Last Chance Christmas (Last Chance #5)(32)
Author: Hope Ramsay

But he didn’t want to stop her. In fact, he was losing the ability to think. He had, quite literally, never experienced anything quite like this before. It was so hot it burned away his guilty feelings.

He rocked his h*ps against her, and she bucked against him. Their h*ps danced until they found a rhythm. He couldn’t breathe. She felt so incredible.

And then she made a startling noise deep in her throat, halfway between a growl and a groan.

He completely forgot where he was when she let go of his neck and dropped back to the ground. He thought for an instant that she’d tell him to stop, but she didn’t.

Oh, no, she made a beeline for his belt buckle.

He let her. Then it occurred to him that he could go after the button on her jeans. It was kind of amazing just how quickly he was able to get it undone.

He was warm and willing, and Lark was completely into it when his hands made it under her waistband and hit her nak*d, and slightly chilly, butt.

She’d just gotten his belt undone, and she had to stop for an instant and simply soak up his touch. It was hot and crazy. He was hard everywhere. He smelled like a man. His beard rasped against her cheek, and she couldn’t get enough of it. She needed him more than she had ever needed anything or anyone.

Her greedy fingers unzipped his fly. She freed him. And when her hand found him in the dark, she spiraled right out of control. He was perfect. He was a fantasy. She wanted him. He wanted her.

Now.

She kicked off her jeans and wrapped her legs around him. She gave herself to him in the cold and the dark, with people all around them who were not paying attention to the naughty, sexy, crazy thing they were doing.

Oh, thank God, he didn’t stop to think. He’d packed away his provincial streak, and he just forged ahead, taking her in a mindless, deep, almost fated way. He filled her up, he completed her, he spoke with his body in a way that was utterly magic and so incredibly hot.

When the cli**x overtook Lark, and he tried to smother her urgent, mindless cries with his mouth, she understood the earth-shattering truth.

What she’d just shared with Stone Rhodes was hot and crazy. But it was also deep and mysterious. There was nothing casual about it.

Stone wanted to take her home. He wanted to sleep with her. He wanted to hold her and show her that he was not a big horny idiot who screwed women in public without any thought about protection or any other rational, adult consideration.

Damn. He needed to remember that this was supposed to be casual and temporary.

He buried his nose into the warm place at the nape of her neck and took a deep breath. His heart was still pounding, and the musky scent of sex filled his head.

How could he have behaved in such a rash, crazy, unforgivable way? He’d just had the most amazing sex in his life, but the guilt was starting to creep in from every side. It was truly annoying to discover that Lark had been right last night. He was old-fashioned.

What if he got her pregnant? He already had a terrible track record on that score. All of his children had been unplanned.

“Uh,” he said. “That was…”

She gave him a dozen kisses across his cheek and down his chin. “It was amazing.”

“It was…”

“Unplanned and hot as hell. And you loved every minute of it.” He heard the amusement in her voice. Was she teasing him?

“Uh, well, but, I’m—”

“Don’t.” She pressed her fingers across his lips. “Don’t apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. You were horny. And even so, you gave me incredible pleasure. It was really good.”

He didn’t respond to that. Taking a woman upside the trunk of a live oak didn’t square with his notion of what it took to be a great lover. Although thinking about the noises Lark made when she cli**xed sent a ripple of heat right through him.

He let her go, placing her back on her own two feet.

She ran her hands down over his still-trembling shoulders. “We better get our clothes in order before we get caught with our pants down,” she said. “Although the risk of getting caught is part of what makes it so much fun.”

“It would be embarrassing to get caught. I could lose my job,” Stone muttered as he took a step back and started arranging himself and tucking in his shirttail. Damn. He’d just had some great sex without actually taking off all his clothes. That was a first.

He watched as Lark put herself back together. She leaned up against the tree and began to sort out pant legs and panties. There was just enough light to get a glimpse of creamy skin on well-toned thighs. God, she must be freezing out here. He hadn’t even thought about that.

Another wave of guilt rumbled through him.

When they were both presentable, Lark wrapped her arms around his middle and gave him a big hug. “Don’t beat yourself up about this, Stone. It was fun. Just accept it for what it was.” She got up on tiptoes and kissed his chin.

“It’s getting late, and you must be cold,” he found himself saying. That wasn’t exactly what he wanted to say.

He wanted to take her someplace private. He wanted to get entirely nak*d with her. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to do a lot of other things, too.

But he couldn’t invite himself up to the Cut ’n Curl, and he wasn’t going to take her to the Peach Blossom Motor Court or the Magnolia Inn over in Allenberg. He’d already acted like a complete idiot, and he’d taken the worst kind of advantage of her.

He also understood the price they would both pay if anyone saw his truck parked someplace late at night where it wasn’t supposed to be. And besides, Momma had taken the girls Christmas shopping, and they would be home by ten-thirty at the very latest. Momma would expect him home. Having kids at home made what he’d just done impossibly complicated.

So he didn’t say what was on his mind. Instead he took her by the hand and walked her back into the light.

He delivered her safe and sound to the Cut ’n Curl twenty minutes later. And by the time Haley and Lizzy got home, their arms filled with shopping bags, he’d had enough time to throw his dirty jeans and stained shirt in the washer. He’d also taken a long, cold shower.

Chapter 17

David screwed up his courage and headed toward the kitchen. It was barely six in the morning, and he was starving. He’d been hiding out in his room for the last twelve hours, ever since Mom had unleashed World War III right in their living room last night.

Mom was furious at David for lying about being sick. She was even angrier about his black eyes and swollen nose, and the fact that he refused to tell her how he had acquired them.

She was sure that David had been lured out somewhere by Lizzy and beaten up by a bunch of anti-Semites. She was almost right.

She wanted to call the cops, except that the only cop in town just happened to be the father of the girl she disapproved of. David might have appreciated the irony of that, if he’d not been terrified by the way his family seemed to be unraveling. How could Mom think Lizzy and her father were anti-Semites? Somehow Mom’s concern transformed itself into resentment about everything. Mom was furious at Dad for having lost his job in Michigan. She was furious about having to move to South Carolina. And she was furious about a lot of other stuff that David didn’t even understand.

His parents had argued all night.

They had argued so intently that they had forgotten that David’s defiance had triggered the crisis, and they’d let him slink off to his room where he’d tossed and turned all night, listening to Robbie cry.

His life was a nightmare. But at least Lizzy Rhodes thought he was brave. That was something.

He crept around the corner of the dining room and headed toward the kitchen. And skidded to a stop.

Mom and Dad were sitting at the kitchen table. They looked horrible. They were drinking coffee. Dad looked up from his cup.

“David,” he said in a hoarse voice, “go wake up your brothers. Tell them they’ve got half an hour to pack their things.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Pack what you need in the way of clothes and any must-have toys. I’ll ship the rest when I get time.”

“We’re going back to Michigan,” Mom said.

“We are?”

“Well, you and Mom and your brothers are,” Dad said.

David stood there looking at his parents. This was not happening. Mom was not going to break up this family over something stupid like Michael Bennett. If she did that, then the bullies like Michael would win.

He turned away, his stomach churning, and his head pounding, and his nose hurting. What could he do? He was just a kid.

He headed back up the hallway and found Robbie standing there, his eyes round and bright. He’d obviously overheard. David put his arm around his little brother, and they both woke up Jonathan.

“We’ve got to do something,” Jonathan said. “Maybe if you told them where you were yesterday.”

David shook his head. “I don’t think that will change anything.”

“We could run away,” Robbie said.

“No, Robbie, that won’t work. It’s cold outside,” Jonathan said.

David stared at his littlest brother. “Well, maybe so, but it would delay things.”

“What?” Jonathan said.

“If I disappeared for the rest of the day, Mom couldn’t pack up the car and go back to Michigan. She’d have to stay. And maybe she and Dad would talk some more. And maybe they’d realize that we don’t want them to split up over something stupid like the fact that the synagogue is thirty miles away.”

“You’re going to run away?” Jonathan asked.

“No. I’m just going to disappear. You guys go back to bed and pretend to sleep. Give me fifteen minutes to get out of here.”

Jonathan looked at Robbie. “David, Robbie isn’t going to keep a secret.”

“Once I’m gone, I don’t care if Mom and Dad know that you guys were in on it.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m not going to tell you that. But I’ll be back. If no one finds me, I’ll be back by tomorrow.”

“You’re crazy. This isn’t going to stop Mom from moving back to Michigan.”

“Maybe not. But it’s the only thing I can think of on short notice.”

Lark woke up lonely.

She lay on her back in the narrow daybed, her hands behind her head, while she studied the antique tin ceiling above her. Her gaze traced the depressed circles and raised leaf motifs as morning gradually filled the two narrow windows with a watery gray light.

The room was all monochrome and sepia-colored. It perfectly reflected her mood.

She had no regrets about what happened last night. But she wasn’t going to kid herself about what it meant. It may not have felt all that casual to her, but she didn’t belong here in Last Chance. And Stone was rooted to this place. He had children and a family and a dead wife he still loved.

She had nothing, except a Pulitzer Prize, her cameras, and an appointment to be on a flight to Africa the day after tomorrow.

She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed everything out of her mind except for the memory of Stone’s body sliding against hers. Heat filled her. She wasn’t ever going to forget him. That was for damn sure. But she couldn’t stay here and have him.