One-Click Buy: April Harlequin Blaze

by Kathleen O'Reilly

  All night she tortured herself with thoughts of him.

  But she had to report to work the next day, and that gave her a reprieve.

  At her desk, surrounded by all her organizers, Lucy mussed things up a little. A file left out here, a paper clip out of place there.

  It was a start.

  Then at the end of the day, after she’d lunched with coworkers, filling them in on the superficial details of her vacation as well as catching up on office matters, Lucy walked out of the one-story building and into the parking lot.

  Intending to continue her search.

  Maybe this time she would find an e-mail, a phone number…

  She almost tripped when she saw a pickup in the lot. A red truck.

  It was in better shape than the cowboy’s, but the man reclining against its side was just as battered.

  “Joshua?” she whispered, remembering how he’d shown up at Lake Havisu like this.

  She closed her eyes, thinking that her mind was just playing tricks on her.

  Yet when she opened her gaze again to find him standing away from the pickup, his hands clenched at his sides, she knew he was real.

  Where the old, guarded Lucy would’ve walked toward him, this Lucy ran, dropping her workbag and coming to crash into his embrace.

  With a groan, Joshua wrapped her up as if he’d never let her go, and she got dizzy with the lack of air, with the infusion of him.

  He had come back, she thought, joy shooting through her.

  He hadn’t left after all.

  JOSHUA BURIED his face in her hair, hardly believing he was with Lucy again, claiming her.

  She was here, really here, and she had run to him.

  He spoke against her ear, rushed and ecstatic. “I told myself to forget you. Kept saying over and over that I needed to put away what I’d come to feel and just concentrate on my purpose in life—setting wrongs back to rights for my family. It was supposed to make me feel better, make me a whole person again.”

  Lucy rained kisses over his neck, his jaw, then clasped his face between her hands and pressed her lips against his mouth, stealing his next words.

  So soft, warm…He’d missed her, missed the future he might’ve had if he’d only listened to his heart and obeyed it.

  She kissed him ferociously, hungrily, until he slumped back against the truck. His hands roamed her back, making all his dreams into a physical reality.

  If he’d had any doubts about coming to find her, they were ash now.

  Panting, she pulled back, her fingers tracing his lips, his cheeks, her gaze taking him in.

  “And what about your business back home?” she asked.

  “In progress.”

  As planned, he’d secured loans from old friends who would keep quiet until Joshua could approach Trent with an offer, but that wouldn’t even be necessary. The community had indeed blacklisted the man, siding with Joshua. It was now even clear that Trent was trying to find a graceful way of settling this “land misunderstanding,” and when Joshua got back, he knew the property would be his family’s again.

  He didn’t mind making his neighbor sweat it out a little.

  “But, Lucy, there was something about the way you looked when we said goodbye,” he added. “Day by day, I couldn’t forget that, and I missed you more and more. It kept me up at night, and nothing seemed as important, so I flew here, rented a truck and took a chance by coming to your workplace.”

  Her blue gaze went shiny, both with what he thought might be happiness as well as tears.

  “I told myself that distance was going to cool your feelings,” she said. “We live states away from each other and—”

  “No.” Joshua eased her hair away from her forehead. “You’re the best I’ll ever meet, Lucy Christie, and I’d be a fool to ignore what I came to feel for you.”

  The comment hung in the air, so he yanked it down, accepting the challenge of defining his emotions. “I want to know you, be with you, never leave you again.”

  She rested against him and started to laugh—a pure, relieved, exultant sound that vibrated his chest.

  “Me, too,” she said. “I was trying to look you up on the computer, Joshua. But you got to me first.”

  Inspired, he swept her into his arms, not knowing where he’d take her, as long as it was someplace private.

  They looked at each other, too overcome by the passion that always melded them together. He wanted her, and he knew without a doubt that it was the same for Lucy.

  But there would be more to come after they got their fill of each other. So much more.

  “Head to the right,” she whispered. “A conference room. Should be open. If not, I have keys.”

  She directed him toward an entrance on the outside of the brick building. It opened to an office with a long table, no windows, empty chairs, then another door that probably led to an inside entrance. He eyed it before laying her on that table.

  There, he kissed her good and well, her knee rubbing against his hip, sparking him.

  “I need to lock the doors,” he said, bending down to kiss her again.

  She mmmed against his mouth before he broke away to secure the entrances, propping chairs under the knobs for insurance.

  By the time he got back, she’d shucked off her suit jacket and tossed it to the ground along with her high-heeled sandals.

  He took off his hat, as if out of sheer reverence for being with the woman he’d hungered for.

  At his gesture, Lucy stopped unbuttoning her white shirt, looking as if her heart had caught in her throat.

  “You’re really here,” she said, voice wobbly.

  “And I should’ve been sooner.”

  “It’s just…” She bit her bottom lip, shook her head. “Men don’t usually chase me down like this.”

  His heart cracked a little at that. “I would’ve been a fool to leave you for good. Maybe I’m still a fool because I’m standing here across the room from you when I should be a lot closer.”

  She smiled, as if believing him when she’d never believed any other man before. It flooded him with the value he had been seeking—a near-impossible find that he had uncovered when he had least expected it.

  “Joshua,” she said.

  His name on her lips was enough to make him shudder with ecstasy. An after burn roared over him, sensitizing his flesh with prickles of need.

  She finished undoing her top, then allowed it to shimmy down her arms while it exposed her pink lace bra. He could see her nipples through it, and the sight rocked him.

  “Let me do the rest,” he said, his steps eating up the distance between them.

  He stood before her, taking hold of her legs and pulling her toward him. She slid on the table, then braced her hands on it while he undid her skirt with deliberate enjoyment.

  “I have meetings in here, you know,” she said, watching his every move.

  He liked seeing where she worked. Human resources. An office. Just another facet of the woman who enthralled him.

  “What would your coworkers do if they knew we were about to use this table for a more intense type of conference?” he asked.

  “Forget work,” she said. “Forget all of it.”

  A smile curved her beautiful mouth, and he thought that she had perhaps let go of something. Work? Or more?

  She laughed, resting a hand on his chest. His heartbeat banged at her palm, as if separated by glass from her and trying to connect.

  Pausing, she spread her fingers over him, seeming to link to the rhythm of his pulse.

  Then she smiled again, and his heart tumbled to his belly.

  “Let’s get you out of these,” she whispered, helping him out of his shirt, then unbuttoning his fly. His cock got anxious, blazing with a rush of blood.

  She took off her bra, making a show of dropping it to the carpet. “Do you feel it?”

  Yeah, he sure as hell did.

  But she sent him a grin. “Not that. I’m talking about something e
lse. This isn’t how it was on the road. This is…”

  She was leaning over to kiss him, and he understood what she was going to say.

  This is how it’ll be from now on.

  She ended the kiss by running her tongue over his bottom lip, then saying, “I won’t ever go back.”

  “Back to what?” He palmed her bare breasts, weighing the swell of them in his palms.

  When he started kneading them, she closed her eyes.

  “I won’t go back to the way things were,” she finally said. “I don’t see how I can. Not after you.”

  She scooted toward him, bringing her sex against his, grinding and making him groan with the pressure of his need. But when she kissed him again, there was something else besides edged passion to it.

  There was a softness, a sense of falling into a black, yawning hole, deeper and deeper.

  He realized that only part of the sensation came from her pulling him down to the table with her.

  Crawling onto the surface, he hovered over Lucy, caressing her face, grateful that he’d thrown caution to the wind and come to her.

  They kissed gently, sucking with lazy draws. He felt her hands at the base of his spine, her palms slipping into his gaping jeans to cup his ass.

  Another groan escaped from him as she nailed upward, abrading his cheeks, then sliding down again to push the denim away from his hips.

  He reached down at the same time, taking out his penis, which had gone agonizingly stiff. Moisture beaded its head, slicking onto her thigh as he nudged it.

  Her slight mewl signaled that she wanted more, so Joshua allowed himself to prod her between the legs, her panties already drenched.

  He could feel her cleft, and he ran his tip through it, painting her with his come.

  In reaction, she squeezed his ass, then dipped her fingers between his thighs, touching his balls. He bucked, sucking air between his teeth.

  Pushed to the limit, he yanked at her panties, ripping them until they uncovered her sex. She gasped, arching a little.

  “I’m on the Pill,” she said.

  He didn’t need a translation. “Lucy…”

  Then he prodded her with his cock, almost collapsing with the pleasure of her slick lips against him.

  He groaned. “Come home with me.”

  His words surprised him, but not as much as they did her.

  She opened her mouth, but he kissed her to silence, his groin aching as he teased her with his erection, grinding against her clit until she whimpered.

  “After you tell me your bedtime stories and I tell you mine,” he said, kissing her behind the ear, “I could tuck you into bed every night and make sure you slept like an angel.”

  With that, he traced his tongue between her breasts, around each nipple, where he sucked and worked her around until she was squirming under him.

  Then, he moved downward, over her stomach, her belly, her sex.

  “Joshua,” she cried out, wiggling her hips each time he used his tongue on her, in her.

  But even as she pressed herself against his mouth, he knew he hadn’t finished his explorations. No, he still had her thighs, every damp inch of them.

  Behind her knees.

  Her calves.

  Her feet—the insteps, the toes.

  Everywhere.

  At this point she was in a quiet frenzy, one leg bent, one arm thrown over her face.

  “My Lucy,” he said, enjoying her erotic discomfort. It made him even harder, his cock pulsing.

  Unable to hold back, he pulled himself up her body then drove into her, a primal cry coming from deep within at the feel of her closing in around him.

  He moved his hips back, then rammed into her again.

  Then again.

  She took every buffeting motion with a moan, each one getting higher on a scale of notes that chipped away at him.

  Harder.

  Faster.

  Sight going dark, he lost himself in her, crumbling away thrust by thrust. She was his rock, solidifying him even as she broke him apart.

  He pounded into her again—another portion of him gone.

  Again—another piece tumbled away.

  Another…another…another…

  Then—

  Bang.

  He blasted into the air, a freefall of dust spread to all corners of the room. A completion.

  A completeness that felt like home and all its love and sunrises.

  As he came to, he felt her stroking his hair as he rested his head on her breast.

  Lucy.

  At her touch, he began to build together again. Scrap by scrap, he formed into himself. A true man.

  All hers.

  “Joshua?” she asked.

  Panting, he turned his head to see her. He smiled at her damp skin, her pink lips.

  She smiled, too. “When do you need me to be packed?”

  In spite of his weakened state, Joshua pulled her in for another kiss.

  Epilogue

  “LUCY!”

  Carmen ran past her gathered relatives, past the beer keg, then past the food tables laden with tostadas, carne asada, tacos and all variety of offerings on her way to hug her best friend.

  “You came,” Carmen said into Lucy’s ear as she held her tight.

  Lucy drew back and looked at her friend, who was dressed for a late-spring family party in a pretty, light green dress. She’d let her hair grow out a little, but had kept it very red. Very Carmen.

  “You wanted me here,” Lucy said, “and I wouldn’t miss it.”

  “Good. I’m afraid I’ll never get to see you anymore, what with you being halfway across the country now.”

  “I’m never going to be far, Carm. Even if it’s just a phone call away.”

  The two friends stared at each other, smiling. It’d only been a few weeks since Lucy had quit her job out of the blue then taken off for Texas with Joshua. So far, she’d discovered him by living in his cabin, and he’d done the same with her. They explored each other daily…and nightly.

  But she wasn’t afraid of what might happen if he found out too much. Not anymore.

  She’d also helped him organize the papers for the deal he’d struck with the ostracized Timothy Trent, and soon she’d be acting as more or less a manager for the Grays’ oil business. There would be a lot to keep track of while Joshua and his attorney negotiated with a company called Tetra Research, among other parties.

  Sure, she was still a routines girl, but she had redirected all that energy for a better cause now.

  Carmen squeezed Lucy’s shoulders. “You look so happy.”

  “I am. It’s like we went on that trip for a reason, Carm, and Josh was it. He got me to like Johnny Cash—I had no idea how much I would—and I’ve introduced him to my mellow CD mixes, which I catch him sneaking into his truck.”

  At that moment, Joshua ambled through the patio door and out into the festivities, his cowboy hat lifted enough so that his face was clearly visible.

  The handsome, gorgeous face that she couldn’t get enough of.

  Lucy watched him until he found her. Then it was as if her smile had struck a flame in him, and he glowed, smiling right back.

  “Man on fire,” Carmen uttered. “Can’t get within ten feet of you two.”

  Before Lucy could answer, a little boy ran past her while escaping the outstretched hands of Mr. Ferris. Lucy laughed: Carmen’s dad was playing monster with one of his grandchildren.

  She thought of her own family. Her parents weren’t altogether stoked that Lucy had left town, but they liked Joshua. Mom thought he was “delectable,” which Lucy didn’t even want to dwell on, especially since it had made her dad roll his eyes and grumble something she hadn’t wanted to hear. But even her brother thought the cowboy was “good people,” so she ultimately had their blessing.

  She couldn’t drag her gaze away from Joshua, who was accepting a beer from one of Carmen’s pregnant sisters. Rita wasn’t drinking—just serving.

  L
ucy forced herself to come back to the moment, and Carmen seemed to appreciate that.

  “Okay, then,” Lucy said, blushing at her own hopelessness. “Are you ready?”

  Carmen exhaled, then nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  A voice broke into their conversation. “Ready for what?”

  Both women turned to Mama, who was garbed in a polka-dotted dress. Slim, rosy skinned and poised, with her salt-and-pepper hair in a chignon, she reached out to hug Lucy.

  “Look at our runaway,” Mama said. “We miss your smile around here.”

  “Miss you, too, Mrs. Ferris.”

  The woman turned to Carmen. “I haven’t seen Malcolm arrive yet.”

  Lucy willed all her strength to her best friend, and Carmen seemed to absorb it, her chin raised ever so slightly as she addressed her mother.

  “Malcolm’s not here,” Carmen said, “because I disinvited him.”

  Mama didn’t seem to understand. “Mija, why would you do that?”

  Tell her, Carm, Lucy thought. Just go for it this time.

  Much to Lucy’s joy, her friend signaled to someone across the festivities, then faced her mom.

  “Malcolm didn’t deserve me. That’s why, Mama. But I found someone who does.”

  Carmen held out her hand, welcoming Eddie into their circle.

  His sandy hair was tamed today, slicked back carefully, as if for an important occasion. He was even dressed in a short-sleeved button-down and khakis.

  Edward Kilpatrick meant business.

  He took Carmen’s hand and grinned confidently at her, then extended his other hand to the matriarch.

  “Hello, Mrs. Ferris. I’m Eddie Kilpatrick. We met earlier.”

  Mama cocked her brow, shaking his hand but obviously on alert. “Yes, when I thought you were one of Carmen’s many…friends.”

  “He’s more,” Carmen said.

  Then she glanced up at Eddie, holding his hand in both of hers. A glint of what might’ve been more than just basic affection gleamed in her eyes.

  In his, too.

  It’d taken a few days, but after Lucy had reconciled with Joshua, Carmen had found the courage to call Eddie.

  “I’d been telling myself to do it already, but you made me think it could actually work,” her friend had said over the phone as she’d gotten ready for their first date. “As a grown woman who should be able to stand on her own, I had to follow my own advice for once.”