“Get these off,” he said, and through the haze of desire she realized he was talking about her sweatpants. She shimmied out of them, and when she heard the slide of his zipper she shimmied out of her panties, too. She opened her legs for him and then, oh, yes, he thrust into her so deep she saw stars.
“Michael,” she gasped, and he went still.
“Say my name again.” His voice was raw, trembling.
“Michael...”
He thrust again, hitting her just right, and she knew she was about to come faster and harder than she ever had in her life. Every time she said his name he drove into her, pushing her towards the edge, and it wasn’t long before her orgasm hit like a tidal wave, sweeping her off her feet and into a maelstrom, a roar like thunder in her ears.
The aftershocks went on forever.
“Jenna.” Michael had shuddered out his own release and now he breathed her name against her skin, his mouth on the place where her neck met her shoulder.
She couldn’t move. She lay limp and boneless, every cell in her body replete.
Her couch wasn’t wide enough for him to lie next to her. She loved his big body on hers, the weight of him pressing her into the cushions, but after a minute he slid off to kneel beside her, stroking her hair away from her face.
“I can’t believe how beautiful you are.”
She turned on her side to look at him. He was still fully dressed, only his zipper undone.
She ran a hand down his shirt front. “You didn’t even take your clothes off.”
“I couldn’t wait. I wanted you too much.”
She took a deep breath and let it out. “I wanted you too. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anyone like that. But...we weren’t going to do this again.”
“I know.”
“So what happened?”
He traced the line of her lips with one finger. “Ask me what’s going to happen, instead.”
Her mouth tingled from his touch. “All right. What’s going to happen?”
“We’re going to do this again. For the next two weeks, we’re going to do this every chance we get.”
“Why two weeks? What happens in two weeks?”
He smiled. “That’s when Claire comes back.”
“Comes back?”
“Yes. She’s going to spend the next two weeks in Florida, and then she’s moving back here for good. She’s going to live with me.”
She stared at him. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
A minute before she thought she’d never move again. Now she launched herself off the couch and into him, throwing her arms around his neck.
“Michael! I can’t believe it. No, that’s not true—I can absolutely believe it. And I’m so glad.”
He pulled her to him for a quick, hard kiss. “I thought you would be.” He shifted so he was sitting with his back to the couch, Jenna straddling his lap. “So, here’s the deal.”
She was still dressed from the waist up, but now he grabbed the hem of her tee shirt and pulled it over her head. “I have two weeks left before I’m a full-time father, and you’re going to help me celebrate my last days of freedom.”
“I am?” she asked breathlessly. She was wearing a white cotton bra, completely unsexy, but the way Michael was gazing at her, she might have been in a lingerie catalogue.
“You are.”
She tried to remember why they shouldn’t do this, but it was hard to think about anything while he was sliding his hands around to unhook her bra. He tossed it aside and covered her breasts with his hands, and she arched into him.
He held her firmly, his thumbs moving softly over her skin. “Do you want me to tell you why this is a good idea?”
“Yes,” she said, the word turning into a gasp as he bent his head and circled her left nipple with his tongue.
He lifted his head to look at her. “Every time I look at you, I feel like I’m on fire. Like I’m going to combust if I don’t throw you down on the nearest flat surface and bury myself inside you. And I’m willing to bet you’re on fire for me, too.”
She closed her eyes as he bent to tease her other nipple, swirling his tongue around the hard nub until she squirmed. “I think about you all the time,” she whispered. “I lie awake at night thinking about you.”
He lifted his head again. “So let’s get it out of our systems. Let the fire burn itself out. Two weeks ought to be enough for that, don’t you think? After that Claire will be living with me, and you’ll be moving away. We can have a friendship then. A lasting friendship, I hope. But the truth is…and please don’t take this the wrong way…I think I’ll have an easier time being friends with you from a distance.” He looked at her, and his brown eyes were dark with desire. “I can’t resist you, Jenna. Please don’t ask me to. There’s no reason we can’t have two weeks together.”
He made it sound so simple. So logical.
If she trusted herself to be equally logical, she’d agree without a second’s hesitation.
But looking into those brown eyes, Jenna felt a pull on her heart that had nothing to do with logic or with lust, and everything to do with the fact that it would be so, so easy to fall in love with this man. So easy to give things up for him, to change her own life so she could be part of his.
And even if she didn’t, even if she walked away as planned, she might not come out unscathed. After she’d left Derek and the Mollies, it had taken her a long time to feel whole again. She didn’t want to leave a part of herself behind when she moved away from Iowa...and Michael.
But it was impossible not to give into the magnetic pull between them, especially when Michael was running his hand over her skin, trailing his fingers slowly down her torso, stopping for a tug at her belly ring before he laid his warm palm across her stomach.
There was something deliciously possessive in the feel of his hand on her. Her body tightened and loosened in dizzying waves, and she knew she couldn’t say no to him.
He was right. They needed to get this out of their systems.
“Okay.”
He breathed in sharply. “Really?”
She nodded, and then gasped as his hands slid around to her backside, fitting her securely against his hardening body.
“I should warn you, I’m going to be sneaking into your bedroom at all hours of the night. My vacation officially ends today. As of six a.m. tomorrow I’ll be on call for emergencies, and on Monday I’m back at the hospital. I’m going to cut my schedule back so I can spend more time with Claire, but there’s no way that can happen in the next two weeks. So I won’t be around much to bother you.” His hands tightened on her hips. “But whenever I’m home, I won’t be able to stay away from you. You should probably give me a key to your house, because otherwise I’ll break the door down to get to you.”
She reached for his shirt and tugged it over his head. “You can have a key. And you can slip into my bed anytime, day or night. For the next two weeks I’m yours.”
His eyes heated. “I still have one night of vacation left. Can I spend it here?”
“Right here?” she murmured, running her hands down his bare chest.
“Well...maybe upstairs. Your bed would be more comfortable for what I have in mind. What would you think about making love for the next twelve hours?”
She pretended to think about it. “Hmm. What about meals?”
“We’ll eat in. Chinese. Pizza. Whatever you want.”
She grinned, suddenly exhilarated. “Sold.”
He managed to stand up with her in his arms, and she grabbed on to his shoulders as he carried her towards the stairs.
A little voice whispered inside her that she was making a mistake. That their plan would backfire. That two weeks of this, of him, would only make her want more.
He tossed her naked onto her bed, and paused only to shuck off his jeans and boxers before joining her there.
It would be all right, she reassured herself. They’d have their two weeks, and then find a wa
y to move on. She’d be leaving a week or two after that. And Claire would be here, so Michael would be busy, too.
They’d found a way back to friendship after their one-night stand, and they could do it again. And maybe Michael was right. Maybe if they got this crazy lust out of their systems, it would actually be easier.
He was kissing his way down her body like she was an oasis and he was a man dying of thirst. Need swept through her and she moved restlessly under him, her hands on his broad back and then in his hair as he moved lower.
She felt herself surrendering to the moment, and to Michael. Whatever the future held, for right now, nothing else existed.
***
Michael wasn’t surprised at how good the sex was. The two of them were like gasoline and matches, and their physical relationship just kept getting better.
What did surprise him was how easily they adapted to each other.
As he’d predicted, his schedule that first week was hectic. On Saturday afternoon he was called in for emergency surgery, and he didn’t leave the hospital until three-thirty in the morning.
On the drive home he figured he’d give Jenna a break and sleep in his own bed. He was tired, and the two of them had spent Friday and most of Saturday together. Considering that, and the two weeks they had to look forward to, he could afford to show a little restraint tonight.
He was at his door when he paused and looked over at her house. It was dark, of course. Jenna had probably gone to bed hours ago. He pictured her curled up on her side, sleeping. Her black hair would be spread out against the white sheets, her body warm, her lips parted...
The key she’d given him was burning a hole in his pocket. Without stopping to think he crossed the lawn to her house and let himself in quietly, making his way upstairs and standing in her bedroom doorway.
She was even more beautiful than in his fantasy. He undressed down to his boxers, and lifted the sheet to crawl in beside her.
He moved as quietly as he could but she stirred and woke, turning to nestle herself against him. “How did the surgery go?” she asked sleepily.
He kissed the top of her head. “Touch and go for a while, but we pulled him through. How about you? How was your night?”
She rested her head against his bare chest. “It was good. I’ve got all these songs running through my head, which hasn’t happened to me in years. So I decided to spend some quality time with my guitar and see if I could turn some of the ideas into music.”
He ran a hand down her back, tucking her more securely against him. “That’s great. I’d love to hear what you’re working on some time.”
“Mmm,” she murmured, and he realized she was falling back asleep. He stroked her hair softly until he fell asleep himself.
They woke up making love. One minute they were sleeping and the next they were kissing, bodies pressed together and hands everywhere, his boxers and her panties cast aside. He rolled her onto her back and slid inside her, and the little sounds she made as she clutched at his shoulders made him lose his mind.
Afterwards they lay in each other’s arms, their legs tangled together and her head cradled against his shoulder. He would have been happy to stay like that all morning, but it was only a few minutes before Jenna gave him a quick kiss and slid out of bed. “I’m sorry, but I’ve got this damn song in my head and I won’t have any peace until I get it down on paper. Do you mind if I head down to the living room and work for a while? You should probably try to get some more sleep anyway. You only got a few hours.”
He shook his head. “No, I’m up now.” He paused. “I could bring my laptop over and do some work of my own. Or would that distract you?”
“No, not at all. That’s a great idea. I’ll put some coffee on, if you like.”
“Sounds perfect. I’ll be back soon.”
It felt good to work in Jenna’s living room. He sat on an overstuffed chair with his computer, working on an article he was submitting that week. Jenna sat on the floor with her back to the couch, frowning as she scribbled words and music into a notebook, occasionally stopping to try out passages on her guitar.
Every so often he looked up from the computer screen, and let his gaze rest on her. Looking at her focused him, made his thoughts flow more easily. Almost before he realized it three hours had gone by and he’d written two thousand words.
Then his pager went off.
“Got to go,” he said after he called the hospital. “They’re prepping a patient for me.” He went to Jenna and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I wanted to cook dinner for you tonight, but I don’t have any idea when I’ll be back.”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. And, anyway, I’m meeting the band tonight. I might be back later than you.”
“That’s right, I forgot. I hope you have a good rehearsal.”
She looped an arm around his neck and pulled him down for a real kiss. “Thanks. Good luck at the hospital, Michael. I’ll be thinking of you.”
Her words warmed him. “I’ll be thinking of you, too.”
Surgery went well, and he was back by eight o’clock that night. Jenna’s car was gone and he knew it might be several hours before she was back from rehearsal.
He made himself dinner and went to bed early, figuring they could spend tonight apart since he hadn’t been able to stay away from her last night.
He woke several hours later to the sound of the doorbell ringing.
He lay awake for a moment, disoriented, before he threw on his robe and went downstairs.
The bell rang again just before he got to the door. When he opened it, Jenna was there.
“Hi,” she said, leaning against the doorframe and smiling at him.
“Hi,” he said, his body tightening at the sight of her. “What time is it?”
“Much too late for a visit. How was your surgery?”
“It went well.” He pulled her inside and shut the door behind her. “So, what brings you here? Is there something I can...do for you?”
She grinned at him. “I’m sure I can think of something. I would have let myself in and crawled into your bed, but you didn’t give me a key. That doesn’t seem fair, does it? I gave you a key to my place. Shouldn’t I have a key to yours?”
He scooped her up in his arms and carried her upstairs to his bedroom. “You’re right, it is unfair. You should definitely have a key. I don’t want anything to stand in the way of you crawling into my bed.”
He laid her down gently and kissed her. “How was rehearsal?”
She arched up into his kiss. “Good. Really good.” She sighed. “So good it’s messing with my head a little.”
He settled himself next to her, lying on his side and pillowing his head on his arm. His free hand moved slowly down her body, shaping itself to her contours. “Messing with your head how?”
“I’d forgotten how much fun it is.”
“And that’s bad?”
“Not exactly. It’s just...” she shifted restlessly, and he let his hand settle on her hip, relaxing her. “It just makes me think about roads not taken. About where the Mollies might be now if we hadn’t broken up.” She sighed again. “If I hadn’t broken us up.”
His hand tightened on her unconsciously, and she glanced at him. “I don’t regret leaving Derek,” she said, and he realized she’d both sensed his tension and recognized the cause. “But maybe I shouldn’t have left the Mollies.”
He took his hand away from her hip and stroked her hair. “Don’t look backwards. That never does any good. Think about the future instead. Is there a chance the Mollies could get back together? Is that something you might want?”
She frowned. “I don’t know. I just...don’t know. I’m looking forward to the job in L.A. But the way the music came together tonight...”
She turned her head to look at him. “I guess I’m just...confused. Everything seems so fluid right now, like I could go in a hundred different directions. And I’m afraid to choose one path, because it might be the
wrong one.” She bit her lip and looked away. “I was lying in bed thinking about it, and I realized there was only one thing I knew for sure I wanted. And that was to come over here. To be with you.”
He closed his eyes, wishing her words didn’t make him feel so damn hopeful.
“I’m glad you came,” was all he said.
She was still turned away from him, so he bent to kiss the side of her neck, just below her ear. Every inch of her was soft and smooth, but this place was exquisite. He tasted the faint tang of soap and the sweetness of wildflowers, and her scent went to his head and his heart and his groin, just like it always did.
He felt her shiver. Then she twisted around so she was facing him again, sliding her arms around his waist as she pressed her lips to his.
From that moment on, they spent every free minute together.
They talked about everything. Of course, almost from the moment he’d met her, he’d told Jenna things he’d never told anyone else. But now he found himself telling her darker things, things he’d almost forgotten himself. He told her about the first time he’d lost a patient. He told her about his childhood. And he talked about Claire, his fears and uncertainties about being a father.
She always made him feel better, just by listening. And her perspective on things was so unique, so different from his...she always gave him something new to think about.
He’d never shared any of that stuff with Angela. He’d never leaned on her for anything. He’d wanted to be her knight in shining armor, to give her a life free from worry or doubt. He’d been afraid that if he let her see his weaknesses, it might undermine her confidence in him.
He was starting to realize now that in his desire to protect Angela, he’d kept her from being a real partner in their marriage.
It was ironic that Jenna was teaching him what a relationship between equals was like, considering that his feelings for her were more primitive and possessive than anything he’d ever felt in his life. But he also trusted her. She knew his strengths and his weaknesses, just as he knew hers.
Of course none of that would stop Jenna from leaving him. But he’d known that from the beginning, and somehow he’d find a way to accept it.
Cross My Heart: A Contemporary Romance Novel Page 15
