Trouble in the Making (9 page)

He kissed the tip of her nose, then her lips. “Your books are my guilty little pleasure. It’s like having a part of you with me.”

Liz buried her face, but Johnny wouldn’t let her hide. “Stop.”

“No. It’s true, but I can see you still don’t like being complimented and acknowledged for what you do. Bad girl. But I’m proud of you. You make a living at it and you love it. Not many people can say that. I was caught off guard a bit when no one at the reunion knew what you did for a living.”

“Well, no. I mean, most people knew I went to college to become a teacher in either English or Creative Writing, but when I decided to try my own hand at writing and it kind of took off… I was as surprised as anyone. I’m a midlist author and there are hundreds of others, better than me, worse than me. I do what I do and I mind my own business. I’m not in the middle of drama and I like it that way. I just… I didn’t want a bunch of questions, you know? You have the in-your-face career and you have the personality for it. I, on the other hand, don’t.”

Johnny was well aware of that. She liked her privacy, but it did bring another point to mind and one he’d have to think about. “What are your plans for the summer?” He kept his voice neutral, not giving anything away.

“Writing. I do have those two proposals in and have a book under contract that is due by the middle of August, but I’m also thinking about taking a trip, traveling some.”

Johnny scooted close, close enough he could feel her breath on his face. Blackberries and cinnamon and vanilla. Warmth. Comfort. “That would be good for you. Getting out of town, away from the usual and familiar.” Again, he opted for a normal tone of voice, but he was hoping to make her catch her breath.

“That’s what I was thinking too. It might help to find some inspiring scenery, have some adventures.”

“My little Lizzie. Something has started working to embolden you. I’m proud of you.”

“Well, I haven’t done it yet. I could still chicken out.”

“Eh. I have faith. But are you also thinking of doing all this alone?”

“Hmmm. Well, now that you mention it… Maybe I can see if some of my workshop students would like to come along. We can take in shows, galleries, write and have nightly orgies.” She waggled her brows and winked, drawing a laugh from him. “Of course alone. Why?”

“Because,” he said softly, sliding his hand into her hair again. “I have an idea.” He loved the feel of her hair falling through his fingers in a caress or fisted in his hand as an anchor.

Liz leaned up and kissed his chin. “Do tell,” she sighed as she kissed her way across his jaw to his ear. She nipped at his earlobe and tugged on the gold hoop there. “I’ve always thought you were so sexy with earrings,” she murmured.

“I know. It’s rare for me to wear them now, but I did remember how much you liked them.”

“You were always sexy to me, though, earrings or not.”

“Mmm. Good.”

“So, what was your idea?”

“I want you.”

“You have me,” she whispered into his mouth, her tongue sweeping inside for a quick teasing taste.

“Yes, but I want more than today is what I mean. I want next week and next weekend. I want the week after and the month after that. I want as long as you’ll give me.”

Liz suddenly scooted back, her eyes wide and her mouth opening and closing, though nothing was coming out. She stared at him, licked her lips and tried again. “You’re serious.”

“Yes.”

“What if we don’t get along?”

“As if.”

She smiled at that. “True. We’ve always gotten along. But Johnny, it’s been twenty years, and aside from friends and…and…” She looked down and shook her head. It was a few seconds before she lifted her gaze to his again. “You can’t know it’ll work out.”

“You can’t know that it won’t. I want this, Liz. I’ve waited too damn long for you.”

She stared some more, slowly blinking. She worried the inside of her bottom lip the way she always did when she was working out a problem or overthinking one. After what seemed forever, she nodded her head, more to herself, he thought, than to him, and seemed to come to some decision. He waited, hoping she would share it with him. She didn’t.

Instead, she leaned up on her knees and kissed him with a smack on the lips. “What else? I know there’s more to it than that. It’s been firmly established that we want each other.”

Johnny kissed her back, lingering a little longer over her lips than she had his. She tasted of blackberries and sweet syrup. She intoxicated his senses and he wanted to take her all in, over and over and over. “I think we should spend the summer together, and since you want to travel, it would be perfect. We can go anywhere, do anything you want.”

“Mmmm, that does sound like fun.” Her lips hovered over his and she gripped his shoulders as she balanced on the mattress on her knees. “What if I’d decided to stay home?”

“Then I’d be spending the summer in Orlando, lounging on your couch and going to theme parks.”

“Kid at heart?”

“Sometimes.”

“But all man in bed,” she whispered, licking at the corner of his mouth until he opened and she could steal a quick taste inside.

“You know it, baby,” he said a millisecond before he took full possession of her mouth. His hand was wrapped in her hair, her lips were forced open by his tongue, but she wasn’t passive in their kiss. She was a complete participant, tangling her tongue around his as she slid over his thighs to straddle him, the duvet covering her, forgotten.

He let go of her hair and used both hands to anchor around her waist, rocking her bare sex against his cock, which strained behind the zipper of his jeans. With her around, he might have to start wearing baggier pants because the hard-ons he figured to be sporting on a near constant basis were going to become painful inside the formfitting ones he normally wore.

Liz lifted her mouth on a moan and ground herself against the ridge of his erection. “Dammit, Johnny,” she breathed.

“Not my fault you can’t control yourself.”

Her fingers tightened even more on his shoulders, her short nails digging into his skin through his thin t-shirt. He didn’t mind the sting, didn’t mind the small marks she would likely leave. He wanted to be marked by her as much as he wanted to mark her. She was his and they were meant to be together. He knew it and so did she. Nothing had ever been awkward for them or between them. They fit casually, seriously, intimately.

He danced the fingers of one hand up her spine to grip the back of her neck, holding her head still. “Look at me, Liz.” Her fingers flexed and dug in deeper the harder she rocked on his cock. Her eyes, dazed with arousal, locked on his face, his eyes. “Good girl. Put your hands behind your back.” Her eyes widened, but she didn’t hesitate to comply. He let go of her neck and wrapped his hand around both her wrists tightly. The move thrust her breasts out and her nipples were erect, reaching out toward him. His mouth watered and he was tempted to angle her back so he could taste, tease and test the hardened buds, but he was more interested in the movements of her hips, the look in her eyes.

“Do you want me to let go of your arms?” Liz shook her head in the negative. “Mmm. You like it then? Being restrained like this?” It was very light, his restraint of her, but it was something new for her. He’d happily bind her with a belt or ropes, but in the moment, all he had was his own physical strength. He couldn’t deny how much that one fact turned him on. “Come all over my jeans, Liz. Keep rocking on my lap and looking at me. Such a pretty sight, baby.”

He saw the changes as she neared orgasm. The dilation of her eyes, the increased hunger and her reach for pleasure. She fought for the release and she was going to end up drawing blood, she was biting her bottom lip so hard, but she never looked away from him.

“That’s my good girl. Feel how hard you make me?” She nodded and blinked wide when he flexed upward with his hips, pressing into her clit. “No one else can do that to me, not like this, not like you.”

She shook her head again. “Me…neither,” she panted, writhing on his lap, arching her back so her nipples teased his chest.

“Damn good thing too.” He leaned in and nuzzled where her neck met her shoulder. “I don’t handle jealousy well.”

When he lifted his head, she was trying to smile, though it more closely resembled a grimace, pained for a moment, but then it softened as she cried out, then whimpered, then cried out again as he held her upper body immobile. He rocked with her, prolonging her orgasm, with the denim providing extra friction against her sensitive nerve endings. “That’s it, baby,” he whispered, his gaze still locked with hers.

Her eyes, wide through the orgasm and just before, were now lazily blinking, looking heavy and sleepy, content. He eased his hold on her wrists and hair, letting her fall against his chest. Watching her come like that had been incredible. He’d never shared that, forced a woman to keep eye contact with him during orgasm, and somehow he knew it wouldn’t have felt right with anyone else. Only with Liz. It was only her soul he wanted to see into.

He buried his face in her hair and she wrapped her arms around him, mimicking him by burying her face in his. “I can’t believe how you make me lose control like that.”

“Really?” Johnny lifted his head, simultaneously lifting hers. He needed to see her face for this one. “So, you’re saying that all those nights at dinner over the last half decade, you’ve been on the edge of losing control and jumping me?”

“Of course not,” she answered, a little too quickly, too heatedly. She blushed immediately and wouldn’t meet his eyes. Johnny took incredible pleasure in that.

“I don’t think I believe you.”

Liz stuck her tongue out at him, then sighed. “Fine. I’m lying. I have always wanted to jump you, and every one of those nights, just like every night after we hung up the phone, I would…” She took a deep breath and her chest colored as her blush spread down from her face. He was putting her on the spot and he didn’t feel a bit bad about it.

“You would what?”

She tried to wiggle her way off his lap, but he held her firmly. She would have to settle for closing her eyes. “I would get myself off.”

“And did you call out my name?”

“Not quite. Whisper your name was more like it.”

She said it so softly that he might have missed it if he hadn’t been looking at her. “Good girl. I did the same thing, except I’d roar your name like a madman.”

Her eyes flew open at his confession. “You did?”

Johnny laughed and moved them sideways until they’d fallen on the mattress to lay side by side. He made sure they were still face to face. He loved her facial expressions too much to miss any more of them than he had to. “Mmmm. I did. Many times when we hadn’t talked or met up too.”

“Wow,” she said, awe lacing her voice.

“Why does that surprise you? Good God, Liz. I realize I’ve been a dumbass for not having actually come out and saying that I’ve wanted you for years, but surely you had some idea.”

“I never… I didn’t want to think that…” She struggled for words and finally gave up. He took pity on her.

“What, baby? You thought you were the only one who wanted this?” If she only knew. He’d been biding his time, keeping it to himself, hoping she’d pick up on it. “Look, I’m a man. I write songs to get my thoughts and opinions across, but I don’t speak those things very well without the aid of music. I’m not a poet and I don’t write love letters. I—”

“You could have written me a song,” she teased.

“Yes, I could have. I should have. But then would you have realized it was for you?” It was a fair question and he already knew the answer.

“Well, no, but…”

“But nothing, Liz.” He kissed the tip of her nose and tweaked her nipple with his fingers, eliciting a shudder and moan from her. “I’ve been after you a long time. I told you that most recently a few hours ago. My saying yes to your desire for a weekend in bed with me should have told you the same thing. After all that, you shouldn’t be surprised that I fantasize and get off thinking about you quite often. You shouldn’t be surprised at all that I am not sexually unaffected by you.”

“We didn’t talk about sex all the time, though.”

The woman was enough to drive him insane. “So. Doesn’t mean I haven’t lusted after you all the time. Damn, woman. It seems I’m always horny when it comes to you. You say hi and I start sporting a boner.” Liz laughed and shook against him. He tightened his hold on her and committed that laugh and lightness to memory. “Do you really doubt me?”

“No,” she answered. “I don’t doubt you. I have a hard time believing it all, but I don’t doubt you.”

“Why is it hard to believe? And don’t say it’s because I’m a rock star. I’ll break out the belt if you do that.”

She shivered and moaned at his words. “It’s because
I’ve
wanted
you
for so long that it’s so hard for me. If I hadn’t doubted myself and been so shy, maybe we could have been lovers for a while now.”

“You probably should have said something. You asking me here this weekend was the first upfront gesture you’ve made. I was shocked, but pleasantly so. I never expected you to make that move. I tried, as I’ve said, but…” He didn’t know what else to say.