Never Stopped Loving You (12 page)

That sound was nearly his undoing. Breathy. Whispered. Needy. And in Kara’s voice. It was all he’d ever hoped for and he wanted to hear her pant it over and over until she couldn’t speak another word. He knocked the shoulder straps of her bra off and lowered the silky cups and there she was. A piece of her. A beautiful pink tip, budded and waiting for him. He leaned forward and kissed gently first. Made love with his mouth to the weighted underside of her breast. She grabbed at his hair and it was nearly his undoing. She was perfect. If she had responded like this before, they wouldn’t have done anything but park in his truck down a long muddy road. He would have been completely happy and worthless with her like this in his grasp.

He waited so long and with her leaning into him and pleading for more, he could easily make this a quick first of many more times to come, but he didn’t. All this time, there was no rushing this. She was worth the wait and he was going to enjoy her. She whispered his name once again and he drew the tip of her in. Raked his tongue over the sensitive spot. She scraped her fingers across his head, tugged at his hair and jerked him against her breast.

He molded her with one hand; the other he wrapped around her lower back and squeezed her hip.

“Wade,” she cried out, the words snatched away by the wind and left her voice echoing in his head. “I want you. I want you.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing he wasn’t taking it that far. They were not going for what she asked for. He caught her nipple between his teeth and she started, then melted back against him. It didn’t matter the grip he held on her hips, she was rocking. Her center grazed against his cock, which burned for her continued touch. Each barely-there stroke sent a streak of blinding need bolting through his blood.

The thin shorts were easy enough to move around. The sides even had a small split that enabled his entire hand to move up the leg of her shorts without a problem. Was able to grip her thigh. Have the curve of her ass in his hand as her muscles flexed and relaxed to his touch. And feel the damp warmth of her center through her panties and her thighs gripping his hand.

He moved his knuckle along the cotton blocking her entrance. Her breath shuddered. Hands in his hair tugged until he knew he’d lost a few strands. So sensitive. So soft and eager. Moving the elastic aside, Wade closed his eyes, breathed in her sex and touched the very middle of her. Found her hard nub on his first touch and she yelped.

A craving to know her taste filled his mouth. To discover her honey opening on his tongue until she came and he was able to drink in every last bit of her. In time. Not right now, but soon he’d know her flavor, because this was going to happen again. And next time it would be someplace where he could do this right.

The soft skin surrounding her opening parted. Wetness coated his finger as he reached inside and stroked her inner walls. She was so damn tight. So damn soft. He caressed her, his touch slowly growing stronger until she rode against his palm.

This was how he’d wanted her. In his arms, coming apart for his touch.

A helpless cry ripped from her throat, seeped into his burning skin, and it was a sound that would be in his dreams for the rest of his life. Her head tipped, back arched and she brought her breasts to his face, all her muscles gripping him as he stroked.

The orgasm ended, her body softened and she curled against his chest. He removed his hand from her shorts and squeezed his eyes shut. The opening of her body rested inches from his cock. The heat of her seeped through his jeans and set him on fire. All he had to do was lower his zipper, rip open the seam of her cotton shorts and take her now.

Sweat coated his body. Blood throbbed through his head and he blinked to find focus on the breezy morning. He wrapped his arms around her back and held close in a friendly hug where she was half-naked, but his clothes were not coming off. Not even a little.

A sound hummed out of her. Feminine. Happy. Her face was against his neck and there was no mistaking her grin against his shoulder. He rubbed across her back and rested his head against the tree. For a few moments, he was going to enjoy the feel of her being a satisfied woman in his arms. He finally had a little taste of Kara Duncan and like hell was she going anywhere. Then she stiffened and he knew this was the end of it.

“Shit.” The word was soft, uttered low and he nearly missed it.

She put her hands to his chest and started to stand, but he caught her by the wrist first. “You’re done leaving me.”

“I...” Color was still high on her cheeks. Her hair in a mess from his hold, and lips swollen from his mouth. She’d never been more beautiful as her gaze darted from the house to his face and back toward the house.

He slid his hands back in that hair of hers and pulled her forward to his mouth. “No more running away from me. No more hiding. No more leaving without me getting to say something first.”

He kissed her again. Harder than he’d intended but his cock was throbbing with pain he wanted her so damn bad. He poured all he could into that kiss until he had to release for air. Her eyes had gone cloudy with desire again. Slightly unfocused and lost under his touch.

It was tempting to feel his way back between her thighs again, but he was already going to be paying for what he’d done so far and he wasn’t sure he’d mind his manners if she let him have her again. Instead, he shifted her bra back in place, slid the straps back on her shoulders.

His throat was raw. The morning sun now fully in the sky, he held his hand out and this time, there was no hesitation. She slipped hers right in his. He put his other hand to her waist and helped her to stand even though he stayed on the ground. “Don’t you have strawberries you’re supposed to be picking?”

“I...” She glanced toward the fields, her fingers tightened around his. “I do.”

“You should do that.”

“Yes.” She made no move to go anywhere. No move to let his hand go.

“Kara.”

She stared down at him. “Wade?”

“If you don’t go now, I’m going to put you on the ground underneath me and Whitney will likely catch us. I’m hanging on by a thread here.”

Her sweet little eyes got big in her head, lips parted. “I’m so sorry. Do you want—”

“No. Go do your work. I’ll see you later this afternoon.”

She nodded and her fingers slid away from his.

“And Kara?” When she stopped, he continued, “It’s not going to be weird unless you let it.”

“Okay.” She started away and he smiled.

“Kara?”

She spun back around again. “What?”

He nearly laughed aloud, but held it in and fought his smile. “Put your shirt back on first, shortcake.”

Chapter Thirteen

Six hours later and Kara was still mentally back in the orchard with Wade even though she was sitting in Tasha’s ice cream parlor. As Whitney and Tasha laughed about who knew what, Kara was lost in the memories of his touch. His soft caresses. His kiss and then, his parting grin when he had to remind her to put her shirt on. She was so far gone, she wasn’t sure she’d ever come out of it.

Over and over she’d replayed their time together. Tried sorting through what they’d done. That she’d let it happen at all, even though he’d given her the chance to get up and go. Nothing could have pulled her off his lap. She looked in her bowl of ice cream and put a big spoonful of rocky road in her mouth.

It seemed like a good idea until screeching pain ripped through her head in the form of a brain freeze. She dropped her spoon and grabbed her head with a whimper.

“Easy now.” Tasha patted her back. “I have more that you can have, but not if you’re going to choke yourself to death on it.”

Kara glanced to her, then to the pack of old ladies with Mrs. Opal at the center of them. Every time she looked in that direction, she found Mrs. Opal looking back. Kara had used to like that woman. She was a weekend regular at Chester House for the group Jana would entertain. She had even put Kara’s hair in a French braid before. This morning, Kara wished the woman would get up and take her whispering group with her.

She didn’t know what all they talked about, but the night at the bar had certainly made the rounds. There was no missing them gossiping about how she’d shown up in the bar with Wade and left with John and come back alone after several long minutes.
Minutes
being the important word, but their emphasis was on
long
, making it sound like she’d slipped outside for twenty or more minutes. At best, it had maybe been four.

Even when she was trying to be good, she managed to screw up. She glanced at the piles of ice cream in her bowl and dug in for another massive spoonful. Ice cream was the food of choice for thinking about men and life problems. Kara had a lot of thinking to do.

Tasha ripped several napkins out and put them on the table and some in her lap. “Good Lord, you eat like Patrick.”

Whitney frowned and cupped her arm. “Are you all right?”

Kara looked at them both between another bite of ice cream and then settled her gaze on Tasha. “Can I ask you something personal?”

“Not until you swallow that mouthful first.”

Kara rolled the sweet, chocolaty ice cream over her tongue and was able to swallow it all down. She started to speak, but Whitney pushed her cup to her first. Probably a good idea and she took a quick drink. “How do you make your relationship work with Patrick?”

Tasha stared at her. She didn’t laugh or look surprised, but just in thought. “Hmm. I don’t know. It just does. We fight like normal couples and stuff and all that. Our marriage isn’t perfect. I don’t think anyone’s is, but what we have is always worth making up for. I couldn’t imagine not having him in my life.”

“Y’all have been together a long time. The oldest looked five years old?”

Tasha’s smile was wide. “Six. Almost seven. Even still, we just knew. He made me happy. I made him happy. With Patrick, there’s just this spark. Even when he drives me crazy, I couldn’t image not being with him. We were together a couple months and I ended up pregnant. When we got married a month later, I knew it was right by the way I felt about him. He’s my best friend.”

Whitney put her hand on Kara’s back. “Is everything okay?”

Best friends. That’s what Kara wanted and she smiled. “I think it will be soon. Thanks, Tasha. That’s exactly what I needed to hear to solve my Wade problem.”

Whitney blinked. “You have a Wade problem you haven’t told me about?”

She laughed, already feeling heat back in her face. Her nipples pebbled, so deliciously sensitive and raw from his whiskers...and teeth. “I’m pretty sure it would involve hands over ears and you singing your
las
.”

Whitney’s mouth dropped. Closed, then opened. She sat back in her chair and waved her off with a flick of her wrists. “I was going to ask, but never mind. I don’t think I want to know.”

Tasha made a face. “Screw you, Whitney, because with a grin like that, I want details.”

A giddy laugh bunched through Kara’s belly. “We, um...” She glanced to Whitney then back to Tasha. She leaned over the table to whisper so the old crows at the other table couldn’t hear. “In the peach orchard this morning, things got a little heated. I’ve been trying to find a way to sort all this out. And you’re exactly right, Tasha, I’ll know it’s right if he becomes my friend and I can’t imagine life without him.” The laughter died in her throat. “Since I fled this place all those years ago, I don’t think we’re there yet.”

Not that it had been easy to be gone, but it should have been impossible to be away from Wade, no matter what she’d done. She winced, knowing she still had to have that conversation with John and knowing she was hiding on Chester Farms every chance she got to avoid it.

And she really needed to get on that. Time was ticking and the longer she waited, the worse it was going to be. She’d found a note stuck to her door already. Just letting her know he’d stopped by and to call him when she got a chance. She shivered, knowing she wouldn’t be seeing him for what he thought.

The bell over the door rang and Kara glanced up. Her cheeks turned colder than her bowl of ice cream as half the “Bella Bitches” walked in the door.

Mary walked in at the head of the pack. “Look, y’all, it’s Kara Duncan. Should we take our bets now? Five dollars says we know what color her panties are before our ice cream melts.”

Ashley was in next. “Nah. I’ll buy everyone’s ice cream when she loses her mind in the next ten minutes and throws her bowl at your head.”

Whitney’s eyes were narrowed. Kara reached out to stop her, but she wasn’t fast enough. “Would you look at that, I never knew so many horse asses could fit in one place.”

The corner of Tasha’s lips tipped up. “It’s easy when they’re all rammed up inside each other.”

Maddy shrieked. “That’s no way to talk to customers. I’m going somewhere else.”

“Good, I don’t like feeding the animals.” Tasha swirled a sprinkle-crusted bit of ice cream on her spoon and slid it in her mouth with a smile.

Not only did the Bella Bitches head for the door, but the old crows across the room stood and left their mess on the table. If their noses were in the air any higher, they’d bleed.

Maddy paused by their table with a gaze that couldn’t get any hotter if the devil was surfing it. “Stay away from my son, Kara. I don’t want your crazy rubbing off on Aiden.”

“Stay away from my brother, Maddy, I don’t want
your
crazy on him.”

“I haven’t seen Wade in weeks.”

“Was that the last time he mowed Kara’s yard for her and you hung your boobs over the fence in a pathetic way to get his attention?”

“Don’t be jealous because you’re a member of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee.”

With that, the Bella Bitches went out the door. Whitney’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head. “I hate that woman.”

“I can’t believe they’re still miserable as ever.” Kara sagged against her chair once they were gone. She looked to Tasha. “You shouldn’t have done that, Tasha. This is your business. I’ll be fine.”

Tasha flicked her wrist at her. “I’m the only place you can get a good scoop of ice cream for miles. When it gets hot, they’ll be back.”

She looked to Whitney, but before she could get a word out, Whitney was already shaking her head. “Don’t even start that with me. Finish your ice cream, keep that dream look on your face or whatever you want, but if you think of telling me to watch my mouth over that heifer, I’m going to slap you.”

Kara laughed and ate the last of her ice cream. She needed to get back to the house to finish up today’s work. Then she had something to do with her life. While Kara needed to talk with John, she wanted to see Wade first. She had a plan and it was time to get on that.

When they got to the house he was in the kitchen. Good. They could get right to it while it was still fresh on her mind. She stood on the opposite side of the kitchen island and would most certainly dance around the counter if he tried coming around to her. If he touched her, all bets were off on her plans. That time in the orchard was far too clear and fresh.

And she really liked this idea Tasha had given her. She had hope for a chance of a happy future. It wasn’t something she’d felt would come true in a really, really long time.

Wade tossed his napkin in the trash and smiled when he looked up and their gazes met.

That simple gesture. A little smile. Something so small had such a huge effect that tickled all the way through her body. “Hey there.”

She got right to it before losing track of her thoughts. She had a habit of that when he was around. “I want us to slow down.” At his lifted brow, she pushed on. “I mean it. I’ve been trying to find a way to make this all work without feeling like the rug is going to be ripped out from under me. The best bet is for us to slow down.”

“Slow...down.” He blinked. His hands dropped in his pockets and it made his shoulders appear larger. He leaned against the counter at his back and the loose T-shirt he wore flattened against his stomach. He was all muscle there. She’d felt him against her that morning and she really wanted to get her hands on him. Wanted to put her mouth on that spot just above the button on his jeans...

“Kara.”

...then release the snap of his pants and lower the zipper and free him into her hands. And then take him in her mouth. “Hmm?”

“If you want to slow us down, you better quit staring at my pants and look at my face. You’re killing me, honey, especially after this morning.”

Her mouth dropped. Oh my God. He was right. She put her gaze on his amused face. There was no point denying anything. “I think it’s for the best.”

“How do you want to do this?”

“No more fooling around.” She could have kicked him and he likely wouldn’t look as pathetic. Those strong, broad shoulders fell like dropped weights. Seemed like a good time as any to get the rest of her plan out there. “I want us to find the friendship we used to have.”

He scrubbed a hand over his face and muttered something. Between his low voice and his hand over his mouth, she didn’t catch any of it beyond a few choice four-letter words. “What are the rules?”

She blinked. “Rules?”

He walked forward and leaned on the counter, resting on his forearms, making his shoulders and biceps look massive. Being bent over, he was lower than her. His head tilted up and she was jerked back to that morning when he’d lifted her forward, kissed her stomach and stared up at her.

“Kara.” He laughed when she blinked the moment away and focused on his face. “What do I need to do to earn another kiss? What about another day under the peach trees with you? And what I’d really like, in a bedroom with you.”

Wait. Like a game? Or he thought this was a series of steps? No, that wasn’t it and, oh boy. She pulled in a deep breath. “Nothing.”

He grinned. “I don’t have to do anything to earn touching you? I’m in then.”

She shook her head and cleared the frog from her throat. “No, I mean, we do nothing. None of that. We go back to how we were before that night. Before you got in the truck and you slid across the seat to me. Just friends.”

He gaped at her. “No benefits.”

She licked her lips and nodded. This idea was shit now that she was putting it on the table with him standing right there in front of her and making her see how much she was giving up. She wouldn’t back away, though. In the end, it would be worth it. Hell, in fifteen minutes, after he walked away and her blood quit racing, it was going to be worth it. Steady and slow. If she went slow, didn’t make a rash decision, then the chances of another mistake would be slim. Or that was the plan. “Exactly.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“Serious as a heart attack.”

“Why?”

She waited, wondering how to get into that, but decided honesty was best. Honesty was always best. “I was talking to Tasha about her marriage with Patrick.”

“Christ.” He dropped his head to the table and muttered more. This time he was louder and she very, very clearly picked up on some language. Nothing that was directed at her. At least, she didn’t think so. “I think we’re getting on pretty good as we are.”

He started reaching across the counter and she moved a giant step back. Touching was off-limits until they were in agreement. “Wait. Hear me out. She said she’s happy and knows they’ll make it because they’re each other’s best friend and that she couldn’t imagine not having him.”

His face was soft, eyebrows lifted and he looked so pathetically pleading. “Do I get any other choices?”

Be strong
,
Kara.
She dropped his hungry gaze crying out for her to close that distance between them. “Not really.”

“Spoken like a woman, but you have to do better. I don’t agree.”

She smiled. “This is my home too. Chester Farms is.” She pulled out a chair and sat, elbows on the counter. “Did you know your momma and daddy pulled me in the den one night when I was a girl and told me I was welcome here any time I wanted?”

His eyes softened. “I didn’t know that.”

“Your daddy helped with my math homework. Your mom showed me how to make a flakey, buttery pie crust right here on this countertop.” She brushed at the clean bar. “I don’t own the land, I’m not related, I don’t even have a bedroom here, but this is my home too. I lost it before because I never stopped and realized what my actions were really doing. I had been so focused on one goal and I don’t want to do that again. I’m just starting to get my home back, and if we don’t work out, I’m going to lose it all again. It doesn’t matter how serious we get or how fun we stay, I won’t be able to stay here when it’s all over. I’m not saying no, I’m asking that we slow down until I can figure out how I fit in here again and know I won’t be able to leave no matter what happens.”

“Kara, you’re always welcome here.”