Читать книгу One Unforgettable Night - Candace Havens - Страница 19

“YOUR DAd?” Naomi stared at him, clearly startled.

He should have led up to it more gradually, but they’d become so close in the past week that he’d forgotten she didn’t know anything about his parents. Yet why would she? He’d never told her. But now he needed a friend’s advice. He would have gone to Nash, except Nash was involved in wedding and honeymoon plans. And besides, this was the sort of touchy-feely situation that he sensed Naomi would understand. He trusted her.

“Let me back up.” He gazed down at the water and trailed his fingers through it. “It’s been easier to focus on the fun you and I are having. I’m not into deep analysis of my past anyway.”

“So what about your dad?”

Luke looked out across the water tumbling over rocks and gathered his thoughts. “He always claimed he wanted to travel and see the world, but because he married my mother, who hates travel, and he has the responsibilities of a home and his job, he’s never gone anywhere.”

“That’s too bad.”

He took a deep breath. “I talked to Emmett about it last week, and he started me thinking. My dad could travel, if he’d allow himself to. If my mom doesn’t want to go, that’s up to her. But I’m considering calling him and asking him to come out here, maybe even for the Fourth of July. He’d have a little time off then.”

Luke had never done anything like this before, and he was surprised he hadn’t. Maybe all that his dad needed was someone to say, “Hey, come on, let’s go.” On the other hand, if Luke invited him and he refused, that rejection would be tough to take. It might also mean his dad’s spirit was truly crushed, assuming he’d ever really had a vagabond spirit in the first place.

“I think that sounds wonderful, Luke.”

He looked over at her, drawing strength from the certainty in her blue eyes. “So I should do it?”

“Definitely. Where do your parents live?”

“New Jersey. He’d have to fly out, but he could. They have money. Hell, I’d pay for his flight if necessary.”

She opened her mouth. Closed it again.

“If you have advice, please give it. That’s why I asked you about this before I did anything. I want to make sure I’m not crazy to consider it.”

“Okay. I wonder…maybe it would be better if you let him pay.”

“You think so?” Luke thought about his mother, who could raise an objection about the cost of a plane ticket, especially at the last minute.

“It would mean he’s making more of a commitment to traveling, which you said he’s always wanted to do.”

Luke nodded. “You’re right. But it could be pricey.”

“It probably will be. But if he’s been saying all his life that he wants to travel and he never has, then he’s saved a lot of money by not traveling.”

“That’s a good point.”

“The biggest thing is whether he can move that fast, but maybe choosing a last-minute vacation is better. Still, this is…My gosh, it’s July 1 already, Luke. You should call him right away.”

He knew that, too, and he’d wanted her support while he did that, but her location didn’t help matters. “I don’t know if my cell phone will work out here. It’s an older one. Sometimes it gets a signal in this area and sometimes it doesn’t.”

“Did you bring it?”

“Yes.” That was a huge admission because he never brought his phone, first of all because his reception was dicey and second of all because he didn’t want to be interrupted when he was with her.

She stood. “We need to go back to camp so you can try to call.”

He gave her a rueful smile. “You’re right, but we just got here. I’m not sure we’ve dipped enough skinny.”

That made her laugh. He loved it when she laughed, because she seemed to glow with happiness.

“The stream’s not going anywhere,” she said. “We’ll have more chances. The phone call can’t be postponed.”

No, it couldn’t, unless he abandoned the idea. But now that the concept had penetrated his thick skull, he wanted to act on it, especially if Naomi thought he should. He put a lot of faith in her opinion.

So they took turns using her beach towel to dry off. She dressed more quickly than he did now that she’d decided to dispense with underwear. He got such a kick out of that. She was turning out to be quite a seductive woman.

He figured that their week together had something to do with that. Oh, hell, he had something to do with that. Might as well admit that he’d coaxed her into becoming less inhibited.

And now what, genius? Will you go off and leave her, so that some other yahoo can reap the rewards? Or does that stick in your craw a little bit?

It did. But unless he planned to stay in Shoshone and make things permanent between them, which he didn’t, then he had to live with the fact that she’d bestow her newly discovered sexuality on some other lucky slob. Better not to think about that.

Back in camp, wearing his jeans and boots with his shirt left unbuttoned, he pulled his cell phone out of his saddlebag and turned it on. As he’d feared, the signal was weak. It would be better in town or back at the ranch, but he didn’t want to leave Naomi so he could make a damned phone call.

He turned his phone around to show her the bars, or lack of them. “I can call tomorrow.”

“Or you can ride back.”

“No.” He didn’t like that scenario at all. He’d always been able to slip away from the ranch without attracting any notice, but if he went back to make a phone call, someone would see him, and leaving again would be problematic.

Besides, he wanted Naomi’s moral support, and he couldn’t very well take her back with him. If he had to call tomorrow without her, so be it, but he wasn’t leaving her tonight to make that call, no matter what she said.

She slapped her forehead. “Luke, we should try your phone from the observation platform. That might make all the difference. The signal is stronger for my laptop, so it should be stronger for your phone, too.”

“Sure, okay. We can climb up there. Let me get the cold fried chicken I brought.”

“You brought chicken? Why haven’t I heard about this before?”

“Sorry. I’ve been a little preoccupied.”

“No kidding. I love fried chicken. If I’d known that you brought some, I would have—”

“Wanted that instead of sex? Then I’m glad I didn’t mention it.” He crouched down and pulled the plastic container out of his saddlebag. “Remind me never to make you choose between sex with me and fried chicken.”

She gave him a saucy smile. “Why can’t I have both?”

“Oh, you can. I’m just worried about how you order your priorities. I want to be at the top, but I have a feeling that when it comes to fried chicken, I’m not. And I—oof!” He nearly fell over as she launched herself at him.

“Listen here, my friend.” She wound her arms around his neck. “I don’t know how many times I have to say this before it makes an impression, but sex with you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my entire life. Yes, I love fried chicken. And beautiful sunsets and baby eagles and the sound of the wind through the pines. But I would forgo them all for an hour alone with a naked Luke Griffin.”

He couldn’t have wiped the grin off his face if someone had offered him a million dollars to do it. She’d laid it on pretty thick and he wasn’t sure he could believe all of it, but he appreciated the effort more than she’d ever know.

He cleared his throat. “Thank you. I’ll probably still be thinking about that speech when I’m a white-haired old geezer who can’t get it up anymore.”

“You actually think the day will come when you can’t get it up anymore?”

He laughed. “No, I don’t, but that sounded good, didn’t it?”

“It sounded like you’re still fishing for compliments about your awesome package.” She patted his cheeks. “Bring your chicken and your cell phone and your package up to the platform, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Luke followed her down the path to the pine tree that supported her observation platform. He knew she’d been teasing him and acting sexy on purpose to take his mind off the impending conversation, assuming he could make the phone call from her platform.

That was exactly why he’d sought her out once he’d dreamed up this plan. She was the soft landing spot if he should fall and go splat, psychologically speaking. He stood below the ladder and concentrated on the pleasure of watching her climb it. By tilting his head, he could almost see up her shorts. Not quite, but he knew she wasn’t wearing anything underneath and that was enough to fuel his imagination.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted this phone call to go through or not. He had such mixed emotions about it. But at least, whatever happened, Naomi would be there at the end of it. And he could lose himself in her lush body…if she wasn’t too absorbed with eating fried chicken.

NAOMI HAD SENSED all along that Luke’s wandering soul had a soft, vulnerable spot somewhere within it. Maybe she’d been afraid to find out what that was because she already cared too much for the guy. Discovering his secret pain could tear down the walls around her heart completely, and those walls were already displaying stress fractures.

But he’d come to her, like a bird with a broken wing, and asked for help. She could no more deny that than she could toss an injured animal out into the elements. Her creed was to live and let live, but when that life hung in the balance, was she supposed to turn away?

She was no psychologist but even she could figure out that Luke had become a wanderer partly by nature but largely so that he could live the life his father had said he wanted. Maybe he’d hoped to please his father and maybe he’d wanted to compete. It didn’t matter. He’d come to a crossroads, a place where he wanted to invite his father to share in his adventures.

Luke knew his dad’s response to the invitation was important to both father and son. She didn’t have to tell him that. Whether it was important to her was another question.

She could no longer deny that she was getting emotionally involved with this drifter who had wandered under her observation platform one bright, sunny day. She knew how much he’d come to mean in her life. She was less convinced how much she meant to him.

Yes, he needed her now, when he was about to make this difficult phone call to his father. But was she only a temporary crutch to get him through this critical time in his life? Or had they made a deeper connection?

She had no answers. But while he stood at a far corner of the deck and dialed the number for his parents’ home, she laid out their picnic on the red checkered cloth he’d left there after their first meal on this platform. Regardless of how the call went, she would offer him solace.

If that cost her dearly in the long run because she ended up with a broken heart, she’d deal with that. He’d given her so much in this past week that she couldn’t begrudge him whatever he needed. She mentally crossed her fingers and hoped that his father would understand the stakes when he heard Luke’s invitation.

She didn’t eavesdrop, but she knew when he’d made a connection because the low murmur of his voice drifted over to her. Sitting beside the picnic tablecloth, she stayed very still, not wanting to disrupt his concentration in any way. This could be one of the most important conversations he’d ever have with his dad.

After what seemed like an eternity but was probably less than five minutes, Luke walked over and sat cross-legged on the far side of the checkered tablecloth. Glancing over at her, he shrugged. “He says he’ll think about it and get back to me.”

She wanted to scream. Stupid, stupid father! She tried to imagine her own father acting with such indifference. He never would. She thought of the Chance men, devoted fathers, every one of them.

She’d been in Florida when Jonathan Chance had died in a truck rollover, and she’d heard the rumor that he’d been upset with his son Jack at the time. Yes, that had been difficult for Jack to reconcile. But at least Jonathan had been a big part of Jack’s life.

All of Jonathan’s sons—Jack, Nick and Gabe—were passionately involved with their children. Nick wasn’t biologically connected to Lester, the troubled boy he and Dominique had adopted after Lester had spent last summer at the ranch. But Nick was a committed parent.

Naomi searched for the right thing to say. “I’m sure you caught him by surprise. It’s hard to make snap decisions.”

His dark eyes were bleak. “No, it’s not. You and I make them all the time. It’s what you do when you’re actually living life, instead of hanging on the fringes of it.” Anger and disappointment rolled off him in waves.

“Don’t give up.”

“I won’t. But the only way I’ll get his call is if I’m up here.”

“Then we’ll stay up here.”

He held her gaze. “Thank you. I…” He looked away and swallowed.

That’s when she knew that he needed something more than fried chicken right now. Moving purposefully, she cleared all the food aside. He watched her without moving.

Then she sat on the tablecloth, right in front of him. Cupping his face in both hands, she kissed him as thoroughly as she knew how, putting all her caring, her longing and her passion into that kiss. At first he simply let her kiss him without responding.

That was a new experience for her, and one she didn’t care for in the least. Luke had always been eager for her kisses. Once their lips met, he’d usually been the one who had pushed the kiss to the next level.

Not now, and for a brief moment her courage failed her. But she’d told him not to give up, and so she couldn’t, either. She kissed his forehead, his eyes, his cheeks and once again his mouth.

With that the floodgates opened. With a groan, he pulled her into his lap. After that she didn’t have to worry about how to kiss him. He took care of all the mouth-to-mouth contact, and the mouth-to-body contact, and every form of contact that followed.

Soon she lay sprawled naked on the tablecloth, and he’d covered every inch of her with his mouth and tongue. If she had been an ice-cream cone, she’d be long gone by now.

Standing, he gazed down at her as he took off his clothes with deliberate intent. “I’m going to have you six ways to Sunday,” he said. “And then we’ll start over and go through the whole damn week again.”

“Okay.” She watched him pull off his boots with angry motions and shuck his jeans and briefs. But after he’d located the condom in his pocket and put it on, she sat up and reached for his hand. “Lie down here. Lie down and let me love you for a change.”

The fierceness left his expression as if a cloud had scudded away from the sun. Without a word, he knelt down and stretched out on the tablecloth. Her heart constricted with the surrender implicit in his reaction. This was what he wanted, what he needed—not to take her six ways to Sunday, but to be loved and cherished by someone who asked nothing in return.

What an easy assignment that was. Straddling him, she began with his beautiful face. She followed the curve of his cheekbones with her tongue and placed butterfly kisses on his eyelids. His mouth became a playground for her lips, his determined jaw a place to nibble and tease until she felt him slowly relax.

With a deep sigh he let his arms fall to his sides, and she traced each vein, each corded muscle in those arms with her fingertips. As his mighty chest rose and fell with his labored breaths, she toyed with his nipples and stroked the silky black hair covering that massive display of strength and power.

She followed the trail of dark hair to his navel, and as she dipped her tongue into the shallow depression, he quivered. She stroked his cock and wished that nothing prevented her from feeling the velvet-on-steel wonder of it. But she could also fondle what lay beneath and watch as those heavy sacs drew up in tight readiness.

“Take me,” he murmured. “Please take me.”

She wondered if he’d ever begged a woman in his life. Maybe not. But she wouldn’t make him do it more than once. Rising above him, she guided his taut cock into position and began a slow slide downward.

His breathing quickened as she descended, and when she’d taken all of him, he began to tremble. “Go slow,” he said. “I don’t want to come yet.”

Leaning forward, she feathered a kiss over his lips and felt him sigh. Then she lifted her head to look into his eyes. “Tell me,” she said softly. “Tell me what you need.”

Passion burned in his gaze. His hands found her hips, bracketing them. “Easy strokes.” His voice was strained. “Go easy. Let me…I want to wait.”

She lifted up only a little and made her way gradually back down.

“Good.” He held her gaze. “Again.”

She repeated the motion.

He groaned. “So good. Again.”

Once more she rose up and came slowly down.

He sucked in a breath. “Good Lord, I want you, Naomi. I want to come. But I don’t want to end this.”

She smiled. “We can do it again sometime.”

A fire ignited in his eyes. He swallowed. “Then ride me, lady.” His words echoed their first time together. His fingers gripped her hips. “Ride me hard.”

That was all she’d been waiting for. Yes, he needed the sweet loving, but more than that, he needed heat that would burn away grief, incinerate sadness. She brought the heat, pumping up and down with a frenzy that made her breasts dance and her bottom slap against his thighs.

His first cry was low and intense, his second louder and when he came, his shout of triumph sent the songbirds fluttering and squawking from the branches of the tree. He laughed at that, a breathless, happy sound that resonated in her heart.

She laughed with him, collapsing against his chest and panting from the effort she’d made.

He wrapped her tight in his arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I know you didn’t come.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does. I’ll make it up to you.” He rocked her in his arms. “I will make it up to you a dozen times over. But that…Naomi…that was exactly what I needed.”

“I know.”

“How did you know?”

“That’s my secret.” And it would remain her secret. If he ever guessed she was falling in love with him, he’d leave.