A Needful Heart (16 page)

Matt pushed hard, seating himself even
deeper. Gina huffed out a breath and pressed back into him,
countering his movements. Flicking her clit with his finger, he
buried his lips into the hair at her nape, nibbling. Gina twisted
in his arms to press her mouth to his. Her breast pouted straight
up, so he took a minute to draw it into his mouth. Working his
fingertip in a circular motion around her clit, he sucked in time
to his movements. Gina cried out, quivering as her orgasm rolled
over her, and she was suddenly very wet. Matt lunged into her, but
he wasn’t satisfied. He needed it harder. Rolling her onto her
belly, he braced himself over top of her and spared just a second
to look. There was enough illumination in the room that he could
see the paleness of her skin and her hourglass shape.

“You are beautiful,” he told her. He pressed
his lips against her spine and across her shoulders.

Her ass arched up toward him, and he couldn’t
not
sink himself into her again. Immediately, he knew he was
in trouble. The sensations were totally different in this position,
harder, sharper, and the visual of her body beneath him arching up
to meet his and the feel of his naked cock gliding deep in her
wetness built him up to orgasm quicker than ever before. Pounding
into her, he only had a very few seconds before the orgasm crashed
over him, destroying all sense. He slammed himself deep, and Gina
cried out beneath him, he didn’t know in pain or release, but he
couldn’t control his movements until the orgasm abated. Quivering,
his arms gave out. He had just enough control to push to the side
and not crush Gina. He panted raggedly, trying to suck in
oxygen.

“Gina, I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Did I hurt
you? I just couldn’t stop there at the end.”

She twisted around to look at him, and Matt
was reassured by her seemingly satisfied smile. “I’m wonderful.
That was freaking hot!”

Emotion suddenly clogged his throat. Gina was
soft and mussed and looked well loved. The fact that she was in bed
with him humbled him to his core. “I thought I had hurt you for a
minute.”

She rocked her head on the pillow. “Not at
all. You were working my body perfectly, and when you hit deep I
came again. I’ve never done that before. Come twice like that. You
just manage to drag them out of me.”

She rolled over and slipped her arms around
him, pressing a kiss to his lips. “You can wake me up like that any
time.”

Matt grinned at her, more light-hearted than
he could ever remember being. “Really?”

Gina nodded and rested her forehead against
his chest. “Definitely.”

“You know, I thought I was dreaming.” Matt
laughed and stroked his hand down her smooth back. “Then I woke up,
and I was inside you, and it was better than any dream I could have
imagined.” He snapped his mouth shut. That sounded so sappy.

Gina looked up at him with a gentle smile.
“Seriously?”

He nodded once.

Tightening her arms around him, she snugged
into his front. “Thank you Matt. I’ll tell you, this all seems like
a dream to me. You’ve really become important to me in a very short
length of time.” She pulled back enough to look him in the eye. “No
pressure, though. You know.”

They settled back down together, and Matt let
himself soak in the closeness.

***

Gina woke early the next morning and lay in
the crook of Matt’s arm, watching him sleep. His dark eyelashes
made crescents on his cheeks in the early morning glow, and he
snored lightly. Stubble shadowed his jaw, but he was the most
relaxed she’d ever seen him. Her eyes traced down his pectoral
muscles and the light fuzz of dark hair. He’d lost his
tighty-whiteys hours ago, and his cock lay long and flaccid to the
right.

The poor thing had to be tired, she thought
with a smile. After the rear entry session, he’d woken her up one
more time in the night to gently, thoroughly rock her world yet
again. She had never been so completely loved.

She slipped out of bed and padded to the
shower. They needed to get on the road soon, to her parent’s house.
Swallowing a couple of ibuprofen, she trash-bagged her wrist before
stepping under the steaming water. She had aches from their
activities last night, and her pussy was definitely on the tender
side, but on the whole she was more satisfied than she could ever
remember being. Matt was a thorough, gentle lover, in spite of what
he’d said about not having relationships.

The object of her thoughts stuck his head in
the door and gave her a once-over. Gina shook her head at him. “Oh,
no, you don’t. I have to get cleaned up. And so do you.”

Matt nodded once. “I’ll be back in a while.
What time do you want to leave?”

“By noon.”

Matt flipped a hand in the air and
disappeared.

Gina was surprised he didn’t climb in the
shower with her like he did earlier. It was okay, though. They
probably both needed time to decompress. They had a long,
potentially crazy weekend ahead of them.

She needed to let Gabe know where they were
going to be. She’d flirted with the idea of trying to take him
along, but there was no way his uncle would go for it. Besides,
they’d only be gone for a day and a half.

Gina had enough time to bake a fresh batch of
cookies especially for Matt and make her world-famous pasta salad,
which her little sister dearly loved. It was a minor miracle she’d
even been able to do that much with her arm in the cast. It was
bulky and difficult, so she had to make modifications. Rather than
wrap the gift she got Danielle, she stuffed everything in a bag
with tissue paper and signed a card. For several minutes, she
debated whether or not to add Matt’s name to the card, but in the
end she left it off. She could ask him when they got in the truck
if he was comfortable with it or not.

At eleven forty-five, he knocked on the front
door, but she didn’t hear anything more after that. Curious, she
walked down the hallway to see where he was. Still on the porch.
She opened the door with her brows raised in question. He shrugged
awkwardly and rubbed the nape of his neck.

“I didn’t know if I should just walk in or
not.”

Gina smiled, trying to be reassuring. “Of
course, you should. You should always consider yourself welcome
here, Matt.” Leaning up on tiptoe, she pressed a kiss to his lips.
Broad hands framed her face, holding her to him, before he released
her. Gliding her hands down his chest, she let them settle at his
waist and looked up at him. Then had to do a double-take.

“You look very nice, Matt.”

Talk about understatement. She stepped back
to get a better view. He looked down-right edible. His curls were
slicked down with mousse and recently trimmed. The butterfly strips
were long gone, but there was still a pale pink line on his
forehead from the post. A pretty, hunter-green button-up shirt
stretched across his broad shoulders and buttoned at his wrists.
Store-creased khakis encased his legs. A brand-new pair of brown
suede shoes were planted in her entryway, without a speck of wood
dust on them. Gina thought she preferred his old boots and
t-shirts. “You didn’t have to get dressed up. My family is pretty
casual.”

He winced a little. “I just didn’t want them
thinking I was… I don’t know.” His hand motioned in the air.

Gina didn’t like that he felt the need to
compare himself to other guys. “Matt, I like you, not because of
the clothes you wear or what you do, but because of the person you
are. Be comfortable.”

The word comfortable seemed to release
something in him, because he tugged at his stiff collar and shifted
as if his feet hurt. He cleared his throat and looked down at his
shoes. Swallowing heavily, he met her gaze. “I didn’t want you to
be embarrassed to be seen with me.”

She looked at the shirt again and realized
he’d worn long sleeves to cover up the tattoo. Gina felt her throat
close with emotion. “I would never be embarrassed to be seen with
you. I’m proud to be seen with you. Anywhere or anytime. I,
personally, think you’re gorgeous just the way you are. And I have
a feeling I won’t be the only one. There are going to be a dozen
giggling teen-agers at this cookout who are going to think you are
the cat’s meow.”

Matt grimaced, and Gina giggled. She reached
out and hugged him around the waist. “Come on, big man. I’m ready
to go. Let’s swing by your place on the way out of town, and you
can change.”

Twenty minutes later, Matt guided the truck
into his driveway.

“Wow,” Gina breathed. She’d actually seen
this house before, many times. She just hadn’t realized whom it
belonged to. On lazy days, she drove past it after work just to
look at all the detailed cornice work and the wide wrap-around
porch. The house looked immaculate, but the gardens had always
needed work. They were overgrown. Several rosebushes dotted the
property, but they desperately needed pruned and shaped.

“I’ve driven by this house before. I love it.
I can’t believe you own it.”

One side of Matt’s mouth tipped up in a
smile. “Sometimes I wonder why I own it. It’s a lot of work to
maintain.”

“I bet.”

Curiosity pushed her out of the truck and to
follow him into the house. She didn’t ask; she just followed. Matt
seemed surprised, but accommodated her. “Just watch. The rooms are
kind of full right now.”

Gina gasped as she stepped into the entryway.
From wall to wall, heavy pieces of wooden furniture were stacked,
sometimes one on top of another, sometimes singly. Matt wove
through a path just wide enough for him if he turned his shoulders.
Gina tried to take it all in. She knew her mouth hung open, but she
couldn’t seem to help it. She had known Matt was a carpenter, but
she hadn’t known he was this…industrious. “What are you going to do
with all of these?” she asked, finally.

Smiling at her over his shoulder, he led her
to a staircase and up to the second floor. “Well, I’m waiting on a
truck to come from Cincinnati to pick these up. It’s why everything
is crowded into the front. About once a year, sometimes twice a
year, a company I consign with comes for stock.”

Gina followed his broad back down the hallway
and tried not to feel bad for him. It must be so lonely not having
anybody other than a crotchety old man. He said he went out with
buddies occasionally, for ball games and such, but she could tell
he wasn’t especially attached to any of them. What better than work
to fill his time?

There were several closed doors along the
hallway, but he led her to the very end to the only open door.
Inside was a man’s room. Dark, masculine colors on the bed and
furniture, nothing decorating the walls. For some reason she
expected clutter, but there wasn’t any. The room was plain and
almost sterile. The one piece of Matt in the room was the oversized
bed and headboard. It was handmade, obviously, and darkly
beautiful. It looked extra-long to accommodate his size. “Now
that’s a bed.”

Matt smiled slightly, and his gaze tracked
her movements as she walked across the room to sit on the edge of
the mattress. She bounced experimentally, leaned back on one arm
and folded the casted arm across her stomach. She lowered her voice
deliberately. “Somebody could have some fun in this bed.”

His eyes darkened, and he took a step toward
her.

“Matt, you probably ought to take those
clothes off. It looks like they chafe.”

The shirt was tossed one way, the pants
another. The shoes thumped to the floor out of sight. Within
seconds he stood in front of her in his plain white briefs. His
erection stretched the cotton, and her mouth watered at the thought
of pulling that cloth down and swallowing the tip of him into her
mouth.

Hell, why not? Crooking a finger, she urged
him closer to the bed.

An hour later, they left the house. Matt was
in jeans and a nice, more casual, polo, he had his favorite ball
cap on and there was definitely a swing in his step. Gina knew she
walked more loose-hipped as well, and the smile just wouldn’t leave
her face. Matt carried his repacked bag in one hand and had his
other hand around her elbow. After they’d made love in his
oversized bed, he’d gently washed her clean in his walk-in shower.
Gina felt positively pampered. Loved.

She snorted to herself. It wasn’t love.
Surely, on his part it had to be fascination. If he’d never had a
relationship before, the first time he did had to be stunning, and
thrilling. She would actually be worried about it if he did
proclaim his undying love.

George sat on his porch at the house next
door and called out a greeting. Gina waved, but Matt didn’t give
her a chance to stop and talk. He handed her up into the truck and
tossed the duffle in the back, then circled around to climb behind
the wheel. He glanced at her sideways. “We may be a little
late.”

She shrugged. “I can’t imagine any better
reason why. Although we may not tell my mother.”

Matt chuckled quietly and relaxed back into
his seat.

Highway 9 was quiet as they headed north
toward 70 eastbound. Yellow Springs was one hundred fifty miles
away, so they had almost two hours worth of travel time. Gina eyed
the expanse of bench seat between them, and wondered what he’d say
if she slid over. She chickened out at the last minute. She didn’t
want to appear too clingy.

Matt wondered how he could get her to slide
across. Setting cruise at seventy-two miles per hour, he raised his
right arm to rest along the back of the seat, trying to look
accommodating. Gina looked at him and smiled, but didn’t slide any
closer.

He wasn’t too put out, because it meant he
could still look at her across the seat. At the doctor’s office,
he’d only ever seen her wear scrubs. The jeans she seemed to prefer
suited her so much better. She had on a frilly, flirty shirt in
shades of blue that did fantastic things for her eyes. She’d
applied make-up, but one eye had a smudge of black beneath it,
probably from their play.