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He raised his head to find her holding a mug and looking at him with concern. At least it wasn’t pity. He took the cup.
She put the mug she still held on the table nearby and said, “I’ll be right back.”
Laura Jo returned wearing the jacket he’d offered her the night they’d made the king cakes. Picking up the mug she’d left behind, she took the lounge next to him. They sat in silence for a long time.
Finally Laura Jo said, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
She made no comment, as if she accepted it was a part of him that he wouldn’t share. Something about her being willing to do that endeared her even more to him and made him want to have her understand. “You asked me a few days ago about Mike being in an accident, remember?”
He didn’t see her nod but somehow he knew she had.
“It was a night like tonight. Clear and warm for the time of the year. I had this great idea that we’d drive to the beach after the dance was over. After all, I’d be leaving in a few days for Birmingham to do my fellowship. My girlfriend, who was the queen that year, was having her last hoorah with her friends, so why not? Mike was going to ride with me and some of the other guys were going to meet us down there.”
He swiped his fingers through his hair.
“I’d had a few drinks but I’d been so busy being king I’d had little time to eat, let alone drink. Mike, on the other hand, had had too much. I told him more than once to buckle his seat belt. But he wouldn’t listen. I was feeling wild and free that night. I knew I was going too fast for the road… Long story short, I ran off the road, pulled the car back on and went off the other shoulder. And the car rolled. I was hardly injured. Mike was thrown out. It broke his back.”
“Oh, Mark.”
He jumped up and started pacing. “I don’t want your pity. I don’t deserve it.” Thankfully, Laura Jo said nothing more. “That’s not the worst of it.” He spun and said the words that he was sure would turn her against him. “I left. The next day I packed my bags, gave up my residency in Birmingham and accepted one in California. I’ve only seen him a few times since I watched him being put into an ambulance.” He all but spat the last sentence.
Mark stopped pacing and placed his back to Laura Jo, not wanting to see the disgust he feared was in her eyes. She made a small sound of anguish. He flinched. His spine stiffened and his hands formed balls at his side. He hung his head.
* * *
Laura Jo felt Mark’s guilt and pain ripple through her like the sting of a whip. How quickly and effortlessly Mark had worked himself past her emotional barriers. She cared for him. Wanted to help him past the hurt.
No wonder he was so hypervigilant about people buckling up in his car. Now that she thought about it, he’d even hesitated when he’d had to drive someone in his car. He found the responsibility too weighty.
She went to him. Taking one of his fists, she kissed the top of his hand and began gently pulling his fingers open until she could thread her own between his. She leaned her head against his arm. “It wasn’t your fault, even if you don’t believe it.”
Mark snorted. “And it wasn’t my fault that I was such a lousy friend that I ran out on him when he needed me most. That was unforgivable. But that wasn’t enough, I’ve compounded it by years of not really having anything to do with him. I was closer to Mike than I was to my own brother. How could I have done that to him? Even tonight I was a coward.”
“You know, it’s not too late,” she said quietly. “You’re the one who has been telling me that.”
“It’s way past too late. How do I tell him I’m sorry I put him in a wheelchair while I still walk around?”
Laura Jo heard his disgust for himself in his voice.
“The same way I have to forgive my parents for the way they treated me. We have to believe people can change and grow.”
He took her in his arms and looked down at her. “It’s easy for someone with a heart as big as yours to forgive. Not everyone can or will do that.”
His lips found hers.
Mark didn’t ask for entrance. She greeted him. Welcomed his need. Her hands went to his shoulders. She massaged the tension from them before her fingers moved up his neck into his hair.
His desperation to lose himself in her goodness made him kiss her more deeply. She took all he gave with no complaint. There was a restlessness to his need, as if he was looking for solace. He pulled her closer, gathering her dress as he did so.
For tonight she could be that peaceful place if that was what he needed. Laura Jo tightened her arms around his neck and returned his kiss.
“I need you,” he groaned. His lips made a trail down her neck.
Brushing her dress away, he dropped a kiss on the ridge of her shoulder. His tongue tasted her. The warm dampness he left behind made her quake. His other hand slipped under the edge of the back of her dress and roamed, leaving a hot path of awareness.
“And I need you,” she whispered against his ear.
Mark pushed her dress farther down her arm. His lips followed the route of the material, leaving hot points along her skin. Laura Jo furrowed her fingers through his hair, enjoying the feel of the curl between her fingers.
He released the hook at the back of her neck and her dress hung at her elbows. Her breasts tingled with anticipation. His head lowered to kiss the top of one breast. He pushed the edge of her dress away from her nipple and took it into his mouth and tugged lightly. She shivered from the sensation. His tongue circled and teased her nipple until she moaned into the evening air.
When his mouth moved to the other breast he cupped the first one. The pad of his thumb found the tip of her nipple and caressed it. He circled her nipple with the end of his index finger until it stood at attention. He lifted the mound and placed a kiss on it.
Her heated blood rushed to her center and pooled there. She wanted to see and feel as much of Mark as he was of her. Her hands found his lapels and slid beneath them to his hard chest. There she worked his coat off. She wanted to touch him. Feel his skin. This had gone beyond giving comfort to a desire that was building into a powerful animal. It had been feeding and waiting since the first time Mark had touched her. The more she knew about him, saw him, felt his kindness, that longing had grown. Now there was no denying it or fighting it.
Mark’s lips came back to hers as he shook himself out of his tux jacket and let it fall down his arms. Laura Jo’s fingers went to the bow tie and released it, pulling it away and dropping it beside his jacket. His lips returned to her neck as Laura Jo removed first one stud and then another until she found his skin beneath his shirt.
The tip of her fingers lightly grazed the small patch of hair covering his warm skin. Yes, she’d found what she was looking for.
As Mark’s mouth moved to hers for a hot, sinuous kiss, she yanked at his shirt, removing it from his pants. She wrapped her arms around his waist then she ran her hands over his back. She enjoyed the ripple of his muscles as they reacted to her touch. Would she ever get enough of touching him?
Mark gathered her dress, bringing it up until he could put his hand on her thigh. His fingers made circular motions along her bare skin. Slowly, his hand slid higher and higher until he ran his finger over the barrier of her panties at her core.
Laura Jo involuntarily flexed toward him. She’d never wanted a man to touch her more than she did at that moment.
With a growl of frustration, he set her on her feet. “I hope I don’t live to regret this.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Promise me you’ll stay right here.”
* * *
With heart pounding and body tight with need, Mark hurried into the house and scooped up the bedding in the extra bedroom. He grabbed two pillows, as well. With long strides, he walked back through the house. When he exited he was relieved to find Laura Jo waiting for him right where he’d left her. She had pulled her dress straps up over her shoulders. That was fine. He’d soon be removing her dress completely.
“What?” she murmured, as he came out of the house with his load.
“I want to see you under the stars.”
He flipped the heavy spread out, not taking the time to make it neat. He lay down on his side and stretched out a hand in invitation for her to join him. His heart went to drumroll pace when she put her hand in his. This amazing woman was accepting him, even with all she’d learned about him.
She lifted her dress, giving him a tantalizing glimpse of her leg as she came to her knees before him.
Letting go of her hand, he used his finger to run a caressing line down her arm from her shoulder to her elbow. There he circled, then went to her wrist. He was encouraged by the slight tremble of her hand when he took it and eased her closer.
“Kiss me.”
She leaned into him, pressing her lips against his. His hand pulled at her dress, bringing it up her leg. Gliding his hand underneath, he ran it along her thigh, moving to the inside then out again.
Laura Jo deepened their kiss.
His finger found the bottom of her panty line and followed it around to the back of her leg then forward again. She placed small kisses across his forehead and then nipped at his ear. He captured her gaze and watched her eyes widen as he slid a finger beneath her underwear at her hip. She gasped as his finger brushed her curls. He moved his finger farther toward her center and found wet, hot heat. His length strained to find release. She moaned against his mouth and bucked against his finger as he entered her.
“Mark.” She drew his name out like a sound of adoration as she put her head back and closed her eyes.
When her hand grazed his straining length behind his zipper he jerked. The woman had him aroused to a painful point. The raw need that had built in him sought release. He feared he might lose his control and be like a teen in the backseat of a car as he fumbled to have all he dreamed of. Laura Jo ran her life with a tight rein and here she was exposing herself completely to him. That knowledge only increased his wish to give her pleasure.
“If you continue that I’m not going to be responsible for what I do,” he growled. When had he been more turned on?
* * *
Laura Jo felt the same way. It had been a long time for her but she couldn’t remember this gnawing hunger for another person that begged for freedom. She wanted to crawl inside Mark, be surrounded by him and find the safety and security she’d been missing for so many years.
He removed his finger.
She made a sound of protest.
“You have too many clothes on.”
