by HELEN HARDT
“It’s a pretty deep cut, Mia. What are you using for knives in here? Samurai blades?”
Mia smiled despite herself. “They’re just regular forged steel knives.”
Jeff wrapped the towel around her hand and applied pressure. Sparks ignited within her. For so long she’d longed for his touch. Now she was grateful to that stupid knife for giving her the opportunity. She’d have cut herself a year ago if she’d known she’d get his attention.
“Then you should be more careful. Where do you keep your bandages?”
“There are some in the powder room.”
“Okay, keep holding pressure on this. I’ll be right back.”
He returned in a minute with a few bandages. “I’m not sure these will be big enough. Do you have any gauze and adhesive tape?”
“Jeff, don’t worry about it. The bleeding has died down a lot.”
“Died down doesn’t mean stopped. It’s a pretty deep cut. I want to get it bandaged up right.”
“What do you know about bandaging a cut?”
He looked at the floor. “I worked in the infirmary for a few years in prison.”
She bit her lip. “Oh.” She hated talking about his time. Nausea gurgled in her stomach. The thought of him behind bars sickened her. He should have had a life…a life with her.
But she had screwed that up big time. Her own damned fault.
“Mia, gauze and tape?”
She nodded. “There’s a first aid kit upstairs. I’ll go get it.”
“No, you stay here. Just tell me where it is.”
“It’s in the hall closet, the bigger one. Top shelf, I think.”
“Hold this a while longer.” Jeff left the kitchen.
He returned in a few minutes with the kit. With rapt attention, he cut gauze to the right size and taped it around the palm of her hand. Then he did something totally unexpected. He raised her palm to his lips and pressed a kiss to the gauze.
Her whole body softened, nearly melted. “Oh, Jeff.”
His dark gaze penetrated hers. “Mia, don’t look at me like that.”
She sniffed as tears wet her eyes.
He looked down at her feet. “You know, I used to dream about what our child would look like. I always imagined we’d have a little girl.”
She smiled, despite her tears. “We did.”
“I know that now. But when we were first together, I thought about it. I always imagined her with brown eyes, though.”
“Yeah, I know. I was surprised when Angie’s eyes turned green. Both you and I have brown eyes, and Wayne—” She stopped. “Anyway, Harp and Catie both have brown eyes. Angie got a recessive trait from one of us.”
“She’s special. I always knew our little girl would be special, if we ever had one.”
“Yes. Yes, she sure is special.” Maria’s heart nearly broke. Again the guilt nagged at her, the pain, the life of unfulfilled love. All that could have been…if only they’d both been honest with each other back when it mattered.
She touched his cheek with her good hand and drew his gaze back to hers. “I’m so sorry, Jeff. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Mia, I told you not to look at me like that.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“That little pout. That same little pout. Oh, Mia.” He crushed his mouth to hers.
The kiss was deep and passionate…
How she’d missed his kisses! The truth she’d learned all those years ago was still there in his kiss.
He didn’t start slow. He pried at the seam of her lips with his tongue, and she opened for him without hesitation. Their tongues twirled and danced together, dueled, and then danced again.
His groan vibrated against her cheeks and lips, and she answered it with a groan of her own. They kissed with fervor, with passion, with an unyielding desire of three decades lost.
He nipped at her lips, bit at her, and then thrust his tongue into her mouth again and took. Yet gave at the same time, gave her something she’d never forgotten but had yearned for.
The truth of true love.
“Oh, Jeff,” she moaned into his lips.
“Kiss me, Mia,” he said against her skin. “Kiss me.”
“Always.”
He cupped her cheeks as he kissed her again. She let her hands wander to his broad shoulders, still hard and firm as she remembered. She trailed downward. His nipples were hard against the soft fabric of his work shirt. She flicked over one with her fingernail. He groaned in her mouth.
Yes, yes, he used to love that. She remembered every inch of his body. Every inch she had discovered that wonderful night in her bedroom. Not once had she forgotten him. Not one day had she gone without thinking of him during all those years they’d spent apart.
She poured thirty years of passion into that kiss. Thirty years of love.
Yet still he broke away, panting.
His eyes were misty, troubled, filled with sorrow and regret.
“I’m sorry, Mia. I can’t.”
* * *
Thirty-Three Years Earlier
Maria clicked the lock on her door, sat down on her bed, and motioned for Jeff to join her.
“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” she said, shivering. She rubbed her arms to warm them. “I’ve never…”
“Shh.” He traced her lips with his finger. “It’s okay. I don’t care about any of that. I just want you.”
“I want you too.”
He kissed her mouth gently, sweetly. “If you want to stop, you just tell me. I’ll never do anything you don’t want me to do.”
She nodded. Right now she wanted everything, and she wanted it with him. If she only had this one night, she could live on it the rest of her life, she was sure. He was that special, that important.
Clarity dawned as though the truth had always existed. This was why she’d never slept with Greg, even those few nights when she was so turned on from making out she’d had to squeeze her legs shut. Even then, it had never felt right.
This felt right.
“I want this,” she said. “Show me what to do, Jeff.”
He kissed her again, an innocent kiss. He slowly inched the T-shirt up, exposing her bare skin and leaving blazes in his wake. He left her lips for a moment to pull the shirt over her head.
“Oh, God, Mia, you’re so beautiful.”
He bent down and kissed one taut nipple. She shuddered. How could anything feel as good as his mouth on her breast? The act of sex itself couldn’t possibly be any better than this one moment.
She savored it, froze it in her memory, the sensation of his lips on her nipple. He found the other with his fingers and lightly flicked them over it. More sparks flew to her belly and landed between her legs. Oh, the sensation, the sweet surrender to his lips. When he darted his tongue out and touched the nipple, she flew. Then he closed his lips around the hard peak and sucked.
Her clit throbbed. Each movement he made, each sensation he uncovered in her, took her to a higher place. She never wanted to come down again.
Gently he laid her on the bed and eased her shorts off. Now nothing stood between her private parts and him except her bikini undies.
She shuddered as he took off his shirt. His skin was so creamy, so beautiful, and his chest so perfectly sculpted. Of its own accord, her hand reached out and her fingers touched his nipple. He quivered beneath her touch. Would it feel as good to him as it did to her if she put her mouth there? She’d have to find out.
He leaned down and kissed her nipple again, then the other one. He cupped her breasts and squeezed them, and then trailed tiny kisses all over her chest and abdomen, down to where her panties covered her. He eased her panties over her thighs. She kicked them off.
“So beautiful,” he said again. He parted her legs.
She closed her eyes. She wasn’t embarrassed. Not at all, which surprised her. She trusted him. Welcomed his touch and his gaze.
He spread her legs wide. One finger traile
d over her folds. She quivered. Dear God, his touch set her aflame!
“So pretty. And so wet, my Mia. For me.”
Wet? She must be sopping. She closed her eyes and sighed. Her heart did little flip-flops, and flutters filled her tummy. When something soft and wet touched her, her eyes flew open.
His tongue. He was licking her down there. And oh, how good it felt. Unimaginably and indescribably good.
“Mmm, you taste good, Mia,” he said against her mound. “So good.” He lapped at her, tonguing her clit, and then swiping all the way up and down her opening. Then a finger breached her.
It was tight, but it felt amazing, as if she’d been empty and was only now beginning to be filled. Slowly he moved it in and out of her. She gasped when he inserted another finger, but soon she got used to the invasion. Again he moved them slowly, in and out.
“This will get you used to having something in there,” he said. “How does it feel?”
She sighed, sinking into her comforter. “It feels wonderful, Jeff. Wonderful.”
Out of nowhere, she wanted to put her mouth to him. Greg had begged her to do that, but the thought had disgusted her. Now, she wanted it more than anything. She wanted to do it…for Jeff.
Later, though. For now, she closed her eyes and reveled in what he was doing to her. He tantalized her, stroked her, kissed her, pulled at her with his lips and teeth, all the while thrusting his long thick fingers in and out of her channel.
His fingers inside her felt so good she thought she might burst… Oh, stop, stop, he had to stop…and then a rainbow exploded inside her body.
Her voice came from somewhere else. “Jeff, Jeff, that feels so good. Oh, Jeff!”
“Yeah, beautiful, baby. Beautiful. So sweet, my Mia.”
When she stopped convulsing, she opened her eyes and met his smoky gaze. She opened her mouth, but no words emerged. The comforter hugged her like a fluffy cloud, and nirvana cloaked her.
“You’re beautiful when you come,” Jeff said.
Her insides quivered. So that was a climax. How was it possible to feel so good? So right? She could die right now and know she’d experienced true pleasure.
He reached for her hand and led it to the hardness under his jeans. “Touch me, Mia. Please.”
Forcing herself from her rapture, she rubbed her hand over the hard spot, unsure what to do. She wanted to please him, needed to please him. “Show me, Jeff. Show me how to make you feel that good.”
He smiled, unzipped his jeans, and slid them over his hips along with his briefs. His erection sprang forward from a patch of black curls. It was regal, it was beautiful…it was so big!
Could she go through with this? Yes, because she wanted to, wanted more than anything in the world for him to be inside her body—to be a part of her.
Jeff smiled at her and whispered again, “Touch me.” He took her hand and led it to his erection. It was so hard yet silky at the same time. Its warmth radiated into her hand and up her arm.
“Ah, yes,” he said. “That feels good, Mia.” He moved her hand up and down his shaft, showing her how to stroke him. “Like that, baby. Just like that.”
Mia slid her fist over Jeff’s cock in wonder. How such a small movement on her part could make him feel so good amazed her. And turned her on.
“Jeff,” she said shyly.
His eyes were closed. “Yes?” he said in a voice that seemed lower than normal.
“I want… I want…”
“What? What do you want?”
“I want to put my mouth on you.”
“Oh my God,” he groaned.
“Show me how.”
“Just do whatever you want. I’ll love it. I promise.”
She lowered her head and darted her tongue out to taste his cock head. It was salty, and a drop of fluid emerged. She licked it up. Salty again.
He quivered. “God, Mia. God damn.”
She swirled her tongue around the salty head again, and then again. Then she took it into her mouth and sucked gently.
His whole body tensed. “God, God, Mia.”
She loved making him groan, making him quiver. She returned to her task and took more of him into her mouth. He was so huge, but she wanted so badly to please him. Wanted to make him feel as good as he’d made her feel.
And she would.
She sucked him as far as she could into her mouth, stopping when he touched the back of her throat. She let go before she gagged.
She tried again. Did better this time.
All the while he moaned and groaned, telling her how beautiful she was, how good she was making him feel.
Suddenly he jerked away. His dick slid from her mouth.
Her heart slammed against her chest. “What? Did I do something wrong?”
“God, no. You did something very right. But I don’t want it to be over yet. I want to make love to you.”
“You mean…?”
“Yeah. If you keep doing that I’m going to come, and I don’t want to come in your mouth. Well, I do, but not tonight. Tonight I want to come inside you.”
Oh, she wanted it too. Already she was gearing up for another orgasm. The tickle between her legs had returned, and moisture settled on her inner thighs.
“Yes, Jeff. I want that too.”
“You are so beautiful.” He traced her cheekbone with his index finger. “Will I be your first?”
Her cheeks warmed—from his touch or from his question, she wasn’t sure. “Yes, Jeff.”
“Mia, I want to be your first and only.” He shook his head, his lips trembling. “I can’t believe I’m saying it right now, but God, that’s what I want.”
Her first. Yes, she was ready. She wanted him so much. So much more than she’d ever desired Greg or anyone else. “Please, Jeff,” she said, “make love to me.”
He reached between her legs. “You’re wet again, Mia. So wet for me.”
Yes, she was. She was so ready for him. Ready for this, with this man and no other.
But he pulled away.
“Jeff?”
“Just need to get the condom out of my wallet.”
“Oh.” Of course. Contraception. Was she truly so turned on that she was willing to risk pregnancy? Thank God Jeff had the sense to remember.
“Aw, shit.” He threw his jeans down.
“What?”
“It’s gone. I forgot. I gave it to my friend Trey yesterday. God damn it!”
Maria nearly broke into tears. She was ready. So ready. “Can’t you just pull out?”
“That’s so hard, baby. You don’t even know.”
“Please?”
He came back to her, lay down next to her. “It’s not a hundred percent effective. Are you willing to take that risk?”
Her pulse thundered in her neck. “Nothing is one hundred percent effective, is it?”
He smiled. “No. The only thing that’s a hundred percent effective is for me to leave right now.”
“Are you willing to do that?” Please say no. Please say no.
“I would if you asked me to.”
She warmed all over. Such a gentleman. “That’s so kind of you, Jeff, but I’m not asking. Please, I trust you. Pull out. You can do it.”
He closed his eyes and let out a groan. “God, Mia…”
“Please…”
He stroked her clit, making her even wetter, and then he dipped first one finger and then two into her, teasing her channel as he’d done before.
“It might hurt, but only for a little while.” He looked into her eyes, his dark gaze smoldering. “I’ll ask you one more time. Are you sure about this?”
Her entire body warmed, and the truth hit her like a lightning bolt. She was more sure than she was that the sun would rise tomorrow. “Yes, I’m sure. Very sure.”
He moved on top of her and nudged at her entrance with his erection. “God, Mia, God, I can’t wait any longer.” He thrust inside her.
“Oh!” She sucked in a breath. Pain, yes, but no
t what she’d expected. Just a little, then she felt only full.
He stayed still, but his body shuddered. She could tell he wanted to move, wanted to thrust. He was waiting for her to get used to his invasion.
“Are you okay?” he whispered against her neck.
She bit her lip. “Yes. I’m fine. It didn’t hurt that much.”
“Good. I want you to feel good. I’ll try to make this good for you.”
“It’s already good for me, Jeff. I promise.” She’d never spoken truer words.
His perspiration spilled onto her neck and face. He still hesitated.
“Please, I promise.” She wiped the moisture from his forehead with her hand. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”
“God,” he groaned. He pulled out and then thrust back in.
She sucked in another breath, but the pain wasn’t nearly as intense. In fact, it really wasn’t pain at all.
He pulled out and pushed in again, and then again. And gradually the sensations turned from uncomfortable to wonderful. His cock brushed her clit each time he thrust into her, and her channel began to throb.
Yes, this was what it was about, how it was supposed to be. Not pain, but pleasure. Pure raw pleasure, to have a man inside her. A man she wanted there.
She moaned his name, urged him to thrust faster, harder. And with each plunge of his cock into her core, her pleasure increased, until the now familiar spasms that started inside her vagina threaded outward to her belly, her legs, upward to her heart, and down to the tips of her toes.
Nothing had ever felt so good, and nothing, she was sure, would ever feel so good again.
He thrust and he thrust, moaning her name, telling her how beautiful she was, how good she made him feel.
“God, Mia. God, yes. Yes, yes.”
As his thrusts increased in speed and pressure, she began the ascent to the precipice again, and soon the sensations flooded her once more—raw pleasure, pure nirvana.
“That’s right, baby. Come for me. Come for me again.” He pushed inside her one last time and held his cock there against the walls of her convulsing channel, deep inside her as he breathed out heavily.
“I’m coming, Mia. Oh, God, I’m coming.”
Those words fortified her heart and soul. He was coming. For her. She had made him feel this good. Her. Simple Maria Gomez from the other side of the tracks. She had brought Jeff Bay to his knees.
