Forgiving Patience (32 page)

* * * *

“Anna, baby,
shhh
…
I’m here. It’s okay,” Jake soothed.

Anna’s body lay curled up in a ball,
gripping her blankets up tight around her neck. She looked helpless—and
terrified. And that didn’t settle well with him. Whatever dream she was having
had her screaming and trembling in his arms.

After slipping off his shoes and
pulling back the covers, he crawled into bed with her. Wrapping her in his
arms, he just held her close, tucking her head safely beneath his chin. It was
all he knew to do. No words were said. He just rubbed the small of her back,
doing nothing but letting her cry it out.

Only when her tears had ceased did he
use a crooked finger to tilt her chin up and her head back so he could see her
face. Using his thumbs, he wiped the dampness from her cheeks. “You okay,
baby?”

She hiccupped against his chest.
“Yeah.”

“You want to talk about it?”

She blinked away lingering tears.
“Not really.”

“I think you should. It might make
you feel better.”

“It was nothing.”

“Anna, come on. You were screaming
when I walked in. I wouldn’t call that nothing.” He also wanted to tell her it
wasn’t safe to go to sleep with the door unlocked. But that was a talk for
later. Right now she needed him for comfort. Much like she had after the
bachelorette party.

And what did she mean—nothing? She
had scared the shit of him.

When he was about to knock on the
door he’d heard a scream, followed by the sound of crying out in pain. With no
hesitation, he rushed through the door to find Anna using her blankets as a
shield. A shield to ward off whatever she was dreaming about. What terrified
her?

When she said nothing, he cursed
himself for pressuring her. He was such an ass when it came to things that
mattered.

She looked up at him and their gazes
collided. “Jake,” she whispered between breaths.

All was quiet except for the night
birds calling to one another and the crickets chirping—and her irregular
breathing. He could feel her chest rise and fall with every breath.

“Yeah, baby?”

She kissed him hard. He didn’t know
if it was wrong to kiss a woman who had just been terrified of whatever it was
that haunted her at night, but he couldn’t control himself. His tongue slipped
between her wet lips and explored her mouth. Climbing onto his lap, she
straddled him, wrapping both arms around his neck. She continued to kiss him
urgently. Like it was the last kiss she was ever going to have. He lowered his
hands to her ass, pressing her core against the hard-on straining behind his
zipper. She let out a soft moan at the connection.

There was only a thin pair of panties
separating him from her moisture. Even though he wanted inside her, this was
not about him. It hit him that she needed to feel in control tonight. And he
was going to let her run this show and do as she pleased.

Pulling back, she lifted her shirt
over her head. Fuck, yeah. He didn’t know if he was more excited to see the
damn Yankees shirt she always seemed to wear gone, or because he was going to
see all of her—probably the latter. Her hair fell down to her shoulders. He
swept it back with his hand and nibbled at her neck. With her head dropping to
the side in pleasure, she purred, “
Ohhh
…”

He ran kisses from her neck down to
her chest. Her breath was nothing more than an irregular noise in her throat
when he lightly pinched one nipple to a peak. This time it was he who let out a
gasp. God—he needed this woman. This was the only woman he’d ever wanted. If it
was up to him, she would be the last woman he would ever have. In his mind, she
was already his.

She reached under his shirt, laying
trembling hands on his warm chest. Her eyes never left his. He explored those
sparkling green orbs. Desire, passion…and maybe a little hope shone through.

He loved this woman. He really loved
this woman.

He kissed her more softly this time,
but she wasn’t having it. She seemed to want it hard and fast. He matched her
step-for-step, not letting up. Under his shirt, Anna’s fingers were eagerly
exploring.

“Damn, woman,” he cursed in between
kisses.

Pulling his shirt over his head, she
threw it to the floor.

He tried rolling on top of her, but
she stopped him. Pinning him down, she started running light, feathery kisses
down his chest. Circling one nipple with her tongue, she continued to run her
fingers down his chest. Still exploring every ripple.

With his palm, he rubbed the inside
of her thigh. As she moaned inside his mouth, he caught the sound, and that was
all the reassurance he needed. When he moved his hand slightly upward to the
thin piece of cotton, she arched her back. Skimming his fingers over her heat,
he let out a hot groan that echoed from his chest. Just touching her was
turning him on. If this kept up, he wasn’t going to be able to hold on much
longer. And God, he wanted to hold on. He wanted to feel everything there was
to feel about this woman. His woman.

Making her wait for her pleasure was
his first thought, but he decided against it. Call him selfish, but he needed
this just as badly as she.

He pulled aside the fabric and found
what he’d been seeking.

Heat…moisture…
Aah
…She
moved against his fingers and cried out, “
Awww
…Jake…please
don’t stop touching me. Not ever.”

“Not a chance in hell, baby,” he
groaned.

Her hands left his chest and reached
down to his jeans. After she unbuttoned them, his erection sprung free into her
hands. She stared…waited a moment, and then started to massage him in the same
motions he was using between her thighs. God, yes. He started to position her
the way he wanted her, but she took control and put a hand on his chest, as if
to signal for him not to move. She kept stroking up until his hips started to
rise from the mattress.

“Anna, you’d better stop or this is
going to be over way too quickly,” he rasped.

“We can’t have that, now can we?” She
removed her hand and locked her gaze on him.

With only the light from the moon and
from the side lamp on the table near the door, he could study every perfect
line on her face. When she was in deep thought, she got one line that ran
across her forehead, but at that moment no line appeared. Through heavy lashes,
he could see passion deep in her eyes. She was the pure example of love.

“Anna, I want to taste you. I want to
bury my face between your sexy thighs and feast on you. I wanted to last night,
but things seemed to move too fast.”

Every part of her body went tense.
When she only stared at him in response, he became confused. Had she ever had a
man pleasure her that way? He didn’t want to think about any man being there,
but knew it was a possibility. But then again the way her body reacted at the
mention of it, he doubted she’d ever allowed another man the privilege.

“I want you inside me,” she answered.

“I want that too. But I also want to
do other things to you.”

“Please, Jake.

He wanted her ‘please, Jake’ to mean
she wanted him to have her in every way possible. But that wasn’t what she
meant. He could tell there was more, but he couldn’t go into it right then. He
needed her any way he could have her at the moment. His burying himself between
her legs would come later.

He helped draw her panties down and
positioned her on top of his cock, pressing her hips firmly downward. Even
though he knew it might not be smart, he didn’t bother with using a condom this
time. And judging by her soft expression, she wasn’t too worried about it
either. It was pure pleasure to be sheathed by her warm moisture. This is where
he wanted to be. He wanted to be this way with her forever…or for as long as she
allowed him to be.

And he prayed it would be forever.

It wasn’t that long ago since he had
been with her. But it seemed a hell of a lot longer.

He pounded his hips upward until he
filled her completely. Slowly at first, but when she met his every thrust, he
knew she was okay. He relished the fact that she was so very ready for him. She
kissed him deeper, causing him to press his tongue into her mouth.

She rose up to peer into his eyes,
and he couldn’t think of a more beautiful sight. They moved together as if
they’d been doing this for years. Both seemed to know each other’s bodies well.
He admired her perfect, round breasts and molded his hands to them, teasing one
taut nipple until she cried out.

“God, Jake. I need this…I need you.”

“I need you too.”

Rolling them over, with no objection
from Anna, he lay on top of her—still buried deep into her warmth. He pulled
back just enough, their pelvises still connected. But he wanted to see her. All
of her. He wanted to take pleasure in the way she closed her eyes and took each
one of his thrusts.

There was so much that needed to be
said and cleared up. He needed to tell her how everything had gone down eleven
years ago. He needed to say that he loved her and had
always
loved her. When he’d said those
words back when they were stupid teenagers—he’d meant them. He was reckless,
sometimes a jackass, and a man who had been lost for the past two years, but he
loved her. That he was sure of. He just hoped she felt the same way, and that
she would take him the way he was, and with the mistakes he had made.

He was no prize catch, probably never
was, but he liked to think his mom had raised him to be a stand-up guy.

“Oh God…,” she whimpered. “Ahhh…Jake.”

And he was right there with her.
“Fuck. I’m about to come, sweetness.”

Another stream of curses escaped his
lips as he was on the edge of pure bliss. He pounded as slowly as he could will
himself to until he exploded. Then he plunged deep inside her slickness and
took pride in the fact that he left a part of himself with her. He became a
little lightheaded and spent.

Wrapping both arms around his neck,
Anna held him close.

The only sounds were the heavy
breaths of the two lovers.

* * * *

“Georgia, I’m so glad I ran into you.
We still on for tomorrow?”

The bubbly woman was situated behind
her secretary desk typing on her computer. Today she wore a pink sundress
paired with—what Anna only guessed, because she couldn’t see them—
Keds
. Her sleek blond hair hung just above her shoulders.

“Of course. Unless you have another
date?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

“Don’t be silly. Everyone knows how
you and Jake Lawrence have been seeing a lot of each other. Not to mention I
see his truck parked there every morning when I get to work. I can only guess
it was left there from the night before.”

Crap. She hadn’t even thought about
Georgia and Garrett being able to see Jake’s truck. What was the entire town
saying about them? She guessed it fell into the juicy column. Before too long
they would be on the cover of the
Patience Gazette
. The headline would read,
Two
Lovers Reunited.

“Oh. I guess you noticed that?”

“Girl, everyone has noticed. Personally,
I think it’s romantic. Obviously, I wasn’t around back when you two were in
love, but it makes for a good story. Two lovers who have found their way back
to each other.”

Speaking a little too quickly, Anna
said, “We’re not back together.”

“So it’s just sex?”

“No.”

She didn’t exactly know what it was.

“I apologize. I guess I’m being just
a lot nosy. Sometimes you just have to tell me to shut up.”

Anna liked Georgia. She was sweet and
had an unbiased look at the world. She saw things as they were and didn’t try
to hide what she was feeling. It was refreshing.

“You’re fine. I just don’t know
what’s going on right now. Men are confusing, if you know what I mean.”

Anna wondered if Georgia had a man.
She had seen her bid on and win Garrett, but didn’t know, or was too busy to
know, if anything had come of it. She wasn’t sure whether she should ask, so
she decided against it. While Georgia didn’t mind asking the hard questions,
Anna didn’t want to be nosy. But she didn’t mind listening to Georgia if the time
ever came that she needed someone to talk to.

“Yes, I do. If you ask me, I think
they like toying with us women.”

Speaking the truth, Anna said, “I’ve
thought the same thing. So, about the wedding…if you want, you can meet me here
around four. The wedding isn’t until six, but as maid-of-honor I need to get
there a little early.”

“That sounds good. Besides, I’ve been
looking forward to riding in your car.”

Not sure why, Anna offered, “You can
drive it, if you want.”

Completely stunned, Georgia’s already
cheerful spirit turned up several notches. Anna wished she had the same
innocence, so that the simplest things brought such joy into her life. “Are you
sure?”