Slowly, she rouses, squirming next to me. Hitching her leg a little higher, she rustles her head deeper against my shoulder.
Then she jolts upright as if she’s had a bad dream, and I slowly follow. The sweater covering her as a blanket shifted to her side when she spun to me earlier, and at some point, she’d kicked off her shoes. I sit behind her, at her side, and press a kiss to her bare shoulder.
“Hey,” I whisper.
“Hey.” Her sleep-roughened, tearstained voice does nothing to ease the pressure in my pants. Damn, she’s so sexy, even hurting with a heartache like she is. “I’m sorry about that. I got a little carried away, I guess.”
I slowly smile, lower my head to her shoulder, and press my grin into her skin. “I didn’t mind it.” And I don’t. Her touch. Her warmth. Feeling like she needs me is doing something to me.
“What can I do for you?” I ask, knowing she’s still hurting.
“I’m okay,” she mutters, her voice still rugged and low.
Because you’re efficient? I want to tease, but I don’t.
“Tell me what I can do,” I say again because I feel helpless next to her, wanting to give her something. I already feel like I failed by not having that radio in time. I pull back so she can look in my eyes. I’ll do anything she asks of me right now. Or maybe it’s me who wants to ask? “Let me take it away for a little while.”
There’s a question in her eyes, but it doesn’t take long for her to read what I’m offering. I understand. Take what you need from me. Her head is so full while her heart is so broken, and she just needs to let it all go.
“Kiss me,” she whispers, and I lean in, pressing my lips to hers. Sweet. Tender. There’s no crash like the other times we’ve kissed. No clashing thunder or lightning strikes, only the delicacy of a summer rain shower, soft and lingering on our lips. However, it quickly turns deeper, darker, and full of yearning as her mouth moves against mine. She shifts her body, and I cup her cheek. The touch sparks and crackles ripple over my skin as they do when we meet like this. My body falls back as she presses against me, and suddenly, she’s on top of me, everywhere at once.
Damn, she feels so good like this, blanketing me, but I should be comforting her. She straddles my thighs, lines up over my throbbing length, and my hands come to each thigh, bare and absent of the dress now ridden up to her hips. Her skin is on fire against my palms, and I caress upward, pressing at her backside which is hardly contained in something thin and lacy. My hands massage the firmness of her as she releases my lips and slowly sits upward. The move forces more pressure over my straining dick as she sits astride me.
Her eyes focus on mine in the dim light of early night. Sunlight fades outside her window, meaning it’s sometime after nine on a summer evening, but it could be midnight and I’d see the gleam in those eyes. She rocks over me, and I buck against her. As I watch her, she slowly undulates over me, starting out at a measured pace and then increasing the friction she needs.
“You’re so beautiful,” I say, witnessing her dance over me. My hands continue to squeeze at the firmness of the two fine globes filling my palms, urging her on. Take what you need from me. I will my thoughts to her, not wanting to break the beauty of her rhythm. Her eyes close, and her hands move to her neck. One coasts against her cheek while the other leaps for her hair, delving in and swiping a section of it upward.
She’s driving me mad as she rocks back and forth, catching on my tip, which is covered by far too much clothing. I want inside her. I want to feel her come undone around me. But tonight is about her and what she needs. What will make her give in to me.
I’m getting my own show of her pleasure with her hair lifting and her hand caressing her skin. I want to touch her everywhere, but I don’t want to disturb the daze she’s in. My fingertips dig into her ass while one hand of hers skims lower, down her throat and against her chest. A dress strap falls off one shoulder and then her fingers dip into her dress, covering her own breast.
“Holy shit, baby,” I hiss, watching her caressing her breast under the material, jealous of her fingers, but she’s so close. I can feel the tightening of her thighs against my hips and the speed of her movements over my dick increases. I’m ready to blow myself, and then her eyes pop open. Her liquid blue gaze is piercing, and she stills, her mouth falling open as both her hands fall to my chest. She clenches at my shirt while her body gives up, and she comes.
I sit up, startling her as I take her mouth, capturing her silent scream in my throat. I want to hear her. I want the noise. My world is too quiet as it is.
Unable to kiss me and complete her orgasm, she pulls back, her voice hitched as she moans my name in a plea. I lose it myself, tugging at her hips to hold her against me as I jolt beneath my zipper. Fuck, I haven’t done something like this since I was a teen, and I’m almost giddy over it. My forehead drops to her shoulder, my release seemingly endless. I close my eyes to the sparks that float before them.
What the hell was that?
Emily’s fingers cup my cheeks and then work into my hair, holding it back from my face. I look up, risking a peek at her. I don’t want her to regret what we just did. I offered it all for her, but I couldn’t help myself and gave in to the unending urges as well.
Her mouth lightly comes to mine, a feather dusting of a kiss before she pulls away.
“Thank you,” she mouths to me, the word unspoken. I reach up, attempting to capture that silence once again, drawing it into me with a sweep of my tongue in her mouth. I don’t want her silent words. I want her to scream.
I want to scream. I want to shout through the middle of this town and let the words flow out to the larger lake. I like this woman.
And I don’t want her to leave.
Rule 12
Body language is a language.
[Emily]
When Jess left sometime after we did what we did, I fell back on the bed feeling replete at first, and then regret. I regretted the moment hadn’t happened under better circumstances. I didn’t want him to think I was using him because I was in mourning. Then again, I’m not certain I would have done what I did if I wasn’t so distraught. I took from him without thought, taking over after I asked him to kiss me and begging his body with mine to give me release.
That was certainly living in the moment, Nana.
Somehow, I don’t think that’s what my grandmother meant, but for just a little while, I didn’t want to think. About Nana. The house. Grace. The impending arrival of her baby. And the will, which would be read in a matter of days by Gabe Carpenter, Nana’s attorney.
Another Carpenter graces my door rather early the next morning, tipping her head side to side as she looks over my shoulder, inquiring if now is a good time to check on me. I don’t have to ask who she is looking for. Jess’s truck was parked outside my house most of the night. Still, I don’t need the town making something of nothing.
I like Jess. He said he likes me too, but there isn’t anything permanent here. I need to move forward, to go through Nana’s stuff and learn what my options are from a legal standpoint.
I wish Grace could be physically present, but at nearly nine months pregnant, a trip to Michigan was out of the question.