DAC_II_GenVers_Sept2013 (17 page)

“That’s a pretty intense stare, Jane. Seeing anything you like?” Nathan asked.

“No. Not anymore,” Jane said firmly. “What do you want, Nathan?” She was irritated more when he just laughed at her question as he stared back at her.

“If I said ‘you”, would you invite me in for coffee?” Nathan asked.

“No. The only man getting coffee from me today is the one still sleeping upstairs in my bed,” Jane said. “I’m one of those boring monogamous types, remember?”

“I never once said you were boring.” Nathan put a hand over his mouth, but pulled it away to reveal the smile he’d been trying to not have over her lie. “Jane, if you’re going to make up a story like that, you ought to at least comb your hair and put on some decent clothes. No man is going sleep with you looking like that.”

Jane’s hands fisted on her hips. “Looking like
what
?” she demanded.

Then she noticed Nathan’s gaze had lifted to stare in shock over her shoulder. A bare-chested Walter with his jeans barely zipped padded lightly down the stairs. While her heart practically skidded to a stop in her chest at the sight of him, the rest of her revved up. Memories of last night had to be on her face because a fast forwarded movie version of them ran through her head, dampening the clothes she wore. When Walter walked to stand beside her, she met his sleepy gaze, everything in her melting at how incredibly appealing he looked after last night. Anger over Nathan’s insults slipped away.

“Good morning,” Walter said softly, keeping his attention deliberately on Jane.

“Good morning back. Did you sleep well?” Jane asked.

“Well enough, until I woke up and missed you,” Walter answered.

Shifting his attention, he turned to the no longer smiling well-dressed jackass who he’d heard insulting Jane as he came down the stairs. He was glad now that in his hurry to find Jane he’d been too panicked to look for his shirt.

“Hello. I’m Walter Graham. You must be the ex-husband who cheated on Jane,” he said. “Seriously bad move, dude.”

“Walter. . .no need for male posturing this morning,” Jane said sternly, patting his muscled nakedness with what felt like joy. “Nathan’s not worth the waste of your breath.”

But it was hard for her not to be secretly pleased. Nathan’s jaw had dropped at the first sight of Walter’s stunningly muscled chest gleaming in the Virginia sunlight pouring through her still open door. Last night, she had happily discovered Walter’s chest was covered lightly with blond hair across his pecs. The hair added at least a couple years to his age, helping her to accept that it was a man—and not a boy—who had only let her sleep a few hours last night.

Over the last couple of months, Nathan had been dropping by unexpectedly and acting elated to see her. Watching his angry gaze on Walter now, it was the first time she actually got what her father had been trying to tell her. Nathan had truly thought she’d one day take him back. Walter’s presence was shooting that possibility down. Good, she decided. It was about time Nathan realized it was over. It had been over for her long before she’d found the final woman in bed with him.

Walter grinned down at Jane. Obviously, she didn’t want his help dealing with her ex. That was just too damn bad though, because he wasn’t about to let some jerk from her past make her feel unattractive. It had taken him most of the night to get Jane’s clothes off. Her lack of confidence where her body was concerned had bothered him, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to ask her any questions about it. This morning though, he wasn’t about to let her ex dropping by unexpectedly take away the ground he’d gained.

Centering his full attention on her, Walter lifted a hand to Jane’s hair and smoothed it down, bending into her for a chaste, but grateful kiss for all they had shared. “Okay, I can take a hint. You’re independent and want to deal with this yourself. When you’re done verbally castrating your ex-husband, meet me in the kitchen. I don’t drink coffee because caffeine wires me too tight. Ice water is good enough for me. You look amazing this morning. It’s all I can do not to drag you back upstairs.”

Walter turned away without a goodbye to Nathan Waterfield. He walked slowly to the kitchen, hiking his jeans up and fastening them on the way, exaggerating the action for Waterfield’s sake. He might not have had much game in getting women into bed in his life. He’d be damned though if he let some conceited ass ruin his morning after happiness with the most amazing woman he had managed to get there.

When Walter had disappeared around the corner, Jane turned her gaze back to Nathan. “I need to go. I want to make Walter breakfast. We haven’t eaten today.”

“But it’s almost one,” Nathan said.

“Yes. So?” Jane asked. “As you can tell, we just got up.”

“Jane, he’s a kid,” Nathan said.

Jane snorted. “No—he’s not. He’s young, but he’s not a kid. And yes, I know I look like I could be his mother. If you’re not going to offer anything original to all the running commentary in my own head, mind your own damn business. I’m sure you’ve dated women much younger than twenty-six.”

“Twenty-six? Holy shit, Jane,” Nathan said.

“Well, actually. . .I’m twenty-seven. I met Jane on my birthday a couple months ago,” Walter said, lounging in the doorway of the room next to the foyer as he sipped his water.

“You’re twenty-seven?” Jane asked, surprised.

Walter nodded solemnly, but his eyes were dancing. “Yes. So you see all those worries you had about our age difference were for nothing. I’m a whole year older than you thought.”

Jane snorted, then gave up and belly laughed, letting the horsey one freely escape. Walter had heard every sound she knew how to make last night anyway. What secrets did she have left from him? “I still look like I could be your mother, Walter.”

Walter grinned at her barely lecturing tone. Yeah. . .he should have known extraordinary sex wasn’t going to be the only hurdle to wrestling the age difference demon. “You as my mother? Not in any reality I participate in. In my reality, we’re a perfect match of equals. We were certainly equals last night.”

Nathan’s soft swearing brought her attention back to him. “Jane, you always thought I was using you. You never believed me no matter what I said. Better ask yourself what this kid wants from you. I know his kind.”

Jane tilted her head at Nathan’s glare at Walter.
His kind?
Even if Walter was cut from the same cheating cloth as Nathan, at least the younger man made her feel incredibly beautiful and desired. That was more than any other man had managed, especially the handsome bastard in her doorway. For the moment, she was content to let that be enough.

“You don’t know anything about me or Walter. After last night, Walter can have whatever he wants from me. So put your advice somewhere the sun doesn’t shine, Nathan. Take a hike and don’t come back to my house uninvited,” Jane ordered. “Next time, I’ll be taking out a restraining order.”

“But what about. . .”

Jane slammed the door in Nathan’s handsome face cutting off the rest of his speech. The steel frame rattled loudly as it shut out the man who had been unfaithful to her for the last half of their marriage.

“Guess I’m still kind of mad at him for cheating on me,” she said, noticing Walter’s gaze was intensely studying her face.

“Not surprising. You should be mad at him for never taking care of his eyesight problems,” Walter said, liking her smile when she got his reference to how she was dressed.

He stood completely still when a still smiling Jane walked to him and touched his arm.

“There are some men a woman will never regret. You’re one of those, Walter. I’ll never be sorry that I said yes to you last night. You reminded me over and over how good it can feel to be sexual, and to give and get. You’re an amazing lover. Don’t ever change,” Jane said.

She rubbed his arm for her own pleasure before dropping her hand away.

“Now you may not need coffee but I do. Come to the kitchen and I’ll make us some breakfast—lunch—or whatever meal this should be.”

Walter laughed as he followed her. What time was it? He hadn’t even checked. “Can I come back and stay tonight?”

Jane shook her head as she poured herself a cup of coffee, sipping the rich brown elixir and sniffing the fragrant steam. “Judging from how I feel this morning—I mean afternoon—I’m definitely going to be out of commission for a few days. You probably haven’t been in a relationship long enough to understand a woman’s occasional need for hot pads and foot rubs instead of wild monkey sex.”

Walter put down his water glass. “Not really—no. If I got to sleep beside you again after the foot rub though, I think it would probably be worth the torture. We had more sex last night than I’ve had in the last year altogether. So I’ll probably be okay for a while if that’s your concern.”

Jane sighed and put down her cup. She turned and leaned her forehead against Walter’s incredible chest. “You could have a night like last night with any woman you wanted any time you were willing. Imagination and enthusiasm are your greatest assets between the sheets, Walter. Your positive approach to lovemaking exceeds what I have found with any man before you, even Nathan in the early years before the other women.”

Walter grinned at the clock on the wall across from him before dropping his gaze to the top of Jane’s head. It still surprised him that they had stayed in bed for over twelve hours. It hadn’t felt half that long and he wanted like a zillion more.

He brought his hands to Jane’s waist slipping them easily up under her shirt to cup her still naked breasts. The intimacy of the moment combined with her groan of pleasure and tightened his jeans instantly. This was what he’d been looking for, but had never found with anyone else.

“Jane, look at me.”

Walter smiled softly when she did. In her eyes was an innocence and a plea for him not to hurt her. How could she not know that he’d cut off an arm first?

“I know I’m not allowed to say the ‘m’ word or even the ‘l’ word, but you at least have to let me say the ‘w’ word,” Walter said.

“Okay, Walter. What’s the ‘w’ word?” Jane asked. She sighed at his wordplay, but also because his hands had tightened deliciously on her breasts. They really, really liked the kind of focused attention he paid them.

Walter dropped his head into the curve of her shoulder to kiss his way up to her mouth. It also allowed him to whisper his explanation into her ear.

“Even though last night was surreally wonderful, I
want
you just as much right now as I did the first time you asked me why my parents didn’t appreciate me being a fireman. And sorry about using this particular ‘l’ word, but I
like
you, Jane Fox. I like you more than anyone else in my life. More than Harrison, the only other person who ever believed in me. More than Daniel, which is saying a lot, because he’s the one who talked me into knocking on your door last night.”

“Walter, this is nice now, but it isn’t going to work out long term. One day we’ll just be friends with a shared past. It will work out like that because I really like you too. And don’t ever let anyone tell you that you aren’t good enough in whatever you put your professional energy into doing. Harrison is right—that’s bullshit—even from very successful parents,” Jane said, lifting her mouth to his at last.

“Look who’s talking about letting other people decide what works for her or doesn’t,” Walter said roughly, rolling one hardened nipple in his fingers as Jane bit her lip.

“Stop teasing my nipple and kiss me,” Jane ordered, her hands slipping around Walter’s waist to pull him closer.

“See? That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. My mother would never talk to me that way,” Walter said, sealing his lips over hers when she would have verbally blasted him again.

Jane’s shorts were around her ankles and his jeans around his knees when he bent her backwards and contemplated lifting her hips to her kitchen table. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to try this, but I have a better idea.”

Walter lifted Jane off the edge of the table and freed her legs of her shorts, swallowing her protests with his tongue. He sat in one of her dining chairs lowering her over and down on him at the same time. After all they had done last night, getting inside her was effortless. Staying there was his worry, but instinct had him giving her the option every time it occurred to him. He pulled her long legs around his hips though, incredibly turned on to see Jane’s pink painted toes touching the floor on either side of his lap.

“If you’re physically uncomfortable, we can stop anytime,” Walter offered, hoping she wouldn’t want to. He could feel her muscles straining over and around him. It was the sexiest thing he could imagine a woman doing. Her first answer to the question was a passionate groan against his smiling mouth.

“Walter, last night you never really let me say no. Just what are you trying to prove?” Jane demanded, rocking up and back down because she had to or die. Walter’s fingers gripping her hair tightly abruptly froze her movements.

“I’m trying to get you to see how perfect you are and have always been. But if you can’t go that far today, you at least have to believe that at this moment you’re perfect for me. Can’t you feel how perfect? I can,” he said, biting across her already swollen lips, feeling territorial. He was remembering how handsome her ex had been. It was obvious that the man had come to his senses. Too bad, Walter thought.

“We’ll argue about this some other time, Walter. I appreciate the praise, but right now will you just shut up and. . .” His mouth covering hers answered her demand.

It was the middle of the afternoon before they finally got around to getting food.

It was noon Sunday before he left, and then only because he had to pull a shift at the fire station that evening.

Guilt was a strange emotion, Jane decided as she drove the familiar drive from her house to North Winds on Monday morning. She didn’t exactly feel guilty for giving in and sleeping with Walter. No. Her guilt was more that she had done things to and with him that she hadn’t even wanted to do with her husband when she was married. She had never had a problem telling Nathan no to anything in bed.