LOVE in a Small Town

by Janet Eaves

  She settled upon his length, moving her hips in an instinctive movement of woman. His head pounded.

  “Are you sure, sweetheart?”

  “Yes!”

  His mind numb, Graham’s body took control. He flipped Jane over on her back and cupped his hands under her buttocks, raising her to meet him. She was dripping with moisture and writhing under him, her hands on his hips, pressing him toward her.

  He tried to be gentle. He tried to go slow, but the foreplay had made him crazy.

  “Oh, Graham,” Jane whimpered, shuddering beneath him.

  “Damn!”

  Graham followed her, his climax exploding through him. Jane was in many ways still an innocent—as fresh and genuine as the graduation night so long ago.

  Chapter Ten

  Jane popped open an eye to stare dreamily at Graham’s silent profile. She rejoiced in his hard, lean frame, cradled as she was in the crook of his arm with her head on his shoulder. Jane’s hand lay flat against the curly hair of his chest where she felt the rhythm of each breath against her palm.

  The scent of Graham’s skin mixed with something more. It was an animal-like smell. The smell of passion. The smell of sex.

  Jane reveled in the aroma as well as in the ache between her legs and the delicious moisture pooling there. So this was what it was like to really make love. To have mind-blowing sex with a man. A man she loved.

  Graham’s fingers pressed into her shoulder, drawing her nearer. The bite of his fingertips felt good, providing one more solid connection to him. Jane sighed and then her lips curved into a smile, a smile of self-satisfaction.

  She hadn’t been wrong. Sex with Graham in the cramped back seat of a car had been good. She remembered it right. And tonight the lovemaking was like dynamite.

  Graham remained quiet. With his free hand behind his head, he stared unblinkingly at the ceiling.

  She shut her eyes. Why hadn’t he said something? He uttered a curse as he came within her, as he thrust into her and then shuddered with his cascading release.

  She was surprised by the expletive, but in her own afterglow, had let the word go in one ear and out the other. Only now she considered his meaning. Was it as good for him as for her? What was he thinking? She was afraid to ask.

  As silence stretched between them, Jane tensed. Her experience had left her wanting more. More sex, even with the soreness between her legs, but there was something else.

  Graham cleared his throat. Jane felt the rumbling in his chest, but she refused to open her eyes to the reality of the macho male beside her. Instead she squeezed them shut tighter, hoping to bar the light—the light of her own folly.

  She should’ve expected the truth. When she’d set out to seduce him, she should’ve known the raw pleasure of good sex meant nothing. Nothing without the love of the man whose body had given her that pleasure.

  Her need to validate the past fifteen years was all consuming. Tonight she turned her dreams into reality, but learned a bitter truth in the bargain. She wanted more than sex from Graham. She wanted his love.

  ****

  Damn! That rocked! Graham’s fingers gripped Jane’s shoulder to make sure she was there. After all these years he felt as if he’d come full circle. He’d finally come home.

  The exhilaration sizzling through his body was not bogus. At his age, he was experienced enough to know that. What Jane had done to him in the span of an hour shattered all his preconceived notions about her, and he was more confused than ever.

  Making love to Jane was good. Too damn good. Why had he thought he wouldn’t be affected by her? He told himself he could remain detached when he made love. That he was teaching this woman a lesson. How mistaken he’d been. Underneath all the tomfoolery, Jane was still Jane, as innocent, loving, good and kind as he remembered.

  His life just changed dramatically. Changed for better or worse? The jury was still out with the verdict.

  Graham tightened his grip, drawing her closer so he could smell her delicious lavender scent and the aroma of their lovemaking. A small sigh escaped her lips. She was quiet a long time.

  Finally he asked, “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  Kissing her forehead, Graham gave Jane another squeeze and then sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

  “Where are you going?”

  He covered her with a sheet. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to the bathroom.”

  Graham paused a moment to gaze upon her, favoring her with a smile. She lay amidst the rumpled sheets, dreamy and sated by sex.

  Heat pumped through his veins and he turned away. Graham picked up their scattered clothes and placed them on a chair. Beneath Jane’s leather pants, he found a wad of paper. He carried it with him into the bathroom. After ridding himself of the condom, Graham started to give the paper a toss, but stopped. Curious, he smoothed it out.

  A Step by Step Guide to your Perfect Romantic Encounter.

  That little imposter. She’d gone to great lengths to seduce him. It tickled his ego and he smiled. Finally, he’d finally made love to the woman who plagued his subconscious for fifteen years.

  The sex was incredible because of Jane. He wanted more of it and more of Jane. Yet, it didn’t seem exactly right. Something was missing, but he wasn’t sure what. All Graham knew is he wanted something besides a one night stand.

  Graham returned to the bedroom determined to uncover the truth. Instead, he found Jane lying on top of the sheets naked, legs spread and exposed, inviting. Graham stood by the bedside, groaning inside. She lifted her hand, beckoning.

  “Damn!” Graham fell gently on top of her, bracing himself with his hands by her head. “Why do you do this to me?”

  Systematically, he began his tantalizing assault upon her body, caressing her with his lips from her mouth downward along an erotic path. She writhed beneath him. Graham worked his way to the tender flesh of her stomach, and then nuzzling her inner thighs, he sought her out. A tidal wave of ecstasy threatened to swamp him.

  “Oh, Graham,” she sighed his name.

  Continuing his methodical seduction, Graham flicked his wet tongue back and forth, stimulating her pleasure. He sucked her, and Jane moved beneath him, grasping at his hair with frantic fingers.

  “Oh please,” she begged.

  His demanding lips sent her over the edge, and she came crashing downward in a cascade of tormenting energy.

  “I want you,” he whispered.

  Swirling from her release, all Jane managed was a nod. Graham took care of protecting them. Then he was back above her, parting her thighs once more, slipping himself within her wet heat. Jane wrapped her arms around his neck, and brought her hips and legs up to meet his thrusts.

  Tension gripped his body and sent a quiver through his tightly strung muscles. He plunged deep one final time and froze, as though turned to stone. His skin glistened with sweat, his climax all-consuming. “Jane!”

  Time seemed to stand still.

  “How did you know?” she gasped.

  “Know what?” Still breathing heavily, he kissed her cheek.

  “That I’m not Dawn.”

  Her voice was faint. Graham paused before he answered wishing she had first revealed the truth. “I’ve known from the first.”

  “From the picnic?”

  “Of course.”

  “How could you know?”

  She surrendered to him her most intimate self. Why was Jane annoyed when she was the one playing him for a fool? “We’re friends after all. You couldn’t fool me.”

  “I wasn’t very good, huh?”

  “What?” Somehow her innocent questions were screwing with his mind.

  She clutched the sheets with her fingers. “As Dawn.”

  “Heck, you were great as Dawn. But you’re even better as yourself.”

  Jane looked away. “You mean you made love to me even though you knew I wasn’t Dawn?”

  The muscles in his jaw moved. �
�I made love to you because I knew you were Jane.”

  She turned her artless gaze to his once more. “You did?”

  “Of course I did.”

  “But why?”

  Because I wanted to. Because only you would do. Because I wanted no one else.

  But he couldn’t say those words to this woman. His life was in a mess. He had no career, no home, and a looming deadline. He would leave Legend soon. Making a promise to Dawn was one thing, but he didn’t want to make promises to Jane. It wouldn’t be fair to let her think she had any future with him.

  “Because I wanted to see how far you’d go,” he lied.

  Jane licked her lips and stared up at him with dewy-eyed resignation. “What kind of guy does that?”

  Graham raked fingers through his hair. Any control he had of the situation was slipping away.

  He didn’t know how to answer her question, so he turned it back on her. “What kind of woman pretends to be her sister just to get a guy into bed?”

  “A pretty desperate one, I guess.”

  Her honesty blew Graham away. Jane’s admission hung in the air around them, turning his confusion into unbridled pain. What was he doing to her? Just because she tricked him and wasn’t telling him the truth, he had no reason to come back at her like he did. Where was his so-called sensitivity? He felt like a jerk.

  “I wish you trusted me with the truth,” he said, trying to reach out to her, but she wouldn’t let him.

  Jane swiped the back of her hand across one eye, and then like a queen, rose from the bed, drawing the sheet around her. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get dressed now.”

  She stood her ground as if she expected him to leave the room while she put her clothes on. His jaw clenched. Damn, he’d already seen her in all her glory. Stubbornly, he crossed his arms over his chest.

  Jane defiantly dropped the sheet from her hands, exposing her slender body to his humbled gaze. Graham swallowed hard as he watched her turn away from him, picking up her clothing from where he stacked them on a chair.

  The muscles in her butt contracted as she bent down to search for her panties. She went about it as if he were invisible. Turning her back to him, she began to put on her clothes.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Home.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s evident we have nothing more to say to each other.”

  He gripped his fingers into a fist. When she was fully dressed, she faced him.

  He felt at a loss. His gaze traveled up Jane’s curvy body to rest on her face. What could he say to ease the tension that throbbed between them? His stomach spoke for him, letting out an awkward growl of hunger.

  Jane’s eyes glistened bravely. “Go get something to eat,” she said. “You satisfied me. Maybe the dinner I brought will satisfy you.”

  The audacity of her words floored him. They pounded in his head and reverberated in his confused heart. He heard Jane hurry down the steps and out the front door.

  She was leaving him.

  Slowly Graham pulled on his boxers and made his way to the kitchen where he shoveled bites of cold spring rolls into his mouth, knowing full well why he felt so unsatisfied.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jane drove down the alley behind her house and pulled into her parking spot. Turning off the ignition, she rested her head against the steering wheel. Her cold fingers gripped the wheel. She shivered. All she wanted to do was crawl into her bed, draw the covers over her head and hide.

  Slowly Jane took a deep breath and raised her head to stare at the rear of her home. The guest room window where her sister slept was dark. She couldn’t face Dawn. Not now. Not when her scheme had imploded around her into embarrassing shambles. She was foolish to play games with someone else’s life, let alone her own.

  Entering the kitchen through the back door, Jane smelled homemade spaghetti sauce full of garlic and oregano. Dawn didn’t cook, but someone prepared supper here last night. Had Clint played chef?

  Jane turned and locked the back door, but didn’t flip on the overhead lights. She wanted the darkness to conceal her. Maybe the shadows would make it all go away. Maybe the best day of her life would remain precious as long as she didn’t dwell on its final scene.

  I wish you trusted me with the truth.

  Jane sank her teeth into the flesh of her lower lip. Ever a pragmatist, she knew she’d gone too far this time. She seduced Graham to get him out of her system and get on with her life. All she’d done was complicate things. How was she supposed to forget him and move on? In one night, he’d taught her to reveal the woman inside herself.

  Making love to Graham had been like a lost child finally finding home.

  ****

  Graham lifted his empty suitcase onto the bed and tried not to think about the passion he experienced there just twenty-four hours earlier. He tried to ignore the memory of Jane’s eyes softened by desire, her naked body stretched beneath him and her finger beckoning. Damn!

  He placed the blame for his restlessness squarely on Jane, on her tempting body, and her harebrained scheme. She danced him around as if he was a puppet on a string, throwing him way off balance. To be fair, he’d gone along willingly for most of the foolish tango.

  Graham sighed. He wanted her again and with such an overpowering need it scared him.

  A sudden painful throb in his temple caused him to draw a deep breath. He touched a cold fingertip to his forehead, and shut his eyes as another ripple of confusion threatened to swamp him.

  He couldn’t be in love with Jane, could he? Heck, he couldn’t afford to be in love with anyone. It would mess up his career and his life.

  Opening his eyes, Graham turned with resignation to the dresser drawer and sorted through his clean boxers and tees. He scooped up a handful of each and dropped them into the bottom of his suitcase.

  Career? What career? The hard reality was that he had no career, and certainly not one in law, certainly not the one he’d carefully created for himself through the years. What’s more, he had no life.

  He only has his “literary” career, the one that was taking him back to the city today.

  Graham’s mood grew sour. His agent had called. Seems the publisher was putting on a fancy reception, and he had to be there. His contract required it. The gala event was to be followed by several days of press interviews. The whole publicity gig was taking him away from writing just when he needed to finish another book. This “career” was jerking him around just like Jane.

  Jane again.

  Graham let out a breath and turned from packing. The muscles of his jaw clenched. He couldn’t get her out of his mind. They’d “made love,” the blow-your-socks-off kind of lovemaking. He didn’t regret it. In fact, he learned something about himself and the kind of woman he wanted.

  Until that moment he’d never seriously considered settling down. He’d been too overworked and driven by ambition. With his high-powered legal career floundering, he needed to take stock of his options and come to terms with the niggling impression he was missing something more than a law firm partnership.

  He and Jane had a history together. For the first time, he wondered if they had a future.

  But he was unsure. Being in love complicated too many things. He’d seen it with his friends. It was one reason he’d gone from woman to woman and why visions of Jane cuddled beside him in bed sent his defense mechanisms into overdrive.

  The doorbell rang. Graham snapped his suitcase shut and carried it downstairs. He set it by the front door before he opened it.

  “Hello.”

  Jane stood on the porch, dressed in jeans and a red polo shirt. Her hair was fluffed around her face in adorable curls. She raised her chin with a pluckiness he remembered from last night and looked him in the eyes.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “May I come in?”

  “Sure.” Graham stood aside for her to enter.

  Why did she have to show up now? Why did she look so
miserable, as if someone had hurt her? He didn’t need this. He didn’t need the irritating throb in his left temple either. And for the life of him, he didn’t know what to say.

  Jane followed Graham into the living room, watching his rigid back and tense shoulders as he strode toward the sofa. Her insides were pure mush and squishy with fear.

  She sucked in a breath and cast aside her pride. “I’ve come to apologize.”

  Graham turned to look at her, his gaze questioning. “Why?”

  Jane flicked a curl away from her eyes and squared her shoulders. “I unfairly took advantage of you.”

  “You didn’t seem to care about that last night.”

  Jane faced him with all the courage she could muster. “It was wrong of me to make you think I was Dawn just to get you into bed.”

  “You set the trap.” Graham frowned. “That doesn’t mean I had to spring it.”

  His jaw set with a grimness that also showed in his eyes. Graham stepped nearer. His subtle scent of sandalwood and leather invaded Jane’s senses, causing her to falter. Even in his inflexibility, Graham’s powerful presence and masculine beauty took her breath away. The tips of her fingers bit into her palms as she closed them into fists.

  This was the man she didn’t just have sex with, but made love to.

  Graham must have read her mind.

  “The sex was good, wasn’t it?” he asked coolly. “Was I good enough for your little experiment?”

  “You know it wasn’t like that.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know what I know. You tell me. What was it like?”

  Jane cringed. “It was like heaven. It was just like I remembered.”

  Graham heard the tremulous quality of her voice. She raised her chin a notch higher. He stared at Jane’s upturned eyes, catching her defiant stance and look of vulnerability. The look gut-punched him and he swallowed hard. Did Jane love him? No. That’s not what he wanted. He didn’t want to be loved. He didn’t need the burden. What he needed was a better sense of direction and more control over his life.

  He rubbed his aching head. The look in Jane’s eyes plagued him. He’d seen that look before. After graduation. When he kissed her after their first time together and she asked him to drive her home. It was a look he couldn’t handle again. He dropped his hand.