The Anniversary Party (5 page)

They came to the gazebo at the farthest reaches of her parents’ property. “Look. He put the screens in,” Kylie said, momentarily forgetting her warring emotions of terror and joy at being alone with Wade. She stepped inside and viewed her father's most recent handiwork. “Chaise lounges, fancy cushions. Bamboo blinds!” she said, lowering one elegant wheat-colored blind. “Wow. So this is what parents do when their nest is empty.” She laughed and flopped onto a chaise. She was suddenly exhausted. Too physically and emotionally drained to be nervous anymore.

Wade settled on a wicker ottoman and eyed her. His body was full of tension. Taut muscled forearms resting on his knees, shoulders hunched. He looked tightly coiled. Ready to spring.

"You didn't bring me out here to kill me, did you?” Kylie said, trying to make light of the situation.

"No. I came out here to apologize.” He rubbed his hands together and shivered. “Didn't expect it to be so damn cold. Most places I've been lately are a little warmer than Maryland."

"Let the blinds down,” she said without thinking.
Stupid! Let the blinds down?
Then she'd be sequestered from the world with a man who made her body go insane even though he'd left her heart scattered in a million little pieces.

He nodded and rose to do what she'd suggested. Kylie's heart rate went up as each blind went down. After a moment, when all the blinds were lowered, it was completely dark. “Now I can't see you,” he muttered.

Kylie felt around on the round table that sat between the matching chaises. “Eureka, there's a kerosene lantern here. What are my parents doing with their evenings?” She snickered. Another pat across the table and she found a long lighter. “You wouldn't happen to know how to light one of these things, would you? I don't think Dad would appreciate it if I blew up his newly renovated gazebo."

Somehow in the dark, Wade managed to light the lantern. In the gentle glow, his face was shadowed with worry. “Now on to that apology."

Kylie couldn't help it. The more uncomfortable she became the more she joked. “Think nothing of it. It's the most excitement I've had in years. Mr. Bernard will make sure everyone within a twenty-mile radius knows that I was the unadvertised special today. Everyone loves a tale about an easy girl."

"But you're not,” he said and took her hand again. Whether it was the blinds warding off the chill, the meager heat from the lantern, or just being this damn close to Wade, Kylie felt overheated. “You never have been. I'm so damn sorry I came back and then just ... did that! Like I could stake my claim again. I've always had a hard time keeping my hands off you, Miss Kylie, and I guess some things never change."

It still rattled Kylie when he called her that. Just hearing it again made her want to laugh and cry at the same time. She tried to pull her hand free, not sure she could handle his sincerity and his touch at the same time. One or the other maybe, but not both. This time, though, Wade held tight.

"It was wrong. Don't misunderstand,” he said before a self-deprecating laugh, “it's exactly what I wanted to do at the time. That and so much more. But I shouldn't have."

"More?” Kylie wheezed. Her heart was beating painfully hard and she felt her willing sex pick up the tempo.

A warmth seeped between her thighs and she knew if she were to press her hands to her slacks, she would be wet. Her breasts ached with an overwhelming need to feel his hand settle on them and her nipples were brutally hard. She was a mess.

"More. Always more. With you? Nothing was ever enough. Seeing you just brings that all up again. It was like being eighteen, nineteen, twenty again. Madly in love and wanting nothing to do but run my hands all over you. Followed by my mouth.” Wade leaned in so their faces were only an inch apart. “Followed by other things. A certain painfully hard thing that would probably not last a second if you were to wrap that delicate hand around it."

Kylie felt her chest shudder with the effort to pull in air. She could barely hear him over the hiss of rushing blood in her ears. The hair at the nape of her neck rose, triggering a tingling along her scalp. The only thing that she could focus on was his beautiful face so close to hers. His full lips just waiting to be kissed. Despite her anger, she was losing the battle. She wanted to kiss him. To touch him. And if she was honest, she knew she wanted so much more. She wanted to feel his length sliding into her soft humidity. Wanted to come while watching his face as he did the same. Kylie swallowed hard to ward off the mental images and her dry throat clicked.

"More?” she repeated stupidly.

Wade's lips were nearly touching hers but he held firm, keeping a tiny sliver of air between them. “May I? I don't want to come on like a caveman this time."

"Caveman?”
Jesus H. Christ! Have you become a mockingbird?
Instead of risking another stupid comment Kylie simply nodded.

Then his lips were on hers. Gentle at first. A feather-light stroke of his lips across hers. Without thinking she parted her lips inviting him to take her more deeply. Wade obliged, sweeping his tongue across hers. His hands cradled her face and he stroked her jaw with his fingers. He slid his hands along the curve of her neck, his long fingers working lazy circles at her nape as his mouth pressed harder and his tongue stroked deeper.

Her nipples hardened even further, turning the most subtle shift of her silk blouse into an amazing sensual experience. Kylie surrendered. She was so damn angry at herself for her weakness but the price of not having what she wanted was too high. She could have walked away from any other man. Continued to deny herself. But not Wade. Never Wade.

Kylie arched up against him and rolled her tongue over his. Relishing the gentle pull of his mouth against hers. Wade broke the kiss, nuzzling along her jaw and raking his hot tongue over the fragile flesh of her neck. Kylie heard a whimper and realized that she had made the sound. He placed soft kisses along her collarbone, pausing to dip his tongue into each tiny hollow.

"Oh damn, Kylie, you taste so good,” he said, his voice coarse. A sound of pure desire issued from his throat as he pushed the lapels of her coat aside. His fingers found the first button of her blouse and then he paused, fingers at the ready.

She couldn't see him clearly in the meager light but she knew that his face would hold a questioning look. Kylie didn't trust herself to speak so she simply reached up and undid the button herself. Wade sighed and made quick work of the rest. The blouse fell open and cold air rushed over her skin. Goose bumps sprang up instantly and then Wade smoothed his hands over her breasts. With his thumbs, he strummed one nipple, then the other. Her pussy grew wetter, her thighs trembled beneath her thin slacks. Now that she had given in to what she wanted, she couldn't stand the wait. Each second felt like a year.

His breath touched her first. Like summer sun on her skin. Kylie arched up, blindly seeking his wet, hot mouth. Wade didn't make her wait long. He captured one puckered nipple between his lips and tweaked it gently. Sucking it completely into his mouth, he rolled his tongue over the firm peak until she thought she would die. He cupped her mound through her slacks, just the slightest hint of pressure in his caress. A subtle pressure riding the cleft of her labia. Kylie wondered if she could come just by feeling his hand on her. The fabric of the slacks felt as thick as burlap. Anything separating her from the stroke of his fingers seemed an impossible barrier.

"Please, Wade,” she whispered. She hated herself for saying it but was somewhat proud of her boldness. She was risking here. More than him. She was risking opening old wounds and at the same time claiming what she wanted. Being honest with herself. She wanted him, wanted his hands on her. She was a big girl and like a big girl she could have sex with Wade without expecting a happily-ever-after ending. It could just be about the here and now. She wouldn't even let herself think about the future. “I don't think I can wait—"

"Shhhh,” he said against her breast and she trembled. The vibration of his utterance sent warm pulses through her. Each brush of his tongue traveled an invisible line linking nipple to pubis. An electrical current of pleasure that had her sex clenching in a needy rhythm. A drumbeat of desire in her very core.

"I need you in me,” she demanded a little more boldly. She had already put her neck on the chopping block, what was one more declaration?

"Not this time. This time it's all about you, Kylie,” he murmured, kissing a lazy path down between her breasts. He parted her blouse as he went lower. His tongue made moist trails over her flat belly, around to the sides of her waist where it was so sensitive she was helpless not to jerk and giggle like a child.

Wade undid her slacks and she lifted her hips to help him along. He slid them over her hips and to her knees and her panties quickly followed. His lips never left her, barely there kisses coming to rest on her flanks, her hipbones, the most delicate skin of her lower belly. His fingers curled in the neatly trimmed hair on her mound, and their closeness to her weeping sheath made her cry out just a little.
Damn him!
He was driving her insane.

Wade chuckled in the dark as he placed tiny kisses along her inner thighs. He flicked his tongue over the soft skin in a serpentine rhythm. He was so close to her clit she could feel each exhale warm the tiny organ. Kylie fought the urge to box his ears or rap him on the head. She would have to suffer the foreplay. It wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't been so damn long.

Then he caught her off-guard, sweeping that delicious tongue over her swollen clit. Kylie went rigid, sucking in a hiss of air between her teeth. She nearly came that moment but held it off. She would not, would not, would not! He circled her clit wickedly, his mouth on her like suede-soft heaven. He drove his tongue into her cunt, arching it there, probing the quivering ring of her entrance. Kylie's hips bucked and she grabbed his shoulders with shaking hands. Anything. She would do anything to come. To feel his hard cock slide the length of her, not stopping until he'd buried himself as deeply as possible.

Wade traced the lips of her labia, suckling each one until Kylie moaned. Each time she moaned he moved on to deliver sweet torture to another part of her. He slid one finger into her, teasing her G-spot. Wade was the only lover who had ever successfully located it. He returned to it by memory as if a map of her pleasure was imbedded in his mind.

Her grip tightened on his shoulders as he sucked her clit into his mouth, pulsing gently with his tongue until tiny sparks of purple and pink danced behind her closed eyelids. He slid another broad finger deep inside her and started to thrust. His rhythm drove her higher. Suckle, lick, thrust, hook. Each time he hooked his fingers a spasm of pleasure coursed through her and her slick, needy flesh clamped around his fingers. Each stroke on her G-spot inspired a new clench in her sex.

Kylie panted, hovering on the edge, and Wade stopped. He knew she was there and he was going to torture her.

She lay still, refusing to beg. The low, flickering light assaulted her eyes making her feel unbalanced. His fingers were still buried in her channel, his lips a fraction of an inch away from her clit. Kylie waited. Her heart thumping so hard she was sure he would hear it in the near dark. She could almost imagine an ornery smile spreading like a stain over his handsome face. She sucked in a deep quavering breath and sighed.

"Sweet, Miss Kylie. I missed you,” he whispered and then his lips wrapped around her, his tongue darting and swirling and arching so quickly she barely registered one point of pleasure before the next one was triggered. He drove a third finger into her, knowing she could accommodate it, and pushed into her harder and deeper than before.

Kylie vaguely heard the screen door bang in the distance as the first hot rush of orgasm washed over her. She bucked beneath Wade and he steadied her hips with his free hand as his fingers continued to delve into her, a sweet invasion. One wave followed another, each echo of climax shaking her to the bone. Kylie shoved her fist in her mouth just as a triumphant, delighted cry rose from her throat. Wade never stopped, his fingers and tongue teasing every drop of pleasure from her body.

Then her mind remembered the sound of the screen door and though her body still shook, she sat up. “Wade!” she hissed. “I think someone's coming."

Reluctantly, he withdrew from her, helped her slide her slacks over her hips. He wiped her juices from his face with his shirt sleeve and smiled at her in the near dim light.

Kylie's blouse was still unbuttoned when Fawn called out in the dark. “Where are you guys?"

The gazebo door swung open and Kylie pulled her coat closed just as Fawn's face appeared. “What's going on? Are you okay? Why are you in the here?” Fawn fired one question after another.

Kylie opened her mouth to speak when Wade answered. “Just looking for a little privacy. It's hard to deliver an apology under the scrutiny of well-meaning family."

Fawn studied them both suspiciously. She scanned Wade head to toe and then grinned. “It sure is hard."

A bark of laughter escaped Kylie and she quickly covered her mouth. She tried to camouflage it with a cough but her sister knew her too well.

"Well, when you're all ...
presentable
again, come on in the house. Mom's having a conniption because she thinks you've run off into the night. Distraught. Shaken. I won't tell her the truth. You can thank me later.” Fawn giggled.

Kylie started to follow but Wade grabbed her by the arm. “Wait!"

"We really should get back.” She sighed. She had an obligation to her family. Especially if they were worried about her.

"Just one second,” he said and turned her so they were facing each other. He smoothed the hair back along her brow and then cradled her face in his hand. He stroked along her jaw with his thumbs as he lowered his head for an almost chaste kiss. “Thank you."

"Shouldn't I be thanking you?” Kylie laughed.

"No. Really. Thank you for letting me be close to you. It's all I could think about from the moment I crossed the state line. You've never left my system, Miss Kylie. You're my drug of choice. There are some things I need—"