Somebody's Lover (10 page)

Taylor knew what that whole scene
yesterday in Evelyn’s kitchen was about. Jace wanted to see how far he could
push her.

How far
would
she go? She
wasn’t sure. But she did know that if David hadn’t walked in, she’d have
followed Jace to his old room in his mom’s house and gone down on her knees for
him.

She knocked her morning coffee over
all the papers on her desk. “Darn it.”

Evelyn hurried over with a roll of
paper towels, and they mopped and sopped together.

“You’ve seemed pretty preoccupied
lately.”

Taylor avoided Evelyn’s gaze. “Too
much coffee. It makes me jittery.” That had been her first cup of the day.

Taylor couldn’t think of another
single thing to say, but her mother-in-law stood there a little longer,
waiting. All of a sudden, Evelyn had started making Taylor nervous.

“Really, Mom, everything’s fine and
dandy.”

After one last look, Evelyn sighed.
“I’ll go to the bank then. Arthur didn’t give me last week’s receipts until
this morning.”

“Bad Arthur,” Taylor said.

That won her a smile, and her
tension eased. A tiny bit.

Evelyn fluttered around her desk,
gathering her purse, the deposit bag, her keys. Then she waggled her fingers
and left.

Lord. Taylor took her coffee mug
back to the kitchenette to refill. The front door opened. Boots stomped across
the floor, and everything inside her went still. Jace stopped in the doorway,
legs apart, hands in his back pockets. The stance pulled his T-shirt tight. She
almost fainted with need.

“Where’s Mom?”

“She went to the bank.” Gone for at
least an hour.

“How long ago did she leave?”

“A few minutes.” She couldn’t
breathe thinking of the possibilities.

“We need to talk.” They could no
longer just talk, but he went on before she said that. “These phone calls make
me nuts.”

“They make me nuts, too,” she
whispered. They weren’t enough. Her heart pounded. She bit the inside of her
lip so hard she tasted blood. She felt hot, needy, and dangerous. Then she
grabbed his hand, pulling him past the small refrigerator, microwave, and
coffeemaker.

“Taylor, what the hell are you
doing?”

Opening the bathroom door, she
shoved him inside, then turned the lock and leaned back. “I don’t want to
talk.”

He blinked, his breathing harsh.
“Taylor.” That was all. It held a wealth of meaning. Evelyn might return. The
risk. The hurt, if anyone found out. She knew all the reasons why they
shouldn’t and was too addicted to care.

“I didn’t wear panties today.”

His eyes widened, darkened.
“Christ, you’re killing me.”

“Then put us both out of our
misery.”

His fingers flexed. Right and wrong
warred with need. He lost the battle. Putting his hands on her waist, he
pivoted and set her against the sink with her back to him. His hands skated
beneath her jean skirt, pushing it high. “I can’t think I wanna fuck you so
bad.”

She held onto the sink with numb
fingers. His words, laced with heated longing, almost made her knees buckle. In
the mirror, she saw him rip open a condom with his teeth and bend his head. The
backs of his hands brushed her bottom as he rolled it on. He might not have
planned this outcome, but he was prepared.

Then he stopped, gazing at her
reflection, his fingers twitching on her hips. “Are you sure, Taylor? Now?
Here?”

He was making the decision to stop
irrevocably hers. The choice hers, but the act would belong to both of them.
“God, now, please.”

He closed his eyes and put his head
back, dipping to run his hand between her legs. Stroking her clitoris, testing
how wet she was. How hot.

“Come first, before I do you,” he
told her. “So I can watch.”

He withdrew, then came back at her
from the front. She moved with his hand, meeting his gaze in the mirror.

“Does it make you feel out of
control?”

She nodded, then gasped as he
pressed a finger deep inside. He shoved her up on that cliff edge ready to dive
off, then pulled her head back by her hair and kissed her. Long, deep strokes
of his tongue in time with his finger.

“Come on, baby. Open your eyes and
watch.” He held her face to his cheek and made her watch herself.

Her skin flushed to pink. She
breathed through her mouth, small pants, soft moans. Then she couldn’t keep her
eyes open. Squeezing them shut, she cried out, soft and low, as her orgasm
pulsed up from his touch and shot through. She trembled, would have fallen if
he hadn’t wrapped an arm beneath her breasts.

He licked her ear and rocked
against her bottom.

They weren’t done, far from done.
“I want you inside me.”

“Your wish is my command.” Leaning
back, he bent her forward with his hand on her spine, then dipped and spread
her to receive him. Hot and hard, he filled her. She wanted to close her eyes
to savor the feel of him, how easily he slid inside, how perfectly he fit. But
more, she wanted to watch his expression.

Hair rumpled on one side where he’d
rubbed against her cheek. His mouth open to grab air. His eyes half-lidded as
he buried himself in her heat.

“That feels so fucking good. I
missed it so bad.”

She held onto the edge of the sink
as he began to move, thrusting high, withdrawing, pushing her up to the brink
again.

“Look at me,” she whispered.

Rich brown eyes the color and depth
of the earth itself. She reached back, pulled his face to her throat and
threaded her fingers through his hair as soft and as thick as fur.

Over her shoulder, he watched as he
pumped inside. So hot. So good. So strong.

He put a finger to her clitoris and
she flew clear through the roof. Biting down on her throat, he came, pulsing
inside her even as he thrust one last time, hard and high and deep, then held
her tight to his body.

Their hearts raced together, their
breath mingling. Taylor floated back down to earth in his arms. And opened her
eyes to stare at their reflection.

Lou stood behind her, holding her.

For a brief moment, he looked so
much like Lou, she thought she was dreaming.

But it wasn’t Lou. It was Jace. And
Lou had never made her feel the way Jace did. Never. Not even in the beginning.

Jace tipped his head. “What?”

She swallowed. Lou had never made
her want to throw all thought and caution to the winds.

“That was good,” she whispered. Lou
had never taken her so completely out of herself.

“Yeah. Fucking perfect,” Jace
murmured, turning to kiss the slight red mark his bite had left.

Lou had never made sex perfect.

She’d fallen in love with him the
day she met his family. His mother, his father, his loud, obnoxious brothers.
His big, open, loving family so unlike her own. She’d fallen in love with all
of them. She’d wanted them for her very own.

Lou had been the way to make sure
they loved her, too. But he’d never made her feel the way Jace did.

“What’s going on in that mind of
yours?”

Jace made her hot, bothered, crazy,
needy, wonderful, wanted. He made her feel like a woman. Not just somebody’s
mother or somebody’s wife. But somebody’s lover. His lover.

She was too unsure of her newfound
realizations to answer.

“You’re getting freaky, Taylor.” He
pushed inside her, as if he thought she needed reminding that he was there.

She couldn’t forget. She wanted him
again. She wanted to taste him, swallow him, keep him inside.

She’d loved Lou, had thought she’d
fall apart when he died, but he’d never made her ache for one more touch. Not
the way Jace did. She tried telling herself it was just sex. Because it had
been so long. And she’d been so needy. But it was so much more.

Lord. Jace. She closed her eyes and
pulled in a long, deep breath until her chest hurt.

She’d loved Lou. But she’d loved
his family more. Now suddenly, Jace had become more important to her than Lou
had ever been. The disloyalty of it ate at her from the inside out.

More than the family stood between
them. Lou himself did. The way he’d died. The way Jace felt about that. She
didn’t know if she had the courage to talk to him about it. If she ever would.

She didn’t know if she had the
courage to admit she’d never loved Lou the way she should have.

* * * * *

She scared the shit out of him.

He pulled out of her, aching to
stay, then tossed the condom in the toilet, flushed, and did up his pants.

She shimmied her skirt down, not
meeting his eyes. “You looked like Lou for a minute.”

Christ. Shit. Lou. His dead
brother. The brother he let down. The brother he let die.

What the hell did he expect? He’d
been doing her for a week. Lou was years ahead of him. She wouldn’t forget Lou,
not after a week. Or a month. Maybe not even a lifetime.

“I’m not my brother’s replacement.”
He wanted to ram his hands through his hair. He wanted to lay her down on the
floor and fuck her until she didn’t remember who the hell Lou was.

“I know you’re not Lou.”

What did that mean?

She pulled her skirt down and
smoothed her hair. “I have to think. I need to think.”

Don’t think. Please don’t think.
Don’t remember. Choose me.
He wanted to howl like a wounded animal. He
would pay for what he did to Lou for the rest of his life. He deserved to pay.
But he couldn’t stand here and watch her slip away from him.

“I gotta go. I’m meeting Dad and
the guys out in Bentonville.”

He’d seen his mother driving away
and had known Taylor would be alone. He’d taken to carrying the goddamn condoms
in his pocket, but she’d been the one to yank the rug out from under him,
dragging him into the bathroom. For a minute, he’d freaked out, but then he’d
been lost in her. Until she remembered Lou.

He unlocked the door.

“Jace.”

Christ. She was going to tell him
she couldn’t do this again. She was going to tell him to take a hike. Couldn’t
she tell he was dying here? If he turned to her, he’d wrap his hands in her
hair and drag her with him kicking and screaming.

“What?”

“Kiss me before you go.”

He couldn’t breathe. He closed his
eyes and squeezed the doorknob until his hand was close to the breaking point.

“Please, Jace.”

She ran her finger down his arm in
the softest caress. Taken in by her touch, he did what she asked without a clue
to its meaning. Don’t-ever-let-me-go kiss? Or good-bye kiss?

Cupping her face, he stroked her
lips with his tongue. Then he took her mouth with all the love in his heart.
She didn’t touch him with anything but her mouth, yet that kiss was the
sweetest damn thing he’d ever tasted.

He let go and backed out of the bathroom.

“Thank you, Jace.”

“Don’t thank me.”
What does it
all mean, Taylor?

At the door of the kitchenette, he
ran smack dab into Connie.

Startled, she bounced back like a
little butter ball despite the fact that she was a tiny thing.

“Jace”—she tilted her head around
his arm—“where’re Evelyn and Taylor?”

How long had Connie been standing
there? Behind her, the front door stood open. She’d dumped her bag on Taylor’s
desk.

“Mom’s gone to the bank, and
Taylor’s getting some coffee.”

Taylor appeared, coffee in hand.
“Hey, Connie, what’s up?”

Cool as an ice queen. Those minutes
in the bathroom might never have happened. He, on the other hand, hadn’t sewn
his heart back together yet. “Gotta go.”

Connie didn’t move out of his way.
He was in the mood to brush her aside.

She looked from him to Taylor and
back again, then got that little Connie-flash in her eyes.
Connie-the-know-it-all. Connie-the-I-know-your-secret. Mitch’s wife packed a
punch into every look.

“Taylor, I came by to ask if you’d
let me have the boys tonight. Peter wants a sleepover because it’s the last day
of school. He wants to celebrate.” She gave Jace another Connie-flash, this one
saying she was setting him up but good. “I know that means you’ll be all alone
tonight, but pretty please.”

That said it all. Connie knew
something was up. He checked his jeans. Thank Christ his zipper was closed.
Connie had her teeth into something, and pretty soon his mother, father, and
brothers would know Connie had almost caught Taylor and Jace doing...something.
He didn’t give a flying rat’s ass. If it was out in the open, Taylor wouldn’t
be able to hide from it either. She’d have to make up her mind.

He’d need to ask her the question
first.

“Of course, the boys can come
over.” Taylor hadn’t moved, neither closer to him nor farther from him. “I
don’t mind being alone for a night.”

He glanced at her, only to find the
look in her eyes unreadable.

Well, she wouldn’t be alone
tonight. Then tomorrow morning, he’d ask his question, and she’d need to figure
out her answer.

He couldn’t stand sharing her
anymore. Not even with her husband.

“Now what did you really come over
for, Connie?” Because Connie could have
called
to invite the boys for a
sleepover.

Just like that, Connie burst into
tears, where moments before, she’d been smiling.

“I’m not pregnant.”

Taylor patted Connie’s hand and
murmured, “There, there.”

It was a blessing in disguise, not
that she’d convince Connie of that. Children were an awesome responsibility,
not one to be taken lightly. And no matter what anyone said about how three was
cheaper than two or two was cheaper than one, it was crap. Personally, Taylor
didn’t know what she would have done without Lou’s life insurance.

“And Mitch doesn’t even want to
touch me anymore,” Connie buried her face in her arms.