Jeanne Louise actually considered trying out the genital biting she’d heard so much about, but worried it might cause him some discomfort after the fact, and instead suddenly pushed him backward. In her eagerness, she used a little more force than she’d intended and Paul fell back, landing hard on his back in the sand with a grunt. She didn’t give him a chance to recover. Feeling barren without his hands on her, Jeanne Louise crawled up his body until she could kiss him, and then lowered herself to rub against his hardness.
Paul kissed back on a groan, his hands moving to clasp her breasts and fondle as she rubbed herself over him again and again. But then he reached for her hips, holding her still as he shifted himself beneath her, and then he was urging her down, his hardness pressing into her.
Jeanne Louise broke their kiss and threw her head back to stare blindly at the stars as her moist heat closed tightly around him, clenching and squeezing him from tip to base and trebling their combined pleasure. She then lowered her head again to peer down at him and raised herself until he nearly slid out, before dropping to take him in again.
Paul met her gaze, his jaw clenched against the waves rushing through him. When he raised his hand to her face, she turned into it and then opened her mouth to allow one finger to slip between her lips. She immediately drew the digit into her mouth and began to suck on it as she moved, so caught up in the combination of things she was doing that she was completely caught by surprise when Paul suddenly snatched his finger free of her lips, caught her by the waist and rolled them both.
In the next moment, Jeanne Louise was on her back in the sand with him over her. Paul paused briefly, his erection sunk deep in her, but when she reached up and drew his head down for a kiss, he began to move, driving them both over the edge and into the void.
Ten
Paul woke up with the thought that he was lying on the lumpiest bed in existence. When he regained full consciousness and opened his eyes to see that it was Jeanne Louise he was lying on, he did a quick push up, removing his crushing weight from her chest. He peered down at her then, worried that he’d suffocated her or something, but when he saw her breasts rising and falling as she breathed, he relaxed a little. He also eased himself to the side and sat up to peer around.
The fire had died down to embers and the lights were out in the Jacksons’ and Corbys’ cottages, but the moon and stars were reflecting off the smooth surface of the lake, giving some illumination. Actually, the water looked incredibly inviting under the moonlight, and Paul found himself thinking he should take a swim.
His gaze slid back to Jeanne Louise. While he was mostly dressed, she was completely nude, splayed on her back in the sand like an angel fallen from the heavens. Paul’s eyes slid over her pale limbs and torso, recalling the feel of her body sliding against his, and closing wet and warm around him and immediately hardened at the memory.
He hadn’t expected what had happened. Well, okay, perhaps in his heart of hearts Paul had been hoping for it. But he’d honestly expected she’d kiss and caress him a bit and then bite his neck. Task over. Instead, passion had exploded over them like a shower of sparks. It had filled his mind until all he could think of was finding the release that fast and furious passion had promised.
It had definitely lived up to the promise, he thought. In fact, it had been so powerful that Paul didn’t think he’d fallen asleep after they were done. Much as it made him squirm to admit it, he actually suspected that he’d just sort of passed out as it rode over him. He’d never experienced anything like it. Had never known a woman like Jeanne Louise. Around her he felt . . . hope, he realized. And happiness. And desire like nothing he’d ever enjoyed, even with his wife Jerri.
The acknowledgment brought a wave of guilt over him, and Paul turned his gaze to the water once more. He’d loved Jerri with all his heart. He’d thought he’d never find anyone who could fill his heart as she had. But Jeanne Louise . . . He glanced to her again, his eyes caressing her face, carefree in sleep. Jeanne Louise filled his heart, his mind, and seemed to even fill his body. He felt like she slid into his skin when they kissed, like she was there with him as he rode the waves of pleasure. It was not something he’d ever even imagined experiencing. Truly, he’d thought that he’d had his grand love affair, that no one could compare to Jerri, and that all that was left was to raise Livy.
When he’d thought of his future after Jerri died, Paul had seen himself alone from now on, a single father, seeing his daughter happily on her way in life, raising her, sending her off to college, walking her up the aisle, greeting his grandchildren . . . and maybe then, after his job was done, he’d thought he might enjoy a senior fling with a nice neighbor widow who understood that he could never love like he’d loved his wife again.
Instead, Paul was starting to envision a different future, one with Jeanne Louise in it . . . and it was distracting him from his purpose in kidnapping Jeanne Louise. Rather than trying to convince her to turn his daughter and save her life, he was hungrily stripping her clothes off and merging his body with hers in the cool sand under a bright moon. Not just his body. It had almost felt as if their souls had been intertwined here under the stars and he wasn’t sure he’d got all of it back.
While he should be sated and clearheaded after the vigorous session, Paul wanted her again. He was hard and aching, fighting the urge to lean down and kiss her and start the madness all over again. And again. And again. In truth, Paul thought he could happily just stay here on the beach, his body entwined and inside Jeanne Louise’s forever.
He’d lost the plot of his plan, Paul realized unhappily, and while he had, his daughter continued to suffer her headaches and move closer to death.
But he wasn’t the only one who’d got caught up in things to the point of losing track of what they were supposed to be doing. Jeanne Louise hadn’t even fed this time, which had been the reason behind the start of what had exploded into uncontrolled ardor. Which meant they’d be doing this again.
The thought had the member between Paul’s legs standing up like a flagpole. Sighing, he glanced to the smooth surface of the lake and pushed himself to his feet. His pants immediately started to slip down his hips. Paul let them drop to the sand, and stepped out of the warm cloth. He removed his T-shirt next, dropping it to lie beside the jeans.
His gaze then slid to Jeanne Louise again, lying still and perfect in the sand, and then he turned and jogged toward the water.
Jeanne Louise sighed sleepily and shifted onto her side with a little shiver, one hand searching blindly for her missing sheets. She must have kicked them off in her sleep, she thought unhappily, but frowned when rather than soft bedding her fingers encountered grains of sand. Eyes opening, she stared at the expanse of beach spread out before her and then sat up abruptly as memory returned as to how she’d got there.
Paul wasn’t beside her, as she’d expected, though his clothes were. Following that clue, Jeanne Louise turned to peer toward the lake, relaxing when she saw him swimming away from shore. He’d woken before her, she realized. Well, if he’d fainted, she thought next. She knew she had, but—her gaze slid to the dying fire, and then Jeanne Louise reached for his clothes, relaxing when she felt the warmth still clinging to them. He hadn’t taken them off long ago and by her guess at least an hour or two had passed since their neighbors had left and they’d fallen into each other’s arms like a couple of horny teenagers. He’d fainted too.
Her gaze slid to the lake again and she briefly considered joining him in it. Just the memory of what they’d done was bringing back her desire almost full blown and making her want to touch and kiss him again, but then reason reared its ugly, but sensible, head. If she followed her instincts and joined Paul in the water, they wouldn’t make it out before they were doing the same thing all over again. And if that happened and they fainted in the lake, she might survive, the nanos reviving her when she washed ashore, but Paul would drown. That was not something she wanted to risk.
Grimacing, Jeanne Louise gathered her swimsuit, shorts, and T-shirt and got up to head to the cottage. Removing herself from temptation seemed the safest route.
When she entered the cottage, she immediately headed for the master bedroom, stopping to look in on Livy on the way. The girl was sleeping soundly, but Boomer raised his head and wagged his tail. Jeanne Louise smiled. The dog was as devoted to the girl as her father was, she thought, as her gaze slid to Livy’s sweet sleeping face. The two days’ worth of meals the girl had been enjoying were beginning to show already. At least, Livy didn’t appear quite as thin and pale as she’d been when Jeanne Louise had first seen her. That was good.
Leaving her undisturbed, Jeanne Louise continued up the hall into her own bedroom and then into the bathroom. The sight of herself in the mirror there made her pause. She was covered with sand from head to toe. The fine grains sticking to her body like fleas on a dog.
Jeanne Louise grimaced and quickly dropped her dirty clothes on the floor. She then turned on the shower. Leaving it to warm up, she slipped back into her room to grab one of the two nightgowns she’d bought at the mall. Jeanne Louise didn’t normally wear them, but she’d thought it for the best since she might have to be up to rush to Livy’s side in the night if the child needed her. Taking the rose-colored, knee-length nightie back into the bathroom, she laid it on the counter, then reached into the shower to test the water temperature. Finding it warm enough, Jeanne Louise stepped into the small stall and closed the door.
Never one to dawdle, she was quick about her shower. Ten minutes later she was out. Jeanne Louise quickly wrapped her hair in a small towel, and then used a larger one to dry her body before donning her nightie. She followed that up with towel drying her hair and brushing it back from her face. She was going to leave it like that, but the idea of crawling into bed with wet hair made her grimace. When a quick search of the cupboard under the sink produced a hair dryer, Jeanne Louise quickly used it and the brush to dry her hair, curling it under as she did.
Satisfied that she wouldn’t be sleeping on a damp pillow, or waking up with her hair standing up all over the place from sleeping on it wet, Jeanne Louise put the dryer and brush away and then headed back into her room. She contemplated the bed briefly, and then decided she’d best check to make sure Paul was still all right in the lake. Mortals had been known to suffer cramps and drown. Besides she was kind of thirsty and a glass of water sounded good. She’d grab a drink and look out to check on Paul.
Slipping from her room, Jeanne Louise glanced in on Livy again and then moved out through the living room to the kitchen. A quick glance out the large living room picture windows didn’t reveal much, but she just peered out in passing. In the kitchen, she grabbed a glass from the cupboard and then moved to the sink and turned on the tap. Leaving it to run for a moment, Jeanne Louise then looked out the window above it to scan the beach and lake, frowning when she didn’t see evidence of Paul. There was no one in the lake that she could see. Her gaze shifted to the remains of the bonfire and she’d just realized that his clothes were missing too when the door opened behind her.
Relaxing, Jeanne Louise turned her attention to slipping her glass under the running water, asking, “Good swim?”