Waiting for You (13 page)

“You will,” he promised, and from the way his face lit up she knew he hadn’t been sure she’d say yes. “Now climb up behind me and hang on tight.”

How could a girl resist an invitation like that?

Jake put on his own helmet and faced forward again, and Erin scrambled up behind him. Her seat was higher than his and it seemed natural to move close. When the engine roared to life and they actually started to move, she squeaked and slid her arms around his waist.

Fear gripped her, but only for a second. Then she felt the wind, and saw the world rushing by, and felt the sheer masculine power of the man in front of her and the machine they were riding.

And she was hooked.

She loved the way Jake leaned into turns. It felt more like riding a horse than riding a car, the way he seemed so in tune with his machine and the way he guided all that raw power with his body. Peering over his shoulder at the road stretching out in front of them, she wished suddenly that they could keep going forever, towards the horizon, racing the sun and then racing the moon.

When they reached the lake and Jake turned off the engine, she didn’t let go of him right away. She didn’t want to lose this feeling.

Jake pulled off his helmet. “You okay back there?” he asked over his shoulder.

“That was incredible!”

She felt him relax. “You mean it?”

She finally let go of him so she could pull off her own helmet. “Jake, I loved it. I didn’t want to stop. Can we go somewhere after lunch? I mean, for a longer ride?”

He slid off the bike and then held out a hand to help her off. “Hell, yes. We can ride all afternoon if you want.” He grinned at her. “I knew there was a biker chick inside of you, just waiting to come out.”

She grinned back. “I don’t know about that. But I definitely want more of whatever it is I just felt.”

Her words came out sounding a lot sexier than she’d intended, and she saw the look that flashed into Jake’s eyes before he turned away to open the leather saddlebags.

He wanted her. But as he kept his back to her and unpacked their picnic, Erin knew he was as determined as ever to resist the chemistry between them.

Erin walked away a few yards and looked out at the lake, rippling like silk in the breeze.

She was wearing a blue tank top that left her arms bare. As she hugged herself around the waist she looked down to see goose bumps prickling every inch of her flesh.

It was as warm as a summer day, so she couldn’t blame it on the weather. This was something else—something that crackled across her skin like electricity.

She turned to look at Jake. He was still focused on their picnic, spreading a blanket down over the grass and setting out containers of food. After a minute he glanced up.

“Come and get it,” he called out.

Another irresistible invitation, she thought as she sat down beside him on the blanket. There was fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad and strawberries, and as she watched him fill her plate and hand her a cup of sparkling cider, she was suddenly ravenous.

“So, how does it look? It’s all courtesy of Allison.”

“It looks delicious,” she said, meeting his eyes over the rim of her paper cup.

His eyes locked on hers for a minute before he looked away. “Have you thought about where do you want to go? For our ride after lunch.”

“Anywhere you’re willing to take me.”

***

They rode for two hours, and the fact that he never pulled over to the side of the road to tear Erin’s clothes off was a goddamned miracle.

He’d had women on his bike before but it had never been like this. Nothing had ever felt so right as Erin’s arms around his waist and her body pressed against his. He could feel her excitement, how much she loved riding, and that was a turn-on, too. For the last hour he let himself imagine they were on a trip together, and that tonight, when they hit a motel or maybe camped out under the stars, he’d make love to Erin until sunrise.

Like all fantasies, eventually it had to end. He pulled up in front of Erin’s house and took off his helmet, twisting around in the seat to look at her.

She pulled off her helmet, too, and her golden hair came tumbling down. It was so close and so touchable that he forgot whatever it was he was going to say.

She smelled like leather and strawberries.

It had been a mistake to go on such a long ride with her. It felt like they’d been fused together somehow. His body remembered the vibrations of the bike, and the deeper pulse of his desire for Erin.

She slid off the bike and handed him her helmet.

“Thanks,” she said with a smile.

He wasn’t sure how it happened. He didn’t know which of them moved first. But suddenly the helmets clattered to the ground and Erin was in his arms, and they were kissing like the next few moments were their last on earth.

God, she was so sweet. She tasted like honey. Like sunlight.

He had to let her go. But he only held her tighter, kissed her deeper, and she kissed him back with the same desperation.

He must have hauled her up on the bike because she was in his lap now, her back to the handle bars and her legs around his waist, and when he realized he was grinding his body against hers he finally came to his senses.

He forced himself to break the kiss. “Erin—”

“Don’t you dare apologize,” she panted. She looked as wild as he felt, her lips parted and her face flushed as she tried to catch her breath.

“Erin—” he tried again.

“You know I want this,” she said, and even though her voice was trembling he could hear the determination behind it.

“I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“I know.”

His heart was pounding. “If we do this…Erin, I can’t stay the night.”

Maybe that would change her mind. The fact that he wouldn’t sleep beside her after they made love.

“I don’t have any expectations, Jake. All I want is this moment.”

His hands tightened on her even as he gave it one last shot. “You deserve so much more.”

“I don’t care what you think I deserve. I just know what I want.” She lifted her chin. “What do you want?”

He looked into Erin’s eyes. “I want you.”

“Then take me inside.”

They made it into the house and up to her bedroom, and Jake scooped Erin up so he could lay her down, gently, on her navy blue quilt. She smiled up at him, and a sudden ache in his chest stopped him in his tracks.

Her beauty was like a hand squeezing his heart, so removed from his world of dust and ashes she might have been an angel fallen from the sky. She was warmth and strength and goodness and life. She was everything he’d become a soldier to protect.

She was everything he didn’t deserve.

But he wasn’t going to think about that now. During this time they had together, he was only going to think about Erin.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, reaching up to touch his face.

He closed his eyes. “I’m happy.”

***

His voice shook when he said those words, and Erin was suddenly afraid he’d change his mind. She could barely handle the feelings building up inside her, and she wasn’t dealing with all the complicated baggage that Jake was.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed. Now she sat up, too, pulling off her tank top and reaching for the hem of his tee shirt. He opened his eyes and met hers, and after a second he raised his arms and let her tug the shirt off over his head.

A stab of lust made her bold. She leaned forward and kissed his bare chest, and when she felt his hand on the back of her head, holding her to him, she knew he wasn’t going anywhere for a while.

Relief made her even bolder, and she started to kiss her way downward. She heard him suck in a breath as his stomach muscles went rigid. She was almost at the waistband of his jeans when he stopped her.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked softly, gripping her shoulders and exerting steady pressure until she lay on her back again, looking up at him.

“You didn’t like that?”

He bent his head to kiss her. “I liked it a lot. But there are things I want to do to you first.”

A rush of need made her twist restlessly against his hold, and when he gripped her even tighter she felt heat pooling low in her belly. “You’re going to do things to me?”

“Hell, yes,” he whispered. Then he kissed her again, long and slow and deep.

She’d never been so grateful to be lying down. Her body went boneless, her muscles trembling, and all she could do was kiss him back.

He bit her lower lip until she gasped, and then he soothed the place with his tongue until she moaned. He teased her mouth open and then he was everywhere, demanding and enticing and overwhelming her all at once. She wanted to touch him, to grab onto those powerful shoulders, but he had both her wrists pinned now and the raging fire in her body could find relief only in surging against him again and again.

He let her go and braced his arms on either side of her, his chest pressed against her breasts with only her cotton bra between them. She closed her eyes, arching her head back as he kissed her throat.

Then he slid a hand underneath her, between her shoulder blades, and unhooked her bra. A moment later it was on the floor.

She opened her eyes to see him looking down at her, and felt an instant’s shyness.

But then she saw his expression as he cupped her with his hands, shaping his callused palms to her curves. His thumbs stroked her so softly that she arched her back in pleasure, and all her shyness fell away.

Jake thought she was beautiful.

His mouth went where his hands had been, and she gripped his hair in her fingers.

Her nipples were hard peaks now. He bit down lightly, and she gasped. Her breasts were aching, a new sensation that felt thrilling and voluptuous and decadent.

Jake slid lower, kissing his way down her torso before hooking his thumbs in the waistband of her jeans and panties and pulling them off.

They joined her bra on the floor.

He spread her thighs gently and moved between them, and even though she was almost dizzy with desire she tensed up just a little. Late afternoon sunlight spilled across the bed and she was naked, exposed, with nothing at all to hide behind.

He kissed one knee and then the other as he caressed her softly, his palms stroking from her calves to her inner thighs and back again. He moved a little higher each time, his touch so hypnotic and arousing that her muscles began to relax.

His hands brushed up her legs again, and this time he didn’t stop until he was framing her center, his fingertips at her hipbones and his thumbs resting along the sensitive crease at the top of her thighs.

Her heart was pounding, her whole body humming with anticipation. Her fingers curled in the material of her quilt. Then he trailed his index finger down the very heart of her, and the sensation sent a rush of moisture flowing from her core.

Nothing had ever felt like this. Her body was soft and swollen with need, opening to him as he kept stroking her, over and over, and now he was using his other hand, too, his thumb settling on the tight pearl of nerve endings so ready for his touch that she almost cried out.

Her breath was coming in pants now, her body twisting, her hips rising from the bed to meet his hand. When she felt a finger slide inside her she did cry out.

Then she felt his tongue.

“Jake!”

His name was jerked out of her as she clutched at the quilt for dear life. Her pulse was roaring in her ears, the tension coiling so tight that when the explosion came she saw stars.

It took a long, long time to come back to earth. She still felt dazed, every cell in her body quivering, when Jake stretched himself out beside her and kissed the side of her neck.

She rolled onto her side to face him.

Her heart was still hammering as she ran a hand down his chest. This time he let her keep going until she found his zipper and lowered it slowly. He was wearing boxers under his jeans, and she reached inside the front opening and closed her hand around him.

He was thick and hard and hot against her palm.

He made a sound low in his throat. “Erin, we don’t have to do anything else if you don’t want to. We can stop now.”

“I don’t want to stop. I want you inside me.”

She’d never wanted anything so much. A moment ago she wasn’t sure she’d ever move again, but now, feeling the weight of him in her hand, a restless urgency sparked every nerve ending in her body.

He made another low sound, almost like a growl. “I don’t have condoms with me. Do you—”

“I have them.” She’d bought condoms the day after Allison’s wedding, determined to use them when the time felt right.

She’d never imagined she’d actually use them with Jake.

She sat up in bed and opened her nightstand drawer, taking out the brand new box and ripping it open. She tore off one of the foil packets and turned to Jake.

“It’s ready whenever you are,” she said, and he smiled as he shucked his jeans and boxers and pulled her back into his arms.

“Here’s the thing,” he said, stroking a hand down her torso and resting it on her bare hip. “I’ve been lusting after you for weeks, so I’m pretty much ready now. Are you sure you—”

“I’m sure.”

He took the foil packet from her and tore it open, and a second later he was sheathed.

He rolled them over so she was on her back. “This is new territory for me, too. I’ve never been anyone’s first time. I’ll be as gentle as I can, but I’m afraid it’s going to hurt you.”

She nodded. “I know. I’m ready.”

He kept his weight braced on his arms and his eyes on hers as lowered his hips.

She clutched at his upper arms, the hard muscles of his biceps turning her on as much as the hard shaft beginning to enter her.

He pulled back, and pushed in a little further. Again, and again, the friction heating her blood until her body pulsed with sudden excitement.

Then he slid deep inside with one powerful stroke.

She cried out, and Jake looked stricken.

“It’s okay,” she panted, the brief pain already easing. “I’m okay.”

Jake was trembling, and she could see from the way he clenched his jaw how hard it was for him to hold back.