Jackson stirred behind her and they both groaned as he pulled his now semi-erect cock from her still-pulsing body. She collapsed onto the floor, rolling to her side and watched as he staggered to his feet. He dug a tissue out of his back pocket and removed the condom, wrapping it inside. Then he hitched up his jeans.
It was only then that she realized that he was still mostly dressed and she was naked. Well, almost naked. She didn’t count her bra that was still tangled around her upper body or the necklace wrapped around her throat. What was left of her panties was crumpled on the floor over by the punching bag. They must have fallen off when she’d hooked her legs around him. Her jeans and top were in a heap on the floor.
His eyes were unreadable as he leaned down and scooped her off the floor. She wasn’t a small woman by any means, but he was so strong, he did it as if she weighed nothing at all. Holding her tight, he strode from the barn. “My clothes,” she protested.
“I’ll get them later,” he promised. The sky was still light when he stepped outside the barn, but barely. The sun was just sinking below the horizon. Totally unconcerned about her nakedness, she relaxed against him as he carried her to the house. His heart was a reassuring heavy thud beneath her cheek. She felt totally sated and absolutely safe as he elbowed his way in through the back door and up the stairs.
“We’ll get you cleaned up first.”
“First?” she questioned as he bypassed his bedroom and went straight to the bathroom.
He let her legs slide down his arm until her feet were flat on the floor. She stared up at him and was instantly ensnared by the look of pure lust shining from his eyes.
“I’m not done with you yet.”
Her toes curled into the tile flooring and heat suffused her body. Maybe she wasn’t done either.
Chapter Eleven
Emerald stretched in bed, ignoring the slight aches and pains that rippled throughout her body. They were nothing compared to the pleasure that Jackson had given her last night.
Once again, he’d surprised her. She’d thought for certain they’d make love in the shower. Instead, he’d taken his time, washing every inch of her body, paying special attention to her breasts and between her thighs. She’d returned the attention, stroking his chest, cupping his testicles and wrapping her wet, soapy hand around his stirring erection. By the time he’d patted her dry with a fluffy white towel, she was so aroused she thought she’d scream.
Jackson had scooped her into his arms and carried her back to bed. Their first time in the barn had been quick and almost out of control. This time had been slow and measured. He’d taken his time, kissing and touching every part of her—her arms, neck, torso, hips, thighs and legs. No part of her had been missed.
Then he’d sheathed his cock with a condom and slowly eased into her waiting heat. With his arms braced on either side of her, he’d rocked them to completion. Her orgasm had been deeper and more satisfying than she’d expected.
Once they’d both recovered, Jackson had hauled her into his arms and tucked her against his chest, holding her as they drifted to sleep. She’d stirred once during the night, turning away from him. He’d followed her, wrapping one arm around her waist and cupping her breast. His other arm was tucked under her head. She’d been totally surrounded by him.
She was alone in bed now though. The sheets beside her were cool and the room seemed emptier somehow. Emerald rolled over and squinted at the light peeking in through the curtains. Groaning, she sat up, resting her elbows on her knees. The sheet slipped, but she barely noticed as she scrubbed the sleep from her eyes.
A quick glance at the old-fashioned wind-up alarm clock sitting on Jackson’s nightstand told her that she was already late. It was past eight o’clock. Jackson had probably been up and gone for hours. She’d been looking forward to having breakfast with him.
Shrugging, she scooted to the end of the bed and sat there taking inventory of her body. Yes, she ached, but she felt good too. Better than good. Already her body was beginning to thrum with energy. She glanced around, but there was no sign of her clothing. Wrapping the sheet around her, she padded downstairs.
A white sheet of paper sat in the center of the table and she stopped to read it. Sure enough, Jackson had left her a note. “Hope you slept well,” she read aloud. “You looked too peaceful to wake. Coffee is ready. Took lunch with me, so I’ll see you at supper.” He hadn’t even signed it. Yet she held it to her chest like some lovesick schoolgirl. Shaking her head at herself, she started to ball up the paper. The moment the sheet began to crinkle, she stopped, sighed and laid it on the table, smoothing it out. Then she folded it carefully and carried it into her bedroom.
Her clothing was folded neatly on the end of her bed, and she sent out a quick thank-you to him for remembering to bring them in from the barn. The last thing she wanted was Erin, Abel or Nathan finding them. Quickly, she tucked her note away in her nightstand drawer and picked up the clothing to dump them in the bathroom hamper.
As she sorted out her clothing, she made a mental note to make sure her bra was in the upstairs hamper and not under Jackson’s bed. She had no memory of what had happened to it last night. Speaking of underwear, hers were missing. They weren’t with her jeans and top. Not that they were of much use anymore. Jackson had ripped them from her body last night.
She shivered at the memory and her core began to throb. Groaning, she slammed the lid on the hamper. He’d probably just tossed them in the garbage, but she’d have to remember to ask him about them later. Right now, a quick shower was what she needed to clear her head. Then she’d get to work.
She had to change the sheets on Jackson’s bed. After that, she had to run the vacuum over the floors, clean the bathrooms and do a couple of loads of laundry. By then it should be lunchtime. Emerald wondered if Jackson was avoiding her, but decided against it. This was a working farm and this was a busy time of year for him.
She’d take her free time this afternoon and do some of her own work. The past few days, she’d had some ideas floating around in her head. It was time to see if they would translate on paper into a usable design. After that, she might seek out the swimming hole that Erin had told her about. From the feel of the air, it was going to be another hot and sticky day.
Jackson walked softly through the woods, his boots not making a sound on the ground. Stopping, he crouched slowly and raised the camera to his face. Peering through the lens, he framed the shot. He took several photos in quick succession as the robin made quick work of the worm that it held tight in its beak. It had been sitting on a large, flat boulder and if he got the shot he’d wanted, it was definitely one he could sell at the gallery.
Pleased, he stood and stretched. He should be working. Lord only knew there was plenty to be done, but after he’d eaten the sandwiches he’d packed for his lunch, he’d felt restless. Part of it was that he missed Emerald. He should have just gone back to the house for lunch, but he’d felt the need to spend some time alone to think about what had happened.
He hadn’t had many serious relationships in his lifetime. Working the farm and practically rearing his younger siblings had precluded that. While other young men had been going to college and sowing their wild oats, he’d been predicting crop yields and worrying about how to find the money for new sneakers for Erin and clothes for Nathan. Their father hadn’t cared so the job had fallen to him.
Not that he’d minded. He loved his brother and sister and the farm. Nothing was too much to sacrifice for them. He’d had his share of women. Usually, though, they had been the type of women who were only looking for a good time and not a lasting relationship.
Those kinds of couplings had left him cold and unfulfilled and he hadn’t bothered with them the past year or so. A man could do just as much with his own hand as those kinds of one-night stands could. Still, he’d felt the sting of loneliness, especially after Erin and then Nathan had married and moved out.
He’d never thought about a wife and kids of hi
s own. Well, not in a lot of years. Those dreams had been put on the backburner for someday. Now he was thirty-four and he’d all but given up hope that those things would ever happen for him.
Then Emerald had walked into his life.
She’d brought life and vibrancy back to his home. With her funky tie-dye skirts, colorful T-shirts, unusual jewelry, brilliant smile and her sense of humor, she’d charmed him completely. He’d fallen hard before he’d even realized what was happening. All he’d known was that her laughter made him laugh and her smile made his chest ache.
Reaching into his back pocket, he drew out a scrap of fabric and stared at it. The fragile purple garment was already torn beyond repair, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to toss out her ruined panties. Instead, like a lovesick fool, he’d folded them and tucked them in his jeans pocket. It was like having a piece of her with him all day.
Boy, he had it bad!
Sighing, he shoved Emerald’s panties back into his pocket. Already it was hard to imagine the farm without her here. And that was the problem.
Resuming his walk, he kept one eye open for photo opportunities as his thoughts wandered. He knew himself well enough to know that Emerald was special. He’d never wanted a woman the way he wanted her. Last night had been incredible. His cock stirred. He’d taken her twice within the span of an hour and he could have taken her again. The only thing that had stopped him was that Emerald was tired and sore. It had been enough for him to tuck her into his arms and have her sleep with him.
He’d never spent an entire night with a woman before. Usually they’d gone back to her place and he’d left long before dawn. When he was younger, he’d made out in his truck. But never before had he taken a woman in his own bed, in his home. He’d kept his liaisons private from his home life. Now he wanted to do the opposite.
Deep down, he wanted Emerald to love the place so much that she’d never want to leave. Hell, he wanted her to love him. He rubbed his chest with his free hand. His heart ached even as his loins tightened. He was very much afraid he was already in love with her. And that could only lead to heartache. For as much as he wanted her to stay, he knew that she’d have to leave. She was a city girl with a career. She had too much talent not to use it.
A twittering sound interrupted his thoughts and he glanced to his right. He managed to get a shot of a crow sitting on the limb of a dead birch tree before the bird took flight again. When he reached the edge of the meadow, he stopped and crouched down low. Wildflowers were in bloom and several bees and butterflies were flitting from flower to flower.
Patiently he waited and managed to get about a dozen shots that had potential. He wouldn’t know until he got them developed, and that took a while as he always sent them away to get them done. No one in town knew about his sideline business, and that was fine by him. He was a private man and saw no reason for everyone to know his business. And part of him couldn’t believe the prices that some folks were willing to pay for his photos.
It had been a while since he’d taken part of a day and just indulged himself in his second passion. Yes, he loved the farm, felt the call of the rich earth in his blood, but photography had fed a part of his soul that had almost dried up before he’d discovered this hobby. It had started about a year before Erin had married and he’d taken to it like a duck to water, reading every book he could find on the subject and experimenting. It had come so easily to him, it was almost as if he’d done it before and was just remembering how. He had an eye for framing a shot. At least that’s what the gallery owner who’d contacted him had told him.
He’d needed this time to himself. Time to think. Time to just wallow in the farm and in nature without having to work. On a working farm there were really no days off, especially this time of year, but he’d needed to recharge his batteries. Last night had given him a lot to ponder.
He was realistic enough to know that Emerald wouldn’t stay forever. He could step back and put some distance between them or he could take advantage of the time that she was here. Those memories would have to last him a lifetime, because as sure as he was standing here, he knew he’d never feel the same way about any other woman as he felt about Emerald. There was something about her that made him wanted to grab her tight and yell mine.
It was probably too late to pull back from her, and there was no way he was letting her leave until he knew the threat to her was over. His hands tightened into fists and he swore as the expensive camera in his hand protested. He forced himself to relax, but it wasn’t easy.
He realized that he’d already made up his mind. There really was no choice. He’d take whatever Emerald would give him and cherish their time together. When it was over, he’d find the strength somewhere inside him to let her go.
Swiping the sweat from his brow, he decided that he needed to cool off before he went home. He was close enough to the old swimming hole to take a quick dip. Then he’d head home and maybe sweet-talk Emerald into a quick afternoon romp between the sheets.
The swimming hole was technically on Abel’s land, but they’d all used it as kids and teenagers. Jackson hadn’t been here in about a dozen years. He shook his head. Where the hell had the time gone? His life had become too much about work and survival and less about living. Somehow, having Emerald around was bringing him back to life again.
He had her to thank for that, even though it would hurt like hell when she left. But there was no going back, and truthfully, he didn’t want to. It felt good to be really alive again.
The splash of water caught his attention and he crept forward. If his sister and her husband were fooling around at the pond, he didn’t want to interrupt them. As he reached the edge of the trees, he raised the camera and peered through the telephoto lens for a better view. Nobody used this place much anymore as it was on private property. But maybe a few of the teenagers that Erin had hired were taking a break. Although at two in the afternoon, that wasn’t likely.
There was only one person. Jackson could barely make out the top of a head as it disappeared beneath the water. He waited patiently and was rewarded a few moments later when she reappeared. It was definitely a woman. She was naked from the waist up and he saw her perfectly. Recognition made his heart skip a beat.
Emerald was skinny-dipping.
Like a water nymph, she stood waist-deep in the pond and slicked her wet hair out of her face. She was wearing no makeup, her skin glistening in the afternoon heat. He swallowed and focused his lens, getting a closer shot. His fingers longed to take a photo, but he couldn’t, wouldn’t without her permission. This was one picture he’d never share with anyone, but he’d give almost anything to have one for his private collection. Something that he could hold and look at long after she was gone.
Beads of water caressed her skin like a lover’s touch. One poised on the edge of her nipple and he longed to lick it away. Her breasts were very sensitive. He loved to draw those pouty nipples into his mouth and suckle.
His jeans were uncomfortably tight, but he didn’t move, totally enthralled by the picture she made in the lens. She laughed as she fell back into the water, disappearing below it, only to reappear a few seconds later. When she dove deep, her long legs briefly appeared and then were gone. Jackson wondered if she was wearing panties or if she was totally naked.
His hand went to his back pocket where her pale purple panties resided. He drew them out and held them to his cheek, sniffing them. They smelled like her—hot and spicy with a touch of floral. The real thing was only a handful of steps away.
Returning the panties to his pocket, he hesitated. Should he leave her alone or join her? He already felt like a damn voyeur watching her through the lens of his camera. She surfaced again, slicking back her hair. In spite of the cooling water, her skin appeared flushed. Her hands rested lightly on her belly and then slowly slid upward.
Jackson gulped air into his lungs as her fingers hesitated just below her breasts. “Higher, baby,” he whispered. His cock was throbbing
, but he ignored it. There was no way he could take his eyes off her as he waited to see what she’d do. “Touch yourself,” he murmured, encouraging her even though she couldn’t hear him.
Her hands cupped her breasts and gently squeezed. “Oh, yeah. That’s it, sweetheart.” His testicles tightened and he barely swallowed a groan. He was in agony, but he couldn’t stop watching Emerald. She was beautiful, so natural, like a goddess of nature as she rubbed her fingers across her puckered nipples. Her head was thrown back and her hair hung in wet tendrils, clinging to her back and shoulders. Her long neck was exposed to his hungry view and her back was arched, pushing her breasts upward.
Her arm grazed the side of her breast as her hand slipped across her collarbone and throat. Her head turned slightly away from him. His finger pressed down automatically on the shutter.
The noise sounded loud in the silence of the day and he took a step backward, stepping on a twig. The snap echoed across the clearing. Emerald gasped and sank beneath the water. Swearing under his breath, Jackson sauntered forward, or at least tried to. His gait was as stiff as his erection.
“What are you doing here?” Her voice was shrill as she glared at him. “You frightened the life out of me.”
“I’m sorry.” He really was repentant, but she looked so damn adorable when she was angry, he couldn’t really be sorry he’d seen her, only that he’d frightened her.
Her eyes went unerringly to the camera that now hung from his neck. “You were taking pictures?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged.
She stared at him, searching his face. “Did you take any of me?”
He didn’t even think about lying to her. “I never meant to, but I couldn’t resist taking one. It’s nothing that I’d ever show anyone else,” he quickly reassured her. “But with the play of light on the water and you turned slightly away, you looked like a mystical nymph rising from the depths. The way the shot is framed, your identity is protected.”
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