All You Can Handle (Moments In Maplesville Book 5) (12 page)

“Damn,” Ian grunted. His legs shook. His stomach tightened. His skin burned with the desire rushing through him.

She released him with a loud
pop
and looked up at him. “You okay up there?”

“God, Sonny” Ian groaned.

Another of those low, throaty laughs floated to his ears as she wrapped her fist around the base of his cock and pumped up and down. The collection of rings on her fingers rippled along his sensitive skin. She lowered her head again, loping her tongue around the rim of his head and then sucking the tip inside, her mouth soon moving with the same fervency as her hands. The sensation was enough to make him lose his ever-loving mind.

He felt the orgasm building deep inside, threatening to erupt any second.

“I can’t…hold out…much longer,” Ian husked out between pants.

She swept her tongue along the tip as her hands continued to pump. “Then don’t,” she whispered, her warm breath fanning across the tip of his cock.

Ian tried to hold off, but when she drew him all the way in again, he couldn’t fight it. He came in violent spurts, his body jerking as it emptied inside Sonny’s moist mouth.

He collapsed on the soft grass; his body replete with the kind of satisfaction he hadn’t felt since the last time she had rocked his world.

No. This was better than before. That night at The Corral they were just two strangers engaged in a one-night stand. She knew him now, knew enough about him to decide how she felt about him as a person. Yet she’d still chosen to perform one of the most intimate acts two people could engage in, giving him more pleasure than he could handle.

Ian reached over and grabbed her hand. “If I told you ‘I love you,’ you’d think it was just the orgasm talking, wouldn’t you?”

Her head flew back, her musical laughter filling the glen surrounding the pond.

“Yes, I would,” she answered.

“Thought so.” He swept his thumb back and forth across her skin. “I promise to reciprocate as soon as I get feeling back in my arms and legs,” he said.

“It’s not about reciprocating,” she said.

She got on all fours again and traveled up his body, her hardened, lace-covered nipples skimming along his chest. Ian swallowed a moan.

Sonny leaned over and whispered in his ear. “Besides, it looked like you needed a stress-reliever more than I did. Did it work?”

“Hell yes,” he said. He caught her arm and tugged her down, until she lay flat against him. Then he slipped his hand down between her legs, his fingers gliding over her lace-covered mound.

Sonny released a low groan. “I already told you—”

“Shhh,” Ian whispered against her neck. He repeated her words back to her. “Let me do this.”

As his mouth trailed along her pliant skin, his fingers skimmed the edges of the berry-colored lace shielding her sex. Ian moved the material to the side and stroked the pad of his thumb through her drenching folds. The sexy murmurs that escaped her throat only spurred him on, and when Sonny’s hand wrapped around his thickening erection, Ian nearly lost it.

As she caressed him, he returned the favor, sliding his fingers back and forth against her slippery sex. He eased a first, and then a second finger inside of her, driving them in and out with quickening strokes. When his thumb swept over the bundle of nerves at her clef, Sonny clamped her thighs together, locking his arm in place.

“More,” she choked out with a desperate sigh. She pumped her fist up and down his cock, squeezing every time he ground his thumb against her clit.

Ian could feel another orgasm building. His stomach clenched as the heady pleasure of his impending release started to seep into his bones. But there was no way in hell he would allow himself to climax before she did.

Levering himself up on one elbow, he curved his fingers upward inside her, until he found the pad of rigid flesh he sought, then he pressed down. Sonny’s back arched as she screamed her release. The feel of her coming apart around his fingers, her warm flesh clasping him, triggered his own climax.

Ian could barely comprehend the intensity of the pleasure that swept through him. He was stunned by the hunger, the relentless passion bursting through him. But it had to do with so much more than just a physical release. He felt it in every inch of his being; she held him spellbound.

He buried his head against her neck and concentrated on pulling air into his lungs. When he was finally able to catch his breath, Ian lifted his head and planted a kiss on Sonny’s incredibly supple lips.

“We can’t ignore this any longer,” Ian whispered against her mouth. “It can be like this every single time, Sonny. I refuse to deny us this kind of pleasure when we both want it.”

“Ian—”

The mollifying tone in her voice was exactly the opposite of what he wanted to hear.

“Don’t,” Ian said. “Don’t mess up what just happened here by disagreeing with me. You
know
we would be good together.”

“Ian, despite what we just did, we can’t forget
why
we said no sex.”

“Because of Kimmie?” He motioned around them. “I don’t see her around. Do you?”

“So is this your plan? We’ll come out to this pond every time we want to get busy?”

“It wouldn’t be that way.”

“Actually, it would. You can’t take me back to your place, and I can’t take you back to mine, not if you don’t want to give Kimmie the wrong impression. We would be sneaking around, having sex in my car or in a motel that charges by the hour. I don’t want that, Ian. And not wanting to negatively influence Kimmie was
your
reason. Mine is different.”

“Right,” he said. “You could be gone in a couple of weeks.”

“Yes,” she said, her voice gentle. “I could be. You don’t want to start something up with me when I may be gone soon.”

Her words hit him like a cannonball to the gut. He tried not to think about her temporary status, but she’d reminded him more than once that Maplesville was only a pit stop on her journey—a place for her to gain some work experience while she figured out her next steps.

Sonny lifted herself up, then tugged his hands, pulling him into a sitting position.

“Maybe we should take today for what it was—a fun afternoon together. But I think we can both agree that it’s probably better that we stick with our original plan.”

She gathered his clothes from where he’d laid them out and handed them to him. Then she started putting on her own clothes. A million protests clamored inside of him, beating against his chest.

Maybe she thought it was for the best, but Ian was done with that kind of thinking. He wasn’t sure how much time he had left with her, but one thing he did know is that he refused to waste what precious little time they might have fighting these feelings. It was time to go after what he wanted.

And he wanted her.

Chapter Six

“I need more slaw!”

Sonny’s voice rang out over the din of carnival noises bombarding her at every turn.

“Here it is,” Kiera said, placing a huge bowl of the cabbage and carrot slaw with chipotle-lime dressing in front of her. The line outside of Kiera’s Kickin’ Kajun food truck had been at least twenty people deep for the past two hours, and everybody wanted the fish tacos with the special slaw. She and Kiera endured another half hour of non-stop customers before the line finally tapered off.

Sonny slumped against the stainless steel counter, thoroughly exhausted. “Am I delusional, or has every resident in Maplesville been to this truck twice already?” She blew out a breath. “I thought that line would never end.”

“Welcome to the madness,” Kiera said. “At least I have the truck now, which makes it a lot easier than carting everything in and out of a booth like I did before I had a mobile kitchen. Talk about a nightmare.”

“So that amount of customers is normal?”

“Oh, yeah. St. Michael’s Church Fair brings in people from all over the north shore, so we’re feeding way more than just Maplesville’s residents.” She added more thinly sliced cabbage to the bowl and gave it another toss in the dressing. “We prepped as much as possible, but you can never fully prepare. And with this beautiful weather, the crowds will only grow.

“By the way, thanks for helping out today,” Kiera added. “I know this isn’t part of your job description, but Macy and I got our wires crossed. She’ll be here around five to relieve you, hopefully sooner.”

“It’s no problem,” Sonny said. She peered out of the Plexiglas window. “I never considered myself a church fair kind of girl, but to be honest, I’m having fun. I have to ride that Ferris wheel before the day is out. I haven’t ridden one in ages.”

“St. Michael’s Fair is always a blast,” Kiera said. “I don’t care how busy we are at the food truck, when the kids’ fashion show starts you have to go to the big tent. It is the most adorable thing you will see in your entire life.”

Sonny thought the entire event was the most adorable thing she’d ever seen. It was everything she’d imagined a small town church fair to be, except on a much larger scale than she’d anticipated. There had to be at least two thousand people here.

Connected booths formed the perimeter of the church grounds, with games on one side and food booths on the other. Kiera usually offered a variety of items on her food truck, but this weekend they were only selling fish tacos and crawfish etouffee-stuffed egg rolls, so that the church could sell the other traditional Louisiana favorites like jambalaya, red beans and rice, and beignets.

“Hi Sonny,” Tamyra Crane, who Sonny met last week while checking out the petite woman’s yoga studio, waved as she walked past the truck. “Hope I see you at a class next week.”

Sonny returned the wave. “I’ll try to get there,” she called out from the truck’s window.

She’d been pleasantly surprised to find a yoga studio in a small town like Maplesville, and thrilled to learn that Tamyra offered pay-as-you-go access. Sonny had not had a gym membership in nearly a year because she couldn’t find one that didn’t require patrons to sign long contracts.

She wasn’t sure when something like a gym membership began to feel claustrophobic, but these days she couldn’t bring herself to make even the tiniest commitment. It sometimes made her wonder if she had traveled too far to the other end of the spectrum. Ironically, here in Maplesville, even though the town was small, Sonny felt as if she had room to breathe.

The most startling—and somewhat unsettling—revelation she’d had in the past couple of days was that she had yet to experience the all-consuming urge to pack up and take off to the next stop on this journey she’d embarked upon a year ago. Sonny wasn’t ready to even entertain the idea of settling down in one place. Just the thought made her chest tighten in panic. But unlike previous times, when the notion of staying put crossed her mind, the panicky feeling quickly dissipated. Only a modest drum of unease remained in its place.

She wasn’t even sure how to process it. She counted on that feeling of wanderlust. It guaranteed the one thing she needed the most: Freedom.

She may have become comfortable in Maplesville much more quickly than any of the other places she’d lived since she quit her residency program, but the one thing she would not allow this small town to do is compromise her freedom. She’d fought too damn hard for it, and she wasn’t giving it up for anything.

“Hey, Kiera, do you mind if I take a walk around?” Sonny asked.

“Not at all.” Kiera nodded. “Maybe then you won’t hurt your neck looking at a certain player over there on the softball field.”

Sonny opened her mouth to protest, but Kiera stopped her, holding her hand up. “Don’t try to deny it. You glance toward the softball field every chance you get. It is so obvious it’s not even funny. Well, it’s a little funny.”

“Really, you’ve got it all wrong,” Sonny said, her valiant attempt at denial sounding weak even to her own ears.

“Oh, honey, please. It was obvious from the first time I saw the two of you together at Trey’s shop. You both were trying so hard not to notice each other that you did the exact opposite.” Her lips curved in a knowing smile. “It must be really convenient, practically living in the same house.” Kiera set her elbow on the counter and rested her chin on her fist. “Feel free to share whatever you deem appropriate.”

“There’s nothing to share.” Sonny blew out a breath and glanced at her boss. “Okay, well, maybe a little,” she mumbled. She covered her face with her hands and groaned. “Let me just say this. This town is too small for one-night stands.”

She told Kiera about the night she first met Ian at The Corral, leaving out specific details, but offering enough for her boss to certainly catch her drift. Then she relayed her shock at discovering the next day that Ian owned the apartment she had her heart set on renting.

“I was this close to saying to hell with it and trying out another city, but I’d just had that kickass interview with you and the apartment was exactly what I was looking for. I couldn’t pass it up.”

“So, that’s it? There’s nothing going on between you and Ian?”

“We decided there were too many complications.”

“But if the chemistry is there, what’s so complicated?” Kiera asked.

Sonny decided not to bring up her temporary status as a barrier to jumping into a relationship with Ian, since talk of her leaving had become a touchy subject between her and Kiera. Even though, as Sonny had pointed out, Kiera knew it was a possibility—a
probability
—when she hired her.

“Ian has his little sister to worry about,” Sonny said instead. “We’ve decided to avoid setting the wrong example. You can imagine the kind of mixed signals it would send if Kimmie thought there was something going on between her brother and his tenant.”

Kiera stared at her for a moment before she burst out laughing.

Sonny frowned. “What’s so funny?”

“Honey, if you think for even a second that that little girl cannot tell that there is some serious sexual tension between you and Ian, you’re both playing yourselves.”