Home to You (28 page)

I crumpled to my knees on the wet lawn, sucking in air like I’d held my breath the whole way, and let the rain wash over me. I didn’t want to think, didn’t want to feel. I just wanted to be. To exist for a moment, and let some of my tension disappear into the ground with the rain.
 

THE STORM HAD SETTLED TO a delicate drizzle by the time I made it back to the house. From the sidewalk I could see that everyone had gone. The street that an hour ago was littered with cars was now completely empty, and the sound of the party no longer filtered into the night air. I took a deep breath and walked up the driveway.
 

Jake sat on the front steps and my heart stopped. His white shirt was plastered to his muscular form, his brown hair dripping and face intense. He leaned forward on his knees, watching me, and I forced myself to unlatch the gate.

“I’ve been looking for you...” His voice came low and raw and took my breath. “Everywhere...”

Sadness rushed to the pit of my stomach and I knew this was it. There would be no more running away, no more excuses or interruptions. I had to leave—even if it meant abandoning my own heart.

He stood, and my hands flew to my mouth. I wanted the ground to open up and consume me. To shield me from the overwhelming emotions that stirred inside. My throat thickened with the words I came to say, and in one breathless crack, I let them out. “I’m leaving, Jake.”
 

“Katie—”
 

He took a step closer, but I held up my hand to stop him. “Let me finish!” My tone was desperate, aching with the all the tension and confusion collected since I’d come home.

He stood with his hands fisted at his sides, waiting for me to speak, but the word wouldn’t come. I’d recited every syllable at the park. Said them over and over until they were perfect, but standing in front of him now, my clothes soaking wet and heart ripped out of my chest, I couldn’t think of any of them.
 

“You were
home
to me,” I said in a torn whisper.

 
He ran his hand through his drenched hair and gripped his skull.
 

“You were my protector.”
 

“I know what it looked like—” His voice came thick and tortured.

“I trusted you!” I cut him off. “And you let me become the other woman.”

He rushed toward me and grabbed my arms, urging me to look up. “Grace and I are
over
.” His face was intense, his eyes pleading for me to believe him. “I broke up with her before I left for the damned conference.”
 

I searched his face and swallowed back tears that threatened to choke me. “Then why all this?” My voice trembling.
 

He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. “Because she’d been planning it for months—because working together made things complicated—because she begged me to play along…” His grip loosened, but he didn’t move away.
 

My head began to spin, my breath swallowed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
 

“I planned to… ” He looked me in the eyes. “I tried to…”

 
But I wouldn’t talk to him.
 

His rough hands traveled up my arms, and even though they were soaking wet, they generated a heat that sent goosebumps over my cold skin.
 

“I never meant to hurt you.” His voice was soft and heavy with emotion. “It’s fucking killing me that I did.”
 

One hand moved along my neck, the pad of his calloused thumb grazed my jaw, and my whole body trembled with conflicting urges. I wanted to pull him closer and push him away all at the same time.
 

Molten blue eyes penetrated my soul, while my heart begged me to run. “What do you want, Jake?”

“For you to trust me. For you to stop telling me you’re leaving me. And to kiss you until you no longer hurt.”
 

A tear slipped down my cheek and my eyes shifted to his lips—I wanted that too. More than anything in my life, I wanted that.
 

His solid frame took mine, enveloped me like I was meant to be there, and he lifted me to my toes. His hips to mine, our hearts pounding as one. “I would never do that to you, Katie. Never.”
 

His whispered words brushed against my mouth, and I claimed fists full of his sodden shirt crushing my mouth to his. Urgent, gentle, both loving and passionate at the same time.
 

His lips moved against mine, like a thousand promises never to hurt me, to protect me forever, and I took each one. Needing them more than anything. Needing them more than air.
 

I slipped my hand under his shirt, and his kiss deepened. He lifted my thigh, causing my dress to bunch at my hip, and he cradled me against him. The bulge of his erection grinding against my belly.
 

He pressed his forehead to mine, his breaths coming in hard, ragged pants. “We should slow down.” But his fingers contradicted his words as they twisted in the wet fabric of my dress, gathering it higher until his palm brushed against my exposed side.
 

“Jake.” I dug my hips deeper, wanting more of him. Desperate for his touch. Drunk with lust and desire. “Please don’t stop.”
 

His jaw flexed and he searched my face. All that we’d been through flashed through my mind in an instant. All the times he pulled away, all the rejection that scarred my heart. Then the backs of his fingers caressed my cheeks, and without words he lifted me and cradled me in his arms. He didn’t move at first, just looked at me with an intense heat that made my insides clench and my breath slow.
 

He carried me through the house, kicking his bedroom door open to crash against the wall, then lowered me to my feet beside the bed. Somehow the intimacy of his room was more intense than what we’d shared outside, and I looked down to his chest.

His hands moved over my arms, then up to lift my chin. He stepped closer, his hand along my throat, cupping my breast through drenched fabric, and he took my bottom lip in his mouth. I sucked in a breath, and my fingers shook as I fumbled over the buttons of his shirt. I’d never wanted anything more in my whole life, yet I was terrified. What if I wasn’t enough? What if I didn’t satisfy him?
 

Jake’s hands traveled down the front of me until they reached the edge of my dress. In one easy motion he lifted it over my head and discarded it to the floor, leaving me nude except for my panties.

I was exposed, completely vulnerable as his gaze slowly took me in. My lips, my breasts, the thin, white cotton that covered my most intimate parts. My heart was in my throat, my breath heavy as I resisted the urge to shield myself. I didn’t have the body he was used to. All my insecurities rushed to the surface, and I began to tremble with them.

“What’s the matter, Katie?” His voice low and hoarse.
 

I shook my head. “I’m no good at this.”
 

His hands enveloped mine. “You could have fooled me.” His mouth covered mine, and he pushed me back until my thighs hit the edge of the mattress. His hands brushed up my sides, and he gently lowered me to the soft sheets. He removed what was left of his clothes and joined me on the bed. His biceps flexing as he suspended himself above me.
 

My need for him burned; every nerve in my body was on fire. His fingers moved from my collarbone, down my breasts, all the way to the edge of my panties. Then they slipped under the edge and found the slick heat of my core.
 

 
“Fuck, Katie.”
 

His lips ran over my jaw, my neck, and his fingers began to move in slow circles adding the perfect amount of pressure where I needed it most. One finger slipped inside, then another, and I arched against his hand. His skilled fingers working magic as they curled inside me. I grasped his back with both hands and shamelessly began to press myself against his hand as a sweet ache ran the length of my body.
 

“Jake, please,” I breathed.
 

He lifted my hips and pulled my panties down my thighs. Abandoning them to the floor with my dress. He threw me back on the pillows, and my pulse quickened. This was really happening. I was naked in Jake’s bed, and he was going to make love to me.

His mouth came down on mine, and my hands found his back, exploring every inch of muscle. He moved lower, placing feather-light kisses along my neck, my chest, until his mouth covered the hard peak of my nipple. Tugging, sucking, sending a surge of deep pleasure to resonate through me. This was not Kevin. This was Jake, and he owned me.

He moved to the bedside table, and I heard a rip seconds before he settled between my thighs. I knew he was ready, and I opened wider, welcoming him.
 

His eyes met mine and he swallowed. “Do you want me?”

I looked up at his handsome face, his jaw flexed with concentration, eyes smoldering with his own desire. I’d never wanted anything more in my life. “Yes.”
 

In one swift movement he entered me, filling me with the width of his erection. I grasped his smooth flesh. My teeth grazed his shoulder, and I rolled my hips, taking every inch of him I could. He moved slowly at first. A tortuous rhythm as he propped himself on his elbows. My breaths came hard and heavy, and he picked up speed. Asking, taking, demanding, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, lifting my hips higher, matching him thrust after thrust.

His pace increased, pushing me farther, and I selfishly took every bit of him. A delicious tension built inside as he pushed me to the edge of my sanity. My legs began to shake as the pressure grew with unbearable intensity, and my whole body clenched around him. Jake’s mouth smothered my cry as I shattered into a million tiny pieces. His pace slowed and he kissed me thorough and deep. His hips grinding with achingly slow movements as wave after wave of my orgasm rushed over me.
 

With one last, powerful thrust his jaw flexed, and he found his own release. The weight of him sank into me. I ran my fingers through his hair as a deep sense of satisfaction settled inside.

 
“Am I too heavy?” he asked through puffs of breath.

“No. I like the way you feel.”
 

He propped himself to his elbows and traced fingertips over my jaw. “You’re so beautiful.”
 

His thumb ran over my bottom lip, and I kissed the pad of it, sure that in any moment I’d wake up. His lips came to mine, nibbling soft kisses across my parted mouth, and I never wanted him to stop, never wanted him to leave. I just wanted to spend the rest of my life with him on top of me, our bodies joined. We fit perfectly, like two pieces of a puzzle.

His cock twitched inside me, and I clenched around him, already wanting more. He rolled to the side and got out of bed. My body shivered with the cold of his absence, and I heard the static sound of the shower. He was back by my side a second later, pulling me with both hands.

He stood in front of me and walked me backward until I felt the cool tile floor beneath my feet.
 

“I never should have let you move to San Diego.”
 

His words caught me off guard, and my heart picked up speed. “Why didn’t you stop me?”

“Because it’s what you said you wanted.” He guided me into the shower, and warm water ran over my body.

My throat tightened with raw emotion, but I forced out the words. “All I’ve ever wanted was you.”

His head fell to my shoulder, and I ran my hands down his back. “I don’t deserve you. I don’t know what I ever did to make you want me.”

He didn’t know? Without him I would have been lost. “You were everything.”
 

His fingers ran through my wet hair, and he looked at me with an intensity that made my knees weak. “Don’t ever leave me again.” His mouth covered mine, and he pushed me against the tile. His arms and body caged me in as he trailed soft kisses down my neck. I sucked in lungs full of steamy air, and my head fell back against the wall. Surrendering my body to his gentle touch.

He squeezed body wash into his hand, and the scent of clean spice filled my nose. Rough fingers settled on my shoulders, then ran gently down my body from breasts, to abdomen, all the way to the juncture of my thighs. I was brazen with my desire for him, my legs parting on their own accord as his thumb found my slick folds.
 

When he turned me toward the water I grabbed the body wash and began an exploration of my own. Even after our lovemaking, I still felt timid as my hands coasted from his shoulders to his back. He let out a low groan of encouragement as his muscles flexed under my slippery hands. My fingers ran down his corded arms to his hard abdomen, then lower.
 

When I reached his erection, I pressed my body against him and tiny whimpers escaped my lips. I just had him less than ten minutes ago, and I was already a quivering mess.
 

He moved with me under the stream of water, rinsing us both, then pushed farther until I was up against the wall again. The shower was full of hot steam, and the cool tile against my back sent shivers up my spine. His hands traveled downward, over my bottom, until he gripped both thighs and lifted. I straddled him, my legs wrapped around his waist.