But emotion didn’t. Love for Jase welled up, overtaking her, finally bringing those tears to her eyes.
He saw them and gently swiped one away. But then he didn’t give her time for the afterglow to fade. Reaching to the nightstand, he pulled a condom from the drawer and rolled it on. Rising above her, he again held her hands above her shoulders and entered her with a smooth, slick thrust. At the same time, he entwined their fingers, a symbolic gesture that touched her soul.
She didn’t believe she could feel any more. She’d never had a double orgasm. Why would she expect one now? But Jase had other ideas. He wasn’t even questioning the possibility. He slid in and out, slowly at first so she got used to him...used to the idea of being filled by him. But then he thrust harder and she held on tighter and the world rocked and seemed to break apart into thousands of sparkling pieces. She urged him on by rocking her body hard against his, by arching up to meet his thrusts, by wanting everything he would give.
At this moment as her world burst around her, she let go of fear and held on to only hope. Jase’s release came after her orgasm, sending the last waves of sensation through her. His deep guttural sigh of pleasure made her feel proud and self-satisfied. She imagined he’d felt that way that night at the hot springs.
But just because he’d made love with her didn’t mean he’d open his heart and soul to her. She’d meant what she’d said about having all night, but she didn’t know how he’d feel about that. Or if he’d want it, too. She was afraid to depend on desire when what she really wanted and needed was deep trust, abiding love, total commitment.
When he collapsed on top of her, she loved being surrounded by him. She breathed in his male scent and rubbed against the rougher texture of his skin. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes as their breathing returned to normal.
Finally Jase lifted his head.
She kept her arms tightly around him. “You don’t have to move,” she whispered, loving the feel of them joined together like this.
“I’m too heavy for you.”
“You’re not.”
She felt him move inside her again and smiled.
“Ah, Sara, what you do to me.”
“Physically?”
“And in other ways, too.”
As they rested in their total communion, she mused, “We’re supposed to be getting dressed for dinner.”
Lifting his head again, he arched a brow at her. “There are other options. We could go out much later. Or...we could order room service. Though I did want to introduce you to global cuisine,” he reminded her with a wicked glint in his eye.
She took her arms from around him, and held one hand to her right and one hand to her left. “There are two scales.” She lowered her left hand a little. “Global cuisine.” Then she lowered her right hand a lot more. “Staying in bed with you. Guess which one wins?”
“So your decision is as easily made as that.” He sounded smug.
“No contest at all. Now, if you’d rather eat sushi or chicken cordon bleu—”
He kissed her again, stopping her words efficiently, letting her know staying in bed with her was more important to him, too.
* * *
Sara felt Jase’s arms around her as she awakened the next morning. Last night had been a dream come true. They’d ordered room service, called Amy to say good-night, fed each other bits of lobster, then made love long into the night. They hadn’t talked much. Just touched and kissed and sighed. She’d been amazed by how the pleasure had grown, expanded, encompassed them both time after time. Their lovemaking hadn’t slaked desire but awakened it.
Jase’s arms tightened around her and she smiled. Spooned together, she could feel his arousal.
“I see you’re awake,” she teased.
“Sure am. Just waiting for you.”
Turning into his arms, she smiled. “I suppose you don’t need much sleep?”
“I can fall asleep in an instant and wake up with the snap of fingers.”
He was nuzzling her neck and kissing her ear when her cell phone buzzed.
He gave her one more kiss on the lips and raised his head. “You’d better answer in case it’s Kaitlyn.”
One of the many things she loved about Jase was his acceptance that her daughter came first.
When she reached for her phone on the nightstand, she saw Kaitlyn’s caller ID. But Amy was the one on the line. “Mornin’, Mommy. Kaitlyn said I could call.”
“Do you miss me?”
“Yep. But you’ll be home today, right?”
“Right. Probably around the time you’re eating supper.”
After a few more minutes of conversation, Kaitlyn came on the line, too, to assure her all was well.
Shortly after, Sara ended the call with a sigh.
“What?” Jase asked, noticing from across the bed.
“Reality crashed in, reminding me I have a life in Fawn Grove. I love it. I love Amy. But I guess it also reminded me I have to call Mr. Kiplinger tomorrow. And Friday—”
Jase levered himself across the bed and sat beside her. “I’m supposed to fly to San Diego on Friday with Tony for meetings. I’ll be back Saturday. Do you want me to postpone the trip?”
She loved the fact that he’d do that for her. She loved him so much. But that love was new. She felt she had to stand alone with this problem until it was resolved. “Don’t postpone your trip. If the company has made a decision, nothing will change it.”
After he studied her, he took her into his arms. “Whatever it is, you’ll deal with it.”
Yes, she would. But if the decision wasn’t in her favor—
She couldn’t think about that now. She wouldn’t think about that now. She had today with Jase, and she was going to enjoy every minute of it.
Chapter Twelve
Jase pulled his car into the garage attached to the main house and pressed the remote for the garage door. It slid down and he switched off the ignition. Then he glanced at Sara with so many thoughts and feelings swirling inside him that he couldn’t make sense of them. If he went out on assignment, what would happen to them? This woman was beginning to be more important than he ever expected.
“Back home,” he commented nonchalantly.
She smiled at him, and that smile made his heart ache. “Where reality sets in,” she remarked.
He knew what Sara was facing this week with her appointment with Kiplinger, but wondered if there was more to her concern. “Are you worried about your interview being released tomorrow?”
Shifting toward him, she shrugged. “To tell you the truth, I’m more worried about what the insurance investigator will have to say. The interview will either set things straight or it won’t. As someone told me, I can’t control public opinion.”
Was that someone Liam? And why didn’t she mention him if he was the one whose advice she’d taken? After what had happened between them this weekend, he sent jealousy packing. “In the long run, public opinion doesn’t matter. You’re never going to know if your interview was the impetus to make somebody in need pick up the phone and call The Mommy Club.”
“I’ll be optimistic about that.”
“Be optimistic about Kiplinger, too. Hopefully the company found the direct cause of the fire and there won’t be any more doubts.”
They went quiet for a little while and neither of them seemed eager to exit the car.
Sara asked, “Do you want to come over for a while?”
“I’d like to. But I really should talk to my father and let him know about the trips. We’ll have to make some arrangements.” He really didn’t know how his dad would react. Or maybe he did and he just wanted to get the confrontation over with sooner rather than later.
Except...
When he looked at Sara now, he
didn’t want to leave her tonight. When he looked at Sara, he wanted her all over again. How crazy was that, after all the time they’d spent in bed? But having sex with her hadn’t eased his desire. Having sex with her had made him just want to find satisfaction over and over again.
He exited the car and so did Sara. They closed their doors, opened the back doors and each took their suitcase from the backseat.
When he came around to Sara’s side, he dropped his suitcase on the floor. “When are we going to find some time alone again?” he asked, closing in on her because he had to kiss her once more before they parted.
She set her suitcase down, too. “I don’t know. After Amy goes to bed, you could come over and—”
“Duck into your bedroom and not make any noise?”
“I don’t know if that’s possible.”
He felt some male satisfaction when she blushed. And when she looked up at him with those big brown eyes, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her like he’d wanted to kiss her during the endless drive home. At least it had seemed endless. Two and a half hours of being close to her yet not touching her had made him aroused and uncomfortable.
They were alone now and who knew when they’d be alone again? He broke off the kiss, went the few feet to the door and locked it.
“What are you doing?”
“That’s the only entrance that can be opened from the outside. I wanted to give us a little privacy.”
“You’re not seriously considering—”
When he kissed her again, he made sure she knew exactly what he was considering.
This time, she tore away and braced her hands on his chest. “I’ve never done anything like this.”
He heard the excitement in her voice. “There’s a first time for everything,” he muttered, pressing his body against hers, stroking her hair away from her temple, kissing her neck.
Soon she was plucking at his polo shirt, lifting it from his waist, putting her hands on his skin.
Sara’s hands on him was a touch he’d imagined many times. But his imagination hadn’t been equal to the reality. In his dreams, she’d come to him when he knew he couldn’t have her. Then suddenly yesterday, there she was in his bed, responding wildly to everything he did, passionately returning his hunger. Right now, she was like that again and he couldn’t have stopped if the fire department had turned a hose on him. Sara brought him so much pleasure, he almost didn’t know himself when he was with her. He felt unfettered by his background, free from his past, healed from an ordeal that had cost him too much. Because of the way she made him need her, he felt walls crumbling, defenses lowering. When he wasn’t with her, he felt disconcerted, missing her and Amy, yet avoiding a dream that could hurt too much if it blew up in his face.
It was easier to concentrate on the physical, to give in to the lust, to enjoy the pleasure.
She was wearing a skirt. While he kissed the pulse at her throat, he filled his hands with it, then dragged it up to her waist.
She reached for his belt and fumbled with the buckle. He made quick work of it, grabbed her panties and skimmed them down her legs.
Holding his shoulder, she stepped out of them. After he slid his hand up her inner thigh, he felt her and she was ready. More than ready.
So was he.
Seconds later, he was naked from the waist down, kissing her and lifting her at the same time. He groaned when she wrapped her legs around him. They were leaning against the hood of his car. It was still warm, but it didn’t begin to match the heat they were generating. This primitive urge to possess her rattled him as it had this morning...and since the first day he’d met her. He didn’t know what the future would bring, but he knew what he wanted right now.
He wanted to bury himself in Sara.
And that’s exactly what he did.
Every time she moaned, every time she said, “More, Jase,” every time he plunged a little deeper, he felt more satisfied, yet more hungry. Sara’s fingers clutched his neck, her nails scraped his backside. He felt changed in some intangible way.
She unraveled first, called his name, clutched him tighter. His world closed in until only this woman and his response to her existed. When his release came it was mind-blowing, and not a single sane thought remained in his head.
With them both still leaning against the hood of the car, her legs slid from around him and he pulled away. She was pulling her skirt down around her when reality, like cold water thrown in his face, jolted his mind and he realized what they’d done.
She must have realized it about the same time because her gaze met his and her hand came up to her mouth. “Oh, my gosh,” she said.
“We didn’t use protection,” he finished for her. He could see the quick calculations in her mind.
“We should be okay.”
Now she wasn’t looking at him, and he didn’t like that at all. He cupped her chin in his hand. “If you’re pregnant, I’ll stand by you.”
She looked confused for a moment as if she wondered what that meant. He wasn’t sure himself. But he did know if he had a child, he’d claim it.
She swooped down to the floor and picked up her panties. “I have to get back to Amy.”
Yes, she did.
They should talk about what happened. Still, what was the point? What would be, would be.
* * *
As soon as Sara entered Raintree’s offices with Amy and Jordan on Monday evening, Amy made a beeline for Jase’s office, the picture she’d drawn flapping in her hand.
Marissa took Jordan into a huge hug. But Sara was more aware of Jase stopping what he was doing to pay attention to Amy, who wanted to show him the drawing right away.
His arm went around her, his head bent toward hers as she explained, “That’s me...and you...and Mommy...and balloons.”
Marissa kissed Jordan, then set him on her office chair, giving him a little ride around the area. “So, did you see the comments on the article?” she asked. “I didn’t call you, because they were all good. Except for that one snide one...about how everybody should have a Raintree Winery to recover from trauma.”
Sara had glanced at the comments online over her lunch break and again before she’d left work. Marissa was right. They’d all been positive. Her interview as well as Ann Custer’s, the army wife whose husband was serving in Afghanistan, had been the subject of conversation among patients today, too. They’d mentioned they’d never heard of The Mommy Club before Jase’s article and they were glad he was publicizing the organization.
But Sara had had other things on her mind. She said to Marissa, “I’m glad you and Liam talked me into letting Jase put my story into print. Maybe other parents who have been helped will come forward, too.”
“Jase got a call from Cal. A newspaper in Sacramento wants to carry the series. Jase is going to become famous again.” She saw the look on Sara’s face. “Is that good or bad?”
“He could leave again,” Sara said lightly.
“And you don’t want that.”
“No, I don’t. But I’m not sure what I want matters.” She wasn’t saying what she was really thinking—that she wasn’t sure if she mattered. Sex was one thing and love was another. She did love Jase, but she wasn’t sure that love was returned.
“I’d better corral Amy,” she said.
Marissa’s expression was sympathetic, as if she understood it all. Maybe she did. Hadn’t she been involved with a cowboy who’d left?
Jase was still listening to Amy’s chatter as Sara approached him. When his gaze met hers, she felt all trembly again, as she had in the garage after they’d made love. What on earth had she been thinking? Obviously she hadn’t been thinking or she never would have had sex with him without protection. What if she did get pregnant?
She’d deal with it. Just as she’d dealt
with everything else that had come along. A baby was a precious gift and Jase’s baby—
Well, she’d let him play whatever part he wanted to in his child’s life. What else was there to do when she loved him?
“Good response to the article,” he said. “I’ve even had more volunteers for interviews.”
“I’m going to push Jordan,” Amy announced, seeing what fun the little boy was having as Marissa pushed him on the rolling chair around the office.
“She and Jordan make a great pair,” Jase said, and then he pointed to the drawing Amy had left on his desk. “I guess that’s the three of us at the festival.”
“Children remember the good times,” Sara said.
“I thought you might call to tell me what Kiplinger had to say.”
“I called him this morning and left a message. He didn’t call me back until this afternoon. All he would say was that he’d give me High Point’s decision on Friday.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to postpone my trip to San Diego?”
“I’m sure. Whatever the decision is, the ramifications will still be here when you get back.”
Seeing Marissa was occupied, Jase took Sara’s hand and pulled her toward him for a kiss. But she stopped him. “Someone could walk in.”
He canvassed her face for a long moment. “Yes, they could. At some point you’re going to have to decide whether we’re a couple...or not.” He didn’t step back; rather he held her even closer. “I have a dinner meeting in town, but I can come by tonight.”
And what would happen tonight? Was she ready to admit to Jase what she felt for him? Would she invite him into her bedroom and make the decision that she was having this affair no matter whether Jase stayed at Raintree or resurrected his career?
* * *
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