Loving Bailey (13 page)

“I tried to find you to tell you,” he said,
pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I drove up the mountain so
I could explain.”

“Then why didn’t you?” she asked and then
stopped, remembering what she’d done after she saw Trace with the
other woman.

“By the time I found you, you were with him.”
His hands clenched on her back. “And I knew I’d fucked everything
up.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, not because she
believed she’d done anything wrong but because she couldn’t stand
the idea of him in pain.

He reached between them and tipped up her
chin so she was looking at him. His eyes shown in the dim light of
the room and she could see the silhouette of his strong jaw. “You
don’t have anything to be sorry for. I’m the one who pushed you
into his arms because I was too scared to tell you how I felt.”

“I don’t understand,” she said. “I tried so
hard to get you to spend time with me. You always said no.”

“I was a fool, but I won’t be anymore.” He
bent and kissed her and for a moment all the hurt and
misunderstanding fell away, dissolving in the feel on his mouth on
hers.

Bailey ran her hands up Trace’s back,
relishing the feel of strong muscle through the smooth fabric of
his shirt. It was her turn to break the kiss and she stood on
tiptoe so she could lay a trail of kisses along his jaw and down
his throat. His stubble felt like sandpaper under her lips and
tongue, a delicious contrast to her smooth skin. When her teeth
scraped the skin over the pulse at the base of his throat, he
groaned in pleasure and her arousal whipped tight.

Knowing the way his body reacted to her touch
fueled her desire and drove her to see how much further she could
push him. She slid her hands up the front of his chest, running her
palms over the tight points of his nipples and smiled when she felt
his chest rumble. Reaching up, she spread open the collar of his
shirt and licked the triangle of exposed skin, tasting him salty
and warm on her tongue.

“Jesus, Bailey.” He exhaled and she felt a
fine tremor run through him.

He caught her hands and kissed her, stopping
her mouth from further exploration. Without breaking contact, he
backed them up to the shadowy shape of the small sofa and sat,
pulling her down to straddle him. She felt the long, hard length of
him riding the slick seam of her body through the damp cotton of
her shorts. Rocking forward, she pressed her clit against him, her
back bowing in pleasure.

Trace slid his hands from her hips up the
sides of her body, lifting her shirt to expose her breasts. Her
nipples tightened to peaks and she couldn’t think of anything
except getting his hands and mouth on her. Grabbing the hem, she
lifted the T-shirt over her head and watched his eye turn storm
cloud gray with hunger. He wrapped his arm around her back, his
fingers digging into her side. His other hand cupped her breast,
holding it for his mouth.

Bailey watched, anticipation burning through
her as his mouth descended to her breast. When his lips wrapped
around her nipple and he sucked, it was as if he’d pulled a cord.
Her head fell back and her back bowed, every nerve between her
nipple and her clit strumming to life. She let out a moan and Trace
thrust up with his hip, the long ridge of his hard cock grinding
against her aching sex.

She tipped her hips, rocking herself against
him as he suckled her. Instinctively she rode his body, pulling her
climax closer with each press of his cock against her clit. Trace
released her nipple and it tightened to an impossibly hard peak in
the cool air.

“My God, Bailey,” he said, his voice ragged
with need. He grabbed her hips, holding her in place. “You’re
killing me. I could come like this before I ever get inside you.
And my God, I want to be inside you more than I’ve ever wanted
anything in my life.” He let his head rest against her chest and
she wound her fingers into his hair, playing with the stray locks
curling over the edge of his collar. “I don’t have a condom. I
don’t suppose there are any here.”

When he glanced up, he looked so hopeful she
couldn’t help but smile at him in spite of her own
disappointment.

“No. Sorry.” She started to climb off of his
lap, but his fingers tightened on her hips holding her in
place.

“Please,” he said. “If we can’t make love
tonight, at least let me touch you.”

He slipped his hand under the elastic waist
of her shorts and found her swollen clit with the tips of his
fingers. It just took a moment of his hand rubbing small circles
around her aching flesh and she was standing on the precipice of
desire, about to tumble over. He wrapped his arm around her waist,
as he claimed her other breast with his mouth. Together, his hand,
mouth and body drove her closer and closer to the edge.

With each stroke of his fingers, her arousal
wound tighter, coiling in on itself until it broke, whipping
through her with thick ribbons of pleasure. Her body shook and she
clutched at his shoulders, desperate to find a way to anchor
herself. Trace lifted his face from her breast and caught the last
of her cries with his kiss.

When she managed to catch her breath again,
Bailey reached for the button on his jeans. She wanted to give him
back some of the pleasure he’d given her, but he caught her hands
in his, stopping her before she could go any further.

Oh God
, thought Trace.
So close and
yet miles away
.

He wanted Bailey with an ache which
threatened to cloud his judgment. When she’d been on his lap,
riding his cock through their clothes, he’d thought maybe they
didn’t need a condom. He knew he was clean and he was sure Bailey
was. And if he got her pregnant, he’d marry her and they could
start the family he wanted so desperately but hadn’t let himself
believe he could have.

Just the thought of Bailey’s slim body
swelling with his child growing inside her was almost enough to tip
him over the edge. They hadn’t made love yet and he was already
losing his mind.

He had to keep his jeans on and zipped or he
didn’t trust himself not to lay her out on the couch, make her come
until she cried out his name and then bury himself inside her –
consequences be damned.

But he couldn’t stop touching her. She was
sweet, God so sweet, and so fucking responsive. She rode him like
she was completely driven by her pleasure and his. It was one of
the sexiest things he’d ever seen. When he’d suckled her and her
back arched, pushing her body closer to his, he thought he’d come
apart. And when she shattered in his arms, under his hands and
mouth, he’d almost followed her. He kissed her, holding her until
her tremors subsided.

When she reached for the button on his jeans,
he had to stop her or he’d lose every bit of his resolve.

“No baby, not yet. I want to come inside you.
I can wait. For now.” He kissed her again and she melted against
him. “Just until tomorrow. Tomorrow,” he said, blowing out a shaky
breath. “I will find a condom, and I will make love to you.”

She looked disappointed, but she nodded and
this time when she started to climb off of his lap he let her. He
missed her the instant her body stopped touching his. It was all he
could do to keep from pulling her back down and making her come all
over again.

She reached for her shirt and he stopped her
before she could cover herself.

“You are so beautiful,” he said and he bent
to taste her again.

He drew her nipple into his mouth, losing
himself for a moment in the feeling of her flesh, tight and sweet
on his tongue. Her gasp of pleasure shot straight to his cock and,
reluctantly, he forced himself to stop while he still had a
chance.

“Are you sure there isn’t a condom somewhere?
Your brothers haven’t left one behind?” he asked only
half-kidding.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “And this
is Bedford, there isn’t anywhere open this time of night.” She
dropped the shirt over her head, hiding her gorgeous breasts from
his view. “I better go before someone notices I’m missing.”

He walked to the door and kissed her, holding
her for a moment too long, but he couldn’t bring himself to let her
go. She was the one who broke the kiss and when she turned to the
door, he touched her arm.

“Tomorrow, Bailey.”

She looked back at him and smiled. “I’ll hold
you to it.”

Chapter15

The Southerland’s flight was delayed three
hours for weather. By the time the entire family found a place to
park and met at the self-check-in kiosk it was almost ten in the
morning.

“Here you go Momma and Daddy. Hold onto
these,” said Blake, handing his parents thin paper boarding passes.
“They’re not going to let you all go any further with us.”

“You didn’t need to come,” said Bailey’s
mother. “But I’m glad you did.”

She hugged each of her children in turn, and
Bailey wrapped her arms around the woman who seemed both small and
incredibly strong. Ever since Blake told her about the trip to
Germany, she been single minded in her focus to do whatever she had
to do to get to her injured son.

“Kiss Travis for me, Momma,” said Bailey.
“Tell him when he comes home I’ll make him shrimp and grits.” It
was her brother’s favorite meal, and she’d used it over the years
as a bribe to get furniture moved and electronics hooked up.

“I’ll tell him, sweetheart. Thank you for
coming home.” She gave Bailey another squeeze and then reached past
her for Trace.

He’d been standing behind Bailey all morning,
a constant steadying presence. But despite the heat of the previous
night, he hadn’t done more than lay a gentle hand on the small of
her back. It was like he understood she needed to keep the two
parts of her world separate until her parents were on the plane and
they were away from her family.

She still couldn’t quite believe how quickly
things had changed between them. How they’d gone from friends to
can’t-get-close-enough in just one night.

“Trace, thank you for bringing our girl home
to us,” her mother said. She pulled him in for a hug and whispered
something against his ear which Bailey couldn’t hear but had Trace
smiling.

“Yes ma’am,” he said. “I will.”

Her father kissed her cheek and shook Trace’s
hand and then they were off, waiting in line at security to put
their shoes and carry-ons in the gray plastic bins. Bailey waited
with her brothers and sisters until Blake and her parents
disappeared through the gate on the other side of security.

“Keep your phone with you,” said Jude. He
hugged her and then shook hands with Trace while she hugged
Autumn.

“You have to come back soon to go wedding
dress shopping with me,” she said.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Bailey
kissed her future sister-in-law’s cheek.

The six of them hugged each other and waved,
still held together by the love and deep understanding of people
who’d known each other their entire lives.

“I can go get the truck,” said Trace when
they got outside the terminal. It was gray, but the rain had died
back to just a drizzle.

“Don’t be silly,” she said. “It’s not that
far. I won’t melt.”

Bailey flipped up the hood on her windbreaker
and clutched her jacket tighter around herself against the damp
chill. She took Trace’s hand and together they bolted across the
short-term parking lot to his truck. Halfway there the sky opened
up again and rain ran down the neck of her parka soaking her thin
cotton T-shirt.

Trace hadn’t brought a jacket and by the time
he was boosting her into the passenger’s side of the cab, his pale
green chambray shirt was dark green and soaked through and his
jeans were a much darker shade of blue. He climbed in behind the
steering wheel, water running off his hair, down his cheeks and off
his jaw. He was soaked to the skin and sexy as hell.

She shifted to face him on the bench seat so
she could enjoy the view. The wet shirt was plastered to his chest,
emphasizing the definition of every muscle.

“Ugh,” he groaned. “I’ve got to get out of
this. Sorry.”

He started unbuttoning his shirt, peeling it
away from his wet skin.

“Nothing to be sorry for,” she said, leaning
back appreciatively. “Not a thing.”

He glanced over, his shirt half off his wet
body and saw her watching him.

“Are you sure?” he said, grinning and making
a show of removing his shirt the rest of the way. “I wouldn’t want
to make you uncomfortable.”

“No worry on my account,” she said, licking
her lips. “I can definitely handle it. In fact, if you’d be more
comfortable without your pants, you could take those off, too.”

Trace laughed, a deep throaty sound, and
Bailey climbed to her knees so she could kiss his cheek, resting
her hand on the damp skin of his chest. She kissed his neck,
licking at a stray drop of water and he groaned.

“Unless you want to miss the dinner service
or have me pull the truck over and take you alongside the road, you
better get back to your side of the seat. I’m a man on the edge
over here.”

It was her turn to laugh. Tempting as it was
to blow off work to spend the night in Trace’s bed, she couldn’t do
that to her staff and customers. Jen and the rest of the staff
could open the restaurant, but she needed to be there for dinner
service. With a two hour drive ahead of them, she’d already be
late. She couldn’t afford to take any more time.

But God, she wanted to.

“Fine,” she said, scooting back to her side
of the cab. “But you promised we’d make love today. You’re not
going back on your promise, are you?”

“I’ll be waiting at your door with a box of
condoms when you close tonight. You better not have any plans
before lunch tomorrow.”