But he stepped away, tugging her up with his hand, the rain coming down on her now. “You’re shivering.”
“Not from cold.” She tugged against him.
But he won. He was simply bigger. “I am not letting you get sick on me. Besides a bear could be two feet from me right now and I wouldn’t even know it.”
She smiled. He wouldn’t. He was only looking at her.
She gave in and allowed him to tug her along the lawn, open the door for her and usher her inside. The air conditioning hit her in an icy blast until his eyes found hers and the cold air was forgotten. He barely had the door closed before he was kissing her up against the refrigerator. His breathing was as heavy as hers, and he made sure he maintained full contact with her, fitting them together perfectly.
Until she pushed him off.
He looked startled and then wary, until Kelsey pushed him against the counter, enjoying being in control of the kiss. She used the space to slide her hands under his shirt again, enjoying how the play of his muscles told her that he wanted this as much as she did.
He tired of the kitchen and scooped her up, carrying her into the living room, where he draped her over the cushioned arm of the couch.
He was unbuttoning her shirt and chasing the exposed skin with his mouth when a door clicked. “Mom?”
They scrambled. Sitting upright, Kelsey grabbed for her shirt. The cabin was small and she had barely a second to tug it closed, she didn’t even try to button it. JD was busy pulling her legs across his lap to hide the bulge at the front of his jeans.
Daniel padded out in his t-shirt and underwear, rubbing his eyes. “I have to go potty.”
Kelsey found her voice. “Okay, baby. You go back to bed when you’re done.”
“Okay.” He turned around and padded into the bathroom.
They waited, unmoving, until they heard the toilet flush and the sink run, and then Daniel’s voice calling out a soft ‘good-night’ before they breathed.
Kelsey just sucked in a breath.
JD found words. “We just almost traumatized that kid.”
She had to laugh. It was that or cry.
JD shook his head. “He doesn’t usually get up in the middle of the night, does he?”
“Never.”
“Tonight of all nights.” He sighed.
Kelsey curled into him, but much of the frenzy she’d felt earlier had dissipated into near guilt. “We’re on vacation. I don’t sleep well in a strange bed, neither do they.” She sighed, as she felt his hand in her hair.
JD’s voice was soft and resigned. “We can’t do this tonight, can we? We don’t have anywhere to go.”
Kelsey shook her head, but didn’t move from her spot. She wasn’t ready to just let him go off to his own room and be confident that things would be okay in the morning.
His words reflected exactly that. “You’re not going to jump off the bus tonight, are you?”
“No.” She laughed.
“Then you have to get up. I can’t stay out here with you without running the risk of screwing up one of those kids for life.” He pushed her legs off his lap and stood.
She would have felt rejected except for the fact that standing was obviously awkward for him. JD tugged her to her feet, and pointed her toward her own room. “You’d better get some sleep, because you won’t get any tomorrow night.”
Again, just like that, heat flooded every piece of her. She wanted to brace a chair under each door and take him there in the hallway. But she couldn’t do that to the kids. They’d be petrified if they woke up and couldn’t get the door open. But still she was disappointed. “Tomorrow night?”
“Trust me. I’m going to be awake all night, figuring out how early we can put the kids to bed.”
She laughed and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before slipping through her own door. She couldn’t afford to touch him more or she wouldn’t stop. She couldn’t even make herself move until she heard his footsteps walking away from her down the hall.
Kelsey worked by the nightlight, stripping quickly out of wet clothes and finding a towel to dry her hair. She slipped on a rib-knit cotton gown and tucked herself between the covers.
Exhausted, she fell right asleep, only to jerk awake a few moments later. Reassuring herself that he wanted her, she would fall back asleep and wake again, her body running hot, her brain replaying his words. In my arms, in my bed, every night, screaming my name. She had to gasp for oxygen, even as she lay there by herself.
The third time it happened, she gave up. Throwing back the covers she decided to go drink some of the cranberry juice that was in the fridge. Kelsey quietly pulled the door open, being careful to not wake Daniel or Allie. On soft feet she found the refrigerator and she blinked in the bright light, looking in and trying to find the juice she’d wanted.
Pulling the glass out, she drained it, set it in the sink, and made her way into the living room. She stopped dead when she spotted JD watching her from the couch. He grinned. “Couldn’t sleep?”
She shook her head. “You?”
“I can’t share a room with my daughter while I’m thinking of you.”
She walked over to stand in front of the couch. “So we can’t sleep and we can’t do anything.”
“That about sums it up.” He propped one jeans clad leg along the back of the seat cushions and planted the other foot on the floor then motioned for her to sit in the space between. “Watch TV. No hanky panky now.”
“Yes, sir.” Kelsey settled herself against his bare chest, finding a stillness in his arms that she didn’t know she was capable of. She didn’t care what was on TV. JD was holding her, and she could feel his cheek against her head. She snuggled in deeper.
She knew that he would take care of her, yet all she wanted was to take care of him. Even now, he was thinking of her children before himself. She turned her head against his chest, enjoying the feel of his skin on hers.
“Stop that!”
“What?” She demanded.
“That squirming.”
“Like this?” She couldn’t help herself. At least that’s what her brain tried to make her believe. But she wiggled her butt against him, and enjoyed the groan he made.
“You know,” His arms tightened around her. “Two can play at that game.”
He bit at her neck and kissed behind her ear, his tongue hot and searching. His hands trailed down her belly and across her thighs, the material of her nightgown preventing what they both really wanted. In seconds they had picked up where they left off, it was all she could do to keep from exploding and she writhed in his hands as they found her breasts, and made her gasp for air.
His mouth found her other ear, and he stopped kissing her for just long enough to whisper heated words. “I cannot believe you let me touch you like this.”
She froze at his voice, her eyes blinking as her hands grabbed his. She pressed his fingers flat and still against her stomach, covering them with her own, “Let me make this clear: I do not let you touch me. I love you touching me, I live for you touching me.”
Kelsey let go of his hands, and instantly they went further than they had before, unbuttoning the tiny white shell buttons that held the top of her gown together. One hand slipped inside, cupping her breast, making her strain against him. She got revenge by trailing her fingers up his thighs until they met at his zipper. She deftly undid it and plunged her hands inside, feeling his skin hot and tight against hers.
JD growled in her ear, and she would have laughed if she wasn’t so out of control herself. His hips moved against her hands, and his fingers pulled the bottom hem of her nightgown up until he reached her hip. She felt his whole body freeze. “You’re not wearing any underwear.”
His fingers found motion and clenched at her bare skin. Kelsey moved against the hands that touched her. “I don’t usually sleep in it.”
He pulled her leg up and dove his fingers into her, tearing a loud moan out of her throat.
They both heard a door click, and a
gain scrambled for composure. JD yanked her gown down and his hand out from under her top. Kelsey reclaimed her own hands, and waited. But no small child appeared.
They waited.
Nothing.
JD let out a jagged breath. “What do we do? This obviously won’t keep until tomorrow. We can’t go get a hotel room. Can we lock ourselves in a closet?”
Kelsey sat up straight, breaking skin contact with him. “I’m going to move Andie into my room.”
JD volunteered to move her, but Kelsey insisted. “Let me.”
She didn’t wait for him to answer. She needed him, and this was the only solution she could figure. So she went into the room, making her way by a nightlight that was identical to the one in the other room. Scooping Andie up, sleeping bag and all, she whispered soft words. “You’re going to have a slumber party tonight, with Daniel and Allie. You’ll wake up in their room.”
Andie murmured a little right then, but Kelsey kept talking to her. JD’s daughter was partially awake when she was arranged in the only open floor space in the master bedroom. Kelsey stroked her head and told her to go back to sleep.
She emerged to JD’s open arms, but she refused them. “We need to wait about half an hour to be sure she’s really back to sleep.”
JD looked at her like she was tormenting him.
“I don’t want to be interrupted.”
He conceded to that, and quietly went into the kitchen where he poured her another glass of juice. It was about the only thing in the fridge now that the fish were out. Kelsey drank it down enjoying the feel of the cold liquid in her throat. She’d spent so much of this night happily overheated.
He turned to her after leaving his own glass in the sink, “It’s a good thing you moved Andie, and not the other way around. The condoms are in there.”
“You brought condoms on this trip?”
He shook his head, a tiny smile played across his lips. “No. I never imagined this in my wildest dreams.” Almost immediately he rescinded. “No, I did imagine this—never this well, mind you—but I didn’t believe it would really happen.”
Kelsey could feel the flush creeping up her neck and staining her cheeks. It was heady hearing those words from an insanely attractive man, wearing only unzipped jeans, in the middle of the night. That it was JD made it a thousand-fold stronger. She tried changing the topic. “So you found the condoms?” She scrunched her nose.
“Here, I’ll show you how I found them.”
He tugged on her hand, pulling her along into his room, casual now that they had paused, now that they knew what was coming. He lifted his suitcase lid and pulled out a generic red gift bag from under his socks.
Kelsey frowned at it.
With a wry look on his face, JD pulled a huge combo pack of condoms out of the bag.
She laughed. “What is that? The fraternity house pack?” According to the box there were almost fifty condoms of various flavors and textures in there.
“Probably. It also came with these.” He produced what looked like two greeting cards.
Her eyebrows went up. Someone made greeting cards to send with a huge box of condoms? One said ‘JD’ across the front, the other said ‘K’.
The ‘JD’ card was already split open, and he pulled it out of the envelope, handing it over to her. “Here’s what mine said.”
She flipped open what was originally a blank card. Each of the guys had written in it.
* * *
JD—Just tell her how you feel.
You’ll feel better when you do.—Alex
Yeah, we’ll ALL feel better when you do.—Craig
Hey, Moron, Andrew was her brother.—TJ
* * *
JD raised his eyebrows as he watched her read it. “I haven’t read yours but I wanted you to have an idea what might be in it.” He handed her the unopened envelope and waited while she ripped into it.
It was from only one person, and it made her heart slow.
* * *
You should see the way he looks at you when you aren’t watching.
* * *
It had to be Bridget. None of the guys had that script. Just that one line. She showed him the card.
JD simply nodded. “That’s true.”
Kelsey flipped the cards into a corner, not watching where they landed. Then she grabbed the box of condoms out of his hand. “You don’t need those. I’m on the pill.”
At his grin, she tossed the box of condoms out of the way.
She decided she hadn’t heard a peep out of Andie and they’d waited long enough. She tugged at his jeans, and his hands covered hers, but he wasn’t helping her. In fact, he was stopping her.
Confused, Kelsey met his gaze.
JD reached behind her and locked the door, then lifted his hands to frame her face. “I messed this up last time. Not again.”
Her hands found his lean arms and held on, the rest of her reveled in the feel of his calloused fingertips against her smooth skin.
“Kelsey Conklin, I love you. I am crazy in love with you. This is not casual in the slightest way. And don’t you dare leave this bed without notifying me first.”
She would have laughed at that last line, but his mouth closed over hers. He had kissed her into such a frenzy for him, that a minute later, when he broke the contact to pull her gown over her head she was crazy without him for even those few seconds.
He just looked at her for a minute, standing naked before him, wearing only the locket he had given her for Christmas. She found her voice. “I love you, JD.”
He let her help him slip out of the jeans he was still in, then he laid her backwards onto the comforter and drove into her.
She screamed out his name.
Chapter 39
JD cringed when Kelsey punched him in the arm. “What?”
“Don’t you dare apologize for that!”
“It was too fast.”
Kelsey heaved a sigh at him.
He reminded himself that he was okay. He was naked. She was naked. It was pitch black beyond the window and she was still here.
She pinned him in her sights. “Was I wet?”
God, she made him boil. “Yes.”
“Did I come?”
Forget boiling, he went up in flames. It was all he could do to push that one small word out. He was already reaching for her. “Yes.”
But she pushed his hands away.
He blinked and started to get worried. But he only managed to get started. She rolled over him and pinned his hands down. “Was it bad for you?”
How could she think that? “Oh, God, Kelse, I’ve never had anything like you.” The words gushed out of him in a river of want.
“Then you will do it again, and you may take as much time as you want, but afterward you will just say how wonderful it was.”
She started kissing him, even as he was laughing. “You think you can boss me around just because you’re older than me?”
Immediately Kelsey sat back on her heels, bothered. Just bothered, not hot and bothered like he wanted her to be. “Is it a problem that I’m older than you?”
He pushed her hair back away from her beautiful, worried face. He shook his head ‘no’. “It doesn’t bother me that you’re smarter than me, either. Does it bother you that I’m bigger? Stronger? Right now, I’m wealthier.”
She stretched out beside him, naked and warm, and kissed his shoulder. “I like that you’re bigger than me, and stronger.” She shrugged sending a shiver of friction all along the side of his body, and lighting his fire a little brighter, if that was possible. “Wealthier comes and goes.”
“I think it’s sexy that you’re older. Do I act too immature for you?”
She made a face and turned away. “I’m going to admit that I kept expecting you to. But you never did.”
He smiled at her, reached for her, but she wasn’t finished.
“I underestimated you, and I’m sorry. I’ve known a lot of ‘men’ who thought they deserved the t
itle simply because of their gender and some age they’d reached. But you earn it, every day.”
How she had the power to undo him like that was beyond him. She thought too much of him, but the last thing he ever wanted to do was lose that. He pulled her close, maybe so she couldn’t see how much she’d shaken him. He wanted to find comfort in her. But he was ready for more, too, and he wanted her. He grinned into her hair, content even as he burned that she wanted him, too. He’d implode if he waited in this vacuum where she thought so highly of him. His fingers found his way into her hair, and he exposed one delicious ear. He whispered, “Aren’t women supposed to be hitting their sexual peak at thirty-five?”
She pretended to be offended, her mouth hanging open. “Is that what this is about? You know, you are way past your sexual prime, old man.” She rolled away, playing with him. “I’ll just have to find some seventeen-year-old who can keep up with me.”
Because it was simply a joke, JD wasn’t prepared for the jolt of deep jealousy that speared him in the gut. He grabbed her before she even made it to the edge of the bed, and kissed them both senseless. “I’ll keep up.”
He was hard as a rock again, and certain that, with her around, he was about to re-enter his late teens. When she looked up at him, breathless, he found a few words. “No one else, only me. Ever.”
He proceeded to show her why.
There was light, too much of it. And a pounding in his head.
But, as tired as he was, JD was enjoying the feeling of being sated and content for the first time in what felt like forever. The pounding continued, and it wasn’t in his head, it was on the bedroom door. He rolled to see how Kelsey was managing to sleep through this, since she hadn’t moved at all, and he discovered that she wasn’t there.
JD bolted from the bed, hollered at whoever was at the door to wait a minute, and slid into clean underwear and jeans. He was zipping them as he reached for the handle, and just put together when he pulled back the noisy door to see his daughter standing there asking if she could go swimming.
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