Sisters of Summer’s End

by Lori Foster

  Shoulders hunched, he nodded.

  Joy stroked back his hair. “Tell me you understand, Jack.”

  “I understand.”

  “Jack.” She lifted his chin. “I need your promise, honey.”

  He cast another look toward Royce.

  Royce surprised her by putting his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “I don’t want your mom to worry, so I’m going to promise, too.”

  Wide-eyed, Jack looked up at him. “You are?”

  “Absolutely. I should have told her right away that you were with me. I was thoughtless and for that I’m sorry.” His gaze shifted to Joy. “I promise, in the future, I will always let you know.”

  Awed, Jack nodded. “Me, too. I promise, Mom.”

  Royce patted his shoulder. “We don’t want to upset her, do we?”

  Slipping his arms around her neck, Jack squeezed her. “Sorry, Mom. I promise I won’t worry you again.”

  A lump of emotion clogged her throat. Joy seriously doubted Jack could keep that promise, but for now, it was good enough. She returned his hug while smiling at Royce. She silently mouthed, Thank you.

  He nodded, then helped her up. “How about Jack shows me around the haunted house while you and Maris finish your conversation?”

  Without waiting for her permission, Jack slipped his hand into Royce’s. “We have peeled grapes in gelatin,” he said in excitement. “They feel like eyeballs! And gummy worms in crushed cookies that look like dirt, and...”

  His chattering voice faded as he dragged Royce to the food section.

  Joy stared after them, seeing more than just her son with Royce. She saw a future, she saw a family. She saw...love.

  Until Maris slipped her arm around her. Dry with irony, Maris said, “Yeah, no one will ever guess how you feel.”

  Oh Lord. She’d been gazing after them like a lovesick fool.

  “Come on,” Maris said, urging her along. “I need to get back to the diner, and you need to get it together because a slew of costumed kids are arriving in three, two, one...”

  “I’m sorry,” Joy said. “I just—”

  “Panicked. Big-time. I know. Totally understandable.” In the kitchen, Maris grabbed a cup of punch and pressed it into Joy’s hand. “I don’t suppose you have anything good to slip in that?”

  Joy laughed, knowing neither of them would spike a drink while responsible for entertaining children. “Sadly, no.” She sipped, then set the cup aside. “I’m fine now, so let’s get back to you and Daron.”

  “Advice. Right.” Maris braced herself. “Quick, lay it on me.”

  “I already told you this once. Trust Daron. Tell him your concerns and everything will be fine.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Maris scrunched up her face. “How would that conversation go? Sorry, Daron, but I’m clueless so you have to do all the work.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to look that dumb.”

  “You mean inferior, and that’s just silly because you won’t.” Knowing she was out of time, Joy took her hands. “I can promise you, Daron won’t be judging you, and you won’t be judging him. Just enjoy yourself.”

  “Okay.” Maris puffed up. “Enjoyment. Should be a piece of cake.”

  It would be, if Maris stopped overanalyzing it. That wasn’t likely to happen, unless... “Best advice? Get Daron naked first.”

  Maris’s eyes flared wide. “Okay, I’m with you so far.”

  “Once he’s naked, you’ll have the upper hand, right? Start with that and then improvise as you go along.”

  “See, this is why I came to you.” Maris offered her a high five. “I think I’ll nominate you as prez of our club.”

  “Only if we get to wear the Worse Than a Virgin shirts.”

  They were both still laughing when Phoenix and Ridley slipped in. Phoenix made a beautiful fairy, and Ridley made a nicely rounded jack-o’-lantern.

  Royce ducked and darted through the hanging pool noodles, a laughing Jack slung over his shoulder.

  These people, Joy thought, looking at each of them. Oh, these wonderful, friendly, warm people.

  She adored them all so much.

  As she headed in to get the party started, she said to Maris, “Soon as you can tomorrow, I want to know how it went.”

  “Guaranteed.” Maris shrugged. “You’re the only one I have to tell.”

  If things progressed as Joy suspected they would, Maris would soon have Daron as a confidant, too. But for now, Joy relished that singular closeness.

  She faced the room, and announced, “Let them in. We’re ready!”

  * * *

  Maris paused in his kitchen, looking uncharacteristically timid. Daron wondered at it—and then an awesome, incredible, boner-inspiring thought occurred.

  Maybe she was ready to put him out of his misery.

  The second he thought it, he couldn’t unthink it, and it probably showed in the hot way he looked at her. It felt like he’d wanted her forever, and in fact, it had been years.

  Earlier at the park she’d initiated their public display, which indicated she was ready to accept their relationship, instead of still denying him. He’d been plenty pleased by that, but this? The chance for more?

  His heart started pumping hard. “Maris?”

  She took off her corduroy coat—a coat that had to be a decade old—and laid it over a stool at the island. “One of these days Joy and I are going to shop together and grab lunch. I’ll probably get a new coat.” She wrinkled her nose. “The thing is, I’ve never been shopping with another woman. Never turned it into an adventure, you know? Joy assures me it’ll be fun.”

  “I’m sure she’s right.” Daron did his utmost to look casual, while fighting the urge to kiss her.

  After shoving her phone into the back pocket of her jeans, Maris put her purse on top. Nothing unusual in that since the stool had become her unofficial coat and purse tree over the past week.

  Shifting, she asked, “Do you feel bad that we’re not at the drive-in supporting Royce on his last night?”

  “Not even a little.” Not if it meant he’d finally get to have Maris. He took a few steps toward her, unable to pull his gaze from her eyes. “You seem different.” He cleared the gravelly lust from his throat. “Want to tell me what’s up?”

  “Besides you?” she asked, nodding at the erection behind the zipper of his jeans.

  Without hesitation, he said, “Yeah, besides me.” He wouldn’t deny wanting her, wouldn’t deny he reacted strongly to her.

  She’d moved near enough to touch, so Daron drifted his fingertips over her cheek. Because she still looked nervous, he teased, “Want to make out?”

  Maris nodded. “Yes.” Yet when he reached for her, she held him off and said, “Get naked.”

  Trying to reconcile what she’d said and what she really wanted, Daron blinked. He rubbed his mouth, at a loss, then looked around at his house. They stood halfway between the kitchen and the dining room. “Here?”

  Her mouth twitched. “Just like that? I ask and you’ll do it?”

  “Pretty sure there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you, Maris.”

  She sucked in a breath. “Wow. Way to make me feel powerful.”

  He couldn’t stop touching her skin. Maris was so soft and warm he was dying to feel her all over. “I’d rather make you feel hot.”

  “Yeah, okay.” She snagged his hand and dragged him down the hallway to his bedroom. “You can strip in here.” She put her phone on the nightstand, sat down on the side of the mattress and gestured. “Go ahead.”

  It was all Daron could do not to laugh. No one would accuse him of being modest, but he’d never stripped on command before.

  “Whatever the lady wants.” Toeing off his shoes, he pushed them aside, then bent and tugged off his socks. Probably going a little too fast—which he’d blame on
burning lust—he straightened and peeled his sweatshirt off over his head.

  Licking her lips, Maris nodded her approval. “You’re gorgeous.”

  “You’ve seen me without my shirt before.”

  “Often,” she replied. “You like to flaunt your bod all over the place.”

  “Er...” That sounded like a complaint. “You realize we work at a casual resort and it gets hot in the summer, right?”

  She snorted. “You wouldn’t pare down so often if you didn’t look so damn good.”

  He looked so damn good? Nice.

  Appreciating her assessment, Daron brought his hands to the snap of his jeans.

  “Wait!”

  If he didn’t let his dick free soon, it’d break the zipper.

  Maris pretended to grasp the air with her hands. “Lemme.”

  “You want to open my pants?”

  She nodded fast. “Yup. Bring your sexy self over here.”

  “Yeah, all right.” Crazy that he now felt uncertain. “Go easy, though, okay? I don’t want to—” Her small hand squeezed him through the denim and he sucked in a breath...that ended with a broken groan as her small, strong hand worked over him. Through his teeth, he said, “That’s probably not a good idea.”

  “Let’s find out.” By slow degrees, she eased down the zipper, making it a form of torturous foreplay. Once the jeans were opened, she wedged her hand inside to stroke him again, this time with only his boxers in the way.

  Every muscle in his body clenched. “You’re killing me, babe.”

  “Killing myself a little, too,” she murmured, then she surprised him by leaning in and brushing her nose over the line of hair leading down from his navel. “Mmm, you smell good.”

  Daron put his head back and concentrated on control. Wasn’t easy, not with Maris’s breath on his stomach, her lips on his hip, all while her fingers toyed with his erection.

  Abruptly releasing him, she said, “Off with the rest.”

  The husky note in her voice pleased him. Hoping to get things going, Daron shoved out of his jeans and boxers as fast as he could, all the while watching Maris.

  Her delicate nostrils flared and color bloomed on her cheeks. “You’re big.”

  “Average actually.”

  “No,” Maris whispered, the words strained. “There’s nothing average about you.”

  “Tell you what.” He leaned in to take her elbows and gently tugged her to her feet. “Let’s even things up a bit, okay?”

  Swallowing audibly, she nodded. “Fair warning—I haven’t done this in a really long time.”

  Daron wondered how long. Since he’d known her, Maris had never dated or even hinted interest in a guy. She’d broken that long dry spell with him and he was determined to ensure she enjoyed every second.

  “It’ll be fine,” he promised, while dipping down to her throat, trailing his lips over her skin, up to her jaw and to the delicate shell of her ear. In the barest-there whisper, he breathed, “Leave everything to me.”

  “Joy was right,” she gasped.

  Um... Daron paused, pulling back to see her. “Right about what?”

  “This is easier with you naked. She promised it would be.”

  Yeah, that didn’t make a bit of sense, but at the moment Daron didn’t care enough to ask her to explain. Instead, he returned to her throat again, opening his mouth against her just the way he knew she liked it. On her own, she stepped up against him, her hands going to his bare back.

  Within a single minute, she frantically touched him everywhere, up to his shoulders, down his spine to his ass. Taking that as an invitation, Daron reciprocated, and soon they were both breathing hard and fast.

  He fingered the hem of her thick sweatshirt. “Let’s get this off, okay?”

  Nodding, she tried to wrestle out of it, but got it twisted up with the T-shirt she wore underneath.

  “Let me help.” He eased each arm out first, then pulled it and her T-shirt up and over her head, leaving her with frazzled hair, a deep blush and a plain bra.

  He was busy taking her in, loving the curves of her body, when Maris thrust up her chin. “I don’t own any lingerie.”

  Pulling his gaze from her sweet body to her face, he smiled. “If you think this—” he gestured at her bare skin “—isn’t sexy as hell, you’re wrong.”

  She looked down at her beige bra and quirked a disbelieving brow.

  “It’s you, Maris.” Clearly she didn’t get how madly in love he was. “I don’t care what your bra looks like, as long as you’re willing to take it off.”

  Humor, and relief, curved her mouth. “You’re the hot shot. You get it off me.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Reaching out, he opened the front closure with a flick of his fingers.

  “Wow.” She blinked down at her bra. “You are good.”

  He wanted to give a joking reply, but couldn’t manage it. Gently, he parted the cups and revealed her bare breasts.

  Beautiful. He’d always assumed the tawny glow of her skin was sunshine, but now he knew she carried that subtle glow everywhere.

  And it made him nuts.

  He brushed the bra straps off her shoulders and pulled her up against him for a kiss meant to rattle her as much as she’d rattled him. He coaxed her lips to part, licked over the edge of her teeth, then deeper into her mouth, feeling both possessive and starved for more.

  When she tangled her fingers in his hair, Daron slipped his hands down to open the snap of her hip-hugging jeans. He pushed them down to her knees at the same time he eased her onto the bed. His heart thundered and any finesse he possessed abandoned him.

  This was Maris, and he’d finally have her.

  Even while she struggled to kick her jeans off the rest of the way, he couldn’t stop kissing her. Her tongue played against his, her breasts pressed to his chest as she wiggled and contorted—and then finally they were both naked.

  Daron was so hard that he actually hurt with need, but he also wanted to taste her all over—and did.

  Encouraging him with little gasps and mewls and soft moans, Maris relished his mouth on her breasts, arching when he drew on her nipples. When he slipped his fingers between her thighs, over her sex, then in her, she clutched at him and rocked her hips.

  “Daron,” she gasped.

  She was so tight, as tight as a virgin, and he nearly lost it.

  Against her stomach, he murmured, “I have a rubber.”

  “Good.” Her hold on his hair was almost painful.

  He left her long enough to grab the protection from the nightstand drawer and roll it on. Maris hadn’t moved a muscle, but her dark eyes tracked him.

  The second he finished, she held out her arms to him.

  He went to her, and she feasted on his mouth as Daron struggled to rein himself in. When she hooked a leg over his hips, he lost the battle and reached down between them to guide himself in.

  Eyes heavy and hair tangled, Maris bit her lip.

  “Easy,” Daron whispered, pressing into her in slow degrees.

  She breathed harder, hooked her other leg around him and lifted her hips to take all of him.

  They both groaned. Undone by her urgency, Daron put his forehead to hers. “Christ, you’re tight.”

  “And you’re big.”

  He choked on a laugh. If she wanted to think that, he wouldn’t debate it with her. No, he was too busy concentrating on giving her a few moments to adjust.

  “Daron?”

  At her husky whisper, he lifted his head and met her smoldering gaze.

  She kissed him and said, “Move.”

  God, he loved her bossy ways. “Yes, ma’am.” He stared into her eyes as he began slowly thrusting.

  Her heels pressed into his back, her fingertips dug into his shoulders and she squeezed his cock while
making those low, sexy sounds.

  They moved together, the rhythm accelerating, him going deeper, her squeezing harder.

  When he knew he was losing the battle to hold back, he scooped a hand under her bottom, tilted her up—and she cried out a long, charged, ragged release.

  Yup, that did him in.

  Daron let himself go, loving the moment, loving her.

  And hoping like hell he could turn it into forever.

  * * *

  Maris shifted on the bed, her skin finally cooling, her heartbeat slowing.

  The tingling sensations remained, almost as if little sparks continued to ignite in select places.

  She was pretty sure that was as good as sex could get, because she didn’t think she could survive anything more intense.

  Daron had rolled to her side, but kept her close, one leg resting over hers, his fingers idly combing through her hair.

  What now? She should probably open her eyes.

  Should she also ask him to take her home?

  “Stay with me,” he whispered.

  Startled that he seemed to have read her mind, Maris turned her head and whispered back, “What?”

  “Stay the night.” His hand coasted down to cup around her breast, his thumb idly playing over her nipple—and making her squirm. “Stay.”

  Coming up on an elbow, she looked around. Their clothes were scattered over the floor and the blankets were off the foot of the bed.

  Daron was wonderfully naked, and every inch of him was enough to fill a lifetime of fantasies.

  “Do you need to do something with that?” She nodded at his now flagging penis and the spent rubber.

  “Yeah, I do.” He stared into her eyes, his gaze probing. “Will you stay?”

  The thought of getting dressed and going back out in the cold didn’t appeal to her at all, whereas the idea of sleeping with Daron...yeah, that definitely enticed. “I’ve never stayed the night with anyone.”

  “Then show me I’m special and stay.”

  He was special. Why was she still fighting it? Stubbornness, probably.

  “What if I snore?”