Lost & Found Love (13 page)

“I’m twenty-three.”

He laughed self-deprecatingly. “I won’t tell you how old I am. Suffice it to say that the twenty-six-year-old is the younger of my children.” Tabby looked up at him again and smiled. Then she blinked and her smile faded. Stoner Richardson. She ducked her head, but not before he saw the change in her expression. “Ah. I see something has finally connected. Is it my prison sentence or who I am?”

Tabby stopped, and he did too. “You’re Evan’s father.”

The man’s wall of reserve was a mile thick. “I am,” he responded stiffly. “How do you know my…him?”

“He’s my brother-in-law.” If it felt strange to say it, the reaction she got was even stranger. Stoner Richardson stumbled and uttered a crude expletive. Tabby’s brows rose. In that at least, he and Evan did have something in common.

“Jenny Owens had no sister,” Stoner challenged, his brows now drawn together in a suspicious glare.

“I’m her half sister,” Tabby corrected.

“Mary Owens was your mother?” His voice suddenly lost some of its cultured veneer. There was a rawness to it that struck her instantly, but unlike so many other people, she couldn’t read this man’s thoughts and feelings.

“Did you know her?” Tabby asked. She wanted to talk to someone who might remember her mother from a time before Tommy MacVie had beaten her into a scared shadow of herself.

Stoner Richardson looked away and swallowed. “Yes, I knew her. It was years ago, though. I-I’m afraid I don’t remember much about her.”

“Oh.” Tabby was disappointed. “That’s okay.”

Stoner cleared his throat. “What brings you here?”

“I’m the new art teacher for Mountain Meadow Schools.”

“Really? Are you an artist too? Or do you only teach?”

Tabby blushed. “I paint. Mostly oils.”

They reached the house with its imposing stone pillars, but he continued walking around the back to a small workshop. He propped her bike next to the door and disappeared inside. Tabby glimpsed a partially finished table with beautiful inlay work. He stepped back out with an air hose in hand to which he had attached a tire tip and a pressure gauge. As soon as he attempted to put air in, it was obvious the rock she hit had also sliced the inner tube and tire. Stoner frowned, but Tabby just released the tire kit hooked under the seat. After squatting next to him, she quickly and efficiently popped the tire from the rim. She stripped out the tube and yanked the tire off the wheel.

“What are you doing?”

Tabby turned. With him squatted next to her, they were almost on the same level. “Changing the tire, Mr. Richardson.”

“Call me Stone or Stoner. You know how?”

Tabby sat back on her haunches and laughed. “Of course I do. When you ride a bike like this as much as I do, you learn how to take care of it. Trust me. It’s no fun to push a bike with a flat tire for miles. I could even pump it up with my hand pump, but if you don’t mind, sir, I mean Stoner, your air hose will work a whole lot faster.”

She worked the new tire onto the rim, inserted the tube, and carefully snapped the tire’s remaining edge inside the wheel. “There. All ready for air.” She held out her hand for the hose. “If you don’t mind, I’ll do it. I had a guy at a service station start to fill it like he had all day when I told him it took a hundred pounds of pressure. Next thing I knew…pop! My inner tube was in shreds.”

“I’ll bet the guy at the service station was, too, when you got done with him.”

Tabby tilted her head at Stoner’s comment. “No. It was an accident. He didn’t mean to do it. People shouldn’t be punished for things beyond their knowledge or control.” Her gaze skittered to the building behind them. “Hey, may I see your shop? Are you building furniture?”

Stoner flushed. “I-I’m not very good yet. It was a hobby of mine years ago, and since I have…well… I have a lot of time on my hands, I decided to take it up again.”

He was obviously proud of his shop, but she sensed his uncertainty when it came to his work. Tabby ran her hands over the round occasional table with its Queen Anne legs. He was carefully working an intricate geometric inspired inlay pattern into the top of it. She touched the table, marveling at the workmanship. “It’s beautiful. You must have incredible patience.”

He chuckled. “Not a word most people would attribute to me, but thank you, Tabitha.”

“Tabby,” she corrected. She glanced at her watch. “I should go. I’ve got an hour ride back to town.”

“What about the tea? And your hands?”

Tabby grimaced at her scraped palms. “I’ll be okay. Maybe some other time.”

“Sure.” But it was obvious he didn’t believe her. Impulsively, Tabby leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. His brows drew together in a frown, but she saw him swallow. “Thanks,” he said gruffly. “It was nice to have company for a little while.”

“I’ll be back.” She told him earnestly. “This was a pleasant ride, well, except for falling.” This time he nodded and smiled.

When she reached her house, Joe was pushing his mower back and forth across his lawn, and Tabby noticed her lawn was already mowed. He waved to her as he continued to push the mower, and Tabby nearly fell off her bike again as she gazed at his bare chest. She had never seen him without a shirt on. The man had muscles. And abs. Beautiful. The golden tan on his face and arms covered his upper body too.

She dashed into the house and washed the road rash on her palms, wincing at the sting before carefully examining her hands to make sure she’d gotten out any stray bits of grit. After taking down two glasses, she filled them with ice, then tea, and started to push the door back open with her hip, but Joe already leaned against the doorjamb. It finally struck her that she no longer heard the mower. He had a towel slung over his shoulder but still wore no shirt. Tabby swallowed as she stared at his broad chest with its covering of darker hair.

“I poured you some tea,” she said breathlessly, looking away from his bare chest and moving back so he could open the door and step inside. “Here.”

He smiled slowly. “Thanks. I stopped in to invite you out to dinner. There’s a steak place over by the interstate. I checked and they have several vegetarian dishes as well. What do you say?”

Tabby looked from him down to the sweat staining her own shirt. “We’ll need to shower first.”

Dead silence greeted her. When she looked up, Joe gazed at her with such heat in his eyes she spilled some of her tea. He set his glass down on the counter as he advanced, took her glass, and set it down too. Tabby smelled newly mown grass mingled with clean, male sweat. A slow, heavy throbbing began inside her.

“Together?” he breathed.

Her startled gaze met his intent one. “Joseph? I haven’t… I mean…you… me…”

He touched her cheek and leaned closer so that his lips were a whisper away from her. “I need to kiss you, Tabby.” And he matched his actions to his words. She leaned into him, against him, feeling the heat of his skin from the sun and the work.

“I need to touch you,” he groaned against her lips as his hands moved restlessly along her rib cage. “I need you to touch me.”

She couldn’t think. Her heart beat like mad, and his scent flooded her senses. He captured her hands and stared into her eyes.

“Feel me, Tabby,” he whispered and drew her hips into his. “Feel how much I want to be with you.”

She moaned as the intensity of it shot through her. Her legs went weak as she imagined what it would be like to have this man make love to her. Joseph cupped her bottom, holding and supporting her against him.

“It’s too much, Joseph,” Tabby gasped.

“Shower with me,” he coaxed. “No more, no less. Only what you want.”

“Yes.”

They left a trail of clothing from the kitchen, up the stairs, and into her bathroom where the master bath had been remodeled at some point in recent years and included a walk-in shower big enough for both of them.

For an instant, Tabby simply stopped and stared at him. Joseph returned her look, his face flushed with a mixture of excitement and shyness. Did she look that same way? So hungry? Joe moved first, his fingertips trailing across Tabby’s cheek, down the column of her neck to the pulse beating in the base of her throat. His eyes drifted lower.

“You’re so beautiful.”

Tabby’s hands fluttered nervously, sudden shyness making her want to cover herself from his gaze. Joseph shook his head.

“Don’t. You have no need to hide from me.”

She looked at his chest, then lower, and sucked in a nervous breath as she saw his erection. Joe adjusted the spray in the shower. He pulled her in with him. His hands gently stroked along her upper arms as the water beat down, and he lowered his head to kiss her. It began tenderly and teasingly, but the passion that overwhelmed them soon had them gasping and groaning while their hands continued to touch and explore. Joe’s tongue probed the inside of her mouth, and Tabby met him thrust for thrust.

When she caressed his flat nipples, he sucked in his breath on a startled moan. After grabbing the soap, he turned her and lathered her back, down the line of her spine, and over the smooth round globes of her buttocks.

“Don’t look at them, Joseph,” she choked, knowing his eyes were on the scars that crisscrossed her. His fingers brushed her as if touching the finest porcelain. Tabby trembled. She had never felt such tenderness or such passion. She ached with a need she only barely understood. “Joseph!”

He knelt and kissed one of the thin, pale lines. “I wish I could take away every bit of pain you felt.”

He stood again, gently turning her and washing her front, his hands lingering on her breasts before his hand slipped lower. Tabby sucked in a breath, and he paused. “Is this all right?”

Her decision. He was leaving it up to her. Tabby knew that if she told him to stop, he would. But that was not what she wanted.

“Yes,” she murmured, and he slid his fingers into the curls between her thighs.

* * * *

“You’re so hot,” he told her, his voice hoarse. His heart hammered, and he wondered if he was even still breathing. The silky feel of her jacked his already aroused body even higher. Joe continued to stroke and play her with his fingers. She whimpered and pressed against him. He leaned his face against hers. Lord help him, he wanted her so much, had waited so long to find a woman who accepted him as simply another human being with the same amazing feelings surging through him as she felt. He wanted her by his side and in his life.

“Yes, Tabby. That’s it,” he encouraged. His finger slipped inside her, and she clung to his shoulders, trembling from her kiss-swollen lips to the tips of her toes so that it nearly collapsed her legs. Okay, his were about to collapse too. Joe kissed her deeply as he continued to slide his finger in and out of her tight, wet heat. Encouraged by the small sounds she made, Joe slipped a second finger inside. Tabby sobbed against his mouth and twined her arms around his neck.

“Joseph!” she cried out, burying her face against his chest as she shook.

“Shh,” he crooned. He was determined to hang onto his control, so what they were doing didn’t end too soon. Just seeing her pleasure, though, made him burn even hotter, but he held her and stroked her until she calmed down. Then her belly rubbed against his erection, and her fingers found him, circled him, and it was his turn. He shook as she caressed the full length of him. Her hand was like a glove around the velvety skin of his shaft, and her stroking left him nearly mindless. “Oh, Tabby. It’s incredible.”

Joe groaned and leaned back against the wall of the shower, pulling her against him and trapping her caressing hand between them. His hips moved in rhythm with her stroking until he reached down and stopped her. He wasn’t going to lose it like some horny teenager a second time.

“I can’t take any more, Tabby. I don’t want this to end too soon.”

With the water still beating down on them both, he looked deeply into her golden eyes. “I want to love you, completely. I want to join myself to you, make love to you totally, but only if it’s what you want too.”

He was giving her the choice, and now he waited, not even daring to breathe, for her answer. Tabby’s golden eyes were wide, filled with an expression of wonder. He had done that, put that look in her eyes. He would do it again and again if she would let him, especially if it made her glow like she now did.

Tabby stood on her tiptoes and touched her tongue to the shell of his ear before she whispered. “Yes, Joseph. It’s what I want, more than anything.”

Towels turned into seductive toys. They kissed, touched, and stumbled together to her bed. As the afternoon sunlight spilled over them, Joe aroused her to a fever pitch with his hands and his mouth. As he knelt between her thighs, their eyes met. Joe swallowed.

“I will do my best not to hurt you,” he murmured. He trembled as he guided himself into the opening between her slick, wet folds. She was hot and so wonderfully tight around him he nearly lost control and plunged forward. He glanced up, seeing nothing but encouragement glowing in her golden eyes. “Tabby,” he groaned and pushed all the way into her. He stilled at her gasp, afraid he’d hurt her, but then her hands stroked his cheek, reassuring him.

“It’s all right, Joseph. I’m not in pain.”

He moaned and began to move. It took them a moment or two to find a rhythm that stimulated them both, but soon he was driving into her, his hands bracketed on her slender hips. He felt her tense around him and stared down at her as she arched and cried out. It was the most wondrous sight he’d ever seen and sent him spinning over the edge too.

They lay next to each other, breathing heavily. Joseph stroked the tangled hair from Tabby’s face and kissed her softly. “I love you, Tabby.”

“I love you, too, Joseph.”

It was that easy.

They smiled stupidly at each other and laughed as they tumbled out of bed. While she dressed, he pulled his shorts back on and dashed across to his house to change clothes.

* * * *

Joe grinned. He was staring out the window of his church office. Again. He had been trying all morning to tweak a few details in tomorrow’s sermon. Instead, visions of Tabby flowed through his brain. He loved her. He’d told her so, and she’d said it back to him.