Sidewalk Flower (11 page)

He swept a hand over the area where he
intended to lay her down and decided it felt too much like an ice pack to be
soothing.
 
He moved the sheet and blanket
back into place, feeling her body weight deepen into his hold.
 
Her face scrunched into the cutest frown so
he explained, “It hasn’t had the heat of any bodies in it yet to knock off the
chill.”
 

Trista’s mouth settled in an “oh”.
 
She must be thinking the same as him after
what he’d just said.
 
Best I hold you while we
lay
down and warm it up
.
 
Her tiring eyes
were on him as he stood there with her at the edge of the cold bed; through all
the past few days’ bravado, she looked weary now.
 
Keeping his priorities straight with such sad
and deep eyes touching his heart was going to require a strength he prayed he
had.
 
Promises to Jaxon, focus needed for
his upcoming business negotiations, promises he’d made to himself, not to
mention God and Gramma Grace—none of them felt as important as helping this
hurt young woman right now.
 
She reached
for his hand and he realized he’d do whatever he could then answer to everyone
else later.
 
He watched her watch him, as
he slid down onto the mattress, making like a shield to the ice for her.

* * * *

Lucky’s dark jeans held tenderly low to
those narrow hips of his she’d dreamed of tasting earlier as he lay down.
 

Was he okay?
 

She was exhausted but didn’t feel faint
or hallucinatory.
 
It took a ton of will
to pull her eyes from the captivating way his belly button peeked out from the
comforter pulled up to just below his waist.
 

For a split second she considered the
couch.
 
Then the spot
beside him.
 
Then
the couch.
 

“Trista?”
 
He pulled her hand so that her will-less body
had no choice but to follow.
 
She
conservatively sat down at his side, still unsure of what he was willing to do,
and then he spoke again.
 
“You know, I’ve
never met a woman with your confidence.
 
Your feelings don’t get hurt very easily and the way you tease me, it’s
refreshing.
 
You’re not
fake
—”
 

“You’re being way too nice, Lucky,” she
managed to let out in a husky, breathy voice.
 
She slid the hand bearing most of her weight under the covers until she
felt his warm side.
 

“No, I know you’re not perfect.
 
None of us are, but I want you to know I’m
glad you’re showing me the real you.”
 
He
touched her face gently but it scorched her all the same.
 
“Come here, lay down with me.”
 

Surely she was dehydrated and in need
of
water.
 
But no, he
really had just scooted over and made sure the area he’d been laying on had
warmed enough for her.
 
A true invitation to join him in the bed.

She waited for a moment, memorizing the
way he looked at her.
 
Sincere and kind,
his turquoise blue eyes
stayed
 
locked
on her.
 

Out of habit, she slipped her dress over
her head.
 
His head fell back into the
pillow just enough to elongate his thick neck and scrumptious throat when she
realized she was standing in front of him in nothing but her bra and
panties.
 
She let the dress fall to the
floor alongside Lucky’s shirt then slowly climbed in beside him, feeling sexy
and feminine under his gaze.
 
She
instantly enjoyed his warmth and he smiled, covering her all the way up to her
neck with the comforter.
 

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi, darlin’.”

Lucky held her face in his two capable
hands as they lay side by side.
 

While she wished for his kiss, wonder
filled her at the way he continued to pet her cheek bones and the tops of her
ears, the rim of her jaw.

Her dark heart softened at his tenderness
but there was no denying the spasms coursing through the rest of her body,
leaving her all achy and wet for him. She wanted Lucky to know he didn’t have
to hold back on account of no-good manners.
 
Finding the elastic holding his ponytail, she tugged it loose. Her
fingers fanned through his hair, mussing it up and giving him the appearance of
a sexy golden angel who would make some seriously good love to her if they could
just get that far.

Mmm, his thick, lush waves were longer
than she realized as they fell against
his
 
stubbled
cheek.
 
He had appeared clean-shaven that morning but
his whiskers had come back in already and all she could think of was how
wonderful it would feel for the parts of her that were rarely touched to be
scraped by them.
 
Fascinated by his body
hair, she wondered what she’d find if she slid her hands down that trail on his
trim, tanned belly and into his jeans.
 
Would her fingers tangle in a thick, course patch or would they glide
through, letting her easily find her way to the bulge she’d seen growing in his
pants?
 
Her female yearnings for a man’s
man, someone rugged and tough enough to deal with her and her world, were fully
awake now.
   

Burning up for the chance to touch more
of Lucky, she pulled a wavy lock away from his face and trailed it down,
wrapped between her first two fingers, until it sprang free.
 
Had it not bounced back, it would have lay resting
just below his shoulders she was now holding.
 
She had become so enamored of it that his long-awaited kiss landing on
her mouth made her grab at his shoulders and dig her nails into his heated
flesh.
 
He smiled.
 
And then continued taking
his time.
The way he used his tongue so seductively in her mouth, she
knew it was his way, a man’s way, of showing he would be equally capable in
other places should she allow him.
 
Could
she raise her hand now and tell him she was so very agreeable to that?

She could taste the Coca-Cola holding
fast to his taste buds.
 
And the Tic-Tac
he had sucked on when she had first woken him up at their arrival in
Shawnee.
 
She wondered if their road trip
could be considered dates one through three.
 

She’d been vaguely aware of callused
hands rounding over her shoulders then delivering soft squeezes to her tense
upper arms.
 
When he gripped her at the
top of her rib cage, pressing into her skin as he slid his hands down to the
curve of her waist and then back out to her hips, she knew exactly what he
intended to do.
 
She wanted it too.
 

“You’re so soft, but tense.
 
I could spend hours just caressing you
here.
 
Is this helping?”
  

Trista Hart would have loved to have
pushed out a “Yeah baby, that’s just right.”
 
But all she could manage was a nod as he continued stroking the skin
between her hip and butt.

At that, Lucky rolled her over onto her
belly and began rubbing her achy, stiff back.
 
His pressing released pain at first and then melted her muscles into
goo.
 
She felt his huge erection that was
trapped by his jeans, rub against her skin, reminding her he was still clothed
while she lay there so close to him, in nothing but her bra and panties.
 
Trying to give him the hint that he might
take them off, she angled a hip in the direction of one of his long legs and
then searched for his pant leg with her toes.
 
But the action only seemed to slow him down.

She counted each exhale that passed as
his hands remained motionless on her back.
 
After seven breaths, she rolled herself over to examine why he’d
stopped.

“Hey.”

At first he only nodded in response.
 
“This is pretty,” he said as he brushed his
finger over a tiny bow on the shoulder of her bra strap and then settled his
hands back on his lap.

Paying her lingerie the compliment looked
to have embarrassed him, making his face flush.

“Thank you.”
 
She thought he might reach behind her and
undo the clasp but he didn’t.
 
Neither
did he slide his fingers beneath the lacy material.
 
Instead he trailed them down the middle of
her abdomen, down to her belly button giving her the shivers.
 
It was there that he paused to splay his four
fingers and his thumb widely.
 
They were
so long that they nearly reached from one side of her waist to the other.
 

Holy hell.
 
She wanted him, bad.
 
How could he be so manly yet so noble?
 
Around him, she felt feminine, even under her
loose frock and shameless speech.
 
Lucky
could hold her in the palm of his hand, if he wanted to.
 

But did he?

Could she coax him into touching her some
more with those fingers that had just shown her their vast difference in
size?
 
Could he handle knowing how many
times in the last seconds she’d pictured him dipping his fingers one by one
inside her and then bringing them to his mouth for a taste?
 
If she wanted this fantasy to be real, she’d
better give it a try.
 

With her hand on his jeans and her lips
close to his ear, she asked him, “Lucky, aren’t you going to take these off?”

“Shhh,” he responded quietly.
 
“I planned on doing that eventually.”
 
He smiled and she realized she must have
sounded very fixed on the idea that he do it now.

At least she hoped it was a smile and not
a grimace making the whiskers on his cheek rise up and scrape against hers.

Lucky rolled away from her onto his back
then lifted his butt in the air and slid the jeans down past his feet.
 
She watched his face as he paused,
then
lowered the boxers that had to have been chafing up a
storm against him.
 
She had no idea what
was going on in that blond head of his but thinking was about to be turned off
for the night on her part.
 
Under the
protection of the bedding, she reached across his tummy with her arm and leg
and laid them over him.
 
Trusting they
were in sync with each other, she reached down, feeling her way to his
erection.
 
It throbbed and bounced away
at first until she steadied it with her caring hand.
  

He winced.

“Sorry,” she said, feeling her eyes widen
along with his.
 
The look settling over
his face said he was sorry too.

Understanding they were two very new
partners and that things had certainly moved much faster than what he was
accustomed to, she couldn’t deny her body’s cravings any longer.
 
She needed to look up and see Lucky hovered
over her, raw bliss on his face, and feel him giving himself to her, one deep
thrust at a time.
 
Devoid of patience,
thoughts and the ability to stay away from him, she lowered her panties down
with her hands until she could finish the job with her toes.
 
She then brought the yellow satin undies up
with those same toes and grabbed them with her hand.
 

“These are for you.”
 
She placed them in his hand.

He balled them up in a closed fist and
then to her utter surprise, kissed it.

“Welcome,” she said, adoring the
appreciation he showed for her gift.

“I don’t want to wait any longer,
darlin’.”
 
He held her close to his body,
locking his strong arms around her back and rolled over, placing her gently
beneath him.
 
On instinct, she wrapped a
leg around his waist, still afraid he might change his mind.
 

When he clutched her thigh and rubbed
himself against her, her body tensed and arched at the feel of her sexy angel.

Finally, his fingers slid inside
her.
 
“Oh god,” she choked out and dug
her nails into his back.

Chapter
Six

“Screw.
Me.”
 

Trista’s head had been buried in Lucky’s
shoulder as she enjoyed the smell of his spicy yet clean deodorant when the
words shot out of her mouth.