Suspended (30 page)

She brought her thumb up to trace his lower lip. So soft
where the rest of him was hard. “Sorry.”

He nipped the pad. “No, you’re not.”

She looked up. “Maybe not. I’ve just missed touching you.”
She pulled his hand from her waist and slid it up her rib cage to her breast.
“Really missed touching you.”

He groaned and squeezed, lifting its weight, his thumb
finding the center with a deft swipe. “We’re talking.”

She nodded and fastened her mouth on his. He held on
tighter, his fingers twisting in the back of her shirt as he pushed it up.
Twilight winked from the horizon, and full dark was just minutes away.

“Fast,” she whispered against his mouth. “Just to take the
edge off. Then we can talk all you want.”

He bent her back, his mouth racing down her throat to her
breast. He tugged her V-neck shirt aside and flipped the cup of her bra down
enough to get his mouth on her nipple. She arched against him, and a storm
erupted in the cab of the truck.

A flurry of clothes and zippers were pushed aside. He tore
at her shirt until it was up and over her head. She cradled the back of his
head as he sucked one nipple, then the other through her bra. Within the space
of a shuddering breath, he had the straps down and the clasp undone.

He lifted her and scooted his legs under her. His boots hit
her door, and his head bumped his window as she straddled him.

“I love bench seats.” She cupped his cheeks. “Never buy a
truck that doesn’t have one.”

“Agreed.” Too light, too soft, and too hesitantly, he
touched her belly.

She could see the tremble of his hands and the way he
clenched his fists. She sat back on his thighs, opening her zipper wider. She
rose over him, tucked his hand into her pants, into her panties until the rough
tips of his fingers found her heat.

His eyes blazed, and his jaw went rigid with the control he
sought. But she didn’t want his control tonight. She wanted to watch him fly
apart, wanted to see just how far she could push him.

“I’m so ready. So wet.”

“Fuck,” he muttered and dived deeper. He filled her with two
fingers and sawed against the swollen tissues of her pussy. Turning his hand,
he brought his thumb into play, rolling the tip around her clit until her
breath kicked against her chest with each pant. “I want to see.”

God, she wanted that too. She wanted to watch him explore
her, but the dark was coming, and this wasn’t the time or the place to let him
do that.

She fumbled at his jeans, the zipper catching over the bulge
of his cock. “Help me.”

“Busy.” He added a third finger, stretching her wide and
filling her up as his relentless thumb finally paused only to pulse under her
clit. She punched the roof of the truck, arching up as he finger fucked her.

His name was a scream and a shout with a prayer for good
measure.

“Christ, I can feel you squeezing me. God dammit, Kendall.”

She heard his voice, but the weightless blast of her orgasm
melted her brain. She gripped the seat and ground onto his hand even as part of
her tried to shy away from the overwhelming pleasure.

He reared up, his hand on her back as he tongued her nipple.
His shirt was open, his jeans undone, and she could see his cock pressed tight
against his belly, but there was nothing she could do but watch his fingers
thrust inside her.

She stilled over him, every muscle locked, her breath
trapped in a vortex of the most painfully blissful edge of madness. He looked
up at her, his mouth moving to her throat, and those soft lips gentled against
her jaw. She turned her attention to his eyes and saw the intensity that was
always there waiting for her.

And she lost herself in him.

God, she hoped she would survive this. Survive him.

He held her tight as the shudders and the pleasure folded in
on her until she was something totally different.

She was his.

In the cab of his truck as full night blanketed a field in
the middle of Utah, she drew her first breath, and it was all Shane.

She dropped her forehead on his shoulder and slumped against
him. “Give me just a minute, and we’ll take care of you.”

He smoothed his hand up her back until he found her braid,
and another one of her ponytail holders was tossed behind the seat. He drew his
fingers out of her and held her against him, his other hand busy unwinding her
hair until it tumbled down her back.

She found enough strength to lift her head. “I’m running out
of hair ties.”

“Good.”

“No, not good.”

He grunted as she fit a hand between them to mold the heavy
line of his cock. His grunt turned to a hiss as she got to the velvety head
peeking from his shorts. He stilled her hand.

“What?”

“We’re going to drive until I can’t drive anymore. Then
we’re going to find a hotel, and I’m going to spread you out and fuck you until
you can’t move.”

Her empty pussy clenched at nothing, wanting that very much.
“Can we have round one in the truck?”

“That was round one.”

She brushed her knuckle against the thickness of his shaft,
up to the slightly narrower head. “Okay, round two sounds good to me.”

“I don’t want a taste, Sunshine. I want to pound into you
until we’re both unconscious. And I don’t want that in the cab of my truck.”

“I like the truck.”

The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Right now I hate my
truck.”

“Let’s find a hotel, then.”

“Later. We’ve got to get some miles under the tires.”

She ran her tongue up his neck and nipped at the edge of his
jaw where his almost-beard led to his ear. The fleshy lobe was perfect to
nibble on, so she did. He shrugged her off, but she simply bit him again and
circled his cockhead with her fingers. “Just a taste?”

“Fuck, Sunshine.”

She leaned back and smiled. The lights of the dash threw his
face into harsh shadows. “You can fuck me anytime you like.” He flexed his
thigh muscles under her, and his shaft slid against her palm. “See, he wants a
piece of me, even if it’s only my mouth.”

His eyes glittered in the dense darkness, and she watched
his jaw work as she shifted back down his thighs to his knees until her ass was
high in the air and his scent filled her brain. She swirled her tongue around
the head of his cock; the saltiness of his precum made her mouth water.

The flash of a light and the sudden
whack
of metal on glass had him jackknifing into a seated position
and her tumbling into the floor mat.

“Son of a—” Shane shouted.

“Are you fornicating on my lawn?” The bright light of a
heavy-duty flashlight bounced around the cab of the truck, killing the moment.
The offended face of a bearded man came into stark relief.

She dragged her shirt down with a shocked laugh. The man
whacked on the window again. “Get moving, or I’m calling the cops.”

Shane hiked up his jeans and held up a hand. “Yes, sir.”

She could hear the hysterical peal of her laughter. She
stuffed herself lower in her seat and got her clothes situated but couldn’t see
through the tears.

Shane wrenched the wheel, and dust and gravel clouded the
air as he backed up. “This is not funny, Kendall!”

“Oh, yes, it is.”

“Just get in your seat and put your fucking seat belt on.”

She knuckled away tears, then held on to her stomach with
one hand and the Oh, Jesus handle with the other as the truck careened down the
dirt road and fishtailed onto the main road.

“I’m glad you think this is so funny.”

“Come on, Oscar. That was hilarious.”

“We just got shooed away from an old man who probably saw
more of me than he ever wanted to, and you’re laughing.”

A guffaw of breathless laughter filled the truck. “Give it a
minute, and you will too. Ah, there it is. I see your lips twitching.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

She laughed again and put her arms up. “Whoooeee. That’s an
adrenaline rush.”

“At least you got off.”

“That I did, pal.” She swung her feet up on the bench and
tucked her toes under his thigh. “Cheer up. That’s a story to tell over a beer
next time you see Kain.”

“Who said that was the first time I was chased off by an
angry man in a field?”

She kicked him and laughed again. He grabbed her ankle and
tucked her foot back under his thigh. The quick flash of his grin in the
darkness made her stomach flip. God, he was a pretty man when he let himself
smile.

“Tired?”

He shrugged. “I’ll be okay for a few hours. Let’s get to
Denver, and we can pull off for the night.”

“Denver? That’s…” She trailed off and grabbed her phone and
tapped in the city from their current location. “Six hours?”

“We have time to make up.”

“Are you sure?”

“That will take us to midnight. Then we’ll get up early and
get moving again.”

“I need to get home, but you don’t need to kill yourself to
get me there.”

“I know.” He smoothed his hand up her calf. “Now talk and
keep me awake. Tell me about Bradley.”

So she did. She dredged up any funny story she could
remember about herself and Bells. The visitors who would stay at the Heron
provided a few hours of conversation, and by the time they were well into
Colorado, her voice was rough from the constant talking.

He was an intent listener. His questions were specific, and
he didn’t sound bored. They finally lapsed into a comfortable silence with
Metallica as their sound track. The man did love his Metallica.

Soon Boulder, Colorado filled the windshield. The backwash
of the city glowed like hot coals under the cool blue of the Flatiron
Mountains. She sat forward, both hands on the dash as the city grew closer and
the mountains faded into the night.

He’d shaved a good half hour off the time that her maps
program had professed, and it was midnight, as he’d predicted, when they pulled
into a chain hotel. A shower and blissful sleep recharged them enough to power
through Nebraska to Chicago and another night gone, with another five-hour
stretch in a hotel bed.

Chicago was alive with a mix of morning and holiday traffic.
White and gray buildings speared into the sky, and there was a surprising
number of waterways through the city.

They stayed on 90 and hugged the topsides of Indiana and
Ohio. It amazed her how fast they could fly through a state. Signs for Toledo,
Ohio and Lake Erie drew out conversation again. It was late November, and the
land was still fairly lush with greenery.

“ARE THE ADIRONDACKS like this?” He was honestly interested.
The skyline was so different from Monterey.

“Bradley isn’t nearly this citified. Cabins carve out little
niches in the trees. They’d rather blend in than stand out. Well, until you get
to the resorts, anyway.”

“And the Heron?”

Her gaze slid back out the window. “Definitely more about
the blending.”

“But you have a dock and all those acres on the lake.”

“Of course we do. Trails and more than enough boats to keep
the travelers happy.”

“Sounds really great.”

“It is. Really great.”

The bright and shiny Kendall voice was on. The one she used
to manage people. He really wasn’t a fan of that voice.

She turned back to him and patted his hand.

He searched her face for a moment but saw nothing other than
the usual friendly eyes and quirky smile. Maybe he was just imagining how weird
she got when he mentioned the Heron.

They took a break to gas up and filled a bag of junk food
for his never-ending pit of a— Christ. What was she to him? He’d fallen in love
with the woman in far too short a time. None of it made sense.

And yet it felt right.

Even with the end point of Bradley, he didn’t know how to
make Kendall line up into his plan. His plan had been blown to hell in the last
three weeks.

He climbed into the truck, unable to stop the grin when he
saw she had her notebook open again, her head bent over her phone as he looked
up information.

What would it be like with her in a controlled atmosphere
where there was a schedule and a life building? Would they lose this spark
between them when the road wasn’t in front of them and a new town in their
windshield?

They were both quiet as he plugged in his GPS and let it
lead him to the Heron. The direct route without the picturesque offshoots was a
boring expanse of sleeping land. The mild winter didn’t give them snow to look
at, but it had been cold enough to kill off all the vegetation.

She swiped through the functions on her phone. Her attention
was down on the small gadget instead of on him when her soft voice broke into
the silence. “Tell me about your mom.”

His heart gave a kick of surprise. “What do you want to
know?”

“What was she like?”

“She was sweet and cheerful. Never had a bad word to say to
anyone.”

“How did she meet Lawrence?”

The ache in his chest spread. How did he explain to her that
Larry had come in and simply taken care of his mother? She’d been biddable and
deferred to Larry. She’d always been head over heels for Kendall’s father.

“She’d been a bookkeeper for one of Larry’s clients. I was
really young when she’d first met Larry. Maybe five. I was too young to remember
much, but I do remember her singing around the apartment. She was happier than
I’d ever seen her. I had lots of babysitters when she went out on dates. I
didn’t get to meet him the first time they went out.”

“You were five?”

He nodded. He’d done some of the math himself and realized
his mother was having an affair with Larry. “From what I can figure, she saw
him for less than a year, and then he was just gone. And my mom was never quite
the same. She was so sad, and she cried every night for a good long time.”

Kendall swiped a hand under her nose. “He was cheating on my
mother with yours,” she said quietly.