One Reckless Summer

by Toni Blake

  Slowly, he withdrew, and they both sighed at the disconnection, and he eased down next to her on the floor. They lay side by side, and he took in her body again, naked and wet and beautiful, as he slid one hand onto her hip. “That was so damn hot, honey. In the good way, I mean,” he added with a grin, thinking of the warmth saturating the air.

  The reminder of the heat made her glance up at the open window above their heads, and the look of ecstasy on her face turned to concern. “What if someone heard us?”

  Maybe he should be worried, given his situation, but instead, he could only laugh. “Destiny,” he said, “where no one has sex with the windows open.”

  Her eyes widened in distress and she pressed her palms to his chest. “Seriously—what if someone heard us?”

  “You, you mean,” he pointed out. She’d made a hell of a lot more noise than he had, which pleased the arrogant, lusty guy in him. In response to her question, though, he only shrugged. “Guess they’d probably think you have some company.”

  She still looked worried. “What if someone asks me about it, brings it up?”

  He made a chiding face. “Get real, pussycat. Nobody in Destiny is gonna ask you who was making you scream your head off in passion.”

  She sighed in concession. “Okay, probably not. But still, it’s kind of embarrassing.”

  “Only in Destiny,” he insisted.

  Next to him, she shook her pretty head. “No—for me, it would be embarrassing anywhere.” She suddenly looked younger somehow, innocent, like that girl on the dock all those years ago. “I’m…not used to this. Being this wild.”

  Something about that tightened his chest and made him glad he’d come along when he had. Maybe he wasn’t the only one getting something he needed here this summer. “Then it’s about time somebody brought out that side of you.”

  “Agreed,” she said. Then added, “Destiny isn’t so bad, though. I never thought I’d enjoy being back, but…I’m actually thinking of staying.”

  He let his eyes widen in surprise. Nothing she’d told him before had made him think that was even a possibility. “Really?”

  “I’ve been offered a job teaching at the high school. At first, I brushed it off—but today I ran into the principal, and he said I’d be teaching all upperclassmen, mostly elective courses, which means they choose to be there and aren’t forced into it. I was thinking it might feel less like babysitting and more like really teaching. And fall is coming quick and I need a job. It’s starting to seem appealing to stick around awhile, give it a try and see how it goes.” She stopped then, sighed. “On the other hand, though, does coming home seem…too easy? Should I challenge myself more?” She looked up into his eyes, as if she truly expected him to have the answer.

  He considered her words and replied with a shrug. “I don’t weigh things too much these days by whether they seem easy or hard. I think more about what…feels right inside. The person I used to be…never really felt right inside, but I just didn’t know any other way. Now I know when things feel right, and that’s how I gauge them.”

  “Is it how you gauged it when Wayne called to ask for your help?”

  He nodded briefly, sorry to be reminded of Wayne—and suffering an instant guilt for feeling that way.

  “How is Wayne?” she asked gently.

  He quietly sighed, then leaned his forehead over against hers. “Not good, pussycat.”

  “That’s why you can’t stay long.”

  “Yep.”

  “Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do to help?”

  His heart swelled, and all he could do in that moment was kiss her until he found his voice again. “You’re sweet as hell, honey. And this helps. Me and you helps. But I just gotta ride this out. And, much as I’d rather stay here rolling around on the floor with you…”

  “You need to go.”

  He gave a short nod and knew they were both pretty bummed by it. Then he propped his head in his hand and let his eyes peruse her from head to toe, all sweaty, wet, and hot, with that bra still on but pulled down—and he didn’t guard his words, since, with Jenny, it was beginning to feel like he didn’t have to. “You look so naughty right now, pussycat, like a girl in a magazine,” he concluded with a lascivious smile.

  She flushed prettily, bit her lip, and said, “I thought you were…you know, reformed.”

  He laughed. “Not that reformed. If I ever get that reformed, shoot me.”

  The next morning, Jenny sat at her laptop, at a small desk in the living room, feeling a little giddy—about last night—and answering e-mail. She’d been keeping in touch with a few friends from Columbus that way, and Sue Ann and she had discovered it was an easy way to make plans. Plus Amy had e-mailed her some pictures from last autumn’s Chicago trip.

  But mainly, the giddy part was winning out over the practical e-mail part. It was all she could do not to type, I had wild ice-cube sex last night!

  Until, that is, she was reminded of her father’s presence in the next room when she heard him beating and clanging away on the air conditioner. Given that they’d barely spoken since the Fourth of July and that she was still sweating her brains out—and that sweating wasn’t nearly as fun without Mick around—she found herself completely unable to focus on her replies and decided to go back to it later.

  She was just about to click over to the Hubble telescope website when a new message arrived in her inbox—from Ralph Turley, the principal of Destiny High School. Despite the clanging and other distractions, she clicked to open it.

  Just wanted to tell you what a pleasure it was talking with you yesterday, Jenny, and how much I hope you’ll accept our offer and come back to your alma mater to teach. If you have any questions, just let me know.

  Wow, they really wanted her. That was a nice feeling.

  Was Mick right? About just trusting your heart and not worrying so much about the perceptions of a decision—your own or others’?

  And as for Mick—oh God, her heart swelled just to think of him now. The things that man made her feel, both inside and out, were nearly overwhelming. And the way she’d felt when he’d left last night…hell, that had overwhelmed her, too. Oh crap—it was a lot easier when I was just giddy about the sex.

  She’d tried to attribute her emotions last night to the heat, but she knew that was silly. I love him, she thought helplessly. She could try to deny it all she wanted, but that didn’t change the facts. Oh boy. Oh no. I really do. I really love him. I don’t want to, but I just do. Which was incredible and nightmarish all at once for a hundred different reasons. How the hell had this happened? When she’d promised herself nothing would get in the way of her pleasure, her wild affair, she’d never imagined the biggest obstacle would turn out to be falling in love with her lover.

  Just then, her father ambled into the room, wiping his hands on the same rag he’d used every time he was here. “Think I got it workin’ again—should cool down soon. But I wish you’d called me last night, or just come over to my place to sleep. D’you get any sleep at all in this miserable heat?” Despite his words, his tone was forced, and his eyes appeared sort of haunted when she met his gaze. Just looking at him that way tightened her chest.

  “I slept…surprisingly well,” she said. A good orgasm or two can do that for you. Even amid the horror of admitting to yourself that you’re in love with a guy you have no future with. “I found an old fan and put it in the window above the bed, and it helped a lot.”

  Her father sighed. “Well…good.”

  It was then that she saw his eyes catch on the print Mick had given her, now hanging on the wall. She’d bought a nice frame and matting at McMillan’s Hardware and framed it herself, just yesterday. “What’s this?” he asked.

  She swallowed back the lump in her throat, hating the tension between them. “A Van Gogh print—Starry Night.”

  Her father pursed his lips and sighed. “It’s nice,” he admitted. “Not as nice as your mother’s picture, but…it looks good
with the yellow walls.”

  “Mick gave it to me,” she said in a slightly hushed tone. Just to try that on for size. Even though she had no future with him—it was the principle of the thing; she didn’t want her dad to hate the man she loved. And she should be able to say his name. Even if he’s technically a criminal? Unfortunately, that made it a lot more complicated.

  “Mick,” her father repeated, judging, cynical, and clearly not liking the fact that she felt close enough to Mick to call him by only his first name. Oh Daddy, if you only knew how close I feel to him.

  “Yes,” she said. “He knows I like astronomy and that I haven’t gotten to stargaze as much as I’d planned this summer.”

  He drew his eyes from the wall to her face, still critical. “I been thinkin’ about this, Jenny, over and over again, and for the life of me, I can’t understand how you could…cavort with someone like him.”

  Jenny blinked, shocked, offended. But wait, no, it was more than that—in fact, she was downright pissed off. She hadn’t done everything right here, and she knew she’d put her father in a horrible position by telling him Mick’s secret and asking him to keep it, but what he’d just said was more than she could stand. She’d been trying to smooth things over and keep their relationship on an even keel, but something in her snapped.

  “Cavort?” she asked. “Cavort? I’m thirty-one years old, Dad!” Even if it didn’t feel that way between them—she always felt younger in his presence.

  “What does your age have to do with anything?” he asked, appearing confounded.

  And she could only sigh. He really didn’t get it. “Maybe I’m old enough to cavort with whomever I want to cavort with,” she explained.

  “But he’s a criminal,” her dad replied, the word slicing into her a lot deeper when he said it. “Did you know that? Never caught him, mind you, but I know he took part in at least one robbery.”

  Yeah, she knew that, and she hated it, but she’d also somehow gotten over it. “That’s in the past,” she insisted. “He’s changed. He’s not a criminal anymore.”

  “He sure as hell is.”

  Oh. Harboring a fugitive. Damn it. It was so easy to forget, even just a moment after it had come to mind, that he was breaking the law by caring for his brother. “Not by choice,” she pointed out. “He’s only honoring his brother’s last request.”

  “You always have a choice,” her father claimed.

  And she let out a huff in reply. “Maybe so, but Mick did what he felt was right, and so did I. Why can’t you drop this? Why can’t you do what I said and just pretend you don’t know?”

  “Because now I’m technically breaking the law, too. For you,” he reminded her softly.

  Double damn it. That stopped her in her tracks.

  Sighing, she stood up, walked over, and took her father’s hands in hers. Hands that had rocked her as a baby. Hands that had held her when her mother had died. “I’m so deeply sorry about that part, Dad—I really am. You have no idea how I’ve struggled with this. But I’m asking you to trust in me, to believe in me enough to know I wouldn’t have kept this from you, or asked of you what I did, if I didn’t truly feel Mick is a good person.” She squeezed his hands a little tighter and said, “Please, Daddy—believe in me.”

  The room was starting to cool now, but the air still felt stifling. She hated hurting him, hated knowing he truly thought less of her now somehow. And she was hoping and praying he’d say, Okay, Jennygirl, I believe in you, and give her a big hug.

  Instead, though, he simply leaned over, kissed her on the forehead, then turned and walked out the door.

  Later that day, Jenny and Sue Ann both stretched out in floating lounge chairs just off the dock. It was too hot to even think about being in the sun without staying cool.

  “Ah, this is heaven,” Sue Ann said, lifting a wine cooler to her lips, then leaning her head back to soak up the sun.

  “Heaven’s a stretch, I think,” Jenny groused. Her mood hadn’t improved much since the run-in with her father. “It’s crazy hot out here. If we had any sense, we’d be in the nice, cool air-conditioning.” A modern convenience a girl really appreciated after a night without it, even if she had found post-orgasmic sleep restful.

  “Hot, schmot—this is nice. Two best friends basking away a lazy afternoon in the sun. I never really thought we’d get to hang out like this again, you know? So maybe that rat bastard’s rattiness was good for something.”

  Jenny could only snarl. She loved hanging out with Sue Ann, too, but she was in no mood to actually acknowledge that Terrence’s cheating could have any redeeming qualities.

  “By the by,” Sue Ann said, ignoring the snarl, “do you know anybody who wants to rent a house? My mom’s Aunt Celia is moving in with Dinah and John. She’s eighty-five now and really can’t take care of herself anymore. But they don’t want to sell the house, and figure it would be tough anyway right now with the new subdivision going in.”

  Jenny knew the house—a small, green, one-story cottage about half a mile past hers, farther up the lake. “Who would I know who’d want to rent a house?” she pointed out.

  “Growl,” Sue Ann said with playfully widened eyes. “Somebody’s testy today.”

  “And you’re unusually chipper. How was your weekend, by the way?”

  “Magical, thank you,” Sue Ann replied.

  Jenny lowered her chin skeptically. “Magical?”

  “Utterly. And if I seem cheerful today, it’s because I’m still in the afterglow of a sex marathon.”

  Jenny raised her eyebrows, surprised. “Do tell.” Since maybe they hadn’t talked about sex all that much before her divorce, but they did now.

  “My mother went on a trip to the Longaberger Basket factory this weekend. Have you ever seen it, by the way? The building is the world’s largest basket and it’s pretty darn impressive. Anyway, she took Sophie with her.”

  “Ah,” Jenny said.

  “Ah isn’t the half of it,” Sue Ann informed her. “And much as I miss the little munchkin and much as I’m looking forward to picking her up when they get home this afternoon, I’m seriously thinking of trying to make this ‘weekend with Grandma’ thing a monthly event. It gave Jeff and me two entire nights of completely blissful sex, which is two more than we’ve had in ages.”

  This actually did cheer Jenny up a little—she was happy for Sue Ann. “So was it…candles-and-wine blissful or urgent-and-heated blissful?”

  A pleasant, easy smile graced Sue Ann’s face. “A nice combo of both, actually. So how was your weekend? Are you still in love with Mick Brody?”

  Jenny sighed. She really had given up denying it. Once she’d said the words out loud to Sue Ann during the fireworks, there’d really been no taking it back, no matter how she’d tried. “Yep,” she said matter-of-factly, “and I don’t think I like it.”

  Sue Ann raised her eyebrows. “Oh?”

  “Example. He had to leave fairly quickly last night after we did it, and I hated it. And then I hated myself for hating it. I mean, he had a good reason to leave. And he’ll leave for good soon, so I’d better get ready for that, right?”

  “So you know for sure he’s going to leave town again?”

  Jenny nodded. “He’s not a fan of Destiny. It sounds like Wayne’s condition is deteriorating, and as soon as he dies, Mick’ll be long gone.”

  Sue Ann made a sympathetic face. “That sucks.”

  “You know I never meant for this to happen—to get attached to the guy. Sometimes I still can’t believe any of this—it feels surreal to me. But here I am, suddenly thinking about him all the time, all wrapped up in wondering when I’ll see him again, and how good the sex will be, and what we’ll talk about, and how long he’ll stay. It’s awful. It felt much better when I’d deluded myself into believing it was just a wild affair.”

  “But even when love stinks,” Sue Ann said, “it’s pretty amazing, too, don’t you think? I still remember when I fell for Jeff—back then, he th
ought of me as a friend, and I thought I was doomed, but at the same time…” She paused, looking all dreamy. “…I felt all glowy inside just thinking about him.”

  Jenny sighed, realizing the sad truth. “Yeah, I’m glowy, too. But I’d be glowier if…well, if everything was different.”

  “Yeah, the harboring-a-fugitive thing is kind of a bummer,” Sue Ann said, now trying to play it off so lightly that Jenny couldn’t help but laugh.

  “And making my father not uphold the law, and destroying his faith in me and my judgment…all that stuff is a little bit of a downer, as well.”

  “So we should get back on a better subject,” Sue Ann suggested. “Like how’s the sex with Mr. Brody these days?”

  Feeling instantly glowy again, Jenny let out a girlish sigh. “Fabulous, as usual. Last night when the A/C was out, he opened the refrigerator doors and we did it in the kitchen.”

  Sue Ann’s jaw dropped. “God. Where at?”

  “On the counter, then the floor,” Jenny replied. “And there was ice involved.”

  “I’ll be damned,” Sue Ann said, slapping her palm down on the arm of her floating chair. “I have a sex marathon and still you trump me with that guy. I never even thought about the kitchen before. Maybe Jeff and I’ll try that on the next grandma weekend.”

  Jenny held up one finger to temper Sue Ann’s enthusiasm. “But I think the kitchen was only hot because we were, um, too urgent to go anywhere else. Otherwise, it just would have been hard and uncomfortable.”

  Yet Sue Ann’s excitement would not be quelled. “Well, don’t forget the ice. The kitchen was also hot because of the ice.”

  Jenny could only shrug. “Point taken. The ice was…pretty phenomenal.”

  “That seals it,” Sue Ann concluded with a nod. “I’m doing it with Jeff in the kitchen.”

  Given their conversation, Jenny couldn’t resist asking the question on her mind. She took a sip of her berry cooler first, though, for courage. “So…you’re no longer against me being with Mick?”