Burning Barriers (Barriers Series Book 3) Page 11

  “I wouldn’t say it was all for you, Luce. The tattoo, keeping the pictures up in the house, all of this…” he says, waving his arm around the backyard. “They’re my constant reminders of you. You always had a way of walking into a room and setting me at ease. You made me feel as though I had a reason to breathe after everything happened with us back then. I went through a very dark and troubling time shortly after Dad died. As much as SJ will tell you he was the one to help me… in the end… it was you who finally sorted my head out.”

  As I step down each stair slowly, I never stop looking into his eyes. When I stand in front of him and look at the fire that dances in those big, brown eyes, I can see the darkness that sits deep behind them without even having to ask. I know he is telling the truth, and my heart aches for what he must have gone through without me. A single tear rolls down my cheek as my hand cups his face, and I run my thumb gently over his cheek. He shuts his eyes slowly at my loving touch, and I rise slightly on my toes to avoid falling in my riding boots and spilling my wine all over him.

  My lips hover over his, and I move them back and forth as I catch his lips part and feel his warm breath on me. Only then do I hear the music filtering through the back patio. Another tear falls, but not from my eyes, from Jake’s. Daughtry’s “What About Now” hits me with full force, and the next thing I know, I’m kissing Jake’s lips with tenderness and purpose. There’s no lust, only completeness, as we both finally realize we need each other to heal our pains. Just as much as he’s helped me this past week, he’s surrounded himself with things that remind him of me in order to wake up each day and smile.

  Together, we are the water that extinguishes the flames around us. Apart, we will end up burning until there is nothing left but smoke in the wind.

  When I pull away from Jake’s lips and look at his face, I see my true happiness. I see my future. But, the minute I blink, I remember everything else that is waiting for me in Massachusetts, and I know I’ll have to make one of the hardest decisions in my life soon.

  Do I stay with the man whom I love more than my own life or head back to the girls who gave me life when I thought I was already dead?

  I push this nagging decision to the back of my mind because right now I only want Jake. Call me selfish and crazy for wanting to pursue this with him, but I need to feel Jake’s warm arms around me. I need to feel his naked body pinning me down to his bed as he slowly pushes himself deep within me. The passion, the heat, and the release. Oh my God, yes, the orgasm. I need to feel that sensation with him soon. With my eyes still closed, I envision what that would be like, and I feel my blood tingle all over and my face suddenly on fire.

  “Hey, are you okay? You look a little flushed, Luce.” Jake’s hands run over my shoulders and down my arms. The patio lights and the last of the evening sunlight must allow my face to give me away.

  Leaving all thoughts of our writhing, naked bodies behind me, I focus on him standing before me. My cheeks must be candy apple red right now. The minute I get all hot and bothered, I begin burning up and looking like a court jester with red circles painted on my cheeks. A shiver runs over my body, even though my face feels as though it’s engulfed in flames.

  The music, this moment… everything… it all overtakes my body, and I need to do something other than think about the future. I need to think about now. Right now, right here. Jake.

  I gently grasp Jake’s hand in my own and begin walking over to the stone fire ring. With his back to one of the chairs, I easily push him down to sit in front of me as I grab his wine glass and place it onto the small table next to the chair with my own glass. Jake’s body takes up much of the chair, but I’m able to still place one knee on either side of his in order to straddle him. The only sounds heard are the popping of the fire behind us, the gentle breeze that is whirling the aspen leaves in the woods, the bubbling of the hot tub, and the music sifting through the speakers.

  I pull my lip under my teeth as I stare into his curious eyes just before dropping my head to rest on his. My hands hold on to the collar of his light fleece zip-up jacket and pull him closer. As I slip my fingers softly below the fabric of his collar, Jake’s strong hands slip around my waist, and I feel his fingers running along the waistband of my jeans. My tongue slips out and wets my lips before I take matters into my own hands. Our lips collide, and our tongues invade and attack with a feverish desire. I feel the heat warm my skin as our hands roam and skim.

  Jake pulls me down further on his lap, and I feel his hard length between my legs. Rubbing my throbbing core over his jeans, I suddenly feel like I’m going to lose all control over my body if I let go of myself. Soft moans escape from my throat as I feel the wetness soaking my thong. It doesn’t matter. I won’t need them later anyway. My hands eagerly begin pulling at the messy locks of hair on the top of his head. Jake’s hands work their way inside my shirt and move quickly under my bra strap. When I feel one of his hands snake around the front of my chest and pull my breast from under my bra, I nearly lose it.

  My body begins to shake with desire, and I know I won’t last much longer between the kissing, the grinding, and now Jake’s skilled fingers toying with my breast. As Jake’s fingers pinch my nipple, I instantly pull away from his lips, catching my breath as the throbbing and pulsing come at me all at once. My head drops back, and I feel his other hand pulling ever so gently on some of my loose blonde curls, giving him better access to my neck where he’s starting to lick his way up from between my exposed cleavage to my ear.

  “Come on, Luce. Let it out,” he says in a breathy voice as he continues to trace his tongue along my neck.

  My breathing escalates, and my hands fist his fleece. I see nothing but Jake’s face in my mind as my orgasm rips through me. His hand keeps pulling slightly at the ends of my hair. When my eyes flutter open, the image of Jake’s face in my head is replaced by the starry night sky above me. Jake lets go of my hair, and my hands loosen their grip on his jacket. The sight before me when my head drops back down to him is like nothing I’ve seen in the past seven years. I’ve gone so many years of envisioning what it would be like if this day ever came. Now that he’s finally here in front of me, holding me and loving me, I know if we don’t make this work again, I’ll be screwed for life. No man will ever stand a fighting chance.

  I look into his eyes as I try to read his emotions. His hardness is still evident between my legs, and I know where I need this to go. “Jake, I need to feel you inside me, now.” He doesn’t say a word. He only stares back, and I see just how much he needs me, too. He kisses my lips, quickly pulling away with my bottom lip between his teeth before groaning softly. After letting out a long, slow breath, he grips me tighter.

  He rises to his feet with me still in his arms, and I wrap my legs around his hips. My arms hold securely around his neck as he takes each step careful enough not to drop me. We make our way into the house, and it dawns on me that I haven’t seen Summit since I got here.

  “Hey, Jake, where’s Summit?” I ask quickly.

  “Really, Luce? We’re about to have sex and you’re wondering where my dog is?”

  “What?” I ask with a raised tone in my voice.

  “If you really need to know, Mom comes over to take her when she knows I’ll be busy with work or she just needs some company. Summit likes to run around on the trails behind the ranch, so it keeps Mom entertained. She calls Summit her four-legged grandchild.”

  Jake continues down the hall past the kitchen where I’m sure dinner is now either cold or severely overcooked. Since nothing is burning, my guess is that Jake took care of turning off everything before we went outside. We stop short of his closed bedroom door, and he pulls back to look at me with nothing but love in his eyes.

  “Now, can we stop talking about my dog and my mom? I’d really like to only have you in my mind right now.”

  He drops one hand from holding me in his arms and slowly turns the knob on his bedroom door. As the door swings open, my smile drops
from my face as I see what’s before me. Jake pulls me from his arms and places my feet onto the floor. I don’t have any words as I take in everything. I feel a tightness in my chest and a lump in my throat. I can’t form words if I tried.

  The fireplace blazes in the corner. The mantle and tables are lined with lit candles as they cast fiery dancing flames along the wooden beams throughout the room. The floor is lined with lavender rose petals that make their way to the bed that is pulled down already with more silvery purple petals scattered across the black satin sheets.

  Arms wrap around my waist from behind me as I feel him brush my hair over my shoulder. I tilt my head and stare ahead of me, allowing Jake to nestle his face next to mine. The deep sound of Depeche Mode’s “Heaven” carries itself through the open windows from the patio below.

  My heart beats along with the bass. My breathing quickens with each beat, and I can’t help the feeling of knowing that years of dreaming of Jake will soon become reality.

  And I’m ready.

  I feel her in my arms breathing deeply as her heartbeat pounds through her chest, but Lucy is the one who grabs my hand from around her waist and leads me to my bed. Music continues to filter through the open windows from the yard, just as I had hoped it would. With the lights dimmed in the bedroom and the flickering candles scattered all over, everything turned out exactly as I wanted it. I would rather have waited until after dinner to finally have Lucy in my bed, but that went to shit pretty quickly the moment she started grinding over my dick. Then, the look on her face as she unraveled in front of me… I had forgotten how amazing she looks when she has an orgasm. God, after seeing that, I needed to get her into my bed fast, and if that means ordering pizza later because dinner is fucked, then that’s what I’ll do.

  Her hands frantically begin unbuckling my belt as my lips play games along her neck. My own hands eagerly attempt to remove any and all clothing that might be preventing me from seeing her perfect breasts and rounded ass naked in front of me. My dick is rock hard and throbbing with anticipation of what it will feel like to be buried deep within her after all these years.

  Her fingers unhook the button on my jeans before the zipper is hastily lowered. I know I wanted this to be slow and sensual, but fuck it at this point. She’s got the candles and the music, and after what just happened on the back patio, slow and steady got pushed to another date and time.

  I slide my hands up her sides, pulling her thin sweater over her head. Lucy pulls her arms out quickly and does the same to my own shirt. With my height, I need to assist a little more with the removal. Her average height can only reach up so far. As I pull my head through the shirt, I feel her tugging at my jeans until the material settles at my ankles.

  Standing before her nearly naked, I see her eyes move from my torso to my hardened length that’s visible through my boxer briefs. An immodest smile forms at my lips because I know nothing is the same size as the last time we were together. Lucy’s fingers run along the outlines of my ab muscles all the way down to my happy trail that peeks slightly above my boxer’s waistband.

  I push my feet out of my shoes and kick them off to the side as my feet shimmy out of my jeans. I bend down, kneeling in front of Lucy as my fingers slowly unzip her knee-high brown leather boots before pulling them off one at a time. Her hands rest on my shoulders, giving her support as I feel her body trembling at my touch. I can tell her knees are growing weaker by the minute as I continue to slowly torture her with my hands.

  My fingers glide up and over the front of her jeans, slowly pushing the button through the hole. I pinch the zipper between my fingers and open the front of her jeans. Her pink and black satin thong reveals itself as I pull down her skinny jeans a little more. I push my finger underneath the band and pull it toward me, her wobbly legs nearly on top of me as I move my lips closer to her skin. I run my tongue over my lips as the heat from my breath on her pelvis causes goose bumps to form along her stomach.

  Lucy softly clears her throat as I hear a hint of a moan, and I move my tongue out to trace a line from above her belly button all the way down to her panty line. As I continue to trace lines over her stomach, I make slow, but quick work of pushing down her jeans until the fabric pools around her feet, and her nearly naked body towers over me.

  I laugh under my breath when my eyes stay focused on her knee-high socks. I quickly earn a soft slap to my shoulder because she knows why I’m laughing. Always matching. Black and pink striped socks stare back at me along with her matching thong. So help me, if her bra was matching as well, I would not know how to contain myself knowing how Lucy’s obsessive need to match gets me every time.

  As I pull each leg from the fabric along with her socks, my arm reaches around to wrap around her ass before standing to lift her off the floor. Her arms are now firm around my neck, holding on as I lower her onto my bed. Her body is spread out below me. My eyes roam her sexy-as-fuck body from her breasts that are rising and falling with each heavy breath to her long legs.

  I glance down to see her toes creep closer to my legs at the foot of the bed. Her pink painted toes run up along the outside of my boxer briefs and over my bulging cock that’s about to explode with her simple touch.

  I slowly grab her ankle with a little force, stopping her from making my dick throb any more. Lucy raises her back off the bed, and with her ankles still within my grasp, I watch as she moves her hands behind her back to unclasp her satin bra. As the straps drop to the sides, she moves one arm around the front holding her bra cups in place as she pulls each arm slowly out of each strap. With one hand, she removes the fabric from her breasts and drops the bra to the side of the bed.

  Holy shit.

  I need to be inside her again. The sight before me is nothing like I remember, and I can’t for the life of me think of why the hell I ever thought letting her go was a good decision. Never again.

  I run one hand up her leg until it reaches the bottom of her thong. I can feel the heat and dampness from between her legs. The remnants of her orgasm are still evident as I slide my index finger under the band and over her center. I pull against the fabric as she arches her back and raises her hips even further, allowing me easy access at pulling down her thong. I watch her face as I slide it all the way down her legs until I pull her free leg through the hole. My grip still holds her other ankle, but she tries to pull away. She’s anxious and wants this as much as I do.

  When I don’t give in to what she wants, I see her slowly raise her arms from her side and brush the tops of her breasts with her hands. My dick is at its absolute hardness when she moans and bites her lips before threading her fucking fingers through her hair and gripping her hands above her head.

  I shake my head at her devilish ways. She’s good and always has been one to know when she craves something bad. In my moment of weakness, my grip on her ankle loosens enough that she frees her foot and kicks off her thong to the other side of the room. A seductive giggle escapes her throat as her toes start to creep back down to try to lower my briefs.

  I make it easier for her as my hands push the fabric from my ass down to my feet. It’s always a challenge when your dick is rock hard, and you’re trying to keep your attention on a beautiful blonde lying on the bed naked in front of you. Her breasts heave, and her breathing increases as I kneel on the bed and crawl over her body.

  I plank my body above hers, and my blood fuels with desire as she pushes her core up into my dick. Instinctively, I know what she likes, or what she liked. I slowly rub the tip of my cock over her wet folds, and because this is Lucy and not some bar tramp I’ve slept with over the years, I know exactly what will drive her wild.

  My tongue pushes out to wet my lips as I lower one of my hands to her breast. As my lips move in for the kill and my fingers play games with her nipple, Lucy clears her throat.

  “Jake… I know we both want this… but… you’re the first guy since…” Her voice and her eyes trail off into another place altogether.

  Sin
ce the attack. Since Stone. Fucking A.

  “Luce, look at me. Let me see those eyes of yours.” I graze my fingers over her cheek before my lips gently place a soft kiss onto her nose. “Don’t think about the past. Feel this?” I pull her hand from over her head to rest over my heart. “Feel that beating in there? That’s yours, Luce. It beats for you and nobody else. I promise that tonight will erase whatever happened in the past, and you’ll only remember tonight as the start of something new.”

  I slowly reach over to grab a condom from my nightstand drawer. Lucy’s hand stretches over to wrap around my wrist just as my own hand is about to open the drawer. The look in her eyes is bold, and with a slight shake of her head, I know what she’s trying to say. “Luce, are you sure?” I hover over her body, staring into her eyes to see if there is any wavering in her mind. “I don’t want you to think I’ve been with other girls like this, ‘cuz I’ve never… Luce, have you? Shit, I’m sorry I shouldn’t ask that. You trust me, right?”

  Something unknown flashes across her face, and I don’t know what to make of it. I don’t have a chance to ask her if she’s all right because she reaches down between my legs and grabs my cock, slowly coating it with her wetness before positioning it at her entrance. Her legs wrap around my waist, and with her heels, she pushes her core onto my cock. Her warmth surrounds me as my dick feels her throbbing all around.

  I lower myself until our naked chests touch. Lucy’s nails slowly run their way along my spine. Her head angles so her lips linger just over my earlobe, and her warm lips place soft kisses along my cheek. “Jake.” Her lips tease my sensitive skin around my ear. “You’re the only one I’ve ever been with like this.”

  I look down into her eyes and then unite my lips with hers. I slowly begin to slide my length in and out of her, but before I continue any more, I pull away from her lips. I rest my head upon her forehead before shutting my eyes and letting out a deep breath. I say the only thing that is in my heart at the moment, and once it crosses my lips, there is no taking it back.