Sweet Summer Sunset

by Delores Fossen

  Jax followed along behind him. “In the shop getting fixed. A friend dropped me off. He’s going to try to talk Piper into seeing me, and if that doesn’t work, he’ll be waiting for me at the Gray Mare. He’ll come and get me when I call him.”

  Nico lifted his eyebrow. “You’ve got a friend old enough to be in a saloon?”

  “He’s a friend’s older brother, and he said he’d only have a beer if he ended up having to wait for me.”

  “Then make this fast so he doesn’t have too much to drink.” And so that Jax could get out of there.

  Jax nodded. “Something’s wrong with Piper.”

  That was probably one of the few things Jax could have said that would have gotten Nico’s mind off Eden. “What?”

  “Don’t know, but she’s real sad when I talk to her. I can usually cheer her up by talking about music or how much I want to kiss her and stuff—” Jax stopped, cleared his throat. “I just can’t seem to make her happy no matter what I say, and she won’t let me see her no matter how much I ask. I don’t think she likes me anymore.”

  Okay. Nico shifted from his big brother mind-set to one of a guy talking to another guy. “You broke up with her at a bad time in her life. It’s my guess she won’t be able to get over that. In other words, it’s time for you to move on. If Piper wants you back, then she’ll let you know.”

  Jax’s forehead bunched up as if considering that. As if also considering what Nico had just told him as some deep philosophical gem that needed to be pondered.

  “But what if I still love her?” Jax asked.

  Nico sighed, and that sincere puppy dog look on the boy’s face had him biting off something harsh. Like, you made your own bed, etc.

  “Sometimes, that’s the way things are,” Nico told him. “But if she doesn’t love you, you have to move on. It only works when both of you want it.” Since they were still talking about his sister, Nico added, “And it only works when there’s deep respect that goes way beyond sex.”

  At that exact moment, Nico’s front door opened. “Ready or not, here I come. I’m so hot right now,” Eden announced.

  She had been in the process of outstretching her arms, but she dropped them limply to her sides when she caught sight of Jax.

  “Uh,” Eden managed, and Nico figured it had taken a lot for her just to say that.

  All visible parts of her were blushing, and there were plenty of parts for him to see the particular change in color. Wow. She looked ready for him to do a 29-point auto check on her. She was wearing a short loose blue dress with a V-neck and sandals instead of cowboy boots. He could see cleavage and bare legs.

  Both very nice. So nice that he wanted to see a whole lot more of them.

  “Is everything okay?” Eden asked. “Is something wrong with Piper?”

  “Nico and I were just talking about guy stuff,” Jax volunteered.

  Eden turned to Nico as if confirming that, and he nodded. “Jax is worried that Piper has been a little down.”

  Eden shrugged. It wasn’t exactly a casual/I don’t care gesture. More like I’m about to state the obvious here. “Well, you did break up with her at a thoroughly shitty time what with the baby scare and her losing her mom,” she told Jax.

  Jax admitted that with a nod and heavy sigh. A sigh coupled with a puppy dog look that must have gotten to Eden, because she added, “I’ll call Piper later to make sure she’s all right.”

  That put a spark of gratitude in Jax’s eyes. “Thanks,” he said, then looked at Nico. “I have to be going. I’ll call my friend to come and get me.”

  That sounded like a stellar plan to Nico, and he didn’t even consider trying to change the boy’s mind. Later, he’d also call his sister and, yes, Jax as well to make sure both were okay, especially since Nico would be swamped with business for the next couple of days. But for now, Jax was out of there. Literally.

  Nico shut the door. In the same motion, he whirled back around, hooked his arm around Eden’s waist, drawing her to him.

  And he kissed her.

  Her mouth was like water to quench a very big thirst, and Nico just didn’t understand it. He’d known Eden for nearly two decades and had never experienced this kind of need for her, but he was sure experiencing it now.

  He ran his tongue over the seam of her lips, sampling and drawing out that taste before he dived in for more. Of course, more was what he’d been fantasizing about all day, and it wouldn’t stop with this. Nope. This was just the beginning.

  “I don’t know how I got away without having a kiss like this all the time,” she muttered with her mouth still against his.

  He wasn’t sure if she was talking about the past twenty-four hours or longer. Best not to question her on that, either, or they’d get into touchy territory of talking about her ex. As a general rule, Nico liked to avoid conversations about exes or past relationships, in part because it would take him too long to get through some of the messed-up ones he’d had. Plus, in this case he didn’t want to be pissed off at Damien all over again.

  Her mutterings stopped, and she kissed him, pressing her dress and therefore her body against his. She hadn’t been holding back anything when she’d blurted out her “I’m so hot right now” greeting.

  “What put you in this mood?” he asked.

  “You,” she said, her breathing heavy. “Just you.”

  Best answer ever. Nico tried to give her the best response ever to go along with it. He backed her against the door, locking it in the process, and Nico did some pressing of his own. Body to body. With his leg between hers. That way he could play with adding some pressure when he put the top of his thigh right against her—

  “Oh yes,” she groaned out. “That’s a good place. A really good place.”

  He hadn’t actually forgotten that she had a quick trigger, but that was a reminder. Too bad he couldn’t stop himself from giving her another nudge. Nico liked giving a woman pleasure. In fact, it was at the top of his list, and it didn’t matter if he didn’t have to work too hard to make sure that pleasure happened.

  “Do you need another orgasm by hand so you can think straight?” he asked, and he was reasonably sure he’d never asked another woman that particular question.

  “That doesn’t help me think straight.” Eden pulled back, met his gaze, but then she slid her hand over his chest, her fingers dipping lower to the bottom of his T-shirt.

  And what she was doing wasn’t helping with his clear thoughts, either. Nor was the next kiss he gave her. “Chassis adjustment,” he mumbled, doing some touching of his own.

  “And a dipstick check,” she added.

  She ran her hand over the front of his jeans, giving him a rough nudge. Because her mouth was still against his, Nico felt her smile. That’s because he was rock hard and she was the reason for it. That smile was the primal seal of approval, her proof that he wanted her, and Nico was sure he’d be smiling, too, once he got his hands in her panties and found her hot and wet.

  “I’m counting all of this as foreplay,” she whispered. “That way, if I don’t make it past Arkansas, you’ll still have plenty of memories about what happened.”

  That had him pausing so he could lean back and look at her. “You think I’m disappointed about the short time it takes you to get off?”

  Eden clamped her teeth over the side of her bottom lip for a moment. “Maybe. Are you?”

  He huffed. “Orgasms aren’t like twenty-four-hour meds. You can have them often. One right behind the other. Here’s the proof of that.”

  Nico shoved up her dress and went straight to her panties. They were white lace, barely there. The kind of panties that always made him wonder why a woman had bothered to wear anything at all, but then he remembered that he was a sucker for such things. The lingerie industry certainly had his number.

  He slid his hand into the elastic at the l
eg of that strip of lace, enjoying the hitch of her breath and the way Eden threatened him if he stopped. That let him know he was on the right track. But then he did stop when he remembered what was waiting for him beneath the lace.

  Or rather what wasn’t waiting.

  Suddenly, the memory of touching her Brazilian turned him hot, and he made a quick change of plans. Quick being the operative word because Eden was pushing herself against him and cursing him for stopping.

  Nico caught on to the top of her panties and pushed them down far enough so that his boot could do the rest of the work. He shoved them to her ankles and then went down to his knees. Catching on to the back of her leg, he moved her knee to his shoulder.

  “Excuse me a moment,” he warned her.

  And he kissed her, right there in her wet hot core. Just as he’d kissed her mouth. He used his tongue, his teeth and his lips, and it truly only did take a moment or two. As expected, she flew over the edge when she made it to California. This time, though, he got to feel and taste her climax. If he hadn’t already been running crazy hot, that would have done it and pushed him over the edge, too.

  He didn’t give her long to recover. Nico kissed his way back up her body, bunching up her dress along the way. When he made it back to her mouth, he stripped off the dress over her head and dropped it next to the entry table where she’d already stepped out of her shoes.

  Her eyes were still glazed, her breath uneven, and Nico watched her come back to earth. She gave him a dreamy smile. Then, she frowned.

  “You still have on all your clothes,” Eden complained. “And I only have on my bra.”

  “Then you’ve got to do something about that,” Nico challenged.

  He’d leave his own clothes to her. He hit the front clasp of her bra, slid it off her and with her looped in his arms, he started backing her toward the sofa.

  It wasn’t exactly relaxing having a naked woman pulling at his clothes. Talk about a way to fire up more heat, and that was the last thing he needed right now. He’d been serious about that frequent orgasm rule, and if he was going to give Eden some “frequency,” he needed to throttle back a whole bunch.

  He pulled her down onto the sofa, with her straddling his lap. She was so focused on getting his shirt off over his head that it seemed to take her a moment to figure out what was going on.

  “Are we acting out the blog?” she asked. She stopped with his shirt still around his neck. “The one where you said she’d get light-headed?”

  “No. We’re acting out a rewritten version of that.” He didn’t consider pain from an accident or pulled muscle to be part of this multiple orgasm fest.

  Nico helped her finish removing his shirt, but as soon as his mouth was free and clear, he went after her breasts. She wasn’t huge or small. She was just right. Tasted just right, too, and he sampled and tugged before he pulled her nipple into his mouth and then sucked hard.

  Eden made a strangled sound, a “yes” and an “oh” merged together to make a “yo.” Nico took that as a good sign so he did the same to the other one. But he was getting ahead of himself. There was a nice area between her mouth and breasts that he hadn’t given much attention.

  He took some kisses to the tops of her breasts and started working his way up. Eden gave him some more yo’s and wiggled and squirmed to get closer. Specifically, to put her now-naked Brazilian against his jeans-covered dick. It wasn’t a very subtle message. Nor was the hand she put between them to unzip him.

  Nico was all for unzipping and getting naked, but again, he’d have a problem lasting. He was too primed and ready and wouldn’t last past Delaware if he didn’t play around and hum a show tune or two.

  Eden, however, wasn’t humming. She was more in the licking mode, and while her very uncoordinated hands worked his zipper, she leaned in and licked his earlobe. And sonofabitch—she blew in his ear. All hot and breathy as if she was giving him a blowjob there. Hell, she might as well have been doing that because that lick and blow went straight to his erection.

  Sonofabitch.

  Okay, he could handle this, but since Annie’s “Tomorrow” wasn’t working worth squat, Nico moved on to the blog reenactment. He caught on to Eden’s hips, easing her back so that her upper body and ear-licking tongue were no longer touching him. His coffee table was right there, and he anchored his legs and boots on it so that he could in turn anchor her when he laid her down on her back.

  “No fair,” she protested. “I can’t play this way.”

  “But I can,” he teased. Though he did have to take a few deep breaths at the sight of her. All naked and laid out there in front of him.

  Since she was continuing to protest and trying to get up, Nico stopped her with his hand. He pressed the heel of his palm against her mound, against the soft smooth skin. That wouldn’t have kept her in place, though, not for long so he found the sensitive knot, gave it plenty of pressure with his thumb and slid his fingers into her.

  It was torture.

  Not because she protested. Nope. She didn’t even do any more yo’s. What she did do was fist her hands in her hair and move her hips so that she was pushing herself into his strokes. Of course, that meant she was also pushing herself against his hard-on, but he made a bargain with that part of himself. The idea was to exhaust all these quickie orgasms so that Eden could experience a nice, slow one.

  Nico hoped the wait didn’t kill him first.

  Maybe she got too involved in what was happening, but Eden didn’t start reciting states. Still, Nico figured if she had, they would have made it at least to Colorado before the climax shattered her again.

  He’d considered that her quick draw might not make her a good porn star, but at the moment she certainly looked like one. The pleasure was all over her face, in the way her body moved and shuddered. Of course, unlike a porn star, her climax had been the real deal. Nico could feel her tight, wet muscles squeezing his fingers.

  As he’d done at the door, he intended to give her a few minutes to recover, but Eden swooped up off his lap and kissed him. It wasn’t gentle. Definitely not the kiss of a recently sated woman.

  “You’ve given me two orgasms, and you’ve had none from me,” she pointed out. She didn’t sound especially happy about that, either, and she went after his clothes with a vengeance.

  He’d never considered that it could be entertaining to have a naked woman tugging at his boots, but it was. It was incredibly entertaining. Her breasts jiggled and swayed. Her butt, too. And that was coupled with her fierce determination and the rosy flush from the orgasm.

  She went after his boots, and Nico figured it was the sign of his perv mind, but he was almost hoping they would give her enough trouble that she’d have to clamp the boot between her legs to give it a pull. He was certain that would fuel some lifetime fantasies. Still, he was satisfied when she tugged off his left boot and sock, threw it aside and then did the same to the other.

  Eden didn’t come diving back at him, but rather she stopped and eyed him. Much the way a starved dieter would eye a display case of desserts. “This time, I’m having you,” she said, her voice part purr, part warning.

  Nico just outstretched his arms. “Come and get me.”

  Before Eden could even take a step, however, there was a knock at the door. Obviously, a knock from someone with a death wish. Since Nico didn’t want to kill anyone tonight, he just motioned for Eden to keep coming.

  She did, but the second knock stopped her again.

  “Uh, Nico,” the death-wish seeker called out. It was Jax. “Hate to bother you, man, but I got a problem.”

  “What the hell is it?” Nico snapped.

  “Uh, you know that friend who was supposed to pick me up?” Jax didn’t wait for him to respond to that. “Well, your brother just arrested him for speeding and having a fake ID. He’s in jail and needs us to come and get him out. Oh, and we go
tta go because Piper was with him.”

  * * *

  THIS WAS NOT how Nico had wanted to spend the rest of his evening, and he was betting Eden felt the same way. Yet, here they were, walking into the police station because Piper was somehow involved in a situation involving a fake ID, a traffic violation and an arrest.

  The moment Nico, Eden and, yes, Jax—who was right on their heels—stepped into the police station, they saw Piper. No way they could have missed her because she was sitting next to Kace’s desk.

  And she was crying.

  Kace was there, a box of Kleenex in his hand that he had angled at Piper, and he immediately got to his feet.

  “She’s not under arrest,” Kace said. Probably because he saw the fire in Nico’s eyes. “She was just in the vehicle with the kid I brought in, and she didn’t want me to call Rayelle to come and get her.”

  That was the only thing about this situation that made sense. Nico cringed at the thought of Rayelle learning about this, though the chances were high that she would. The chances were also high that Nico wouldn’t keep it from her whether she heard it or not. Even if Piper had done nothing wrong, Rayelle still needed to hear.

  Shit.

  That would be about as much fun as being kicked in the balls.

  “I’m sorry,” Piper said, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose before she stood and stepped into Nico’s arms. She continued to sniff back more tears. “All I seem to be doing lately is screwing up.”

  No, she hadn’t, but the pregnancy scare had been a whopper of a situation. She was likely still feeling fragile about that, but Nico wasn’t going to let her sink into a pity party. He took hold of her shoulders and looked at her.

  “What happened?” Nico demanded.

  Piper had to take a moment and clear her throat. “Davy talked me into seeing Jax.”

  “David Ellison,” Kace provided at the same time that Jax said, “He’s my friend’s big brother.”

  Piper nodded. “Davy called and said he’d brought Jax to Coldwater, that Jax was all torn up about our breakup—”