Love Me Forever (6 page)

She tore her lips away, panting, and said, “You’re overdressed.” Her shaking hands fumbled between them.

Matt rose to his knees and undressed as fast as humanly possible. He was shocked he didn’t knot his shoelaces or rip the button off his shorts in his hurry. His shaft sprung free when she shoved his briefs down.

He let her stroke him, making him swell so hard he thought he’d burst right there. Seeing her spread before him, her arm reaching between her legs to touch him, he realized they were still on the couch. “Shit, why are we here when we have a bed available?”

He carried her to his room, tugged back the sheets and lowered her to the mattress. She scooted over, making room for him.

Turning on the lamp on the nightstand, he dug a condom from the drawer. “This is much better. Now we have room to play.”

Heat flickered in her eyes and she licked her lips. He groaned and tore open the package. “Where were we?” he asked.

She took hold of his shaft, guiding him between her legs. “Right about here
.
”

Matt slipped inside slowly so as not to end things right then. His willpower was shot. Kissing her, nuzzling her neck, licking a trail down to her breasts, there were a multitude of ways to draw out the moment
.
To build her pleasure again so they could peak together.
 

He would never have enough of his woman. Never be sated, always wanting just one more touch, one more orgasm. As perfect as he fit in her, as much as she tugged at his heart, he needed to have her beside him for longer than a week.

Shutting all thought aside he bucked, tipping her hips and lifting her heels to his shoulders. Driving deep, he felt need increase. He reached a hand between them and listened for that note in her voice that told him she was close to orgasm.

Her cries built, answered by his grunts. She grew tighter around him. “Don’t fight it. Let it go.”

She called out his name, sending him over the edge, and he lost all thought
.

He groaned as he let her ass sink back to the mattress. He didn’t want to pull out of her, but he wanted to make her comfortable. After a moment’s hesitation, he withdrew and headed to the bathroom for a warm cloth.

With tender strokes he cleaned her, watching he lie still on his pillow. She was so fucking beautiful, so fucking perfect. He tossed the washcloth toward the bathroom and stretched out beside her.

Propped on one elbow, he let his hand roam over her curves. She probably thought she needed to lose weight, like most women their age, but he loved the look of meat on her bones. Not fat, but lush, ripe curves that begged to be nibbled
.

Something about her hesitancy since they’d met up again made him expect her to grab for the sheet, especially now as the blindness of passion wore off. But she didn’t, she lay still, watching, one knee bent, her arms to her side. He loved her for that.

My woman
.

Those words first formed in his mind that hot August night when they’d finally shared their bodies. At some point, they’d been shoved in a back corner and forgotten. But they were back with a vengeance, and he was determined that she would agree.

Jen was meant to be his.

Chapter Four

Jen woke to the dim light before dawn. The sheet wrapped low around her hips and a thick, muscular arm held her tightly against Matt’s body. She closed her eyes again and inhaled deeply the scent of him. This was so much better than an alarm clock commanding she rise and shower.

Something had been lifted from her shoulders since she came to Maui. She couldn’t even name what it was that changed, but she felt a lot more like the girl she’d once been.

How had growing up changed her so? She’d only been married for eight years but had aged thirty years in her mind. She became proper, organized, and respectable. Well, she might have always been that way. Matt used to tease her about being the good girl. But she’d carried it so much further while married to Ted. She’d become a Stepford wife, a robotic version of the real thing.

Even once she’d left Ted and pursued the career she’d set aside for him, she hadn’t broken the shell of the woman she’d created. It’d become so much a part of her, she hadn’t realized she was keeping anything trapped inside.

Seeing Matt had awakened the wonderfully spirited woman-child who’d returned to college ten years ago. The carefree woman who enjoyed sex for the sake of sex, who didn’t need the demands of commitment and strings.

Not that she’d been a whore. Or careless. She’d chosen her lovers wisely and used protection. And she hadn’t played the field all
that
broadly. But for a year or two she’d been confident enough in who she was, she hadn’t needed to cling to false promises or hope.

Then Ted had come along and swept her off her, well, off her carousel of lovemaking. Charmed her. Seduced her heart before her hormones. He had goals and aspirations and could see her beside him throughout the journey he planned. It didn’t take long for her to fall in love with the image of herself that he created.

How had she not been able to see it was nothing more than an image? She lost her substance, her inner being. Quite cheerfully set them aside to be Mrs. Theodore Grimes. And played the role until there was nothing left that resembled Jen Pearson.

All of that was behind her now.

She’d left Jen Grimes in the courtroom, Petitioner on the divorce papers, ghost of marriage past. She’s taken back her name, her pride, her self-worth.

Now was the time to renew her spirit. Find her inner child. No, not child. The sensual, sentient being she once was. Laugh. Flirt. With Matt, with life. Taste a nibble of everything in front of her.

Starting with the man behind her.

Smiling, she drew in a deep breath and rolled under his arm, coming face to chest with her man. The rich chocolate
-
colored skin lay relaxed as he slept, the muscle beneath still sculpted, but not chiseled. Leaning in even closer she inhaled the fragrance that once brought her to a dripping point of need, the scent of Matt. She lapped his skin, tasting the dried sweat she’d worked out of him, and suckled the warmth she found there.

Matt stirred, his arm tightening around her. “Morning.”

She purred against him. “Morning. Did I wake you? I’m sorry if I did. I’m still on Missouri time.”

“Any time you want to lick me awake, be my guest.”

Leaning back to watch his face, she warned, “I might have to take you up on that.”

His shaft stirred against her pelvis and she rocked into it. “Interesting. I lick you here…” she tongued the depression between his pecs, “and you harden here.” Her hand slipped between them to wrap around his swelling rod.

“Honey, you lick me like that anywhere on my body and you’ll get me hard.”

“You don’t say.” Jen pushed on his shoulder and rolled onto one arm to look down at him. With her free hand, she traced down his abdomen, taking the sheet with her. His shaft jumped when uncovered.

She continued to tease and explore, stroking his hip, his thigh, as far down as she could reach. His muscles tensed beneath her fingers, much the way she sucked in her gut when Matt looked at her.

Her favorite muscle of his continued to grow without her touching it. But it was too tempting not to play. Her index finger followed the swollen vein, circled the crown.

He groaned. She glanced at him, saw the half-lowered lids and slightly parted lips and felt she had all the power in the world. She was his world in that moment.

Wrapping her hand around him, Jen stroked slowly, firmly. She stole glances at his expression as she did to gauge his reaction.

His breathing increased. Her body was on edge from his reaction, like he touched her right where she needed it. Whether he was ready or not, she couldn’t wait any longer. She slid a condom on his shaft and straddled him. He exhaled sharply and she began to rock, hard, fast. After a few thrusts her orgasm exploded, and Matt joined her in release. She collapsed in exhaustion from the short, wild ride. Matt reached down and curled his hand on her butt cheek. “Damn.”

She sighed. “Yeah.” Unfolding her legs from beneath her, she stretched out to rest at his side.

~*~

Jen and Matt waited outside the hotel entrance for Ben and Adam to join them for a trip into Lahaina. Jen lifted her face to the sun, closing her eyes and letting the rays worship her. “I can see why people become addicted to tanning,” she commented.

“There is something elevating in the sunlight and fresh air,” Matt agreed. “But I wouldn’t recommend long doses with your complexion.”

She turned and kissed his cheek. “No, being close to you is all I need to add a bit of color to my cheeks.” Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed his lips, letting the moment go almost too far for a parking lot.

His hands rubbed up her arms and captured her shoulders. “Mmm, maybe we should call off the day trip.”

“No. Being together in a place where we can’t touch each other, can’t follow through on our urges should make tonight that much better.”

“Could it get any better than last night?” He bent and nipped the sensitive spot where her neck joined her shoulder. “Or this morning?”

“Better, no, but definitely equal to. And you can’t deny the pleasure of seeing how much you can get away with in public.”

Lowering his sunglasses, he peered over them. “In public? You’ve changed over the years, Miss Jen Mine
.
”

She bit the corner of her lip as his use of his old nickname for her, and gazed off in the distance. “Yes, I did, but not the way you’re thinking. You’re bringing back the old me.”

“And that’s a good thing?”

With a bright giggle she ran her fingertips along his jaw. “It’s exactly what I needed.”

Jen heard Ben’s voice behind her and pulled away, however disappointed her body might have been, to face her new friends. “Ben, Adam.”

Ben introduced his partner to Matt and they climbed into Matt’s small car. On the drive into Lahaina they discussed the different spots they wanted to see. Jen tried to focus on the conversation and not the muscled thigh bared by Matt’s shorts as he drove. When had men’s shorts become so sexy?

Letting her gaze travel up his tropical print shirt, wishing he’d worn a tight t-shirt instead, she realized shorts had always been sexy on that man. She turned her gaze back toward the highway in front of them and tugged at her own shorts. She couldn’t call herself fat, but she hadn’t worked at maintaining her shape, any shape, after she’d married.

Way to put a damper on the flirting
, she chided.
I am perfect as I am. Sexy is as sexy does.
Okay, that’s too corny, but it was true, Matt was attracted to what was inside, not her curves.

She realized he’d spoken to her. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Where’d you go? Not enough sleep last night?”

Her cheeks warmed in spite of her intention to play the vixen
.
Baby steps, girl, baby steps.
“I can honestly say my mind was on today.”

The corner of his mouth twitched and if he weren't driving, she would lean across the divide and kiss it. Instead she turned toward the back seat. “So, what's our first stop?”

Adam answered. “I thought we should start at the beginning, the harbor. Keawaiki. Then follow the mapped walk.”

Matt glanced in the rear-view mirror. “Sounds good. I can take you to a few off the path sites while we’re in that area.”

They’d started early enough in the day the crowds hadn’t gathered yet. A guided tour had just begun, the docent reciting the standard script about the harbor and the ships that commonly docked outside the reef. Jen and her friends hung back, letting the group move on a ways before starting off.

“We’ll probably want to walk slowly to not catch up with the group,” Matt suggested. He paused outside an art gallery and examined the window display. “A lot of the historical walk describes buildings that are no longer standing, but a few have been restored, and there are a few museums you might enjoy.”

Adam pointed at another shop and walked down the street. Ben caught up with him while Jen and Matt moved more slowly.

“Do you want to get in some shopping while we’re here?” Matt asked her.

“I do need to get some souvenirs. The hotel has some nice postcards, but I’d love to find some dresses and shirts for my sister’s family. And a muumuu for Mom.”

“You have a sister?”

She glanced up at him, her hair swinging over her shoulder. It startled her, still, how much she needed to look up to meet his eye. “Yeah, didn’t I ever talk about her?”

“I don’t think either of us talked about family. About where we came from, who we were. We were too busy focusing on the moment.”

Laughing, she added, “Who’d hooked up with whom. Which actors were having an affair. And what musician had a new release.”

“That’s all that mattered when we were twenty. And yet I felt like I knew you inside out.”

A delicate teacup and saucer in the store window caught her attention and she paused. “You did. You knew the important stuff. That I liked to dip my French-fries in chocolate shakes, not catsup. I preferred sweet tea to soda pop.”