Page 13 of Love Unbound
“What did you think was going to happen when you came back?” she asked quietly, both praying for and dreading his answer.
“I don’t know,” he murmured honestly, still staring out over the horizon. They stood shoulder to shoulder, mere inches separating them. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other anxiously, waiting for him to expound, but he remained quiet.
Dragonflies skimmed over the surface of the water below them, racing after insects her eyes couldn’t detect. Jodi turned her head to watch him in profile. His lips were thinner than would be considered classically attractive, but she knew those lips were softer than they appeared and damn did he know how to use them. His nose was sharp and slightly crooked, broken in his twenties when he was head butted by a grouchy mare. The dark facial hair covering the lower portion of his face was trimmed short and still called to her fingers to touch. The baseball hat that he had on backwards was doing things to her midsection. As if reading her thoughts, he reached up and took it off his head, working the brim with tense fingers before raking his dark hair back with those same fingers and replacing the hat on his head.
Breaking the silence other than the commentator’s voice in the distance and the sounds of bullfrogs beginning to sing, she breathed, “Do you ever think about it? About me?”
Whipping his head around toward her, aquamarine eyes speared into her sapphire blue ones, burning with intensity. His voice was low as he husked, “I never stopped thinking about it, Jodi.”
Fireworks went off in her belly when his words registered. She didn’t know where the bold words had come from and was evenmore stunned by his admission. Her lips parted in surprise, and she watched as his eyes dropped to her mouth, staring intensely. She licked her lips unconsciously and watched as his eyes darkened. He remained leaning against the wooden rail, statue still other than his eyes as they moved over her face.
The setting sun was beautiful, but Jodi hardly noticed. Never taking her eyes off his and whispering huskily, she taunted, “So do it.”
Chapter 8
Jodi closed the lid of her laptop in frustration. She had been up since four in the morning, unable to sleep. She had stared at her laptop for hours, praying, begging, for her inspiration to return. All she had managed to put down were two words…Chapter Eleven.
Sighing in aggravation and giving up for the moment, she stood and crossed the kitchen to the coffee maker, pouring herself another cup of coffee, desperate for the pick-me-up after the night she’d had. The sun was just coming up, the sky out her dining room window turning brilliant shades of fuchsia, violet, and orange. Taking a tentative sip of the hot beverage, she padded to the sliding doors off her kitchen and peered out over the field behind her house. Stifling a yawn, she shook her head to wake herself up.
Had it only been two days since Free had shown up on her front porch?
Had it only been twelve hours since their disastrous ice cream date? Not-a-date?
Rolling her shoulders to alleviate the tension in them, she exited the kitchen, walking down the hallway to her bedroom and into the connecting master bathroom. Reaching into the shower, she turned the taps on, then turned and took another sip of coffee before stripping, allowing the old, faded flannel shorts to drop to the tile floor. Pulling the burgundy CMU t-shirt over her head, she let that fall to the floor to join the shorts, and her panties were next.
Jodi cringed when she thought back to her brazen taunt the night before. She could have kicked herself as soon as the words had left her mouth. He had immediately closed himself off, making some lame excuse about needing to get back to Shane’s and that she had an early day to prepare for. He had walked her back to her Jeep, barely speaking to her the whole way back. He’d mumbled a terse good-bye and had disappeared down the street and around the corner to his truck.
Jodi had driven home, embarrassed and angry with herself. Why did she continue to throw herself at him when he made it so very clear he isn’t interested?
Taking another sip of coffee before stepping into the hot water of the shower, she sighed heavily in frustration. It’s obvious heisinterested; he had said as much, sowhywas he still fighting against it so vehemently?
Why do you care so much? her mind taunted. You swore off men anyway, remember?
Scrubbing the shampoo into her hair with more vitriol than normal, Jodi hushed the voice in her head. Instead, she let her mind wander…
The glass door of the shower slid open almost silently. The only reason she knew he was there was the draft of cool air that hit her. She didn’t turn around, instead keeping her back to him. The door closed with a quiet thud, and she waited with bated breath for him to touch her.
She didn’t have to wait long, sighing softly as his fingers trailed feather light over the curve of her shoulder and down her arm. His other hand swept the wet strands of her hair to one side, her knees going weak when she felt his lips touch the meaty part of her shoulder. The fingers trailing down her arm slid around her waist, flattening against her stomach and guiding her back a half step until her backside met his front.She gasped, her head tilting back when she felt his steely length press into the fleshy part of her bottom. His other hand knotted into her hair, pulling her head back slightly, granting himself better access to her neck, where his mouth settled hotly, stealing her breath.
Her hand reached behind her to touch his hip, but he was quick, slapping her bottom smartly and grasping her wrist in his work roughened fingers. Reaching forward, he placed first one hand, then the other on the cool tile wall in front of her. Taking a love bite out of her shoulder then soothing it with a kiss, he husked harshly, “Don’t move. Close your eyes.”
She did as she was told, painfully aware of the thundering of her heart in the chest and just how aroused she was. Wet heat pooled between her thighs at his rough command, and as if reading her mind, he slid one palm down the side of her ribs and over her hip, then squeezed a handful of her bottom in his hand before sliding his fingers between her thighs.
She spread her legs to allow him better access, and heard his growl of approval when he felt her eagerness for him. “Good girl,” she heard him whisper near her ear, and white hot heat spread through her body, zinging along every nerve ending.
Letting out a mew of disappointment when he removed his hand, she gasped when his palm swatted her bottom sharply again. “Shhh. Keep your eyes closed.”
Doing as she was told, she felt him reach around her and then heard him open a bottle of body wash, then snapped the lid closed again. She moaned when his hands came back to her body, the loofa that had been hanging on the wall soaped up and gliding across her skin. He dragged it across every inch of skin, paying close attention to her breasts, the rough material abrading her nipples deliciously. “Oh my god,” she moaned without thought, then smiled involuntarily when another slap landed on her backside, this one harder than the others.
The fingers of one hand fisted in her hair again, pulling her head back sharply as he whispered gruffly, “I think you like that too much. Bend over and hold on, baby.”
Bending at the waist and gripping the small bar she usually hung her washcloth on, she waited only a half a heartbeat before he grasped handfuls of her hips in his large hands and sank into her in one long thrust, impaling her fully. Risking a glance up at him over her shoulder, his eyes burned with aquamarine fire as they met hers even as he began to move inside her, stealing her breath…
Jodi gasped and opened her eyes, her whole body on fire. Why was it always Free’s face she saw in these daydreams? Couldn’t he leave her to her fantasies?
Rinsing and shutting off the taps, she stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel before padding to the bedroom to dress for work. She chose a flouncy, tiered skirt with a navy-blue floral print and paired it with an oversized white blouse, one side slipping to leave a sun kissed shoulder bare. Tucking it into the waistband of the skirt, she added a simple belt that accentuated her waist. The skirt hit a few inches above her knees, floating gracefully. A long silver necklace bounced over her breasts as she moved, and she put on the same strappy white sandals from the night before.
Towel drying her hair, she added her hair cream to shape her curls, leaving it to finish drying in ringlets down her back and over her shoulders. Simple make up of blush, mascara, and a sheer pink lip gloss finished the look. She was out the door moments later, the sun rising over the trees at the far side of her property, casting gold sunlight across the yard.
