He hesitated only a moment and then slipped his fingers inside her. She moaned and moved against his fingers, tremblings of delight tingling and promising.
“You’re so wet, Mia,” he said, kissing her neck. His words were panted, his breath labored with excitement.
“I want you, Jack,” she said, tilting her hips toward him, open, ready, needing him inside her.
He removed his hand and positioned his cock between her legs. She knew she was trembling, but everything else was gone—the room, the burning biscuits, the loud air conditioning, even Jack’s breathing and the feel of his weight on her.
Only the feeling of him when he pushed into her, sending her away, far away from her corporal self. Her body instantly began to wrack in convulsive waves of sensation that built one upon the other until her body surrendered to the thrill of the feeling, jettisoning all else from her mind except the moment exploding in her core and reeling out of her control.
When Mia touched back down on Earth she saw Jack, still hovering over her and grinning.
“Did…I want…what just…?” she said, her breath exhaled in a whisper.
He laughed, then stared down at her, his face softening. “You are so beautiful, Mia.”
The happiness she felt at that moment would never be topped, she knew. It was the one thing she would remember, would relive, would feel again in her mind for as long as she lived. And the sight of Jack looking down at her with such…adoration was one she wanted to keep locked away in her mind and her memories forever.
“I was afraid the first time might be painful,” Jack said, brushing a long tendril from her face.
“I think I lost my virginity years ago horseback riding. Trust me, it was nothing like this,” she said with a smile. She looked at him, unsure. “Did you…?”
“I did. I guess I don’t need to ask if you did.”
“Dear God, they should bottle this. Sex is amazing!”
“I think the secret’s out about that. Most people think so too.”
“Oh, my God. I’m changed forever.”
Jack laughed again and slid off her.
“Oh, my God,” she repeated. She wanted only to lie there, her body still humming, not moving, not wanting the moment to end.
“I’ll be right back,” he said.
“No! Where are you going? Let’s do that again.” Mia propped herself up on her elbows and watched him.
He laughed and pulled on his jeans. “We’ve got all the time in the world, Mia,” he said, tossing her robe to her. “But I like the way you think. Let me rescue the biscuits.” He winked at her and left the room.
*****
An hour later, they sat in the living room, their plates and wineglasses scattered about them. Mia, naked under her bathrobe, was curled up under Jack’s arm on the couch. The grits and biscuits were beyond rescue, but Jack had whipped up omelets and cheese toast in the time it took Mia to set plates on the coffee table.
Jack finished explaining the details of how it was he happened to have a kid and why he never thought to mention it before.
“So you don’t pay child support?” Mia asked, reaching for her wineglass on the coffee table.
He scratched his head. “Well, no because everyone assumed the baby was Eugene’s, and Sandy didn’t want people to think otherwise.”
“Did he ever find out otherwise?”
“Not until after he’d helped raise her and thought of her as his own. Sandy asked me to stay out of Twyla’s life. Made sense. I could only complicate things.”
“That must have been hard.”
“I kept up with how she was doing—mostly through my mom. And then, right around the time Sandy won the lottery, she divorced Eugene. The way I heard it, he always suspected Twyla wasn’t his and finally had a DNA test done.”
“Oh, dear.”
“I called her a year ago to see if she needed anything from me but she said no thanks, she had it covered.”
“Were you hoping to get involved in Twyla’s life?”
“I couldn’t see how that would improve things for the kid.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“I hear she’s pretty mixed up. She’s been busted for possession at least twice.”
“You mean you’ve never even met her?”
“There was no point.”
“I don’t think I could live knowing a child of mine was alive somewhere in the world and never get to know her.”
“People do it all the time, Mia,” Jack said, glancing at his watch. “Every time a girl gives up her baby so it can have a chance at a family and she can have a chance at life of her own.”
“I’m sorry, Jack. Even as gruff as you are, it must have been hard knowing your kid was down there in Valdosta and would never know you.”
He shrugged. “Well, now she’s up here in Atlanta. And Sandy is finally okay with me getting to know Twyla.”
“Oh?”
“I got a call from her on the drive back. We talked for nearly three hours. Now that Twyla’s away from Valdosta and Eugene, Sandy really wants me to meet her.”
“That’s great, Jack.”
“Sandy told Twyla about me—well, with all the noise Eugene was making about DNA tests and so on, Twyla already knew she wasn’t his—and it seems she really wants to meet me, so I’m heading over there tonight.”
“Tonight? Your first night back?’
“Yeah, I know. I hate that part, but Twyla’s going on some kind of mission trip with her class and this is our only chance for about a month.”
“Oh, sure. That’s cool.”
“I won’t be late. Well, not very late. I’m actually sort of nervous, I think.”
“Well, of course you are. Wow, meeting your kid for the first time. What are you going to have her call you? Officer Dad?”
“Very funny.” He pulled her into his arms and stroked her back. “I missed you so much, Mia,” he said, his voice husky and thick in her ear. “I’ve imagined you every way possible in my arms.” He kissed her deeply and she felt her legs melt under her.
She was sure he was holding her up. She ground her hips into his and he reached down and grabbed her bottom solidly in his hands. “But mostly on your back and under me,” he said throatily. She moaned. “And making that sound.” He kissed her neck and then pulled away. “But it was nothing compared to the reality.” His eyes were glittering with lust and want.
“Oh, Jack…” She pulled him down to her, but he held her away firmly.
“Let me go so I can hurry back,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face to compose himself.
*****
Well, well. Little Sandy Gilstrap has come a long way from the Crush ’n Curl, Jack thought as he parked his car in the long, winding driveway leading up to the monster Georgian brick house in Buckhead. As soon as he put the address into his GPS, he knew Sandy had moved up in a major way.
What was it his mother said she got? A quarter million a year for life?
Yeah, you could probably pay the bills pretty comfortably with that kind of annuity. There was a new Lexus SUV in the drive. He assumed the four-car garage was similarly stocked.
Good for you, darlin’, he thought as he rang the doorbell.
Someone was watching, because a large young man in a suit and tie opened the door quickly. Army-style short hair and unsmiling, he stepped aside for Jack to enter with a polite nod of his head.
“Mr. Burton, sir,” the man said. “Mrs. Gilstrap is waiting for you in the living room. Just this way.”
Did Sandy really employ a frigging butler?
“Jack!” Her voice sounded just the way it had in high school—a burble of laughter and promise in a throaty rumble. He felt his cock stir involuntarily at the sound of her voice.
She’d been his first.
Sandy came to the door of the living room, her smile spreading easily to her eyes. Her tawny blonde hair fell in thick waves to her shoulders, offset by a deep green knit dress that hugged
every perfect curve of her luscious and totally perfect body. She hadn’t changed at all, except for possibly to be more beautiful. He didn’t realize when he went to her that she would end up in his arms, his hand on her hip, drawing her into an embrace, her perfume tickling his nose where his face buried in her hair.
“God, you look great,” he said.
“Well, don’t sound so surprised,” she said, laughing and taking a step back. She took his hand and tugged him into the living room. “I won’t need you, Jay,” she said to the young man, who was now standing, legs apart, his hands clasped in front of him.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, nodding curtly and then disappearing around the corner.
“So he’s not a butler?” Jack asked.
Sandy laughed. “Is that what you thought? No, he’s Mama’s bodyguard.”
“Really? What for?”
“I think it’s called for alleviation of the paranoid,” she said, rolling her eyes. “She thinks the denizens of Atlanta’s underworld are going to rise up and swoop in here at any moment. You know how our mamas’ generation loathes anything having to do with ‘the big city.’”
Jack knew well the distrust and downright hatred that most South Georgia natives viewed Atlanta with. As a cop, he’d seen it in folks as close as Lawrenceville, but definitely places like Valdosta and Albany were committed hotbeds of anti-Atlanta sentiment.
“And a bodyguard makes her feel safer?”
“She claims so. He’s so quiet, it’s like he’s not even here. Honestly, I have to admit I feel safer too.”
Jack sat on the overstuffed couch, which faced another matching overstuffed couch. The room was done expensively and with taste.
“This is just beautiful, Sandy,” he said. “You really have a knack.”
“Oh, it’s not me.” She sat down next to him on the couch. “I’m smart enough to know when to hire something out.”
“Well, it’s just beautiful.”
“Jack, I’m so glad you could come. And especially after all these years, you don’t know how happy I am that you’re interested in getting to know Twyla. And she is, too.”
“I was pretty surprised by your call, I have to admit,” he said, leaning back into the couch.
A young Hispanic woman wearing a uniform and an apron came to the door with a tray of drinks. At a nod from Sandy, she entered and placed the tray on the coffee table in front of Jack.
“Gracias, Imelda,” Sandy said. The maid disappeared and Sandy handed Jack a tall glass.
“It’s iced tea,” she said, reaching for hers. “With a kick.”
Jack drank the high-octane tea and looked around the cavernous room. “How long have you been in Atlanta?”
“Not quite a year,” she said, frowning as if to calculate. “I won the lottery two years ago, divorced Eugene immediately, quit my job, and as soon as Twyla’s school year ended, found a realtor and moved up.”
“Where is she going to school?”
“Westminster.”
“Good school. Expensive school.”
“I know I’m lucky, Jack,” Sandy said earnestly. “And I’m lucky that I have the chance to give Twyla all the things I never had.”
“How does she like Atlanta?”
Sandy bit her lip. “She’s still adjusting,” she admitted. “She’s made some friends this year at school, but I’m not sure they’re the kind I would’ve hoped for. You know all rich kids are not good, sweet people.”
“There were a few rumors going around the old neighborhood about Twyla when I was home last,” Burton ventured.
“I think I know which rumors you mean,” Sandy said with a sigh. “About drugs?”
He nodded.
“She’s been a handful for a while now. Honestly, that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to bring you into her life. I’m alone now and I need some help.”
“She’s not going to appreciate me showing up and strong-arming her,” he said, frowning.
“She needs a father, Jack. Pure and simple. So don’t strong-arm her, just get to know her. I really believe you can be what she needs—what she’s been missing.”
“I’m honored for the chance to try. What about you? What’ve you been up to these last sixteen years?’
Sandy laughed. “God, where do I start? But first, let me see when Twyla’s coming home. I expected her before now.” She pulled out her phone and sent a text, then placed the phone on the coffee table before them.
“Okay, let’s see. I guess you’re up to speed on me getting pregnant with another man’s baby while I was married to Eugene Gilstrap.” She smiled coyly at Jack.
“Yeah,” he said. “I got that part.”
“And it went fine for a while. Or as fine as it can go when you have a basically miserable marriage but not so bad you can really be bothered to leave.”
“So what made you leave?”
“It was Eugene. When we fought he would always throw in my face his belief that Twyla wasn’t his. One day he did something about it. He got a DNA test that proved he wasn’t her father.”
“I heard.”
“Oh, Jack, I cannot tell you how upsetting that was for everyone, especially Twyla. I mean, she loved him. She thought he was her father. And now he was saying he wanted a divorce and he wasn’t going to pay child support and, I mean, Twyla was the one who was really hurt by it.”
Jack placed a hand on Sandy’s arm and she took a long shuddering breath, as if she were reliving the whole event all over again.
“I gave him the divorce, and because I felt so guilty about the whole paternity thing, I let him off the hook for child support. My lawyer just about had kittens over that. But the great cosmic karma of it all was that a month after the divorce was final, I won the Powerball and he was shit out of luck.”
“I have to admit, that was pretty perfect timing,” Jack said, smiling. If Sandy wanted to tell people she divorced Eugene before she won the lottery, what did it hurt? Jack knew she won the PowerBall first and then left her husband.
“Wasn’t it?” Sandy laughed, her eyes crinkling in delight. “I mean there wasn’t much to be happy about that whole horrible year, but yes sir, it ended with sugar plums raining down on our heads and you can’t say much better than that.”
She picked up her phone and scrutinized the screen.
“I don’t know why she’s not texting me back. Sometimes she turns her phone off or lets the battery die.” She turned to Jack and made a face. “Or tells me that anyway. Oh, there she is.” Sandy silently read the text and then typed a few words before turning to Jack. “She’s going to be late. She just went into a movie with some friends of hers—a midnight viewing—and she asks if you can wait. I am so sorry, Jack. Kids are like this and you might as well get used to it now rather than later. Can you stay?”
Jack glanced at his watch. It was already after eleven. “What time do you think she’ll she be here?”
Sandy winced. “It’ll be nearly two. I really hate to ask. Please?”
He hesitated and then smiled. “Sure. Just let me make one quick phone call.”
*****
Mia loved the sound of the water thundering into the bathtub, creating mountains of bubbles as it did. She’d taken the time to place a series of battery-operated candles around the surround of the bathtub and then dimmed the lights.
Next time Jack held her in his arms he was going to be reminded of running naked through a lavender field, she thought as she slipped into the hot, scented water. She groaned with pleasure and reran in her head for the hundredth time a mental movie of what had happened not two hours earlier in her bedroom. He’d been urgent but tender, insistent but giving…God!
And she’d been right about being able to tell the moment she laid eyes on him. The second she saw him she knew he was all in, game on. A flutter of excitement danced in her stomach as she remembered how he looked at her, focused and determined in lust and urgency. She sank low in the bathwater, the bubbles a white field of clouds
in the bathtub.
Jack was back and all her worry about everything was for nothing. He was back and the heavens had opened up and rained down on her all the wonder and excitement she’d dreamt would be waiting for her when a man finally touched her to own her and caress her and love her.
We’re doing it for the love thing, she vowed silently to Jack. I don’t know what you think this evening meant, but this is it for me.
She felt the tingling sensation again between her legs as she re-envisioned him holding her close and reaching down to part her thighs.
She heard her phone ringing from the bedroom and frowned. Who could be calling her this late? She sat up in the tub, the relaxing mood popping and dissipating as fast as the breaking bubbles. Standing up, she wrapped a bath sheet around herself and went to the bedroom…to see the one thing she realized she’d been praying she wouldn’t see.
A voice mail message from Jack.
Please let him be calling to say he’s on his way home and can’t wait to rip my clothes off, she thought as she pressed the button to hear his message.
Hey, Mia, he said, his voice tight and controlled. Twyla isn’t home yet so it’s going to be way later than I thought. And then we’ll have all the catching up to do so I didn’t want you waiting up for me. Sandy’s got like six bedrooms here, so since this might go kind of long I’ll just bunk here tonight and catch you in the morning. Okay. Well, sleep tight.
Mia stood staring at the phone in her hand, the sickening aroma of lavender threading the bedroom like the scent of sour milk.
*****
The kitchen looked like something out of a food network channel Jack thought with amazement. It was half the size of Mia’s whole condo. When Sandy suggested she scramble some eggs, Jack shrugged off his coat to help. The minute he stepped into the kitchen he went to the AGA range, his hands on it like he was witnessing the Holy Grail.
Complete Mia Kazmaroff Romantic Suspense Series, 1-4 Page 43
