Don't Break My Heart (Return to Redemption, Book 6)

by Laurie Kellogg

  She laid back and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, a door closed out in the sitting room. Damn. She should’ve thought to bring a cup of that cocoa in with her. The water line had finally crept above her breasts, and the bubbles hid anything indecent beneath the surface, so she called through the door, “Hey Ben, would you mind bringing me a cup of that cocoa?”

  A few moments later, the door swung open. “I may not be Ben, but I’m happy to oblige.”

  Trisha gasped and sunk lower in the tub. “What’re you doing in here?”

  He set two steaming cups on the ledge surrounding the bathtub. “Ben decided he preferred the solitude of my hotel room and asked me to trade places with him. Believe me, it’s not because he didn’t want your company. He’d just gotten the impression you might prefer mine. If he was wrong, I can leave.”

  How could she tell him to go when she’d been having fantasies like this for the last decade and a half?

  This had all happened way too fast. It might not be the best idea to ask him to stay given that they’d broken each other’s hearts all those years ago. However, her girl parts tingled just having him in the same room. She couldn’t bring herself to turn down the chance to make love with the only man she’d ever cared for, again.

  She’d accepted the impossibility of anything lasting between them. Still, she could see no reason why she couldn’t have a casual fling with him for a few days if they established the rules up front.

  “Ummm, you don’t have to go. But if you’re staying, I refuse to be the only one naked.”

  “That can be remedied.” He smiled and removed his jacket and tie. Next, he towed off his shoes and shucked his socks.

  “We also need to agree that what we do tonight doesn’t mean anything serious. I don’t want us to hurt each other again. We’re just having a good time.”

  “I can do that.”

  The tender way he looked at her left her unsure if he meant it. However, she couldn’t drag her gaze away as he slowly plucked each button open on his white dress shirt.

  “What? No stripper music?” he asked, lightening the mood as he peeled the shirt from his shoulders which were broader and more muscular than she remembered. Also, a tad more hair covered the center of his chest than he’d had in college.

  “Sorry. No music. Just deep admiration. You’ve been doin’ a lot more than sitting at a drafting table since we last saw each other.”

  “I occasionally lift weights, but I get most of my exercise just working around the house. And up until last summer, I did construction with Habitat for Humanity a couple of weekends a month. Since Haley will be sixteen this summer, I’m hoping to get her involved as something we can bond over.”

  “That’s a great idea.” She made a downward gesture toward his trousers. “Don’t stop there. Drop ‘em.”

  He smiled as he unfastened his suit pants and simultaneously shoved his underwear down with them, revealing his eagerness to join her in the tub. Did a man’s parts continue growing as he aged, or had she simply forgotten how well-endowed he’d been?

  After he folded his trousers and set them aside, she twirled her index finger in a stirring motion. “I want to see the whole show.”

  He spun his back to her and smiled over his shoulder. “I hope I’m going to get the same privilege when you climb out of the tub.”

  “In your dreams, pal.”

  “You always have been. May I join you?” He turned off the water.

  “Hmmm. I dunno.” she reached out and stroked his erection with one finger. “The view is a lot more interesting with you outside the tub.”

  He climbed in anyway. “That may be so. But it’s not nearly as much fun. And that’s what we’re supposed to be having, right?” He picked up the fresh bar of soap from its crystal dish and worked up a lather between his hands before replacing it. As he knelt between her knees, he slid both soapy palms over her breasts. When he grazed her nipples with his thumbs, a spear of hot pleasure shot straight to her core.

  “Oh, my gosh, that feels good.”

  He nibbled her ear, kissing his way down her neck. Her spine arched, pressing her naked body against his. She let her hands roam over his back, tracing every well-defined ridge between each muscle with her fingertips. “I think I’ll send Habitat for Humanity a donation when I get home.”

  “Hmmm. They can use it.” He nuzzled the top of her breast and pulled her higher in the water so he could suck her nipples.

  She slid her hand down his abdomen and stroked his hard length, making him groan.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’d like a taste of what’s hiding under the water,” he whispered. “Unfortunately, I’m not amphibious.” He hoisted himself up and grabbed one of the thick towels from the overhead shelf. While he stood in the tub drying his upper half, she knelt and slid her lips over his thick shaft.

  His whole body stiffened. “Holy crap. Give a guy some warning.”

  “I was simply taking that taste you mentioned.”

  He pushed her away. “I’m sorry. It’s been almost a year since I’ve had sex, so if you don’t want me going off like a rocket without you, you’d better wait a while to feast on me.”

  He wrapped the oversized towel around his hips. After climbing from the tub, he grabbed another bath sheet, scooped her up in it, and carried her into the bedroom.”

  When he laid her on the bed, it undulated a bit beneath her, and she clutched the sheet.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing. I just didn’t expect a water bed,” she said, scooting over to make room for him.

  “Really? I’ve never made love on one. You?”

  “Never.”

  “Then this should be fun.” He pulled open the beside table’s drawer and pulled out a condom. “Ben told me to help myself.” He smiled. “Now, where was I?”

  “You wanted to taste something previously under water.” She grinned.

  “Oh, right. Your navel.” He bent his head and swirled his tongue around her belly button.

  “I had someplace lower in mind.”

  “Your wish is my command.” He spun around in the bed and grabbed one of her feet. As he kissed each of her toes, he tickled her arch.

  She shrieked and yanked her foot away.

  “Still as ticklish as ever, I see.”

  “I wasn’t referring to quite that low, and you know it.”

  He snagged her leg again, kissed her ankle and nibbled his way up her calf. With every inch his kisses rose, her tension mounted.

  “Am I getting closer?” he whispered.

  “Yes, but you’re still at least a foot too low.”

  He sucked on the inside of her knee. “Better?”

  “You’re getting closer.”

  As he sucked his way up her inner thigh, shivers rippled through her. She clutched at the mattress, both savoring and despising the heart-pounding anticipation. He blew softly on her pubic curls, and her legs inexorably spread wider as her hips automatically lifted slightly.

  “I can’t tell you how often I’ve pictured you just like this— your legs spread, waiting for me—so pink and wet.”

  “Pleease, Justin.”

  “Please what?” He stroked up and down the inside of both her thighs. “What is it you want, cariño?”

  “Just do it, already.”

  “You have to be more specific than that. Do what?”

  “You know.” She smacked him lightly on top of the head. “Don’t make me say it.”

  “Why not? I want to give you exactly what you want.”

  Heat flooded her cheeks as she whispered almost soundlessly, “Make me come. Pleease!”

  “How?” He stroked the edges of her crease, dipping his finger just a fraction into her slick passage. “There’re many ways to do that.” He grinned down at her, clearly enjoying teasing her.

  If her limbs didn’t feel as if they had lead weights on them, she would punch him right in his smug face. Instead, she dug her heels into t
he bed and rocked her hips, catching the rolling motion of the mattress beneath her. She used the crest of each subtle wave to force his thick finger deeper and deeper until her body finally engulfed it completely. She writhed and moaned as she rocked harder and faster and the mattress moved beneath her more forcefully.

  His free hand cupped her breast and tweaked its stiff nipple as her excitement mounted, and she frantically rubbed herself against his finger.

  “That’s it, querida, you can get there all on your own,” he whispered, pinching her other nipple. “I love watching you come.”

  As she approached her climax, he yanked his hand away, and a mournful wail escaped her, only to be cut short by her strangled gasp as his lips replaced his hand. His tongue flicked repeatedly at her, driving her higher and higher, way beyond the peak she’d previously been approaching on her own.

  “Oh, yes! That’s it! Yes!” Pleasure ricocheted through her for several moments until she finally shattered in a blinding white light. Before her orgasm’s spasms had a chance to subside, he quickly rolled on the condom and thrust his thick length into her, pumping his hips counterpoint to her rocking, prolonging her climax and taking it to a whole new level. His added impetus made the mattress rebound with each hard thrust of his pelvis, pushing him deeper and deeper until she could feel him pressing against her womb.

  He gave one last hard thrust, and every nerve in her tingled as her body convulsed around him. She felt as if she were floating through a sweet, euphoric haze.

  He collapsed on her and groaned. “Oh, man. I thought I remembered how good it felt to make love to you. But what we just did fits into a completely different realm.” He rolled to his back, taking her with him to lie on top of him.

  “What would you call it, then?”

  “I don’t know.” He chuckled. “I don’t think they’ve come up with a word for it yet. I just know I want to do it again forty or fifty thousand times.”

  “We’re only here for two more nights, Justin.”

  He combed his fingers through her hair. “What about when we get home?”

  “You already told me you have to focus on Haley’s needs.”

  “I do. But I have needs, too. And so do you.”

  “And I’ve been taking care of those needs very nicely all these years.”

  “That’s bull. You just came like you haven’t had sex since the turn of the century, so don’t even try to claim you can please yourself as well as I can please you.”

  She wouldn’t dream of it. Especially since it had been years since she’d had sex with anyone other than herself. Not to mention, she hadn’t experienced that kind of ecstasy since the last time Justin made love to her. “And here we are—right back where we left off sixteen years ago. I want to get married and have a family, and you just want to use me as your bed-buddy.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Justin stared up at Trisha and cupped her cheek in his palm. “That’s not true. As I told you, eighteen months ago, I would’ve proposed to you the minute you walked in the door. In fact, I would’ve married you as soon as I finished school. Why were you in such a damned hurry to get hitched? We were only eighteen and had years of school and fun ahead of us before we needed to think of settling down. Why the hell didn’t you talk to me instead of running off without so much as a word?”

  “Because I was pregnant!”

  He stared at her and grabbed the mattress, feeling as if the bed had been pulled from beneath him. “What?”

  “Do you really think, after you told me how you felt about Sam ruining Nick’s life with her pregnancy, I would’ve saddled you with a wife and baby you didn’t want?”

  Oh, God, no. Had he possibly had a child all these years he didn’t know about? Or worse yet, that she’d had an abortion?

  He swallowed hard trying to work up enough saliva to speak. “So? Are you saying we have a child?”

  “No.”

  He closed his eyes for a moment. It might have been her right to choose, but damn it, he didn’t have to like it. “I can guess who convinced you to get rid of my baby.”

  “But I didn’t.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “It was an ectopic pregnancy. A few weeks after I left, I nearly died from a ruptured fallopian tube.”

  He’d heard in rare cases a fetus could implant in a woman’s tube instead of her uterus.

  “It destroyed one of my ovaries.”

  He tightened his hold on her. “You’re okay otherwise, though, right?”

  “Other than a broken heart. The main reason I left home was because my father insisted on an abortion, and I refused. I wanted your baby even if you didn’t.”

  “Ah, mi corazón.” He shook his head. “I never would’ve considered you or our baby a burden. I was crazy about you, and I would’ve wanted him too. I wish I had known.”

  “So, now it’s my fault for not telling you?”

  “No. It’s no one’s fault. Chalk it up to lousy timing and poor communication on both our parts. My brother found a way to make it work. He went to school nights and got his MBA. It took him a little longer, but he and Sam are happy together. I was an idiot—and maybe just a little jealous of him.”

  “Or a lot jealous. Marc told me you were dating Sam when Nick got her pregnant.”

  “That’s true, but I was about to break up with her. I was never in love with Samantha.” Although, his brother believed he had been—especially when his sister-in-law divorced Nick for a year, and Justin cut her lawn every week while his brother worked in California.

  “My relationship with Sam in high school was more about having something my brother wanted. I idolized him while growing up. And being older, he could outdo me in everything.” Justin shrugged. “What can I say? I was an immature idiot with a fierce case of sibling rivalry.”

  Trisha slid off him and stroked his hair. “It’s all in the past. I didn’t tell you any of this to make you feel lousy. I just wanted you to understand why I left without saying anything.”

  “You really hurt Lindsey.”

  “I know. I meant to get in touch with her and explain. But then after I lost our baby, I couldn’t. Lindsey was due to have Haley at the end of March, and I hurt too much to celebrate with her and Marc over the birth of their child.”

  “Actually, they had her in February. Haley came six weeks early—on Valentine’s Day.”

  Her face crumpled as she buried it in his chest. “Exactly one month after I lost our baby.”

  “Oh, no, sweetheart. This year, we’ll do something fun that day and make some happier memories for you.”

  “Let’s not make any promises we can’t keep. I think we should just enjoy this time together and leave it at that.”

  As he opened his mouth to argue, she pressed her fingers over his lips. “Just kiss me and make love to me again.”

  He tried to protest and continue their conversation, but the moment her hand wrapped around him, he was lost. Someday he would develop the willpower to let his brain run the show instead of his dick.

  This time instead of fast and furious, he took it slow, savoring every inch of Trisha’s silky skin. He’d never met another woman so soft and welcoming. Somehow he had to find a way to convince her to continue their relationship beyond that week.

  There had to be a way they could each compromise and work it out so they could be together some of the time. All he knew was he couldn’t spend another decade and a half without ever waking up to her smile.

  ~*~

  Trisha woke the next morning more nauseated than she’d felt in weeks. She scrambled off the bed and raced into the bathroom. After a full minute of dry heaves, her stomach finally finished rebelling.

  “Querida?” Justin tapped on the door. “Are you all right?”

  Inasmuch as it had felt good to finally clear the air between them last night, she didn’t want him guessing she had morning sickness. She pasted a smile on her face and swung the door open. “I’m fine, why?”

  “The way you jumped out of
bed and hurried in here—”

  “I just really had to go.” Her face flushed from the way he stared at her bare nipples, hunger in his gaze. She slipped into the silk robe she’d left in the bathroom the night before.

  “It sounded like you might be sick from everything we ate last night.”

  “My stomach isn’t feeling great. But I’m sure it’ll pass. We’re still going skiing, aren’t we?”

  “As soon as brunch is over.” He picked up his boxer briefs and trousers and stepped into them.

  Ughh. More food. She rubbed her stomach. “I don’t think I’ll be able to eat again until at least New Year’s Day.”

  “Well, it’s Christmas morning, so even if I don’t eat, I need to be at the brunch at ten for Haley.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s already nine. Not only do I have to go back to the hotel and shower ASAP, I have to figure out what to give Haley for Christmas.”

  “Nothing like leaving it to the last minute, huh?”

  “I didn’t. BJ gave all the kids I-pads last night, which is exactly what I have gift wrapped for her in my suitcase, and what I’ll be returning when I get home.” Disappointment couldn’t begin to describe the deep regret in his eyes. “I can’t fault Ben for his generosity, but he kind of stole my thunder on my first Christmas with Haley.”

  “That’s lousy.” And very sweet that he felt so bad about not having something special for his goddaughter.

  He sank onto the side of the tub and pulled on his socks. “Any ideas what an almost sixteen-year-old girl might like for Christmas?”

  “A seventeen year old boy?”

  “Ha-ha. I’m definitely not giving her one of those. Seriously, I’m stumped. I need an idea fast.”

  “Most teenage girls love to shop. How about a gift card? The resort’s gift store probably carries them.”

  He wiggled his foot into one of his dress shoes and tied it. “I’d prefer to give her something she really wants rather than just cash.”

  “Believe me, she wants to shop.”

  “Then a gift card is what she gets.” He sighed, putting on his other shoe. “I plan to leave for the ski lift at about noon.”