Heaven Beside You (12 page)

“I must be crushing you,” he murmured.

“It’s all right.”

He rolled off her. Cass missed the weight of his body. She sat up, staring at a patch of wall. His silence worked under her skin like cold fingers of wind under her peacoat. Had he worked so hard for nothing? Behind her, the sheets rustled as he propped himself against the headboard. As he traced her spine, the calluses on his fingertips scraped her bare skin, making her shiver. That she could feel so good had her reeling. She wanted it again.

He probably didn’t. Was likely sorry he’d gotten involved with her in the first place.
Mediocre on a good day
, Michael had said. Had today at least been a good day?

“I’m sorry,” she offered. She pulled her knees against her chest and pressed her cheek against them, biting back tears. She’d offered herself to him like a groupie and hadn’t measured up.

“For what?” Jason asked, and tugged her hair.

“I’m not very experienced.”

He laughed. “Cassa
bella
, if you were any more generous and enthusiastic a lover, I’d be dead right now.”

When she peeked over her shoulder, he was smiling and sweaty. She twisted to face him. “Really?”

“Baby, you just about gave me heart failure, but if it had been my time, I would have died a happy man.” He pulled her against his chest, stroked her hair. “You must not be experienced, or some guy would have snatched you up a long time ago and locked you in his bedroom.”

Cass listened to his heartbeat. Beneath her ear, it hammered. Michael had always told her she was a boring lover. Could he have lied about that, too? She’d never slept with anyone but him before now. Of course, Jason could be lying, too. She was the only woman for miles and he was lonely. He could be thinking better this than nothing at all.

Fine. She was lonely, too. In two weeks he would go back to his fabulous life and she would stay here. End up a spinster or married to Finn Runningwater. For two weeks she could have great sex, and for the rest of her life she’d have great memories.

She moved her leg across his and pushed herself upright. “That good?”

“That good.”

“Mmmm.” She smiled. “Maybe you should give me another shot at that heart attack.”

He grinned back. “Now I know what you’re capable of. You won’t be able to spring anything on me.”

“So I’ll have to try harder next time.”

“I hate to disappoint you, but next time might take a while.”

Cass brushed her lips against his. “How long?”

“You making up for lost time?”

“Maybe.”

“How much?” He trailed his hand down her back, and the pulsing excitement low in her belly returned.

“Five years. You?”

Jason hesitated, and she wondered if she’d been too nosy. His lips thinned. “Two years,” he said.

Stella. Famous rock star Romeo had been solo since Stella. Cass traced her finger across his chest. His breaths shortened. “So what can I do to wipe out the memory of that gap?”

“You’re doing a good job right now.”

She leaned down and touched his now tense nipple with the tip of her tongue. He sucked a breath through his teeth. Cass felt herself speeding down hill. This was so wanton and wild seducing him this way, but she wanted him. Her whole body ached to have him inside her again. She played her hand across his hard stomach. He gasped and his penis stirred against her leg. He buried one hand in her hair. The other rested in the middle of her back. As she slipped her hand between his legs, testing his thickening flesh with her fingers, he groaned. He arched his head on the pillow, rolling his eyes closed.

“Cassandra,
bella
, you are a temptress.” He moaned.

“Thank you,” she told him, moved her hand across his belly, brushing the sleek skin covering his tight ab muscles. She’d never held a man in her thrall the way she held Jason now. He seemed unwilling to stop her, maybe even helpless, and when she scattered kisses on his chest, he quivered at her lightest touch.

His hand tightened against her back. He shifted toward her, trying to lay her back again, met her lips with hot urgency. She resisted, moved and straddled him. As she knelt across his body, he looked up at her with dark eyes. His gaze said he could wait and that he wanted her now. Slowly he moved his hands up her thighs, then curled them around her waist.

He filled her, hot, shocking, deliciously, as she impaled herself on him. She rocked against him, absorbed him deeper into herself. Jason sat up, pressed his face between her breasts. The deep-throated sounds coming from him vibrated through her chest. She let her head loll. Her hair hung down her back and across her buttocks.

Jason took one of her nipples in his mouth again. He matched her rhythm with the sweet tug of his lips. The sensation spiraled away from her, sweeping her down and lifting her up at the same time. With every shuddering sensation, she rocked against him harder. She pulled his face up to meet hers, dipped her tongue into his mouth, and explored every hot secret place, wrenching his ecstatic groans into herself. Their sweat-slicked bellies rubbed together. She was suspended on the cusp of climax. He had to feel the same way. Tight and aching. She dug her fingers into his hair, holding him close to her. Hands curved around her buttocks, he clenched her against him, faster and harder.

He shuddered.

Like a lightning strike this time, the climax hit her then sent ribbons of electricity through her. She shuddered and cried out, lost to the sensation.

When she came back to herself, she lay across his chest. She didn’t remember lying down or curling her arms around his neck.

Chuckling, he held her close. “And I thought I knew what was up with you. If you had unleashed all that on me the first time, you really might have killed me.” He kissed the top of her head.

She giggled. Every fiber of her hummed with passion, but her eyes wanted to close. As he settled the blanket over them, he shifted her so she wasn’t resting on him, but still lay tangled around him.

“Rest, my little sex fiend. You worked hard today.” He kissed her head.

“Will you be here when I wake up?” What if he slipped away while she slept? He could have his car packed and be gone before she woke up.

“I will, I promise. I have two weeks before I need to go back to the real world.” He cuddled her closer. “And you’re too good to let go any sooner than I have to.”

Eyes closed, she let the world slip away. She could only hope, if he did sneak away while she slept, that this would be enough.

* * * *

When she opened her eyes, the setting sun washed the room in shadows and gold. Jason lay wrapped around her, sleeping. They’d missed lunch, but she’d thrown something into the Crock-Pot for dinner before going out to cut down the tree.

The tree, which still blocked the road.

She eased out of his arms. In sleep, he looked younger. Less worn. Sitting beside him, she studied his face. She hadn’t realized how tense he’d seemed before. There were hundreds of pictures of him under her bed, but somehow, when he was on her doorstep, she’d forgotten what he looked like. He’d said it had been two years. Could he really have been alone since he and Stella broke up? Was there more to this story? Did she have any right to know?

She stood up. Probably not. She unhooked her sweatshirt from the window crank and folded it up. Different clothes and a shower were in order. She still felt sticky and slick from their passion. Never once when she’d had sex with Michael had she been so sweaty. In fact, she didn’t remember ever breaking a significant sweat with her ex-husband.

She stepped under the warm water and washed off quickly so she didn’t wake Jason or use all the hot water. When she turned off the shower, the cold air pebbled her skin.

God. She’d just slept with a man on the first date.

Maybe second date. They’d had dinner together two days ago and lunch yesterday. That might count as two dates. Three, if each day counted.

Either way, she’d never been that kind of girl, even if he was a famous, sexy rock star. Cass toweled off. She was the kind of girl who ended up a spinster on the side of a West Virginia mountain. No one would ever know in town. It wasn’t their business. Well, Paul would know because he was nearly psychic about these things, better than her mother. But without confirmation, he would settle for significant looks and a nice chocolate mousse when Jason left town and wouldn’t breathe a word to the populace. He knew he was a blabbermouth, and if somebody didn’t tell him something, even if he’d guessed, he wouldn’t speculate out loud.

She didn’t plan on giving him confirmation.

Passing the bedroom door, she looked in on Jason. He’d burrowed under the covers and lay with her pillow in his arms. She doubted he even realized she had gotten up.

He hadn’t left, she realized with a start. She’d been convinced when she’d fallen asleep that he would be gone when she woke up. But there he was curled up in the middle of her bed, sleeping.
Too good to let go of any sooner than he had to
, he’d said. Maybe he’d been telling the truth. Possibly, she would get her two weeks of bliss before her normal life came back to roost.

She checked the Crock-Pot. Dinner should be ready in about an hour. Taking several leftover dinner rolls out of the freezer, she set them on the stove to thaw. She still felt warm and languorous from Jason’s touch. All her joints were loose and everything had a hazy, rosy tint.

She hurried down the basement stairs. In the root cellar she had apple butter she’d made last fall as well as some cherry pie filling. Growing up, she’d always sworn she’d never have a root cellar, but here she had the best stocked one in town because she couldn’t rely on getting to a store all the time. She could be trapped up here for a month without running out of food. Cradling a jar of cherry pie filling and the apple butter, she ran back up the stairs.

The phone rang as she walked into the kitchen. “Hello?” she answered it.

“Cassie, I just got your letter. Are you serious?” Gretta demanded.

“Totally.”

“Oh God, I hate you. Did you— Have you—”

“Yes.”

“I really do hate you. What happened? What was it like?”

“He’s here now.”

“So you can’t talk.” Gretta whined. “Okay, call if you need me. This is so exciting. My best friend sleeping with Jason Callisto.”

“’Bye, Gretta.”

“’Bye.”

Cass hung up the phone and turned to the pie she’d decided to make, hoping she wouldn’t need Gretta. She didn’t want this to end with the washed-out bridge and the sobbing long distance phone calls. Was a fond farewell and sweet memories too much to hope for?

As she was rolling out the crust, Jason slipped his hands around her waist. “You weren’t in bed when I woke up,” he murmured, kissing her neck.

“I thought you might like to eat some dinner at some point.”

“Dinner?”

Cass felt him looking around the kitchen. The Crock-Pot on the counter, the rolls on the oven, apple butter beside them. The pie shell she was laying in the tin. She trimmed the extra crust and debated rolling out a lattice top. It would be showing off and he probably wouldn’t notice the difference, but she would know. She knew too much. Like right now, he wasn’t wearing a shirt. And she thought she could get him back into bed if she wanted to. Would he notice when she turned down the Crock-Pot so it wouldn’t overcook while she seduced him again?

“Wow, looks like you have something special planned.”

“Not really. I put the chicken a la King on for myself before I went out to cut down the tree. I got out extra rolls because I thought you might be hungry since we slept through lunch. The apple butter was in the root cellar, and when I went to get it, I saw the cherry pie filling and thought it might taste good.” She laid the crust over the pie. Judging by his tone, he was impressed already. She pinched the crust closed and turned in his arms. Yup, no shirt and barefoot. He’d pulled on a pair of jeans, and that looked to be about it. She brushed her fingers down his chest. “Does that sound special?”

“Everything about you sounds special.” He leaned down and kissed her.

Cass’s body went limp as an overcooked noodle. As he pulled her tighter, lifting her off the floor, she reached behind her and shoved the pie back then stroked across the soft skin of his shoulders. Groaning, he settled her on the counter. Her legs seemed inclined to wrap around his waist.

“Too many clothes,” he muttered, opening the buttons of her flannel shirt. “Could you arrange to be naked for the rest of the trip?”

“Maybe, but it means that you’ll have to go get more firewood.”

He chuckled, which made the hair on the back of her neck rise. She shivered. “I can’t keep you warm enough?”

“Would you like to try?” she challenged. She looked down at him, watching his eyes grow dark. Instead of answering, he put his hand behind her neck and kissed her hard. Cass tightened her legs around him and he groaned. He hardened against her, and reached under her shirt and unhooked her bra. Then he pushed her shirt and bra off her shoulders. Cass gasped. He took one of her nipples between his lips. Tangling her hands through his hair, she leaned her cheek on the top of his head. Her hair hung around them like a curtain. She hadn’t thought she could be hungry for him again so soon, but she was. She ran her hands down his back.

“Oh God, I have to stop,” Jason muttered. He leaned his head between her breasts.

Tension thrummed in her like a high power wire. “Why?”

“I don’t have another condom.” He panted. “My God, you are tempting.”

“What do we need a condom for?” She lifted his head so she could see his eyes. They were so deep and dark.

“Are you on birth control?”

“No.”

He put his hands over hers. “That’s why we need a condom. I can’t leave you pregnant.”

The window hadn’t blown open just then, so this chill was all hers. All the ardor she’d felt a minute ago, drained away.
I can’t leave you pregnant.
She’d moved past a little racy and into flagrantly irresponsible, and of all people, Jason was being the responsible one. So much for his love ’em and leave ’em reputation. But then, paternity suits could get expensive.