by Emily Bishop
“OK.” I sat down on the edge of the bed, with its duck’s egg blue sheets, and leaned my elbows on my thighs. Don’t crowd her. Let her talk it out and if she wants a hug after then give her one.
“So, yeah, we walked everywhere. It was—sorry. It was a Friday afternoon and we were walking to the restaurant together. Mom wanted to see if I could get a summer job there, because Jerr was a big ol’ sweetheart and usually gave me one.” Aurora cleared her throat. “We used the long road through the woods then hit the road and walked on down. We were probably a half mile out of town when it happened.”
I braced myself.
“Some drunk ass came around the corner. Came right for us. Right for me, actually. Mom pushed me out of the way, and he—he got her instead.” She shook her head, voice thick now.
I itched to hold her and dissolve the pain, but this wasn’t something I could heal. That was time’s job.
“I didn’t know she was gone until they told me in the ambulance. I broke my arm and they had to patch it up, and they were doing it when I found out. The police wanted to ask me questions. I lost it. I don’t remember what happened after that, not until I woke up the next day in the hospital and realized that it wasn’t all a bad dream, and that she was gone. And I was alone. For good.”
Not for good. “I’m so sorry,” I said. “Aurora.”
“It’s seven years in the past,” she replied and walked toward me, paused halfway across the room. A teardrop fell from her chin and splatted onto her white cotton shirt. “It still hurts. But I’ve made do. That’s why the cabin is so important to me. My mom wanted me to have a good life. I think she regretted the decision to take me traveling all over the place. Moondance was her last chance to be happy.”
“She had you. Of course she was happy.”
She gulped and wiped her cheek on her shoulder. “Oh, god, I’m crying again. I’m like a friggin’ sprinkler system today.” A weak chuckle.
How strong was this woman? How much had she been through that I didn’t even know about?
“What about you?” she asked. “Where are your parents?”
Oh, fuck. Worst subject in the world, but then, I opened the damn can. Worms are everywhere now. “My parents. My mom died of cancer ten years ago. I’m still struggling with it. She was a wonderful human being. I think she’s the only reason I turned out remotely sane.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Let’s forget apologies and remorse for now,” I said and smiled at her.
“And your father?”
“He’s… complicated. We don’t speak anymore.”
“Why not?”
“My father was a hard man. He didn’t have much love for me or my mother, at least, he didn’t show enough. He was obsessed with work but he kept trying and failing, trying and failing. I think what fucked me up about it was the fact that he blamed his failure on us. He felt his family held him back.”
“Wow,” Aurora said.
“Yeah. I promised myself I wouldn’t fail like he did, and that I wouldn’t treat a woman like he treated my mother.”
Aurora walked to the bed and perched on it, beside me. She reminded me of a bird, on the point of taking flight, except that was the last thing I wanted. I’d never expected this—sharing feelings, memories with a woman I’d met only days before, but it was right.
Miniscule space between us, her heat mingling with mine, and my heart, fuck, it wouldn’t behave. It beat a mile a damn minute.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For what?” I hadn’t done anything except listen and talk. I hadn’t helped her situation in Moondance, nor mine with Pride’s Death.
“Listening. Understanding,” she whispered. “No, that’s not it. Thank you for keeping your judgment to yourself.”
“I’d never judge you,” I said.
She turned to me then, eyes ablaze, dark liquid pools. I could fall into them, trace the line of her nose with my thumb. Sear her with a kiss. All the things I could do and only end up falling deeper into the hole I’d already dug for myself.
Love was another trap. Or was it? Aurora was freedom made flesh, and I was a worker robot. Two different worlds. So god damn different but I didn’t care anymore.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Between us?”
“Yes. What is happening?” Aurora licked those plump lips. Christ, even her uncertainty was sexy.
I took her hand and held it, palm upward. I traced the lines, though I couldn’t recall any of the names she’d given me for them. Her fingers twitched, closed ever so slightly. I raised that hand and placed it on my chest, right over my heart.
“This is happening,” I said. My heart skipped beats, thudded hard and fast for her. “I can’t put it into words.” Not yet. Or you’ll scare her. Shit, you’ll scare yourself.
Aurora quivered.
I caressed her wrist, down her arm and to her shoulder, up to her throat, rested my thumb on her chin. “I want to know more,” I said.
“Me, too.” She trembled all over now, her light cotton tee straining at her breasts. Her breaths came in short gasps. “Me, too.”
I cupped her chin and leaned in, inch by inch. So fucking slow. I’d draw this moment out as long as I could, prolong this feeling. The rock in the center of my chest dissolved into grit and drifted away.
Aurora watched my approach, eyes flicking from my lips to my unflinching stare, back down again. And up, and down.
“I want to know everything,” I said, against her lips.
She whimpered.
Finally, I claimed her, searing her with a kiss. Scouring us both, taking whatever had pained us, balling it up, throwing it out. There was only room for two in here.
I parted her lips, tasted that sweetness on her tongue, snagged my fingers in her hair and tugged lightly.
She moaned against my lips and bit the bottom one, sucked on it.
Fuck, that was it. Button officially pushed, hot damn. I worked my hand up her thigh, under her shirt and up to her naked breast. No bra, Christ. I grunted and kissed her hard, massaging the supple flesh. I pinched her nipple lightly.
Aurora gasped and gripped the back of my neck, dragged herself into my lap, onto the growing erection. She rubbed herself on it, back and forth. The fabric between us was fucking torture.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, straddled me, and pressed her hot pussy against my crotch, riding back and forth. She tossed her hair and tilted her head back.
I lavished her neck with kisses, my dick throbbing now. I had to free it soon or I’d lose my damn mind. This lack of contact was nothing but a tease.
“Enough,” I grunted and tossed her backward onto the bed then rose and stripped off my belt, tossed it to one side.
She stepped herself up the bed, using her heels until her head struck the board. She slipped out of her skirt, exposing milky white skin, that secret, soft flesh that had already broken my resolve twice before.
Not that I’d had much resolve when it came to her.
I shimmied out of my clothes, dumped them then crawled up the bed toward her. The space between us was too much. I ripped her shirt up and over her head, exposing her perky tits.
I sat back, the only moment of hesitation there would be throughout this evening. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” I said, stating the fact. It was plain truth.
I parted her legs and ran my finger between her soft, pink lips, collecting the fluid there and working it over her clit.
She jerked and moaned, bucking upward as she’d done before. I’d never tire of that reaction. I lowered myself to my elbows and blew gently on that core of pleasure.
“Jarryd,” she whispered. “You’re teasing.”
“That’s right,” I said.
“Stop.” She writhed, and I pinned her legs.
“Don’t you dare move,” I replied, “and don’t you dare come until I say you can.”
Aurora’s jaw dropped. “Wh-wha
t?”
“You heard me.” I inched forward then drew her clit into my mouth and sucked noisily. I fucking feasted on it and held her hips down to stop her from bucking me off.
Her legs quivered, and she kicked her feet. “It’s too good. Oh god, it’s too good.”
I inserted two fingers and worked them deep, searching for the soft center that would bring her closer. I licked and sucked, circled my tongue then slid it between her lips, slurping up all her flavor and savoring it.
“Oh—fuck. Oh—god.” Each word was followed by a shallow gasp.
“You’re delicious,” I said. “Don’t come.”
“So close,” she whispered.
“No!” I used my fingers, slowly moving them in and out of her, drawing on her pleasure with each stroke. She was already slick, ready for me, but I’d drink her up first. I’d make sure I tasted all I needed before I buried myself inside her and filled her to the brim.
I continued eating her, noisily, sucking and moaning in between, because god damn this was good for me, too.
Aurora’s heels drummed on the bed. “Please, I’m going to. Please! Please, Jarryd, god, please!” She arched her back.
“Come for me,” I said.
Her pussy clenched around my fingers instantly, massaging them with her warm, velvety walls. She grew even wetter. And fell silent, eyes rolled back in her head, breasts pushed out, one hand tangled in the sheets, the other thrown up above her head. She rocked back and forth, and I slowed the pressure both inside her and on her clit.
Finally, Aurora collapsed. Lightning flashed outside the window, soundless. No thunder. Another storm coming, but this time I didn’t give a shit.
I tiger-crawled up her body, kissed her stomach, poked a tongue in her belly button and made her squirm.
“That was…” she said. “Wow.”
I grinned up at her then shifted up to her breasts. I grabbed them and pressed them together, bringing her nipples in then sucked on them together.
She fisted the sheets again. “And it’s not over yet, is it?”
“Uh-uh.” I tasted her flesh, nipped her lightly then moved up her body until my eyes were level with hers, at last.
Aurora craned her neck and kissed me on the lips, tasted her own juices.
I kissed her hard then reached between my legs and placed my thick, wet head at her entrance.
I gripped her right leg, forced it up until it was beside her head then looked down at her body, at her pink pussy, drenched and begging for it. My dick throbbed against her clit, slapped down on it.
I held it at the base and smeared my pre-cum over it, lubing it up yet again.
“Ooh!” She shuddered. “Too sensitive.”
I forced my head between her lips and mixed her cum with mine then pressed my head into her.
“You’re so big,” she whispered, eyes alight. She lifted her head and looked at spot where our flesh met. Skin on skin. “So big.”
“You want me inside you?” I asked.
“Yes, please.” Aurora fell back and massaged both her breasts, pinching her own nipples this time, one leg still as far up as it could go.
I slipped the head inside her then entered in short thrusts to prolong the pleasure.
Another flash of lightning outside.
I pressed in further, building our own personal storm with every inch. I pinned her leg back, digging my fingers into the flesh and lifting her pussy to greet me. I could bend her any fucking way I wanted.
I lifted her other leg, too, and pinned that back next then let go. Her entire ass was in the air, and I kneeled, dick throbbing inside her at the vision: Aurora with her hands on her tits, her pussy glistening and filled with me, still pulsing with the aftershocks of her orgasm.
Her cheeks were pink from the pleasure, jaw slack and lips sucked red from our kisses. “Don’t stop,” she groaned. “Please, baby, don’t stop. I need more.”
I placed both hands on her full ass cheeks and pumped inside her once, all the way to the hilt.
Aurora let out a muted cry. “Yes, oh, my god.”
I pounded into her again, as deep as I could go.
Another moan.
And again, again. I thrust into her, cutting off each moan by filling her to the brink with my cock. Massaging her g-spot and my dick in one. The rhythm this time was anything but gentle. I craved her too much for that.
And that deep animal part of me she unleashed wanted to claim her as mine. Now, and again later. And every day after that.
“I’m going to come again,” she said and shuddered beneath me. “Jarryd, I’m coming again.”
The tingling beginnings of my orgasm started deep within me, travelling through my balls, my dick. I held back and pounded some more, faster, harder. Fuck, I couldn’t take a second more of this.
Aurora clenched around me, and I erupted inside her, pumping her full, everything I had, and letting out a howl. “Fuck yes,” I grunted, even as her walls closed in around me, released, closed again.
I slapped her ass once, still pulsing and releasing the last of my cum inside her. Finally, we settled, and the orgasms slowed.
I carefully drew myself out of her.
She gasped and clenched up again then released. “Oh, my,” she whispered. “Jarryd, oh, my god.”
“I know,” I replied and unfolded her legs. I lay down beside her, dragged my finger from her hairline down the bridge of her nose and to her lips. “I know.”
“That was perfect.”
I kissed her forehead and held her close, her naked skin against mine, our sweat cooling and mingling. “You know why,” I said then kissed her lips again, soft and slow this time.
We broke the kiss, and she searched my expression, though she already had to have the answer.
It’d been perfect because of how we felt about each other. The connection we’d found here, in this small town, where nothing should’ve happened, where we never should’ve even met, had destroyed our life paths.
I lay back and dragged her onto my chest. Tucked her head underneath my chin as I’d done once before, stroked her shoulder and arm, any bit of skin I could get at.
This had to be what true love felt like.
Chapter 16
Aurora
I yawned and shuffled beneath the sheets in the motel room, inhaling the fresh scent of detergent and something else—Jarryd’s woody cologne. I blinked at the tan, strong forearm that lay across my midriff. I followed it all the way to Jarryd’s strong chin, the lips, and oh, god, his eyes were open.
“Did I just catch you creeping on me?” he asked.
I burst out laughing. “I just woke up! You’re the one staring,” I replied. Not a hint of awkwardness between us but the comforting afterglow of unbelievable sex, a meal, more sex, and a night of sleeping in each other’s arms.
“Yeah, I’m staring, so what?”
“So,” I said and lost my words. I shimmied closer to him and planted a kiss on his lips. It was dangerous, kind of like taking a bite of the forbidden fruit. He smelled as delicious as any fruit. Surely, we couldn’t carry on like this.
He kissed me back then brushed the hair from my forehead and tucked it behind my ear, pulled back.
“So,” he put in. “What are your plans for the day? I was hoping you might be able to stick around again.”
“As much as I’d love to stay cooped up in here all day, I have got a shift at the Bar and Grill this afternoon,” I said. “And also, vitamin D is good for the skin!”
“No arguments there,” Jarryd replied. “I wish you could stay. What about this morning? We could go out and do something?”
My stomach did a pro-gymnast flip. “Like what?”
“No idea,” he replied. “Oh, shit, you don’t want to be seen with me in public. I forgot.”
I punched him on his beefy arm. “I do. I don’t want to jeopardize your career or my plans.”
“I told you, they can’t legally keep you from buying a place because o
f your reputation.”
“But what about your reputation?” I asked and sat up. The sheets fell down and exposed my breasts.
Jarryd tweaked one of my nipples.
“Hey!” I snatched the sheet up and covered them. “They’re not buttons, you know.”
“Oh, trust me. I know.”
I colored then slipped out of bed and hurried to the pile of clothes on the carpeted floor. I swept them up and shimmied into my shirt and skirt, my underwear last of all.
“My reputation,” he said. “Well, it’s not your problem, Aurora. And I’m pretty sure that, like it or not, everyone knows we’ve got something going on. I made it pretty obvious the other day when I almost creamed your ex.”
Was it so wrong that I kinda wished he had hit James? Just a little bit. Not too hard. Just enough to knock the arrogant grin off his mug.
“And I’d like to do something with you today. Before you have to head out to the restaurant.”
I scurried to the silver tray with its bowl lid and lifted it to reveal a leftover plate of fries from last night. I scarfed down a few, nervous eating for the win, and gazed at him, wide-eyed.
“Well?” Jarryd got up, too, but dropped the sheet and walked to the closet in the corner. Man, he had tight buns.
I chewed through another fry. “Well, I can’t think when you’re naked.”
He grinned at me over his shoulder, a tuft of hair on the back of his head sticking up at an odd angle. “Maybe I’ll stay naked then.”
I averted my eyes and pursed my lips.
“All right, all right.” A rustle of clothes, the zip of pants, clink of a belt buckle. “All done,” he said.
I shifted focus to him again. Him in his smart suit, another white cotton button down. He brought black socks and shoes out of his closet then sat on the edge of the bed to fit them on.
“Suits,” I said. “Ha, that gives me an idea.”
“Uh oh, what kind of idea?”
“The kind that involves you wearing something less businessman and more… what’s the term?”
“Lumberjack?”
“Hey! Flannel shirts are in this season,” I said. Even though I had no clue what was in or out. I wasn’t exactly breaking out the fashion mags at home. Shoot, I didn’t even know what the major fashion magazines were.
