The Way Home

Chapter 13

MIDNIGHT HAD BEEN LONELY FOR so long. Midnight had become an hour Jess dreaded and that she spent awake and alone too many nights.

That she wasn’t alone tonight felt like a small miracle. She didn’t want to remember how lost she had been. She wanted only to think about the touch of this man’s hands, alternately rough and gentle and oh so skilled. She wanted to be swallowed up in the solid, hot bulk of his body. The feel of him deep inside her. The suction of his mouth on her breast as she came with an involuntary convulsion of muscle and a gasp of wonder.

When she could take a breath that wasn’t a shudder, she lightly bit his shoulder, steeping herself in the maleness of him, his strength, the way his mouth cruised over her body and brought life where life had been gone for so, so long.

“You OK?”

She stretched in contentment and framed his face in her hands. “You really have to ask?”

He’d brought her there twice tonight. Eased her up the first time and taken her over. Then he’d turned on the lights and taken her fast and hard and desperately.

Now, in the aftermath, his heart slammed hard and true against her breasts. She loved the vital maleness of him. The heat and the scent of his skin, the bulk of muscle pressing her into the mattress as he rose up on his elbows and scattered kisses along her throat.

“You’re so beautiful.”

She needed that. He must know she needed that. She’d been shy when the first moment came. She’d led him to her bedroom and turned off the lights. Undressed in the dark. Met him on the bed where she’d never lain with a man, trembling, vulnerable, and more alive than she ever remembered feeling.

It had been so long. So long since the press of flesh on flesh had electrified her. So long since she’d lain beside a man whose caresses and low groans told her that yes, she was enough, and yes, she excited him, and yes, this was what magic felt like.

There had never been any question where this night would end. She’d wanted him in her bed since the moment he’d left her—probably even before that, if she were being honest. She’d wanted him so badly that it should have frightened her. It might have, if the deep, aching need hadn’t outdistanced any thought of caution and consequences.

There’d be time enough to sort it all out. Tonight… tonight she wanted to indulge.

She caressed his shoulders, explored the play of muscle over bone, and wondered how she had lived without this.

“Too heavy?” he murmured against her jaw.

“Too confined. I want to touch you. All of you.”

He groaned low and deep and with effort rolled off her and onto his back. Spread-eagle. Totally male. Utterly remarkable.

“Be gentle with me.”

She pressed up on an elbow and grinned down at him. “I’ll try to restrain myself.”

“So you know… I need a little recovery time.”

She kissed the center of his chest. “Not a problem. All you have to do is lie there.”

“I can do that.”

She didn’t want thoughts of J.R. in this bed. Not fair to him. Not fair to Ty. But the differences were too huge to ignore. With J.R., it had been all about the intensity. With Ty, it was that and more. It was fun. There was laughter. She liked the laughter. She liked the heat. So she ignored the scars—the ones on his back and the one she’d discovered on his shoulder—because she didn’t want more reminders of war in this bed tonight, either.

She took her time, then, took her pleasure exploring and engaging her power over him with each light finger stroke, with the press of her lips against flesh that was tender and sensitive and so responsive.

“You’re killing me.” His hands knotted in her hair, gently tugged.

She smiled against that sensitive spot where groin met thigh, fascinated by the thrum of his pulse beneath her lips, the depth of his ragged breaths, the fact that her brazen exploration delivered the sweetest kind of torment.

“And oh, what’s this?” He swelled in her hand as she surrounded him. “Not so much recovery time, after all?”

He laughed. “Remember… you started this.”

She rose to her knees and straddled him, slowly guided him home. “I did. Now I’m going to finish it.”

And then she moved. Taking him in. Taking him deep, until his hips rose to meet hers, and his hands covered her breasts, finessing her nipples into aching, hard peaks, and she became as caught up as he was.

“Jess.” Her name eased out on a whisper, a curse, and finally a plea as he gripped her hips and slammed her down over him one final time, coming on a low, throaty groan and tipping her over the edge with him.

IT WAS BARELY daylight when Ty eased out from under the sheet so as not to wake Jess. On the floor by the bed, the pup raised his head, his tail thumping softly on the rug.

“Shh.” He scratched the dog’s ears and lightly tapped his thigh so Bear would follow him.

“You’re a good dog, aren’t you?” he murmured.

The Lab padded out of the bedroom with him, toenails clicking softly on polished hardwood as he followed Ty down the hall to the kitchen.

He hadn’t seen much of her apartment last night. The minute they’d returned to the store and double-checked the locks, she’d led him upstairs. She’d flicked on an end-table lamp that had bathed the living room in a soft glow. He’d gotten quick impressions of lived-in leather, old wood, and splashes of vibrant color. But he’d had eyes for nothing but Jess as she’d led him to her bedroom and, in the shadows, welcomed him to her bed.

“Do you know where she keeps the coffee?” he asked the pup, who sat in the middle of the kitchen with an expectant look on his doggie face. “No? Bet you know where she keeps the dog biscuits.”

Bear’s tail swished softly across the floor.

With the first cupboard door he opened, he hit pay dirt—for him and the dog.

He opened a box of dog biscuits and tossed one to the pup. Bear caught it like a pro.

“Somebody’s been practicing.”

He’d figured out how to load the coffee pot and had turned it on when he heard Jess behind him.

He turned around and thought, wow. She looked exactly the way a woman should after a night of amazing sex. Her lips looked bee-stung, her hair was beautifully tousled, and her eyes were sooty and sleepy. The only thing out of place was the tentative smile.

“We woke you.”

She shook her head. “No. It was time to get up.”

Wearing only the jeans he’d found on the floor by her bed, he walked barefoot over to where she stood wearing a short, silky blue robe and, he hoped, nothing else.

She moved in to him on a sigh, and he drew her against him, gathered fistfuls of silk, and moved it out of his way so he could fill his palms with her bare cheeks.

“Last night was amazing, Jess.”

She tipped her head back, and he saw the smile he wanted. A confident woman’s smile that negated the hint of uncertainty he never wanted to see in her eyes again.

“It was,” she agreed, and lifted her face to his. Then she kissed him the way a man liked to be kissed.

“Now, that’s the way to tell a man good morning.”

“It is a good morning.”

She kissed him again, and he toyed with the belt of her robe. “Maybe we should take this back to the bedroom.”

“I wish. But I’ve got to get moving.”

He liked the disappointed look on her face. And he’d known she needed to get ready for work but couldn’t help being disappointed himself. “How much time do you have?”

She stretched up on her toes and looked over his shoulder to the clock that hung on the wall above the sink. “Less than an hour. And I’ve got to take Bear for a run, shower, set up the cash registers—”

“Enough said,” he said reluctantly. “You’re a working woman. Go. Take Bear for his run. I’ll have breakfast ready when you get back.”

She regarded him from beneath knit brows. “Seriously?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“Because you don’t have to do that.”

“Cook for you? I want to.”

When she still looked skeptical, it dawned on him that maybe it wasn’t the cooking that was hanging her up. This was a small, tightly knit community. His presence here so early in the morning would be cause for much speculation and gossip. Something she wouldn’t be comfortable with.

“Do you want me to go? To not be here… as in here, here when you open up?” He lifted a hand to encompass her apartment. “It’s not a problem. I can head over to Whispering Pines and rent a cabin from Shelley.”

“No. I want you here. I just feel bad. Two of my regulars asked to have their hours cut because they’ve started football practice. I won’t be able to take as much time off to be with you as I’d hoped.”

He touched a hand to her soft curls. “Jess. I didn’t expect you to drop everything to entertain me—well, except maybe in there.” He hitched his chin toward the bedroom and gave her a lecherous sneer.

He loved the sound of her laugh as she pulled away and headed for the bedroom. “You’re going to be bored.”

“Not if last night was any barometer.”

“I’m talking about during the day.”

“Let me worry about that. Go walk your dog. He’s standing by the door with his legs crossed.”

When she came out of the bedroom in shorts, a tank top, and running shoes, her face was sober. “You need to know. J.R.’s brother, Brad. He’ll show up once word spreads. He won’t be happy about you being here. In fact, there’s a good chance he’ll be looking for a fight.”

He walked across the room and cupped her shoulders. “I understand about brothers. It’ll be OK.” Then he gave her a squeeze. “Now, go. Bear’s about to spring a leak.”

“MORNING, JESS,” KAYLA said. “Interesting to note that the rental pickup Ty drove up in yesterday is parked in exactly the same spot that it was in when I locked up last night.”

“Interesting to a snoop, maybe.” Jess smiled to take the bite out of her warning to Kayla.

Of course, it didn’t faze the nineteen-year-old, who found Ty’s return and the fact that he’d obviously spent the night way too interesting. “So… is he as good as he looks?”

Jess expelled a deep sigh. “When do classes start for you?”

Kayla giggled. “Ready to get rid of me?”

“Ready to strangle you, but since there’s a law against it, I guess I’ll have to come up with something else.”

“Don’t worry, boss. Your secret’s safe with me.”

About that time, her “secret” opened the door that led to the stairs to her apartment and walked into the store, looking absolutely edible in faded jeans and a white T-shirt.

He glanced from Kayla with her Cheshire Cat grin to Jess and lifted his brows. “Did I interrupt something?”

“Kayla was about to straighten up the shelves holding the sweatshirts and T-shirts. We had a crowd in here yesterday, and I swear they dragged every single shirt out of its cubby and stuffed it back in a wad.”

“Guess I’ll be folding shirts if anyone needs me.” Kayla gave Ty a thumbs-up and headed for the shelves.

“What’s that about?” Ty met Jess on the other side of the counter.

“She thinks we’re cute.”

“I think you’re cute.” He leaned in close. “And very, very hot.”

She hated that heat flushed her cheeks. The fact that it made him laugh didn’t take much of the sting out of her involuntary physical reaction.

“Why don’t you put me to work today?” he said, still grinning.

“What? No. I don’t want to do that.”

“I want you to. If you don’t have anything for me to do in the store, give me something to do outside. I’m not a thumb twiddler.”

“I seem to recall you bought a fishing pole and some tackle last time you were here. You should go fishing. Or hike one of the trails. Or explore the shoreline. Shelley and Darrin would loan you a kayak. Just don’t go too far out in open water, or you might get lost.”

“You sure you’re not trying to get rid of me?”

“After that breakfast? Are you kidding?” He’d fried bacon, made French toast, and squeezed oranges for juice.

“Ah, so it’s my cooking skills that won you over?”

She glanced over to the shirt section to make sure Kayla was out of earshot. “Among other things.”

Her cheeks were still stained bright red when the bell above the door rang and the first customer of the day walked inside.