Full Moon (13 page)

She watched Tony’s car pull up in front of the house. This had been his Saturday to work at the garage. He got out of the car and seemed surprised to see her standing on the front porch.

“Hey, Josie.”

She took a deep breath, preparing for the coming battle. “Hi.”

“What’s up?”

Josie lifted one shoulder. “Nothing much.” She led the way into the house, stepping around Tony’s suitcases before heading into the living room. She’d packed his stuff and carried it downstairs earlier.

Tony glanced at the luggage in surprise, then gave a forced laugh. “You trying to give me a hint or something?”

The only hint that would have been less subtle was if she’d swung the suitcase at his head. “Yep.”

He followed her to the living room, claiming the spot next to her on the couch. “Listen, Josie, I told you. I’ve got a place to live. It’s just finding the time to set it up. I’ve been working long hours this week.”

She couldn’t argue with that. He’d been gone most mornings before she rose and he didn’t return until six or even seven most nights. Of course, marriage had taught her that didn’t necessarily mean he’d been at work.

“I’ve been very understanding and patient, Tony. But I’m done. You have a place to live. Go stay there.”

“But I don’t have any furniture yet. Janice’s being a bitch about keeping all our shit. I don’t even have a bed.”

She pointed toward the suitcase. “That’s why I’m loaning you a sleeping bag.”

He sighed. “I’m too fucking old to sleep on the floor.”

Josie grinned, though her reaction wasn’t one of humor, rather it was pure frustration and disbelief. “Tough.”

“Does Tommy know you’re kicking me out?”

“Number one, I’m not kicking you anywhere. I’ve been extremely generous and understanding these past few weeks. Number two, Tommy helped me pack your bags. He can’t wait to see your new place.”

Tony scowled. “I don’t see what harm another night or two would do.”

“It’s always one more night with you, Tony. Consider this tough love. I suspect that if I let you stay here, you’ll find at least a dozen more excuses why you can’t buy a bed. Then you’ll get a bed, but there won’t be a couch or a TV. Jesus, it could be years before you fully furnish that apartment. If you’re there, you’ll do it.”

“You never used to be this hard, Josie. You used to be so sweet all the time.”

At that, she did laugh. “Well, you have no one to blame but yourself there. In case you forgot, you broke that sweetness when you cheated, then walked out on me and Tommy. Funny how stuff like being nice evaporates in the face of betrayal.”

“I’ve said I’m sorry, Josie. God, I’ve told you a thousand times how sorry I am.”

He had. It had been his standard line for most of the first year after their divorce. And not once had it ever seemed sincere.

“I don’t want an apology, Tony.”

“Then what do you want? Name it and it’s yours. I swear to God I’d give you anything if it would make you care about me again, if you’d just…”

Mercifully, his words faded. He stopped himself before saying something she really,
really
didn’t want to hear.

“Tony. This is why you need to leave. Being here, so soon after your break-up with Janice, is confusing you. You’re reaching out for something that isn’t there anymore.”

“But it is. I can feel it.”

She raised her hand, tried to wave away his words. Tony used her hand against her, grasping it, pulling her closer. Before she could figure out his intent, he was kissing her.

She struggled, but his grip tightened. When she realized her resistance was pointless, she went limp.

She could remember a time when she dreamed of Tony’s kisses, when she couldn’t wait until she saw him again so she could experience the magic of this. Now his touch left her cold.

No. Not cold. Just empty.

Tony realized she wasn’t moving, responding. He released her and studied her face. His was the picture of absolute misery. “I did kill it, didn’t I?”

She nodded sadly. For months after the divorce, she’d been angry, wished she could find some way to hurt him the way he’d hurt her. Now that the moment had arrived, it didn’t make her as happy as she thought it would.

“There were other women, weren’t there?”

Tony froze, a frown creasing his brow. “What?”

She wasn’t sure why it mattered, but part of her needed to know she hadn’t been paranoid, hadn’t seen shadows that weren’t really there. “I already believe there were and the truth isn’t going to change anything now, so tell me.”

He shrugged, then nodded. “Yeah. There were a couple, or maybe more like a few.”

She smiled sadly. “Thanks for telling me the truth.”

Tony cleared his throat, his discomfort, his guilt palpable. “Who’s this new guy?”

“His name’s Jake.”

“He’s nice? Good to you?”

She nodded. “He’s really good.”

Tony leaned back and she thought she saw something like relief pass over his face. In his own, limited, somewhat twisted way, she knew her ex still cared about her. “I’m glad. You deserve someone who will treat you right. God knows I didn’t. Has Tommy met him yet?”

“No. But I plan to introduce them soon. It’s just sort of been tough lately because…”

“Because I’ve been hanging around, muddying the works.”

She grinned. “Yep.”

Tony rose slowly. She stood as well. He opened his arms and she accepted his friendly hug. “Thanks for everything, Josie.”

She walked him to the door and waved goodbye after he loaded his car and pulled away. Then she walked back into her quiet townhouse, looking around, remembering how scary it had been when she and Tommy first moved in. It had been this vast empty space, but somehow, over time, they’d filled it with furniture and pictures and memories.

Even so, there was still one empty space left to fill. Josie grasped her cell from the kitchen counter and dialed Jake’s number.

“Hiya, beautiful. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. Did Tony go quietly or are you calling in the big guns?”

She’d hidden nothing from Jake about Tony. Along with the wine girls, he’d become her best friend, offering her sound advice as well as getting righteously indignant with her whenever she needed it.

“He’s gone. And Tommy is having a sleepover at Shelly’s. How would you like to see my place?”

Jake was quiet for only a moment, though she could tell she’d surprised him. “Really? I get to see inside the inner sanctum?”

“Shut up, you lunatic. Are you working? Can you come?”

“I’m the boss, remember? Besides Sam’s back and he owes me for covering for his ass all those weeks when he was living the good life in front of the TV, nursing a broken ankle. I’ll be right over. Want me to stop and pick up dinner or something?”

“Nope. What I’m hungry for requires only you.”

Jake whistled. “I like the sound of that. I know it’s a bit early, but if you’re in the mood, we could celebrate the full moon tonight.”

Josie recalled the next item and paused. “Does that mean you’re not coming alone?” Like most of the positions on her list, she written down every kinky, crazy craving with no thought of how she’d actually achieve the goals. Even so, double penetration was one she’d seriously considered marking off since meeting Jake. She had no desire to take another man to her bed.

“Trust me?”

Damn him. Jake knew she did. But there had to be limits to that, didn’t there? If there were, she hadn’t discovered any with her sexy bartender yet. “Yes.”

“I’ll be there in half an hour. Put on something hot and pull out all your sex toys. We’re getting crazy tonight.”

She hung up, torn between sheer panic and absolute glee.

“Fuck it,” she muttered. “Crazy sounds just about right.”

True to his word, Jake arrived exactly thirty minutes after they’d hung up. She’d donned her sexiest lingerie, but at the last minute, she threw a robe over it. Just in case Jake wasn’t alone.

She breathed a long sigh of relief when she found only him on her doorstep. She glanced behind him to make sure there wasn’t anyone else waiting in the wings. Jake laughed.

“God, woman. There’s crazy and then there’s plain old lunacy. I’m by myself. Disappointed?”

She shook her head. “Hell no.”

Jake crossed the threshold, shoving the door closed behind him. Then he pushed her against the nearest wall and kissed her senseless.

“Good. Because I don’t share.”

She started unbuttoning his shirt, desperate to touch skin. She wanted him. Badly.

“Where’s your bedroom?” he asked, not bothering to stop kissing her, his words pressing his lips more firmly to hers.

She pointed up. “Top of the stairs.”

“Move.”

She laughed, clasping his hand. The two of them raced to her bedroom, diving onto her mattress together. Josie would have continued giggling, but Jake stole the sound, the breath as he resumed kissing her.

They undressed in a tangle of limbs, caressing each bit of skin as it was uncovered. By the time they were naked, they were panting and slick with sweat. Josie had thought her need was great, but Jake left her in the dust. His erection brushed her hip and she reached for it.

Jake hissed when she wrapped her hand around him, stroking him from root to tip. She repeated the journey a few times before he gripped her wrist and pulled her away. “Too many more of those tugs and I’m a goner.”

She started to grasp him once more. “Who cares? We have time.”

He pushed her hand away. “Behave. We have a purpose tonight, remember?”

“Oh yeah. Full moon.”

“Did you get your toys out?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but I’m afraid you might be disappointed. I own a blue vibrator and a pink rabbit. And that’s it. Even those poor things don’t see the light of day much. I’m always afraid Tommy will hear. His room is right across the hall.”

“Well then, I guess we’re going to have to give them a workout. Where are they?”

She gestured toward the nightstand. She’d also pulled out a small, unopened tube of scented KY jelly. It had been part of a gag gift she’d gotten from Georgie for Christmas.

Jake sat up and reached for the vibrator. “Crawl up into the middle of the bed.”

She shifted, her heart beginning to race as she anticipated his next move. Jake was a rather creative lover, firing up parts of her libido she’d never realized existed.

“Open your legs, Josie.”

She parted her thighs, jerking slightly when he pressed the top of the vibrator to her clit and turned it on.

“Oh,” she gasped.

He grinned. “You’re too easy.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“Not that way,” he quickly amended. “I mean I’ve never met such a sexually responsive woman. I love watching you come, the way your eyes drift shut just a second before your body goes stiff and you let out that pretty little sound.”

He pressed the vibrator to her clit once more and the moan he mentioned escaped again. “Yeah. That one. So what was your plan when you put double penetration on the list? Given the nervous way you opened the door expecting to see another man, I assume you were hoping for a ménage?”

She shook her head. “I have no idea what I meant. I wrote that list in December when I was horny and had no intentions of following through on any of it. I haven’t even thought about tonight’s fantasy until…well…now.”

He ran the vibrator along her slit before pushing just the tip inside her pussy. “You mind if I put my spin on it, then?”

“Hell no. I love everything you do.”

He’d started to push the vibrator deeper, but his hand froze. “Damn. No pressure.”

“You’re doing fine so far.”

“Good to know.” He pressed the vibrator inside more fully, notching it from low to high speed. It appeared the time for conversation had passed.

Jake spent the next half hour immersing her in sensation, using the vibrator, his fingers and even his tongue to slowly drive her out of her mind.

“Lift your legs. Hold your knees as close to your shoulders as you can. I think it’s time we started getting serious.”

Josie had been fighting off her climax since they’d climbed into bed. That hadn’t been serious?

He pulled the vibrator out of her pussy, touching the tip of it to her anus. Josie stiffened for a second. He twirled just the barest bit around her rim, letting the vibrations awaken nerves that usually lay dormant. Then he moved it away and reached for the lubrication.

Jake covered the already slick vibrator with more gel, then pressed one slippery finger inside her ass.

She forgot to breathe for several seconds as she recalled the first night they’d played in this area. She loved it and she’d been anxiously waiting for the time when they could expand on the adventure. It looked like tonight was the night.

“Okay, Josie?”

She nodded, unable to speak. She was better than okay.

He removed his finger, replacing it with the larger vibrator. He’d turned it off, so the toy’s slow glide inside her body was smooth, easy. Once it was lodged to the hilt, Jake pressed the button, setting it on low.

Even that slight vibration was enough to send sparks flashing behind Josie’s closed eyelids. Her fingers tightened where they held her legs up, but that slight pain did nothing to dim the powerful sensations Jake was producing in her body.

His hands covered hers as he pried her fingers away and helped her lower her legs. The vibrator was buried in her ass, still pulsing away.

She listened as Jake donned a condom, her eyes flying open when she felt his cock nudging at the entrance to her pussy.

Double penetration. He intended to fuck her while the vibrator was still pounding its beautiful rhythm in her ass.

He froze. Waited.

She smiled. “You’re doing fine so far,” she teased, repeating her earlier praise.

He laughed, then pushed deeper. “Just so you know, I’m aiming to do a hell of a lot better than fine.” He accented his declaration with one last, hard thrust that sent delicious shivers along Josie’s spine.

He began moving slowly at first, setting a pace that kept Josie riding the razor’s edge. She knew it wouldn’t take much for Jake to trigger her orgasm, but for some reason, tonight, she didn’t want to come alone. She wanted him there, with her for the ride.