CHAPTER 10
Now.
In this instance Guy didn’t think a better word had ever been invented. In fact, given the frequency with which Julia had begun to use the simple phrase, Guy had come to the conclusion that now was his favorite word.
Particularly considering that their time together was growing increasingly smaller. Tomorrow at noon they’d wrap up their training session and the idea that she was going to walk out of his life, never to return absolutely made a dead weight sit in his chest.
He’d wanted to do something special with her--for her--before they left and had instinctively known that this place would appeal to her. Like him she had a deep appreciation for history, for imperfect things with a past--like him, Guy thought--and the look on her face when she’d seen the cemetery had been worth every bit of effort he’d put into planning this picnic for her.
Actually, he’d picked up the sandwiches and beer at a deli--he’d smiled at the clerk and she’d even packed it for him--so when it came to actual effort, he hadn’t expended much. But he’d given her a little piece of himself by sharing this place with her and because she was smart and insightful, she’d recognized the gesture for what it was.
Knowing that he preferred her hair down, she’d started wearing it that way the past couple of days and a pale blonde curtain of silky hair fell over her shoulders and down the middle of her back. She settled herself beside him and Guy twirled a long lock of that hair around his finger--his chest tightened as though it was actually winding around his heart--and he tugged her to him for a long, slow kiss.
Sweet heaven, but she tasted good. Warm and willing and sweet and perfect. She tasted like a future, were he willing to have one with her, Guy thought, then forced the fanciful notion away, tempted. He slowly unbuttoned her shirt, baring her body to his hungry gaze and released a shuddering breath as the front clasp of her bra gave way and freed her glorious breasts.
Guy bent and sucked a rosy nipple into his mouth, the taste of her exploding on his tongue. God, how he loved her body. It was long and lean, smooth, soft and firm, a breathtaking combination of sweet curves, intriguing valleys. Pale skin, golden curls, rosy nipples. That beautiful hair fanned out on the blanket like a skein of fine silk.
She was, without a doubt, perfect in every sense of the word.
“You are so beautiful,” Guy told her, moving to the other plump breast. “So responsive,” he murmured.
Julia arched up, pushing her breast across his lips once more and shimmied her pants and panties down her legs.
“You’re beautiful, too,” she told him, her darkened gaze tangling with his, her voice rusty with desire. “I look at you and something happens to me here,” she said rubbing a hand over her mound. “I get all hot and achy--hollow--and I can’t think about anything but you filling me up. You inside me.”
Her foggy tones wrapped around his senses and she leaned forward and nipped at his neck, causing a shower of sensation to trickle over his skin. She lifted her hips once more, a silent plea, then her hands went to work on his clothes, swiftly disrobing him. His jeans and T-shirt joined her own, a discarded pile of forgotten trappings.
Warm hands, a cool breeze and the swish of tall grasses wrapped around them, swaddling him into a memory Guy knew he’d visit frequently when this time with her was over.
She slid her palms over his chest, scoring his nipples, then she massaged his shoulders and drew him back down for another mind-blowing kiss. She sucked at his tongue, the move bold and erotic--like her, Guy thought, loving every second of her sweet seduction.
He bisected her middle with his finger, then slid the pad of his thumb over her clit, causing her to arch up against his hand. She whimpered, enjoying the torture, but he knew she wanted more.
“Guy, please-- I need-- I want-- Now.”
In an instant he was sheathed in a condom, positioned between her legs and a half a second later--though it had felt like an eternity--he was sliding between her pink folds, then dipping into her, teasing her. Instinctively her feminine muscles clamped around him, attempting to trap him, draw him in. His dick throbbed with pleasure and he felt the beginning tingle of climax stir in his loins, tighten his balls.
Too soon, Guy thought.
He dipped again, this time lingering a moment before withdrawing, savoring the feel of her tight heat fisting hard around him.
Julia’s neck bowed, exposing her delicate throat, and her mouth opened in a silent moan of ecstasy. She arched beneath him, lifted her hips and rocked, then slid her hands up over his belly, grazed his midsection and scoured his masculine nipples with those neat, manicured feminine nails.
Talk about a turn on.
He shuddered, closed his eyes, and only by sheer dent of will did he manage not to collapse on top of her, push himself so deeply insider her it would take a serious tow package to drag him out.
He pushed again, this time surrendering, and buried himself deeply inside her. A sublime smile of satisfaction curled her kiss-swollen lips and her lids fluttered shut beneath the weight of pleasure. She didn’t just want him, Guy realized, she had to have him--the same way he had to have her.
Seeing her reaction, feeling the absolute flawlessness of being inside her, made Guy’s his own eyes too heavy and they drifted shut as well. He set his jaw as the matchless perfection of being inside her suddenly consumed him.
She was-- She was-- Words ultimately failed him, were useless. His throat clogged, his heart pounded out an odd rhythm in his chest and, were his toes not firmly planted into the blanket, they would have undoubtedly curled.
Julia clamped around him again, rocked her hips, a silent but effective request and, because he wanted nothing more at the moment than to lay in this meadow and make love to her for the rest of his life, he set everything else aside and concentrated on making being her pirate--and he’d start by stealing an orgasm from her.
With a deliberate flex, he withdrew and plunged into her again. Found a slow rhythm, savoring the resistance, the perfect draw and drag of their joined bodies. She drew her legs back and attached them to his waist, then reached around and cupped her warm hands over his ass, squeezing, urging, a mewl of carnal pleasure, a purr of satisfaction. She matched him thrust for thrust, easily, as though they’d done this hundreds of times, finding his pace, keeping it, then demanding more.
He felt her tighten around him, then her voice caught, and she upped the tempo. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip, whimpered and thrashed, the fever driving her mindless. Whereas seconds ago she’d been boneless and limp, now she’d gone rigid and wild, desperate for the orgasm Guy firmly intended to serve up. Previous lovers had left her wanting, but not him. He’d take her until his balls burst before he’d let her leave his arms unsatisfied.
His own loins were experiencing the fiery torments of the damned and every cell in his body was ready for release. The instant she caught hers, Guy knew he’d come.
He wrapped an arm around her waist, then pumped frantically, pistoned in and out of her until he thought for sure that his heart would explode. Her feminine muscles clamped again, heralding her impending climax.
A long keening cry tore from her throat. Her body bowed off the blanket, bucked beneath him and the walls of her tight sex collapsed forcefully around him.
And that was all it took to make him explode like a nuclear bomb, pleasure imploding upon itself. She spasmed hard around him, flexed and quivered, and with each pulse he felt himself quake even harder inside her. Her climaxed perfectly sapped his, draining him of everything but the unmatched satisfaction of phenomenal back-bending wild gorilla sex.
When the very last pulse throbbed out of him, Guy gently withdrew, then collapsed next to her and rolled her up firmly next to his side. He draped the blanket over them, watched a butterfly drift lazily from the wildflowers blooming in the meadow.
Her head lay nestled against his chest, her hair spilling over and tickling his side. She rested her sweet palm upon his abdomen, and slung a smooth leg over his thigh. In short, she melted over him like hot caramel over a scoop of ice cream and he didn’t know when he’d ever felt anything more remarkable--altering--in his life.
Heart still pounding, Guy bent and pressed a kiss on top of her head, then looked up at the clear blue sky and felt a wash of contentment bathe over him.
Dammit, he shouldn’t be feeling this--shouldn’t be wanting her the way he did. Needing her. He was a bachelor, dammit, committed to his lifestyle of...what? Guy wondered suddenly.
Of nothing.
Work, friends, mother and a dog. The K.I.S.S. approach to life--Keep It Simple Stupid.
“Guy?”
He swirled his fingers on her upper arm. “Hmm?”
A slow sigh slipped past her lips. “Thank you for everything this week. I needed... Well, you know exactly what I needed and you gave it to me and I’m...” He felt her swallow. “I’m grateful.” She paused. “And I’m going to miss you.”
His chest tightened, forcing him to swallow as well. He knew he should say something--she’d opened herself up to him--and yet he couldn’t find the words. Or at least not the right words because everything he wanted to say was the exact opposite of what he knew was ultimately right.
He wanted to say “I’ll miss you, too” or “Why miss me? This doesn’t have to be over.” But those were the words of a man looking for a committed relationship, of a man who ultimately longed for a family and someone to come home to in the evenings.
Until this week, Guy had never wanted anything remotely resembling that and yet a few days with a Julia and he found himself longing for things he’d long ago decided would never be right for him. Bad blood, he’d always told himself. Why risk it?
Resisting the idea had been easy because up until now he’d never met a woman who awakened those kinds of feelings inside him. He’d never wanted the honey-I’m-home fantasy. Never wanted to see another girl past his three date limit. He’d already had more than three dates with Julia, she’d eaten off his plate last night and, though he knew it was an exercise in torture, he planned to blow the bachelor rules all to hell and spend the night with her tonight.
Leaving, when he knew their time was almost up, was out of the question. He didn’t have the strength.
The new question, of course, would be would he have the strength to leave her tomorrow?
* * *
Julia lay perfectly still and waited to see if Guy would respond to her “I’ll miss you” comment, the one and only concession she intended to make on how very much he’d impacted her life in just a short time and how much she wished it wouldn’t end. Five beats slid to ten and then she was forced to come to the unhappy conclusion that he was content to leave things the way they were.
Okay, she thought and released a slow breath.
She’d be fine, she told herself. The tightness in her chest would eventually go away and the heart which had lodged in her throat had to settle at some point. She felt her eyes sting, because things had been simply magical--better than anything she’d ever experienced and instinctively knew would ever experience again--but she determinedly blinked back the moisture and told herself to buck up.
Even knowing that they were through, Julia knew she wouldn’t change a single thing about this week. No, that wasn’t true. Realizing how precious their time would be together, she wouldn’t have wasted that first day. One more day, she thought.
Who would have thought it would have been so important?
Of course, one day would lead to another and another and probably, given the tender emotion which rose in her chest every time she looked at Guy, she’d always want just one more day.
Her lips quirked. One more now.
If nothing else, he’d given that. Julia no longer believed that she was a poor lover. Guy had made certain of that, taking her hard and fast, then soft and slow and always--always--wanting her. She could see it in those clear green eyes each and every time he looked at her. Desire, sexual hunger, always lurked in her pirate’s gaze, Julia thought, smiling. Her shoulders shook with an unexpected chuckle. He’d certainly plundered the living hell out of her, that was for sure.
“What’s so funny?” Guy wanted to know.
She giggled. “Nothing.”
“That didn’t sound like a nothing kind of giggle,” he said suspiciously, drawing away so that he could look at her. “Come on,” he cajoled. “Tell me.”
Julia felt a blush was over her cheeks, but decided to share anyway. She rubbed a hand over his belly and sighed. “You know how I’ve told you that you remind me of a modern day pirate?”
Guy chuckled. “Yes. You cited my disregard for rules, I believe.”
“Right. Well, I was just laying here thinking about how fabulous being with you has been and-- Well, what are pirates famous for?”
“Eye patches and peg legs.”
“Smart ass. Aside from that, what are they famous for?”
“Pillaging and plundering,” he told her.
“Right. And I’d say you’d plundered the hell out of me, wouldn’t you?”
Guy’s neck arched back against the blanket and a loud laugh rumbled up his chest, vibrating her side. “Now that’s an interesting analogy.”
Julia smiled and pressed a kiss against his chest. “Well, you’re an interesting guy.”
“Thank you,” he murmured. “You’re pretty damned interesting yourself.”
“I don’t know about that,” Julia said doubtfully. “But thanks for the compliment, anyway.” She traced a jagged scar on his chest and frowned. “Did you get this while in the military?” she asked.
He stilled. “No. That one--all of them actually--came from my old man. He was a mean bastard.”
He said it glibly, as though getting beaten by his father had simply been a foregone conclusion. Horrified, Julia leaned up on one elbow so that she properly look at him. “Guy,” she breathed softly, aching for the little boy he’d been. No wonder she hadn’t been able to imagine him being small--he’d had that luxury snatched away from him at the hands of a parent, the ultimate betrayal.
He turned to look at her and offered a bracing smile. “No big deal,” he said. “He was a drunk. He left when I was seventeen. Believe me, it was the best thing that ever happened to me or my mother.”
“She couldn’t protect you?”
He swallowed. “She tried.”
Julia wanted to ask the obvious question--why didn’t she leave a man who would beat her child? What in God’s name had possessed her to stay? “Don’t judge her,” Guy said, evidently reading her line of thought. “He was good at being repentant and she was very religious. She did the best she could. She was a victim, too.”
Julia knew that, but still…
“What about your family?” Guy wanted to know. “You’ve talked about your dad, but never mentioned your mother.”
Julia rested her head against his shoulder once more. “Mom’s mom,” she said, smiling. “She’s the poster child for plastic surgery and is swiftly running through Dad’s retirement for the latest procedures, but he doesn’t seem to mind.”
“Plastic surgery, eh?” Guy said. He hummed under his breath. “You’re not into that, are you?”
“No,” Julia said, dragging the word out for emphasis.
He drew back to look at her again. Curiosity gleamed in his gaze. “Struck a nerve, did I?”
Julia chewed the inside of her cheek. “No.” She sighed. “Let’s just say my mother has never had any problem pointing out my imperfections.”
“What?” he asked, seemingly outraged. “What the hell does she think is wrong with you? You’re perfect.”
Julia’s lips slid into a grin, warmed by his comment. He had no idea what it meant to her, which made it all the more special. “I’m not perfect, but thank you.”
“Stop arguing with me,” he told her. “If I say you’re perfect, then you’re perfect, dammit. Anybody who says otherwise should have their eyes checked. Tell your mother to have laser surgery.”
Julia chuckled. “She already has.”
“What’s she wanted to change about you?”
“My nose,” Julia finally admitted. “It’s big, I know. But it’s mine and I’m not changing it.”
Suddenly serious Guy leaned up so that he could look at her. “Julia, there is nothing--nothing--wrong with your nose. You are beautiful and what makes you so pretty is the fact that you don’t realize how gorgeous you truly are.” He bent down and pressed a gentle kiss on the tip of nose, causing her eyes to inexplicably water. “Don’t ever change it.”
“Thank you,” Julia said, twining her arms around his neck and pulling him down to her mouth for a slow, deep kiss. She put every ounce of feeling she possessed into the melding of their mouths, the gratitude and desire, the hunger and the need. Gave it everything she had and then drew back.
Mossy green heavy lidded eyes stared back at her. “You should probably plunder the hell out of me again,” Julia told him. “Now.”
His lips quirked and humor danced in his gaze. “Shiver me timbers,” he drawled, then fastened his mouth to hers.