Words of Love (3 page)

Her lips moved urgently, if awkwardly, responding to him. Her mouth was warm and throbbing as though it pulsed with blood, with
life
. His tongue delved into its seductive sweetness, trying to absorb her and own her all at once. As Jessica struggled for a breath, their lips momentarily parted and he wasted no time ducking his mouth under her jaw and onto her throat.

It’d been nearly a year since Brett had been with his wife but he was
sure
it’d never been like
this
. Jessica was intoxicating. Her breathy whimpers filled his ears. Her lithe body bent to his. With every succulent kiss across her throat, her aching gasps only made him want more–made him want everything. Quickly, he unclasped her bra and, as it and her shirt fell to the floor, he unzipped her pants, knelt, and peeled them down.

• • • • •

Jesse knew that this moment couldn’t be real. But somehow that didn’t help the torrent of mismatched feelings coursing through her.

Brett had just undressed her.
 

He’d kissed her in a way she hadn’t known was possible and now she stood naked before him, waiting for his touch, yearning for it. But even as she felt his lips and then his tongue on her abdomen, she couldn’t open her eyes.
 

Because if I do, this impossible dream will end.

Instead, she gripped the wet collar of his shirt as her knees threatened to buckle. Too stunned to do anything but keep her balance, she inhaled sharply as his tongue moved up to her rib cage. Blood pounded in her ears, drowning out the crashing rain. In all her life, she’d never done such a thing–especially with someone she hardly knew. Yes, this was Brett Delacourt, the most attractive man she’d ever met but…

His harsh breaths washed over her chest, the stubble of his chin grazed her skin, and then he gnawed at her breast.

“Oh god,” she whispered harshly as her abdomen contracted.

Something in her needed this so badly it blotted out everything else. His reputation didn’t matter. Her disbelief that this was happening to
her
didn’t matter. Not even the right or wrong of it mattered. Because in this moment, Brett’s sudden euphoria at being alive had completely swept her along with him.
 

She had
never
felt more alive.
 

Then, as she dug her fingers into his damp hair, he suckled her nipple. She inhaled sharply. His mouth was hot and wet, luxurious beyond belief. Jesse moaned at the intense pleasure and, in return, Brett hungrily engulfed the throbbing tip with a satisfied “Mmmm.” The vibration of his lips around the hardening peak was too much. Her back arched and she pressed into him, feeling his arousal jab into her.

Then suddenly he released her. Against her will, she opened her eyes and the sensations of the outside world intruded: the gossamer drapes of netting, the spattering of heavy rain in the distance, the rolling thunder from somewhere above, and the low light of the single lantern.

Brett stepped back from her and she felt the separation as a stabbing pain. But as his fevered eyes darted from her hips to her breasts and then to her face, the heat of his gaze sizzled on her skin. His fingers quickly undid the first button of his shirt but then fumbled with the second. Suddenly, he grabbed the fabric to either side and ripped it open.

Jesse gasped and jumped a little as she watched the fabric split and heard the plastic buttons skitter across the stone floor. He hurled the material to the ground and nearly tugged the canvas belt free from all the loops as he unbuckled it.
 

Jesse stared at the flexing muscles of his sculpted chest. She watched as he twisted to let his pants slide off, his abs rippling and bunching as he moved. Brett’s body was
perfect
but of course it had to be because
this was a dream
.

And in that dream, he moved toward her.

• • • • •

Brett guided Jessica backward as he lifted the mosquito netting to let them pass. Her exquisite body had been a shock when he’d undressed her. But now his eyes drank in every inch of her. As he eased her down, he marveled at her sinuous movement and the way her lithe torso flexed. Her skin was creamy and silky smooth under his searching touch. As she lay back, he paused to cup her bare breast. Full and plump, the sweetly curved mound swelled in his hand.

She inhaled sharply and, as her diaphragm sucked inward, he focused on her incredibly flat tummy, then the roundness of her hips, and finally the soft mound of tawny curls at the top of her thighs. His bulging arousal suddenly ached and the urge to join his body with hers renewed itself with force.
 

As he quickly positioned himself over her, he looked down into her face. Lightning flashed but her closed eyes didn’t react. Instead, her hands flew to his back, drawing him down, her fingers kneading into him. As he settled his hips between her legs and his chest over her breasts, his arousal probed her moist entrance. Her tiny gasp was quickly followed by her hips pulsing onto the tip of it.

He put his mouth next to her ear and, as he pushed inward, he hoarsely whispered the only word that came to his mind.

“
Jessica
.”

They slid together with ease. His straining shaft slipped up into her as her soft warmth enveloped him. Suddenly, wanting had become reality and he squeezed his eyes shut, surrendering to the incredible sweetness of the penetration, his body inside hers, his flesh completely surrounded. A profound shudder ran through her as thunder rolled over them but it was unlike the trembling of earlier. Her hips bucked into him, bringing even more of him into her, as her back suddenly arched.
 

“Oh god,” she whimpered, as her fingers dug into his buttocks.

Again he slid upward, deep inside her, but this time thrusting harder.
 

She moaned as their hips connected and her pelvis slowly began a sensual grind against his. Her mound rose up to meet him and her body writhed below him. The hypnotic movement stroked his length and, before he could stop himself, he plunged into her. No longer able to hold back, his thrusts rocked her, delving deeper, one after another in a sudden frenzy of yearning. She arched into him, tilted her hips to him, and pressed upward to meet each penetration.
 

The feeling was electric and each connection stoked the wild burning of his erection inside her. Her breath came in heaving gasps as her body undulated with abandon. He moved hard into her, over and over, even as she moved to accept him. With a final, sharp penetration he drove upward, burying himself deeply, straining against her walls. Her immediate cry of pleasure jolted through him so hard his arousal thickened. She was
amazing
and the need to fill her was now the only thing he knew.

• • • • •

Jesse saw lightning flash in the dull red glow of her eyelids. Her senses seemed on overdrive as the smell of rain in Brett’s hair filled her nose. The sound of his labored breathing filled her ears. The feel of his rock hard muscles filled her hands and the heat that radiated from his chest washed over her.

He thrust again and his hot flesh penetrated to the very core of her. She felt him push deeply, filling her with a powerful pressure, as her abdomen clenched around him. But instead of withdrawing, he slowly ground himself against her. Her sweet spot responded with a pang of pleasure as tension coiled behind it.

“Yes,” she managed to gasp, just as he began to pump again.

Her body responded with a frenzied fervor, trying desperately to release the new tension. As he pounded into her, she raised her hips to meet each urgent thrust. Until, again, he impaled her and ground himself at her entrance.
 

Her sweet spot tightened beyond the limits of pleasure, pulsing, aching for release and suddenly she spasmed. As her body writhed, completely out of control, she felt Brett’s arousal suddenly throb inside her. In a blinding, pulsing moment of release she clenched hard. Brett’s groan and her anguished cry mixed with a new peal of thunder that ripped through the cavern. He came then, wildly and explosively inside her. She jerked and convulsed around him in waves of spasms that threatened to overwhelm her. His release rocked her, flooding through her, as her contractions began to slow. Then, almost as quickly as it’d started, the clenching stopped. They’d come together suddenly and, just as suddenly, they had climaxed and now they were done. The sounds of their panting was the only thing that remained until Brett’s voice sounded quietly in her ear.

“The bed’s too small,” he whispered.

Then his lips brushed lightly against hers and he was gone. Even if she’d wanted to open her eyes, she wasn’t sure if she could. The strangest sensation of floating in midair swept over her but in moments consciousness itself slipped away.

Something was cooking.

Jesse rolled over, trying to turn away from the smell, and nearly fell off the mattress. She came awake suddenly and backed away from the edge. For a moment, a wave of disorientation washed over her and her eyes darted around the ‘room’–except it wasn’t a room. It was obviously a tent.

She calmed down as the sound of pounding rain finally registered.

That’s right. The monsoon. The tent.

She looked at her wet clothes, draped over the top of a wooden crate and looked under the light blanket that covered her. She was naked.

“Oh my god,” she whispered.

It hadn’t been a dream.
 

Outside the tent she heard someone moving around in the cavern. That had to be Brett. She suddenly sat up and clutched the blanket to her chest as her face flushed hot.
 

“Oh my god,” she whispered again.

How could she face him?

In her life, she’d never done anything like that before.

Even now, it was all a blur–the storm, the lightning,
him
.

Her heart was pounding and a sudden wave of dizziness swept over her. She closed her eyes and steadied herself with a hand on the bed.

But as quickly as it started, it stopped. She slowly opened her eyes and they landed on her suitcase. She couldn’t stay in here forever. She’d have to get dressed and go out.

• • • • •

Brett removed the black beans from the camp stove and substituted the rice. The small stack of corn tortillas was already on the table with a bottle of salsa. Beans, rice, and tortillas would be their steady diet until they left–about a week if things went as planned.

Right
, he thought. Things had already
not
gone to plan. He stirred the boiling water and rice without really seeing it.
 

What had he been
thinking
last night?

He shook his head. That wasn’t the right question.
 

Why
wasn’t he thinking?

And to that question, he already knew the answer. He’d been terrified. For himself, he admitted, but mostly for Jessica. He blinked as he remembered the lightning strike. Even now, his palms got sweaty. She’d come very close to dying. They both had.

And when he’d reached the safety of the cavern, he’d felt almost giddy. But she had reacted differently and it was her reaction that had finally brought home what had happened. It had all been too much, and then one thing led to another, and–

The rice was starting to boil over.
 

He quickly lifted the pot from the flame.

As he looked at it, he remembered the scorched shirt and the pinkness of her back. He took in a deep breath. It hadn’t helped that she was beautiful and that he hadn’t suspected that in the least. In fact, it’d been a shock.

He lowered the flame and put the pot back down.

He sighed.

You’re making excuses, so just stop. You knew what you were doing.

And with a student.
 

In the field.
 

It was the one thing he’d been accused of almost his entire career and the one thing he’d
never
done. People just assumed it because of his looks. They probably also assumed that’s why he was divorced, but it wasn’t–not even close.

He looked toward the interior of the cavern, though the light of the propane lanterns didn’t penetrate far.
 

This
was the reason his wife–his
ex
-wife–had divorced him. His obsession had stopped being her and it had become this site. Rather than divulge the real reason for his divorce, he’d let the wild rumors about himself and students circulate–rumors until now that is.

“Good morning,” he heard from behind him.

“Good morning,” he said automatically, as he turned.

Jessica was back in uniform–the baggy clothes and baseball cap and the overly large glasses. Even so, now that he’d seen her, it was hard to put that sight from his mind.

She self-consciously adjusted her glasses and he realized he was staring.

He looked back down at the rice and turned off the flame. It was an awkward situation and he had no idea what to do. For once, he wished that the rumors were true because maybe then he’d have a clue.

“I hope you like rice and beans,” he said, and turned to her with a smile. But when he turned around, she was quickly walking to the front of the cave. “Jessica?” he said, calling after her.
 

She started to run.

He put the rice down and ran after her.

“Jessica!” he yelled.
 

No matter how awkward he’d felt, he hadn’t expected this. But as he got closer to the cave entrance, he realized what was happening. She was retching. He stopped to give her some space. She was hanging her head over the edge of the ledge, in the rain.
 

When she was finally done, she cupped some rainwater in her hand and started to wash out her mouth with it.

“No don’t,” he yelled. She froze. “You’ve got to use filtered water,” he said. “I’ll get some.”
 

He trotted back to the stove and brought back a clear plastic jug of water and a metal cup. He poured some out and handed it to her.