He did just as he said he would, and spread her out, arms above her head. Then he proceeded to remove her slip and skirt. He reached up to unclasp her bra and removed that as well until she was totally naked, displayed in a fashion for his pleasure.
"This isn't exactly the time and place to savor your body, is it?"
"Whatever you want, I'm yours,” she answered as she stretched more fully beneath his inspection. “I've moved far beyond worrying about the risk of being discovered."
Once she was divested of her clothing, she felt his hungry lips at the arch of her foot and she wiggled her toes. “That tickles.” She giggled. He played his lips up over the curve of her calf, to her knee, working inward to her pale inner thigh, and she sighed with pleasure.
Her pussy juices flowed, aroused by his attentions, by the very sacrilegious nature of being made love to in the library where they could be discovered at any moment.
Her attention was diverted away from those thoughts and the possible risk to her reputation when Reuben separated her legs and planted her feet firmly on top of the table. She felt the cool air feather across her exposed, wet labia lips.
He leaned forward and stroked his tongue over her hot center. She arched up, inhaling sharply at the exquisite sensation. His tongue penetrated her, driving into her sensitive vagina as he sucked at her juices, while his hands stroked along her legs, and up over her abdomen. A soft moan escaped her lips when his tongue circled her clitoris, pressing against and around the stiff little nub, her body singing with steamy arousal.
He did that to her. He had from that first moment when they connected, and wherever he led, she followed willingly, a woman following the music of her piper. He made her want to do things she never would have attempted before—to take risks she never would have considered otherwise. But only with him. Only for him. That should have told her something long ago. She would risk anything for him, even here, in her own domain.
She shifted her feet, offering him better access, wanting him deeper inside her. His tongue receded and then she felt two of his fingers enter her, driving deeper, curving upward, pressing against that secret, sweet spot, and she couldn't hold back the scream of pleasure that erupted from her throat. If there were anyone left in the library, they would surely know what was taking place in the venerable history room.
And she didn't care.
His tongue swept over her clit, driving her higher, her cream flowing around his fingers, and his tongue lapping them up. His demanding tongue traced her crease, stroked up over her mound, feathered through her dark curls, and then back down to suck at her engorged clit once again.
Her body tightened, readying itself. She closed her eyes, sinking into the ecstasy of the moment with his hands and mouth playing her body like a beautiful instrument, coaxing the melody free that he sought.
And finally it did explode and everything shattered around her, sparks flew in the air, charged particles of electricity snapping throughout her body as she floated free, her body pulsing with the pleasure he wooed from her.
"Now, Reuben,” she pleaded. “Now."
She needed no other words. He knew exactly what she wanted. Her eyes now accustomed to the dimly-lit room, she watched as he lowered his pants and his cock sprang free, ready for action. His flesh was beautiful and she had savored it many times over the last weeks, in many places, including her hotel room. She wanted to feel him inside her right this minute.
Then he was pulling her toward the edge of the table and repositioning her legs. She felt his teasing presence, the tip of his thick tool pressed between her slick lips, poised at her opening.
"Is this what you want?” he asked as he circled the tip, driving her wild with need.
"Yes. You know it is."
He pressed deeper, and her pussy blossomed to accept him, to accommodate his wide girth inside her.
Oh, yes, but he was going too slowly. She wanted to feel all of him, jammed deep inside her. She wanted it fast and hard and she wanted to feel so damn full, just the way only he could do.
"Fuck me,” she pleaded.
But he refused her, instead retreating from inside her, and she whimpered with frustration. She fisted her hands, wanted to force him to do what she wanted.
Then suddenly her eyes shot open as he slammed home, sending her spiraling into another hot, hard orgasm, her body pulsing around him, responding to the pleasurable impact.
And then he was moving, a fast, deep rhythm that kept her soaring. She lifted her hips, meeting him thrust for thrust, grinding her pelvis against him, in a fast, staccato primal mating rhythm.
She felt his fingers digging into her hips and she lifted her legs to anchor around his waist. They were caught in a firestorm of desire, primitive and passionate. Her nails dug into the wood of the table seeking purchase. Then suddenly the world shifted as he lifted her into his arms and his cock sank so deep inside it seemed to touch her soul and another orgasm ripped through her. Fast as a brush fire she went up in smoke.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, needing to hold on to something solid to keep her from skyrocketing away. Without thought she bared her teeth and bit his chest as the primal urges raged through her, claiming her mate in an age-old manner.
She heard his hiss of breath and then he grabbed her hips as his orgasm overtook him, and she felt him filling her with his seed. She wrapped her legs more firmly around his hips, riding out the crest of the passion.
He stroked her back and held her close as they both floated down to earth. Carefully, he settled her onto the table and pulled his softening cock from inside her. He pushed her hair from her sweat-soaked brow as he looked at her through the darkness.
He leaned his forehead against hers. “So, Madam Librarian, where do we go from here?"
CHAPTER 6
She eased away from him and slid off the table to put on her clothes, trying to buy some time before answering him. He had the habit of making her lose all perspective, of remembering who and where she was. It wasn't the first time and she doubted it would be the last. The only thing she could be certain of right now was that she did love him and she needed to admit it to herself. But what did come next?
Surprisingly, he gave her the space she needed. She was nervous as they carefully exited the history room and she re-locked the door. Fearfully, she surveyed the expanse of the library, and then breathed a sigh of relief as she realized it was empty except for them.
Reuben waited patiently as she finished up what needed to be done, checking all the corners for any possible stragglers and then turned off all but the security lights. Only then did she turn back to find him seated at a table leafing through a rock magazine. He looked up as she walked over to where he sat. Closing the magazine, he set it aside.
"Ready to go?” he asked as he rose from his seat.
She nodded, nervous now that the heat of passion had subsided. He took her arm and guided her out the door. She turned and locked it, making sure everything was secure. Silence again loomed between them. All the things they were leaving unsaid hovered between them.
"Did you drive?” he inquired as they stepped off the porch and onto the paved sidewalk.
"No, I don't live far from here. I usually walk to and from work."
He looked up at the sky and frowned. “At this time of night? All by yourself? That's not safe, Evie."
She had to laugh. “This isn't Boston, Reuben. It's Esmerelda. Very little ever happens around here."
"Still ... I don't like to think of you walking home all by yourself at this time of night. I don't care what town it is."
"Does that mean you're going to escort me home tonight? I can take care of myself, you know. I don't take unnecessary risks."
He stopped abruptly and swung her around. “This isn't funny, Evie. You're an adventuress at heart. You take chances you shouldn't. Look at the risks you take driving to Boston every weekend. Do you have any idea what could happen to a woman alone in a city like that?"
They were standing beneath a street light and she could see the expression on his face very clearly. It was an intense, glittering look, some sort of panic seemed to be lurking beneath the surface. She reached up to cup his face.
"What is it, Reuben? Why are you doing this? I'm fine."
He gripped her arms and drew her up close. Their breaths mingled and hovered between them in the cool, autumn night.
"I don't want to lose you, that's what this is all about. For months you've been putting me off, refusing to share very little of who you are. And now that I've found you, I'm afraid you'll disappear or that you'll pull away from me. I love you, Evie, and I want to marry you."
He caught her by surprise with that last statement. He wanted to marry her? Why hadn't she seen it coming? For months they had been lovers, their passion burning so hot each time they were together that it scorched her. Yet, she had denied the depth of emotion she felt for Reuben, justifying it as just a passing fling.
Looking into his eyes now, she knew it had never been that. Not really. And she had tried to hide from her own deep feelings for him.
"Oh, Reuben, I'm so sorry."
She saw a bleak devastation enter his expression as he slowly released her and shoved his hands into his pockets. “I guess that's it then. I had to give it a shot. I'll walk you home and then I won't bother you again. I thought we had something more—something special."
Her heart stuttered in her chest. “What are you talking about?” Her thready question was tinged with panic and confusion. She had just come to accept her feelings for Reuben and now he was leaving her? What the hell had this all been about?
"You said you're sorry. I assume that means you don't feel the same way I do. And I'm not going to try to force it. You don't want me around, then I won't bother you. You've had your fling and you can now go on with your nice life."
She grabbed his arm and whirled him around this time. “That isn't what I said at all.” She licked her lips. She had to be very clear on what she said next or she was going to blow it for sure. “Reuben, I love you. What I meant to say is I'm sorry that I didn't realize it sooner. That I was afraid to accept my feelings for you. Bottom line is that what I feel for you scared me spitless."
She saw the relief flood his gaze as he stared at her. He leaned down and kissed her, all his uncertainty expressed in the passion she felt as his hard mouth possessed her. “Why, Evie? Is it because I'm in a rock band? Is that why you've been holding me at arm's length?"
"You aren't the problem. What you do isn't the problem. It's me. It's this town. It's all the expectations for the head librarian in such a small town."
She saw the questions in his eyes. “Do you think marrying a rock musician will hurt your reputation? Is that it? We can live anywhere you want. Here or Boston or wherever. I want to be with you, Evie, wherever that is."
God, how did she explain the baggage she carried. The history of her parents haunting every step she took.
He shook her and she looked up at him. “Don't shut me out, Evie. Tell me what's going through your mind."
She threaded her arm through his and they began walking again. “Come home with me and I'll try to make you understand . But it's never been you ... only me."
They walked along in silence until they stopped in front of her father's house—the one she had inherited and still lived in. They halted at the end of the steps and she looked at it with different eyes.
For the first time she realized what a sad house it was—so many ghosts from the past lived there with her, and suddenly she didn't want to go inside. Tears spurted from her eyes, the pain of watching her father disintegrate over the years and finally die of a broken heart.
"Evie, sweetheart, what is it? Talk to me."
"I can't go in there,” she sobbed out. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. He was so warm and vibrant. He loved her and she wanted to trust that love. She couldn't bring him inside that house. She just couldn't do it. “Take me someplace else. Anywhere. I just can't go in there. Not right now.” She buried her face in his chest.
He held her close, rubbing her back. “It's okay, sweetie.” He guided her back the way they came. “I left my car in the library parking lot. We can go anywhere you want."
The further they got from the house, the tightness in her chest started to ease and the panic began to subside. How had she not realized how suffocated she had been all these years? How living in that house only magnified the pain of the abandonment she'd suffered by both her parents? First her mother, then her father as he drifted deeper and deeper into depression and alcoholism. From the moment her mother left, Evie had been alone and without support. She had become the caregiver, the nurturer, and everything had gotten twisted around inside her.
Somehow she needed to make Reuben understand, even if she didn't fully understand it herself. At least not yet. But she would, because she loved Reuben enough to take the risk. But how did she begin?
CHAPTER 7
Evie sat in the shadowed back corner of the bistro sipping at a vodka and tonic, watching Reuben as the group finished up the last song of this set. She looked down at her left hand, adorned with an emerald and diamond engagement ring.
Back in Esmerelda she had been a seven-days’ wonder when she had introduced Reuben to everyone at a local fundraiser for the library. She accepted the fact that she and Reuben would be the subject of town gossip for at least the next few months. But that was okay. Yet, surprisingly, it hadn't been as bad as she expected.
She had admitted to Reuben that she wanted to stay in Esmerelda—it was her home and the place where she worked. She enjoyed her position at the library.
But she had put the house up for sale. It was a sad place—too sad for them to live in. Someone else needed to flood it with happy memories—there was just too much history there for her to stay. She and Reuben were in the process of purchasing a small parcel of land just outside the city limits, near the MacKenzie homestead. It was as though some great weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and she felt light and happy because of it.
She still mourned the loss of her father and for her own youth that in many ways had been ripped from her, but she looked forward to a future with the man she loved. Her gaze caressed him as he stood on the stage, fingering the chords to the song. Oh, yes, she loved his hands, and his voice, and pretty much everything about him.
He had surprised everyone last week when he showed up at the library in the afternoon and had read a story to the children in the story corner. He had such a wonderful voice and it wasn't just the children who'd gathered around the storyteller that day. At one point, he'd actually begun to sing the story to them. It turned into a wonderful afternoon, and he was an immediate hit with all the young mothers.
She knew that being the wife of a rock musician was not going to be easy and there were going to be a lot of challenges down the road. But she now felt she was ready to take the risk. His roots were in Boston; his family resided in the suburbs on the other side of the city. He had taken her to meet them shortly after his first visit to Esmerelda. She'd been overwhelmed by their generous spirit. It was then she found out from one of his four brothers that Reuben was the baby of the family.
She remembered the way they had teased him, calling him the Sandwich King. After about the third time she had to ask why they called him that. That was the first time she'd seen him blush. One of his other brothers eagerly told her that Reuben was named after the sandwich. She couldn't stop laughing when they told her Reuben's mother had developed a craving for Reuben sandwiches all during her pregnancy with her youngest son, and her husband had spent more time at the delicatessen than at home. His mother had been absolutely certain there had been a message in that and had subsequently named her youngest son after the famous sandwich
.
It had endeared her to him even more and she loved his name. But she didn't hesitate to rib him on various occasions as the need arose.
He had a wonderful family and he was a wonderful man. How she had been so lucky to find him she would never know. Her rebellious spirit had brought her to Boston in desperation to escape her loneliness. In doing so, she had been so richly rewarded there were times when she was certain it was all a dream.
In six months they'd be getting married. They were already in deep discussions with the builder on their new house, which would include a soundproofed music room for Reuben and, of course, room for a library for herself. It was going to be a beautiful home filled with love, and when Reuben returned from his road trips, he would find her waiting for him.
The set ended. Reuben set his guitar on the stand, jumped down from the stage, and made a beeline for her. There was something in his eyes when he reached her and she wasn't quite sure what it was.
"Is there a problem?"
"No,” he said as he reached over to clasp her hand and pull her to her feet. “There's someone I want you to meet. You might be mad at first, but I think you need to meet her."
She accompanied him across the room, curious as to the identity of the person he wanted to introduce her to. Her steps slowed and she pulled back as she saw an older woman sitting at the table they seemed to be headed for.
"Reuben, I don't—” The woman couldn't be who she thought it was. How had he found her?
"Honey,” he gripped her hand tighter and pulled her forward, “you need to resolve this. It will stick with you forever unless you face it. You know that. You need to know the truth about what happened."
She twisted her hand, trying to yank it from his grasp. “I'm not ready for this. I can't do it."
"Of course you can. You're a lot stronger than you think you are. And she needs to talk with you as well. Please, babe, do it for me. I'll be right here for you."
Closing Time Page 3