Wicked Garden (5 page)

The muscles in his groin tightened, his balls drew taut. Helplessly he gathered the linen tablecloth in his fist. He focused on a rainbow glimmer of crystal reflecting on the table as his rigid sex pulsed toward completion. A white-hot flame shot out of the end of his cock, his head fell back and he groaned long and low as his seed flooded her hand.

A tender kiss brushed his lips, followed by a soft cloth on his crotch wiping away the remnants of his explosion.

Billy slowly cracked his eyelids, half-afraid he’d been dreaming again and he’d wake to nondescript walls of another hotel room with his dick clutched in his own hand.

But his eyes met Eden’s and clashed in a heated frenzy of desire. She lifted her hand and wickedly licked the tips of her fingers.

A possessive need ignited his blood.

Billy tucked himself in and zipped up. Briefcase closed, he hauled Eden from the booth, out the door and into his car.

His hands clutched the steering wheel. He didn’t utter a peep after his Neanderthal tactic of practically dragging her by the hair from the restaurant. He didn’t dare touch her; once he started he wouldn’t stop. When he finally screeched to a halt outside the condo, he faced her.

“Look. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

“I’m not mad.”

“Why were you in such a hurry to get away?”

Billy’s hands shook when he reached for her. Somehow he kept his touch gentle as he traced her baby-soft cheek with his knuckles. “Feather Light owns this condo. I’m staying here. It was the closest place with a bed.”

Her hazel eyes widened. “But I have to go back to work—”

“No. You have to get out of the car, Eden, or else I’m taking you right here on the front seat. Your choice.”

Her eyes slid to the condo entrance. Six redwood stairs led to a covered portico. The door was set back far enough into the structure she couldn’t discern the color. Besides the scraggly lilac hedge separating the driveway from the sidewalk, they were out in the open. No trees, shade or shadows from nearby buildings. Surely Billy hadn’t meant he’d take her right here on the leather seat of his rental car? In broad daylight?

“Well,” he demanded. “What’s it going to be?”

Holy cow. Guess he
had
meant it.

Before Eden lost her nerve, she grabbed her purse, flung open the door and stumbled out of the car.

Billy was on her before she reached the top step.

He kissed her with an openmouthed mating of tongues, hard, wet, divine. He pushed her toward the entrance, his body plastered to hers. As he fumbled with the house key, he kissed her. As he struggled to unlock the door, he kissed her. As he opened the door and half-carried, half-dragged her inside, he kept his voracious mouth on hers.

Eden fell headfirst into desire, letting her own long denied needs break free.

“God, I want you,” he groaned, slamming the door shut behind them only to flatten her body against the hard surface.

Her purse plunked on the rug. He began a fresh assault on her mouth, little nips and kisses, watching her eyes glaze over while he hurriedly unbuttoned her blouse. The satiny material slid an erotic path down her arms and dropped on the tile.

Then his hands were everywhere.

Sensations bombarded her. His sharp teeth on the swell of her breasts. His shaking hands fumbling with the clasp of her bra. His warm mouth dragging kisses across her moist skin. The ridges of the wooden door digging into her bared back. Her eyes fluttered shut when his lips closed over the peak of her left nipple.

Eager fingers tugged at the side zipper until her skirt met the floor in a soft
whoosh
. Nylons were peeled down her legs, stopped by the barrier of her high-heels. She kicked off her shoes, shed her hosiery. Eden was barefoot and completely naked, except for a damp pair of peach bikini panties.

Ripped out of her sensual daze, she opened her eyes and realized Billy was still fully clothed. She pushed him back a step, her fingers tracing the delineated lines of his chest. One hand unknotted his tie, while the other worked on the buttons of his ivory dress shirt.

Billy toed off his loafers, unfastening his shirt cuffs as she continued to undress him.

“Stand still,” she hissed, struggling with his belt buckle. He swayed, trying to remove his socks one-handed. His pants hit the floor, leaving him in boxer briefs and an unbuttoned shirt, looking every inch a male underwear model. She smoothed trembling hands over the golden blond hair dotting his broad chest.

His thumb traced the outline of her lips. “I can’t get enough of this mouth.”

“Billy—”

“Ssh.” His blue eyes were wild, his cheekbones suffused with color. A resigned sigh drifted over her temple as he molded his hard body to her soft curves. “I don’t think I can get enough of you, either.”

Eden moaned.

Billy swallowed the sound in a greedy kiss. Fingers inched up the inside of her thigh, pushing aside the lace barrier of her panties and plunged into her slick channel, and back out, spreading moisture to the heart of her begging for his attention.

She arched, pushing her pelvis closer, blindly jerking his boxers down his hips to reach for the erection teasing her belly.

He trailed his lips over her jaw. “You are so wet. Do you have any idea what that does to me?”

“Show me.”

“Let’s go. Condoms are in the bedroom.”

“No. Now. Right here, right now.” She wrenched away from him and groped on the floor for her purse, coming up with a square package from the inside pocket. She ripped it open with her teeth and shimmied out of her panties.

When Eden looked up, his underwear was history and he stood before her magnificently naked, strangely vulnerable. She couldn’t offer him reassurance that taking this next step wouldn’t result in broken promises or broken hearts, nothing but mindless sex. They both knew better.

He helped her roll the condom down the straining length of his cock. Panting against the hollow of her throat, he lifted her higher, pressing her to the door. “Wrap your legs around me.”

Eden’s arms circled his neck. She dug her heels into the back of his muscular thighs and dropped her hips to feel the tip of his cock demanding entrance to her body.

Billy paused and gazed into her eyes. He lowered his mouth and kissed her at the same time he pushed inside her to the hilt.

His gentle passion nearly undid her.

“Eden.” He uttered her name as a reverent sigh. His large hands gripped her butt, tilting her pelvis for the deepest penetration.

What a rush, finally feeling Billy Buchanan inside her body, skin-to-skin, soul-to-soul, man-to-woman. Sweat beaded on her skin. Her mind shut down to everything but pure pleasure.

Billy’s controlled thrusts changed to short, hard strokes, which made it impossible to sustain the frantic kiss.

Eden ground into him, her fingers buried in his soft hair, her teeth scraping the rigid cords in his neck. She loved the taste of him on her tongue. The brush of his solid chest against hers. His crisp pubic hair abrading her clit and his firm muscles beneath her hands. The sexy sounds their bodies made at each thrust and retreat.

His forehead dripped sweat on her shoulder and his hips flexed beneath her clenched thighs. Billy shuddered and slowed down, pulling out until just the tip of his cock met the greedy mouth of her sex, then glided back in inch by inch.

“No. Harder.” Her heels spurred his butt to remind him to keep up the frenzied pace, cursing his restraint.

Warm lips followed her collarbone. “God. This feels so fucking perfect I can’t hold off much longer.”

She tilted Billy’s face up to meet her eyes. “Don’t hold off. I’m there right with you.”

Billy’s hips began pounding again. Hard. Relentless.

“Yes.” Eden’s midsection tightened. Her ass slapped into the door with a satisfying sting, and Billy’s upper body pressing into hers was the only thing holding her up.

A moment later, she began to come apart. A shiver started in her scalp, zinging through her system like a wayward electrical current.

Billy licked and bit at her neck, his satisfied male chuckle echoed across her skin as tremors rocked her body.

His humor disappeared on a groan.

Feeling drunk from the intensity, her head thunked back. Stars exploded behind her lids.

“Hang on.” His hands left her tangled hair and smacked flat beside her head against the door. Four powerful thrusts coaxed another climax from her and she cried out, her vaginal contractions prolonging his release as Billy slammed into her high and hard, growling her name.

Even in the near silence, their harsh breaths, their blood synched as one.

Sweat plastered them to each other and Eden to the door. Several bliss filled seconds passed before she finally whispered, “It was worth the wait.”

Beautiful. He’d taken her against the front door. He’d waited ten years and banging Eden fast and furious in the foyer was the best he could offer her?

It was a wonder he ever got laid.

A contented sigh drifted against his neck, followed by a string of openmouthed sucking kisses. Evidently Eden hadn’t minded.

Billy leaned back, taking their weight in his legs as he attempted to pull out.

But her thighs gripped him tight. “Stay.” She nuzzled his cheek, burying soft lips in the cup of his shoulder. “Just for another minute until my brain can function.”

A sense of rightness washed over him. He’d never felt so completely…complete. “You okay? You’re not mad that I—”

“—fucked me stupid?” Her lips curved into a smile against his neck. “Are you kidding? I imagined it’d be good between us, but not like that.”

“It was pretty spectacular.”

She shivered delicately and seemed to burrow even deeper into his skin. “You think it was a one shot deal? Years of wondering ‘what-if’ made it impossible
not
to combust when we finally came together?”

He nudged her back against the door, not surprised she’d kept her beautiful eyes closed, hiding her feelings from him. “There’s only one way to find out.”

“How?”

“We have to do it again.” He peppered kisses down her jaw. “And again, and again, and again, until we’re sure it wasn’t a fluke.”

Her laugh soothed his soul.

Billy smoothed an auburn tendril from her flushed cheek. “Eden.”

“Mmm?”

“Baby, look at me.”

She glanced at him from beneath lowered lashes.

“I have to tell you something.”

“No.” She tried to squirm away, an impossible maneuver since they were still physically connected. “Whatever happened in the past doesn’t matter. And if this has to do with the community center, I don’t want to hear it right now, okay?”

He stared at her, the words stuck in his throat. How could he tell her it wasn’t their past that caused his sleepless nights, but thoughts of their future?

“I need to get dressed and go back to work.”

Billy cautioned himself to keep it light as she was already on the verge of retreat. “You sure you can’t stay and play hooky?”

She gave him a sexy grin. “The word you’re looking for is
nookie
. And no. I have to go.”

“Smart ass.” He nipped her chin and she yelped.

“The kids are probably running around driving Shelby crazy with their questions about where I am.”

“Are you there every day after school?”

“Without fail.” Eden’s fingers trailed a path across his shoulders and her mouth tasted the skin she’d touched.

Another whip of desire cracked through him. “Then you deserve a break. Stay. Please.”

“Tempting…but no.” She whacked his butt and he withdrew from the warm place that strangely felt like home.

When her feet touched the tile, she shivered and bent to grab her clothes, muttering, “Looks like a damn yard sale in here.”

Billy plucked up his clothing on the way to dispose of the condom. In the bathroom, he peered at his reflection, turning his profile left and right. Yep. Same guy on the outside, but the emotions jumping inside told a different tale. The last few days he’d been revitalized.

Scrubbing his hands over his face, he slumped back against the wall.
Face the facts, man.
His return to Spearfish hadn’t been about helping out an old friend or an excuse to checkup on his sister. He’d come back for her. Now that he realized the magnitude of the mistake he’d made years ago, how could he walk away? Now that he was certain she’d always been
the
one for him?

Worse yet, if he loved her, how could he close the center?

A soft rapping on the door ripped him from his reverie. “Billy? Look, I hate to screw and run, but I’ve got to get back.”

He grinned at her phrasing, hoping it indicated there’d be no awkward silences between them on the drive back to the center.

Eden primly crossed her bare legs. She hadn’t bothered putting her nylons back on. As she surveyed the landscape out the window of the rental car, she sensed Billy’s confusion. He’d tried to delve into what’d happened and she’d blatantly ignored him. And she’d practically jumped from his car when he pulled up at the community center.

Shelby didn’t pester her about the overly long lunch but Eden’s relief was short-lived. She’d nearly ducked into the safety of her office when a soft voice startled her.

“Aha! I knew I’d catch you goofing off someday.”

Eden faced her friend, Tate LeBeau. “As you can see, I’m back at the grindstone.”

Tate’s blue eyes turned shrewd. “What’s up with those rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes?” Her gaze traveled up Eden’s exposed shins and narrowed on a spot below her ear.

Dammit. Had Billy given her a hickey? Ten years ago he’d delighted in marking her his, everywhere, but he’d outgrown that impulse, hadn’t he? Eden resisted the urge to rub her neck.

Unfortunately, Billy chose that moment to saunter around the corner. His contented smirk disappeared and he stopped dead in his tracks. Eden suspected their guilt was obvious.

“Oh my God. Billy Buchanan? Is that really you?”

“In the flesh.”

Tate rushed forward, blond hair flying as she enveloped him in a hug. “It’s good to see you, even though I haven’t forgiven you for leaving Nathan in the lurch all those years ago.” She whapped him lightly on the arm. “Poor man was forced to finish the fire station project all by himself.”

Billy had the grace to blush. “I wish I’d had another choice.” His troubled gaze connected with Eden’s before he gave Tate a boyish grin. “You look exactly the same.”

She patted her pregnant belly. “Not exactly.”

“Dare I ask how many kids make up the LeBeau household these days?”

“This one is number five.” With pride she rattled off, “Sophie is seven, Ben is five, the twins, Michael and Sasha are three.”

He whistled. “Been a busy decade. How is Nathan?”

Tate beamed the pure sunshine of a woman wildly in love. “Wonderful. Business is great. He has four fulltime employees, which means he has time to coach the kids’ various sports teams and knock me up on a regular basis.”

When Eden attempted to sneak into her office to let them catch up, Tate firmly grabbed her elbow. “Excuse us. Eden and I have some…ah, issues to discuss.” She propelled Eden into the office, slammed the door and clicked the metal blinds shut.

No escape. Pregnancy hormones seemed to have given Tate super-human strength and eagle-eyed detection skills. “Spill it, girl. How long have you been sleeping with Billy?”

Eden didn’t bother to lie; Tate knew her too well. “Since about an hour ago.” She skirted the desk but was too wired to sit. “Don’t start.” During Eden’s teenage years, Tate had become her mentor at the community center. Eleven years later, Tate was still a mentor, but also a close friend, so Tate was aware of Eden’s devastation when Billy had abruptly left her life.

“You expecting a lecture? From me? You know better. No bull. What is going on?”

“If I tell you I don’t know, will you believe me?”

“Yes.” Tate’s eyes softened. “Talk to me.”

The words tumbled out in a rush. “This is all so surreal. Get this: Billy’s working for Feather Light, deciding the future of the community center, which means my future is in his hands.” She inhaled a deep yoga breath to keep the hysteria at bay. “But from the minute Billy walked in the door, it hasn’t been about business, or my future, but our past.”

“I imagine that drives you crazy.”

“Not only haven’t I seen any of his notes regarding the center, I have to deal with my stupid hormones wanting to get naked with him. All. The. Damn. Time. When he smiles at me, every professional thought sails right out of my head.” A shiver moved through her. “Maybe I’m more like my mother than I want to admit.”

Memories of men parading out of her mother’s room in the early morning hours flashed in Eden’s mind. Whenever her mother stared into space, mooning over some new guy she’d met at work, inevitably her mom lost her job.

“Eden LaCroix, you are nothing like your mother,” Tate muttered. “Although sometimes I wish you were.”

Her astonished gaze snapped back to Tate. “What?”

“You’re so caught up in making sure your reputation in this community is beyond reproach, you’ve forgotten there’s more to life than work. No one will begrudge you a relationship.”

“With the man who’s come here to shut down the community center?” Eden said incredulously. “How could I ever explain my way out of that?”

“Billy already told you he’s closing you down?”

“No. Whenever he gets within three feet of me, we both forget the real reason he’s here.” But he’d mentioned concrete concerns in the car. Had he been serious? Or angling for an excuse to relive their delicious lunch? Sad thing was, it wouldn’t take much to convince her she should spend all of her meals with him, stripped bare and screaming for another course.

“Regardless of the business end of things, he still cares for you,” Tate said.

“You can’t know that. You’ve seen him for what? Two minutes?”

“So?”

“So, neither of us is the same person we were ten years ago.” Eden glanced at her framed college diploma, then at the high school one hanging beside it. “We can’t go back.”

“But you don’t want to go forward either. For years you’ve used your experience with Billy as an excuse not to get involved with any man.” Tate held up her hand, stopping Eden’s protest. “And no, banging Jon White Feather like a drum whenever the mood strikes you does
not
count, because both you and Jon use your pasts as an excuse not to move on—either together or separately.”

Stupid insightful pregnancy hormones.

“Now that Billy has returned, apparently willing to make amends to you or to change your opinion of him, you’re unwilling to do either.”

Eden barely held on to her temper. “What do you expect me to do? Blindly give him my heart and my trust again?”

“Sweetie. Why won’t you admit he’s
always
had your heart?”

Dammit. She refused to respond.

“Lord, you are stubborn as a mule. Seems no matter what Billy does or doesn’t do, he can’t win.”

“You’re defending him?”

“No, I’m pointing out the facts. If Billy doesn’t close the community center, you won’t believe he didn’t do it to get in your good graces. If Billy does recommend closing it, you have a legitimate reason not to pursue a relationship with him.”

“What relationship? He lives in Chicago. I live in Spearfish. This ‘relationship’ is nothing but another loose end he’s tying up while he’s here.”

Tate studied her face until Eden squirmed under the intensity. “Think about what you really want and don’t be such a chickenshit about going after it.” Then Tate was gone.

Eden slumped in her office chair. She was no closer to knowing what her future held than she was three days ago.

She did know one thing for certain—ten years of life experience only added to Billy’s appeal. Yet, she suspected when it was all said and done he’d walk away. Unscathed. Just like he had before.

Despite Tate’s observation Billy carried a torch for her, she didn’t believe he wanted more than a mutual slaking of lust. Her feelings for him were her problem. But she’d be damned if she’d spend time brooding about it. Life went on.

Eden flipped on her computer and lost herself in work while she still had a job.