Closer to My Heart (10 page)

She cupped her hands lightly over his ears and pulled him close. She pressed a sweet kiss against his closed mouth and pulled back to look at him. Slowly, she ran her tongue around the perimeter of her mouth, tasting him. Lucas growled low in his throat and leaned in to ravish her mouth. The tenderness after the last storm was gone, and in its place the same tumultuous, helpless craving that forced them to mate.

He plundered all she had to offer. From inside of her, he hardened again. He wrapped his hands beneath her knees from the inside, spreading her wide open. “Hold on,” he told her absentmindedly as he folded his legs beneath him so he could stand. She was a lean, little bit of a thing and couldn’t have weighed too much over a hundred pounds.

He hooked her knees over his elbows and leaned her back against the cherry tree. “I’m sorry,” he whispered before pulling out partially and plunging back into her, drawing an unexpected yelp. “I can’t wait.”

Vaguely Jane had a thought that they were outside. Her back yard was heavily wooded and shielded from the prying eyes of neighbors, but then again she’d never made love outside before. A few minutes ago they were low on the ground…now, though, they were standing where anyone looking over the fence might see them. It was exciting!

She grabbed Luke’s head and brought it close so she could kiss him. The force of her grasp pushed his head so far back that the curls at the nape of his neck tickled his broad shoulders. He grunted and was stunned for a second, but recovered quickly. Her body was so wet from their recent climax, and still so hot and tight. The strong suction and release of her muscled vaginal walls pulled at his engorged cock until he thought he would pass out. His breathing picked up pace and his whole body shook from the force of his thrusts, and from the tension of holding Jane upright so her back wouldn’t be scraped raw from the tree bark. Occasionally, her bottom or the back of her head knocked against it, though she didn’t complain.

She moaned low and long and tightened her legs around Luke’s body. She squirmed to get out of his controlling hold. “Luke, I need to move around. Please,” she begged.

Lucas looked in her eyes, his hips surging sure and strong into Jane’s hot body. In. Out. In. Out. Jane whimpered and pleaded more. “No.”

“Lucas! I can’t come with my legs open like this. Please—let me wrap them around your waist.” She moved franticly, her squirming almost as powerful as Luke’s thrusts.

Finally, finally he stilled his hips and backed away from the tree. He settled her legs around his waist, one by one, so that she was more comfortable. She tried to lift herself up to get back into the rhythm but Lucas held her still with a steely grip to her upper thighs.

“Luke? What’s wrong. . .we’re so close.” Jane reached down and slapped him on the flank.

He gasped and squeezed her thighs. “Just wait,” he said. He walked quickly to the red picnic table surrounded by the Hydrangeas she’d been using as a test bed for changing the pH of the soil to change the blooms from pink to blue.

“Look at my Hydrangeas,” she said dreamily when he sat her down on the table, then pressed his palm to the center of her chest to lay her onto her back. He was still embedded deep within her body.

He looked around. “What?” He flicked his pointer finger quickly over her clitoris, which made her twitch.

“What did you just say honey?” He lifted her hips off the table and surged deeply into her.

Jane giggled between groans of ecstasy. “I’ve never been out here at night without the lights on. My blue Hydrangeas look so pretty in the moonlight.” Lucas stilled and pulled out, turning to look at the flowers. Absentmindedly he licked his fingers clean.

Finally, he turned back and put his attention back to driving them out of their minds. “Jane,” he demanded. She jumped at the unexpected command, but looked him in the face.

“Look at me. I want to watch your face.” He pushed in to the hilt and then stopped for a second. She squeezed her inner muscles and he started shaking.

“I can’t hold off any longer.” His hips pumped quicker and quicker. Jane began coming and before she could scream too loudly, Lucas covered her mouth with his, shoving his tongue deep inside. He pulled out one last time and his body jackknifed as he thrust hard enough to move her halfway across the table. He slid his hands down to her hips and ground his dick in as far as it would go…then wrenched his mouth away and howled at the moon. He could die a happy man and never know nirvana anywhere else in the world.

After a minute, the paroxysm of his body halted and he folded Jane into a close embrace. Her head was turned to the side and her arms lay loosely at her hips. Her calves dangled off the edge of the table. Luke’s head was bowed and his forehead rested in the valley between Jane’s breasts. He was lying haphazardly across her torso and his feet had fallen asleep.

There were no tears this time. He watched her for a minute, then looked at the garden around them. “You know, your garden really is beautiful in the moonlight.” She smiled. “I think those hydrangeas you pointed out earlier are the same color as your eyes.” And Jane was as delicate, and as lovely, as her precious hydrangeas.

He pushed off Jane’s body and stood on the ground between her relaxed legs and stomped his feet to get the blood flowing again. Her eyes were still closed but she made undistinguishable sounds of protests at the loss of his body heat.

“Come on, Sleeping Beauty,” he said. He lifted her high against his body and carried her inside. “Let’s clean up a bit; then we can relax.”

Instead of walking toward Amber’s apartment, he walked through the family room and towards the hall that led to Jane’s suite at the back of the house. “Amber’s shower is comfortable enough, but I’d rather see how yours works. Is that fine with you?”

She nodded and sighed sweetly. “There’s a bench seat in there. I had the bathroom redesigned when I moved in so I could spend lots of relaxing time in there. It’s one of my favorite rooms in the house.”

“A bench, huh? Sounds like fun.”

Her head rested heavily against his shoulder and Lucas smiled as he walked them back to her room. He was so relaxed. A potent mixture of their fluids was trickling down her legs but she made no move to wipe it away. Still, Lucas didn’t want to get her comforter wet so he carried her in the bathroom with him, lifted the lid on the toilet and sat her on the hollow seat. “You climb in when you’re ready.” She giggled.

He started the shower and adjusted the temperature. Just as he was stepping into the cavernous stall, he heard the sound of Jane’s tinkling and laughed. “Well, thank God I put you on the right seat,” he joked.

“Yeah, well, it was such a perfect spot that I couldn’t let it go to waste.”

Lucas rinsed his body quickly under the spray and sat down on the bench. He groaned before he could stop himself because his legs were sore, and his balls felt a bit bruised.

Jane opened the glass door and stepped in front of him. He moved over to make room for her, but she pointed to his lap and said, “I’d prefer that seat, if you don’t mind.”

He blushed, but shifted his hips down and spread his arms wide so she could do as she wished. Man, they were going to be raw and bruised tomorrow, but it was worth it. After a lazy lovemaking session in the shower, they washed and used one of her big bath towels to dry off. Lucas borrowed her toothbrush and within minutes of climbing into bed, they were both asleep.

“So what kind of book are you working on?” Lucas took a big, sloppy bite of watermelon.

“Oh, it’s a companion piece to my young adult series. An illustrated diary to help kids work on their self-esteem, and confidence.”

She spit a watermelon seed into the garden, far on the other side of her slate patio. It landed about three inches beyond Luke’s in a bed of red Zinnia. She whooped with joy, and didn’t care when some juice trickle down her chin.

“Wow, that’s pretty good spittin’,” he said and spit another seed that flew cockeyed towards her Hydrangea bed.

She burst out laughing. “Ow, oh! I’ve got a side-stitch. Quit making me laugh.”

“No way, baby. I’m not stopping until I can out-spit you. We’ve got half a watermelon left. Cut me another slice, will ya?”

“Uh, have you ever eaten this much watermelon in one sitting?” She covered her mouth and giggled. He was on his sixth slice.

“No, why?”

She walked over and stood beside his chair until he got the hint and scooted back. He leaned back and patted his knee with one hand; the other held tightly onto a sloppy piece of watermelon. He held it tightly while she climbed on—God forbid he drop it. She leaned over and kissed his watermelon mouth and squealed when he dropped the watermelon slice on her lap so he could get his hands on her.

When she finally loosened her grip on his shoulders, he looked her in the eye and asked, “What’s wrong with eating half a watermelon?” About that time, his stomach rumbled and a bright flush crept up his face.

“Need I say more?” She reached down and patted him on the hip, near his rump.

He chucked her on the arm and stood up abruptly. She started to tumble from his lap but he caught her and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

She was laughing again. God, the sound of her happiness made his heart pound hard enough to make him feel lightheaded. It had been so long since he’d had anything bright and enjoyable in his life…but he was finding that every moment with Jane made life worth living. Worth stepping out on faith. For the last few weeks, he’d been sleeping through the night; she’d been holding the nightmares at bay. He sighed and shook off that maudlin thought. He wasn’t going to let the Gachas in today.

He walked briskly to Jane’s living room. His stomach rumbled again and Jane roared with laughter.

“You watch what you do, Lucas! My face is down here in no man’s land.”

Lucas laughed. “Yeah? Well baby doll, if I were you I’d quit squirming around. You don’t want me to blow!” He popped her on the ass. Hard.

He took a couple more steps and dumped Jane on the plush couch that sat beneath a bank of huge 12 foot floor-to-ceiling windows that bathed the room in midday sunlight. The fabric was warm and Jane snuggled in.

Lucas straightened abruptly and all traces of humor immediately fled his handsome face. “When I get back down, I want you naked.” He stared at Jane until she nodded, losing the grin off her face.

Goddamnit!
Lucas finally finished in the bathroom after a whopping twenty minutes. He flushed and pulled up his shorts, and went to the sink to wash his hands. He looked at himself in the mirror and noticed that he really needed to shave. Jane had such beautiful skin. He didn’t want to scratch her up. And now that he’d totally emptied his lower intestines, he was in for the long haul. Now if Jane would only be able to overlook the fact that he’d spent the better part of a half hour shitting and shaving. Talk about embarrassing.

“Jane!” he yelled. “I’m coming down. You’d better be where I left you.” He looked in the mirror again and wiped off the last bit of shaving cream beneath his left ear. He grinned and stripped off his T-shirt and shorts, then stepped out of his boxers. He scratched his stomach and headed downstairs, bare-assed and harder than granite. He was ready. “Jane—it’s on!”

On the way down, the stairs creaked and he had a brief panic about walking around naked, unannounced, in a stranger’s home. But, then again, Jane was his lover and he trusted her. She was also his friend and she wouldn’t set him up to fail or be uncomfortable. If someone else had walked in while he’d been upstairs ridding himself of the unknown side effects of fresh watermelon, she would have answered him. But her silence gave him pause…but then he realized that she was playing hide and seek
.
His pulse quickened.