Uninhibited in Apple Trail, Arkansas - Volume 2 (20 page)

Chapter Five

Jessie clung to Henry, wanting to stop, wanting to move forward. When the tips of his ice cold fingers brushed against her, it’d shocked her and she had put a stop to things. But that wasn’t what she wanted. The stopping, she meant. Or maybe she did. Or didn’t. It was all so much, she just knew she wanted something.

She stared up at him, met his blue eyes. So warm and open. Kind eyes. They weren’t clouded with alcohol or red from a late night. They were completely clear, open. Staring at her and she knew what she wanted. Something more than a quick moment. While she didn’t really
know
Henry, she knew him far more than any other man who had touched her in a long time. And what she knew was enough. She thought. Maybe. Well, at the moment, it sure felt like enough for just a little while.

For a moment in time, a passing second, to really pretend it was something more when she just couldn’t actually deal with having more.

The corners of his mouth turned up and the tips of his fingers curled against her. She shuddered, this time not from the cold on his hand. But from the intense pleasure of it. The chill on her most warm, intimate place. Cold against what should be hot. It should turn her off. She didn’t like cold. Especially not during the winter when her furnace was broken, but she liked this and loosened the grip on his hand with her clenched thighs.

For only a moment, she leaned against the tree. Allowed him to reach further in her panties, let him stroke along her. Quickly warming fingertips caressed her, his palm rubbed against her and she accepted, and let him. All she could do was lean back and
feel
.

There was no need to aid him to find her pleasure. No need to guide him. He was there, against her, and god, he was listening to her without her needing to make a demonstration or just leave or take care of things herself.

Never did she let go this much and allow herself to be swept away. It was too dangerous, too risky to fall under. But with the wind on her cold numb cheeks, she was warmed by her pounding pulse and let him just take her.

Head back against the rough bark on the old oak tree, she arched against him, holding tight to the waist band of his pants and was at his mercy for everything.

To keep her standing.

To hold her tight like she wanted.

To make her fall completely apart in his arms.

He stroked deep inside and his palm rubbed against her. Pleasure and need built with each of his slow movements until she couldn’t hold anymore. His name tore up the back of her throat and her world came apart for mere seconds and she let go to nothing but Henry holding her. Taking her. Having his way with her.

She enjoyed every achingly wonderful second of it.

Breath returned to her chest, tightened muscles relaxed as she settled in his arms surrounding her. He tipped her chin up and nuzzled sweet kisses against her lips. Nothing more. Nothing less. For several minutes she stood against him, his arms holding her in a hug and gentle presses of his lips over hers. His hands combed through her hair, cupped the back of her head.

A January breeze swept through and she lay her head on his shoulder for warmth, she wasn’t having to pretend anymore. This once, she could really lean against a man with her skin hot on his. If it was night and this was a bed, she would have put her head on his chest to doze for a bit. Or all night even. She squeezed her eyes a little tighter, wanting to hold on to this, wanting to feel it more, but knew she couldn’t. It took too much out of her. Her time was valuable. She had too much to do, too much that needed done than to spend it sitting on a couch, watching a movie and simply doing nothing but sitting. She’d done more than enough sitting to last her a lifetime.

His hands slid down her back and to her hips. The gentle touch pulled away from her and she looked up to find him smiling down at her. His hands came between them and he fastened his jeans back together.

Heat filled her face. “I meant to…” She flipped her hand. “I was going to finish. I just got…distracted.”

The corner of his lips kicked up and made a dimple dot his smile. “Distracted is good.”

In this case, she had to agree. Distracted had been good. Very, very good. She’d been distracted to the point she only felt him touching her. Had become a puddle of feeling until she’d completely forgotten to touch back. That kind of thing didn’t happen to her, it was a bit rude. She reached for him, but he took her hand, pulled her from the tree and down the trail.

She’d missed it. She’d had her chance to put her hands on him. Explore him. And she’d missed it.

The sun was already low, her chance to discover more about the man under the jeans gone. It was time to get back to her life and routine, like usual. Still, Jessie sighed at little at the sight of her home. Back home meant she’d have to pull her hand from his larger, stronger grasp. Would no longer have the pads of his fingertips stroking against the back of her hand. Wouldn’t have his firm grip keeping her palm hugged tight and kissing his. In a matter of moments, this would be over.

She would go inside.

Him to his RV. On any other one night stand, she’d be longing for escape by now.

But Henry…her shoulders softened. Skin heated. Henry knew what he was doing and she wanted more. And that was dangerous. She couldn’t rely on other people. Didn’t have time for all that and their needs. Just Jessie McBride and what she needed. Or just her friends and what they needed. That was comfortable. Clutter free.

But even knowing better, her fingers squeezed a little tighter seconds before it was time to release him.

He smiled down at her. “I won’t risk your steps, so I’ll just walk you to here.”

She smiled in return. “Thank you. I swear I’ll fix them so you’ll be safe from falling through.”

He combed his fingers through her hair. “Or you can come with me. They may be little, but you won’t fall through the steps going inside the RV.”

Oh, man, that offer was more than a little tempting. She shook her head though, knowing this needed to be nipped in the bud before it got carried on further. Just their business arrangement and nothing more. Anything more would be messy.

He smiled. “Thank you for showing me around, Ms. McBride.”

She grinned at his polite charm. “You’re welcome. I’ll see you in the morning?”

“Breakfast?”

“I have all the cold cereal you could want.”

He frowned. “Dear god, no. That wouldn’t last me half an hour. Luckily, I have sausage.” He leaned down, her breath caught in her throat as his lips were so close. She wanted to wrap tight to him, take one last full body touch to keep her warm, but she held firm to her spot and allowed him to leave a sweet kiss on the corner of her mouth. A quick brush of lips to ignite chills over her skin before he straightened and walked away.

He moved toward the corner, closer to his RV, and she watched him go, wondering if she was being stupid or smart. She sighed. Smart. Definitely smart. Henry had been wonderful. She didn’t like long term with men. And anything more than a few hours was long term in her opinion. Life had dealt one too many harsh blows and trying to survive another would likely be the last of her. She climbed her steps, not holding the handrails since they were a little shaky and walked inside her cold house.

The furnace had given out years ago, but she’d always made do with just the fireplace. After being with Henry all evening, her hand warmly tucked in his when she hadn’t been plastered against that tree and his body, she had a feeling she would be very cold tonight. Cold and alone.

With a rub to her forehead, she moved upstairs for warm pajamas. She pulled on clean long-johns, thick wool socks and heavy fuzzy sweats. She moved down the stairs, careful as usual to hug the walls, but at halfway, she stopped this time to stare at her mother’s home. For a moment, she imagined what she could do with the money coming from Henry.

There had always been the burden of her father’s land or her mother’s house. The arrangement with Henry was a good compromise. She was losing some of her father’s land, but only temporarily. Restoring her mother’s house was going to be worth the invasion of her privacy. Sure, offers to lease her land from hunters had come in before, but it had never been worth it. They always offered far less than it was worth and wanted to bring their dogs out to run the deer and rut up her land with their four-wheelers. Never. Not so long as she could scrimp by.

She continued down the steps with a smile brightening her spirits. Soon her mother’s house would be restored to the beautiful home it had once been. Jessie squatted before the fireplace and poked at the bright coals. Heat puffed from the glow, warmed her cheeks and a sigh eased out. She turned to her basket for more wood and found it empty.

Of course, because she’d spent the afternoon getting ready for her walk through the woods with Henry. Tiffany and Rebecca had quizzed her endlessly on which paths to take to find the trees while Jessie had been busy trying to find something to wear.

No rest for the weary. She pushed off her knees and hurried out the back. The cold night dropped chills down her body and she ran to the pile of wood against the side of the house. No sooner did she get two logs in her arms than a light blinked on from Henry’s very closely parked RV and his door swung open.

“Who’s there?”

She smiled at the fierce, protective tone. “It’s only me. Just grabbing some wood for the fire.”

“I heard your door open and close and I thought someone broke in.”

“Only me. G’night.” She hurried for her door, dropped the load and returned for more, trying to be quick. Henry’s offer of more in his RV was tempting now that she was cold and he was warm…oh, so very warm. With skilled hands. And delicious kisses. Before making a stupid change of mind, she ran for more wood to get her butt inside, only she found Henry standing there, hefting three times as many chunks of logs in his arms. She was definitely warming up now.

“Where do you want them?”

She opened her backdoor wider. “Just by the fire, with the other stack. You didn’t have to.”

He snorted. “Yes I did. Eighty years old and Grandpa would tan my hide now if I didn’t.” He stepped over the threshold and shivered. “Christ it’s cold in here.”

She walked around him and tossed new wood on the fire. “It’ll warm up in a bit.”

He shivered again in his white t-shirt. “Turn the heater on. You’ll catch a cold in this.”

She smiled up at his kindness and tried encouraging him toward the door. “The heater went out years ago.”

He gaped at her. “It’s twenty degrees outside and you don’t have any heat?”

“I have the fireplace. It’ll be hotter than you’ll be able to stand in here before you know it.”

Before she had a chance, he crossed the two feet separating them and tugged at the wide neck of her pajamas. “Hey!”

He only frowned and stared at the white undershirt showing above her pajama shirt. “So hot that you need to sleep in thermals?”

She pulled out of his hold and forced a swallow down her throat where his knuckles had brushed. “I sleep cold.”

“Yeah, I suspect you do.” He turned in a circle, looking around the living room and stopped at seeing her bed made on the couch. “And you sleep in here?”

“Well of course, that’s where the fire is.” Duh. Idiot. His charm was fast wearing off because she feared what was coming as he kept looking around the room and he found what she was afraid he’d been looking for.

He lifted the fire extinguisher from the corner. “Grab your pillow. You’re staying with me.”

She hurried and tugged at the extinguisher before he had a chance to kill her fire and completely ruin it for the night. “Mr. Green. You seeing to my welfare is not in our contract agreement.”

“A hell of a lot of things aren’t in our agreement that we’re doing, but I’m not going to let you stay in this freezing cold house when my RV is right there with a spare bed.”

“It’s not your choice!”

He jerked the canister from her hand and hosed down her fire even as she shrieked and begged him to stop. He sat the canister down and dusted his fingers. “Am I going to have to carry you?”

Anger seethed in her blood. “I have lived in this house for years without central heating and have been fine. I’m one of the healthiest people I know. You have no right.”

“No, I don’t, but I sure as hell did. You can’t stay here. You’ll freeze. I’ll never sleep thinking of you over here getting frostbite. Grab your pillow if you want it. If not I have extras.”

With no choice now, she snatched her pillow and her top blanket from the couch, not wanting to touch anything of his. She followed him to the RV where he held open the door. She stepped in and nearly swooned at first from the warmth and second from the luxury of things. Not that it was overly elegant, but it was just so new. Everything looked new. Smelled new. Updated Appliances.

A TV was in the corner, a game on it paused. Of course, satellite TV and apparently a DVR for his camper. A large laptop computer sat on the table, the screen on a news site.

“To your left.” His voice was gruff.

She wanted to look back and see him, but decided that was probably a bad idea. She still wanted to kick him in the shins for forcing her out of her home, but at the same time…this was just wonderful. Plain and simply put, wonderful. And yes, she was perfectly aware she was ignoring the part about how she was supposed to be mad and angry. He’d forced her out of her home, for God’s sake.