Lisa's Gift (29 page)

As he moved from one nipple to the next, he quickly pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it aside. His hips undulated against her hand.

“I want you naked,” she moaned, extracting her hand to fumble with the button of his shorts.

She didn’t have to ask twice. He released his hold on her breast, and then jerked his T-shirt over his head. In seconds he was relieved of his clothing. The only thing left was to make her equally naked. She was already a step ahead of him as her hips rose, and she forced the offensive material down and off her legs.

There was nothing as exquisite as her dark silhouette framed by the gray moon and billowy ocean. When had he gotten so lucky to have met a woman like Jana?

He rolled to his back. “Ride me, doll. I want to watch you fuck me.”

Like a cat she crawled toward him, slinky and sexy. When she straddled him, easing her wet slit across his engorged cock his pulse quickened. Instead of taking him deep, she rocked her hips anointing him with her slick juices.

Nicolas grasped her hips, moving her faster, harder, against him.

“Doll, you feel so good.” Then she leaned forward, tilted her hips and before he knew it he was buried deep inside her warm body. A deep throaty groan slid from between his clenched teeth. “You’re so wet.

Tight.”

He raised her hips until only the crown of his cock parted her folds, then he eased her down, watching himself disappear into her depths.

Over and over, he rivaled at how she fit him perfectly.

Her rhythm broke and she stilled, placing her palms against his chest. “Nicolas?”

“Yes?” he moaned low.

Breathing labored, she said, “Condom.”

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“Shit!” His eyelids slid closed. He’d almost done it again. Was it subconscious? Did he want to tie Jana to him no matter the cost?

As she slid off him, he reached for his shorts and extracted a foil package.

“Here let me do it.” She took the package from him. Put a corner of it in her mouth and ripped it open, and extracted the thin protective sheath. Cool and wet, she slid the rubber over his throbbing cock.

Damn he hated the barrier between them. Frustrated, he guided Jana upon her back, and with a single thrust, parted her folds. As she reached for him, he caught her wrists and pinned them above her head.

Then he fucked her hard and fast, pounding between her thighs.

“Yes,” she cried out. “Harder.”

His nostrils flared. Blood rushed to his testicles, drawing them tight against his body. There was no way he could stop his climax as it thundered down his shaft and exploded.

Jana cried out. Her pussy contracted and clenched around him, holding him tightly. She writhed beneath him, whimpering as spasm after spasm continued to milk him. After his release, the tip of his cock always became sensitive, so sensitive that every movement she made drove him closer to the point where pleasure and pain met. He needed her to stop squirming—prayed she wouldn’t.

When Jana lay quietly beneath him, he rolled over and pulled her into his embrace. The blissful sigh she released made him smile. But his happiness was short-lived.

The night was slipping away much too quickly. Tomorrow when they woke, their time together would be over. The reality of their situation waited for them in Arizona.

After this week there was no way he could go on hiding his feelings for Jana. He cared deeply for Lisa, but Jana held his heart in her hands.

Jana was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

The bond between the women was strong, stronger with the physical intimacy they now shared. The question of the day was whether Jana’s desire for marriage and family was stronger than her need for Lisa. And www.samhainpublishing.com 215

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would he lose Jana if he gave her an ultimatum to choose between him and Lisa?

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As the hundred-degree weather in Phoenix, Arizona blazed across Jana’s face, she felt a flood of disappointment. Life went on and her brief escape from reality was over. Watching Nicolas loading their luggage into the back of his truck, she thought of Lisa. It was one excuse after another why her friend couldn’t or wouldn’t join them in Puerto Vallarta.

The last time Jana had called her there had been no answer and it had been nearly midnight.

A moment of optimism surfaced. Maybe Lisa had found another man.

Maybe there was a chance for Nicolas and Jana to become a couple. But as quickly as the idea rose, it vanished.

Who was she kidding?

What woman in her right mind would give up Nicolas? Not to mention, what man would take one woman when he could have two in his bed?

Jana couldn’t push away the additional feelings she had developed over the last week for Nicolas. He had opened up something in her she had never known existed—the need for a man in her life. She needed to feel loved and wanted. And she wanted more than ever for that man to be Nicolas.

“Glad to be home?” Nicolas asked as he held open the truck door.

Unlike when they departed for Old Mexico, the airport’s parking garage was nearly empty. Yet, the smell of oil and gas was strong.

No
. Staying in Puerta Vallarta with Nicolas would have been her first choice. Still, she placed a false smile on her face and looked into his eyes. “Yes.”

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He drew her into his embrace, an expression of hope on his face. “I’m not buying that. Tell me to take you away and we’ll jump on another plane to anywhere in the world you want to go. Tell me that you love me and I’ll never let you go.” He squeezed her tight. There was an ache in his voice, something she had never heard before.

Jana’s heart lurched against her ribcage with a thud.

If only that were true
.

Her emotions were too raw to take his teasing banter as a joke. Yet, she shored up her shoulders, giggled and playfully pushed out of his arms. “Get serious, Nicolas. We both have to be at work next week.

Besides, what about Lisa?”

His soft expression hardened. He moved aside and allowed her to climb inside the truck. The slamming of the door startled her and she jumped. When Nicolas crawled in beside her, he was frowning.

The silent ride to Lisa’s house set Jana on edge. Nicolas never once glanced her way. She knew because she would have caught him as her gaze continued to stray in his direction. He acted mad. Surely he was just kidding when he offered to take her away again. When he asked her to tell him she loved him.

Love? What did she know about love anyway?

As they pulled down Lisa’s street Jana’s old home came into view.

The sadness and fear it usually conjured didn’t appear. She felt stronger.

Nicolas and Lisa had given her that gift. She now had the strength to face her demons and to realize that the past was just that—the past. Their support had helped get her to this point. Her foster father could never hurt her again.

Jana’s gaze slipped further down the street toward Lisa’s house.

There was a strange car parked in the drive. For a moment Jana panicked, wondering what to do.

What if Lisa had a man in her bed?

Then she saw Cathy, Lisa’s mother, exit the house, Joe following behind her. A ray of happiness filtered through Jana. She hadn’t seen them for five years.

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Their heads were low as Joe opened the passenger door to the Cadillac and stepped aside, allowing Cathy to get in. Nicolas pulled his truck beside them. Instead of the shared happiness Jana felt for seeing them again, they glanced nervously toward each other with dread in their eyes.

Jana couldn’t help bounding from the truck, not waiting for Nicolas, and throwing herself in Joe’s arms.

“Jana.” Lisa’s father had aged significantly since Jana last saw him.

With an iron-tight grip, he wrapped his arms around her. “
Jana
,” he repeated and she thought she heard a tear in his voice.

He had missed her. Her mood lifted as if she floated on a cloud.

Cathy climbed out of the car and the first thing Jana noticed was that she’d been crying. Her swollen eyes and pink nose were a dead giveaway.

Jana eased out of Joe’s embrace. “What’s wrong? Where’s Lisa?” The big man turned away from her, refusing to look her in the eyes.

Cathy swallowed hard.

The safe, secure shell that Jana had felt only seconds ago began to crack. It rang in her ears and she could almost feel it shattering around her feet.

The sad expression on Cathy’s face made something twist in Jana’s belly. “Is Lisa okay?” she whispered the words, afraid of the answer.

Cathy came to her arms opened wide. “Jana, dear.” But before she reached Jana, a river of tears began to fall. Her body shook as she held Jana as tightly as Joe had. “Lisa is in the hospital,” Cathy choked.

Jana’s grip tightened. Her knees felt rubbery. She was afraid she would fall if it wasn’t for Cathy’s hold.

“Hospital?” Fear stuck in Jana’s throat as they parted. “What happened?”

A sorrowful expression etched wrinkles deeper into Cathy’s forehead.

Her tongue flicked out over her dry lips. “She asked us not to say anything. She wants to tell you herself. She’s expecting you.”

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Jana’s hand gripped Cathy’s arm. “No. Tell me now. What’s wrong? Is she okay?”

From behind her Nicolas’s arms snaked around her waist. His warmth as he pulled her back to his chest did nothing to chase away the cold that drove straight to her bones.

“Release her, Jana.” When she didn’t comply he pried her fingers off of Cathy’s arm, which now sported Jana’s fingerprints. “I’ll take you to the hospital. Which one?” he asked.

“Banner Desert Samaritan Hospital off of Dobson,” Joe replied, as he took his now sobbing wife into his arms. “We’ll follow shortly.” He cradled Cathy and began to stroke her head buried against his shoulder. “Hush, sweetheart. Hush.”

“Jana?” Jana heard Nicolas say her name. There was no use in responding, because she couldn’t. It was as if her body and mind had begun to shut down to survival mode. She knew the feeling well, but this time she felt completely alone.

Like a zombie Jana allowed Nicolas to lead her to the truck. The bewildered and lost look on her face squeezed his heart. She was afraid for Lisa, as he was, and there was nothing he could do.

Lisa’s parents were devastated. Something was clearly wrong. But if Lisa could talk, if she was conscious, then it couldn’t be all that bad.

Could it?

His truck purred to life. He shifted into gear and headed back toward town.

Miles were left behind as Jana leaned against the truck door and turned her head to stare out the window. She was eerily silent and strangely apathetic, at least on the exterior. She was a hard woman to understand.

No outburst.

No tears.

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He glanced in her direction. Had he ever once seen her cry? No. Her eyes had misted on occasion, but never tears. Never a loss of control.

This can’t be good
, he told himself. His mother once told him that tears were a woman’s release. The key to what was important to them.

They signaled joy as well as pain and agony.

The only movement that showed any sign of nervousness was when she flexed her fingers and then drew them into a tight fist. Then he could see tension gather along the tendons in her arms, up her neck, and her jaw.

As they pulled into a parking space at the hospital she turned to look at him, opened her mouth as if to speak, and then shut it and glanced away. He turned off the engine and expected her to spring from the truck. Instead she remained motionless staring straight ahead.

“I can’t do this,” she mumbled.

After climbing out of the vehicle, he moved around the truck and opened her door. He stood quietly and waited.

“I can’t,” she whispered so softly he barely heard her.

“Whatever is going on, Jana, I’m sure Lisa needs you.” He paused.

“And you need her.” His hand reached out to her. “Let’s go inside.”

Jana tugged her brows together, as if thinking hard about refusing him. Then she placed her hand in his. He pulled her into the shelter of his body, while she clutched her palms tightly together and remained quiet.

Even when they stopped at the information desk and discovered that Lisa was located in the hospice wing of the hospital she remained quiet.

Hospice? A chill raced up his spine. That could mean only one thing and it wasn’t good. Hospice handled only terminally ill patients. He glanced at Jana. Had she made the connection?

The elevator ride to the fourth floor was solemn. When the doors opened, nausea washed over him and for a moment he thought he’d be sick.

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Only the terminally ill resided on this floor—no recovery—no hope was in this wing of the hospital.

It was probably just his imagination, but it smelled of death as they exited the elevator.

Room 420 was to the right and the door was closed. When he placed his hand on the doorknob, he looked down at Jana. She’d grown pale and her chest rose and fell rapidly.

A door had never looked more ominous than the one before Jana.

She was afraid to touch it, afraid to walk onward as Nicolas opened it.

But more importantly she was afraid not to.

Holding her breath, she took one step and then another until she was inside. Lisa’s blonde head was turned away, but when she heard their footsteps she rolled over to face them.

“How was Mexico?” Lisa smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She looked weary, troubled, but not exactly how Jana had expected. There was no oxygen mask, no intravenous tubes. Lisa just lay there wrapped in her silky pink lingerie, a white sheet and blanket pulled up to her waist.