fought the urge to follow, to beg. She wanted him, but not like this. Jeff, for whatever reason, needed to be alone.
She fell back into bed and cried herself to sleep.
* * *
Thirty-Three Years Earlier
Maria froze, gulped. He loved her? Her insides turned to mush. He loves me!
Jeff fidgeted next to her. “I just poured my heart out here. Aren’t you going to say anything?”
Wasn’t she smiling? She touched her lips. She must have been too shocked to smile. Elation overwhelmed her. She curved her lips upward in what she hoped was her biggest smile ever. Love for Jeff threatened to spill out of her. “Jeff, I love you too.”
He exhaled audibly. “Thank God.”
She laughed, softly, so as not to wake Meghan in the next room. “Did you think I didn’t?”
“I don’t know. I mean, we only just met and all, but it feels—”
“Right,” she finished for him. “It feels right, Jeff.”
He grinned, his hands on her face again. “Yeah. Yeah, it sure does.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. “I’ll go now. I don’t want to wake your sister.” He stood. “Can I see you tomorrow?”
Maria stood and took both his hands in hers. “Of course you can see me tomorrow.”
“Okay. Thanks for letting me in tonight.” He kissed her again. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
No. She didn’t want him to leave. They’d be quiet, really quiet. She’d lock the door to her room. Meghan was sleeping soundly. If she woke? Well, Maria would leave the window open so Jeff could get away quickly.
She tugged on his arms. “Stay, Jeff. Please.” She pulled him back down on to the bed. “Stay and make love to me.”
“Mia.” His voice was husky, deep. “God.”
He crushed his lips to hers in a frenzy of lips, teeth, and tongue. They kissed quietly but with passion. Maria’s whole body blazed with a sensual fever. Her nipples tightened against her tank top and threatened to poke into Jeff’s chest. They were so hard, and she longed for him to rip off her tank and suck on them.
He explored her shoulders, her arms, her waist, and finally slid his hands under the soft cotton of her tank and up to her breasts.
“Ah!” She kept her voice low, but his fingers on her nipple felt so good. So right.
“Can you take this off, baby?” Jeff said, but didn’t wait for her reply. He glided the material over her torso and head and set it down on the floor next to the bed.
Now naked from the waist up, Maria gazed down at her chest. Her breasts were swollen and rosy, and her nipples stood out like two pencil erasers.
“You’re beautiful, Mia, just beautiful.” He bent and took a nipple into his mouth.
Maria died a little just then. How else could she explain the heaven she felt? He clamped his lips onto her, first teasing, and then sucking, and then he bit her ever so lightly. And she found she wanted more.
“Harder. Bite me harder.”
Had she just uttered those words? When he complied, a bolt of lightning hit her clit. Was it possible to climax like this? Probably not, but it was heavenly all the same.
Jeff continued nibbling on her nipple while he tormented the other one with his fingers. He flicked it, twisted it lightly, and then, just as he bit down on the other, he pinched it.
And again the lightning bolt. Although she was sitting, her hips longed to move. She wanted to arch, to thrust, to find his hard cock and impale herself on it—all from just a little breast play.
But Jeff wasn’t done with her chest. He cupped both breasts and toyed with the nipples while he glided his lips over the swells of her flesh. He murmured against her how beautiful she was, how hot she made him. How much he wanted her.
“I want you too,” she said, her voice breathy. “I want you so much.”