Somebody's Lover (12 page)

She’d have stayed that way forever
if the phone hadn’t rung.

Lord, the kids. Calling to say
good-night.

Taylor jumped up, grabbed the towel
and ran into the family room. Where on earth was it? She found the phone on the
floor between the coffee table and the couch.

“Hey, Mom, you sound out of
breath.”

“I was trying to find the phone
because
someone
didn’t put it back in the cradle.” Half-truths came so
easily now.

“Jamey used it last.”

Then she heard Jamey’s little voice
in the background, “I did not, he did, Mom. Brian did it.”

“Are you all having fun?”

“Peter got a cool new PlayStation
game. But Rina keeps wanting to play and messes everything up.”

“Men have to learn tolerance around
women, Brian.”

“Uncle Jace always says that.”

“Uncle Jace is right.”

Uncle Jace came up behind her, slid
his arms around her waist, then sucked on her neck.

“What’s that noise, Mom?”

“The phone’s crackling.” She
wriggled against him, trying to get loose. Jace pulled the towel from her death
grip and threw it across the couch.

“Do you miss us?”

“Of course, I miss you,
sweetheart.”

Jace cupped her breasts and tweaked
both nipples. She almost squeaked.

“What time are you picking us up in
the morning?”

“Noon. Don’t stay up too late.”
They’d be up past midnight telling scary stories in Peter’s room.

Jace slid both hands over her belly
and between her legs.

She bit her lip as Brian promised
not to stay up too late.

“Jamey wants to say good-night.”

“All right, sweetheart. Sleep
tight. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She clamped her thighs on Jace’s questing hand
and tried to elbow him.

“Mom?” Jamey, her baby.

“Hi, sweetie. Are you having fun?”

“Girls suck, Mom.”

“Jamey!” Where on earth had he
heard that? “You don’t say that about girls.”

Standing so close he could hear
everything, Jace whispered in her other ear. “Girls do suck, Mom.”

This time, her elbow connected.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Jamey muttered.

“Promise you won’t say that again.
Did you say it to Rina?”

“No. Peter said it to Aunt Connie
when Rina jumped in the middle of the checkerboard.”

She tried not to laugh. Then Jace
put his hand through her legs from behind to find her clitoris with unerring
accuracy. Lord. “You didn’t promise, Jamey.”

“I promise.”

“Now say good-night, Mom,” Jace
whispered, his breath hot in her ear.

“Good-night, Jamey. I love you,
honey. Bye.”

Jace grabbed the phone and tossed
it onto the couch. And didn’t miss a beat of his sweet massage between her
legs.

“You’re hot down here. And wet.
Really, really wet.”

“You’re terrible doing that to me
when I’m talking to the kids.” God save her soul, she’d loved it, the play, the
uniqueness of being touched in secret. Something totally apart from the boys.
Something more than simply being their mother.

“I’ll try to do better,” Jace said,
then pushed his fingers up hard and fast inside her. She gasped, teetering on
the edge.

“Ready to fuck me, Taylor?”

“I like it when you say the word
fuck
,”
then felt her face heat after she said it.

“Fuck.” Then he laughed, withdrew
his fingers, turned her around, and pitched her backward onto the sofa, landing
on top. “So you like dirty talk, huh?”

She buried her face against his
throat. “Yeah. Am I bad?”

Bracing himself on his elbows above
her, he held her face in his hands. “Say it. Tell me what you want me to do to
you.”

Something broke loose inside her.
“Fuck me, Jace. Hard.”

His eyes were dark wells except for
a single point of light from God knew where. “Christ, you make me so fucking
hot and insane.”

“Please fuck me
now
, Jace.”

“You’re killing me, woman. Clothes
on or off,” he murmured in her ear.

“Off.” She wanted every inch of his
skin against hers.

“If it’s a no clothes affair, then
we better take this in the bedroom where I can spread you out like a feast.” He
rose, snuffed the candles, then led her down the hall to her bed.

Lord. There were so many things
they hadn’t felt and done yet. But they had all night. She wanted to savor
every moment.

Jace lay for long minutes before
opening his eyes, savoring the feel of Taylor’s skin against his. Always getting
out the night before, he’d never woken up beside a woman in the morning.

Taylor was his first.

Blue jays squawked in the front
yard trees, and a squirrel or some other small animal scampered across the
roof. Boneyard the cat mewled from the window ledge outside.

“She always does that,” Taylor
muttered. “My little alarm clock. What time is it?”

An ache started above his eye, a
stab of pain so real he had to shut his eyes against it until it quieted to a
steady throb.

Why did she always have to know
what time it was?

Because she was a mother. He’d
always admired her mothering abilities, the way she used to hear Brian cry in
his crib before anyone else did, the way she could ferret out their agonizing
boyish secrets, then kiss the hurt away.

“Kiss me good morning.”
Kiss the
hurt away.

She looked at him, smiled, her lids
at sleepy half-mast. “I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”

“Neither have I.”

The kiss was delicious because it
was her. Life was freaking worth living because he’d woken up beside Taylor
this morning. Because he’d made love to her before falling asleep. Because her
sweet tush pressed to his exceptionally hard cock in the middle of the night.
Pulling her leg over his, he’d taken her from behind, slipping inside her
before she was fully awake. She’d come, crying out loud enough to disturb the
cat outside the window. Sleep again. Only to wake to her mouth sucking him and
her hand priming his balls. He’d taken his fill of her once more as dawn broke
through the window.

Yet he wanted her again. Now.

“Something’s up, Mr. Jackson.”

Her hand billowed the covers as she
found him.

“Don’t you want to know what time
it is?” His last word split in half by his groan.

“I already looked. It’s eleven. We
overslept. But I think we can manage a quickie before I have to pick up the
boys.”

“You’re a very organized woman.”

“Why, thank you.” Then she grinned.
“Now fuck me, Jace.”

Last night, she’d said it right
before her orgasm.
Fuck me with your fingers, fuck me with your mouth
,
and plain old
fuck me
. The woman had gone wild with the word.

Nothing had ever made him hotter.

He rolled her beneath him, then
reached for the last condom on the side table.

“I get to put it on this time.”

“It’s tricky.” He dropped the
packet onto her palm.

Taylor wriggled from beneath him.
“Get on your back.”

He let her go at him. “If you don’t
hurry, this won’t be a quickie.” Not quite true, because if she fondled him
much longer, he’d lose it before he ever got inside her.

She sighed. “Ah, I think I did a
perfect job.”

“Too fucking perfect.” Damn near
close to combustible. “Now get on top of me.”

He hoisted her aboard with his hand
on her butt. Rising above him on her knees, she took him in her hand, then
stroked his cock along the center of her slit.

“Shit.” She was sizzling hot and
creamy wet, and he wished to God he could have her without the condom. “Fuck
me, Taylor.”

Her chocolate-sweet eyes deepened
to the color of rich liqueur. “You can’t say
fuck
in front of the kids.”

“I’ve never said
fuck
in
front of the kids.”

“You can only say it to me.”

“I promise. Anytime you want. Fuck
me now, please.”

Sliding him deep, she threw back
her head and moaned as she settled. “Oh Jace. You feel so good. You make me
want to come without even moving.” She flexed around him, heightening her own
pleasure with her inner muscles.

He damn near burst off the bed,
pushing up into her, then grabbing her hips as he started to pump.

Steadying herself on the bed, she
matched the rhythm he started. He couldn’t hold it with her. She took him,
turned him inside out, and brought him to the edge of orgasm in seconds.

“Don’t ever stop wanting this.” He
gritted his teeth around the words, held on long enough to say them.

“I’ll never stop, Jace. Not ever. I
promise.”

And he lost everything he had,
everything he was. Heart, soul, body, and mind as he poured himself into her,
as she cried out his name when she came.

He hadn’t quite caught his breath,
but he managed to open his eyes when he felt her stretch. She arched, ran her
hands through her hair, over her breasts. Then she smiled.

“That was very, very good, Jace.”

“Jesus Christ! What are you doing?”

Taylor shrieked and dove beneath
the covers, his cock popping free of her and flapping in the wind before he
even thought to pull the sheet up.

David stood in the doorway.

The adrenaline high pumping through
Jace’s veins set his skin on fire. “Why the hell didn’t you knock?”

His brother’s lip curled. “I
knocked. You were too busy screwing to hear me.”

“Shut your damn mouth.”

David shoved his hands through his
hair and turned a circle in the doorway. “I can’t believe this.”

Taylor hadn’t moved, but he heard
her muffled breath, hard and fast, beneath the mound of bedclothes. He knew.
Her worst nightmare. That someone would find out. Too soon. She wasn’t his yet.
They needed time.

He wanted to howl or beat the shit
of his brother. “Get out, David.”

His brother fisted his hands and
marched two paces into the room. “I didn’t come here to bust up your little
screwfest.”

He’d kill him for that, smash him
face first into the dirt.

“Jamey’s hurt. Connie and Mitch
took him to the hospital over in Bentonville. And we’ve all been trying to call
Taylor, but her damn phone was busy.” The last ended in a shout.

Taylor shot from her hiding place.
“Jamey?”

“Yeah.
Mom
.” David fairly
snarled the word at her.

She didn’t even flinch, her whole
concentration on Jamey. “Is he okay? What’s wrong? What happened?”

“He fell out of the big oak in
Mitch’s backyard. I don’t know if he’s okay.”

She clambered from the bed. Naked.
Whispering, “Oh my God. Oh my God,” as she slammed drawers looking for her
clothes. Panties, shirt, no bra, jeans. She dressed in front of them both
without a thought, even as she cried. “Oh Lord. Oh Lord.”

Jace couldn’t stand it. “Wait in
the family room, David.”

“Sure thing.
Brother
.” The
same snarl on his lips. “In fact, I’ll meet you in the emergency room. After
you clean up.”

Then he was gone, and the front
door slammed. A moment later, his tires squealed in the road.

“Oh my God, Jace. What if he’s
dead?” She flopped on the side of the bed, her sandals in her hand.

Jace threw aside the sheet and
pulled her to his chest. “He’ll be fine. Kids fall out of trees all the time.”

Lou fell out of a tree and bled to
death when he sliced open his femoral artery.

She jerked out of his arms as if
she’d had the very same thought. “I have to get to the hospital.”

“Wait a minute and I’ll take you.”

“I can’t wait. I need my purse.”
She was out the bedroom door before he made it out of the goddamn bed.

“You can’t drive like this.”

The front door slammed for the
second time that morning while he was still in the freaking hallway. Naked.

She hadn’t brushed her hair or her
teeth or wiped away her own come from between her legs. And she hadn’t needed
him.

Her kids would always come first.
He knew that, wouldn’t have had it any other way. But he wanted to offer his
strength on the drive to the hospital, his arms to hold her.

And he was a freaking pantywaist.
Jamey was hurt. Damn David for not being able to tell her more. Jace tossed out
the condom, yanked on his jeans and shirt, shoved into his shoes.

On the end table in the family, the
phone cradle was empty. He found the portable stuffed down between the
cushions. Where he’d thrown it last night before he made love to her.

Before he’d fucked her.

She hadn’t pushed the end button
when he took the phone away. No one could get hold of her because he hadn’t let
her alone long enough to cut the connection.

Out back, he rammed his truck in
gear and backed up, barely missing the neighbor’s fence.

He’d been idiotic all those years
ago when he’d fallen in love with his brother’s wife. He’d been reckless when
he’d drowned his misery by drinking himself into a stupor. He’d been criminal
the day he’d overslept as his brother waited for him on a nine-acre property in
the middle of freaking nowhere.

Lou had died because Jace hadn’t
been there to help him.

This time, he’d separated Taylor
from her son. He’d never forgive himself if anything happened to Jamey.

* * * * *

She’d been with Jace when her baby
needed her. It was the only thought in her head. Her baby needed her, and she’d
been thinking only of herself. Only of
her
needs.

She shouted at Jace that night in
his truck.
I’m not just somebody’s mother.

Oh yes, she was. That’s exactly
what she was. And she hadn’t been there when her baby needed her.

She did not drive like a crazy
person. She did not cry, because she wouldn’t be able to see if she did. She
needed to get to the hospital in one piece. That was her duty as a mother. And
she wouldn’t shirk it. Not ever again. Jamey and Brian came first. Always.
Please,
God, let him be all right.