Closer To You (Tales of the Sweet Magnolia Book 1) (10 page)

***

“Lilly?”

A soft whisper drew her from a deep, mindless sleep. Heavy rain sounded on the roof. Someone was shaking her shoulder. Lil fought to open her eyes having been immersed in an exquisite dream—one with her and Sheriff Sloan on a blanket beneath the desert night sky.

“Lilly, wake up. I need to speak with you.”

Her mind grappled with her thoughts piecing together reality and fantasy. Jake’s voice sounded so real. “Lilly, I have some things to say and you’re just going to have to hear them.” Her shoulders shook again under a pair of strong hands. “Wake up, Lil. Lord almighty woman, wake up so I can get this off my chest.”

Lillian lifted one eyelid and focused on his face not but a few inches from hers. His breath smelled of coffee and his skin like the rain. If it was a dream, she hoped to never awaken. “What are you doing here? I thought you didn’t want to see me anymore.” Her words, even to her own ears, sounded slurred, groggy. She swallowed the dry lump in her throat. How long had she been asleep?

“Listen, it’s Jake. I’ve been doing some thinking. And I have to tell you, some strange things have been happening to me lately that I can’t explain. But they’ve got me to thinking and well, if after I’ve had my say, you’d still like me to leave,

I’ll abide by your request.”

Leave? Her mind was still hazy from sleep, but she knew that to have him leave was the last thing she wanted. His soft, but quick kiss caught her off guard as much as his sudden retreat from her mouth.

She licked her lips, cementing the taste in her mind and tried to focus on him standing at her bedside.

“Lilly, I’ve been acting like a fool.” Jake tipped back his hat and scratched his forehead with his thumb. “I’ve been so wrapped up in this election and with trying to do what’s right for everyone else that I’ve plum forgotten how to see what’s best for me, and maybe I’ve been too blind to see that what’s best is right here in front of me.”

She blinked away the fog in her brain. This sudden change of heart, while flattering made her more curious as to what precipitated it. “Jake, slow down and once more from the top.” Lilly pushed her hair back from her face and leaned up on her elbows.

“Why are you dressed like that?” He pointed at her attire. “Are you expecting a guest?”

Admittedly from his perspective and given the way she was dressed, it was not strange that he would jump to that conclusion. Still, he’d all but relinquished any reason that she should bother to answer him. However, judging from the grave concern puckering his handsome face, Lil chose to offer the truth. “I was trying to get back.”

“Where to?” He sat down on the edge of the bed bracing his arm on the other side of her hip, his gaze intent.

She swallowed, not knowing if he would understand her answer, but it was the truth. “Home.”

He searched her eyes. “You mean back to this place in the…the future?” So he had been listening.

She nodded.

A slight smile curled the corner of his lip. “Looks like you might have missed the stagecoach.”

Lilly sighed. “Go ahead. I know you think it sounds ridiculous, but I can’t help that.” Her shoulders slumped in frustration. She couldn’t understand what possible glitch had occurred in the cosmos that would keep her in the past. She dared not toy with the hope that maybe fate was giving her, or perhaps Jake, chance to get things right. “What was it you needed, Sheriff?

“That’s Jake,” he corrected with a crook of his brow and a wicked grin.

Lil’s heart lurched. Her body responding in a rush of tingles. She had to keep her head if she didn’t want to lose her heart. That, she told herself might be a foregone conclusion. “What is it you needed to tell me, Jake?” She held his gaze when she spoke his name and satisfaction flickered in his eyes.

For a moment he just stared at her and then stood, folding his arms over his chest, regarding her as a teacher might look upon a student. “Well, I’ve decided that there are some things that just defy explanation.”

Surprised by his sudden shift in thinking, she agreed. “I’d have to say you’re right about that. And there comes a time when you have to say what’s inside you.”

Jake nodded. I’m doing my best to find a way to speak my mind.” He seemed truly nervous, about whatever it was, eyeing her with uncertainty.

She pushed herself upright, proving that he had her attention. His, however, was resting on her bare flesh. Lil grabbed one of the pillows and covered up her midsection. “Better?”

“Yeah, thanks,” he admitted shaking his head as though to clear his thoughts. “This isn’t easy for me. I’ve never done this before…spoken my mind to a woman and,” he glanced at her, “I doubt there will ever be anyone else that I say this to.”

A slow thud began in Lil’s chest. She swallowed hard, waiting, watching as he paced the floor apparently working at getting his thoughts together. “Whatever it is, just say it,” she urged, hoping that it would be what she wanted to hear and not another drawn out explanation of why they couldn’t be together. Lil wanted to shake the liver out of him but tried to remain patient.

He parked his butt on the vanity and she let out a sigh of relief. “What’s troubling you?” Lil found it difficult to catch her breath, anticipating the various things he might have to say. She
wanted
to hear that his feelings matched hers, that his or her profession didn’t matter and that he loved her, as she did him, just the way he was. A gasp caught in her throat at the sudden realization, the truth of why she felt queasy and couldn’t sleep at night…she’d fallen in love.

“Listen, it’s like this, Lil. I l-l-lo—” His tongue seemed stuck on the word. Lil waited, mentally coaxing the word from his lips.

“Lillian,” he spoke in a business-like tone. “I have a fierce affection for you.”
Close enough.
Lillian dropped her gaze to the bed and smiled softly.

“Just…um, what level of fierce would you say that is?”

“
Plum
fierce.”

Lil suppressed a smile and met his heated gaze. “Then I suppose that it’s okay for me to tell you that the feeling is somewhat mutual.”

His expression clouded. “Somewhat? What the hell …?”

She held up her hands in defense. “Okay, maybe
seriously
plum.” His shoulders eased, his mouth widened with a sexy grin.

“You really couldn’t tell? Do you think that I could…well, do the things I’ve done with you with just any man?”

Jake glanced away trying to hide the puzzled look on his face.

Lil sighed. Well, of course, he would. She was after all the Madam of the Sweet Magnolia, even though she preferred to think that the parlor house offered more to men than a quick roll in the hay. “Let me rephrase that. I’ve never experienced before what I’ve had with you, Jake.” And that was the honest truth. Most usually, Lil had had to battle the painful humiliation associated with her poor choice in character. In an effort, in her mind, to balance out her goodie-two-shoes profession, she went after one or two bad boy types and led a life behind a façade of too much booze, dangerous flirtations, and a couple of one-night stands. As though she was being watched over, it didn’t take long for her to realize the self-destructive path she was on wasn’t going to lead to her happily-ever-after as much as perhaps a sudden hereafter ending. So she straightened up, grew up maybe, and focused on her work, living a virtual hermit’s life by comparison to the previous escapades, all the while praying that one day Mr. Right would waltz into the library and carry her into the sunset like in one of her silly movies.

However, he’d never come, and until the day she opened that door and found herself staring into the dark brown eyed gaze of Jake Sloan, did she truly believe in destiny. Corny as it sounded, Lil couldn’t deny that somehow, she’d been allowed to cross through time to this very place to be with this very man.

“You mean to tell me—?” He studied her face. “What you did…you’ve never done before?”

She tried to dismiss the awestruck tone in his voice, but she secretly delighted that he’d been impressed, apparently. “You inspired me.” She held her hands up and shrugged. “I told you, Jake. I was formerly a librarian. Not a lot of men in my life, frankly, none I wish to remember at any rate, but I’ve read a ton of books and watch lots of movies. I’m huge on research.”

A curious expression crossed his face. “Movies?”

“Another topic, we’ll talk about it later.” Lil wanted to stay on task. She’d just awakened from an incinerating dream of the two of them and her body was on fire.

“I have to confess, Miss Lillian. You sure aren’t exactly the image that I have of a librarian.”

She tipped her head. “Well, and maybe you’re not the image of the sexy cowboy I had in mind either.” She scooted off the bed and stood toe-to-boot with him. He towered over her, his broad chest temptingly at eye level. Her fingers itched to touch him. “Okay.” She sighed, her gaze bouncing from his chest to his face. “Strike that. You are
exactly
my ultimate cowboy fantasy.” She toyed with the buttons of his shirt. “True, being a sheriff wasn’t part of the package, but it’s who you are, Jake,” she added quickly. “I can accept that.” She pushed on to explain her view, needing to have her say, and she thanked her lucky stars that he was a patient man. “The point is, I’m a woman, the same as any other, looking for a man who is strong enough to let me be who I am.
You
brought out that side of me.
You
accepted the part of me that no one else ever has.”

He placed his hand on her cheek. “Good Lord, Lillian. Can a man get hard from hearing a woman talk?”

Lillian briefly considered the provocative commercials of modern late night television and smiled. “Anything’s possible.” And wasn’t she proof of that? “You want me to keep talking?” She was ready to kick up her heels and get a little unruly, a little wild.

The first of his buttons came undone, and she wasted no time taking care of the rest and pushing the shirt over his brawny shoulders. She drank in the sight of him, and though wet for him since the dream, she savored every luxurious moment, seducing him.

He lowered his head, pulling her against him. His mouth closed over hers, coaxing a soft moan from her throat. Gently, his hands slid over her butt, drawing them closer, leaving no question of what he wanted—what they both wanted. “You are so beautiful. I want to give you everything.” He touched her lips to her forehead, his sigh, warm, on her skin. “I wish I could tell you this was going to be easy, but I’ll try to do right by you. Just tell me what you need and it’s yours.”

What more did she need to know than he was the one—her Mr. Right? This was what she’d waited for, longed to hear. Perched on her toes, she wound her arms around his neck and captured his mouth. Time meant nothing; society’s rules had no place within these four walls. Lil pulled back to look at him, and trailed her fingers over his rock hard body. She wrestled with his belt and he with her bra, until both were free. He lifted her in his arms, leaving a path of hot wet kisses over her neck, between her breasts. He closed his mouth over one taut rosebud tip, teasing, taunting. Lil held her head against her, relishing in the delirious pleasure.

“Tell me what you want?” he whispered walking with her to the bed. He lay her on the satin coverlet, hovering over her.

“Just you. I want you.”

He grinned, moving his hand slow over her body, setting her blood on fire. She could barely think; the need for him was so bad. Her hips rose and she let out a sigh when his finger slipped into her warmth, his stroke insistent, heavenly. Breathless, he turned her bones to ash, rolling her hips with his ministrations in mindless pleasure, letting herself surrender in a blinding climax. Other men had left her unsatisfied on so many levels, but Jake…Jake could arouse her with just his smile. Content, but far from satiated, she looked up at him, her beating wildly. “You have on far too many clothes.” He straightened and she watched as his perfect body came into view. She touched the red gem at her neck, uttering a silent prayer of thanks.

“I can’t promise I’ll be any good to you, if you keep looking at me that way.” He sat on the bed, tugging her astride his lap. 

Her thigh brushed his erection and he drew in a sharp breath. Lil guided him, slow and easy, until he filled her completely. She grabbed his hat from the bedpost and dropped it on her head. “What is it you tell your horse to make it go?”

He cupped her backside, his heated gaze locked to hers. “Giddy-up.” His mouth met hers in a slow, bone-melting kiss.

“That’s it.” His fingers caressed, kneading her butt, teasing where their bodies joined. Giving and taking, they pleasured each other as she rode him to another shattering orgasm. He turned her beneath him, and drove into her, his hot breath fanning her cheeks. With one last thrust, he uttered a quiet groan and gave into his own release.

Lil had never known such contentment, such a sense of belonging. She reached for him, not wanting to waste one moment being apart. His mouth moved over hers, searing her flesh, turning her bones to liquid. Even with his confession about his feelings, there were still a great number of risks involved, things they’d need to talk about—children, marriage. Many the same as in any other relationship, others issues more difficult—his position as a lawman, the prejudice of the townspeople toward her and the Magnolia. And then there was the possibility that she’d waken one day and he’d be gone, or that she’d end up unexpectedly back in her own time. Yet, if this journey had taught her nothing else, it was to take each moment and cherish it as though it might be her last. She was willing to face all the risks, come what may, just to be with him.