Divine (17 page)

“Build it and she will come.” He
chuckled.

“What?”

“I hoped, no, I prayed you would come.”

“I’m planning on doing just that.” She smiled
and his knees threatened to buckle.

He tugged her hand toward the house. “Let’s
go.”

This was it. Her everything, but she wanted
something more, different.

“No.”

His body went rigid. “You have to find
another word. No makes me think the worst.”

She grinned. “Understood. A normal,
comfortable bed doesn’t work for me. I want our first time to be
unique.”

“What do you have in mind?” He arched a
brow.

The smirk crossing his face made the
devilment running through her that much more fun. “The stream.”

“We met outside. Saw each other by the river
almost every day of our youth. I think making love our first time
by the water brings everything full circle.”

“Full circle?”

“You’re a man of few words.”

“My brain isn’t engaging. You can lead me
anywhere you want. Always could, always have, and I imagine always
will.”

“Oh, I like that.” She released his hand and
grabbed a blanket from the trunk of her car. “Let’s go.” She
winked.

“Let’s take the mule.”

She straightened. He got into this whole
nature thing too much. “Wouldn’t riding a mule, um—” She wasn’t
sure how to word what she assumed would happen to a man when he
went horseback riding, or in his case, mule riding. Wouldn’t he
have trouble getting an erection? “Would the mule’s back be lumpy,
uncomfortable?” She wrinkled her nose.

“Not a problem.” He chuckled. “Riding horse
or mule doesn’t stop what comes naturally. Anyway, I’m not talking
about riding an animal.” He tilted his head toward a green vehicle
with four wheels.

She could handle it. “Okay.”

“Or we could take the ATV.” He pointed to the
dark blue four-wheeler.

Foreplay on wheels, her legs wrapped around
his hips, the vibration of the machine. “Yeah, baby,” he said as if
reading her thoughts.

He pulled her closer, and kissed her.

She melted, sinking into the kiss with a low
moan and a tight knot deep in her belly. She slid out of his arms
before they dropped to the ground, right there, and ran to the
four-wheeler.

He didn’t run as she’d thought he would. He
hurried toward her, but didn’t quicken his pace more than a fast
walk. Then she remembered his injury.

“How is your leg?” She set the blanket on the
seat when he approached and hooked her hands in the waistband of
his jeans to still him. Once they sat on the four-wheeler, her
straddling his hips mixed with the vibration of the machine, she’d
have to concentrate hard not to have a premature orgasm.

“My leg didn’t stop me from chasing after
you.” He squeezed her hips and pulled her against him. “Something
else did.” Hard male pressed along her stomach.

“We better get moving.”

“Or,” he said, lowering his head. “We walk
around the corner of the shed.” He trailed kisses along the tender
spot under her ear, soft and sweet. His breath, hot and
intoxicating, heightened the sensual electricity snapping around
them. “Spread the blanket out and make love by the fishpond.”

She didn’t think, didn’t need to, and
couldn’t have if she’d wanted to. She grabbed the blanket. With a
hand in the waistband of his pants, she led the way around the
corner, out of sight of the watchful animals. The gorgeous
countryside of Jarcanda trees, wild flowers, and a small pond stole
her breath. “It’s perfect.”

“Trina,” Matt’s greenish-blue eyes peered
into her soul like soft lasers. “I love you.” He cupped her face
and kissed her, the most delicious kiss of her life.

She moaned, her knees buckling.

He wrapped his arms around her waist,
steadied her, and took the blanket from her arms.

The red blanket snapped and flowed in the air
like a magic carpet before he guided it to the ground. He removed
his hiking shoes, stepped onto the blanket, and held out his
hand.

She accepted it and glimpsed the metal taking
the place of his foot. The flat, shiny piece curved to support
him.

“You good? Okay with this?”

A smile stretched across her face. “More than
good.”

He stripped his shirt and tossed it to the
ground.

Hard sinew muscles glistened in the bright
sun. After all the times she’d seen his torso, never had it
beckoned to her as it did today. Scanning the wide expanse of land,
she let her shirt fall to the ground atop of his. Her bra went
next. For her, there was no going slow. The burning in her stomach
wouldn’t allow it.

She traced the outline of his muscles,
smelled his clean, masculine scent. “I’ve missed this, you, the
scent of you.”

“Me too.” His sigh came out on a moan as he
explored her. He slid his fingers over her neck, her breasts,
tweaked her nipples, and cupped a breast in each hand. “You’re
breathtaking, more stunning than I remembered.” He moved his
attention to her face. “Absolutely perfect.” His mouth found a
breast, drew it in. Delight skimmed her body and she shivered.
Tracing the hard breadth of his shoulders, she latched onto them
and arched her back, giving more of herself to him. “Matt.”

“I need to be in you,” he said, mirroring her
thoughts.

“Yes,” she breathed. “Fast.”

Clothes disappeared. Matt’s fluidness with
his leg surprised her. His pants fell before hers. Briefs
followed.

Her blood pounded in her ears.

He was big, real big, too big for her. Thick
and hard, and all Matt.

Her hand trembled as she slid it over the
steel silkiness jutting toward her.

“One more stroke.” His voice was barely
audible. “I won’t last.” He guided her to the blanket and groaned.
“I don’t have a condom. I don’t imagine you’re on birth control,”
he said, his expression hopeful.

She rolled onto her back, nudged Matt’s arm
for him to shift on top of her. “Where we’re going, do you think it
matters?”

He braced his arms on either side of her,
leaned his forehead against hers, his length at the entrance to her
core. “You’re saying you’d want to have a baby with me.”

Excitement danced over her, pebbling her
skin. “I am. I’d love to have your baby and raise him or her in
Montana, on this property where you created our home.”

“Sounds perfect,” he whispered. He shifted to
her side, kissing her while his hand went exploring. Long fingers
feather-touched her breasts and slid to her stomach, until coming
to the place the length of him had been.

Her quivering body begged for more.

His mouth, hot and demanding, suckled her
breasts, sending her out of control. A warm finger slid deep
inside, then two. She wrapped her legs around his hand and squeezed
tight. It wasn’t enough. “I’m gonna burst. Inside me. Now!”

In a flash, he lay on top of her, held her
gaze with his own, and slid inch by inch into her, letting her body
accept him with each move. Something stabbed deep inside. She
flinched.

He drew back. “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” she said, grabbing his hips and
wrapping her legs around him so he couldn’t leave. “It’s good.”

“You’re telling me.”

His slow movements quickened. They moved
together, the sync of their bodies sweet and tender. The tightening
knot ached for release.

The sun grew hot, the air more humid. She
wanted, needed more. She met him thrust for thrust. On the verge of
ecstasy, she closed her eyes, held him tight, and gloried in the
feel of him.

Waves of pleasure rushed over her, years of
foreplay with him coming out in a prolonged, hard orgasm. “Ah,
Matt!”

His release escaped in a loud roar as his
surge tumbled.

He lowered on top of her, his elbows
bracketing her sides. Softly, he kissed her. “Not even in my dreams
did I think it’d be this good.”

“You surpassed mine.”

When the sex fog lifted, he shifted onto his
back, bringing her with him. “Ready to become Mr. and Mrs.?”

“To me, we became Mr. and Mrs. just now. As
soon as I have strength enough to move, let’s locate the justice of
the peace and make it legal.”

“I couldn’t have said it better.”

She rose onto an elbow and beheld her guy,
her handsome, terrific guy. “For ten years, we’ve been connected.
We found it.”

“The big bang love?”

She snuggled in close. Her leg draped over
his metal leg, her breasts pushed into his side, and her head
tucked beneath his chin. “You’re divine.”

He kissed the top of her head. “The keychain,
we never discussed it. Why did you give it to me?”

She’d asked herself the same question
millions of times. “Instinct.”

“Where’d you get it from?”

“My grandmother presented it to me after my
grandfather passed.” Trina hadn’t repeated the story to another
soul. Bradley didn’t even know. It was her precious secret with her
grandmother. “She said everyone has a soul mate. My grandfather had
given her the keychain in elementary school. She told me to carry
it with me, and one day I’d give it to someone very special without
weighing the pros and cons, I’d just do it. The recipient would be
my soul mate.”

“Huh. At fourteen, how did you know?”

She beamed. “Think about it. Didn’t you know?
Didn’t you feel it?”

He kissed her and crushed her to him, not too
tightly- but enough to feel her pressing solidly against him.
“Yeah, I guess I did.” And he had. He had known it bone-deep from
the first time he saw her skinny arm move a branch out of her way
to step into the clearing by the river. She rocked his world that
day, just as she’d done every day since, and no doubt always
would.

They’d lost so much time trying to make their
parents happy. Even though his weren’t around and would have never
demanded anything from him, he joined the military because he
thought they would expect it instead of going after what he wanted,
which was a life with Trina. “Let’s make a pact—no more letting
anyone else influence our decisions.”

“No more lost time.” She kissed him.

“You and me, babe.” He grinned

“Oh, I’m game.” A grin spread across her face
and she straddled him. “There’s only one way to seal a deal.”

“Oh yeah!”

Chapter One

Autumn Wilcox watched her dear friend on the
couch, clinging to the last fragments of life. She held in the pain
ratcheting through her from seeing her friend in such a feeble
state.

“Autumn.” Bebe Fries untangled her hand from
the lightweight blanket and slid a frail finger across Autumn’s
cheek. “You’ll be okay, sweetheart.”

“No I won’t,” she wanted to say. There was
no sense arguing with her eighty-nine year old friend; something
she learned years ago when Bebe first offered her a room in the
single-wide trailer. “Nothing will be the same,” she said with a
breathy gasp and slid off the coffee table to kneel beside her.

Her ferret, Hopper, burrowed into Bebe’s
side then went still. Even he knew the mood was bleak.

“No, it won’t. You’ll have this trailer but
won’t stay. You’ll find a new treasure, a new experience somewhere
else and live up to your nickname.”

She laughed and wiped her nose. “You gave me
Runner.” Bebe had found her sleeping on the edge of the woods
during a thunderstorm, with the clothes on her back, her ferret,
and a backpack. She had kicked her butt, literally, and told her to
get her ass inside the house.

Just when she would have argued, lightning
had struck, illuminating the sky and outlining Bebe’s form. Her
long, graying hair blew in the wind and her stern face might have
scared some people, not her. Call it intervention or faith, but
that night a kinship formed and her homeless year ended.

“You are one.” Bebe moaned and dropped her
hand to the brown, floral couch. “An unsettled soul,” she said, her
voice gruff as if in pain.

Autumn snatched the pain medication the
hospital sent home five days ago from the table beside her.

“No. I don’t want any.” She nudged it. A
weak attempt, but Autumn got the message and set the pills on the
table. “I’m at peace with what’s about to happen.” Bebe’s words
sounded jumbled and became harder to understand. Her lips parted
yet nothing came out.

Autumn leaned in closer, shoved her hair
behind her ears, and gently rubbed the paper-thin skin of her
friend’s hand. Over the few years she’d known Bebe, her soft skin
weathered from a few lines into what Bebe called “looking older
than dirt.” To her, Bebe would always be beautiful.

“I’m proud of you.”

The compliment swelled her chest. With one
hand holding Bebe’s, Autumn’s other hand latched onto the arm cuff,
a bracelet worn above her bicep. Bebe had given it to her just
after she moved into the trailer. The design, a snake biting its
own tail, represented their friendship and eternity. “I love you,
too.”