Forget Me Not

by Brenda Jackson

  Ray nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  She bit into another fry and then said pensively, “So am I.”

  He bet she would have been a great mother. There was something about Ashley that was more than just her beauty and pleasing personality. There had been a connection between them from the start. A connection he was still trying to figure out.

  “I heard there will be fireworks tonight.”

  He glanced over at her. “Yes, and you got one of the best views in town right here. Although I’m not close to the ocean, you can see the sky real good from here whenever there are fireworks.”

  She smiled. “Then I guess I need to drop by later.”

  He had news for her. He didn’t intend for her to leave. At least, not for a while. He wanted to spend as much time with her today as he could. He realized now that there was a reason he had brought her to his home. He’d wanted to share with her a part of himself that he hadn’t shared with any woman since becoming Ray Sullivan.

  When they’d finished eating, together they gathered up the trash and disposed of it. “You want to take a walk?”

  She glanced over at him. For some reason he liked how she looked in his kitchen. “A walk?”

  “Yes, through the grove. Unless, of course, you need to get back home. If you do, I understand.”

  “No, I’m fine. I hadn’t planned to get much writing done today anyway.”

  “Just so you know, I checked out one of your blogs.”

  “You did?” she asked excitedly.

  “Yes. StayNTouch has a lot of followers.”

  “Yes, we do.” She gave him a teasing smile. “So are you now one of StayNTouch’s followers?”

  “Not yet. Besides, the only person I want to stay in touch with is you.”

  He led her out the back door toward the grove. She wasn’t saying much but he could tell from the look on her face what he’d just said had pleased her.

  He’d discovered Ashley didn’t ever talk just to be talking. She knew how to engage in what he considered wholesome conversation, which meant she only spoke when she had something meaningful to say. She was not a rambler.

  For now he just liked her walking by his side. Probably too much. And he liked touching her, which was why he reached out and took her hand in his.

  “Oh, Ray, this place is beautiful,” she said in that awestruck voice he loved hearing. He’d first heard it when he’d taken her out for her tour and had shown her the Spike Waterfall that concealed the cave where the pirate Jean Lafitte hid his treasures.

  “I think so, too. I’m glad Mr. LaCroix didn’t fence it off from those living on this side. It backs up to the cove.”

  She glanced over at him. “You are close to the water.”

  He chuckled. “I don’t consider it close since this grove sits on over eight hundred acres of land. If you take a mind to walk to the waterway from here, it’s probably a good six miles that way.”

  “No, thank you. But it’s a perfect place for a picnic, wouldn’t you say?”

  He smiled down at her. “I guess. I wouldn’t know since I never had one there.” Ray could see it as a possibility, though, with her. “I own one of those golf carts and got it for the purpose of riding through the groves. I made it all the way to the cove on it and it is beautiful where the grove ends and the cove begins. It might sound silly, but I consider it my special place where I go to think or just appreciate the beauty of nature while I eat a few apples.”

  “A few?”

  He grinned. “Okay, a little more than a few. Delicious apples grow here.” He stopped beside a tree and plucked one off a limb. He wiped it off on his shirt. “Here, taste it.”

  He handed her the apple and she took it and bit into it. The pleased smile that spread around her lips was priceless. “Thanks, Ray, for bringing me here.”

  They walked around a little more, and in deference to the sun’s heat, they turned and headed back to his place. “What is your normal day like, Ray?”

  “I go to work. Come home. Take a run either in the grove or around the neighborhood. Go back home and get a beer. At some point when I’m hungry I pop in a dinner in the microwave. Take a shower, write in my journal and then go to bed. Usually every morning I meet Sawyer and Kaegan for breakfast. But you know that part.”

  “You keep a journal?”

  “Yes. My therapist suggested it. At first I thought it was crazy to write down what I did that day but now it’s become sort of therapeutic. I like having it recorded somewhere just in case I...”

  When he didn’t finish, she said, “In case you lose your memory again?”

  His hand tightened on hers. “Yes, in case I lose my memory again.”

  “Is that possible?”

  They had reached his back patio. “I’m discovering anything is possible, Ashley. The doctors don’t think it ever will, but I’m not taking any chances.”

  She nodded and then looked down at herself. “Now I feel hot and sticky.”

  He was about to tell her although that might be the case, she looked tempting as hell. Perspiration from their walk had caused the material of her outfit to cling to her in some pretty tantalizing places. “You can take a shower if you like and use my washer and dryer for your things.”

  She seemed to ponder his offer and then asked, “What will I wear while waiting for my clothes?”

  He wanted to tell her she didn’t have to have on anything but decided not to do that. Just because they’d shared a bed a number of times, he refused to assume anything when it came to Ashley. She wasn’t the kind of woman a man could easily peg to be a certain way. “I have a number of T-shirts that would probably fit you like a dress,” he said. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind that it would be more like a minidress.

  “And just where will you be, Ray Sullivan, while I’m taking my shower?”

  They were standing in the middle of his living room, still holding hands as they faced each other. He shrugged. “Not sure. I’ll probably grab a beer, sit out on the patio and wait for you to finish. Why you ask? Do you need me for something?”

  She nodded and then moistened her bottom lip with a swipe of her tongue. “Actually, I was thinking that maybe you could join me in that shower.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  ASHLEY WASN’T SURE what Ray’s reaction would be to her proposal. All she knew was that she’d made the offer with a sexual need that was slowly consuming her. She forced herself to look everywhere but at him when he didn’t say anything.

  Then she felt his hand gently touch her chin, bringing her gaze back to connect to his. The look she saw in his eyes nearly made her weak in the knees. It caused an instant throbbing in her midsection. His pupils had darkened and naked desire was blatantly there for her to see. She did more than see it. She felt it in every pore, nerve and pulse in her body. And when he spoke, his tone was a seductive murmur that made moisture gather between her thighs.

  “I would love to join you in that shower, Ashley. But be forewarned, a shower won’t be all I’ll be taking. I’ll also be taking you.”

  Good God, she wanted him to take her. She was drowning in him and need was hammering her common senses, making them not so common, making them feel absolutely ravaged, which pushed her to ask, “How will you be taking me?”

  He took a step closer to her and she sucked in a deep breath when she felt him. His large, hard erection was pressed against her. “If you want details, I can give them to you. However, I’d rather surprise you.”

  She moistened her lips again and watched his eyes darken even more with the movement of her tongue. “I like surprises.”

  Now his dark gaze looked turbulent. “In that case...” His mouth swooped down on hers in a long, deep kiss that immediately made her purr. It had her feeling out of control. She could actually feel a ball of sexual need burst to life at the
center of her legs.

  She barely recalled him sweeping her up into his arms, but she did recall the moment she buried her face in his chest, inhaling his masculine scent. A scent that was Ray’s and not Devon’s. Same body. Two different men. And she loved both.

  He placed her on her feet and began stripping off her clothes followed by his. Then he swept her back into his arms. He moved toward his bathroom but stopped. Shifting her slightly in his arms, he opened the drawer to his nightstand to get protection. A whole handful of condom packets. At that moment, she didn’t know whether she should be appreciative or petrified. She went for appreciative.

  He went for her.

  Even before turning on the water, he was backing her up against the shower wall, and the moment she opened her mouth to moan, his tongue slid inside and began feasting on her with a hunger that made her sex contract as if it was begging for what he had been denied for eight years.

  Not today, but one day and with this man, she silently promised her womb. It would happen. Only with this man. He kissed her hard, exposing what she knew was deep, unquenchable lust. His skillful hands were everywhere, kneading her backside while she burned hot with desire.

  He released her mouth and stared at her while reaching up to turn on the shower. A slow spray showered down on them, wetting their bodies, and the next thing she knew, he was using his hot and wet tongue to lick droplets of water from her shoulders down to her breasts. His hands had moved from her backside and were between her legs, stroking her.

  “Ray...”

  She called his name, wanting to tell him how his hands and mouth were making her feel. Instead his name was followed by a deep groan while he inserted a finger inside of her. When she whimpered his name again, his finger went deeper while his mouth was devouring her breasts, one nipple at a time.

  And then he was lowering himself to the shower floor, getting on his knees as his tongue drew rings around her belly, cupping her thighs, holding them immobile. When she felt the powerful strokes of his finger inside her body, she was nearly pushed over the edge.

  As if sensing her capitulation, he whispered, “Hold on for a little longer, baby.”

  Hold on? Did he think she honestly could?

  As if to test her willpower further, he whispered, “I want to taste you when you come.” Before she could react to his words, his mouth quickly replaced his finger.

  “Ray...”

  Her arms came down to grab hold of his shoulder. His tongue was deeply and thoroughly massaging her clit. It was too much. Way too much. She was trying to hold on, but the way he was using his mouth on her, implementing techniques that were both old and new to her, undeniably powerful and significant, pulverized what little control she had.

  When he cupped her bottom, pushing her deeper into his mouth while his ardent tongue continued to work its magic, she couldn’t hold back any longer and screamed out his name when a gigantic orgasm ripped through her.

  * * *

  RAY CONTINUED TO kiss Ashley deeply between the legs, loving the essence of her taste. He felt the spasms that raced through her body, and knowing he was giving her pleasure filled him with a kind of pride he didn’t ever remember experiencing before.

  Slowly standing to his feet, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Mingling his mouth with hers was something he would never get tired of doing. Breaking off the kiss, he reached for the soap and began lathering her body, touching her everywhere. He knew the moment she began to get aroused again. Not to be undone, she copied his actions and began lathering him all over as well.

  Her touch was nearly too much and it occurred to him she was pretty damn good at what she was doing. He forced the thought from his mind, not understanding why he’d suddenly become jealous of a man he didn’t know. A man whom Ashley would have had every right to make out with in the shower or anywhere else she chose.

  When they’d both gotten lathered up, he kissed her again, but that didn’t stop her hands from roaming all over him or his from roving over her. It was obvious that she was getting just as aroused from his touch as he was from hers.

  Using the handheld showerhead, he began washing the foam off their bodies, alternating the action with a series of touches and intense kissing. And then there were the areas on her body where he deliberately sprayed the water. And from the darkening of her eyes, it was obvious a gush of water shot between her legs was causing the reaction he wanted.

  “You’re not playing fair, Ray Sullivan,” she said, playfully manhandling him to take the showerhead from him. Now he was the one being sprayed and she immediately went for his manhood. The moment water hit, renewed sexual energy rocked him to the bone.

  “Oh, baby, you’re going to get it now,” he threatened, reaching out to take the showerhead from her and placing it back but still allowing a shower of water to rain down on them.

  “I hope I do get it, Ray, and now isn’t soon enough.”

  Ray would have thrown his head back to laugh if it had not been such a sensual moment. Reaching out, he pulled her wet body to his, capturing her mouth. Dear God, he liked kissing her and thought he could do it all day and all night to her mouth. It seemed to be made just for his.

  He broke off the kiss, bent down to retrieve a condom and quickly sheathed himself. “You have no idea how much I want you, Ashley. I don’t think you can even come close to knowing.”

  When he moved back toward her, she met him and wrapped her arms around his neck, cuddling intimately to him. “Then show me, Ray, so I’ll know.”

  He intended to. It dawned on him at that moment that he had a reason for bringing her here and it hadn’t been all about sex. He had a deep yearning to make her his. He wasn’t sure where his possessive nature had come from all of a sudden. He would continue to live his life as Ray Sullivan and for now she would be the woman who shared it with him. He would deal with the end of the summer when it arrived. For now, he intended to take one day at a time.

  He lifted her right leg and wrapped it around his waist. In that position he could feel her womanhood throb against his thigh. Damn, it felt good. Wet. Hot and burning with desire. “Are you sure you’re ready for me, Ashley?” he asked, holding her gaze, moving his body so she could feel the hardness of his erection.

  “Yes, I’m ready for you.”

  “And you want me?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I want you. Stop toying with me, Ray.”

  He liked the sound of her no-nonsense voice. “Toying with you? I thought I was merely getting you ready.”

  “I’m already ready.”

  “Hmm, let’s just see about that.” He tilted her body slightly and thrust hard inside of her at the same moment he lowered his mouth to hers and took it in a ravishing kiss, filled with all the need he felt for her. Automatically, she tightened her leg around his waist at the same time she tightened her arms around his neck.

  He began moving, stroking her from the inside out while thinking just how good it felt being inside of her. Each time he thrust harder, he went even deeper. To make sure she didn’t feel any discomfort standing on one leg, he cupped her bare bottom as he continuously pumped into her, loving the feel of how her inner muscles were tightening around his erection, clenching it hard.

  When he felt an orgasm about to slam into him, he broke off the kiss, threw his head back and released a deep, territorial growl. He continued to pump hard inside of her, determined not to let his release come until hers did, no matter how close to the edge he was.

  And when she shouted his name, he knew she’d come again, and instinctively, his body followed her into another hemisphere.

  * * *

  AFTER GETTING OUT the shower, they toweled dry and he gave her one of his T-shirts to put on and showed her where his washer and dryer were located.

  After loading her things in and starting the washer, she went looking for Ray and found him sitti
ng out on the patio drinking a beer. The ceiling fans overhead were churning out air, which helped make it feel less hot. She could imagine him sitting out here at night alone, and in that moment she realized that although he had Kaegan and Sawyer as friends, basically Ray was alone. She intended to change things in that regard.

  With more instinct than nerves, she crossed the patio and eased into his lap. From the look on his face, she could tell her bold move had surprised the hell out of him. And then to stun him even further, she reached for his beer bottle. “May I?”

  Probably too stupefied to deny her anything at the moment, he nodded and released his beer to her. She took a swallow and handed it back to him. He didn’t say anything as he watched her lick her lips. “Are you toying with me, Ashley?”

  She smiled at him. “What makes you think that?”

  As if he decided it might be best not to answer, he said, “No reason.” Then he said, “Sorry I took you away from the festival.”

  “I’m not. I like being here with you, Ray.”

  He held her gaze. “Why?”

  She shrugged. “Because I think you’re a nice guy. A guy I’m finding that I like sharing my time with. And just for the record, it’s not all about sex, although I think the sex is pretty good.”

  He chuckled. “You won’t hear any complaints from me.”

  “I better not.”

  He shifted her in his lap so she could face him. “Kind of bossy, aren’t you?”

  She reached out and stroked his beard, loving the feel of it in her hand. “Yes, I suppose you can say that.”

  “Well, bossy lady, how about going boating with me on Sunday evening? Most of the tourists who came to town for the festival will have left by then.”

  Regret settled in her stomach. “Oh, Ray, I wish I could but I can’t. I need to fly home Sunday.”

  “Oh.”

  She heard the disappointment in that single word and wanted to explain. She needed to explain so if he ever met her parents as Ray Sullivan, he would know what to expect. “It’s showdown time with my parents.”