Follow Your Heart--A Novel

by Brenda Jackson

  He fought to hold back his own release to make sure—absolutely sure, doubly sure—that she got hers. Her second scream and the trembling of her thighs and hips were clear indications that she had. She began moaning and the sound made his heart pound and the lower part of him ache, but he refused to remove his mouth from her until the last spasm had left her body.

  Moments later, when it had, he leaned back on his haunches and stared down at her. She was naked except for her bra, which he hadn’t clasped back in place. Her body had gone still, and her eyes were closed. As he continued to stare down at her, her eyes slowly opened and met his gaze, and her lips eased into a smile. A smile he’d put there.

  Right now, an emotion he’d never felt before seemed to take control of him and he tried fighting it off. He didn’t understand it and didn’t want to deal with anything he didn’t understand. Instead, he swooped her into his arms to carry her into his home.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  EVEN AFTER TANNER placed her on his bed, Lyric felt as if she was still floating in the air and her body was refusing to come in for a landing. It seemed every single cell in her body had gotten pulverized into one sensuous ball of fire.

  She felt like she was in another world, but wasn’t too far out in the universe not to notice Tanner was stripping off his clothes to reveal a body she’d only seen a hint of in his workout attire.

  Now she was getting a total, unobstructed view, and what she was seeing was arousing her all over again. His body was magnificent. Not for the first time she thought the man and his body should be on the cover of a fitness magazine.

  She bit down on her bottom lip thinking she could probably have an orgasm just from looking at him. She’d gotten three already. Or had it been four? Maybe even five? She had lost count. Her first ever without the use of her battery-operated toy. That was pathetic, but the truth.

  Totally naked, Tanner headed toward the bed and intense heat throbbed between her legs with every step he took.

  Her gaze moved all over him. The amount of hair on his chest was sparse, but created a trail that led all the way down to his groin. And speaking of that area...

  Lyric sat up in bed, estimating that she would have to wrap both hands around what he was packing. Oh, my. Just looking at him while he rolled on a condom was getting her wired to the point that she just might blow a fuse. How could any man be so perfectly built? She needed to get an eyeful and sear it into memory because she was well aware after today he would walk away and not look back.

  He placed his knee on the mattress and reached out, then after sliding her bra off her shoulders and tossing it aside, he drew her to him to rest his forehead against hers. “Your scent is powerful, Lyric. It reached out to me all the way across the room, letting me know you wanted me again.”

  She pulled away from him and knew she had a baffled look on her face. “What?”

  He smiled. “It doesn’t matter. But you want me again, right?”

  Oh, yeah, he was definitely right. “Yes.”

  His smile widened. “No reservations?”

  How could he ask her that after she’d shared her first oral sex experience of any kind with him. “None.”

  “Good.” When he looked at her breasts fully uncovered, he actually licked his lips, sending a rush of blood through her veins.

  “Before we leave here today, I plan to make another meal out of you.”

  She swallowed knowing that was his way of letting her know they would be engaging in oral sex again. “I’d like that.” No need to lie about it when she’d liked the feel of his tongue inside of her. And since this would be their only time together, the memories would help sustain her.

  “You tasted good. Real good.”

  She wasn’t sure what she should say to that, but since she took it as a compliment, she said, “Thank you.”

  “And,” he said, humming close to her ear, “I plan to suck your breasts again. Your nipples taste good, too.”

  His words caused a sensual pull in the area between her legs. He was totally different from Westley and any other guy she’d had sex with. They never told her what they planned to do. They just did it and expected her to keep up.

  Tanner was making her feel like a sensuous woman for the first time...ever. She liked the thought that she was embarking on doing some things she’d never done before with him. Sure, this wasn’t her first rodeo with intercourse, but she had a feeling Tanner was about to take her on the wildest ride of her life and what she’d done in the past wouldn’t compare.

  Tanner leaned in and kissed her. Soon she was purring in his mouth from the intensity of the kiss. Closing her eyes, she was swept away in a sea of earth-shattering sensations as he deepened the kiss, with long, intense strokes of his tongue. When she felt her back touch the mattress, he released her mouth. She opened her eyes to see him straddling her body.

  “Tanner...”

  She wasn’t exactly sure why she said his name at that very moment. Maybe it was because his kiss had stirred a desire in her that she knew only he could take care of. There was an ache between her legs and she was convinced he was the only one who could take it away.

  “Tell me what you want, Lyric.”

  Why did he want her to do that when he knew what she wanted? Hadn’t he told her that her scent had already told him? “You know.”

  “But I want you to tell me, anyway. I want to hear you say it.”

  No guy had ever asked for her input before. “Do whatever you want.”

  He shook his head. “No, I want to do whatever you want.”

  Lyric had never known a man so generous and accommodating in the bedroom. She decided to be honest with him. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

  A gentle, understanding smile touch his lips. “Maybe this will help.”

  He leaned in and went for a breast, easing a nipple between his lips, and began sucking. Did he not know what doing that did to her? How it drove her hot with desire. How it increased that pull between her legs.

  He moved to her other breast and she noticed his fingers had slipped down between her legs and were now drawing circular motions around her clit. This was too much and she closed her eyes and groaned.

  “Now can you tell me what you want, Lyric?” a deep, throaty voice asked.

  Oh, yeah, she could tell him all right. Opening her eyes and meeting his gaze, she said, “I want you to take me, Tanner. Hard. Over and over again. Deep.”

  “It will be my pleasure...and yours.”

  And then he thrust hard into her. He was huge and her body stretched to accommodate him as he went deep and even deeper still. It seemed she heard a click somewhere as if their bodies had locked. He went still and stared at her as if he’d heard that click, as well. Or maybe she’d imagined it and he’d gone still for another reason.

  She was about to ask if anything was wrong when he began moving again, thrusting in and out of her, moving his hips in perfect rhythm. Every time he thrust, her body rose up to meet his and their gazes would connect. With each thrust, he drove her closer to the edge, making her moan. When he began moving at a rapid pace, like a jackhammer, she knew she’d never experienced this degree of pleasure before in her life.

  She wouldn’t last much longer and when her body began splintering, she screamed out his name. He kept pounding into her, pushing her to the edge.

  “Explode again for me, baby.”

  As if her body had been programmed to react to his command, sensations began swamping her and she felt an explosion of pleasure take over her. She was pushed over the edge, and as if the detonation of her body was what he needed to complete his own, she felt his body nearly buck them off the bed just seconds before he threw back his head and a guttural sound, which included her name, exploded from his mouth.

  She’d never experienced anything like this before. Where had all this sexual
energy come from? Would she be able to walk out of here on her own, or would he have to carry her out? At that moment, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except all the sexual pleasure she was feeling.

  She was convinced nothing could compare to this, and she was experiencing it all thanks to him.

  * * *

  TANNER AWOKE AND glanced over at the clock. It was close to six in the evening. At some point they needed to get dressed and leave to return to New Orleans. Earlier, while Lyric slept, he had slipped into his jeans and gone to the beach where they’d had their picnic to gather the items they’d left behind, including pieces of her clothing. Luckily, because there hadn’t been a high tide, nothing had been swept out to sea.

  The items had gotten sandy, which prompted him to wash her things. It was the first time he’d ever done anything so intimate for a woman, but he’d felt comfortable tossing her shorts and panties into the washer and dryer. In fact, he thought her panties were a cute pair and thought it was sexy that it matched the bra he’d taken off her earlier.

  Once he had taken care of that, there had been no reason not to wake her for them to head back to New Orleans. He had gotten what he’d set out to get from her, and he definitely had no reason to feel guilty about that since he’d done her a favor and had introduced her to oral sex. And he could tell from the number of orgasms she’d experienced that she had liked it. However, seeing her in his bed had made him groan in raw appreciation, and the next thing he knew, he’d removed his jeans and gotten back in bed with her to hold her while she slept. Eventually, he had fallen back to sleep, as well.

  “Thanks for today, Tanner.”

  He looked over at Lyric. She was awake. At the sound of her voice, his shaft sprang to life, hard as a rock, and he was back to being greedy as hell.

  “You’re welcome, Lyric.”

  He knew she had thanked him for more than just the picnic on the beach. That made him want to press for answers to something that bothered him. “There is something I need to know, though.”

  “What?” she asked.

  “How long were you with your last boyfriend?”

  She had to be wondering why he was bringing the man up. “Why do you want to know?”

  “Curious.”

  She held his gaze for a moment and then said, “Almost a year.”

  He nodded. “And during all that time he never...?”

  She evidently knew where he was going with his line of questioning and quickly said, “No, he never.”

  He rolled his eyes. “What an idiot.”

  That made her smile and she laughed, agreeing with him. “Yes, what an idiot.”

  They suddenly burst out laughing and it felt so damn good. Then he asked, “Why did you waste your time with him?”

  She broke eye contact to look at an abstract picture on the wall behind him. For a moment he wasn’t sure she would answer, then she looked at him and said, “I really liked him initially, and he was fun to be around. He made me feel special.”

  “Except in the bedroom.”

  She released a deep sigh. “I honestly didn’t think anything was wrong in the bedroom, Tanner. At least not at first. It wasn’t until I would overhear women whispering at the gym, comparing notes of their bedroom experiences, that I realized some of what they were saying were things I had never felt to the degree they had, or stuff I had never done with Westley. Oral sex was one of them.”

  “Didn’t you ask him about it?”

  She shrugged. “At first I honestly didn’t feel comfortable discussing it with him because I didn’t want to come across as being unsatisfied with what we were doing in the bedroom.”

  She paused a moment and then said, “When I finally felt the need to ask him about it, he said oral sex wasn’t a big deal, was really overrated and that I wouldn’t like it. And as for why my orgasms weren’t as powerful as his, he said it was due to our sexual experience levels.”

  Then, as if deciding she might have shared too much with him, she said, “It doesn’t matter anymore because I know better now.”

  He nodded. “Moving forward you will know what to expect,” he said, although the thought of her letting another man go down on her like he had was annoying as hell.

  “You’re right, I’ll know what to expect.” She made a move to ease off the bed, but he reached out and touched her arm. Lyric glanced over her shoulder at him.

  He suddenly realized that there was something about Lyric that had made him let down his guard. Somehow during the course of the day it had slipped, and it was time to take control of the situation again. He had to remember that she was an OD—one and done. Anything else would spell trouble for him. She was the kind of a woman who could get under a man’s skin—if he let her—and there was no way Tanner would let that happen.

  “Let’s get dressed,” he said. Then he added, “And just so you know, I won’t be coming back to the gym after today.”

  “I knew you wouldn’t, Tanner, and I think it would be for the best if you didn’t, anyway. I told you that before leaving New Orleans.”

  Yes, she had, so he should be feeling great. So why did the thought of never seeing her again begin to bother him in a way that it shouldn’t have?

  PART 3

  When in doubt, follow your heart and be led down the path of true love.

  —Felicia Laverne Madaris I (Mama Laverne)

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  ROMAN HEARD THE sound of Victoria’s footsteps when she entered her kitchen. Turning, he smiled and leaned against the counter to look at her. She looked gorgeous dressed in an eggplant-colored pencil skirt and cream-colored blouse. It was a look that was both professional and sexy.

  “Good morning, Roman.”

  He pushed away from the counter and leaned in to place a kiss on her lips. “Good morning to you, too.”

  He thought the last three days had been pretty damn awesome. They had joined the festivities in the town’s square after the fireworks Labor Day night to celebrate the close of Catalina Cove’s five-day celebration.

  Because she had to work Tuesday, he had taken her home before midnight and ended up spending the night. He had liked being with her in the morning, making love to her and watching her get ready for work before she left. That had pretty much set the stage for the days that followed, with them spending every night together, either at his place or hers.

  He was determined to spend as much time with her as he could before he returned to DC. She hadn’t yet given him her decision as to whether not they would continue things after he left. He was desperately hoping that she would because he wasn’t ready to give her up and knew there was no way he ever could.

  “I’ve decided to take tomorrow off,” she said.

  He lifted an eyebrow. “You have?”

  “Yes. They will be preempting our show to cover the New Orleans Marathon. With tomorrow being Friday, that means I get another long weekend. What do you think about that?”

  He thought it was great if she intended to spend that extra time with him. “I got an idea.”

  She smiled up at him. “And what idea is that?”

  “That we take the yacht out, set anchor and spend the weekend in the middle of the Gulf. Just the two of us.” They had taken the boat out for fishing but had never stayed out overnight.

  She tilted her head as if she was giving his idea some serious thought, then her smile deepened when she said, “Great! Let’s do it!”

  He pulled her into his arms and captured her mouth with his. He felt an overwhelming sensation within and knew he would never tire of holding her in his arms and kissing her.

  And loving her.

  He wished he could tell her how he felt, but couldn’t. He didn’t want to place any pressure on her about whatever decision she made about their future. When they pulled back for breath, he gazed at her perfect face, framed
by her beautiful mass of dark brown hair, and looked into those gorgeous brown eyes.

  “I’ll file the necessary float plan and we can leave early tomorrow,” he said, studying her mouth and feeling tempted to kiss her again.

  “Okay. Now I need to leave to attend this morning’s meeting.”

  He took a step back. “I figured you would be running late so I prepared an egg sandwich and coffee to take with you.”

  She closed the distance and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “You take good care of me.”

  “Always.”

  “And you will be here when I get home, right?” she asked him.

  “Yes. I’ll be right here.”

  He wrapped his arms around her for what probably was the longest goodbye kiss he’d ever given a woman.

  * * *

  VICTORIA WAS CLEARING OFF her desk to call it a day when her cell phone rang. From the ringtone she knew it was Christy. She pulled her phone from her purse and said, “Hey, Christy.”

  “Hey. Everyone thought you’d come home for Labor Day to attend Jake and Diamond’s cookout.”

  Victoria leaned back in her chair. “I thought about coming since I needed to talk to Mama Laverne. However, I wanted to spend the weekend with Roman. He’s returning to Washington next week.”

  “Sounds like things have heated up between the two of you.”

  Victoria thought that was an understatement when her mind recalled how they’d spent the last few days. “They have, Christy. He even wants us to continue seeing each other after he returns to Washington.”

  “How do you feel about that?” Christy asked.

  “Not sure. I’ll give him my answer soon.”

  “What about Tanner?”

  That was the same thing Roman had wanted to know. “Tanner is the reason I need to talk to Mama Laverne. Roman leaves next Friday morning and I’m flying to Whispering Pines to see her on Saturday. I don’t understand how things can be developing between me and Roman when I’m promised to Tanner.”