Promises Under the Peach Tree

by Joanne Rock

  He laughed as he opened the door and flipped on the light switch. “I’m not sure there are enough residents of Heartache to fill it. Come on in.” Stepping aside, he gestured for her to enter the small living quarters, careful not to touch her yet. Once he did, there’d be no stopping and he wanted to seduce her thoroughly. “Keep in mind I wasn’t expecting company.”

  Turning on her heel, she stalked toward him with slow strides. Or maybe it only seemed slow to him because he couldn’t wait to close that door behind them and have her all to himself for the night. The moment seemed too damned good to be real.

  “I’m having major déjà vu,” she admitted, pausing just a step before the threshold.

  He could almost feel the tension thrumming from her as her fingers shifted positions on her handbag, her breath escaping in a rush. How was he going to wait until they got upstairs?

  “Yeah, big-time.” His pulse slugged hard through his veins, every heartbeat demanding he touch her. “Except now, I think I’m a whole hell of a lot more nervous.”

  She edged closer, as if maybe she was going to walk through the door. But her gaze held his. Then, before he knew what hit him, she flung both arms around his neck and kissed him.

  Oh, yeah.

  All the nervous tension shifted, channeling into desire as full awareness made him appreciate the nuances of having her body all over his. Her lips nipped and licked his in a sexy assault on his senses that left him reeling. She tasted like cinnamon mints, her tongue playing over his while his brain fought to catch up.

  He reveled in the return of this side of her—the wild, impulsive, in-with-both-feet Nina who’d burned a swath through this small town and turned heads wherever she went with her infectious laughter and passion for everything she did. She’d changed in eight years, and she’d obviously made an effort to tamp down this side but...wow. She’d set it free now, though, as she pressed against him as if she couldn’t get close enough.

  Then his body took over. He wrapped both arms around her waist and lifted her, carrying her into the converted apartment while the door closed shut behind them. He fumbled to find the handle and lock it, and then his attention was all on Nina. Setting her down, he gently pried her handbag out of her fingers then set it on a hallway table, grabbing the bag of condoms from inside.

  “I’ve missed you,” he told her between kisses, walking backward with her toward the stairs to the loft, the creaking boards of the old planked floor newly refinished and still smelling faintly of sealant even after a week.

  “I’ve missed us.” Her words, so damn honest and real because she never could be anything else, shot right to his chest and lodged an ache there.

  They got as far as the stairs when he stopped to cup her face in one hand, trace her cheekbone with his thumb. He dropped the bag with the condom on the stairs, needing to touch more of her.

  “Nina?” He studied her in the light reflected from a lone lamp in the living area behind them. “I hope you can stay all night.”

  He knew one time wouldn’t possibly be enough to satisfy them. His hands already traveled her body in a fast, restless scramble to memorize every new curve and hollow, every sensitive spot he’d forgotten.

  “You’ll have to kick me out of that bed.” She looked over her shoulder, the movement shifting her featherweight blouse to expose a new expanse of lightly tanned skin below her collarbone. “Assuming you have one somewhere?”

  “I’m not sure we’ll make it that far.” He lowered his mouth to taste the skin at the base of her throat. So. Good. “The seconds crawled by like hours today.”

  She arched her neck to give him better access. “I stared at you out the kitchen window instead of watching the clock. Anyone ever tell you that you look incredibly hot in a hard hat?”

  “Not as hot as you look in the apron you wear in my fantasies.” He hooked a finger in the V of her blouse and popped the first button.

  “An apron?” Her fingers clenched his shoulders so hard he felt her nails right through his T-shirt.

  “And nothing else.” His lips followed the path of his fingers as he unfastened buttons.

  Her heart raced beneath his kiss, her breath coming fast against his neck.

  “Sounds impractical.” She lifted up on her toes, bringing the curve of one breast nearer his mouth.

  “Not for what I have in mind.” He shoved the open blouse off her shoulders until she had to let go of him to slide it down and off her arms.

  The impatient shimmy did mouth-watering things to her pink-lace-wrapped curves. Her breasts were more generous than he remembered. He must have stared a second too long because she smiled with a knowing grin.

  “Like what you see?” She reached for the button on her jeans and undid it with a deft flick. “There’s more, you know.”

  He spotted a hint of pink lace as she eased down the zipper and then he pulled his jaw off the floor. Reaching for her hips, he drew her to him, wanting the feel of her skin against him.

  “You’re too much.” He hooked an arm beneath her legs. “Hold on to me.” He lifted her until her ankles locked around his waist, then he reached for the condoms he’d left on the stairs.

  “With pleasure.” She rolled her hips against him and kissed him, her fingers spearing through his hair.

  “I can’t see where I’m going.” He paused on his way up the steps, completely disoriented between the growing dark from the loft level and the full-throttle seductive efforts of the woman in his arms.

  “Me, either,” she whispered against his lips in a warm puff of air. “But we’re not worrying about that today, remember?”

  Right. He charged ahead, feeling into the dark with one hand to make sure he didn’t run into anything. When one shin hit the front of his bed, he loosened his hold on her waist and fell sideways into the unmade tangle of sheets with her still half in his arms.

  The scent of her skin beckoned. He gripped the silky straps of the bra and nudged them off her shoulders, just enough to loosen one lace cup. He captured one freed nipple in his mouth. She gasped and writhed beside him, her legs shifting restlessly against his.

  “You smell incredible.” He inhaled the fragrance along her neck and let it go to his head. “Vanilla, right?”

  “I had to find a fragrance that didn’t clash with the scent of cupcakes.” She slid her hand beneath the hem of his tee and skimmed the fabric up his chest. “I can’t see enough of you.”

  He yanked the shirt over his head and tossed it. “Better?”

  “No. It’s too dark to appreciate what I’ve just uncovered.” Her hands smoothed over his pecs and down his abs, slowing as they reached the waistband of his jeans.

  He rose up on one knee to pull the string on the blinds over the bed. The window was high enough to let in the moonlight without exposing them to anyone who happened to be out in the field. When he looked down at Nina, she was illuminated in a white glow as she wriggled her way out of her pants.

  Now nothing but pink lace covered her skin.

  Her eyes followed him as he moved toward her. “You’ve been taking mighty fine care of yourself since I saw you last.”

  “Sexual deprivation sends me to the gym a lot.” He unfastened his jeans and ditched them, leaving on his boxers. “It’s been a long time for me.”

  “Sexual deprivation only makes me eat more cupcakes.” She reached for him, palming his waist and dragging down the waistband of the boxers. “It doesn’t seem fair.”

  He wouldn’t have thought he could get any harder, but when her knuckles skimmed along the flesh beside his erection, his skin became impossibly tight. Lightheaded, he tugged off the boxers and covered her.

  She was soft everywhere. Her skin, her hair, her breasts. A flash fire sizzled over his skin, the need to be inside her so strong he couldn’t think about anything else.
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  “Next time I’m going to take such good care of you,” he promised.

  Nina was already crinkling the bag of condoms and tearing into the package with one hand. “Next time, you won’t remember your own name. That’s how good I’m going to be to you.”

  He would have laughed if he hadn’t been hanging on to his control by a thread. His pulse pounded so hard it was like a tidal wave surging.

  “Let me.” He took the box out of her hand and tore off the plastic, partially crushing the thing in his hurry.

  Nina swiped aside the discarded paper with an impatient arm. Her fingers trailed a path along his hips, driving him out of his ever-loving mind. He rolled the condom on with all the finesse of a teen, his hands uncoordinated and awkward.

  Her breathy sighs were a siren’s song in his ear, a damp heat against his skin. The past and the present merged in his brain, flashing a vivid memory of a teenage Nina stripping her clothes off in the peach orchard as she ran from him, a teasing game that had ended with their first time in the back of her truck bed.

  “Everything okay?” she asked now, making him realize he’d stopped.

  Emotions collided. Good and bad, he shoved them all aside, focusing on this moment. On Nina and her gray, trusting eyes staring up at him in the moonlight.

  “Yeah.” He smoothed her hair off her forehead and forced himself to slow down long enough to peel off her underwear, taking his time dragging them down her legs. “Everything’s beautiful.”

  “Mack. Please hurry.” She trembled beneath him, her legs quivering as he edged them apart to make room for himself there.

  She was amazing. So much a part of everything he’d once dreamed about.

  He dragged in a steadying breath and skimmed a hand up the inside of her thigh, her skin hotter the higher he went. He cupped her sex in his palm, slid a finger inside her and then another. Her breath caught sharply and she wrapped her arms around him. She whispered a litany of seductive persuasions in his ear about what she wanted next, her habit of speaking her mind incredibly gratifying in the bedroom.

  By the time he edged his way inside her, she was threatening sensual repercussions if he didn’t take her. But all her teasing coercion ceased when he pushed deeper. And deeper still.

  Breathless, he started a slow thrust. Nina met each one, her back arching as she lifted her hips off the bed. Her thighs flexed as she squeezed him tight. Sensations bombarded him from the tight clench of her feminine muscles around him to the restless play of her fingers over his shoulders. Watching her find her passion pushed him higher, the sight of her head tossing from side to side on his pillow an aphrodisiac like nothing else.

  “You feel...” She gasped between words. “So. Amazing.”

  Likewise. He thought the word but couldn’t edge it past his lips. His mouth was dry, his brain waves slowing down as he expended all his energy on giving Nina pleasure.

  Except she wouldn’t lay still for long. She shoved at his shoulder, levering him away until he turned with her so they lay side by side on the bed. Her eyes zeroed in on his in the half-light, her expression challenging. Nina had always liked to be active in bed. Some things didn’t change.

  “I want it to last,” she whispered, kissing his shoulder and dragging a touch up his thigh, her fingers flexing hard against his skin.

  “The first time?” He shook his head. “You don’t want much, do you?”

  “But I waited all day for you.” She bit his shoulder softly and wrapped her leg around the back of his thigh.

  “I’ve been waiting for you since I watched you dance with Kaleb at Lucky’s that night.” He realized he hadn’t even taken her bra off and addressed that now, tugging one strap down her shoulder.

  “Oh, really? I don’t recall doing any sexy dancing with Kaleb.” She rolled her eyes.

  He hooked a finger down the front of one pink lace cup and rolled it down the curve of her breast, exposing one taut nipple. He circled the tip with his thumb, watching her expression shift, her eyelids falling to half-mast.

  “You didn’t have to. Just seeing some other guy touching you brought home how damn much I needed to be with you again.” He watered down that explanation, remembering the fierce possessiveness that had rocked him that night.

  Her eyes fluttered open wide again. She levered up on one elbow and he let her push him onto his back. Looking up at her was pure pleasure. She put both hands on his chest, the move pushing her breasts together in a way that cleared his head of everything but sex. Lifting up on her knees, she paused. Waited. Then lowered herself slowly.

  Heat flared up his spine. His breath hitched and held.

  Holy. Hell.

  His release was inevitable, so damn close he didn’t think he could hold it back. On instinct, or maybe some old memory, he touched her between her thighs, circling lightly. She stilled above him, and he looked up to find her head thrown back. He thrust hard and held her hips tight to him as wave after wave of release shuddered through him.

  Nina’s shout mingled with his, her back arched hard as she rode through the sensations, her orgasm squeezing him hard and wringing every last aftershock from him until she collapsed against him. For long minutes, he didn’t move. Couldn’t speak. He just breathed in the scent of her skin and the feeling of rightness to have her in his arms.

  Awareness returned a little at a time. First, Nina’s hair brushing over his shoulder and tickling his neck as a strand stroked up and down with her breathing. Then a ceiling fan clicking overhead that had apparently been running all day. A cool breeze drifted over them from a window that must be cracked open somewhere. The sounds of the night—crickets and rustling leaves—reminded him of other fall evenings they’d lain together.

  It emphasized a quiet that, in the past, they would have filled with words. Declarations of love. Devotion. All promises they’d failed to keep....

  When Nina cleared her throat, he tensed. Not ready for whatever came next this time.

  “It’s the craziest thing,” she started, lifting her head from where it had been resting. Her honey-blond hair made a veil down one side of her face. “But my sexual hunger just morphed into real, physical starvation. Wouldn’t it be a great time for a cupcake?”

  She slid off the bed and reached for an ancient flannel shirt hanging on a hook near the bed. And, just like that time she’d done an impromptu striptease in the orchard, he was struggling to keep up with her.

  Clearly, there wasn’t going to be any talk of promises or what came next. Considering the intensity of what had just happened between them, that was probably for the best. Because no matter how much he wanted Nina back in his life, he wasn’t any better equipped to keep her than he’d been eight years ago.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  SEETHING WITH EVERY step back to the parking lot outside the fairgrounds, Ally couldn’t help but watch as Rachel Wagoner flirted with Ethan as they passed under a street lamp flicking on and off in the darkness.

  Ten of their classmates surrounded them, so it wasn’t as if they were all alone. They’d just finished marking out the boundaries for the straw maze so that volunteers could start stacking the hay bales in the morning. Rachel was using the last of her spray paint to write her initial on Ethan’s T-shirt while Ethan teasingly yelled at her and threatened to pull her hair.

  Could they be any more obvious? Ally stumbled on some loose gravel like a klutz before regaining her balance.

  Hurt burned a hole through her and it was all she could do not to sprint to her car. She forced herself to walk along with the rest of her classmates, though, her eyes on her car. She couldn’t wait to get out of here and leave them all in the dust.

  “Ally, help me!” Ethan shouted, dodging past Rachel to run toward her.

  Seriously? She’d strangle him with her bare hands first. Didn’t he understan
d how much these antics hurt her?

  Ten pairs of eyes turned toward her and the ache in her chest mingled with embarrassment. No, worse than hurt. It was flat-out humiliation.

  “I don’t think so.” She shook her head and stared down at the gravel path between parking rows, picking up her pace so she could peel away from the group.

  “Where are you going?” He reached for her, making a playful grab that she dodged. “Save me from the spray-painting troll.” He looked back at Rachel, covering his head as if he was cowering from her. “Stay away, troll!” Ethan teased.

  But Rachel didn’t answer. Ally glanced up at her, wondering why Ms. Perfect didn’t swoop in and steal Ethan away in her Perfect-Mobile convertible. Rachel’s spray paint can was down at her side as she went still, eyes narrowing as she stared down at Ally. Just like everyone else did.

  Ally’s hands clenched so tightly her nails bit into her palms. She’d never in her life felt so self-conscious.

  “Hey! What’s the matter?” Ethan’s big sneakers scuffled to a stop on the gravel near Ally’s car.

  Rachel stood a few steps away, close to her own car but not moving toward it. Most of the other kids scattered toward their own vehicles, but Ally noticed no one started their engines. Probably too busy eavesdropping on the latest school drama. Too bad she wanted no part of it.

  “Ask your girlfriend,” Ally shot back, glaring at Rachel. “She knows.”

  It was apparent from Rachel’s sudden silence that she was going to at least pretend some remorse for poaching the guy Ally liked.

  “Girlfriend?” Ethan looked back and forth between them. “What are you talking about?”

  More of their classmates shuffled away, retreating to their cars in pairs and clusters. Rachel shoved the spray paint can in her big designer purse and stalked their way. Great.

  Tension wound Ally so tight she didn’t want the girl anywhere near her.

  “Satisfied?” Ally snapped at her. “Did you fake being friends with me today just so you could get closer to Ethan? Or were you just anxious to show off how much he liked you?”