Lacy (The Doves of Primrose) (19 page)

He swallowed her moan with his hot mouth while his fingers worked magic on her tender f
lesh. Her body tensed and flexed, losing all control with waves of sensation and just when release was a breath away he withdrew. If she’d had control of any part of her body or mind she’d have grasped his hand and made him finish but her overstimulated members were too heavy.

One
more deep kiss from his limber mouth sustained her before it moved down her throat. His hands tugged at her denim shorts, working them past her hips. She wanted them off and he wasn’t moving fast enough. Her hands rested on his shoulders, willing him to hurry. He tipped his head up, meeting her gaze a moment before taking in a deep breath and submerging himself in the water. Lacy’s fingers mingled in the floating locks of his hair. The stubble on his chin grazed her screaming skin so delightfully she couldn’t wait one more second for him to take her.

Kyle freed her of the restricting fabric and spread her legs with his shoulders as he made his way back up. Lacy’s eyes burst open when a flood of bubbles tickled and aroused the peak of her sex. His insistent mouth clamped onto the sensitive nub forcing her to gasp in pleasure and curl her toes in need. He suckled for a few brief seconds
before dragging his body upward against hers. In a few seconds he had freed himself from his jeans with Lacy helping to push the denim from his hips while kneading and gripping his lower back, pulling him closer to her in desperate need.

In one motion he had buried his member deep within her we
lcoming passage. The relief and utter release of having him finally fill her was near heaven. They both collapsed against each other a brief moment before he began to move in blissful rhythm, kindling the fire within her. Stoking the flame of frenzied carnality long forgotten, only uncovered by this man.

Sensual pleasure raced from nerve to nerve as he expertly i
ncreased the friction between them. Her entire body flushed with prickling excitement while he layered sensation over sensation until she was quivering, begging for release. His hands roughly took her hips, driving into her. The rim of her sex clamped tightly to his pulsating shaft, milking a shuddering release from him with the culmination of her own.

She cried out in ecstasy
with one final surge of his hips, the swell of sensation poured over her, wound through her. Her head helplessly fell forward onto his shoulder while he collapsed against her, pinning her to the dock post. Slowly, sanity returned. Kyle placed his hand on her cheek, rubbing back and forth with his thumb.

Lacy’s eyes fluttered open, her breath still uneven. If Kyle wasn’t supporting her weight she would surely slip under the w
ater and drown. His hoarse breathing buzzed against the sensitive skin of her shoulder.

“Maybe my memory has faded.” His breath snagged before he continued. “But that was better than I remembered.” He shifted his head to hold her gaze. He swiped a bead of sweat from her brow with his shaking thumb.

“Then mine must’ve been erased, because I thought so too.”

He placed a lingering kiss on her plundered lips.

“You okay to stand?”

“I think so.” She slowly removed her legs from his waist
, testing them on the spongy pond floor. He rested one hand on the dock and the other on her waist. She felt awkward and shy and suddenly very vulnerable. “Well, that was one way to avoid answering my question.”

His sardonic chuckle chafed her raw nerves.
“Yeah. A pretty damn great way.”

Before she could answer he plunged under the water
, leaving her to glare at the turbulence bubbling to the surface. He touched every bit of her he could while apparently swimming around. When he popped back up and slicked the water from his face and hair, a good-sized temper had flared inside her.

“Your shorts
, madam.” 

She looked from his cocky smile to the garment hooked
on the end of his index finger. “Thanks,” she snarled as she snatched them away. She wondered how she was going to get them back on in the water.

“Thank you.” He stole a kiss and then pushed back into a long stroke gliding through the water.

“Ass,” she mumbled as she teetered on one leg trying to get back in her shorts.

“Yes
, you have a very nice one.” His strong arms sliced through the water as he made a circle.

Lacy let out a grunt as she wiggled back into her shorts. She reached up to the dock and retrieved her bra, keeping her back to Kyle as he swam around
. She hooked it, wondering how in the hell she was going to explain her wet clothing and undoubtedly flushed skin to everyone back at the B&B. Before she could climb onto the dock she was drenched in a cascade of pond water. She turned and pulled her hair from her face a moment before a set of hands planted themselves on her waist.

“C’mon
, Lace. Stay and swim with me. Just like old times.” The lift in his voice was refreshing but nonetheless she couldn’t play around all day.

“I think we’ve traveled far enough down memory lane
, and unlike you I have to work today. I need to get back and help the girls.” She tried unsuccessfully to pry his hands loose.

“They’re fine. They can handle it without you. You can tell them I needed a lot of consoling. Besides
, how are you going to explain your wet clothes if we don’t swim for a while?”

His grin and pleading baby blues were more than she could r
esist. She decided against being responsible in favor of following her heart’s desire. She knew this was only the beginning; her heart wouldn’t let him get too far from her.

*********

Kyle couldn’t stand the idea of not having Lacy by his side, especially after what they had just done
.
Her talk of going back to work was stinging to his ego not to mention devastating to his vulnerable heart. They had things to discuss, lost years to catch up on and new memories to make. His body was still trembling from their torrential lovemaking. He had remembered their first time had been in that very spot in the water, Lacy pinned against the dock and Kyle doing everything he could to make it good for her.

When she
had finally got close enough on the dock for him to hold her and their lips met in a sweet, scorching kiss he had thought the earth had parted and swallowed them up. Lost in the moment of having her move over him, being able to touch her, the haze of seduction swept him along. He had deliberately moved them into the water even though she was ready for him.

It had worked out too perfectly to not recapture a little of their tumultuous past. It had been one hell of a whirlwind summer and the most memorable days of his life. He was not disappointed by today’s turn of events. That moment together was ten times better than any of the times before. Right now
, touching her shoulders, gazing into her brown eyes brought a tremor to his spine and pulse to his manhood. He wanted to do it all over again. Too bad she was already dressed.

“C’mon, Lace.” He employed every bit of charm he po
ssessed. Her hands slid down his water-slicked chest and he swallowed hard, trying to resist pulling her against him and convincing her to stay with his mouth. Just as he thought it he gave in and acted on his impulse. Her lips were stiff at first but after a couple of persuasive tugs she joined him in an illicit duel of intense passion.

When he finally dragged his mouth away from hers they were both breathless. “Please.” He knew she had already decided to stay with him, but he begged anyway.

“Well, since you’re in such a fragile state I think I have to.”

He chuckled against her mouth a moment before nipping at her delicate lips. “Truer words were never spoken.”

Chapter 17

It was a glorious day spent beneath the whispering cottonwoods, swimming in the sun warmed pond while the birds chirped and fluttered. They talked while lounging in the sun on the shore and made love two more times, each time lingering longer and moving slower, finally dozing in each other’s arms. Lacy found they had a more powerful connection this time than the last. Maybe it was the troubled roads they had both journeyed or perhaps it was just that they appreciated what they had had and lost and wanted to hang on to it for dear life this time around.

Lacy basked in his attentions and revered every kiss, every gesture. She couldn’t touch him enough or be close enough to satisfy her. In one afternoon, he had consumed her completely. She understood the effect that the seclusion of the pond had on them, it always felt like they were the only people in the world when they were here. She was concerned what it would be like when they went back to
The Dove House.

She was sitting with her legs stretched in front of her, head tilted back in the warm ray of sun
shine. He rolled onto his stomach, folding his muscular arms and resting his head on his forearms. She peeked at him through shuttered eyes and smiled when she saw his shoulder blade.

“You still have it. I’m surprised.” She closed her eyes again
, wiggling her feet.

“It’s not something you can just get rid of when you get tired of it.”

“I’m sure you could’ve found a way.”

“Who says I wanted to?” His voice had suddenly grown lou
der.

She raised her head and looked at him curiously. “I’ve seen your movies, you run around shirtless more than half the time and I don’t recall ever seeing it on screen.” She leaned forward and
ran her finger over the inked skin.

He twisted to meet her stare. “I don’t run around shirtless in my movies and they tend to frown on body modifications so they edit them out when they have to or they cover it with makeup. I thought you didn’t watch any of my movies.”

Lacy raised a brow, her hand still on his back. “I may have seen one or two while channel surfing. I didn’t realize a tattoo with some random initials was considered body modification.”

He was scowling at her now. “They aren’t random initials and I shoot a lot of historical westerns. There weren’t many cowboys with wing tattoos back then.”

The fact that Kyle treasured the small tattoo he had gotten when they were together was beyond touching and made Lacy love him more. “Why did you decide on angel wings to go with my initials? It’s not very fitting.”

He sat up and reached for her foot, gently rubbing the arch. “I thought it was. You were my angel of rescue.”

Thinking of the irony of that brought a grin to her face. “I thought it meant you were mine. Or perhaps that I was a fallen angel.”

He
tilted his head. “That could be true too. Either way, I would never get rid of it.”

Lacy leaned forward and kissed him.

“No matter how many times I was teased or asked what it meant I wouldn’t change it. I mean, the sheer number of women who wondered about it….” He shook his head, pulling a face. She threw a handful of mud at him, landing a clump on his cheek.

“Kyle McClintock!”

“What? You said yourself I spent most of my time shirtless. That brought a lot of opportunities for conversation.”

Lacy twisted to get her feet under her but Kyle clamped onto her hips and pulled her back down onto his lap.

“Let me go!”

“You’re the one who started this.”
She wiggled to get free and heard him grunt with pleasure pain. “Settle down.” His voice strained and she fought harder to get free.

“Damn it, Lacy! You’re going to get more than you bargained for if you don’t stop struggling.”
The threat he posed sent conflicting surges of heat and chills and she stilled. “That’s better.” His words stirred her hair. “Now you’re going to have to accept that there were other women.” He took a ragged breath and shifted his hand to cup her breast. “Just like I have to accept that you were with Brice. Even though I want to reach up and squeeze him from your brain so that you only remember me, I know that isn’t possible. But we can go from here. We can move forward and heal the hurt we’ve done to each other.”

He pressed a hot kiss on her neck
, making her head loll to the side. She closed her eyes, knowing what he said was right. She couldn’t hold a grudge that he had lived his life. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to be with a woman.

“Agreed
.” She was rewarded with his mouth and hands moving over her yearning body. She gave herself up wholly to him, trusting him, joining him until he pulled away from her. Her hands convulsed in a plea to keep him close.

“We better go.” He kissed her forehead and she shook her head
, opening her eyes.

“Wait a minute. Who says you get to decide when we stop?” She kept her arm wrapped around his neck and her hips pressed hard against his, teasing him, persuading him to keep going.

He glanced up over the small hill that wrapped around one side of the pond. “Contrary to what you probably think, I don’t like an audience during private moments and we are about to have one.”

Being informed that they were being watched turned her face beet red and dropped her stomach to her toes. She released him and dismounted as gracefully as possible which meant basically falling off him. He helped to keep her steady as they stood
, all the while being gentle and considerate. He made sure she was in full control of her limbs before starting to walk at the edge of the pond. She glanced behind her at the sound of a slamming door. A shiver of fear slid down her spine when a flash of memory entered her mind. For a split second she thought that those two boys would be coming over the hill in search of her.

But they didn’t come
, as she knew they wouldn’t. Kyle wrapped his arm around her waist and took her sandals from her hand, hooking them on his own fingers. They walked like that until they reached the barn. Lacy stopped, uncertain what to do next. She had been denying any relationship between the two of them and she didn’t think that walking up to the house arm-in-arm with Kyle was the best way to announce it to them.

“Kyle.” She placed her hand on his chest and bit her lip
, glancing around.

“Oh
, come on, Lacy.” His hand engulfed hers. “You were gone all afternoon. They know you came after me.” He raised his dark eyebrows, implying the rest.

“I know, but you don’t understand. They think I hate you and if they were to see us like this
….” She shrugged and placed her other hand over his, pulling it away.

He straightened with a scoff. “I understand. I’m going inside to take a shower. Feel free to join me if you think your friends will approve.”

Her jaw dropped. He gave her one last pointed look and walked away. She missed him instantly but boy, how she liked to watch him go. He walked with such confidence, his shirt stretching across his muscles and his arms swishing back and forth. He should get paid by the company to wear those jeans as well as he filled them out. Lacy would rather be with him in that shower but her friends were more important right now.

She walked to the house and entered through the kitchen
, hoping she would meet Scarlett. Instead she found Lauren in there holding a glass of water up to the sunlight, inspecting it with narrowed eyes. Lacy wanted to tell her to drink it from the top but refrained, knowing the woman had zero sense of humor.

“Hi, Lauren.
Can I help you with something?” She was proud of herself for being so polite.

“I was just counting all the particles of poison in this tap w
ater.”

Lacy raised her hand
, pretending to scratch her head so she could hide the eye roll. “That’s not poison, it’s calcium. We have a touch of hard water out here. Has to do with the soil composition and its effects on the aquifer.”

Lauren’s
eyes flashed to Lacy with a strange undercurrent. “I see. Well, you should really think about getting bottled water. It’s so much healthier.” Lauren set her glass on the counter.

Lacy crossed her arms and rocked on her heels. “Actually
, Lauren, it isn’t. Plastic bottles of water are worse for you no matter where they come from. And this water comes straight out of the ground. We get it from the spring several miles from here. It’s the freshest you’ll ever have. Those little things that float in your water won’t harm you.”
As much as I will,
she finished to herself.

Lauren pursed her lips. Lacy noticed she looked like one of those voodoo dolls, all eyes and crazy hair with the zigzag stitc
hing barely holding it together. The country wasn’t good for this city princess. Everyone else on the crew seemed to be enjoying the outdoors while Lauren was one button away from bursting.

“Lauren, can I get you some tea? Scarlett has this special blend that she makes herself. It’s really good for relaxing.”

She scowled. “I’m fine. Thank you.” The corners of her mouth tipped in an attempt at a lame smile.

“Well, it’s in the cupboard over there if you change your mind and the kettle is right next to the stove.”

“Great. You’ve been most helpful.” Lacy hadn’t heard that particular tone from Lauren before. She prayed she wasn’t within a five-mile radius when Lauren snapped. She would bet money it would be by the end of the week. She bid her good-bye and left the kitchen.

She finally found her friends on the front porch
, swinging on the swing and talking. She pulled the door shut and approached the duo feeling like the prodigal son. She wanted them to yell at her, to tell her she was a bad person for abandoning them for a guy, leaving them with all the work at her B&B while she spent all afternoon having sex with a man she had sworn to them she couldn’t stand. God, that sounded awful. She was a terrible person. How could she be that selfish? She should kick her own ass. With her hands clasped behind her back she waited for her execution by tongue lashing.

Applause sounded, rattling the old windows and reverberating through the enclosed space. One wolf whistle, courtesy of E
mmylou, split the air as her two friends kept applauding her and cheering. She started laughing and covered her red face with her hands and shook her head. She sat between her two best friends on the swing, embarrassed from the roots of her hair to the pink polish of her toes.

Emmylou draped a hand over her shoulders and hugged her.
“Soooo?” She dragged the word out making all three of them giggle. “Whatcha been doin’?”

“We know what she’s been doing, we wanna know how it was
,” Scarlett interrupted and Lacy turned her head, trying to suppress her grin.

“Couldn’t have been that great
, she’s still walking straight.”

“
Emmylou
!”

“What?”
Emmylou shrugged. Scarlett was fuchsia pink and wide-eyed and Lacy was chuckling. “She spent all afternoon with him and walked out here like the cat that caught the canary. I expected to find her collapsed on her cot in the barn suffering from exhaustion. At least she should be. I expected better of Kyle.”

“Good Lord, Emmy. Get your mind out of the ditch. Maybe they spent all that time talking.”

Emmylou and Scarlett were leaning forward, talking to the sides of Lacy’s face.

“The ditch is where all the good dirt is. And why would she spend any time talking with Kyle when she could be busy doing more pleasurable things with her mouth?”

Lacy laughed at the appalled, gaping-mouth stare Scarlett was making at Emmylou. “I can’t believe you just said that. ”Emmylou smirked, looking not at all remorseful.

Lacy raised her hands between her two friends
, sensing things were about to turn. “Whoa. To your corners, ladies. I appreciate all your… support in the matter of my love life, but let’s not get out the gloves.” When she was satisfied they had both calmed down and were ready to listen she continued, “Man, I wish I would’ve had this support back when I was married to Brice.”

“We didn’t like Brice. We like Kyle.”

Lacy scowled at Emmylou.

“I just mean that he wasn’t good for you. You married him b
ecause you were pregnant and then he proceeded to suck the life from you at every opportunity. I think the best thing that ever happened to you was him leaving.” Emmylou stroked Lacy’s arm. “Honey, you have never gotten over Kyle and we all knew it. We didn’t have guts enough to say anything until now.”

Scarlett scrunched
up her face with agreeing apology.

“I know what Kyle did to you in the past, but I think he’s grown up from that and I think you should really give him a chance.”

Those little talks between Kyle and Emmylou had really swung her to his side. Lacy couldn’t fault her friend’s honesty. She knew all along they didn’t like Brice, but once she was married they did their best not to say anything about it. She loved them for that. They really had every right to bash her no-good husband for all of his flaws and his disrespect of her. Instead they had been a constant soft place to land. “Actually, it turns out that Kyle didn’t have anything to do with what happened to me. They used him as a pawn in their game.”