Home to Wickham Falls, page 13
“I think I’m going to enjoy sharing date night with you. Soft lighting, music, flowers. How very romantic,” Jessica crooned.
Sawyer pulled her into a close embrace and rested his chin on the top of her head. “That’s because you deserve to wined and dined. Come with me to the kitchen where we can begin our date night with a toast.”
She sat on the stool at the cooking island watching Sawyer as he expertly uncorked a bottle of rosé and filled two wineglasses with the pale pink liquid. “Are you certain you don’t want me to help you?” Jessica had to ask even though he appeared to have everything under control. To go along with the asparagus there was a platter of marinated lamb rib chops with minced garlic, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, drizzled with olive oil. She couldn’t believe he’d put dinner together so quickly.
He glanced up, giving her a quick smile. “Thanks, but no thanks.” He handed her one of the flutes. “For friendship and beyond.”
Jessica touched her glass to his. “For friendship,” she repeated. “Are you certain you weren’t a short-order cook in another life?” she teased.
“Very certain. When I called in the grocery order I had the guy in the deli department season the meat and wrap the asparagus. They had all the ingredients for the antipasto on hand, so that saved time.”
Her gaze shifted to the platter of cold seafood. “You like to cook.” Her question was a statement.
Sawyer met her eyes. “I like experimenting with different dishes. I don’t think I’ll ever be as good as you, but I try.”
Resting an elbow on the countertop, Jessica cradled her chin on the heel of one hand. “I admire a man who doesn’t have to rely on a woman or women to take care of him.”
His smile vanished, replaced by a frown. “Men who rely on women to take care of them aren’t what I think of as grown men.”
Her eyebrows lifted slightly. “What are they?”
“Parasites.”
“That’s a really strong word.”
“There are a few other adjectives I could use, but I’m trying to stop cussing around you. Unless a man is physically, mentally or emotionally unable to care for himself, then he shouldn’t look for a woman to give what he needs to survive day to day. For example if we were married, then you’d never have to worry about my not taking care of you financially or emotionally. And the same would go for our children.”
Jessica’s fingers tightened around the stem of the glass. She forced a smile that did not reach her eyes. “You haven’t proposed marriage, nor have we slept together, and you have us married with children.”
Raising his glass, Sawyer leaned closer. “If I did propose, could you see yourself becoming my wife?”
She took a sip of wine, holding it in her mouth before letting it slide down her throat. “You’re crazy, Sawyer!”
A slow smile parted his firm lips. “Am I, Jessica?” He put the glass to his mouth and took a deep swallow before setting it down. Resting both elbows on the countertop, he gave her a long, penetrating stare. “I don’t think so. I’m not a novice when it comes to women. I don’t know what there is about you, but you...you tug at my heart.” Rounding the cooking island, Sawyer gently eased her off the stool and into his arms. He caught her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. “Do you have any idea of who you are? You’re intelligent, beautiful,” he continued, not giving her a chance to answer his question, “hypnotically sexy and undeniably feminine.”
A slight frown furrowed her forehead. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve watched you interact with my family and your friends and I keep telling myself you can’t be that patient or generous.”
“You make it sound as if I’m perfect, Sawyer.”
Lowering his head, he pressed his mouth to her parted lips. “Perfect for me.”
Jessica’s fingers circled his wrists, holding him fast. “That’s called infatuation. In other words, your hormones are going into overdrive.”
“It’s more than that, Jess. If it were hormones then I never would’ve invited you to stay with me. Women I sleep with never stay beyond one night.”
Jessica found she couldn’t think straight with him being so close. Her gaze lingered on his mouth. “Is it,” she whispered, “that I’m different from the others?”
He slowly shook his head. “No, babe. You are the exception, because you’re nothing like them. In other words, you are very, very special to me. Does that surprise you?”
A smile trembled over her parted lips as she eased out of his loose embrace and took another sip of wine, her eyes meeting Sawyer’s over the rim.
Since she met Sawyer it was as if Gregory had never existed. Sawyer was mature, forthcoming and confident—qualities she admired in a man. But then, it wasn’t fair for her to compare a twenty-year-old college student to a successful thirty-three-year-old entrepreneur.
“No, it doesn’t, because you’re very special to me.”
Over dinner, Jessica and Sawyer talked about movies they had given thumb’s up or down as nightfall shrouded the island of Manhattan.
Jessica touched the napkin to the corners of her mouth before placing it beside her plate. “That was delicious.” She hadn’t lied. The lamb chops and asparagus were perfectly broiled.
“What do you want to eat tomorrow?” Sawyer asked.
She pressed her hand against her middle. “I’m as full as a tick and you’re already asking me about tomorrow. It seems as if every time we’re together we eat.”
His smile faded at the same time his lids came down as if to conceal his innermost thoughts from her. “I can think of other things we can do together that have nothing to do with eating.”
Jessica’s pulse quickened when he glanced up at her after a pregnant silence. “Are you referring to us making love to each other?”
Sawyer flashed a tender smile. “No, babe. I wasn’t thinking of that, even though it has crossed my mind on a few occasions.”
She felt an invisible wire pulling them closer, binding them together until they’d become one. “What do you have in mind?”
“I want to take you away to a private island for a couple of weeks where we can live like hedonists and the only people we’ll see will be a valet, a personal chef and a masseur because I know how much you detest crowds when vacationing.”
“That’s sounds very tempting.” Jessica had viewed travel programs featuring private islands and she’d found herself living vicariously through the host.
“Say yes and I’ll make it happen.”
Jessica exhaled an audible breath. “It’s too late for that to happen this summer because I’m not certain exactly when Taryn’s coming down. She says she’ll probably spend about a week with me. After she leaves I have to prepare for the new school year.”
Sawyer ran his forefinger down the length of her nose before pressing his thumb to her parted lips. “What about the Christmas recess? It would be the perfect time for you to get away from the cold weather.” He stood up and began clearing the table.
“What are you? A genie granting wishes?”
“Wrong, beautiful. This time you didn’t ask me to take you anywhere. You going away with me to a private island has been my fantasy from the first time I laid eyes on you. I didn’t know what I truly wanted in a woman until I met you.”
A hint of a smile trembled over her lips. “You’re really laying it on thick, aren’t you?” she said cynically.
Sawyer’s expression changed, becoming a mask of stone. “You really think I’m pissing against the wind.”
“You don’t have to put it so bluntly.”
He glared at her. “I could’ve said a lot more things a little more raw for your delicate ears, princess,” he spat out angrily. “Do you want to hear them?”
“No, thank you,” she retorted. “I think we better change the subject before we both say something we’ll regret.” They stared at each other, neither willing to yield while Jessica realized the man with whom she’d found herself falling in love was just as stubborn as or even more obstinate than she.
She was the first to break the stalemate when she said, “Come dance with me.” It was the first night they would spend together and she did not want to begin it arguing over minutiae. Her invitation to dance together dissolved the chill between them as Sawyer bowed gracefully, reached for her hand and led her into the living room.
He pulled her into a close embrace as they danced to the melodious voice of Sam Smith singing “Stay with Me.” The heartfelt lyrics tugged at her heart as she struggled not to let the tears filling her eyes fall.
“Sawyer.”
“What is it, babe?”
Jessica’s heart beat like a trip-hammer against her ribs. “I need you.”
He stopped in midstep. “How?”
She inhaled a breath and then let it out slowly at the same time his moist breath feathered over her forehead. “I... I need you to make love to me.” The words that lay in her heart were out and she couldn’t retract them.
His hands moved up, cradling her face. “Are you certain that’s what you want?”
The seconds ticked off as she struggled to keep her knees from shaking. “Very certain.”
Her hands came up, covering his. Desire coursed through her body, settling in her breasts and downward to her core. Jessica smothered a gasp when she felt Sawyer’s erection against her thighs.
The two words were barely off her tongue when Sawyer swept her up in his arms, carrying her to the staircase. He took the stairs two at a time, long strides covering the distance from the living room to his bedroom in under a minute. He had not bothered to close the wall-to-wall drapes and the light of a full moon cast an eerie glow over the king-sized bed.
He placed her on the bed, his body following hers down, and she was certain he could hear the runaway beating of her heart against his chest. Sawyer pressed his face to the column of her neck. “If there’s something you don’t want me to do, then you must tell me.”
Jessica wanted to tell him to stop talking and make love to her. She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe deeply and slowly as Sawyer undressed her, his hands moving seemingly in slow motion. He began with her shoes, dress and bra, and then stopped when it came to removing her bikini panties.
Sawyer slipped off the bed, the whisper of fabric grazing his skin as he undressed. Sounds were magnified when he opened a drawer in the bedside table. Seconds later she recognized the sound of a condom packet being opened. How could she have forgotten about protection when Sawyer had verbalized he wasn’t ready to become a father any more than she wanted an unplanned pregnancy?
He returned to the bed, the heat of his muscled physique enveloping her as he relieved her of the delicate scrap of silk concealing her nakedness. Jessica hadn’t realized that she was holding her breath until after he pulled her into a tender embrace where her nude body touched his and made her blatantly aware of the differences.
“Sawyer?”
“Yes, babe?”
“You’re going to have to show me how to please you.”
Sawyer pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You don’t have to do anything. You please me just by existing.”
That was not what she meant, but he didn’t give her the opportunity to explain herself as he took possession of her mouth in a slow, drugging kiss that produced a rush of moisture between her thighs. His mouth moved lower, to her breasts, and she was lost in a maelstrom of desire that completely shattered her dammed-up sexuality.
Waves of passion shook Jessica until she couldn’t stop her legs from shaking. Sawyer suckled her breasts, worshipping them, and the moans she sought to suppress escaped her parted lips. His tongue circled her nipples, leaving them hard, erect and throbbing, his teeth tightening on the turgid tips at the same time she felt a violent spasm grip her womb.
“Sawyer!” His name exploded from her mouth as he inched down her body, holding her hips firmly. Shock supplanted passion once Jessica realized where he’d buried his face. His hot breath seared the moist curls, and she went limp, unable to protest further or think of anything except the pleasure her lover offered her. She registered a series of breathless sighs, not realizing they were her own moans of physical satisfaction. Eyes closed, head thrown back, lips parted, back arched, she reveled in the sensations that took her beyond herself. Then it began, rippling little tremors increasing and becoming more volatile as they sought to escape.
Sawyer heard Jessica’s breathing come in long, surrendering moans, and he quickly moved up her trembling limbs and eased his erection inside her at the same time he felt a slight resistance. “I’m hurting you?”
“Not enough for you to stop. Please, Sawyer, don’t leave me like this.”
He gritted his teeth as he eased his penis inside her, inch by agonizing inch, until he was buried up to the root in the hot, moist, tight flesh pulsing around his own. He began moving in a slow, measured rhythm wherein they were in perfect harmony with each other. Reaching down, he cupped her hips in his hands, lifting her higher and permitting deeper penetration. Jessica assisted him, increasing her own pleasure when she wound her legs around his waist.
Sawyer’s heat, hardness and carnal sensuality had awakened the dormant sexuality of her body and Jessica responded to the seduction of his passion as hers rose higher and higher until it exploded in an awesome, vibrating liquid fire, scorching her mind and leaving her convulsing in ecstasy. She had not returned from her own free-fall flight when she heard Sawyer’s groan of satisfaction against her ear as he quickened his movements and then collapsed heavily on her body. They lay motionless, savoring the aftermath of a shared, sweet fulfillment.
He reversed their positions, bringing her with him until she lay sprawled over his body, her legs resting between his. “Are you certain I didn’t hurt you, sweetheart?”
“No,” she drawled, placing tiny kisses on his throat and over his shoulder.
“I know you—”
Jessica stopped his words when she placed her fingertips over his lips. “I’m all right, Sawyer.”
“Is there anything I did you didn’t like?”
She hesitated. “No.”
After the initial shock had faded when Sawyer put his face between her legs, Jessica felt as if she was lifted outside of herself and transported to a place where she had never been. Waves of ecstasy had throbbed through her, rendering her as helpless as a newborn. Sawyer wasn’t merely filling a physical need, he’d managed to tear down the wall she had put up not to trust a man.
Sawyer breathed a kiss over her ear. “I’m glad, because I love making love with you.”
* * *
His right hand moved over her bare hip, caressing the silken flesh. Jessica had no idea how sensuous her voice sounded in the dark. He drew a deep breath and luxuriated in the intoxicating fragrance of her perfume stamped on his flesh like a permanent tattoo.
Closing his eyes, Sawyer tightened his hold on her slender body. He was in love with Jessica. He didn’t know when it happened, but he had fallen inexorably in love with her. And now that she was a part of his existence, he had no intention of letting her walk out of his life.
“I have to get up,” he whispered softly, “and get rid of the condom. Try not to run away.”
Jessica’s sensual laugh filled the bedroom. “I’ll be here when you come back, because I’m not good at a one-night stand.”
Reversing their positions again he kissed her passionately. “Love you.”
It wasn’t until he stood in the bathroom staring at his reflection in the mirror that Sawyer recalled he had admitted to Jessica that he loved her. Although spoken glibly, the admission had come from his heart. He returned to the bed, slipping in beside Jessica and pulling her against his body. They lay together like spoons before both succumbed to a comforting sleep of sated lovers.
* * *
Turning on her right side, Jessica inhaled the lingering scent of her lover’s aftershave. The imprint of his head was still visible on the pillow next to hers. Somehow he had gotten out of bed without waking her. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was Sawyer’s admission that he loved her. Had he said it because he really did love her, or it was what he thought she wanted to hear after their making love with each other? Jessica closed her eyes, chiding herself from attempting to overanalyze what she had shared with Sawyer. Why, she thought, couldn’t she just let everything unfold naturally and enjoy their time together?
She opened her eyes and peered at the clock on the bedside table. It was minutes before seven. It was past time she took Bootsy out for his morning walk.
Galvanized into action, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Ever mindful of her nakedness despite sharing her body with Sawyer, she peered down the hallway and, finding it empty, sprinted to her bedroom. She had to shower, dress and take care of Bootsy.
Twenty minutes later Jessica descended the staircase and walked into the kitchen. The door to the pantry stood open and when she glanced in she found Bootsy’s crate empty and his bowls filled with fresh food and water. She turned and saw the note attached to the refrigerator door with a computer-mouse magnet. Sawyer and Bootsy had gone out for a walk.
She retraced her steps and returned to the bedroom to make up the bed. If she’d had any uncertainty about falling in love with Sawyer it had fled after their lovemaking as she recalled the smoldering passion that made her want him even now. She was in love and had fallen in love with a man who made her laugh, feel ultrafeminine and look forward to spending as much time with him as possible before he left Wickham Falls at the end of the summer.
