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Her quick, efficient hands flew under his shirt, yanking it out of his neatly pressed jeans and playing feverish tracks on his back, while her breathy moans flamed his passion with fast, hot riffs.
He shoved his hand between her legs, cupping her through the denim. She pushed against him in a needy little bump and grind that took away his reason. He worked her zipper. She worked his.
The dirty backbeat of her tongue pulsed in his mouth, doing what he wanted to do. Had to do.
Skin. Soft, damp with perspiration. And then wetness. He sank into it with his fingers.
She had him in her hands, played a throbbing lick that pushed him to the edge of oblivion.
Where are You now? his mind screamed. Why aren't You telling me to stop? He waited for the Enforcer God, the Wise God, the Mother God, but he heard only silence.
"Stop," Kristy whispered.
His fingers were inside her body; her hand encircled him. "Stop," she said again.
But neither of them wanted to let the other go.
She shuddered, and he realized how close she was to falling over the edge. Her voice caught on a husky note. "You can't do this, Ethan."
Her dearness swept through him like a clean, cool breeze. She was worrying about him, as always. Never thinking about herself.
It had been a very long time, but he hadn't forgotten what to do. He drew her closer and moved his thumb… gentle circles. She gasped. He kissed her, and with all the tenderness in his heart, he let her fall.
Afterward, neither of them wanted to talk. They readjusted their clothes, moved apart, cleaned up his spilled Cherry Coke, pretended to watch the movie. He drove her home and wasn't surprised when she didn't ask him in, but as he opened the car door for her, he found himself inviting her to his sister-in-law's brunch the next day.
"No, thank you," she said politely.
"I'll pick you up a little before eleven."
"I won't be here."
"Yes," he replied firmly. "You will."
The phone rang as Rachel began to dry her hair from her morning shower. Gabe was in the backyard banging away at something, and Edward played on the front porch, so she wrapped the towel around her head and dashed to the kitchen to answer.
"May I speak with Rachel Snopes, please?" a woman said.
"This is Rachel Stone speaking."
A baby fussed in the background, and the woman's voice faded slightly. "It's all right, Rosie. I'm right here." Once again, she spoke directly into the receiver. "I'm sorry, Ms. Stone, but my daughter hasn't quite recovered from our car trip yesterday. We didn't get a chance to meet last night at the drive-in. I'm Jane Darlington Bonner, Cal's wife."
The woman's voice was businesslike, but not hostile. "Yes, Mrs. Bonner?"
"Please. Call me Jane. I'm having a family gathering in an hour or so. I apologize for the late notice—to be honest, I'm pretty much throwing the whole thing together at the last minute—but I'd like you and your son to come."
Rachel remembered Cal's visit to the snack shop yesterday afternoon. She'd been standing right there when he'd invited Gabe, and it would have been easy for him to include her in the invitation if he'd wanted to.
"Thank you, but it's probably not a good idea."
"You obv
iously met my husband yesterday." The lilt in her voice contained nothing but good humor.
"Yes."
"Come anyway."
Rachel smiled and felt herself warming to this woman she'd only seen in a magazine photograph. "It's not just your husband. Ethan's not too crazy about me, either."
