Page 71 of Love Unbound
She swung her head around to her parents, who stood ten or so feet behind her. Levi hugged Serenity’s shoulders in his large hands as her mother smiled radiantly, her hands clasped tightly together beneath her chin, tears forming in her eyes. Levi raised his dark eyebrows once, then harrumphed something unintelligible before steering Serenity away, wandering back toward the house. Leaving the two of them alone.
Jodi turned back to face Free, who was taking slow, measured steps toward her. His eyes traveled over all of her, and he slid his palms into the back pockets of his jeans as he stopped about five feet away from where she still stood rooted to the spot.
“Hi,” was all he said, his eyes searching hers warily.
Still too stunned to speak, Jodi stared at him. He looked remarkably the same, his hair a touch longer as it touched the collar of his shirt at the back of his neck beneath the black cowboy hat that sat on his head. His facial hair was trimmed short, and he wore his typical well fitted blue jeans and had paired it today with a black button down shirt, the top two buttons left undone. The long sleeves were rolled up to hisforearms, and a black carhartt work vest hung open over his chest, a concession to the mild temperature.
He continued forward, small steps at a time, until he stood within arm’s reach. He was close enough that she could smell him, that mix of cedarwood and citrus that she had missed so much in the last weeks.
Jodi wrung her hands in front of her, twisting her fingers together nervously. “You didn’t call,” she finally whispered.
Free nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. “I know. I didn’t know if you wanted me to.”
Jodi ducked her head, taking a much-needed break from those intense blue-green eyes. She motioned lamely toward the truck and u-haul to their right. “What—what are you doing here?”
“Moving in,” he said, one corner of his mouth tilting up just the slightest. Jodi’s heart tripped over itself, but the look she gave him was withering. He shrugged, pulling his hands out of his back pockets. “I told you I was coming back. I’m sorry it took so long.”
Jodi took a shuddering breath in as the words hit her. Anguish flashed in his eyes at the undiluted pain she knew she was unsuccessful at masking, and he took another step toward her, until she had to tilt her head back to look up at him.
If she just extended her hands the slightest, she could touch him. Her fingers ached with the temptation to slide her palms up his abdomen, over his chest, beneath the open folds of the vest. So she kept them clasped tightly in front of her.
“You’re not sleeping,” he stated quietly, his dark brows dipping into a worried V as his gaze studied her face.
Jodi shrugged but didn’t say anything to confirm or deny his claim. She’d bite her own tongue before admitting how hurt she still was.
Damn him, but tears stung her nose despite her best effort,and she ducked her head quickly before he could see the tears well in her eyes. The way he’d left, the radio silence over the last three weeks. Her admission that evening right before her world fell apart…
But he had seen, and he husked, “Jodi,” at the same time reaching up and tipping her chin up so she was forced to look at him again. At the first touch of his skin to hers, Jodi’s lip began to quiver against her volition. His palm slid to cup her cheek, feather light, just as the first tear fell and he breathed miserably, “Oh sweetheart, don’t. I’m sorry. I… I was an ass. I was overwhelmed, concerned about Red when she showed up in the state she was in, frustrated with the timing, and then you were so angry with me…” Jodi’s breath shuddered in brokenly and he smoothed his thumb over her cheekbone, picking up the tears that escaped. “I know I should have told you who Red was and what our past included. I selfishly wanted that time with you for just us, and I didn’t want to bring up any more trouble than what we already had to contend with. When I told you there was never anything romantic between us, it was the truth, Jodi. She’s a friend.Justa friend. I promise you,” he whispered beseechingly, cupping the other side of her face with his other hand, capturing her eyes with his, “I have never, in my whole entire life, felt like this, like I do with you, for anyone else. I love you, Jodi, and I should have said it before I left.I love you. I have loved you for so long I don’t remember a time that I didn’t.”
Tears fell unrestrained from her eyes, her lip wobbling in earnest now. Jodi’s hands came up and clasped his forearms with her fingers, his hands still holding her face.
“You told me you love me,” he whispered, his face lowering to hers, until mere breath separated them. She stared up into those aqua depths that held her own gaze captive. “Please tell me I’m not too late.”
A half laugh, half sob escaped her as she shook her head,still clasped between his hands, and she reached for his mouth with her own, closing the distance between them. Their mouths melded, tongues tangling. Jodi’s body hummed, melting, as he kissed her long and hard and slow. When they finally pulled apart, Jodi knew he was just as breathless as she was.
Free sipped feather light kisses across her cheeks, then back down to her mouth where he settled hungrily. Jodi slid her hands up the outside of his arms and around his back, and his hands moved, one up through the back of her hair to cup the back of her head, the other down around her waist, pressing her close. When his mouth finally left hers, he gathered her into his arms, tucking her as close to his body as physically possible. Butterflies had once again taken flight in her belly, and they jolted as she felt him, hard and ready, against her middle. Jodi inhaled deeply the scent of him, burying her nose in his chest, and splayed her hands wide on the hard planes of his back.
“I love you,” Jodi whispered, leaning back just enough to raise her head to look up at him. His left arm remained clasped around her, but his right hand came up to let his fingers brush the curls away from her cheek, his thumb picking up the remaining tears that lingered there. “I always have, Free. Always.”
His fingers continued to brush the curls away from her face, and at her words he beamed a smile down at her, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I hope you understand I plan on spending the rest of every single day that I have left with you, Jodi Kendall.”
Jodi smiled radiantly up at him, reaching up to touch his bewhiskered cheek with her fingertips. “Took you long enough,” she whispered, before sliding her hand up around his neck to pull his mouth back down to hers.
Jodi squeaked in surprise, then laughed gustily when he reached down, quick as a viper, and hauled her up into his arms,chest to chest. His hands gripped her bottom fully, splaying wide, and she wrapped her legs around his lean waist, her arms draping around his neck, and leaned into their kiss fully. He began to walk, heading toward the stairs leading up to the loft apartment.
And then his teeth nipped her bottom lip and all other thoughts except for his body against hers fled her mind. Jodi tugged his hat off with one hand and tunneled the fingers of her other hand through his dark hair, her mouth melding with his as he climbed the stairs effortlessly with her still in his arms. His hat dangled from her fingers at his back.
Jodi didn’t know how he did it, her brain too muddled with desire, but the next second they were inside the small apartment, and he was striding toward the bed against the far wall. Jodi dropped the hat to the floor with a thud as she broke their kiss long enough to pull her shirt over her head and let it fall to the floor, too. She reveled in the sight of him before her, still held in his arms. She reached around her back, unhooking her bra and tossing it to the floor to meet her top.
Free groaned deeply as his white-hot gaze traveled over her nakedness before him, and she felt it rumble between her legs. He lowered her down to the bedspread that she and Seren had washed and remade the day before. Jodi blushed, realizing that her parents were in on this scheme, but then his mouth was on her breasts, and she failed to care about anything but the feel of him.
He stood then, peeling the black vest down his arms and popping the buttons off his own shirt in his haste to remove it, his breathing ragged. He toed his boots off one at a time, his gaze hot on her as she lay on the bed, her entire body thrumming with need. She needed him.
Free reached for her leggings, peeling them and her panties down her legs, leaving her naked before him. His eyes wereluminous, his need matching hers. He unclasped his belt and then the top button, pulling the zipper down until he could slide his jeans down his hard thighs. His cock raged against the confines of his boxer briefs, and Jodi moaned at the sight of him. It was a half a breath later and he was just as naked as she was, and she reached for him as he knelt on the bed, directly between her thighs.
Her fingers found him, impossibly hard and oh so ready for her. Free braced himself above her on his hands on either side of her body as she guided him in. He sank fully into her, not wasting a breath, clenching his teeth as she took every glorious inch of him. His mouth met hers, ferociously, but he didn’t move inside her.
Jodi’s hands tunneled into his hair, and when he pulled away, he stared down into her eyes, at the same time pulling out to the tip, slowly, so slowly that Jodi gasped.
