by Addison Cole
Beneath the iridescent moonlight, Jade swam lazily through the water. She glided with strong, fluid strokes, and when she reached the middle, she dove headfirst like an elegant swan beneath the surface. Her naked body slithered quickly behind, her bare bottom arcing up in the air before plunging deep with one last kick of her legs until she had disappeared completely. Rex was mesmerized as she breached the surface again. Her breasts bobbed over and under the water as she wiped the water from her face.
He couldn’t be caught again watching her like a psycho, and yet he couldn’t turn away as she swam to the water’s edge and pulled herself from the water. She’d taken her hair out of its tether and now it stuck to her creamy skin. Rex did the only thing he could do. He moved toward her like a thief in the night.
“Jade, it’s me, Rex,” he called softly, so as not to startle her.
She gasped, reached for her clothes, and quickly put them on.
“I didn’t come to spy on you. I promise. I thought this guy was going to follow you out of the Gesalts’ and…Aw, heck, Jade…” How can I possibly explain this? “I guess I did follow you, but I didn’t know you were skinny-dipping.”
She sat down on a fallen tree with her back to him.
“May I join you?” Please God, cut me some slack here.
“It’s a free world.”
Not really. Not where you and I are concerned. He sat beside her, and suddenly he wasn’t sure what had felt so urgent. He couldn’t put two coherent thoughts together. The thin fabric clung to her body, and without her hair tumbling in waves, there were no distractions from her electric-blue eyes.
Chapter Eighteen
JADE SHIVERED AS he approached, both from the coolness of being wet and the excitement of being with Rex. He was so cute when he was embarrassed. She hadn’t encountered him in this tentative mood before, and she found it titillating. The fallen tree on which they sat had deteriorated in several places, leaving only a small area that was viable enough to sit on. He sat so close to her that she grew warm almost instantly.
“So you followed a guy you thought was going to follow me?” She smiled at the thought. If he hadn’t actually followed someone, it was a romantic story, and if he had, it was a possessive and romantic gesture. Either way, she couldn’t ignore the meaning behind his actions; her attraction was reciprocated, at least on some level.
“There was a guy, but he wasn’t following you,” he said with a smile.
“Mm-hmm,” she teased.
“A gray sedan. He was lost.”
“I saw that car. When I was on my way there, it was behind me. I had a feeling it was following me, but then it didn’t pull into their driveway when I did.”
“He was just lost.” He turned to face her. “Jade,” he said softly. “I want to talk to you. I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t got much experience with meaningful relationships.”
“Meaningful relationships?” Is he saying what I think he’s saying?
“Okay, relationships with women. Period.” He sighed.
He reached to find the right words, which she found endearing. She bit her lower lip and listened. It would be so easy to put words into his mouth and then silence them with a succulent kiss, but that could wait. More than wanting that kiss, she wanted to hear what was so important that he’d followed her down a dark road at night, risking anyone finding them—kids who might talk about them in town, or a neighbor who might have seen him follow her. She knew the chances of either were remote, but surely he must have thought of them, too.
“I…you…I said friends because I thought that was what you wanted, and being your friend was better than being someone who never spoke to you at all. I want to get to know you—all of you. I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t play games, and I’m not interested in chasing women or any of that.”
Her pulse was racing, making it hard to concentrate on what she wanted to say. “I thought you wanted to be friends. With everything that’s wrong between our parents, I thought that was what you needed.”
He looked down, and Jade’s heart skipped a beat. That is what he needs. She saw regret in his eyes when he lifted his face to hers.
“I don’t have anything figured out right now as far as they’re concerned, but I knew when I saw you in the barn that you are the person I never knew I was looking for. You ignite something in me that has never been touched by anyone else. Not even close.”
“It’s called anger.” Listening to his honest confession stimulated something deep within her, and she reached for his hand. “I want the same confusing thing you do. I think maybe I always have.”
He took her face in his hands and brought her lips to his in a sweet, gentle kiss. It wasn’t enough. Jade pressed her mouth harder, probing his tongue with hers. Her entire body rippled with goose bumps as his whiskers scratched against her upper lip and his right hand cupped the back of her neck, greedily kissing, stealing her breath as his and then pulling away sharply, leaving her breathless.
“I want to know you, Jade. Not just in the physical way. I want to get to know you. I want to date you. I want to know what makes you happy and what makes you sad. I want to know all the stories from when you were a little girl, and I want to know the dreams that keep you up at night. I want to learn about you in all the ways that matter.”
Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
“I’ve never wanted any of that before, with anyone.”
He searched her eyes, and she wondered if he could see that she’d waited her whole life to be cherished, and she could hardly believe that the man who wanted to know her was the man she’d spent so many years dreaming about. And also the man whose family her father abhorred. She covered her mouth with her fingertips, thinking of her father. She had to get rid of those thoughts. Now. There was no way that she was going to even try to resist what she felt for Rex. She felt his strength weaken with his confession and saw vulnerability in his dark eyes, sparking a desire in her to help him regain his strength and calm his nerves, like she did for her horses. She slid her fingers beneath his hair and drew him to her, capturing his lips with hers. She probed and licked and kissed until any lingering thoughts were gone and all that existed were the two of them, their breathing, in tune with each other.
She climbed onto his lap and wrapped both arms around him. She kissed him harder, pressing her body against his. When she finally came up for air, the smile on his lips reached all the way to his eyes.
Her lips tingled from the pressure, and she licked them lightly, enjoying the sensation of the pain and the healing wetness at once.
“You kill me when you do that,” he said in a ragged voice. He ran his index finger along her lips, and she took that finger into her mouth and swirled her tongue around it, closing her eyes. He groaned, then gasped in a sharp breath.
“You’re making it hard for me to stay on track here. I’m only human.”
She drew his finger from her mouth and put her lips beside his ear. “Then don’t stay on track,” she whispered. She had never wanted a man the way she wanted him, or felt as right about being with someone regardless of how wrong her father might think it was. She trusted her heart, and as much as she longed to hear his intimate confessions, they could wait. She wanted to claim the moment as theirs, claim him as hers, and give herself over to him. Everything else could wait.
She slid from his lap and untied the right strap of her dress. The fabric fell softly across her breast. She drew him to his feet. His hands trembled as much as hers as she laced their fingers together. The only sounds were their warm breaths, the beating of their hearts, and the sweet movement of the water. Jade put her hands on his chest, like she’d done with Flame so many times before. She felt like she’d spent her life calming horses in preparation for this one night. Rex Braden was her stallion. She rested her forehead between her hands and closed her eyes. The smell of the wet earth, mixing with Rex’s unique leathery, woody scent, brought a smile to her lips. The sound of water bubblin
g over rocks at the ends of the creek soothed their private world. She slowed her breathing to match his pace and willed her heart to beat to the same rhythm.
He placed his hands on the small of her back. The light pressure sped up her pulse. She opened her eyes and looked into his.
“Let me do this,” she said.
He lowered his lips to hers, a feather across her needy mouth, as she pulled free and reached for the button on his jeans. She put her thumbs in the sides of his jeans and drew them down, lowering her body as she pushed them to his ankles. She’d forgotten about his darn boots, and he laughed as he knelt down, nearly toppling over as he lifted his feet and she removed his boots, freeing him from his jeans.
He reached for her, and Jade stepped away, shaking her head.
“Let me,” she repeated. Jade had never been ashamed of her sexuality. It empowered her, and as much as she loved letting a man steer their sexual interludes, with Rex she wanted to—had to—do what she felt he needed most. Her touch.
JADE STOOD BEFORE him with one shoulder bare, looking like a pixie in the moonlight. She untied the strap on her other shoulder and her dress dropped to the ground. His body awoke with eagerness at the sight of Jade naked before him. He reached for her, and she tethered him again with her words.
“Let me.”
He was a man, through and through. Testosterone ran through him thick and ready. He drank in the essence of her—shoulder to hip, the sweet curve of her belly. The temptation to touch her was too strong. He reached out again, needing to feel her exquisiteness.
She stood on her tiptoes and whispered, “Let me,” again.
She ran her fingers down his sides lightly at first. Then she clamped her hands around his hips, applying pressure with her palms. Her hands were small against his body as she traced the lines of his abs across his stomach and back up to his chest. He closed his eyes, feeling the pressure of his boxer briefs trapping him beneath the soft fabric.
Jade’s fingers pressed against the hair on his chest, creating a rough sensation against his skin. She moved closer, her breath on his skin, and she kissed as she touched. Rex’s nerves tightened, while his muscles relaxed. The strange dichotomy of sensations had him craving more of her.
He reached for her again, and she pushed his hands down to his sides. He’d never allowed a woman such control, and now he knew why. No one else would know just how to touch him the way Jade was. Her caress was slow and thoughtful. He could feel love coming through her fingertips in soft pulses.
Her breasts brushed softly against his chest. Her hands twisted lightly against his skin, her fingers pointing down as she walked them toward his boxers, applying gentle pressure with her palms.
“Jade,” he whispered.
She kissed the space between his ribs where Hope nuzzled him so often.
“Touch me,” he said.
“Shh,” she whispered. “I am. You need this more than you need sex.”
His body trembled beneath her hands as she massaged and relaxed him, while thrilling him more than any direct sexual touch ever had. She ran her hands first down his left leg, with pulsing grips along his muscles. He was on the verge of coming apart and she hadn’t laid one finger on his most sensitive areas. He clenched his teeth, restraining the surge of heat that fought for release as she slid her body against his and moved behind him, reversing the sensation as she worked her way back up his legs.
Rex opened his eyes, and the sight of her hands, now reaching around him from behind and grasping his hips with a firm, possessive grip, pulsing the tension from the muscles, tamed the primitive need to take her, replacing it with a hypnotic hunger for more—more touch, more teasing, more Jade.
She massaged his back, his sides, trailed kisses up his spine and slid her hands beneath his arms, massaging his pecs. It was shocking and almost indescribable the way it emasculated, then instantly aroused him. Her touch transitioned from firm to tender with each breath, and by the time she returned to his front, he thought he might lose all control with a graze against her skin.
She pressed her body against his and he had to have her. He took her in his arms and kissed her with the promise of more.
She pushed away with a shake of her head and a wiggle of her finger. “Let me,” she whispered.
He groaned again as she grabbed his obliques and pressed—hard—with her palms, then lowered her head and kissed along the center of his stomach.
“Jade, please. Let me,” he begged, grasping her shoulders.
She ignored his plea and pushed his hands from her as she kissed his stomach again. He moaned into the night as she took a step back, dragged her eyes along his body.
Gritting his teeth against the urge to claim her, he reached for his jeans.
“I’m not done,” she said.
“Jade, I can’t take it. It’s too much.”
“Then why are you reaching for your clothes?”
AS HE REACHED for his jeans, she knew he was going for a condom, and she frowned. His hand stopped midair. She wanted to feel him. All of him, not a latex sheath. She was on the pill, and sure, she knew all about sexually transmitted diseases, but didn’t everyone get tested these days?
“Are you worried about who you’ve been with?” she asked honestly, cringing inside while she waited for the answer.
“No, but…”
She moved closer, touched her fingertips to his stomach.
“I’ve never had sex without a condom. Not once,” he confessed. “Not even as a teenager. I was always too afraid of getting someone pregnant.”
“You’re thirty-something and you’ve never…?”
He groaned. “Not once.” Between his trembling and his intoxicated voice, his raw desire was inescapable.
“I’m on the pill,” she said, and kissed his chest again, feeling his thundering heart against her lips.
“What about you?” he asked.
It hadn’t even dawned on her that he’d ask.
She shook her head. “Not without a condom.”
“You’re on the pill and you’ve never not used a condom?”
“The pill was to protect my future. Condoms were for my health.”
She kissed the tiny scar beneath his chin. She hadn’t expected this much discussion, and she was about to reach for his pants and grab the condom when he looked into her eyes and asked, “Why me? Why now? I need to know.”
“Because it’s you. It’s always been you.”
He stepped from his briefs and lifted her into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck. His arms were so strong, his body so warm from the heat of the night.
“Jade,” he whispered.
She kissed him, and he moved one hand to the back of her head, taking the kiss deeper.
“I’ve never felt so close to anyone in my life,” he said in a husky voice. “I want you, Jade.”
“You have me,” she answered between kisses.
“I want you as mine. I’m a possessive jerk. I never knew I was, but the idea of you with anyone else kills me. I want you like I’ve never wanted anyone before.”
The honesty in his eyes was overwhelming. She’d never wanted anything as much as she wanted what he asked for. “I’m yours. Through and through.”
Chapter Nineteen
THEY LAY ON the grass beside the creek, staring up at the starry sky. Jade’s head rested against his chest, her arm across his belly. He’d never wanted to spend time with a woman after having sex. His MO had been to fill his need, then escape before any talking could occur. With Jade, he never wanted to leave her side. He still couldn’t believe he’d told her he was a possessive jerk, and as he lay there next to her, warmed by her body beside him, he knew it was true. The thought of her with anyone else would be too painful, and yet he still couldn’t reconcile the thought of telling their families.
“Maybe this is all infatuation. Forbidden fruit and all that,” Jade said.
“Maybe,” he teased, though
he knew it was anything but.
She poked him in the ribs. “You’re supposed to promise your undying love to me and reassure me that this is real.”
He closed his eyes, already feeling like they’d been together for years.
“What now?” she asked.
“This is pretty great,” he said with a smile.
“Yeah, it is.”
He felt her body go rigid against him, and he turned to face her. “I’m not one of those guys who knows how to say things that I know aren’t true, and I’m not a kid, Jade. I’m thirty-four. I’ve lived enough years to know real from fantasy, and to want to live within both worlds can be dangerous. For everyone.” He ran his finger along her cheek, then kissed her forehead.
“What are you saying?” she asked.
“I’m saying that what I said was true, all of it. I do want you as mine, and mine only, just as I want to be yours and yours only. I want to be part of your life.” He leaned on his elbow and rested his hand on her belly. He felt her heartbeat quicken beneath his palm.
“But?” she asked in a thin voice.
“But we have to take other people’s feelings into consideration. We owe our families that much while we figure this out. I don’t believe in leaving bodies in the wake of anything, including lo—” He swallowed the word. He couldn’t love her after only a few days of heady need, could he? “Including this.”
She was quiet, and he leaned over her, then took her chin in his hand and said, “I’m not saying that we need to not see each other. I’m saying that we need to be tactful. We can’t throw something like this in our families’ faces, or flaunt it around town. There are too many people who could get hurt, and I won’t—we can’t—be the cause of that.”
“So, you’re thinking what? That we sneak out like kids after dark?”
He smiled. She was getting riled up, and she was radiant when she was feisty. “No, I’m saying that, for a while, we’re discreet. I haven’t had a chance to woo you, and I want to. I’ve never wanted to woo anyone before. I want to take you out to dinner and talk over candlelight. I want to see movies and make out in the back row. I want to walk around the Village and window-shop. Jade, don’t you see? I want a life with you, and in order to have that life, we have to tread gently on other people’s hearts.”
