Carved in Stone (22 page)

“I’m leaving Luke,” Ellen said softly. “He doesn’t appreciate me like you did.”

“That’s your problem to work out with him,” Will said, not inclined to be supportive or caring in any way at all. In fact, he might never be supportive of Ellen again.

He was stirred up and frustrated with her for trying to seduce him. He was angry at himself for letting Ellen get as far as she did, even if it was just a Pavlov’s dog kind of response brought on by thirty-three years of marriage. Will hadn’t done anything he regretted in a long time, and now he felt ashamed of himself. He’d asked Jessica not to date, but then he’d let Ellen touch him, stroke him for pity’s sake. Why hadn’t he just smacked her hand away? He might have to shower again now to get over the feel of her hands on him.

Will pulled on jeans and a blue T-shirt Michael had given him that said
A Sculptor’s Life Is Carved In Stone
on it. It was one of his favorite possessions. Not that he cared much about what he was wearing, his main priority at the moment was just to be dressed enough to go out in public. He needed to get out of the house and as far away from Ellen as possible.

“Will, that woman can’t be better in bed than me. You and I can have all we had, and maybe even more because I would be more appreciative this time around,” Ellen said quietly. “At least think about us.”

“No thanks, I’m just not interested,” Will said, meaning it. “I tried to reconcile with you after we separated—before you ever married. I might have been able to forgive you for Luke then, but not now. You’re a married woman, Ellen. You need to act like one and work things out with your husband.”

“William,” Ellen said, her voice rising with her agitation. “Stop thinking like a man for a minute and at least try to be logical. Being a rape survivor, Jessica Daniels probably has a list of things she’s unwilling to do with you in bed that is a mile long. My friend Susan’s husband left her because she just couldn’t get past the other men abusing her. You’ll be bored with the Daniels woman before a year is done.”

“No, I won’t be bored. If Jessica and I ever had a problem, I’d go to therapy with her to try to work it out. If that was ever the case—which it is definitely not at the moment. You never did understand the healing power of art, Ellen. You didn’t get it for the whole thirty-three years we were together,” Will told her sadly. “But it would be damn helpful to both your sons if you could just open your mind and try to get it—even a little bit. Your sons are artists. You need to start accepting that art is both their career and their life, even if you never accepted that it was mine.”

Will pushed all his clothes into a backpack. Then at the last minute, he scooped up Jessica’s art piece.

“See this? Jessica’s art has gone from rape scenes to a celebration of what is wonderfully feminine. Jessica Daniels healed herself long before I came along. In thirty years of relationships with men on her terms, she’s had more lovers than I can bear thinking about. Frankly, I had to stand in line to get a damn date with her. Even this weekend, I had to literally chase off a man ten years younger than me,” Will said, liking the shocked look on Ellen’s face. “That’s how much I want that woman, and I still do. Now that I have my chance with her, I’m putting everything I am into making it work.”

Will added the art piece to the contents of his backpack, afraid to leave anything of Jessica’s in the house while Ellen was there. He zipped the pack shut and clipped the security fasteners he almost never used. The extra precaution just seemed necessary.

Then he walked out and left Ellen sitting on the bed.

At the end of the hallway, Michael was coming out of the kitchen with a glass of water.

“
Blue Blaze
is coming with me until your mother moves out,” Will told him. “I don’t want her turning it into a door stop while I’m gone.”

Michael raised his eyebrows. It was a reference to his mother’s typical reaction to receiving a piece of art from her sons. And it was an ancient argument between his parents.

“It’s not ensured yet,” Michael warned, not worrying about its safety so much as he was his Dad’s state of mind. “Don’t go wrecking your bike today.”

“Trust me,” Will said loudly, looking back down the hall and seeing Ellen walk out of his room. “Jessica Daniels’ vagina is always going to be safe in my hands.”

Michael sputtered and coughed as the water went down wrong. His mother rolled her eyes and shook her head as Will slammed the front door after him.

Chapter 14

Will coasted the bike to a stop on the street in front of Jessica’s house. When he got his helmet off, he saw her sitting on her window ledge, leaning out and smiling down at him.

“Pull the bike into the driveway,” she directed. “I’ll be right down to let you in.”

Will backed up the Harley and rode it into the driveway just as Jessica came out of the house. She was smiling hard and almost laughing, reminding him of what she had been like the first time they went out. He had wondered if he was ever going to see that level of happiness in her again.

“You look good on that black monster,” Jessica told him. “Cars never did it for me, but I get a flutter just thinking about riding around with you on the bike.”

“You know, my son Shane told me to shave my head, get an earring, and ride around on the bike to pick up women. I guess you’re proof that it works,” Will said, reaching out to tug her to him by the front of her shirt.

Then Will turned her sideways and maneuvered her to sit in front of him on the ample seat. “Kiss me, Jessica. You have no idea how much I need it right now.”

“Kiss you in broad daylight in my driveway?” Jessica asked, amusement lifting the corners of her mouth.

She felt lighter suddenly, lighter and happier now that Will was with her.

She felt lighter still when she realized Will had forgotten again to be careful with her. One hand was in her hair tugging her head back for a soul-stealing kiss. The other unerringly found her breast to squeeze and lift it, effectively making her groan into his mouth at the pleasure of his touch.

Realizing where they were, and how fast things were getting away from his control, Will moved his hand from her breast to her back where he could slide her hips more intimately between his legs.

“You know,” Jessica said, pulling her mouth from his. “I have a perfectly good house with a king size bed. We could take this inside.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Will said, boosting her up to standing with a hand under her rear.

“You’re a very physical man, aren’t you?” Jessica said on a laugh. “Though I have to say you seem to have turned manhandling into an art form.”

Will climbed off the bike and looked at her with concern. “Do I scare you?”

“No,” Jessica denied irritably, walking off and leaving him to follow her up the sidewalk. “It scares me that I’m starting to like your macho side. I’ve spent most of my life avoiding the kind of man you are.”

Will frowned, thinking about that a moment. “What kind of man is that?”

Jessica looked at him and shrugged as they stepped through her door. “The kind of man who’s big enough and strong enough to do pretty much anything he wants. I learned that early on with you, remember? I almost had to hurt you to break your hold on me.”

“Have I done anything since then to make you feel that way again?” Will asked, setting his bike helmet on a well-used wooden bench in the hallway with several pairs of shoes lined up under it. He put his backpack next to the helmet and unzipped his jacket.

Jessica opened a closet and took out a hanger. “Hang your jacket on the pegs above the bench. Leave it there. I like the way it looks next to the helmet.”

She waited until Will was hanging up the jacket to answer his question. “I don’t know,” she said flatly.

“What?” Will asked, his face a puzzled frown.

“I don’t know if you’ve done anything that has bothered me as much. I can’t think of anything, but you definitely make me feel nervous and a bit on edge,” Jessica said honestly.

“Do I make you anxious?” Will asked.

Jessica waited a few heartbeats. “I guess that’s a fair description.”

Damn Ellen for being right
, Will thought.
Damn her for planting doubts in his head
.

Jessica walked up to Will and ran her fingers over his lips. “That doesn’t mean I want you to change anything you’re doing. If you stop being yourself, I will never figure it out. Then we both lose by not knowing how it is between us. I’m being honest with you because I’ve taught myself not to put up fronts. Now kiss me so I can lure you to bed.”

Will picked up his backpack and took the one giant step into her that covered the remaining empty space between them. He didn’t touch her other than to press his lips to hers. It was Jessica who groaned, grabbed his T-shirt with two hands, and deepened their kiss.

Will ended up laughing against her mouth when he got his tongue back.

“You know, I’m not the only aggressive one in our relationship. You do your own share of grabbing, lady. Don’t forget to factor that into your thinking,” Will told Jessica, putting his mouth back on hers with a little more aggression this time.

Jessica pulled free and tugged on his hand. “House tour later,” she said. “Bedroom is upstairs. Come with me.”

“Best offer I’ve had all day,” Will said, laughing, letting Jessica tug him along behind her.

Will followed Jessica up a set of antique wooden stairs and into a room with airy curtains and layers of covers on the bed along with pillows of every size. Most of the furniture was worn and fragile, too feminine for Will to feel completely at ease. Fortunately, the bed seemed like the sturdiest piece in the room and it was the only one he cared about at the moment.

“You’re way more girly than you look,” Will said softly, setting his backpack down. He unzipped a side pocket and pulled three condoms out. “Now the lacy lingerie makes complete sense.”

Grinning at the condoms and his comment, Jessica pulled her shirt over her head revealing a pink lace demi-bra that barely restrained her breasts.

“Do you ever wear plain cotton?” Will asked, tossing the condoms on the bed and walking to her.

“Not if I can help it,” Jessica said, closing her eyes and leaning into Will’s hands when he lifted her breasts and brushed the ends with his thumbs.

They stood like that at the foot of Jessica’s bed, weaving with the arousal building between them. Jessica had her eyes closed in bliss, and Will couldn’t look away from her face.

“Jessica, I know what I want. Tell me what you want,” Will entreated softly. “I really, really want to give you what you want.”

Jessica reached behind her and unhooked her bra. It fell easily from her shoulders and across Will’s hands still on her breasts. “Okay. I want to feel your hands on me for real.”

Will flung the bra across the room and it landed in a chair. He touched her breasts again, caressing their fullness and the tight buds that beckoned him to do more.

“I saw your blue lacy bra and a preview of these when you flirted with me at the café. I wanted to do this then. I wanted to do more. I wanted to lift you into my lap on one of those bar stools and show you just how incredibly sexy I thought you were,” Will told her, his voice so husky with desire he could barely speak.

“Oh, I remember. I showed you my bra on purpose. I asked you for a ride then, but you turned me down,” Jessica said, laughing as Will sat on the bed and pulled her across his lap with one of her knees on each side of his legs.

“I was being a big chicken, but I have since gotten over it. Jessica Daniels, you can ride anything of mine you want,” Will said, lifting under her arms until her breasts were level with his mouth.

He took one pretty pink bud between his teeth and twirled his tongue around it until Jessica called out his name. She put a hand behind his head to hold him in place, but Will just shook his head against her and laughed softly. He eased her back into his lap before transferring his attention to the other side. She bent backward in ecstasy, raising her breasts higher to him.

Will laughed softly as Jessica moaned, and then he had to catch her when she almost fell backward off his lap.

“I’m not trying to torture you,” he promised, hearing the rough edge of desire in his voice. “I just like seeing you wearing passion and not much else. I still can’t get over how much better sex is with you.”

Now that comment had her opening her eyes and meeting Will’s gaze with her own.

“What do you mean?” Jessica asked. “I thought you had a good marriage.”

“It was good in many ways. And I was faithful, but the last year or two the sex was practically non-existent. Ellen was already seeing Luke during the last six months we were married, but I didn’t know it for a long time,” Will told her. “She had pulled away from me totally by then, and I couldn’t do much about it. We weren’t really lovers any more, but by that point I was losing so little I couldn’t care either.”

Will pulled her hair to the front over her shoulder. He combed it with his fingers and let them drift over her breasts while she watched.

“I can hardly believe you’re real—the way you respond, the way you kiss, the way you close your eyes and just let me enjoy you. You’re the woman men think about, but mostly think they will never find,” Will said.