Closer to My Heart (8 page)

“Hey there, Pop Tart.” She bent down to pick up the furry little kitten. Pop Tart purred loudly and butted her little nose against Jane’s chin, which made her giggle. Penny had already bounded down the steps to do her business and was running around the fenced-in yard with Lucas. He looked like a kid playing with that crazy Basset hound, and she noticed for the second time today that something so simple, like ice cream or playing catch with a dog, gave him such peace. In all of their conversations, he had talked about what he liked, not what he’d done or how he’d grown up or lived. Her throat tightened as she wondered, yet again, what had happened to him? His bark of laughter had her shaking her head, clearing it of the maudlin thoughts.

“Lucas,” she called from the porch. She was sitting down in one of the rockers; Pop Tart was turning in a circle on her lap, getting ready for a fine nap.

He threw the tennis ball into the backyard so Penny had a nice long run down the side of the house, through the long branches of the Willow tree that were dusting the ground. “Hmm?” he said when he straightened up.

“Why don’t you talk about yourself much?” She rocked quietly on the porch and waited for his answer.

He bent to get the ball from Penny and took a minute to rub her long ears. “You’re a good girl,” he crooned. She looked up at him and smiled her doggy smile, tongue shamelessly hanging out of her mouth. Looking up at him like he’d hung the moon. She was in love.

It didn’t appear that he would answer so she got up to walk inside. She was going to grill salmon for dinner tonight, and it needed to be marinated. But when she stepped back to swing the door open, she backed into the solid wall of Luke’s muscular body. He closed his hands around her shoulders and held her still against him.

“Jane,” he sighed. “I haven’t had much of a life for the last two years and it’s not a pretty story.” He kissed the top of her head and let her go. He patted his hip for Penny while holding the door for Jane to go through. Penny trotted up the stairs and took her own sweet time going inside.

Jane set Pop Tart down on the couch. She turned to Lucas and touched him for the first time on her own—curling her fingers around the front of his right bicep with one hand and laying the other gently at the base of the strong column of his throat. He swallowed and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. She watched it, fascinated. She spoke quietly.

“I didn’t mean to intrude. I was just trying to learn more about you. I feel like I’ve been rambling for weeks. I’m sorry.”

He curled his long fingers around her wrist and sighed. “No, you’ve got nothing to be sorry about. I’ve been alone for so long, during that year and a half when I was undercover in Mexico with the Gachas cartel, and for the last year while I’ve been recovering and figuring out what to do with my life. Listening to you was—is, I mean—relaxing. I want you to keep on talking, please.”

He leaned over and kissed her beautiful mouth with a sweet, reverent kiss. She sighed and leaned into his chest, but he pulled back before the kiss could get too carnal.

“I’m not used to talking about my undercover work. My years in the military and then on the S.W.A.T. team were grueling enough, but they were child’s play compared to the things I lived with and allowed to happen around me in Mexico. I’d really, really like to talk about it, but not just yet. I’ll let you know when I’m ready, okay?”

Oh, she was going to cry. He looked so sad. So lost and alone. Her breath lodged in her throat and almost suffocated her. They watched each other for what seemed like an eternity, and then Jane’s breath wrenched back into her body on a sob that wracked her body. He pulled her close.

“Janie, baby,” he said. He squeezed her so tightly that it almost hurt. “I can’t remember the last time anyone cried for me.”

“You look so sad, Luke,” she said quietly. Her voice was muffled against his chest. “I—I can’t help it.”

“I’m not sad, baby. I’m just, I don’t know…lost. I think that’s it. I’m lost. I want to find my place in the world again but I don’t really know where to start.” His voice was so quiet, almost soundless.

Jane leaned back to look into his face. Tears were rolling silently down his cheeks, which was clearly irritating him. He was a private man, after all.

She flattened her hand over his heart. “You start right here…with me. I’ll keep you safe.”

Several hours later, they lounged on the Outer Banks Hammock in Jane’s backyard. Lucas held Jane’s foot in his large palm, using his strong fingers to stroke from the heel to the ball of her foot. He pressed deeply into the tendon in the center and she groaned.

“Oh, God, that feels so good,” she moaned. She shifted restlessly next to his body, though as carefully as possibly so she wouldn’t tip them over, and stretched a little more of her leg across his body.

Jane loved summertime for many, many reasons; the hot weather, the fresh vegetables from her garden, the beautiful sight and fragrance of flowers in the landscape, and most of all the longer hours of daylight. It was nearing nine and there were still pink streamers reaching far across the southern sky. The afternoon had not been overly oppressive with heat, and a nice breeze had kicked in just before she pulled the salmon off the grill.

She had a marvelous garden full of green beans, sweet sugar snap peas, half a dozen varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, corn, and a lush herb garden. Lucas had had his choice of veggies, and he’d chosen corn, green beans and tomatoes. Jane marinated the tomatoes in the recipe of an old family friend, with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, and salt and pepper. Lucas had taken a really long shower, and Jane suspected he’d needed the solitude. So, she’d taken advantage of the extra time and made homemade cornbread and minted iced tea.

The whole dinner had been a culinary masterpiece. Lucas moaned with every few bites of food, and at first blushed at his enthusiastic response but eventually figured she was pleased. After a while he didn’t care. They’d finished off two bottles of cold Prosecco during their leisurely dinner. It had been a perfect aphrodisiac.

“Look,” he said and pointed towards the sky. “That’s Pegasus. And there’s Lyra, and over there...that’s Cassiopeia.”

“Hold on.” She stood up.

Lucas shifted his hands to grab the edges of the hammock so it wouldn’t dump him.

“Move over.” She nudged his hip and bent over him to crawl back onto the hammock. This time, though, she lined up her legs with his and laid down at his side so she could rest her cheek against the steady beat of his heart. She smiled when she heard his heart rate quicken. He sucked in a quick breath.

“Is this okay?” she pressed her hand to the center of his chest so she could lift up to look him in the eye.

Lucas smiled and nodded, and then pulled her down against his body, settling her tightly against him. He planted a foot on the ground so he could rock them. Jane sighed and closed her eyes and enjoyed the cool breeze on her arms. After their showers, Jane had dressed in a simple, crisp white sundress, which left her shoulders and arms bare…along with the rest of her.

Lucas rubbed his big, warm palms down her toned arms. “Have I told you how lovely you look tonight?” His deep voice rumbled in his chest, tickling her cheek. Normally when they were together, she was sweaty and wearing exercise clothes—not that she didn’t look totally edible then…but now…she looked wonderful in the outfit, and the crisp white cotton showed off the healthy, golden glow of her skin. She smelled so fresh and clean. He couldn’t help but enjoy the feel of her firm, round breasts pressing against his ribs. Lord, they would fill his hands nicely. He had to force himself all night to keep his eyes above her shoulders; her tight little nipples had been reaching for him all night. His mouth watered even now. But in the hammock, with his drowsy lady love, Lucas was in heaven. He gently rubbed her back, loving the feeling of the warm skin of her back.

They lay quietly in the night, serenaded by the tree frogs, the cicadas and the crickets. For a few minutes he thought she might be sleeping, she was so still. But he was tired of being subtle. So he shifted his arm and used his fingers to trace the firm skin along her back, feeling the feminine lines of her body.

Jane murmured against his neck and shifted against him restlessly. He grew bolder in his strokes, and inched his fingers along her waist and down her thighs, to the loose hem on her dress. One hand stroked back to the nape of her neck and along her side, feeling the curve of her breast that was plumped against the solid, muscular wall of his chest. She moved again, this time bending her right knee so that her hips opened up to square her pelvis with his groin. Oh, God.

His breath quickened. His pulse throbbed ninety to nothing in his strong throat. Jane stretched her face up so she could rub her nose against his chin. The hand that had been exploring her back stopped along its path at her breast and tightened, squeezing her ribcage briefly before relaxing. She groaned.

She shifted to lie fully atop his big body. She lifted her face to look into the turbulent, fiery eyes of Lucas. Had she not been so far gone herself, the predatory gleam in his eyes would’ve given her pause. He moved both hands down to lush curve of her bottom and squeezed. Hard. Pressed himself against her mound. The loose skirt of her dress rode up and his fingers grazed against her silky smooth skin—

“What the—!” His eyes sprung open when he realized that the ass he was coveting was bare.

He gulped.

She moaned.

Then she licked Luke’s throat, from the furiously pounding pulse point in the vulnerable shadow of his chin, up to his cherry red lips. She licked across them once, parting the seal, and then thrust her tongue deeply into the hot, wet recesses of his mouth as he’d done to her. If going commando had shocked him, he recovered quickly and sucked her tongue inside so hard their teeth clicked together painfully.

Jane’s house sat on an acre of land, which was a rarity in the geographical limits of any city. But she had never been happier for the lush, decades-old landscaping of her back yard, which boasted a heavily lined wall of ornamental trees and shrubs to hold the rest of the world at bay.

The excitement coursing through her body was almost too much to bear. A bubble of hysterical laughter escaped her lips when Lucas bunched her sundress over his arms, baring her to the waist. She wondered if he knew he was humming.

“Oh, God.”

She leaned back down so she could capture his mouth in another brain-searing kiss.

He skimmed his hands around to the front of her waist, in between their bodies, and lifted her dress away from their bellies. Goosebumps followed in their wake, and she shivered.

Jane was panting and when Lucas looked into her eyes, her gaze reflected a wildness that more than likely mirrored his own. She laughed. “I haven’t had sex in eight—no nine months, Lucas.” She said shakily, squirming against him. “I can’t wait.”

“Baby, it’s been over two years for me. And believe me, once I’ve made love to you, you’ll never think of another man again.” He lifted his head so his lips could meet hers. Jane thought her heart would explode it was racing so fast.

She broke away and sat up on his lap. The motion lined up the moist center of her body directly with his swollen cock, right where he wanted her to be. Lucas dug his fingers into her hips and ground her body against his erection; they both moaned. “What makes you think I’ll never think of another man?”

She giggled when he glared at her. A wicked grin split his face and he stretched her arms overhead, holding her tightly. “Because you’ll be mine,” he whispered, barely making a sound.