“Yes, Mommy,” Livy said sleepily, her eyes blinking closed, and Jeanie positively froze at the title, her heart stopping.
“Wow, she dropped right off to sleep, poor thing,” Sharon whispered with amusement.
Jeanne Louise straightened slowly, telling herself Livy had just been confused because she was so tired. It didn’t mean anything that she’d called her Mommy. She shouldn’t be feeling like she wanted to grab the girl up and hug and kiss her like crazy.
“All that weeping and wailing must have worn her out.”
Managing a smile, Jeanne Louise turned to the woman. One more snack before feeding off Paul later tonight could only be a good thing, she thought, eyeing the woman’s short hair with pursed lips. The marks would be visible on the neck. Her gaze slid down to the woman’s wrist and the large clunky watch she wore. The band would hide marks on her wrist though, Jeanne Louise decided.
“Thank you so much for your help,” she murmured, slipping into the woman’s mind as she moved forward. Jeanne Louise made her turn and walk out into the hall, and then took her hand and had her peer up the hall as she eased the watch band aside and raised Sharon’s wrist to her mouth.
Moments later, the two women walked outside, Jeanne Louise chuckling softly as Sharon commented that she wished she’d had a girl along with her boys and told her some of the antics her sons had got up to over the years. She was sure a girl would be less troublesome, or at least would need fewer trips to the emergency room for stitches.
“Livy okay?” Paul asked as they reached the bonfire.
“She’s fine,” Jeanne Louise assured him as she settled in her chair next to his. “She went right back to sleep as soon as she was bandaged up.”
“Good.” He smiled softly, then reached out and took her hand to give it a squeeze of thanks.
Jeanne Louise smiled back, and relaxed in her chair, but then was almost afraid to breathe in case he realized he hadn’t let go of her hand. She liked his holding her hand. It felt right. It was a bit distracting though. Especially since he was absently rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand, sending shivers up her arm. With him doing that Jeanne Louise found herself having trouble following the conversation going on around the fire now, and was relieved when Cecily gave a large yawn after an hour passed and announced that she was ready to call it a night.
“Already?” Sharon asked with regret and then glanced at her watch, her eyebrows rising. “Goodness, is it midnight already? I guess time does fly when you’re having fun.”
“Yeah, and the kids will be up with the dawn,” Cecily said, standing and beginning to collect the remainder of the things she and Russell had brought.
“Yes,” Sharon said on a sigh, getting to her feet now as well. “Come on, John, your boys will be knocking on the bedroom door at dawn demanding you take them fishing as promised.”
John Corby groaned. “I forgot about that.”
“Well, I can guarantee that the kids haven’t,” Russell said with a chuckle as he stood as well and picked up his cooler. He glanced to Paul. “Do you and Livy want to come along, Paul? There’s room for two more in the boat and Jeanne Louise can go shopping in London with the girls. That’s what they have planned for the morning.”
Jeanne Louise stiffened at the offer, but needn’t have worried. Paul chuckled, but shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, Russell, but I get seasick, and Livy takes after her old man. Besides I promised the girls a trip to the ice cream shop tomorrow morning.”
“All right then,” Russell said easily, turning away. “Maybe we’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. It’s ‘loll on the beach and watch the kids swim’ time in the afternoons.”
“Sounds good,” Paul said. “Night.”
A chorus of good nights followed as the other two couples moved away from the fire, headed for their own cottages.
“Do you really get seasick?” Jeanne Louise asked curiously.
“Fortunately, yes,” Paul admitted wryly.
“Why fortunately?” Jeanne Louise asked with surprise.
“Because I’m a terrible liar and would have had trouble coming up with an excuse to avoid it otherwise.”
“Not keen on fishing?” she asked with amusement.
“Jeanie, I’m a science geek,” he said dryly, as if she may have forgotten it. “Give me blood, cell cultures, and petri dishes to play with and I’m happy. But worms and hooks and scaly, slimy fish are just gross.”
She burst out laughing at the claim, and then glanced around with a sigh. “I guess I should gather our stuff together and head in too. Livy will probably be up early.”
“Yeah,” Paul said with regret, and then stood up, using his hold on her hand to pull her up as well. She wasn’t expecting that, and came up with a gasp and sort of stumbled against him. Paul immediately closed his arms around her, one of her hands still in his as he caught her close, the action unintentionally making her arch against him, her hips grinding into his.
They both froze briefly at the contact, and then Jeanne Louise leaned her head back to peer up at him.
“You need to feed yet.” The reminder was a bare growl of sound on the night breeze. If Paul had been immortal, she was sure his eyes would be glowing, and knew hers probably were.
Jeanne Louise just stood still for a moment, allowing the heat to build in her, and then she reached up with her free hand, slid it around his neck and drew his head down until she could reach his lips. The kiss was at first tentative and questing, but then Paul released her hand to cup her face and deepened the kiss, his mouth becoming demanding, his tongue slipping out to lash her.
It made her groan, and Jeanne Louise slipped her arms around his waist, fingers scraping hungrily up his back, and then dropping to slip beneath his T-shirt and touch the flesh it covered. Paul moaned at the contact, and then urged her head back to allow his mouth to travel over her chin and down her throat. He then released her face and let his hands travel, sliding them over her shoulders and down her arms in a tantalizingly light caress. Then he reached for the hem of her T-shirt.
Jeanne Louise glanced down, and then instinctively raised her arms as he tugged the T-shirt up and off over her head as if undressing a child. The shirt was floating to the ground and Paul’s hands had found and cupped her breasts through the strapless swimsuit top that remained before she could even lower her arms.
Moaning at the caress, Jeanne Louise grabbed his shoulders and rose up on her tiptoes in response, her upper body arching up and away while her pelvis pressed tighter against him.
When he released one breast and reached around behind her, she began pressing kisses to his throat, and licking at his salty skin. She felt him work at the clasp of her bathing suit top, and then the scrap of black cloth slipped away, leaving her bare to his attention. Jeanne Louise gasped and nipped at his neck as his hands fondled and kneaded the firm globes now revealed.
She heard Paul murmur her name and leaned back to peer at him, only to have him cover her mouth with his. His kiss was hungry, his kneading of her breasts becoming almost painful, and then he broke their kiss to begin trailing his mouth down her throat again as his fingers found her nipples and tweaked teasingly.
Jeanne Louise cupped his head and moaned, her upper body leaning back to give him better access as his mouth continued toward the slope of one breast. His tongue laved her along the way and then curled around her erect nipple as his mouth closed over it. That made her gasp and clutch at his hair and then she gasped again as his hands dropped to find her bottom and urge her tighter against him.
When one hand then slid down the back of her shorts to clasp her behind, Jeanne Louise groaned and rubbed herself against the hardness between his legs. Paul groaned in response and retrieved his hand to catch the waistband of her tight jean shorts and push them down, trying to force them over her hips without undoing them. They weren’t going, of course, and he growled with frustration against her breast, then gave up trying to push them down and instead cupped her b
etween her legs through the heavy cloth, nearly lifting her off the ground as he did.
Jeanne Louise cried out and clutched at his shoulders, then gasped in surprise when she felt his other hand at her waist and the snap of her jeans suddenly gave way. In the next moment, his hand slipped from between her legs and her jean shorts slid over her hips and slid down her thighs.
“Paul,” she breathed, the vague thought that they should take this inside dancing at the edge of her mind, but not fully taking root before he was pushing down the scrap of her bathing suit bottoms and replacing the material with his fingers, sliding them between her legs to cup her again, but this time without the cloth to hinder him.
Gasping, Jeanne Louise tugged viciously at his head, pulling his mouth from her breast to claim it in a kiss that was hard, hot, and somewhat frantic as his fingers slid between her folds and began to play over her slick skin. When her legs, already trembling, began to give out, Paul dropped to his knees in the sand with her, his kiss and caresses unrelenting as he sent wave after wave of heat and passion surging through them both.
“Christ,” he growled suddenly, tearing his mouth from hers to press heated kisses to her cheek and neck as he muttered, “I touch you and I go up in flames.”
“Yes,” Jeanne Louise gasped, though she wasn’t so much answering or agreeing as urging him on as she released her hold on his shoulders to reach for the snap and zipper of his jeans. She undid both and pushed the material down until his eager erection popped out, hard and hot, surging with delicious blood.
Jeanne Louise actually considered trying out the genital biting she’d heard so much about, but worried it might cause him some discomfort after the fact, and instead suddenly pushed him backward. In her eagerness, she used a little more force than she’d intended and Paul fell back, landing hard on his back in the sand with a grunt. She didn’t give him a chance to recover. Feeling barren without his hands on her, Jeanne Louise crawled up his body until she could kiss him, and then lowered herself to rub against his hardness.
Paul kissed back on a groan, his hands moving to clasp her breasts and fondle as she rubbed herself over him again and again. But then he reached for her hips, holding her still as he shifted himself beneath her, and then he was urging her down, his hardness pressing into her.
Jeanne Louise broke their kiss and threw her head back to stare blindly at the stars as her moist heat closed tightly around him, clenching and squeezing him from tip to base and trebling their combined pleasure. She then lowered her head again to peer down at him and raised herself until he nearly slid out, before dropping to take him in again.
Paul met her gaze, his jaw clenched against the waves rushing through him. When he raised his hand to her face, she turned into it and then opened her mouth to allow one finger to slip between her lips. She immediately drew the digit into her mouth and began to suck on it as she moved, so caught up in the combination of things she was doing that she was completely caught by surprise when Paul suddenly snatched his finger free of her lips, caught her by the waist and rolled them both.
In the next moment, Jeanne Louise was on her back in the sand with him over her. Paul paused briefly, his erection sunk deep in her, but when she reached up and drew his head down for a kiss, he began to move, driving them both over the edge and into the void.
Ten
Paul woke up with the thought that he was lying on the lumpiest bed in existence. When he regained full consciousness and opened his eyes to see that it was Jeanne Louise he was lying on, he did a quick push up, removing his crushing weight from her chest. He peered down at her then, worried that he’d suffocated her or something, but when he saw her breasts rising and falling as she breathed, he relaxed a little. He also eased himself to the side and sat up to peer around.
The fire had died down to embers and the lights were out in the Jacksons’ and Corbys’ cottages, but the moon and stars were reflecting off the smooth surface of the lake, giving some illumination. Actually, the water looked incredibly inviting under the moonlight, and Paul found himself thinking he should take a swim.
His gaze slid back to Jeanne Louise. While he was mostly dressed, she was completely nude, splayed on her back in the sand like an angel fallen from the heavens. Paul’s eyes slid over her pale limbs and torso, recalling the feel of her body sliding against his, and closing wet and warm around him and immediately hardened at the memory.
He hadn’t expected what had happened. Well, okay, perhaps in his heart of hearts Paul had been hoping for it. But he’d honestly expected she’d kiss and caress him a bit and then bite his neck. Task over. Instead, passion had exploded over them like a shower of sparks. It had filled his mind until all he could think of was finding the release that fast and furious passion had promised.
It had definitely lived up to the promise, he thought. In fact, it had been so powerful that Paul didn’t think he’d fallen asleep after they were done. Much as it made him squirm to admit it, he actually suspected that he’d just sort of passed out as it rode over him. He’d never experienced anything like it. Had never known a woman like Jeanne Louise. Around her he felt . . . hope, he realized. And happiness. And desire like nothing he’d ever enjoyed, even with his wife Jerri.
The acknowledgment brought a wave of guilt over him, and Paul turned his gaze to the water once more. He’d loved Jerri with all his heart. He’d thought he’d never find anyone who could fill his heart as she had. But Jeanne Louise . . . He glanced to her again, his eyes caressing her face, carefree in sleep. Jeanne Louise filled his heart, his mind, and seemed to even fill his body. He felt like she slid into his skin when they kissed, like she was there with him as he rode the waves of pleasure. It was not something he’d ever even imagined experiencing. Truly, he’d thought that he’d had his grand love affair, that no one could compare to Jerri, and that all that was left was to raise Livy.
When he’d thought of his future after Jerri died, Paul had seen himself alone from now on, a single father, seeing his daughter happily on her way in life, raising her, sending her off to college, walking her up the aisle, greeting his grandchildren . . . and maybe then, after his job was done, he’d thought he might enjoy a senior fling with a nice neighbor widow who understood that he could never love like he’d loved his wife again.
Instead, Paul was starting to envision a different future, one with Jeanne Louise in it . . . and it was distracting him from his purpose in kidnapping Jeanne Louise. Rather than trying to convince her to turn his daughter and save her life, he was hungrily stripping her clothes off and merging his body with hers in the cool sand under a bright moon. Not just his body. It had almost felt as if their souls had been intertwined here under the stars and he wasn’t sure he’d got all of it back.
While he should be sated and clearheaded after the vigorous session, Paul wanted her again. He was hard and aching, fighting the urge to lean down and kiss her and start the madness all over again. And again. And again. In truth, Paul thought he could happily just stay here on the beach, his body entwined and inside Jeanne Louise’s forever.
He’d lost the plot of his plan, Paul realized unhappily, and while he had, his daughter continued to suffer her headaches and move closer to death.
But he wasn’t the only one who’d got caught up in things to the point of losing track of what they were supposed to be doing. Jeanne Louise hadn’t even fed this time, which had been the reason behind the start of what had exploded into uncontrolled ardor. Which meant they’d be doing this again.
The thought had the member between Paul’s legs standing up like a flagpole. Sighing, he glanced to the smooth surface of the lake and pushed himself to his feet. His pants immediately started to slip down his hips. Paul let them drop to the sand, and stepped out of the warm cloth. He removed his T-shirt next, dropping it to lie beside the jeans.
His gaze then slid to Jeanne Louise again, lying still and perfect in the sand, and then he turned and jogged toward the water.
Jeanne Louise s
ighed sleepily and shifted onto her side with a little shiver, one hand searching blindly for her missing sheets. She must have kicked them off in her sleep, she thought unhappily, but frowned when rather than soft bedding her fingers encountered grains of sand. Eyes opening, she stared at the expanse of beach spread out before her and then sat up abruptly as memory returned as to how she’d got there.
Paul wasn’t beside her, as she’d expected, though his clothes were. Following that clue, Jeanne Louise turned to peer toward the lake, relaxing when she saw him swimming away from shore. He’d woken before her, she realized. Well, if he’d fainted, she thought next. She knew she had, but—her gaze slid to the dying fire, and then Jeanne Louise reached for his clothes, relaxing when she felt the warmth still clinging to them. He hadn’t taken them off long ago and by her guess at least an hour or two had passed since their neighbors had left and they’d fallen into each other’s arms like a couple of horny teenagers. He’d fainted too.
Her gaze slid to the lake again and she briefly considered joining him in it. Just the memory of what they’d done was bringing back her desire almost full blown and making her want to touch and kiss him again, but then reason reared its ugly, but sensible, head. If she followed her instincts and joined Paul in the water, they wouldn’t make it out before they were doing the same thing all over again. And if that happened and they fainted in the lake, she might survive, the nanos reviving her when she washed ashore, but Paul would drown. That was not something she wanted to risk.
Grimacing, Jeanne Louise gathered her swimsuit, shorts, and T-shirt and got up to head to the cottage. Removing herself from temptation seemed the safest route.
When she entered the cottage, she immediately headed for the master bedroom, stopping to look in on Livy on the way. The girl was sleeping soundly, but Boomer raised his head and wagged his tail. Jeanne Louise smiled. The dog was as devoted to the girl as her father was, she thought, as her gaze slid to Livy’s sweet sleeping face. The two days’ worth of meals the girl had been enjoying were beginning to show already. At least, Livy didn’t appear quite as thin and pale as she’d been when Jeanne Louise had first seen her. That was good.
17 The Lady Is a Vamp-Argeneau Page 14
