Once and Again: Petal, Georgia, Book 1 (12 page)

Large, strong hands cupped her ass, holding her in place as he rolled his hips, bringing his cock to slide against the outside of her pussy until she thought she might come just from that.

But he wasn’t done.

Nathan was pretty sure he’d embarrass himself something fierce if he put his cock near any warm, wet part of her right at that moment. It was so much just then, having her with him again after so long. Her gorgeous curves naked to his gaze and his touch.

The way she writhed against him was enough to make him clench his jaw, so he rolled her again and loomed above her body to get a better look. The silver bar through her right nipple was a surprise. A hot one at that. Knowing she had a tattoo and a piercing under those clothes of hers would torment his cock forever now. As if he wasn’t already tormented every time he caught sight of her around town.

He kissed over that sweet blade of her collarbone, loving the way her fingers slid into his hair and held him to her. On to the nipples, first the unpierced left and then the right where he played with the bar, learning her, pleasing himself as well. Down over the softness of her belly, the scent of her arousal drawing him exactly where he wanted to be.

Sweet Christ, her taste when he drew her thighs apart and took a lick was so good he groaned nearly as loud as she did. Over and over again as he took her higher and higher. Listened to her cues as she tugged his hair to hit certain spots in certain ways. It wasn’t the first time he’d gone down on her, but he wanted it to be the best time for her.

When she came, the sounds she made, the sounds she
still
made rocked him to his foundations as he realized he’d been looking for that sound for years to no avail. Rocked him to realize he’d never let go of her and sure as hell wasn’t going to now that he had her back.

He looked up the line of her body to see her face. To watch her sleepy eyes widen when he licked his lips.

“I want you in me.”

He was up and searching through his toiletries bag in moments, hoping and praying a condom was somewhere to be found. It took him a bit, but he returned to her, victorious.

He was feeling pretty studly until she got to her hands and knees and sent him a look over her shoulder. “Get to it, cowboy.”

“You’re going to kill me,” he said as he ripped the packet with his teeth and got the condom on in seconds flat.

“Yes? But not until after you’re finished.”

This Lily was more confident than the younger version. It made him even hotter for her, this absolute sense of ownership of her sexuality. Nothing was sexier in his mind than a woman who knew what she wanted and went for it.

“You seem less than worried about the me-being-dead part.” He got on the mattress. “Turn around. I want to watch.” He indicated the mirror above the dresser across the room.

She turned and then blushed a little before sending him a smile. “All right. And really, as long as you wait until you’re done…”

He slapped her ass playfully and forgot all jokes as he spread her open and started the slow push into her body. Watching the pink flush over her skin and the way her breasts jiggled as she squirmed back to meet his thrust was sweet torture. The tattoo on her back was beautiful, and he bent to kiss her spine, having to pause as he seated himself completely inside the inferno-hot embrace of her pussy.

“More,” she whispered, meeting his gaze in the mirror.

Gathering her hair back away from her face, he shifted to grip her hips. “Your wish is my command.” And began to fuck her in earnest.

He still fit perfectly, as if she were made for him. Now he could believe that. He could believe that this woman with him, the woman whose scent lived in his blood was meant for him. He’d been too young and prideful before. Nathan the man knew just what it meant to have this sort of connection.

He held the words back, wanting to save them for when she might believe them. Knowing her she’d make up reasons to not believe him if he told her what he felt while buried to his balls in her body.

Instead he fell into a rhythm, ramping up the speed and force of his hips as he drew closer to climax. The sounds she made only stripped him of any real control. In her, around her, on her, he knew it was good. Knew he wanted more. His body responded to hers just like the rest of him did.

He slid a hand around the front of her body, finding her still very wet and ready. He brushed his fingertips over her clit, delighting in her gasp. The way she tightened around him brought a grunt of satisfaction. “So good. Lily, come for me again.”

She pressed back all the way, taking him in deep and tightened, coming hard and fast, bringing his climax in response as the pleasure of it all inundated him, drowned him until they both collapsed to the mattress, breathing hard.

“Is there any special story about the tattoo?” he asked as they lounged in bed. Tracing over the curls and swirls and the occasional flower, he liked the way her skin felt, liked the weight of her body next to him.

“Not really. I…knew the tattoo artist and had admired his work. I had a picture of this wrought-iron work I really liked with these curves. It stayed with me, so I took it in for him to look at. Later I added the flowers because I wanted a little bit of color.”

“Sexy. And
knew
in the biblical sense?”

She laughed and turned to him, presenting him with a bounty of new things to visually feast on. “I don’t know that I’d say that. Yes, I dated him a while. But we never…we didn’t have…” She laughed again. “We never fucked. We messed around a little, and this is quite detailed and I’m sure you don’t actually care. But anyway. I knew him and admired his talent and he did a great job. No great meaning, I just thought it was pretty.”

He frowned. “I do care. I shouldn’t. Of course you had a life after we split up and all. But I guess I don’t like that another man got to be in your bed.”

One of her brows rose. “You were engaged to be married. Really, Nathan, Stephanie Prater?” She rolled her eyes and snorted. “I’ve seen her in town several times now, of course. She did stop to tell me what an awesome lay you were.”

Mortification rose. “Tate tried to warn me she was all wrong for me.”

“I suppose all that blonde hair and the breasts blinded you to her true nature. Really, Nathan, she’s a vile, vile creature.”

He knew.

“I know. I’m sorry she said that.” He paused. “What did you say back?”

“I told her I knew because I’d been all up in it for two years before she ever came along and I hoped I’d rendered some good training for the boring lay she must have been.” Lily smiled brightly, and he laughed and laughed some more, holding her to him.

“I’ve missed you.”

She took a deep breath and tried to move away but he shook his head. “Oh no you don’t. No more pushing me away. I know you want me, Lily. I know you like being with me. You can lie to yourself if you want, but you can’t lie to me.”

“You mesmerized me once and again with your cock. It’s like you’re carrying four rolls of quarters down the front of your jeans. How can I resist?”

He shook his head. “Baby, you and your sweet nothings will turn a man’s head. Anyway, it’s more than my apparently massive cock.
Four?
You like me. You like being Nathan and Lily again.”

“Look, Nathan, you’re still Chris’s teacher. In case it’s escaped your notice we live in a small town where even what kinds of birds eat at which feeders in which yard are a topic for gossip. Chris has had enough to deal with after what happened with our father. People are still talking about it. I can’t do this and make it even worse for him.”

“Thank God he’s got you.” Nathan wasn’t all that impressed with Pamela and her parenting. He understood she’d been devastated when her husband up and left, though it was common knowledge he’d been catting around for years. But that was no excuse to just stop being a mother to a teenager. He was convinced that without Lily’s intervention things would have gotten far worse for Chris.

“I keep hoping my mother will get her act together.”

“That why you decided to stay?”

She made a face, and he knew he was poking her out of her comfort zone. She didn’t like to speak ill of her family, he got it and he respected that. She’d already shared negatives about her mother and sister as well. But it was different when it was him. He wanted her to remember, to trust him like she used to.

“He’s had enough people fail him. Whatever the reason for it. I had a good mom growing up. Scattered maybe, but she was there after school. Drove me to this and that. And even then my dad was pretty good. Chris is my family. He needs me and that’s that. So this thing”—she waved a hand between them—“isn’t possible right now.”

He canted his hips, brushing his cock against her. “Oh it is. I’ve got great recovery where you’re concerned. And it
is
happening. It happened twice if I recall correctly. And it will happen again. You know it.”

She got up and moved to the windows, the light framing her.

“We can keep it quiet until the school year ends. He won’t be my student anymore. Be with me, Lily.” He hated that it sounded as if he was begging. But he needed her. And now that he’d had her in bed again, he wasn’t going to let that go. This was it for him. She was the one.

She turned, keeping her distance, which was a good thing because she looked so sexy and tousled he would have been all over her if she’d been within reach.

“We have to keep it quiet. I mean it. I won’t hurt him any more than he’s already been hurt.”

Now that she’d acquiesced, he relaxed into a satisfied man. “Adds some spice I say. Keeping it quiet.” And it wasn’t that much longer.

“All right. We can keep doing this part.”

“This part?”

“The sex part, silly.”

Oh did she think so? Did she think he’d look at her face and believe all she wanted was a hot fuck? Did she think he’d ever, for one minute, be satisfied with what his parents had and then proceeded to destroy over decades?

“I’m not interested in you as a quick, furtive fuck.”

Lily heard the anger in his voice and moments later figured out why. She moved to him, sliding back into bed and close to him again. Damn it, she still loved him. Probably never stopped. But it wouldn’t do to get attached. No. Still, she didn’t mean to hurt him. That she’d make a comparison between his drunk of an abusive father and his skank of a mother, even not meaning to, was untenable. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. You’re not him and I’m sure as hell not her. I meant we can…”

“This is how it is, Lily. You aren’t just some random woman I’m dating. I’m up front with you right now that I want something deeper. We
have
something deeper. We always have. So don’t insult either one of us by saying something stupid. What we have is more than friends. And that’s how I like it. We’re together.”

She sat up, angry herself. “Really? Like before?”

“I deserve that. And more most likely. But things are different. We’re different. You’re the only woman I want. Full stop. There’s no one else. Nothing else, but you. I wouldn’t be able to assert that as totally surely as I can now if I hadn’t lost it and known what it was to be without you. But secret for a little while or not, we’re together, Lily.”

Torn between wanting to believe and wanting to deny it, she said nothing as she watched him, so beautiful and male, spread out in bed like the best-looking item on any menu ever.

“I like it when you look at me that way. Say you’re with me, Lily.”

She sighed. “You broke my heart, Nathan. It took me years to get over you.
Years
. It wasn’t the kiss, it was the way you loved me one minute and tossed me away the next. You made me feel like absolutely nothing.” That her voice broke as she said the words should have embarrassed her, but it felt good to say. To let him know the outcome of what he’d done.

Good to remind herself that this little fun time in bed was great, but the devastation he left, that she slogged through as a result of his so-called love, had been a heavy burden for some time. She had enough burdens just then.

“All my life, until you, I’d never felt that. Being with you made me feel beautiful. Smart and strong and perfect.” She snorted a laugh. “You loved me and then you made me feel like I didn’t even exist.”

He looked stricken and for a moment she felt bad. But just a moment.

“I’m sorry.” He sat up and leaned over to tuck her hair behind an ear. “I never meant to hurt you. I was careless. Careless and selfish and more like my dad than I want to admit. That I made you feel that way when you were so much to me, I’m ashamed of that.”

“I didn’t wait to hear your explanation. I couldn’t see you there with another person. Doing with her what you did with me. I had to go. I never thought you’d…” She shook her head. “It’s gone. Done. Past and neither of us can go back and change it.”

“Will you let me earn your trust again?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? But she was here in his room, naked to him physically and emotionally already. She’d never uttered those words to anyone after they’d broken things off. Sure she talked about it on the surface, but the rejection, feeling like she was totally nothing to him after she’d felt like everything, the shock of it had sent her reeling. Her confidence had taken a hit. She wouldn’t be who she was now if he hadn’t been such a careless ass.

She’d rebuilt herself and she’d done it for
her
. Not for a man. Not because someone else thought it was a good thing. She’d found a way to believe in herself and she’d done it on her own. She owed that to him in a twisted way.

“I don’t know, Nathan. Maybe we can work on it.”

“That’s all I’m asking.”

She snorted. “No it isn’t. You want everything and you want it right now.”

He blushed and she found herself charmed again, by this man she’d shared so much of her life with. By this man who’d been her friend before her lover and just might be her friend again.

“I have that problem when it comes to you. But I’ll try to rein it in.” He slid the pad of his thumb over the swell of her bottom lip and sent shivers through her.