Bone Deep (14 page)

Sarah pulled back the cove
rs on the bed
. The moment took on a
deep
significance beyond the simple act. Sharing her bed with a new man would put John in her past. Her slow
transition into
letting him go would be finalized when she allowed Tom to
take
his place and sleep in their marriage bed.

Slipping between the covers, she looked at Tom and patted the
bed
beside
her. He climbed in
and lay
on his side, resting his weight on one arm.
In the pale moonlight
,
with the color leached from the patterns on his skin, he
looked like a pe
n and ink drawing come to life.

S
he
reached
up to
touch
Tom’s cheek and stroke her thumb over his lips. He leaned into her touch
,
kissed her thumb then wrapped his lips around it and
sucked
it into his mouth.
She
whimpered
at the sensation of heat and wetness,
and h
er body stir
red
in anticipation. She wanted him all over again.

He let her thumb go and
grasped her hand
, bringing it
to his mouth to kiss the back. His lips
brushed seductively over her skin
. Then he leaned
to kiss her mouth with no h
esitancy
this time
. He laid claim to her,
swirling his tongue between her lips and
kissing her deeply.

When
at last he released her
mouth
, he
trai
l
ed kisses along
her jaw
and throat
. Sarah squirmed
at
his
tickling
lips
and felt his smile against her skin.
She closed her eyes and melted into pure sensation as he
kissed a path down to her breasts
and suckled
each nipple.
She arched her chest into his touch, begging for more. But he
abandoned her breasts
to move even lower, s
pread
ing
her legs apart and
kissing
around her
pussy
and down toward her thighs.

Sarah’s eyes flew open. John had ever done
this
. He
’
d primed her with his fingers, but never his tongue
. She’d heard of oral sex but it wasn’t something good
Christian folks
did
. She
’
d never taken John’s
penis
into her mouth either.

Now, as she
looked down at Tom’s head
between her legs, s
he was about to stop him when his tongue
licked
between her folds and over her clit in one long stroke. She gasped. What did
it matter
whether wholesome people did this or not? She
couldn’t believe God would damn her for indulging in something that felt so good.

He
delved inside her
as far as he could reach
, then
teased and nibbled her sensitive bud until she
squirmed
. Her desire spiraled up and up until it burst
in a cloud of exultation
.
Lights exploded
against the dark screen of her closed eyelids when she came.

Tom
moved
up
to lie
beside her
as she slowly descended back to earth. He rubbed small circles on her stomach
until she subsided with a final shudder
and sigh
.
Sarah opened her eyes and his amazing face was the first thing she saw
. “That was
wonderful. Thank you.”

He smiled.

“Do you want me to do that for you?
I haven’t before, but I’m sure I can figure it out.”

“No. Turn on your side.”

He moved in behind her. H
is body curved around hers and his muscular arms pulling her tight against him. His breath tickled her
shoulder and his
erection
rested
, warm and heavy, in the groove
between
her buttocks. He
kissed
her shoulder as he began to move against her.

She loved the
feeling
of his cock sliding over her rear while she was held snug and secure against him. It was a very comfortable way to make love. She relaxed and let him do everything.

He fondled her breasts and kissed her shoulder and the back of her neck.
Her anus clenched at the feeling of him sliding across it.
His breathing grew shallower
and he reached down
to
guide himself into her sex.
She
was so slick he slipped inside with ease, gr
oan
ing as her warmth enveloped him.

She thrust
back against him
to take him deeply inside
.
A sense of completeness filled her, not just from the physical act but from an inexplicable sense of connection with this strange, silent man. He understood her pain and loss like no one else could
, and she had no doubt he could glimpse her very thoughts and emotions with his psychic ability. It was a little frightening to be such an open book to another person, but it also took away the loneliness she’d been wearing like a dark cloak around her.

His
hips push
ed
against her
rear
as he drove into her
.
Quiet
groans and gasps escaped him as he built up speed.
Their bodies slapped together faster and faster until at last Tom pulled out and spilled his seed over her lower back.
He held her
tight enough to bruise her ribs
as he pumped against her
,
and
he
bit down on her shoulder as he came.

Afterward, he held her fast
. H
is panting breaths sounded almost like sobs as he pressed his face into the back of her neck.

“Sarah,” he whispered, and her heart
clenched
at the haunted sound.
He rubbed her shoulder
where he’d bitten it
. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“No. It’s fine.
Really. That was so…
”
Powerful didn’t seem a strong enough word. Animal. Primal. Elemental. None of them cover
ed
the strength of their
intimacy
. “That was good.”

He kissed where he
’
d bitten. “Sorry,”
repeated
.

Sarah
pulled away from him to take a handkerchief from
the nightstand
drawer. Feeling a little guilty about using the
embroidered
handkerchief her grandm
other
had
given her
, she
offered
it to Tom to wipe them both clean. But perhaps Grandma would understand for she’d lived and loved
a man o
thers had thought questionable. The woman had known passion in her life.
The thought made Sarah smile.

S
he
cuddle
d
up against Tom and rest
ed
her head on his chest. His heart still
beat fast
, but as she held him
,
it
slowly diminished.
She
felt
comfortable
and so content in his warm embrace
and
was
almost
asleep when he spoke.

“You asked me about my dream
,
the one where I saw you. The reason I recognized you was this
moment
. I dreamed
about
it
.”

S
he was immediately wide-awake. She
believed him
,
and his powers awed and even frightened her a little. W
hat might
he
see about her life
, past or present, and her private thoughts?
He was so foreign
in more ways than his physical appearance
.
But that very strangeness drew her to him. Tom was an outsider, and lately, even when she was with friends, she felt like one too.

“I’m glad,” she finally said. “I’m glad you dreamed
of
me and that you came to me.” She hugged him and kissed his chest.

“
You
don’t mind the way I look?”

“I told you
the other day you look good to me
.” She propped herself up on one elbow and looked in the eyes. “You’re the
gentlest
person I’ve ever met. I think you’re beautiful.”

She was rewarded by a slow, sweet smile that utterly convinced her she hadn’t made a mistake in bringing Tom into her bed and into her life. Making love to him was the best thing she’d done in a long, long time.

Chapter
Seven

When Sarah woke the next morning, the sun pouring in the window
blinded
her.
A
dull ache
throbbed
behind her eyelids from the previous night’s vodka
and he neck was stiff from lying for too long with her head on Tom’s chest
.

Tom
. A smile crept over her face as she recalled everything
they’d done
the previous night, and she stretched the luxuriant stretch of a woman who’d been well satisfied.
She felt Tom
move
on the other side of the bed
and turned to see if he was still asleep.

He
lay
sprawled on his back
, eyes closed
, one arm flung above his head, the other
hand resting on his stomach
. All the colors of his body shone in the sun
light
like a jewel box spilled across her rumpled sheets.

Sarah’s gaze
instantly went to his penis
, which s
he
’
d felt but never seen last night. She gasped when she saw Tom’s semi-rigid cock resting against his stomach. Not only was it circumcised
, unlike
her husband’s
,
but
it was also tattooed. Wrapped around the shaft were graphically-rendered coils of barbed wire binding it from the base to the head. She thought of the hours of painful needling
such a
tattoo would have required and her horror at Reed’s torture grew. Whether Tom had been physically restrained or submitted in order to earn food,
he
had not chosen to have these things done to his body.
These designs
had been inflicted on him.

So t
his was why he hadn’t wanted her to see him last night. He was ashamed.
She
felt guilty, as if she was gawking at him
in that sideshow tent
all over again,
ye
t she couldn’t look away. On his thighs
were
rendered images of Adam and Eve. On the right, Eve reached to pluck the apple from the Tree of Knowledge
. Its branches spread
over his hip and groin. It was
clear
Eve was meant to be reaching for his genitals in a lewd parody of the Bible story.
O
n
his
left leg, Adam turned away in shame, one arm covering his eyes as he was cast out of the
Eden
.
Reed might be evil incarnate but his artistic skill was undeniable.

Tom shifted in his sleep,
inhaling
deeply. Sarah’s eyes shot to his face.
The last thing she wanted was for him to wake up and catch her staring at what he wanted to keep private. Then Tom
rolled over and again
she couldn’t stop herself from looking at the tattoos which had been covered by his trousers.
Below the ocean
of fish
on his back was a depiction of hell in which demons cavorted
. Their actions—which carnival-goers would never see since they were hidden under a loincloth—depicted the rape and torture of
screaming people.
Bits
of the green leaves of
Eden
wrapp
ed
around
Tom’s
hips from the front
,
but his buttocks and the back of his thighs
were covered in flames of
yellow, orange and black.