Almost Perfect (27 page)

"Okay." She wrapped her arms about him and held him tight. So many emotions filled her—fear, relief, happiness, love. And desire. "Make love to me, Joe. Right here."

"What?" His hands went still. "Here?"

"Please." She lifted her head to look at him. "Here in the moonlight, beneath the stars. Make love to me."

He looked at her, and she saw all her own emotions burning in his eyes as he cupped her face in both his hands.

"Here," he agreed on a sigh. Slowly he lowered his head and kissed her with a thoroughness that left her breathless. Wind sang through the trees as his hands ran over her, arousing all her senses.

Leaning into his touch, her head fell back as she gloried in the feeling of Joe touching her, caressing her. He slipped the jacket off and ran his palms up her bare arms. Needing more, she started to unbutton her dress, but his hands stopped her.

"Let me," he whispered, his voice hoarse with desire.

Dropping her hands back to the bench, she watched as he unbuttoned her dress and slowly parted it. Night air brushed her heated skin. Somewhere in the distance, an owl hooted as Joe lowered his head. She closed her eyes, listening to the night sounds as she absorbed the feel of his warm lips on the upper curve of each breast. A quiver went through her as he pulled the lace do^vn and his mouth closed wetly over one nipple.

If she couldn't give him promises about the future, she'd give him now and the fullness of her response, letting him know he aroused more than her body. His gentle intensity went all the way to her heart.

Arching her back, she moaned as his tongue worked its magic over her tingling skin. His hands swept beneath her skirt, taking hold of her panties.

"I want to touch you," he said, tugging at the scrap of silk. "All of you."

"Yes," she breathed, lifting her hips so he could remove the barrier. His hands returned quickly, pulling her forward so she sat on the front edge of the bench. With the dress bunched up to her waist and gaping at her breasts, she was completely open to him, an offering for the taking.

Her eyes met his as he eased her thighs apart, ! and a winsome smile curved her lips.

Oh, Maddy
, he thought, aching to have and to keep this time. Forever. He accepted that that might never happen. Love had to be given freely. No conditions.

The knowledge made him tremble as he ran his hand purposefully up her thigh, toward the center of her heat. Her gaze remained fixed on his and she opened her thighs a fraction more.

He might not be able to hold her forever, but for tonight, this moment, she was his.

Be mine
, he told her with his eyes as he slipped a finger slowly inside her.
Stay mine
.

"Yes," she sighed as if she'd heard his words. "Yes."

He chained his own hunger and concentrated on pleasuring her, slowly, deliberately, driving her up and over the edge, soaring with male satisfaction as she slowly drifted back down.

Only then did he release his own need. He took a second to protect them both, then poised at the entrance to all that heat. Pressing into her was like entering heaven. She engulfed him, drew him in, and held him tight.

He closed his eyes, thrilling to the sensation of being part of her, yet loving her so much that he feared it.

With a moan deep in her throat, she lifted her hips, taking him even deeper, and he couldn't hold back. He thrust hard and strong, every muscle in his body tensing as the pleasure built, and when it burst free, he thought for one heart-stopping moment that he would die from it.

He braced himself, still buried deep inside her, his head back as his heart thundered. As he drifted back to his senses, he realized Maddy had wrapped herself about him, her arms and legs holding him tight as she pressed her head against his chest.

He wrapped his arms about her as well and rested his cheek against her hair, wishing he could hold her like that all night.

Eventually, though, his spent body eased from hers, breaking the connection. With a sigh of disappointment, she tipped her face to smile up at him.

"You're right," she said. "The senses are keener outside."

He smiled as he caressed her cheek. "Do you think you can walk on that ankle now?"

"Ankle?" Wicked delight danced in her eyes. "What ankle?"

They straightened their clothes and he helped her rise. "Come on. I'll take you home."

Chapter 18

It's true what they say: Time flies when you're having fun. —How to
Have a Perfect Life

Stretching languidly, Maddy came slowly awake, then went still as she realized this was not her bed. And she was not alone. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Joe lying behind her, sound asleep. Even with his hair mussed, he looked as handsome as ever. Maybe even more so with the muscles in his face—normally so tense—relaxed in sleep.

Fascinated, she rolled carefully toward him and propped her head on her hand. A smile of pure contentment welled up from deep inside her as she watched him.

In the week since the art show, she'd spent quite a bit of time in Joe's bed, but this was the first time she'd stayed until morning. Actually, it was the first time in her entire life she'd stayed with him until sunrise.

What would it be like to wake up with him every morning for the rest of her life? She expected the question to scare her. Instead, a sense of Tightness settled over her.

Love filled her. Warm and vibrant and glowing. And she had her answer.

I want to spend my life with you.

He woke suddenly, startling her with his abrupt switch from sound sleep to full alertness. After a quick glance about, he let his head drop back onto his pillow and his body relaxed. He smiled up at her, all sleepy aad rumpled and sexy. "Good morning."

"Good morning." She grinned. "You certainly wake up fast."

"Must have been the noise." He gathered her against him, positioning her until she lay with her head on his shoulder and her legs tangled with his.

"What noise?" She listened for something besides the bird singing in the cactus outside his bedroom window. The first session of camp had ended yesterday, leaving the camp almost eerily empty. "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly." His lips curved against her forehead. "Silence. One whole week with no screaming."

She felt a little pang in her heart as she remem-bered the closing day ceremonies and the last campfire followed by a day of loading buses and emotional good-byes. After the buses cleared out, the coordinators and counselors left as well for their own week off. Other than Mama and Harold, Maddy and Joe had the place to themselves. "You know, I think I miss Kaylee and Amanda already."

"Yeah, me too." He yawned. "But they'll be back next year."

Yes, but will I
? She bit her lip to hold back the words. By some silent agreement, they never talked about the future in personal terms.

"Besides," he added, "we have another crop of little monsters arriving next week."

"Well, there's a cheerful thought." She sat up and stretched her arms over her head. The covers fell to her waist and cool morning air brushed her skin. "How about some coffee?"

"I'd rather have you." He ran a finger down her spine.

She glanced over her shoulder. The covers had slipped to his waist as well, leaving his whole gorgeous torso bare. He tucked an arm behind his head as he lowered his eyelids with promises of sensual pleasure.

Unfortunately, her gaze moved to the clock on the nightstand and she remembered all she had to do that day.

"Tempting." She laughed. "But I need caffeine."

Climbing out of bed, she gathered the clothes she'd left lying on the floor and headed for the bathroom. Once there, she found a denim shirt hanging on the back of the door that would make a perfect bathrobe.

She ducked her head back into the bedroom. "Do you mind if I borrow this?"

"No. I put it there for you."

"Oh." That drew her up short. He was always doing stuff like that. Stocking his refrigerator with the kind of cola she liked. Buying flavored potato chips when he liked them plain. And now a shirt for her to use as a bathrobe, when they hadn't actually discussed her staying the whole night. She'd simply fallen asleep, and he hadn't woken her.

She pulled back into the bathroom, wondering if these were all giant hints about his feelings, or if she was reading more into them than he intended. The fact that she'd mentioned her favorite flavor of ice cream and a half gallon of caramel turtle fudge had magically appeared in his freezer was not a declaration of undying love. Was it?

The question nettled her even when she stood in the kitchenette measuring coffee grounds. She heard water running in the bathroom and knew Joe would join her shortly. For all she knew, caramel turtle fudge was his favorite flavor too and it didn't mean anything.

With the coffeepot gurgling, she stared out the window, more frustrated than ever by all the unanswered questions. Maybe she was coming to terms with what she wanted, but that didn't mean Joe had. Maybe he was still thinking short term. Somehow that made her want a future with him even more.

Since the night of the art show, they'd talked a lot about plans for the boot camp, which they were both having a ball working on. They sat in his office every evening using his computer to design brochures, business cards, and even a Web site, which was going to take a lot more work to finish. But they never talked about where their relationship was going. Or what would happen when summer camp ended.

A dozen times at least, she'd started to tell him she loved him, which had seemed huge enough. Now here she stood, thinking about marriage and children and a lifetime together—God willing. Her heart swelled with the knowledge that she wanted all the things she'd rejected from him once— wanted them with a passion that made her ache to say the words aloud.

Would he believe her, though? After what he'd told her, she feared that words alone would never do it, and might even cause a setback. So, somehow, before summer camp ended, she had to find a way to show him she loved him, to make him feel secure enough about that love that when she finally said the words he would believe her.

Six weeks. Surely that would be long enough.

She was still staring out the window when Joe emerged from the bedroom.

He stopped as the sight hit him square in the chest. Morning sunlight streamed over her. She was so… Maddy, standing there barefoot with his big shirt hanging to her knees.

If he could have one wish, he decided, it would be this right here, to wake every morning for the rest of his life to find Maddy in his kitchen, bathed in sunlight.

A part of him wanted to toss his carefully laid plans out the window, to walk over there, scoop her into his arms and say, "Marry me." But impulse had been his undoing last time. He refused to repeat that mistake.

Drawing on patience, he headed toward her. "Is that coffee ready?"

She glanced over her shoulder, smiling with approval as her gaze ran over his bare chest and the sweatpants that rode low on his hips. "It just finished."

Getting down two mugs, she poured him a cup black, then went to the fridge to poke inside. "Do you have any cream?"

"In the door." He congratulated himself on snagging some from the kitchen in the dining hall yesterday when he remembered she liked her coffee doctored to the max. Attention to detail had always been his strong suit.

"Great." She backed out with the unopened carton.

He leaned a hip against the counter and took a few grateful sips of caffeine. "So, what would you say to jogging with me this morning?"

She blinked. "You're joking, right?"

"Not at all. I'll take it easy on you, and afterward we can take a dip in the river."

She faced him with a hand on one hip, which hiked the shirt higher on her thigh. "There are two problems with that idea. First, in case you haven't noticed, this body is not meant to sweat."

"I don't know." He grinned at her over the rim of the mug. "We worked up a pretty good sweat last night, and I didn't hear you complaining."

"And second," she continued, "I don't have time. I'm supposed to meet with Sylvia at the gallery this morning."

"Oh? Are you taking her more art?" He frowned as he realized he hadn't seen her work on any art all week.

"No." She turned to put the cream away. "The prints of
Sunrise Canyon
arrived a couple days ago. They need me to sign them."

He lowered his mug. "You didn't tell me that."

"I didn't?" She straightened. "Oh. I thought I did."

"You must be excited to see them."

"I am." She let out a nervous gust of air. "Although it feels really weird too, dashing off to spend the day signing prints of my work."

"It's not pretentious, Maddy. It's just part of the business."

"I suppose."

Since the subject made her uneasy, something he would never understand, he decided to shift the topic.

The time had come to move into Phase Two of his campaign: get Maddy to move to Santa Fe. His stomach tensed. "You know, I've been thinking…"
There, that sounded good. Nice and casual. No big deal. Just knocking ideas around in my head
.

"About what?" She leaned against the counter as well, sipping from her own mug.

"Plans for the boot camp are coming along so great, we should be ready to open this winter."

"Oh, I definitely think you could do that. You just need to get the word out and start signing people up."

"Yeah." The tension moved up into his throat. "So." He took a swallow of coffee to burn the knot away. "What I was thinking is, you're so good with promotion…"
Just spit it out, coward
. He swallowed more coffee. "What would you think about staying on a bit after summer camp ends to help Derrick and me get things going?"

She coughed into her mug, then gasped for air.

"Are you okay?" Alarmed, he rubbed her back.

"I'm fine." She didn't look fine. She looked scared.

Oh, crap
! She was going to say no. He'd miscalculated somewhere. Read the signals wrong.

"How—" She pressed a hand to her chest. "How long would you want me to stay?"

Forever
! "It, um, depends. I know you have a life back in Austin that you probably want to get back to, so it wouldn't have to be too long. Just… a few weeks?"

Her eyes watered from her coughing fit. "I can manage a few weeks."

"Really?" Relief swamped him so fast his knees went weak. "That would be… great."

"So…" When she turned away to put her mug in the sink, he saw her hands shake. Was she crying? Why would she be crying? "I, um, I guess I better shower and get dressed if I'm going into town."