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  His heart fractured, mostly because he didn’t know what to tell her. What he wanted and what was best for her might be completely opposite. He manned up and told the truth. “I understand if you want to get back together with him. Steven was the love of your life. And while I completely disagree with his actions, maybe he’s not the same guy anymore. If you want to talk to him, I’d go with you. Or arrange for Rick to sit at a table nearby somewhere public. I don’t think you should go alone, or meet him in private though. I’m sorry. I don’t trust him worth a fuck.”

  To her credit, Willie didn’t deny the suggestion in some reflexive reaction, nor did she jump on the opportunity. She really thought about it. For so long he wasn’t sure she planned to say anything else until morning.

  Eventually, though, she did. “What would you do? If you could have Michelle back?”

  “Hmm.” Dead tired, he responded without quite thinking his answer through. “I’d probably take a page out of the kids’ playbook and see if you two were down with a ménage.”

  Hey, it was honest.

  Willie slapped his thigh then cracked up. She laughed and laughed until he worried she might have gone off the deep end. Tears spilled down her cheeks and though they were borne of amusement, he couldn’t help but remember what it had been like when she sobbed in his arms earlier.

  What if that was their solution. Could he give her something like that with a dude he didn’t respect? “Uh…honey…if that’s what you want, I’m not sure if I could—”

  “Oh my God, Tom London. Stop. Right. There.” She clutched her stomach as another round of giggles consumed her. “Or I’m going to pee in your bed.”

  “Let’s not do that.” He frowned. What’s so damn funny?

  “Sorry, sorry.” She patted his hand. “It’s that I’m so angry, I can’t imagine how you think I’d go back to him. Or expect you to…”

  Then she looked up at him with questioning eyes. “Why would you want me to be with a man like that? Because I made the mistake of trusting him forever ago? No, I won’t be that foolish ever again.”

  “You’re right.” Tom nodded. “I don’t want you with him. But if that’s what you want, then I’ll do my best not to beat him to a pulp and help you get whatever it will take to make you happy.”

  She sighed, making her breasts nearly overflow the contraption pushing them up so prettily. “I could never care for him the same way again. Besides, the man I married may still be alive, but his wife… Well, she’s gone. Forever. I’m not that gullible, innocent, fragile woman anymore. And the thing that pisses me off the most about this debacle… Okay, maybe not the most, but right up there… The one I keep coming back to…is the fact that you weren’t sure if I could handle this.”

  “You gotta cut me a break, honey. I was pretty fucking floored myself when I heard the news. I wanted to take more than ten shitty minutes to calm down and think logically about how best to tell you so that I didn’t hurt you any more than I knew I had to.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “I know there’s no way I can prove it to you, but I was seriously on my way to your place.”

  “I believed you when you told me before. You’re not a liar. And I noticed you got there awfully quickly.”

  “Eli drove.” He shrugged one shoulder as if that explained everything. It pretty much did.

  Willie mulled things over for a while. He took it as a good sign that she left her hand on his leg, where it had landed earlier. Her thumb rubbed slightly back and forth while she debated his fate.

  “In the morning, will you go with me to talk to Nola and Amber?” Her breathing hitched at the thought alone.

  “Of course.” Tom cradled her fingers and brought them to his lips to kiss them lightly.

  “Thank you.” She looked up at him then. “For coming to rescue me, and for staying by my side. For your unwavering support. If it’s not too much, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask of you.”

  “Anything, Willie.”

  “Make love to me.”

  Chapter Ten

  Tom couldn’t believe he’d heard Willie correctly. “You mean… Now? You want to, after everything that’s happened?”

  “Is that a problem?” She worried her lip. “I need to stop dwelling on it for a while myself. Shut off my mind and just feel. Has this made you think less of me, for being so naive?”

  “What?” He reared back. “Hell no. If anything, I admire you. I don’t know if I’d still be standing after a shock like that.”

  “Technically, I’m mostly lying down.” She smiled ruefully. “Come on, Tommy. I have no one to be loyal to anymore. Not even a memory. I mean, not that I think you should feel the same way about Michelle.”

  “It’s okay, I know what you meant. I’m at peace with things, Willie.”

  Then her eyes narrowed. “Where’s your necklace?”

  “I put it away,” he told her. “I didn’t want anything standing between us or our future anymore. Then this happened…”

  He shrugged.

  “Wow, it’s been a crazy couple of days.” She sighed, seeming as if she might shatter if anything else hit her.

  “Why don’t you roll over? Let me help you relax.” He thought of the massage oils he’d stashed in his nightstand earlier in the week. He hadn’t gotten to end their picnic the way he wanted the day before, but he could make up for it now. “Whatever happens after that, we’ll go with it.”

  “Mmm,” she moaned softly as she did as he requested.

  “Tell me one thing?” he asked as he retrieved the cinnamon gel that had reminded him of her post-baking spiciness.

  “What?” She peeked over her shoulder as she settled onto her stomach.

  Her ass looked fucking fantastic in the delicate panties and garters she still wore.

  “Was this outfit supposed to be for me?”

  She laughed, making her lush curves jiggle some, which did absolutely nothing to dissuade him from the course they’d set. “Uh-huh.”

  “Damn. Even though I was acting like an idiot?” He knelt, sticking the bottle behind him in the crook of his bent leg to warm up while he traced the straps that ran from her stockings upward.

  “I was planning to help you wise up,” she said with enough sass that he would have smacked her ass if it had been any other time.

  “I feel like a genius right now.” He teased her instead. “And I think it’s only fair that I get a turn to explore every inch of you. Maybe tomorrow, or some other time, you could model this for me again. I almost hate to take it off.”

  “Or I could create another set. With all these lovebirds around, they’ve had me wonder lately if I shouldn’t start my own line of custom lingerie.”

  “Hang on, you made this?” He traced the edges of the wicked ensemble, drawing a sigh from her in the process.

  “Yep.” She nodded slightly, rubbing her cheek over her forearm, where it was pillowed.

  “Damn, woman. You’re talented. Beautiful, smart, funny, and tough, too.”

  “Hmm. I don’t feel so strong right now.” Her lips curved into a frown that made him want to kiss it away. So he did.

  And when he’d finished showering her with tender rubs of his lips over hers, he said, “You’re holding yourself to an unrealistic standard. There are a lot of people who wouldn’t have been able to deal with the kind of surprise you got today.”

  “I’m not sure if I can still. I have to tell the girls.” She sniffled and tensed. “Oh, Tommy. What am I going to say to them?”

  “Hush.” He kissed her cheek then resumed his feather-light caresses over her arms, back, and legs. “We’ll figure that out tomorrow. It’s been twenty-one years. A few more hours won’t matter. Tonight, let me take care of you.”

  Willie didn’t argue.

  So Tom began to undress her, beginning with the row of hook and eyes that held her teddy closed. One by one, he unfastened them, kissing the rich skin he revealed with each flick. When he reached the final one, he spread the mat
erial wide on either side of her and marveled at the expanse of her naked back.

  From the softly rounded ridges of her shoulder blades, to the valley of her spine and the hills that began where her dainty waist flared to her ass, he adored every bit of the landscape of her body. He worked on showing her precisely how much when he kissed her all over while gliding his hands across her soft skin.

  When she arched upward to maintain contact with his mouth as he skimmed across her, he fit one hand beneath her to rest on her stomach, then lifted her enough that he could remove the top section of her masterpiece from her entirely.

  Tom set her down, this time directly on his soft, fuzzy sheets. She sighed and snuggled deeper into them, rubbing her breasts and belly in the spot he usually slept.

  Unable to help himself, Tom leaned down and bit her lightly on the side of her ass as he freed her stockings from the suspenders holding them high up on her legs. Once they were free, he situated himself between her knees. He rolled the white silk stocking down her thigh and calf before tossing it to the floor. Then he repeated the slow caress on her other side.

  By the time her toes were exposed, they curled, giving him a peek at her pale-pink nail polish. Everything about her appealed to him. That hint of femininity included.

  Finally, he addressed her panties. Carefully, so as not to rip a single stitch of her handiwork, he tugged them over the fullest part of her ass then worked them off her legs.

  She was nude and completely willing before him.

  Tom could have roared, or beat his chest, with the overwhelming need to claim her that rushed though him. However, he hadn’t cruised along for the past year only to rush now. Not without making this the best possible experience Willie could have.

  After meeting Steven, and knowing what Tom did now, he figured he could show her an entirely different kind of loving than she might have been accustomed to in the past.

  From his place between her knees, he could clearly see the paler folds of her pussy between her legs, and while he might have done almost anything for a taste of her, he had other things to do first.

  Tom retrieved the body-temperature oil from beneath his leg. He flipped open the cap and poured a generous amount into his palms. After washing his hands in the stuff, and enjoying the slight tingle it gave his fingers, he picked up one of Willie’s feet.

  He rubbed, lightly at first then harder, using his thumbs to press the pad near her toes, then her arch, and finally her heel.

  She moaned when he repeated the motion a few times.

  “Feel good?” he asked.

  “So good I’m not sure if I want you to keep doing that or stop and skip to the better stuff.” She chuckled.

  He did, too.

  His cock voted for the better stuff.

  No problems in that department tonight.

  Older and wiser than he might have been in his younger days, Tom stayed the course. He would take his time. An hour or more massaging her, until she couldn’t stand being touched for how much arousal he’d inspired in her, would be to his benefit in the long run.

  It turned into a game for him, to see how high he could take her.

  And he wasn’t a man who liked to lose.

  He braceleted the fine bones of her ankle, rubbing them carefully as his other hand undulated over the top of her foot. Gradually, he moved upward, caressing her calf before allowing his thumbs to knead the muscles there. Graceful yet strong, they resisted at first. Then eventually turned pliant in his hold.

  Bit by bit, he relaxed her.

  Her thigh took longer, making him press deeper and use more oil to coat her enough to glide across her skin. She glimmered in the moonlight, making him think of an onyx mermaid or a skinny-dipper come to visit him from a warm summer night’s dip.

  When he reached the bottom swell of her ass, he paused, making her groan in frustration.

  “Can’t leave you uneven, Willie.” He tsked before scooting backwards and beginning over again with her other foot, paying special attention to her prettily painted toes. This time, when he reached her ass, he didn’t restrain himself. He leaned forward, placing a kiss on each cheek before taking the bottle of oil and drizzling it over her until he imagined what it might look like if he were to ice her ass with his come.

  He’d have to try that one day soon.

  Tom snuck his fingers inside his briefs and used his oiled hand to stroke himself a few times from root to tip. The ache she caused in his balls made him sure his release would be epic. No way would he find that pleasure anywhere except inside her tonight.

  With a hiss, he pried his fingers from his shaft and resumed where he’d left off, paying special attention to the deep tissue of her knotted muscles. Willie groaned and her legs parted a tiny bit more when the tension she carried there released. Though he was tempted to slip his hand between the tops of her thighs and slide his fingers into her pussy, he restrained himself.

  “Tom,” she whispered.

  “Not yet. Soak it in, Willie. I’m going to build you higher,” he insisted then let his hands roam up to her waist, his fingers contracting where her body grew narrower. He pressed, allowing his weight to transfer to the heels of his palms as Kayla Rosewood, masseuse and owner of Bare Natural, had shown him when they’d visited the Powertools crew for the recent Hot Rods’ wedding.

  He spent a long time working on her back, trailing his hands down either side of her spine before gliding up her sides on constant repeat. His muscles burned with the effort, though he never would have complained. Blood pumped through his entire body, priming him for the outlet he would allow himself as a reward for a job well done.

  Much later.

  Next he concentrated on her neck. Kissing her nape as he pushed her thick hair to one side. Her lids fluttered, but she breathed so deeply and slowly, he thought he might have put her to sleep again.

  His cock nearly revolted in his shorts. But if he could grant her a few hours of serenity, he wouldn’t mind. When he paused simply to admire her, her eyes opened a bit. “Don’t stop. Please.”

  Utterly relaxed, she looked like a different person. One who didn’t have to watch her own back constantly. He hoped he saw this side of her more often.

  Tom kissed her cheek, then the curve of her forehead facing him. “Wouldn’t dare.”

  He moved on to her shoulders, drawing a few groans from her.

  Some time later, he progressed to her arms, rubbing first one then the other from the tops all the way to her fingertips, careful not to reopen the slash from the broken mirror. He paid special attention to her hands, wondering how she got the faint scar on her thumb and cataloging the fine wrinkles around her knuckles that proclaimed her a survivor.

  It was better to grow old gracefully than the alternative—not getting there at all—he figured. The proof of her struggles to stay in the game only made him respect her more. When he’d imprinted himself on every bit of her he could reach, he nudged her hip.

  “Flip over.”

  Rubber-limbed, she could hardly budge.

  They laughed softly together when she resembled a newborn kitten with her uncoordinated efforts. So Tom helped her, rotating her until she lay on her back and smiled softly up at him.

  “Hi,” she murmured.

  “I hope you don’t mind if I stare at you for a minute.” He could hardly breathe with his chest tightening so much.

  “Take two.” Her smile widened. “It’s nice to know you enjoy the scenery.”

  He swallowed, hoping his tongue wasn’t lolling out of his mouth as he admired her breasts, which may not have been perky, but made up for it in fullness and softness and pure loveliness. The stretch marks on her stomach were like badges of honor, proclaiming her a mother of two of the most wonderful young ladies on the planet.

  Hardly allowing his gaze to skim her pussy, for fear he’d lose the lingering scraps of his control, he tipped his head back then clenched his jaw. “If I liked the way you looked any more, I’d be coming in m
y pants.”

  “Technically,” she said, “You’re not wearing any. But your underwear is blocking my view.”

  He laughed. “That’s my insurance policy.”

  “Against?”

  He licked his lips. “Fucking you before we’re ready.”

  “I couldn’t possibly be more ready, Tommy.” She lifted her hips toward him in invitation.

  “I’ll be the judge of that. If you really want though, I’ll lose the briefs.”

  “I do,” she purred.

  He yanked them down and off so quickly, he might as well have shredded them Hulk-style. Well, if there was a Hulk who ripped off his clothes out of lust instead of anger, he supposed.

  His cock hung heavy between his thighs, his balls feeling as dense as lug nuts as they dangled free. Willie hummed her approval then reached for him.

  Quickly, he caught her wrists then pinned them to the bed beside her. “None of that, honey, or I won’t make it to the main event.”

  “At this rate, I’m going to be a senior citizen before the show starts, Tommy,” she teased, the glint in her eye proving she didn’t mind.

  “Then quit distracting me so I can finish the job here.”

  She seemed as if she might argue more until he slathered her entire body with the rest of the oil, emptying the bottle onto her breasts, belly, and even her mound, slicking the neatly trimmed patch of hair there.

  His hands followed the trail he’d left for them, smearing her with the delicious-smelling goo as he caressed each part of her. Of course he cheated when he plumped her breasts, brushing first his thumbs and then his lips over the pebbled nipples. A few shades darker than the rest of her skin, they reminded him of expensive dark chocolate.

  Once he began tasting her, there was no stopping himself. He drew her flesh into his mouth and laved it with the flat of his tongue, making her cry out at the contact. Pausing, he lifted his head to meet her heavy-lidded gaze. “Shh, Willie. I’m going to give you everything you need, I promise. Enjoy this.”

  “Tommy.” She put her hands on his shoulders and tugged him closer to her once more.