard to get lost in a house of less than a thousand square feet. Her buyers planned to build an extension, just as she and Julian once had.
The first items she had packed to go into storage were photographs of Julian.
* * *
IT WASN’T THAT LATE, BUT SHE went to bed anyway. A few feet away, a distance she could cross in a matter of seconds, Rob slept. The house was quiet. She opened her laptop and looked at the growing list of unread emails, many from Paradise Hall, from Viv and Peter and Chris. The sender address of msalazar leaped out at her. She knew that sooner or later he’d get her email address. He was a reporter; he knew how to figure things out.
She closed the laptop without opening the email, laid it aside and switched off the lamp. Although she intended to indulge in a little fantasy and touch herself to a satisfying climax, she found herself suddenly inhibited. Perhaps it was the presence of Rob in her house. What if he heard, even with the door closed? She couldn’t guarantee she’d be quiet. She hadn’t had to stifle her orgasm sound effects for years, not since sharing a dorm room as an undergraduate. If necessary, Julian’s tongue or hand had muffled her cries during family visits.
But she wouldn’t think about that.
She tried to find a comfortable position and fell into a light, restless sleep.
Dreams came—light, sexy touches on her legs, her thighs through the sheets, an enthusiastic panting and hot, vile breath in her face.
She sat up and switched on the light, revealing Rob and a couple of companions. “Did you have to bring the dogs with you?”
“Sorry, I must have left the door open.” He knelt beside the bed, wearing only boxers, which, she smiled at seeing, were distended by his erection. “I was planning to crawl under here and, um, do things to you. If it’s okay.”
If it’s okay? “Oh, Rob, honey.” Breathless with desire and relief, she lunged forward to kiss him. He tasted of toothpaste. His stubble grazed her cheek.
The dogs whined, tails wagging, wanting to join in the fun.
“Out!” she said to them. “Go to your beds.”
They slunk off.
“I’ve been inconsistent with them. They’re confused. Could you shut the door, please?”
She moved over in the bed and he discarded his boxers, kicking them away as he walked back to her, erection swaying. He stripped her nightshirt off over her head with brisk practicality.
“I didn’t know whether you wanted me,” he said in between kisses as he got onto the bed. “I thought you might set the dogs on me.”
“They’d slobber you to death.” She was embarrassed that he was the one who had the courage to attempt a seduction. “I’m sorry if I was weird.”
“I was so sad when you left.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again, her breath catching as his mouth moved down her neck.
“I wanked myself stupid.”
She giggled. “Too much information, Rob.”
“I thought about doing this. Kissing your nipples. I love it when they go hard in my mouth. Did you know they swell just before you come?”
That scrape of unshaven cheek, just as she’d imagined it, on her breasts and belly, and now on her thighs as he eased her legs apart. “I thought about doing this, too.”
His tongue flicked and circled, teasing and probing before settling into a rhythm that she adjusted with small movements of her hips, her hand on his head to guide him. She cried out as her orgasm hit, wrenching and tumbling her, and in its wake he slid into her, keeping her aloft and aiding her descent to earth even as he came.
“Brilliant,” he said. He rolled off her, chest heaving, and gathered her to him, his arm around her shoulders. “Can we do this a lot?”
“Absolutely. In between clearing things up.”
“The house doesn’t look so bad, except for the books.”
“You haven’t seen the barn yet.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Lou showed Rob the barn the next morning.
“Bloody hell,” he said, staring at the dusty interior crammed with broken farm implements and pieces of furniture and things Lou had never dared examine.
“This stuff has been here for years,” she said. “The buyers need the space for their goats and chickens so I offered to clear it out, since they gave me such a good price.”
They hitched up the trailer and truck and Lou backed them up to the barn door. Rob was already dragging rusty items out. “What if I find something that might be valuable?”
“I doubt you will, but leave it aside. I’ll offer it to the antiques dealer in town. Be careful. Drink lots of water. You’re at a higher altitude than you’re used to and you don’t want to get dehydrated.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She went back to sorting and boxing books. So many books, so many memories. She resisted the impulse to leaf through favorites and read them; she knew nothing would get done if she let herself be distracted. Julian’s books would be offered to his colleagues. Most of hers would go into storage, the remainder would go with her wherever she went.
She slapped a red label on a box to designate it for storage and decided to check on Rob.
His shirt hung on a nail near the entrance and she paused to admire the sight of him wearing only a pair of shorts. For the first time since Julian’s death, she’d gone into his side of the closet where his clothes had hung undisturbed, and found work boots and work gloves for Rob to wear. To her relief the clothes had felt impersonal, those of a stranger.
Rob saw her approach, waved and removed the earbuds of his iPod and then his work gloves.
“Find anything good?” she asked.
“Only some ancient porn. I thought you’d like to see it.” He nodded toward a pile of magazines. “Those girls’ tits are amazing, like tactical weapons or something. But it’s pretty tame stuff.”
Lou looked at the magazines that did indeed feature pouting women with conical breasts and laughed. “I guess the farmer came out here for a bit of solo relaxation.” She tossed them onto the trailer. “You’re doing great. We can take a trip out to the dump this afternoon, meet the neighbors.”
He brushed off some of the dirt and kissed her. “How are the books coming along?”
“I think they’re breeding. My efforts don’t make any difference.” She could smell his sweat, earthy and delicious. She pressed him up against the side of the trailer. “You remember your oral sex lessons? We forgot something rather important.”
She ran her hands down his bare chest.
He tugged at her T-shirt but she brushed his hands away. “Observation only this time.”
She found the fastening to his shorts and pressed her palm against the swell behind his zipper. He sucked his breath in as she unfastened and unzipped, stroking. His cock was hard and smooth and warm, springing into her hand.
She murmured against his lips, “I’m going to suck it, Rob. Think you’d like that?”
He made a sound, half gasp, half groan.
She played with him a little, stroking and pinching while he pressed hot and eager into her hand. By the time she slid to her knees before him, his eyes were closed as if in pain, but he opened them wide when she blew gently on his cock. His scent, fresh male sweat, balanced with an earthiness, a little pungent, rose to her nostrils.
“That feels good,” he said.
Oh, she had much more to show him. She darted out her tongue and wove a seductive
, wet pattern around the tip. In response, a bead of liquid welled from the coral-colored slit. She swiped it up with her finger and sucked the salty sweetness into her mouth.
He sighed and shuddered as she returned her mouth to his cock, sucking him in deep, tonguing him hard and then with a featherlight touch, and adding in the occasional tender scrape of teeth.
“How’s that?” she said, lifting her head.
“Brilliant. Could you do it some more?”
She did, this time stroking his balls and the tender skin on the inside of his thighs, enjoying the way his entire body tensed, the small, involuntary movements of his hips, and his murmurs and sighs of appreciation.
“Lou,” he said, his voice urgent, “oh, Lou, I’m going to come. In your mouth.” He tensed, head thrown back, hands gripping the side of the trailer, and thrust into her mouth, shaking, crying out. His semen filled her mouth. She swallowed, choked a little at another spasm and another, warm and copious.
He sighed. “That was incredible. Sorry there was so much. Did you enjoy it?”
She wiped her mouth and gave his softening cock a kiss. “Yes, I did. It’s very gratifying to give pleasure, and to reduce your lover to quivering helplessness.”
“Did I taste okay?” He cleared his throat and said, “I mean, it’s sort of personal, isn’t it?”
“In the best possible way.” She rose to her feet. “Taste yourself.”
He shuddered as he kissed her, groaning as he had when he came. With her mouth on his, he undid her jeans, pushing them down, burying his fingers inside her. “I don’t have a condom on me,” he said against her mouth. “Didn’t think I’d need one out here. But I’m going to make you come, Lou.”
She kicked away one flip-flop and extricated a leg from her jeans, raising it to his waist as he touched and rubbed. His tongue silenced her, filled her, and only after she’d come did he release her.
She dropped her head onto his shoulder. His cock, hardening again, pressed between them. “We’ll never get any work done if we keep doing this,” she said.
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