Home Sweet Home: A Sweet, Texas Novella (7 page)

Her eyes narrowed. “You sure toss that word around a lot.”

“Which one? Help?”

“Friend.”

“I hope that’s what we are.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded because even he wasn’t sure anymore.

Friends were what they’d been in elementary school. It was what they’d been before he’d ever kissed her sweet, soft lips and discovered there were a lot better things than being just friends. Yet while he’d been in the Army and away at war, he’d been afraid of what his future held.

He’d pushed her away.

Just friends was how he’d treated her over the past several years.

No.

Scratch that.

He treated friends better than how he’d treated her. He’d rarely answered her letters. Rarely thanked her for the amazing packages she’d sent to him that he was able to share with his buddies. And though he’d told her not to, he’d never thanked her for putting her life on hold to wait for him. He’d dishonored the magnitude of the gift she’d selflessly given him. In return, he’d been callous, and he’d acted as if she didn’t matter.

Hell. She mattered.

Sometimes, he thought she was all that mattered.

And that idea just plain scared the shit out of him because he didn’t even know who he was anymore. He wasn’t lying to her when he said that the man who’d left here years ago was gone. He was different. There was too much weight in his heart and on his shoulders to even remember who that guy was.

Still, cutting Paige completely out of his life seemed impossible. Especially when the first thing he woke up in the morning thinking was how much he wanted to see her smile. How badly he wanted to see that long, honey-colored ponytail swing as she walked away and gave him a great view of her curvy backside.

Sometimes in the middle of the night, he imagined the delicate touch of her fingers on his skin. The sigh she let go in the midst of laughter. Or the warmth of her body pressed against his beneath the cool sheets.

Those were his demons.

He hadn’t intentionally created them, but they were there regardless.

Paige deserved someone who could give her more than just old memories. She needed fresh, new memories that would only get better and better each and every day.

So friends it had to be.

“That look on your face says different,” she said, tilting her wineglass in his direction. “That look says there’s something more than friendship at hand.”

“I’m just tired.” Yeah. Lame-ass excuse. Still, it was the only thing he could come up with when she looked at him the way she was, with her sleek brows pulled slightly together over those crystal blue eyes.

“Tired. Hmmm.” She set her wineglass down on the table and got up from her chair. “And yet you went and rented a big ol’ machine, hauled it all the way over here, and rolled it off the trailer.”

Pulse throbbing, Aiden watched as she came around the table and looked down at him through eyes that held more than a hint of doubt. She touched his shoulder, just slightly, with one fingertip that then trailed up the back of his neck and down to his shoulder again. The heat of that one finger seeped through his shirt and sent an urgent message through his body.

Paige was a sexy, sensuous woman. She didn’t have to work at it, she just was. And for a man who’d loved her and had tasted her passion, she was damned hard to resist.

“So … that’s really what you want?” she asked. “To be friends?”

“Of course.” Bullshit. With her standing so close, smelling so damned good, and looking so soft and warm, friendship was the last thing on his mind.

“But …” She raised one leg over both of his and straddled his lap. “Friends—no matter how close—don’t really do this …” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his forehead. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and her sweet, tropical scent wove a spell around him.

At that moment, she could do anything, and he’d be putty in her hands.

“Or this …” She trailed a finger down his temple to his cheek, then replaced her finger with her warm lips, which gently brushed kisses down the side of his face until they came right to his own lips.

“And they certainly don’t do this.” She cupped his face in her hands. At the same time, the belt on her robe loosened. The fuzzy pink fabric fell open and exposed her luscious naked body just as she kissed him. Then her tongue darted out and slowly licked the seam of his mouth.

It was the low hum of approval that vibrated in her throat that broke his resolve, and he kissed her back.

Hell yes, he kissed her back.

His hands followed suit, sliding beneath that thick fluffy fabric to touch her warm, soft skin. He pulled her close, so he could feel her hardened nipples against his chest. The movement brought her warm, damp core solid against his erection. She felt so damned good, he thought he might explode.

“You’re not playing fair.” He moved his palms down her backside and cupped her bare ass in his hands.

“I never said I would.” She leaned in and kissed him. Their tongues danced to a tune they’d perfected over the years. Yet each time felt like the first. When he gently squeezed her bottom, she pressed down on him and moved suggestively.

Then she was gone.

In a sensuous blur, his mind registered that he was no longer holding her in his arms. Looking up through a haze of passion, he saw her sauntering away–barefoot and sexy as hell.

At the back door, she stopped to look over her shoulder with a smile. Then she dropped the robe. “Are you coming … friend?”

Point taken.

Nothing could have stopped him from following her into that house. Not even every promise he’d made to walk away and let her go.

He caught her at the bottom of the stairs and swept her up into his arms. The sound of her laughter danced in his heart. Lying near the bottom step, Cricket rolled her brown doggie eyes in a “stupid humans” expression. The dog was probably smarter than him, but he didn’t let that deter him from carrying Paige up the stairs and laying her out on the bed like a delectable feast.

Completely naked, with not a shy bone in her luscious body, Paige smiled up at him. “Does this mean you’ve changed your mind?”

“You caught me at a weak moment.”

“Then you’re wearing entirely too many clothes.” She snapped her fingers playfully. “Off with them, please. Let’s see how close of friends we really can be before you change your mind again.”

Change his mind?

Yeah, he probably would if his brain ever caught up with what was going on below his belt. But for now, ignorance was bliss and smelled like heaven.

He reached a hand behind him, grabbed hold of his shirt, and pulled it over his head. Not caring where it landed, he tossed it somewhere on the floor. When he reached for the button on his jeans, her hand reached out to stop him.

“Let me do that.”

He lifted his hands. “Take your time.”

She grinned, grabbed hold of his waistband, and tugged him closer. “Not a chance.”

In his mind, the slide of a zipper never sounded so good. And the feel of her warm fingers as they curled beneath the fabric of his boxer briefs then tugged them down, never felt better.

“There’s a condom in the back pocket.” He might have been careless the first time, but he needed to protect her in every way possible. He’d never been with anyone else, and he knew he was as clean as they came. But accidents happened, and he refused to do anything more to mess with her future. He just needed this … one last time. And then he’d let her go.

“Ah.” She slipped her fingers in the pocket and pulled out the foil packet. “So you did come prepared.”

“I didn’t intend to use it.”

“Well, I do.” She ripped open the packet. “And there are more in the nightstand.”

He raised a brow.

“A brand-new box I purchased yesterday.” She rolled the latex over his erection. “Just in case.” She curled those long, warm fingers around his cock, and his eyes nearly crossed at how good it felt. For a moment, he was overcome with the sensation, and he pushed into her hand.

“God, I missed you,” she whispered.

She looked so sexy sitting there, he could barely contain himself. He unwrapped the band holding her hair up on top of her head and watched as the long, honey-colored locks fell down over her bare shoulders. Her curves were full and delicious. He wanted to taste her, to devour her until she cried out his name, clawed at the bedsheets, and came against his tongue.

He reached down, curled his hand over hers, and inadvertently increased the pressure on his erection.

“Paige?”

She looked up. Apprehension filled her eyes, like she expected him to back off and walk away.

“I want you so bad I could come right now.” He squeezed his hand over hers again to relieve the pressure. “But tonight, I don’t want to hurry. Tonight, we’ve got all the time in the world. Let’s make the most of it. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He leaned down, and while he kissed her, she speared her fingers into his hair. She tasted wild and forbidden as her hot, slick tongue delved deep in his mouth–stroking, caressing, and teasing. The throb of desire pulsed through his blood like a raging fire.

Tonight, they had all the time in the world, and he intended to make good use of every single second.

PAIGE HOPED THAT all the time in the world meant Aiden intended to stay. For a night. A day. A week. Forever. But right now, she’d take what she could get. There had never been a doubt in her mind that they belonged to each other. Not even when he’d ignored her letters or the fact that she’d waited so long for him to return.

Hopefully, he’d stop playing games with himself and realize that too.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, lifting her hair over her shoulders and sliding his fingers through the long strands. “Even after all those months in the sand, I could still picture you when I closed my eyes. And you smell so damned good. I could bury my face in your skin and stay there forever.”

Staying in his arms forever sounded like a darned good idea.

When he trailed kisses down her neck to the sensitive spot near her shoulder and sucked her skin into his mouth, she knew all the time in the world was going to be tough to pull off. All she wanted was him, inside her, pushing, and pounding their way to completion.

“As long as you bury yourself inside my body too …” She slid her hands down his strong torso and cupped his firm buttocks in her palms. “You have a deal.”

“Oh, that will definitely happen. But right now, I want to taste you.” He covered her breasts with his hands. Her nipples peaked beneath the warmth of his skin, and she moaned deep in her chest as he gently pushed her back onto the mattress. “All over.”

“Works for me.”

A chuckle parted his lips, then he paid very careful attention to each erect nipple with gentle pulls of his hot, moist mouth. Slowly, seductively, he kissed his way down her body. And when he hit home between her legs, he took his time. He licked. Stroked. Sucked. And had her mindlessly begging for that slow burn that was just out of reach.

Thrusting her hips was a natural reaction to the increasing friction of his tongue. When he slipped his hands beneath her butt and pulled her closer to his mouth, she exploded with a cry. The fireworks of shocks and tingles that burst from her core and danced through her blood stole her breath. Left her speechless.

Still, she wanted more.

She reached for him. Pulled him up. Then she reached between them, wrapped her fingers around his long, thick erection, and squeezed. “I want this.” She panted. “You. So bad. Right now.”

“Not as bad as I want you.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and turned her over onto her knees. “I remember you like it this way.”

“Yes.” She looked over her shoulder at this strong, virile, sexy man as he kissed his way across her shoulders and down her back. Just the sight of him set the tingling in her core to ready, set, go mode. “I like it when you take me like this. Make me yours, Aiden.”

A low growl rumbled from deep in his chest. He clasped his hands around her hips and pulled her against him as he entered her from behind. His rigid, thickness completely filled her and felt so damned good, she cried out.

He retreated, stopping just short from pulling out, then he repeated the process–building a pressure so sweet, so hot she didn’t know how long she’d last.

Arching her back to make the angle even more interesting, she looked over her shoulder. The responding look on his face was a combination of determination and ecstasy. He looked hot, muscular, and sexy. And that turned her on even more.

And then, as he’d always done, he put her first.

While his hips pumped faster and their skin slapped together, he reached around and found her most sensitive hot spot with his fingers. In perfect unison, he stroked, swirled, and pumped hard. When she came, it was with such a force that a guttural sound ripped from her chest. A moment later, he gripped her hips, pumped harder and faster, then echoed her groan of utter satisfaction.

When they finally fell together in a heap of wobbly muscles and tingling sex, she laughed. “Remind me to find you in a weak moment a whole lot more often.”

He pulled her back up against his chest and kissed her shoulder. “Sweetheart, where you’re concerned, I’m always weak. And I’m not complaining.”

SOME NIGHTS WERE torture. Paige had lost count how many she’d spent looking up at the ceiling and wishing the noisy cicadas would drown out the worry that kept her awake. For countless nights, she’d wondered if Aiden would ever come home. And if he did, would he ever come home to her.

Last night had been the slice of heaven she’d prayed for all these years.

Making love with the man was one of those miraculous moments that left her greedy for more. Sleeping in his embrace went beyond words but also left her wanting more. It didn’t take a genius to realize she just wanted more of him, period.

Realizing his side of the bed was cold, she rolled over and found it empty. A shiver crawled through her heart.

When had he left?

And, more importantly, why?

Just then, the quiet of the early morning was shattered by the hum of an electric motor. Paige padded over to the window and looked out to find Aiden inside the cherry-picker, hovering near the treetops with several overflowing baskets of apples by his boots.