Intermission (2 page)

I looked up from shaking my head in disbelief. “What grand
prize?”

Riley was so pleased with himself he looked fit to burst. “Your
dream house.”

“Shit fire,” I breathed, using the highest form of
exclamation in Mayfield County. “Not the old Doulette place.”

Riley nodded. “Only the prettiest blue Victorian in all of
Mayfield, the one with the peach trees in the front yard, and the little
cottage that would be perfect for an artist’s studio,” he said, tucking a lock
of hair behind my ear. “Only the house you’ve been wanting to live in for
years.”

Riley, being my best friend, had always known about my dream
of living in the old Doulette house with a beloved. I’d waited so long for that
beloved I thought maybe he could be Riley. And Riley, my alleged beloved, had
gotten me my dream house—by fucking the real estate lady. “See, Josie?” he
reasoned. “I did it all for you.”

With a groan I admitted, “I get your point, Riley, but it’s
still cheating. We’ve got to be through with each other.”

He looked like a little boy being grounded for life. “Don’t
hate on me, Josie. You’re the only true friend I have in the world. And I’m
your best friend, aren’t I?”

I reached up and ran a hand through his wave of silky but
stubborn hair that never could be tamed. “I couldn’t hate on you, Riley. Not
for long, anyway. But we’re done being boyfriend and girlfriend, okay? Besides,”
I said, “there’s someone else.”

“Already? Josie, we only just broke up four hours ago!” Far
from being angry, Riley was impressed. “Who is it? What did you do, and where,
and how many times?” He leaned in close like we were in his treehouse playing
kiss and tell again.

And just like that we slipped back into our friendship.
Truth be told, being this way with Riley was more comfortable than constantly
worrying about him being Wandering Wanamaker. I was also bursting to tell
someone about my risqué matinee at the Hawthorne Cinema Palace. But I didn’t
say who I’d been with. Riley was good at keeping my secrets but he was a big
movie fan. Hearing about me being with an actor might test his resolve.

The identity of my new friend didn’t much matter after I
told him everything else, in delicious detail. At one point I had to draw my
legs up under me on the couch because my womanly parts were purring as the
story unfolded. When I got to the part about me straddling the mystery man in
his movie theater seat, my dress open, my panties off, about to ride a hard and
ready bull, Riley held up a hand for me to stop. “You’re giving me a bad one,”
he said, shifting in his seat.

“I’m sure Mrs. Beadle next door would be willing to help you
out,” I said drily.

Riley looked at his watch. “Nah, her husband’s home from
work soon,” he said, offhandedly and oblivious to my shock. “Maybe let me make
love to you once more, for old times’ sake?”

“No!” I swatted him.

Riley leaned back with a slow smile lighting up his face. “Well,
shit fire. Never thought I’d see the day,” he said. “Josie Lee McCabe’s in
love.”

I didn’t want to think I was in love, like Riley said. In
love was a dangerous place to be. I’d visited once and the man I’d given my
heart to had made sure he returned it to me with no piece left unbroken. To
mend, I’d run back to Hawthorne, the small, sweet town I understood. While it
didn’t exactly get me, it loved me fine the way I was.

I’d found an adorable cottage that had just enough room for
me, which was the way I wanted it. A bedroom not quite large enough for two,
the living room quickly taken up with the workspace where I designed websites
for local merchants and the easels where I painted Mayfield County’s holy
moments. Autumn leaves, Lake Jessup nestled in the hills, the shimmering
emerald mask worn by the mallard duck I was working on now.

Stepping back from the easel, I wiped the mist of
perspiration from the warm summer evening off my brow. The painting was
finished, I knew, and if I kept at it I’d ruin it. I just didn’t know what else
to do with myself. A Friday night in August wasn’t usually what I’d call a
conundrum but something was pulling at me, a string to a kitten. I wanted to
play and I had a new friend to play with.

I paced the length of my cottage with my phone in hand, my
fingers vaguely keeping time with Man Man’s
Loot My Body
playing on my
computer. I’d taken Miles Masterson’s number but politely refused to give him
mine. He was passing through Mayfield, here only until the premiere of his
movie downstate in less than a week. Was there a point to starting something
with a man on the move?

A memory came of Miles sitting under me in the movie
theater. His handsome face looked up at me with no attempt to hide what he was
feeling. He was happy, all right, as any man with a nearly naked woman lowering
herself onto him would be. But there was more. Something open and joyful.
Something that might have been saying,
You feeling this too, Josie?

And it wasn’t just the sex. I’d felt it when Miles had
wrapped his arms around me and walked me to the edge of the balcony, where my
fear of heights had always kept me from going. I knew I wasn’t just afraid of
looking down. I was afraid of looking forward, ahead to a future with someone.
In Miles’ arms, the fear had fallen away.

Before I had a chance to pick this apart with sense or
logic, my thumbs composed a text.
I made lemonade. Cold, fresh. But I warn
you, it’s not too sweet.

Wasn’t five seconds later that my phone rang. I laughed as I
said, “You don’t exactly play hard to get, do you?”

“I’ve been staring at my phone fit to melt it since you left
me outside that movie theater,” Miles said. “Give me your address, cowgirl.”

Miles was staying with his parents in neighboring Reynard,
so I had time to put fresh sheets on the bed and get myself showered, shaved
silky and smelling delicious. I thought to dry my hair by the air conditioner,
the better to get the smooth waves that Miles had wrapped around his hand so
nicely and to keep me from getting sweaty before I had good reason to.

But halfway to my living room I saw the empty space in the
window. The A/C had given up the ghost a few days ago and Riley volunteered to
get it fixed. He knew a guy who knew a guy who was a mechanic, he said as he
loaded my old machine into the back of my pick ’em up truck and drove it away.
I’d have just bought a new one but Riley insisted. It was his way of doing
something nice. But he worked on Riley time, the least predictable clock in the
world. Now, here I was in the middle of August with no air conditioner and
company coming.
Hellfire
, I thought as I stomped to my bedroom to get
dressed.

I’d thought about answering the door as I was, naked, but
that wasn’t me. Nor were filmy, lacy things cut low up top and split high
below. I held in my hands a few pieces of that kind of lingerie, given to me by
men who didn’t outlast the most delicate item, and my eyes went to the tattoo
on my forearm that read,
To thine own self be true
. I’d had that inked
there for a reason and the words had always steered me right. I didn’t know how
well Miles Masterson and I might get to know each other beyond the physical but
I figured he ought to see the real me.

A few minutes later there was a knock at my door. For some
reason I had to take a deep breath before I answered it to try to quiet my
heart, now beating on the walls of my chest.

Looking at Miles only increased the beating within. I’d been
struck by his blond movie-star looks in the theater, as good offscreen as on.
He packed no less a stun just standing in my doorway. Over six feet, with a
body ready to save the world if need be. He wasn’t wearing a costume or a cape
but he still managed to look heroic in a white T-shirt filled out by his broad
chest, khaki utility pants slung low on narrow hips and a pair of flip-flops.

I tried not to appear as though I was noticing every single
detail, including that his blond chin-length hair was half-wet from a recent
shower, or that he’d shaved his honey-gold razor stubble. Now his angular jaw
was smooth and the slight dimple in his chin was more apparent.

When I got to his eyes, the color of a soft, faded pair of
jeans but bright with merriment, I watched them slowly scanning the tousled
waves of my hair, my black T-shirt with a superheroine logo stretched by my
breasts, my pink cotton shorts, all the way down to my blue-painted toes. Miles
took his time coming back to my eyes and he bit his lower lip as he grinned. “You’re
quite a sight, Josie.”

I wondered if maybe I should have worn one of the delicate silken
things. Miles might not be a movie star yet but he would be. Even in that
crappy slasher film I’d seen his spark. But that seemed even more a reason to
be myself. “This is me,” I told him. “I’m no Hollywood girl. Take me as I am or
go back the way you came.”

“Maybe I wasn’t clear about the way you look to me,” Miles
said, coming inside and closing my front door. “Let me try this way.”

His fingers were gentle when he lifted my chin and he leaned
down and kissed me. His lips were soft on mine, and sweet. The kiss felt
different from our first, no playful scratch of razor stubble this time. That
allowed Miles to brush his lips against mine while I got the shimmers all over.

His next kiss showed more of his enthusiasm but his mouth
was still soft and slow as it romanced mine. One of his big arms wrapped around
my waist and drew me close. He cradled my face in his hand. His tenderness was
unexpected and I felt a wanting for that as much as for his body.

He pulled away slightly but his lips still touched mine as
he said, “Josie, I think you might be the answer to a troubling question.”

“Care to explain that?” I murmured.

He thought for a moment. “Later,” he said, moving in again.

Now I pulled back, remembering the riptide effect of our
kisses. “We should do some talking first.” I reluctantly eased myself out of
his embrace, first taking a good deep breath of his scent, a locally made
herbal soap and his own manly warmth.

Miles followed me into the kitchen where I poured out two
glasses of lemonade. “Look,” I began, “my ex cheated on me, but I’d only been
sleeping with him a month and we used condoms the whole time. I get regular
checkups and I’m a healthy girl. How about you?”

Miles nodded, agreeing that this talk was necessary. I liked
that. He was respecting me. “Pretty much the same,” he said. “I got checked out
after my ex dumped me.” I recalled Miles telling me about his ex, who was also
his costar in the movie, leaving him for a more famous actor. “I’m good to go,”
he said, “and I came prepared.” He patted one of the pockets of his utility
pants.

“All right then.” I raised my glass. “To matinees at the
Hawthorne Cinema Palace.”

Miles connected with my eyes. “To looking beyond the
balcony,” he said, clinking my glass. I thought about the possible implications
of his toast as we sipped our drinks. “Nice,” Miles said of the lemonade. “Not
too sweet, but I could get used to that.” He put his glass on the counter and
framed my face with his big hands. “Give me some sugar, Sugar.”

I vaguely heard my glass topple somewhere near the sink. I
was already lost in a kiss both sweet and tangy. Miles’ mouth was delicious
even before the lemonade. Now we drank each other in, the kiss deepening,
tongues licking and stroking, lips sucking with increasing greed.

Then Miles pulled away. I blinked as though coming back to a
consciousness I hadn’t known I’d left. He was looking at me and smiling. “There
they are again.”

“What?”

“Sparklers,” he said. “I saw ’em when I first looked at you
in the theater. Now I see ’em even with my eyes closed.” He kissed my forehead,
then my eyelids and finally my lips again. “Something else you ought to know,
Josie.”

“Huh,” I said. Not really a
What
so much as a sigh
from the feel of his kisses.

“What we did today at the theater was fun,” Miles said,
giving me another teasingly light kiss. “But between us being in a public place
and you getting me all excited, things went a tad faster than I would’ve liked.”

“I don’t recall complaining,” I said, though I did recall
how hard he’d made me come, both times.

He smiled but his gaze was intense on me as he said, “I
intend to give you a long, slow ride tonight, cowgirl.”

Good thing he was holding me up against my kitchen counter,
his hips pressed into mine, or I might well have given out. “Take your time,” I
said. “Let’s get comfortable.”

I’d already turned the lights down in my bedroom and lit a
candle. Now the room welcomed us with a jasmine scent and a golden glow illuminated
my rose-colored walls, the brass headboard of my queen-sized bed and the deep-red
sheets. Miles nuzzled me from behind, where he’d wrapped his arms around me to
follow me. “Did you make it this nice for me,” he asked, “or does it always
look like you sleep inside a flower?”

Damn. I didn’t want to get stuck on someone who’d be leaving
in a few days, but if Miles kept sweet-talking me, looking this good and
fucking even better, my attempts to keep him at emotional arm’s distance would
be a dead fail. I’d already tried to tell myself he was so handsome he couldn’t
possibly possess brains as well. Then he’d say something like he just did and I’d
be a goner all over again.

I turned around and looked up at him, admiring what the
candle did to his tanned skin. “Come on into my rose room, honeybee.” Maybe the
things I said had the same effect on Miles as his words on me because he
suddenly kissed me in a way that showed he wanted me bad and hard. But then he
slowed down, just like he promised.

My hands took their precious time too, caressing their way
up his chest, pausing to feel the smooth planes of his pecs, the hard rack of
his shoulders, and on up to his hair. Within our kiss he moaned as I ran my
fingers through the thick blond silk.

Miles took advantage of my arms being raised to pull my
T-shirt up. Our mouths parted for him to take the shirt off over my head and as
much as I wanted to get back to his lips, he held me at arm’s length to praise
me. “Woman, you’ve been blessed,” he said, cradling my breasts. He leaned down
and kissed my right nipple. “Or maybe I have,” he said, kissing the left one.
His kisses were light again and my nipples hardened instantly for want of more.
Miles smiled and gazed into my eyes. “That dark theater didn’t do you right,
Josie. I need to see you. All of you.”

He got down on one knee, put his hands on my waist and
caressed my shorts off my hips and down my legs. I balanced myself on his
shoulders as I stepped out of them, thankful that he couldn’t see my blissful
eye roll over how muscled his back was. Lord, this man was a gift to the
senses.

As he stood up his hands traveled back up my legs, caressing
my thighs, my hips, my waist, my breasts. He skimmed the taut peaks of my
nipples with his thumbs, the sensation making shivers of delight sweep over my
skin. He smiled as he looked me over again. “You’re the most womanly girl I’ve
ever laid eyes or hands on, Josie.”

“My eyes are getting hungry,” I said, slowly tugging open
the knot at the drawstring of his pants, over his already impressive hard-on. “I
need to see you, too.” I unwrapped him like a candy bar, peeling his T-shirt
off slowly so I could take in those rippling abs. My fingertips traced the
plane between his pecs, over his six-pack and down the lines at the sides of
his hips leading to his pelvis. He hissed in a breath. “You’ve got about five
more seconds of this, cowgirl.”

Unable to resist teasing him the way he’d done me, I slipped
my fingertips under the waistband of his pants and briefs, a whisper away from
the crown of his hard cock. “Or?”

Miles gave me the
you asked for it
grin and pulled
away from my hands. He tore off his pants and briefs in one go and I barely had
time to get an eyeful of that thick, glorious cock I remembered from the movie
theater before he had me down on the bed, pinning me in a kiss. One hand was in
my hair, the other on one of my breasts, squeezing, pinching my nipple. I couldn’t
play it cool anymore either and my arms and legs went around him like
lightning. We ground our hips against each other. I felt that hot cock against
my belly, close to my honeypot and not close enough, and my moan was pure
desire.

But Miles slowed down again, beginning a tour of my body
that would soon have me begging. He kissed and licked my neck, and one second I
felt his warm tongue and then he’d blow on the moist trail lightly, giving me
shivers again. He suckled one nipple, his lips around the areola, his tongue
flicking at the hard tip within. The other nipple wasn’t ignored, being pinched
lightly then caressed with just the tips of his fingers then warmed by his
entire palm.

Beneath him I writhed with want. “I need you inside me,” I whispered.

He blew on my swollen nipple and shook his head. “Slow ride,
cowgirl.”

He had mercy, after a fashion. He kissed his way from my
breasts to my belly and on down. “Beautiful here too,” he whispered before his
tongue licked so slowly between my legs. My back arched and I gripped the
sheets like a wildcat. Miles held my hips in place and licked me as though my
pussy had been drizzled with honey, moaning so passionately it seemed this was
as big a turn-on for him as for me.

Not possible. My mouth opened in a silent cry when I felt
him strum my pearl with his tongue.
Oh God.
No, this was too good. He
kept me on the edge, letting the pressure build within me, his tongue flicking
at me like a hummingbird’s wing. When my hips bucked up, aching for release, he
held them fast. He wouldn’t let me move, wouldn’t let me finish.

Then he switched up and sucked on my clit. He made me gasp
with this new, equally intense sensation. “Oh God,” I whispered. “Miles,
please.” I didn’t know whether I was begging him to keep going as he was or to
let me come.

He lifted his handsome face. “Are you close, Josie?” When I
nodded almost frantically, he smiled. “Then I’d best slow down.”

I was about to protest when I felt his fingers push inside
me. My words melted into a deep sigh as Miles gently but deeply probed and
twisted, his fingers moving easily from all the honey I had for him. “Beautiful
girl,” he said, looking from my face to my pussy and back again. His fingers
found a relaxed pace, in then out, then in with a twist to explore.

My head sank back onto the bed as Miles put me in a valley
where orgasm was near but not meant to be rushed to. My breaths came deep and
even with the rhythm of his fingers. I’d never before been this relaxed and
excited at the same time.

I felt the tip of his tongue making slow circles around my
clit. My hips began to move up and down, intensifying the sensation, feeling
the climax impending. Then came the hummingbird tongue again as Miles finger-fucked
me, slipping easily in and out of me from the combined liquor of his mouth and
my pussy. I clutched at his hair to hold him in place. “Miles,” I gasped, “Miles,
please, Miles, please,
please
!”

I would’ve begged more but the words were lost. If he saw
sparklers when he was with me, I was witnessing the biggest Fourth of July of
my life. His tongue lapped directly against my pearl, his fingers fucked me
fast and I came and kept on coming. Waves of sensual pleasure racked my body
again and again. My back arched, my hips trembled and when I reached the point
where I couldn’t take any more I let loose cries of incoherent ecstasy.

After a few more gentle licks and strokes Miles knew to
begin easing back. He withdrew his fingers carefully because I’d come so hard
the aftershocks made me twitch. All I could do was lie there, gasping, as he
kissed his way up my body. “You okay, cowgirl?”

Okay?
My panting turned to weak laughter. I didn’t
want to tell him how much on the right side of okay I was. He’d taken me so far
I wasn’t sure how to get back. As I slowly recovered I became determined to
even up the score. “Trade places with me,” I said, catching my breath.

Miles did as he was told with a grin. He stretched that
long, muscular body out on my bed, scooching up a tad to sit up against my
pillows and watch whatever I was about to do.

I got on all fours over him, making sure my nipples brushed
his chest when I leaned in for a kiss. I parted my lips but backed away
slightly, and when he tried to kiss me deeper I sucked his tongue, giving him a
hint of what I intended for him. Then I whispered, “I bet your cock tastes
delicious.” Miles had to even out his breathing as my tongue flicked lightly
across his lips. “I intend to find out just how delicious,” I said. For once,
Miles was speechless.

I kissed his mouth again before I started on a trip I knew
we’d both enjoy. I gave him only the lightest of kisses from his neck on down between
his sculpted pecs and farther on to his carved abs. All the while I hovered
above him so that my nipples brushed his flesh and my neatly tended garden teased
the ridge of his throbbing, hard cock. I could tell from the way Miles was
writhing beneath me that this was the torture of pleasure. “Josie,” he moaned,
wanting me to get where I was going but enjoying me taking the scenic route.

At last my mouth reached his cock. I remembered thinking
when I first saw this magnificent man-tool in the movie theater that I’d wanted
to know how it would feel in my mouth. Miles’ cock was a thick, straight shaft crowned
with a beautiful head. It had turned a deep-rose hue against the gilded curls
at his pelvis and there was a faint road map of veins on that rod of flesh. I
wanted to follow that map with my tongue and see where it might lead.

I chose one road and skimmed my tongue along it. Miles’ cock
twitched of its own accord with anticipation. I traced the line up to the bead
of syrup waiting at his tip to welcome me. I licked it and I’d been right. He
was delicious, like salty candy. I smiled up at Miles, who had a look of
increasing lust insanity.

Still I took my time, slowly wrapping my hand around the
girth of him at the base and swirling my tongue around the ridge of his crown,
treating him like a dripping ice-cream cone. Miles gasped, his hands reaching
up to grip the rungs of my brass headboard. I pointed my tongue and licked his
cock from the base to his ridge of heaven and every other part of his body went
as tense and as hard as his tool.

His manly parts were such a glory that I couldn’t tease him
anymore, wanting him all in my mouth, or as much as I could take. My lips slid
over his shaft and my mouth closed around him. I heard my name moaned in a
combination of relief and tension. When I moved the flat of my tongue
serpentinely against his ridge I heard a hiss of breath being pulled in. Then I
made my lips into a tight, round shape and began sucking him, my fist
following, first tight then relaxed.

I only got in a few strokes like this before I felt Miles’
hands go around my head gently to pull me off. “You’re gonna demolish me, Josie,”
he said, panting. “Inside you is where I need to be, now.”

He looked around for his pants to get a condom but I held up
a hand and said, “I have my own. And before you move, let me do one more thing.”
He looked at me with a question in his eyes but he liked the look in mine
enough to comply.

I reached into the ebony box on my nightstand and took out a
cherry-flavored condom. Miles watched me unwrap it, waiting to see what came
next, and I put the tip between my pursed lips.

He smiled and shook his head. “Oh hellfire, woman. You can’t
be serious.”

I was. I bent down and placed the condom on his head with my
mouth and, with tight lips, began rolling it down his shaft. Miles let loose a
string of oaths I couldn’t make out because his teeth were clenched but they
ended with, “And I swear I’m going to give you the fuck of your life right now,
Josie.”

I’d barely lifted my head before Miles dove in to kiss me.
His tongue invaded my mouth, lapping at the candy flavoring inside. He tossed
me on the bed and pinned me under him. My legs wrapped around his waist and my
hands grabbed at the rippling muscles of his back as I felt him reach between
us.

We moaned in unison as each thick inch of him pushed inside
me, the path tight but made easier by how much honey I had for him. I was still
a tad sore from riding his cock just hours ago at the theater and that only
added to the pleasure of feeling him fill and stretch me. I whimpered for more
with every inch.

I pulled at his hips, wanting all of him, but he smiled down
at me and retreated. “I told you, cowgirl, slow ride this time.” He pushed in
an inch, retreated, pushed in more, pulled out. He was driving me wild and he
knew it. “When I was licking you, Josie, I couldn’t see that beautiful come-face
of yours,” he said. “I’m going to make you show that to me this time.” I found
what he said so sexy he almost saw that face right then and there.

Miles reared back on his knees. He took my hips in his hands
to keep me from wriggling the way I wanted to. Then he took a cue from my
serpentine tricks and pumped into me with relaxed, undulating grace. I was
spellbound, watching his abs flex as his hips rolled. His movements reminded me
of slick cowboys and cowgirls who know how to slow-ride a mechanical bull.

All the while Miles was looking into my eyes. His moves were
wicked but his gaze on me was innocent and sweet. “Do you want me, Josie?” he
asked. The way he said it made me feel as if he might be talking about
something more than giving in to my body clawing for him.

“Yes,” I answered before I overthought and said something
clever or sexy. “Yes, Miles. I want you.”

He beamed at me with satisfaction, as though he’d gotten
exactly the answer he’d wanted and could now get back to business. Which
apparently meant fucking us both into the next county.

Still kneeling, he swiftly took my legs and brought my
ankles up on his shoulders. I needed to touch him, connect with him, and I
grabbed the firm, sinewy columns of his arms. His hands went to my breasts,
molding and caressing them in time with his accelerating thrusts. “Whoa God
yes,” I whispered, overwhelmed with sensation. Miles took me higher by kneading
my nipples. His pelvis slapped into mine faster and harder.

“Show me,” he rumbled. “Show me how good we are together, Josie.”
He was taking me there again, fast this time, pumping into me, driving me up
higher and higher. My moans turned into cries that told him how close I was. No
playing this time, no teasing or drawing this out. Miles was taking me far and
high and fast. I wasn’t in control anymore. I didn’t need to be. All I could do
was hang on while he took me.