5. Crystal

 

 

Over burgers at the diner, with their knees tantalizingly close together under the plastic table, Cody told her what he recalled of the old Martinez farm. It sounded like her grandfather had been quite a character, Crystal thought, which certainly fit with a guy who had supposedly hidden a fortune somewhere around his property.

She wished she dared tell Cody the truth about why she was asking so many questions. She knew he thought it was just curiosity about an elderly relative she'd hardly met. And it was that; she was fascinated by his stories of a man she only remembered as a large, imposing presence who'd argued with her father a lot.

But she also hoped to get an idea of what her grandfather might have considered a suitable hiding place, and for that matter, what sort of thing might be hidden in it. At this point, she had no idea what she was looking for: a stash of old coins, a safe with money in it, some sort of valuable antique item. Her father hadn't known; all he knew was that his father had hinted at some kind of valuable inheritance, but never told him what it was.

And listening to Cody's stories, even while she was laughing as he told her about the time their two families almost ended up in a feud over one of her grandfather's cattle who strayed onto the Circle B and got mixed up with their stock, she couldn't help thinking that not a single one of Cody's stories about her grandfather even hinted that anyone else in town thought he had a treasure buried on his land.

There might not be anything at all.

In which case I have to sell the farm; I have no choice. Otherwise my dad's medical bills will bankrupt the whole family.

She hadn't realized she would feel so conflicted about it. Before she'd driven out here, she thought it would be pretty easy. She'd either find a treasure, or she wouldn't. At the end of her allotted two weeks, she'd find a real estate agent to list the farm for her, and she would head back to St. Louis.

But she hadn't expected the sense of instant connection that hit her as soon as she set foot on the farm. Nowhere she'd lived had ever made her feel that way before. She'd always considered herself a city girl to the core, but as soon as she saw the farm, she felt as if she'd come home.

And so far, the deprivation of living in a rural county hadn't bothered her nearly as much as she thought it would. She was used to being able to see concerts and symphonies, to buy food from all around the world right down the street from her apartment. But she liked the little diner; she liked the solitude and the sound of birdsongs.

And leaving would mean leaving Cody ...

We've only just met, she thought desperately, as he gave her a smile that made her stomach do loops and flips. This is ridiculous! What am I supposed to do, rearrange my whole life for a guy I've only known for a couple of hours?

But she'd dated a lot of guys in the urban dating scene, and not a single one of them gave her that sense of instant connection that she'd felt with Cody. Back at the truck, she'd had to struggle not to just climb onto him. Even now, every time his knee brushed hers, it was like a jolt of electricity went through her, a little thrill that shot straight to the heat between her legs.

I'm sitting here having a burger with this guy, and I'm getting more turned on than I've ever been. What's wrong with me?

Maybe this was what it was like when you found The One.

And if he is The One, how can I even think about going back to St. Louis without him?

She realized suddenly that the conversation at the table had fallen into a lull; Cody had wrapped up an anecdote about her grandfather and she hadn't moved to fill the gap. She'd been too busy staring at Cody, lost in his blue-gray eyes and distracted by her urge to reach across the table and touch the rough dusting of stubble catching the light slanting through the window.

"Sorry," Cody said, and Crystal forced herself back to reality. "You must be getting bored, listening to me ramble."

"No," she said quickly. "I'm not bored in the slightest. I'm the one who asked you, remember? I hope I'm not boring you, making you talk about the Martinez farm all day."

"Not at all. I love this place. This whole county, I mean. After living here all my life, there's hardly a part of it that's not full of memories. Heck, right here in this diner is where my cousin Axl met his ma—er, his wife, Tara. She was working here as a waitress."

Cody hesitated as if he was thinking about saying something else, but before he could get around to it, the waitress bustled over to refill their Cokes. As she turned to go, she said, "Just kiss already! Watchin' you from the counter, it's like slow torture."

"Thanks, Sammie Jo!" Cody called after her. A blush climbed his face under the suntan.

Crystal could feel her cheeks getting hot, too. "Is this what living in a small town is like?"

"All the time," Cody sighed. He glanced around the diner, where the early dinner crowd were starting to trickle in—mostly farmers in workboots or elderly couples. "As much as I love small-town life, it can be hard to get privacy sometimes."

"You know," Crystal said, her heart hammering, "we could go somewhere more private."

Cody turned his summer-storm eyes on her. "Got somewhere in mind?"

"Well, I have this motel room right around the corner ..."

Cody's eyes dilated, going dark with lust. Even through her own growing arousal, Crystal was fascinated; she'd never seen that happen to anyone before.

"Yes," he said hoarsely. "Yes ... I'd like that."

Cody threw a handful of bills on the table, and escorted her out with a hand lightly touching her elbow. Just that light touch on her skin was enough to make her knees wobbly.

She'd never had it this bad for anyone, especially not someone she'd barely met. But just like the family farm felt like home, Cody didn't feel like a stranger. On some deep level, she felt as if she'd always known him, as if their souls had twinned when they'd been born and they were only now finding their way back to each other.

By the time they got to the parking lot, the heat between them had grown unbearable, a quivering untapped well of energy seeking a release. When she turned to look up at him, the intensity of his gaze made her gasp. With her lips already parted, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world for Cody to lean down and for her to stretch up. Their mouths came together like a circuit closing.

She lost all sense of time. When she surfaced from the kiss, it was to find Cody gazing into her eyes as if mesmerized, one hand on her face and the other resting just above the swell of her hip.

"Motel?" he breathed, staring into her face like he wanted to memorize every line.

"Motel."

 

***

 

The Stumble On Inn was right around the corner, an L-shaped strip of a dozen doors, their green paint peeling and faded. As far as Crystal had been able to tell, she was the only guest.

They were kissing as they tumbled through the door, their hands all over each other's bodies. Cody kicked the door shut, and they stumbled to the bed and collapsed on top of the freshly fixed sheets.

Just kissing him with all their clothes on already had Crystal so aroused she thought she might lose control and go straight over the edge the moment he touched her inner thighs. She couldn't imagine what having their clothes off was going to be like—and at the same time, she wanted him all over her, needed him all over her. Her entire body quivered with raw desire.

Cody pushed his knee between her legs, and she opened for him, grinding against his thigh as they rolled together on the bed. She struggled to unbutton his shirt while they writhed together and finally gave up, giving it a tremendous yank that parted it in front, revealing his T-shirt-clad chest and sending buttons scattering across the bed.

"Sorry!" she gasped against his mouth.

"Don't care!" was his indistinct answer.

Now she could get his hands on the hard planes of his chest. His hands were under her T-shirt, fumbling with her bra clasp. He managed to undo it; now the bra was flopping loose on her chest. She untangled herself from Cody long enough to sit up, kneeling beside him, and quickly stripped the T-shirt over her head. The bra followed it an instant later, flung across the room.

"You're gorgeous," Cody whispered. He reached up to cup her breasts in his hands, stroking his thumbs over her nipples and sending little electric zings through her.

No one had ever said that to her before. She liked her body, but a lot of guys weren't into that kind of thing—the little rolls over the top of her jeans, the gentle curve of her tummy. She wasn't supermodel-thin and was never going to be.

But Cody was looking at her with eyes dark with lust, and something softer, deeper, as if he'd been waiting his whole life for this moment.

She didn't know what was happening between them, but one thing she did know: if he kept just lying there looking at her, especially with the way he was rubbing her nipples, she was going to go out of her mind from frustrated arousal.

Swinging a leg over him, she straddled his waist. Cody's hips involuntarily bucked and she felt the graze of his erection, straining at his jeans. She grinned, rubbing her wet sex against him through the fabric of her soaked underwear and jeans.

"Watch it, woman," Cody growled. He took hold of her around the waist. "What are you trying to do, drive me out of my mind?"

"I'm hoping that's what you're gonna do to me." She writhed, rubbing on him. "But you've got too many clothes on."

His lips parted in a wild grin, and he lifted her and rolled over in one smooth motion, so she was pressed down to the bed with Cody on top of her. "Drive you out of your mind? Like this?" he asked in a voice that was rough with need, nipping at her collarbone and the hollow at the base of her neck. "Like this?" He took one of her nipples in his mouth, laving it with his tongue while he ground slow circles with his hips, his erection brushing her thigh on each downstroke.

"Like that," she gasped, hips rising to meet his next thrust. Ineffectually clumsy as lust rose in her, she struggled with his T-shirt, trying to strip it off, trying to touch him everywhere. Their hips were moving in sync now, even though they hadn't experienced union yet. "I need you—need all of you—oh—"

Cody moved his attention to her other breast before finally sitting up and peeling off the T-shirt and the ripped plaid shirt over it, flinging them aside. He undid his jeans one-handed and lifted his hips to slide them down. The boxers went after them.

And now he was naked on top of her, and he was glorious. All the promise she'd sensed under his clothes was fulfilled in him. He wasn't overly bulky; instead he had the lean muscle of a man who'd gotten it from hard work rather than working out. His body hair was the same light, gold-dusted brown as the rest of his hair, trailing in a fine line down his flat, hard belly to the nest of curls framing his massive, fully erect cock.

He was huge. She caught her breath at the sight of it. One part of her couldn't help thinking Is that going to FIT? but most of the rest of her was already on fire with the anticipation of how his thickness and girth would stretch her inner walls, the heat as he'd slide in—

She groaned and wriggled her hips in wordless need. Cody still took his time taking her pants off, sliding them down one leg at a time. He kissed her inner thigh and nuzzled against the damp crotch of her panties.

In a small, distant part of her mind, she was glad she'd worn the black silk ones today. It was as if she'd known she'd be meeting someone who was worth the good underwear.

Cody probed at her mound with his tongue through the fabric of her panties. Her hips lifted and she groaned again. Cody mouthed at her throbbing clit and finally, finally pulled down her panties as she gasped in reaction.

She was so aroused that just the brush of the air on her clit sent a hot quiver through her. When he pressed a finger into her, then two, she arched her head back and gripped two fistfuls of the sheet.

"How much longer do you think I can hold out, Cody Hayes?" she gasped.

He dipped his tongue briefly between her folds, a quick lap that made her shudder, and then, at last, he was leaning over her and guiding himself into her and—ah—

He went in slow, aware of his size and careful not to hurt her. He needn't have worried; she was so wet and open that she took him all, down to the base, tilting her hips up instinctively to give him better access.

"Okay?" he murmured, bent over her with his face pressed into her sweat-damp neck.

"Oh God," was the only response she could manage. She pushed her hips against his, the inner pressure singing down every nerve ending.

He started to move, slowly, the fullness of his cock gliding against her soaking wet inner walls. It was amazing. It was like no sex she'd ever had before. Her entire body was an endless hum of pleasure, tingling down to her fingertips.

Vaguely she was aware of Cody nuzzling against her neck. His teeth brushed her skin lightly, sharp little zings on her incredibly sensitive nerves.

His thrusts sped up, and her hips moved to keep pace, snapping back to meet him each time he bore down. She couldn't have stopped now if she'd wanted to. He pounded into her and she met him every time, rising waves of pleasure lapping through her, mounting to impossible heights.

"Cody—" she gasped, and she heard him call out her name in a rough cry of passion as her head arched back and she came in a lightning flare of sensation. Cody's body bucked and heat filled her as her shudders of orgasm brought him to his own climax.

They pulsed together through the aftershocks and collapsed in a sweaty, sated heap on the bed.

As her ability for rational thought started to trickle back, Crystal kissed him lightly on the corner of his mouth and murmured, "You're heavy."

"Sorry." He rolled off her, and with a little regret, she felt him slip out of her as he softened.

"Wow," she murmured, gazing up at the water-stained motel ceiling. It seemed like a sudden shame that their first time hadn't happened somewhere more, well, magical. The way she felt right now, though, it didn't matter if they'd had sex in the back of his pickup truck. She felt almost high, her head swimming and her body utterly limp with fulfilled pleasure.

She could never imagine being more content than she was at this moment.