His warning had intrigued her last night, this morning it gave her pause. She definitely didn’t want him to think she was showing up at his house to “faint.” No, that was the last thing she wanted him to think.
She shoved the shorts back in a drawer and walked to her mother’s bedroom. She riffled through the closet until she found a sleeveless dress made of heavy denim. It was so loose it didn’t have buttons or a zipper. Tigger and Winnie the Pooh were sown on the bodice and around the hem. It was the antithesis of sexy: like a kindergarten teacher, and it could in no way be confused for a dress that inspired “fainting.”
She pulled her hair into a ponytail and wore her black flip-flops. She couldn’t bring herself to go out of the house without makeup, and applied a coat of mascara, blush, and pink lip gloss. She looked herself over one last time in the mirror and determined that she looked very drab and would not inspire interest, let alone lust, in any man. Especially a man like Jack.
She shoved Steven’s letter in the side pocket of the dress and grabbed her mom’s car keys. All the way to Jack’s, she had to fight the urge to turn around. She didn’t have to guess or wonder how he would feel about Nathan now. She’d seen him with his nieces, and she knew.
She turned onto Jack’s street and her fingers turned white on the steering wheel. Her mother was probably right, she’d done what she’d thought best at the time. What everyone else had thought best, too. Everyone except Jack. Jack would have a different view, and by the time she pulled her mom’s Caddie behind Parrish American Classics, her stomach was in knots and she felt physically ill.
Jack’s Mustang sat in front of the house, and she parked beside it. Her black flip-flops slapped her heels as she made her way across the yard and up the sidewalk. The house was still the same white color she remembered from her childhood. The same green shutters. The same yellow roses, although they weren’t as well attended as they’d once been. Now they grew more wild, except for where someone had hacked at them next to the front porch.
Daisy knocked on the screen door as she had a week ago and hoped Jack was alone this time. That if he had picked up a woman, she’d left by now.
No one answered and she stuck her head inside and called out. The hum of the air-conditioner was the only sound filling the dark interior. She looked over her shoulder at Jack’s Mustang and noticed that a light from inside the garage was on. Old elm trees towering overhead cast lacy shadows on the asphalt, and a slight breeze blew her ponytail as she moved to the back of the business. As quiet as possible, she opened the door and slipped inside. Sunlight from the windows high above her head threw rectangular patches of light on five classic cars in different stages of restoration. Some had their engines suspended on racks, other looked to be torn down to their frames. Along the walls, and hidden in the deeper shadows of the garage, were huge pieces of equipment, work benches, a tool chest taller than she was, and shelving that looked to hold car parts. She moved between a gutted Corvette and a shiny red-and-white land yacht that seemed to stretch out forever. The four taillights of the classic car stuck out like silver tubes of red lipstick.
She half expected to see buckets of oil and grease and metal shavings on the floor. She didn’t; the garage was very clean and smelled like pine. It was a lot cleaner than it had been when Jack’s father had been alive.
Despite the odds, Jack had made something of himself. Something better than what he’d been given. Certainly something more than anyone ever expected of him, and in spite of her apprehension at seeing him today, she was proud of Jack.
She looked up at the doorway to the offices and stopped in her tracks beside the rear end of the red and white car. Jack stood with his arms folded across his chest, one shoulder shoved into the door jam, watching her.
“Surprise,” she said, her voice a little shaky as he’d just about given her heart failure.
Flourescent lighting shone from the room behind him and made his T-shirt appear incredibly white. A scowl turned the corners of his mouth downward and a lock of dark hair fell across his forehead. “Not really. Those shoes you’re wearing make a lot of noise.”
She looked down at her red toenails then back up at him. “Are you hiding from me in here?”
He slowly shook his head. “Not hardly.” He looked completely at ease, but the tension that lay between them was anything but easy. His gaze on her was hot and intense, almost tangible as it lowered from her face to the front of her dress. One corner of his mouth lifted.
“The garage sure is different,” she said into the silence. “You should be proud of yourself, Jack.”
He looked back up into her face and his arms fell to his sides. “You didn’t come here to tell me that.”
“No.”
He pushed away from the doorframe and moved toward her, the thud of his boot heels a menacing echo as he stepped into a long patch of light. She grasped one red fin on the rear of the car to keep from backing away from him.
“I told you what would happen if you came over here today,” he said.
She didn’t have to ask what he was talking about. She knew, and her failing heart pounded in her throat. “I came here just to talk.”
“Then you shouldn’t have worn that outfit.”
She looked down at her mother’s dress. “This?” She laughed despite the clog in her throat. “Jack, it’s ugly.”
“Exactly. It needs to be taken off and burned.” He stood so close that Tigger and Winnie the Pooh were almost touching the front of his T-shirt.
She looked over his shoulder at a poster of a half-naked woman sprawled out on the hood of a beefed-up Nova. “We should talk right now.”
His fingertips touched her chin and brought her gaze back to his. “Not now.” His thumb swept her jaw, and he lowered his face until his nose touched hers. “Even in that stupid dress, you turn me on.” Her stomach clinched and she could hardly breathe. “You’re even more beautiful than you were growing up. And you were so beautiful back then you made me ache.” His lips brushed hers, and he kissed the corner of her mouth. “All morning, I’ve been half hoping, half dreading seeing you walk through that door.” His lips touched her cheek. “You shouldn’t have come back, Daisy Lee. You should have stayed gone, but you didn’t. You’re here and I can’t think of anything but getting inside of you. Deep inside where you’re hot and wet and want me too.” The tip of his tongue touched her earlobe and her purse fell to the floor. “The first night I saw you again, I told myself this wasn’t going to happen. But it is, Daisy.”
The warmth of his breath swept the side of her neck and across her flesh. Desire tightened her nipples and pooled between her legs, and she had to stop him now, or she was a goner. “Jack listen—”
“This was inevitable the second you stepped foot in town. I’m tired of fighting it,” he interrupted, as his hand moved to the side of her head, his thumb stroking her temple as if he were trying to soothe her. “Tell me you feel it too. Tell me you want it as much as I do.”
“Yes, but—”
“We can talk later. After we have sex.”
She placed her palm on the front of his T-shirt. His muscles turned hard and everything in him seemed to still—except for his heart, which beat as fast as hers. Making love would make it more difficult to tell him about Nathan, but it was already going to be difficult. She didn’t make a conscious decision to give in to her desire. It was just too big for her to deny any longer. It had been over two years now since she’d been with a man who desired her, and she had no willpower to resist Jack. She didn’t want to resist him. He was right, this was inevitable. “You promise we’ll talk later?”
“God, yes,” he said on a rush of breath. His hands grabbed the front of her dress. “Anything, Daisy.”
For days her body had responded to his, seeking an outlet for the passion he’d stirred back to life within her. And here it was. Here he was. Right in front of her. She pulled back and looked up into his face. “After you left last night, were you with s
omeone else?”
“Almost, but I wanted you.” He yanked her dress over her head and tossed it on the Corvette. She didn’t even try to stop him and her T-shirt joined her dress. Within the natural light pouring in through the windows, she stood in front of him in her black bra and panties and flip-flops. He didn’t give her time to think before he pulled her onto her toes and into his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck, smashing her breasts into his chest as his mouth swooped down and covered hers in a rough kiss.
Unable to stop herself, she fell headfirst into a haze of lust and longing. And it felt good. Maybe too good. The carnal thrust of his tongue elicited an equally carnal response in her. The feel of his cotton T-shirt and Levi’s against her bare skin sent a shiver down her spine. She ran her fingers through his hair as he fed her kisses from his hot, wet mouth. She moved against him, trying to get closer, trying to feel more of him. Wanting it so much her skin tingled with a powerful yearning. Wanting it all. All at once.
It had been so long. Too long to go so slow. A frustrated moan came from her throat and she dropped to her heels. She felt his long hard erection against her belly as her open mouth tasted the side of his neck. “Jack,” she said between kisses to his throat. “You taste good. I want to eat you up.”
“Jesus, Daisy,” he groaned as his hands roamed her bare back. He pulled the covered elastic from her ponytail and her hair came free and brushed her bare shoulders. He grabbed two fistfuls of her hair and brought her mouth back to his. She kissed him as one of his hands slid down her spine and he unhooked her bra. He pulled the bra from her and tossed it on the trunk of the red and white car. His mouth came down on hers as his hands came up to cup her breasts. Her nipples puckered in his hot palms, and she shoved her hands beneath his shirt and ran them all over him, his stomach, chest and back.
He moved his hands to her behind, and he grabbed the backs of her thighs. He lifted her onto the trunk of the car and her bare feet rested on the wide chrome bumper. The cool metal brought her out of her haze just enough that she was aware of sitting in a shaft of sunlight, naked except for her panties. She covered her breasts with her hands. “What kind of car is this?” she asked as to cover her sudden embarrassment.
“What you have here is a Custom Lancer,” he answered as he pulled his T-shirt over his head and tossed it next to her dress. “It seems appropriate for what I have in mind for you.”
She licked her swollen lips. “What do you have in mind?”
“We’re going to test the Level-Flight suspension.” He pushed her knees apart and stepped between her thighs. “Drop your hands, buttercup.”
When she’d had Nathan, her breasts had grown larger and she’d never lost the weight there. “I’m bigger than I used to be.”
“I noticed.” He grasped her wrists. “I want to see if you still have the little mark that looks like a love bite.”
“I do.”
He didn’t force her to drop her hands, just said, “Show me.”
“I have stretch marks.” The thin pale lines were hardly visible now, but they were still there.
“I want to see all of you, Daisy.”
“I’m older, Jack.”
“So am I.”
She leaned forward and placed her open mouth on his bare shoulder. “No, you’re even better than you were.” She kissed the hollow of his throat and he took her hands from her breasts and placed them on the waistband of his jeans.
“Unzip me,” he said, his voice all smoky with passion. He reached into his back pocket, then tossed a condom on the trunk next to her.
Daisy pulled the metal top button until it came free. He wasn’t wearing underwear, and she slid the metal tab downward, exposing the line of hair that grew from his navel to his groin. He was tucked to the left and she looked up into his face as she shoved her hand into his pants. She pressed her palm against the hard length of his penis, and he gazed at her through eyes totally gone with passion.
“Take it out,” he said in a rough voice.
She pushed at the waistband of jeans and shoved them down his thighs. His erection jutted toward her, huge and smooth like hot marble, and she took him in her hand. His hard flesh burned her palm and she stroked his long shaft. She scooted down to sit on the car’s bumper and pressed a kiss on the voluptuous head. She hadn’t planned to kiss him there, but it had been a long time and she wanted it all. A bead of clear moisture rested in the cleft and she licked it clean. He smelled good. Tasted better, and was bigger than she remembered too. Or perhaps she’d forgotten.
He groaned his pleasure deep, deep within his chest and pushed her hair out of her face. She looked up at him and watched his eyes as she took him more fully into her mouth. His nostrils flared slightly and he pulled in a deep breath.
“Ah, Daisy,” he whispered, then tilted his head back. Long ago, he’d taught her how to please him this way. She hadn’t forgotten. She ran one hand up the back of his thigh and grasped his tight behind. In her free hand, she lightly cupped his testicles in her palm. With her tongue, she found his pulse just below the head of his penis.
It seemed she’d just started when he pushed her away. “I don’t want to get off that way,” he said and gently he lifted her onto the trunk once more. He forced her onto her back and pulled off her panties. Then he stepped between her legs. His gaze traveled from her face, down her throat to her breasts. He leaned over her and cupped between her thighs. “You make me feel eighteen again,” he said as he rested his weight on his forearm next to her shoulder. “Like I can’t control myself.” He kissed the tip of her breast as he stroked her slick, sensitive flesh. “Like I’m going to go off before we get to the really good stuff.”
She arched her back and moaned. “Then get to the good stuff.”
“Daisy.”
“Mmm?”
He kissed her birthmark then brushed the seam of his lips across the tip of her breast. “Your breasts are as beautiful as ever.”
She might have laughed or argued or something if he hadn’t opened his hot mouth and sucked her nipple inside his wet mouth. Instead she ran her fingers through his hair. She shut her eyes and let the waves of sensation roll through her until she feared that she was going to go off before they got to good stuff.
“Daisy open your eyes and look at me.”
She did. He gazed down at her, his own eyes intense and feverish. He grabbed the condom and tore open the package. “I want to see your face when I’m inside of you.” He rolled the lubricated latex over the head of his penis and down the shaft to his dark pubic hair. He put his hands beneath her bare bottom and pulled her to the edge of the car’s trunk, positioning her. “I want you to see me.”
She looked into his green eyes that were so familiar to her. “I see you,” she said as he grasped her thighs. He plunged inside of her in one smooth stroke that buried him to her cervix. His grasp tightened on her thighs and her back arched. She cried out in pain and in pleasure, she wasn’t sure which was more acute.
“Damn,” he said between clenched teeth, then he cupped her face in his hands. “Sorry, Daisy.” He placed a soft kiss on her cheek and nose and whispered against her mouth, “I’m sorry. Sorry. I’ll make it feel good now. I promise.” He withdrew, then thrust himself inside with more care, reminding her how good he was at keeping his promises. Slowly, he gave her incredible pleasure with smooth, measured strokes.
He stared into her eyes as he moved within her. “Is that better?”
“Mmm, yes.”
“Tell me.”
“So good, Jack.” She felt weightless and she grabbed his shoulders and held on to him. “Don’t stop. Whatever you do, just don’t stop.”
“Not a chance.” He tilted her pelvis up without missing a beat of his pumping hips.
Heat flushed her skin, radiating outward from where they were joined, and she dug her fingers into him. His slow pace was driving her mad. “More. Give me more, Jack.”
He kissed her forehead and his breathing ras
ped against her temple. He plunged faster. Harder. In and out. Building. Thrusting her toward climax.
“Daisy Lee.” Her name on his lips sounded almost like a question, as if he pushed them both closer and closer. She was mindless to anything but the building pleasure, until she opened her mouth to scream. The sound died in her throat as wave after luscious wave rolled through her. Her muscles pulsed and contracted, gripping him hard.
On and on it went as he plunged into her. His breath hot against her temple until finally he shoved into her so hard he pushed her farther up the trunk of the car. He cursed her and God in the same incoherent sentence. He crushed her to his chest as if he wanted to absorb her and gave one final thrust. He made a sound deep in his throat, a sound somewhere between a guttural groan and a long drawn-out ahhh.
Daisy saw spots behind her closed eyelids, and her ears began to ring. She was going to faint. Right there on the Custom Lancer. It was going to happen. Just like he’d said she would, and she didn’t care.
She didn’t faint, though. Not really. She was just so light-headed she was afraid to move. She hadn’t had sex in a long time, but she didn’t recall it being so good. It had been. Of course it had been. But where his skin was stuck to hers, still tingled. She’d forgotten that part. Or maybe that had never happened before.
He remained embedded deep in her body, his chest smashed into hers and his forehead resting on the car next to her right ear. She could feel his heartbeat against her breast.
She open her eyes and looked up at the ventilation overhead. Jack Parrish had just taken her some place she’d never been before. He’d just given her a devastating orgasm that had curled her toes and about made her faint. She didn’t know what to think about that. In fact, she could hardly think at all. She was too stunned.
He raised onto his forearms and looked down into her face. A slow satisfied smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “Wow. You’re even better than you were at eighteen.”
Daisy looked into his sexy green eyes and felt alive again. Like she’d been dead inside for a very long time and hadn’t even realized it until that moment. Like coming into the sunlight after being trapped in the dark. Raw emotion swept through her, and she did the worst possible thing she could do.
Daisy's Back in Town Page 13
