But so many confusing, conflicting crossroads still loomed ahead of him. Difficult choices that affected people depending on him, and more complicated decisions that suddenly included this beautiful, vibrant woman he wasn’t willing to walk away from at the end of the week. A woman who stirred deep, dormant emotions and made him want to put her needs first, too, and see where a relationship could lead.
Unfortunately, he suspected that Jo wouldn’t be so easily swayed on that front. She was a woman who’d made it abundantly clear that she was self-reliant and fiercely independent. He agreed that she was all that and more—including emotionally vulnerable and sensitive in a way she’d never admit—yet he couldn’t shake the notion that she was trying to prove something, to herself, her brothers and any man who tried to get too close. Himself included.
She might be uninhibited when they fucked, but he had private, personal barriers to scale with her. He’d meant what he’d said when he’d told her that he wanted all of her, then asked if she was ready for that, ready for him. In his opinion, her answer of yes, no matter spoken under sexual duress, gave him permission to insinuate himself in her life, at least for the next six days. And if it meant using sex to scratch the surface of something deeper during the course of their time together, he’d gladly pay the price.
He lifted his arm from her waist and cast a quick glance at the watch on his wrist. He’d let her rest for an hour now, giving her extra minutes of peaceful sleep after her restless night in the motel, while he’d remained awake, alternating between watching her and trying to dissect the errant thoughts tumbling through his mind. He hated like hell to disturb her tranquil, untroubled slumber, but he had no idea if there was another storm heading in on the heels of the one that had just passed, or how far they had to walk for help considering they had no cell service.
Reluctantly, he trailed his fingers down her arm to awaken her gently. “Jo,” he said softly, and brushed a tender kiss on her bare shoulder. “You need to wake up so we can get dressed and go find help.” And nourishment, he thought wryly. He was starved for more than just chocolate.
She stirred lazily, stretching her lush body along his already aroused one and tangling their legs in the process. “Do we have to go?” she murmured sleepily.
He grinned. He’d stay here forever with her if he could. “I think the storm has finally passed, so it’s a good time to venture out.”
She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, using an irresistible pout to sway him. “Let’s stay just a little bit longer,” she whispered, her lashes drooping slumberously. Reaching back, she pressed her palm to his cheek and scooted her bottom closer to his groin, so that his already eager erection slipped into the warm, damp crease between her slender thighs.
A sultry heat welcomed him, and he was weak enough to admit that her already primed body was all the incentive he needed to agree to her cajoling request. He nibbled on her lobe, traced his tongue along the shell of her ear and cupped a breast in his hand. Her nipple instantly hardened against his palm. “You’re absolutely insatiable.”
She arched, wriggling her very feminine posterior against his hips and thighs and pushing her breast more fully into his hand as he delicately plucked the stiff peaks with his fingers. “I’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for,” she said, her tone sensually charged and unapologetic. “And judging by your eager response, I do believe you’re more than willing to accommodate my desires.”
He gave her nipple one last pinch, then ran his hand down the slope of her smooth back. “Oh, yeah, more than willing,” he growled against her neck, and felt a shiver of a
nticipation course through her.
He tossed off the flannel blanket and moved closer against her backside. Using his knee, he nudged her top leg forward and up, spreading her legs from behind and holding her open for his possession. Grasping her hip to hold her in place, and aching to be inside her again, he rubbed the thick head of his shaft against her swollen flesh, then pushed upward, sinking into her lush body and relishing the feel of her heat and softness enveloping him.
Unlike the urgency of their last joining, this time his strokes were unhurried, deep and long. Lazy. Rhythmic. Designed to build the pressure and heighten her awareness of him, of them, together. A low moan of distress escaped her throat when he pulled back and nearly withdrew, then she sighed gratefully at his slow, smooth slide back inside. Her bottom tilted toward his hips to take more of him, to urge him to take more of her, but he instead dragged his open mouth along her shoulder, intending to draw out the pleasure, no matter how much the sexy, undulating movements of her body insisted otherwise.
When he retreated yet again, she whimpered and grabbed onto the blanket, using the heel of her hands to push herself back into him the only way she could. “Dean…I need…”
He thrust back into her, stealing the rest of her words as he filled her completely in one deep, fluid stroke. Knowing exactly what she craved, but still determined to do this at his pace, he unfurled her clenched fists and flattened her palm on her stomach, then guided her hand downward, until their entwined fingers glided through damp curls, caressed petal-soft folds of flesh, and gathered the moisture from their joined bodies to use as a silky lubricant.
She tensed, her uncertainty in touching herself in front of him evident in the stillness of her hand trapped beneath his and in the slow, trembling breaths easing in and out of her chest.
He kissed her temple, tasted the salt of perspiration on her skin. “Don’t go all shy on me now, sweetheart,” he drawled, persuading her to trust him with gentle humor instead of forceful demands. “Show me what you like, what feels good…”
With an unraveling sigh, she relaxed and taught him the secrets of her body. Let him learn firsthand what pleased her and demonstrated the seductive rhythm that turned her on the most while he continued the slow gyration of his hips, his lazy in-and-out penetration. Within minutes he recognized the signs of her approaching climax, the provocative catch of her breath and the way her inner muscles tightened around his shaft and coaxed him deeper and deeper still. Her intimate caresses built to a faster, more urgent crescendo, and a long, low moan reached his ears. She pushed her bottom against his hips, opened her legs wider, straining and arching into him as she greedily took her own pleasure and came all over the length of his cock.
Watching her embrace the orgasm shuddering through her that was a direct result of her own ministrations was the most erotic sight he’d ever seen and sent him soaring over the edge with her. His heart pounded erratically in his chest, and he plunged hard and fast, experiencing a need so raw and untamed that it shook the very foundation of his soul.
And then he was lost…in sensation, ecstasy, and everything that was Jo Sommers.
* * *
Reality intruded much too quickly for Jo’s liking—and along with it the reminder that she had a man’s innocence to prove, and a brother to convince of her competence. The two points were going to be a hard sell to Cole, she knew, considering the evidence Cole believed was stacked against Dean.
Gut instinct didn’t account for much when compared to her past actions and she resented the way those mistakes continually overshadowed Cole’s views and opinion of her abilities when it came to her doing a job. But contacting her brother was unavoidable, especially when she’d been out of reach for hours, and just as soon as they reached some kind of civilization, took care of the truck, and found a place to stay for the night, she’d make that dreaded call.
After forty-five minutes of walking in sprinkling, misty rain while sharing an umbrella, the farmhouse that finally came into sight as the two of them crested a hill had Jo releasing a tired and grateful, “Thank God!” The skies above were gray and leaden, the weather humid and unpredictable, and the threat of yet another storm lingered in the air.
“Thank God is right,” Dean agreed, holding the umbrella to protect them against the wet elements as they crossed the deserted highway to the other side of the road where the farmhouse sat in the distance. “I was about to suggest we head back in the opposite direction to the freeway and hitch a ride into Medford.”
Jo groaned at the thought of hiking all the way back to the interstate, but the notion had crossed her mind as well considering their limited options. “We got lucky, and hopefully whoever lives here will be able to call us a tow truck and get the Suburban to a service station.”
“And us to a restaurant,” Dean said, flashing an easygoing grin at her. “I need food. Real food.”
She sidestepped a puddle between them and was amused when he kept the umbrella over her head and let the rain drizzle on him for that three-second split. “That granola bar just didn’t do it for you, huh?” After they’d gotten dressed, they’d eaten another quick snack before heading out for help, just to have something in their stomachs.
He rolled his sexy green eyes. “That chocolate-covered granola bar barely put a dent in my appetite,” he said wryly.