Somebody's Lover Read online

  Just until Friday. It would be over then. They’d have their fill of each other. She’d have her thrill. And things could go back to normal.

  Jace’s truck was in the driveway. She pulled in beside it. Leaving her purse and briefcase on the seat, she raced up the walk to the open front door. She heard water running in the kitchen. Her heart pounded, her skin blazed, and when she saw him standing by the sink, she almost threw herself at him.

  He’d sluiced himself under the tap. Water dripped from his hair down his naked chest. After years working out-of-doors, he was tanned and muscled and exquisitely delicious.

  “I’m sweaty. Want me to take a shower first?”

  He looked good enough to eat. And he smelled of honest sweat, all male heat. And suddenly she was so damn frightened she couldn’t breathe. As much as being near him turned her inside out, so did the fact that the family wouldn’t understand.

  “This is crazy, Jace. You can’t call me up at work like that anymore.” She put her hands to her flaming cheeks. “Good Lord, Jace, you’re Lou’s brother.”

  The sexy smile on his face died, and his eyes darkened. “I know that real well, Taylor. But at least I’m not some hick you picked up in a bar.”

  He’d neatly sliced and diced her to pieces. “Do you have to remind me about that?”

  “Yeah, I do. Because I can’t stand the thought of you doing it again.” He turned, shoving his hands through his damp hair, his muscles rippling.

  His desperate words wrapped themselves around her heart. She needed to be desired this way. A nameless guy she found in a bar could never do this for her. She weakened, wanting to reach out to him.

  After a deep breath, he faced her. “Look. I’m here. You’re here. The damage, if there is any, is already done.”

  They were together. Alone. Whatever Evelyn was going to think she was already thinking it. Heat rushed through her. He was hers for right now. She could do all the things she’d dreamed of. She could fill herself with him.

  Something lurked in his eyes. Lust and something else. Fear. As if her answer meant more than he wanted to say.

  She closed the few inches separating them and plastered herself to his body. “My turn,” she whispered.

  He pulled back at her abrupt turnaround, his hands on her shoulders holding her away. “Taylor?” Just her name, as if she’d caught him off guard. Maybe he thought he’d have to work harder to get her to do what he wanted. But she had so many wants of her own.

  She tugged his hand down, bunching the material of her skirt to mold his fingers against her center. “Make me come.”

  He froze, his fingers unmoving. She tracked the movement of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed. Then finally, endless moments later, his breath fanned her face as he murmured. “Jesus.”

  Cupping her face, he took her lips, then her tongue. He was wet and hot, and she went up on her toes to wrap him in her arms. Oh, he could kiss. He kissed like he couldn’t get enough, plunging deep into her mouth, retreating, coming back for more. He walked her backward until her butt hit the table.

  She’d worn another shortie T-shirt, her usual summer wear, and a thin bra. He slid a hand up from the bottom to her beaded nipple. She moaned. Then, pushing the chair aside, he put his hands to her waist and lifted her to the table. “I’m gonna make it so damn good.”

  She arched into his fingers. “Yes. Please.”

  He shoved his hands up her skirt, holding her butt. “Up.”

  She rose, and he whisked her panties down her legs. She wriggled, and together they got her skirt up over her hips. He pushed her legs apart and stepped between them.

  “You are so pretty down there.”

  No man had looked at her in three years.

  Jace leaned his forehead against hers and trailed a finger along the crease of her thigh, then across the curls there.

  “I want this,” he whispered, then slipped inside to touch her clitoris.

  She nearly shot off the table, the feeling so intense it was almost an orgasm.

  “Easy, baby, it’s gonna get better.”

  He caressed the hard nub. She bit her lip and dug her fingers into his arms. “Oh God, Jace.” Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back. Tiny sounds, a moan, a quick breath.

  He slid a finger inside her, keeping his thumb on her clitoris. Pulling her legs up, she locked her feet behind him and leaned back until her head touched the tabletop. His touch was nothing like her own. It was rough, callused, extra texture, extra sensation.

  “Look at me.”

  She lifted her head, opened her eyes. His gaze was bright with heat, his brown eyes black with passion. He stroked her. She leaned forward to loop her arms around his neck.

  “Kiss me while I fuck you this way,” he demanded.

  She loved that word on his lips. Dirty. Tantalizing. Want and need and craziness all rolled into four letters. She pressed her mouth to his. He sucked her tongue and pumped her with his finger. Hard, fast. When she came, she screamed. Into his mouth. Rocking against his hand, driving the feeling on and on.

  She shuddered in his arms when it was over. “Oh Lord, Jace. That was so good. I can’t tell you how good.”

  He smoothed her hair back from her face and forced her to look at him. “It’ll be even better when I use my tongue.”

  She turned her wrist to look at her watch. Grabbing her arm, he held her. “Don’t look at that goddamn watch. We have time. I won’t let you be late for them. But I will taste you. And I will make you come in my mouth.”

  Pushing lightly on her chest, Jace set her back against the table, then hooked a foot around the chair, and pulled it up. Sitting, he soothed her inner thighs with his palms, then spread her to receive him. Taylor leaned on her elbows to watch him.

  “So pretty.” He blew on her. She moaned and bit her lip. “Beg me, Taylor. Beg me to kiss you here.” He traced the tip of one finger across her clit and down her slit.

  “Please, Jace. Put your mouth there. Please.”

  He wanted her to beg. He wanted to hear her say his name in that soft, breathy voice. He’d dreamed of tasting Taylor for almost half his life, dreamed of making her come the way she just did. Lost to herself, completely his.

  For one panicky moment there when she’d told him to make her come, he’d been afraid that reality could never be as good as the dream. Now he knew it could be so much better.

  She jerked when he put his tongue to her. Moist and tangy and hot, he sucked the juice of her last come, then drew her clit into his mouth. She moaned and writhed. He pulled both legs over his shoulders and grabbed her hips to hold her to him.

  He’d been with women. He’d enjoyed them. But no woman had ever been like this for him. Using his tongue and lips to drive her wild, he took her with his mouth, and he gave her everything he had. Her soft curls tickled his nose. He burrowed deeper. Her moans and cries hardened his cock to a monumental ache.

  When he left her today, he wanted her to remember this, wanted her to carry the memory with her day and night.

  Her fingers found their way into his hair, twisting. She rocked against his mouth. Panting, she said his name over and over. Her thighs tightened around his head, and the first quake of her orgasm began. He sucked on her, hard, worrying the nub of her clitoris with his tongue, and she exploded with sound and taste, flooding his mouth with the sweetness of her orgasm. He took it all, every cry, every moan, holding her to him until her pleasure was so great, she couldn’t take it anymore.

  Then he raised his head and looked at her. Her breasts rose and fell with her erratic breath. Her lashes rested against her flushed cheeks. He leaned down, blew on her once more, then swiped his tongue across her clit.

  She jerked. “Oh Lord, no more. I think I died.”

  Jace stood, then pulled her upright by the arms. Her head lolled on her neck. Boneless. Weightless. In the ecstasy of orgasm. He put her limp arms around his neck.

  “Oh, Jace.” She opened sleepy, lazy, replete eyes.
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  Dipping his head, he kissed her, gave her the taste of herself on his tongue, then pulled back. “Monday was mine, today was yours, Friday, we’ll come together when I’m deep inside you.”

  He’d tasted her. She’d tasted him. He didn’t have to be inside her to know he’d never get enough of her. She filled his heart the way her taste filled his mouth. She pushed him to extremes, to the point where he’d risk anything to have her.

  Only Lou’s memory stood in the way.

  * * * * *

  True to his word, Jace made sure she left the house in time to pick up the boys. Her legs still felt wobbly, and she kept gulping air as if she couldn’t get enough.

  Lordy-Lord, she’d gotten everything she was looking for that night when she ventured out on the wild side. She simply hadn’t figured she’d find it with Jace. She hadn’t imagined he could take her the way he had, make her feel such glorious sensations.

  This morning, she’d thought about doing a no-show Friday night. Now that was out of the question. Right or wrong, she craved what Jace could give her. She wanted to feel him inside her. She needed the memory when Saturday morning, and the rest of her life, dawned.

  The boys clambered into the backseat, their excited chatter filling the minivan. “We caught frogs today, Mom,” and “Peter got in trouble on the playground today, Mom.” She loved their prattle, the enthusiasm of youth, the battle for each to tell her his news first, tripping over their words, laughing.

  Today, however, in the midst of all their babble, she wondered how on earth she was going to serve dinner on the same kitchen table where Jace had given her such pleasure.

  Chapter Six

  “Taylor, are you sure this is right?”

  Friday morning. Each minute ticking by seemed like an hour.

  “What’s the matter, Evelyn?”

  “This says the checking account has a negative balance.”

  That couldn’t be right. Frowning, Taylor punched up the file. It was negative. Where had she gone wrong?

  Don’t ask that. She’d gone wrong the moment she’d thrown herself at Jace in his truck. She’d gone wrong in her kitchen. Twice. But she didn’t regret it. Not one single moment. She merely felt sad that it would have to end.

  “I’ll go through it, Evelyn.” Scanning a couple of pages, she saw her error immediately. She’d put an extra zero on one of the checks she’d entered. Could happen to anyone. Except that she usually double-checked everything she input. Then triple-checked the balance. “Here it is. I’ll fix it.”

  “Is something bothering you, Taylor?”

  Taylor stiffened. Her mother-in-law had already been at the front desk when she arrived. They’d shared coffee, talked about what Taylor was supposed to bring for Sunday’s barbecue, and what time she’d drop off the kids tonight. Nothing unusual in all that. Nothing suspicious.

  “Everything’s fine, Evelyn. Why do you ask?” Now, that was a stupid leading question.

  “You seem preoccupied. It isn’t like you to make mistakes.”

  It was only one. Except that yesterday she’d forgotten to take the receipts down to the bank. And she’d forgotten to pass on a message from the Montgomerys about some additional work they’d wanted done. Which had sent David and Mitch back out to the property to finish up.

  What was she supposed to say?

  I’ve been unfaithful to your eldest boy’s memory with your youngest son. And I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop after tonight.

  “I’m a good listener, honey.”

  Taylor smiled. “I know you are, and I love you for it.” And for the first time since Saturday, she didn’t lie to her mother-in-law. “I need to work this one out on my own.”

  After tonight. After she’d finally done the dirty deed with Jace. That would be the cure. Then she’d stop the insanity. She had to.

  * * * * *

  He’d never get her out of his system.

  It had been all Jace could handle not to call Taylor since he’d made love to her in the kitchen two days ago. He hadn’t come, he hadn’t even gotten inside her, but what he’d done to her was making love.

  This morning, he’d done all the loading and hauling while David, Mitch, and his dad did all the cutting. He hadn’t trusted himself in the trees or with a chain saw in his hand.

  He was counting down every hour. Ten hours till Taylor. Six hours till she was in his arms. Four hours until he filled her with everything he had, everything he was.

  He quit at five and headed to his apartment. He wasn’t a guy who gave a rat’s ass what he wore, but he picked black for tonight. Black jeans and a black button-down shirt. Taylor always looked at him when he was wearing black, and he’d long suspected she had a thing for the color. He took his truck by the car wash, stopped at the superstore for a blanket and a bottle of wine. She liked the sweet stuff. He chose a white burgundy for something unusual.

  He pulled up next to the old barn at Miller’s Pond before eight. The sun hadn’t quite set, and it shimmered across the water. He wished Taylor could see it that way.

  Miller’s Pond and the old barn was a hot make-out spot when he was in high school. In recent times, the pond had taken a backseat to the video game craze and the call of the mall.

  Kids these days didn’t know what they were missing.

  At eight-thirty, she hadn’t arrived.

  He started to sweat at eight-forty.

  At eight-forty-five, fifteen minutes late, she pulled in beside him. She didn’t get out right away. Instead, in the last of the twilight, she simply looked through her window at him. His heart jumped to his throat. She’d changed her mind. But at least she was here. He could change it back for her. All he needed to do was put his hands on her.

  He grabbed the blanket and the wine off the seat beside him and climbed out. She hadn’t opened her door when he got to her. Reaching past her through the window, he took her keys out of the ignition and threw them on the passenger seat next to her purse.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making up your mind for you. Get out.”

  “I wasn’t going to—”

  “Yes, you were. You were going to tell me you couldn’t go through with it.” He died a little inside thinking about it. If she said it, he’d go crazy.

  Her dress rose up her thighs as she slid out. Barely more than a flowery slip with little straps holding it together and a row of buttons down the front, he wanted to rip it off and bury himself inside her right on the front seat of her minivan.

  He shook with how badly he needed her.

  Taylor put her hand to his cheek, a sweet scent rising up from her hair to captivate him. “I’m sorry I was late. The kids were making a fuss. But I’m not leaving, Jace. I want you.”

  He held her palm to his lips and closed his eyes. You’re losing it, man. Christ, he’d lost it over her a long time ago. He just hadn’t known how badly.

  “We have tonight. But then it’s over.”

  It was on the tip of his tongue to say it didn’t have to end. But he’d promised he wouldn’t ask for anything. He prayed she’d do the asking for him. Fear that she was stronger than him cleaved his heart in two. “I know.”

  “You brought me wine.” She took the bottle from his hand.

  If tonight was all he’d get, he’d take it. “I forgot the glasses.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I haven’t drunk wine from the bottle in...” She laughed, a light sound that burrowed beneath his ribs. “Well, I guess I never have. It’ll be a first.”

  He needed to give her a lot of firsts. The first time she came under the moonlight with him. The first time she’d had a man buried to the hilt in three years. With her hand in his, he led her down to the water. Later in the year, the mosquitoes would be out. For now though, the night was warm, the lap of the water at the reeds gentle.

  Slipping the blanket from beneath his arm, she spread it out on the grass, then sat.

  “You look pretty in that dress.”

  �
�You look nice in black.”

  She said it so shyly, his heart flipped over. Pulling the bottle opener from his back pocket, he came down beside her, then worked the cork. “Ladies first.”

  She drank, a sip. “Mmm, that’s good. Nice and sweet.”

  He felt like a teenager, wanting to make everything perfect. “I remembered you liked it sweet.”

  Her lips glistened with wine. He swallowed, then leaned in to touch those luscious lips with his. Her flavor and the drink’s sweetness burst in his mouth. He pulled away before he dragged her down and had her right then. They didn’t have a lot of time, but he wouldn’t rush this.

  Stretching out beside her, he propped his head on his hand, holding the bottle loosely in front of him. “How was your week?”

  She smiled. Her eyes sparkled in the first light of the rising moon. “It was good, Jace. How was yours?”

  “Fine.” Better than any he’d ever known. He touched her, she’d touched him. That was everything he’d ever wanted. “Are the kids looking forward to summer?”

  “Yes. Brian’s going to camp at the end of July for a week. And Jamey’s doing junior camp at the same time.”

  “You’ll miss them.” She’d be lonely. He could only hope she’d need him to ease the loneliness, but July seemed too far away.

  “Yeah. But they like it.” She smiled again and took the bottle out of his hand for another sip. Then she laid down beside him, tucking her hand beneath her cheek. “Cork the bottle, Jace, so it doesn’t leak.”

  He did as she said, tossing it down to the bottom of the blanket. He’d planned to seduce her, but she touched him first. Just her hand on his chest, smoothing down his abdomen, then back up to his right nipple.

  “Thank you for what you did the other day.”

  “Dessert,” he murmured, concentrating on the mesmerizing feel of her palm caressing him. “You were like dessert.”

  “I was nervous when I drove up just now.”

  “I know.”

  “But I’m not nervous anymore.” She tugged on his hand, pulling it to her breast. “Remember what you said on the phone?”