“It’s no big deal.”
“Of course it is.”She moved to stand next to him.Even more hairs had escaped from her braid.They drifted around her face and tempted him to touch her.Her hazel eyes glowed with admiration.“Ten regular students.Not the most athletic, not the brightest, just ten kids that have the grades but not the money to go to college.I think it’s terrific.”
He shrugged off her praise.“Super smart students get academic scholarships and jocks go on athletic ones.I wanted to help the students that fell in between.Like I said, no big deal.”She leaned closer and kissed him on the cheek.“I don’t care what you say, I’m impressed.”
Her scent enveloped him.It was late in the day and the fragrance should have faded by now, but it hadn’t.Her hand, resting on his shoulder, provided a warm connection between them.He turned slowly until he faced her.Behind him, the coffeepot hissed.He ignored it.Hazel eyes, wide with no hint of blue, met his.Her mouth curved up at the corners.Lipstick stained the sweet flesh, darkening the color to a deep rose.
He had forgotten.All the time she’d been gone, all those years, he’d let himself forget.The work, his responsibilities, the women who came and went without touching past the first layer of skin, had allowed him to pretend that it didn’t matter anymore.To have come so close a second time and then to have lost it all.How was he going to survive?
“What is it?”she asked, smiling up at him.
“Nothing.”
She swayed slightly, toward him.He read the invitation.He wasn’t sure she knew what she was asking.He’d promised himself not to push her, that he’d lethersay when.But could he wait?Could he risk it all?
No!Not if there was a chance of tipping the scales in his favor.He reached up and placed his hands on her shoulders.Slowly, so that she would know what he intended, he lowered his mouth to hers.She didn’t back up or pull away.Instead she rose onto her tiptoes and met him more than halfway.
He’d planned a gentle kiss.His partially formed idea had included seducing her with soft touches and gentle words.Instead, the moment their lips touched, he lost control.He had to have her.All of her.
His mouth angled against hers.Without asking, he swept forward with his tongue.Instantly she parted her lips to admit him.Instead of shying from his assault, she counterattacked with her own plunges.They began a different sort of hide-and-seek with pleasure being the prize for both players.
Jane strained against him.She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him toward her.Their bodies touched from chest to knee, but it wasn’t enough.
He reached for her braid and yanked off the ribbon.The elastic band quickly followed.Raking his fingers through the long silky lengths, he combed her hair free.When it was loose around her shoulders, he buried his hands in the warm satin.It tickled his skin and aroused him.His groin already throbbed with painful readiness, and the feel of her hair slipping through his fingers, trailing along his arms, made him grind his hips against hers.
She pulled back slightly and looked up at him.He read the questions in her eyes.
He could lie.He could confess his fears.He could even tell her what had happened with Billie.Each would require more explanation than he could provide right now.He released her hair and stepped back.A voice inside said that she must come to him of her own free will.If he didn’t allow her that, all would be lost.
“I need you,” he said simply.
She bit her lower lip, then smiled.“That’s all you ever had to say.”Lacing her fingers with his, she led him out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her bedroom.
In the darkness, with only the sound of the rain to distract them, he undressed her.When her clothes fell to the floor, he lowered her onto the bed.He touched each inch of her.His fingers traced the delicate skin on the inside of her elbows and behind her knees.He tickled her insteps until she begged her surrender.When her hands reached to caress him, he captured them and held them above her head.This was forher.
Still holding her arms up against the pillow, he plundered her mouth.When her tongue chased his back into his mouth, he gently bit on the pointed tip.At her gasp, he sucked on her lower lip.She grew limp.He pressed his leg against her secrets and felt her ready moistness.
Before he reached for his own clothing and removed it, he took her twice up to the edge of passion and caught her as she fell.Only when she had cried out his name over and over again did he allow himself to be buried in her waiting warmth.And not until her third release rippled around him did he give in to the need that pulsed within him.With heavy-lidded eyes and a satisfied smile, she moved her hips in a way designed to reduce his control to ashes.As the fire consumed him, as he reached the pinnacle and prepared himself for his own flight, he wondered if he’d indeed won.
* * *
“I’ll have to leave more often,” Jane said as she settled back against the pillows.“I like how you welcome me home.”
Adam didn’t respond, he just continued to hold her close and pray for a miracle.
“Why now?”she asked.
“Why not?”It was avoiding the question and the truth, but what else could he do?
“I wasn’t sure.”She snuggled closer to him.Her hair fanned out over his chest.One of her legs rode up against his and her arms held him tight.“After the last time.You never said anything about doing it again.”
“I wanted to give you time.”
“Oh.”
He looked down at her.“Oh?What does that mean?”
She shrugged.“I knew that it was better that we try to get used to the arrangement without complicating it with, you know, sex, but—” She shrugged again.
