Lower still. When he found her center at the apex of her legs, she was warm and hot and wet. He closed his mouth over her and hummed low and soft. She let out a long slow moan and he grinned. He loved bringing this woman pleasure.
When he ran his tongue up her slit and felt the smooth slick folds of her on his tongue, he damned near lost control.
He worked her, alternating between licks and sucking and using his hands. He couldn’t help but smile when she gripped the sheets, threw her head back and cried out her pleasure when she came.
He had his pants off and a condom on faster than he would have thought possible. The only part of his brain that still functioned was like a caveman urging him to bury himself in her again and again.
So he did, slipping into the warmth of her folds as she wrapped her arms and legs around him and pulled him to her, her hips coming up to meet his thrusts.
Pleasure zipped along his spine as he moved in her and his head was completely taken over by the need to lose himself in the sensations. It was a mindless pursuit of that feeling of ecstasy that would come when he found his release.
But not before she came again. He apparently had some small semblance of sanity left because he reached between them, stimulating her clitoris with his thumb as he pumped in and out of her. She panted beneath him, her nails raking his back, driving him on.
And then he felt her contract, her muscles tightening around him and the sound of his name on her lips in that moment was heaven.
Then he came, not able to hold off any longer as he hit that weightlessness where nothing but the feeling of his orgasm racing through him existed. Nothing but him and Joy and the feel of her as he came deep inside her.
Chapter 26
Joy woke before Kaeden and slipped carefully from the bed, not wanting to deal with any conversation. She’d been glad when he had pulled her to him and gone right to sleep the night before. She’d almost left then, but she’d been too tired to fight the pull of his warm, strong arms around her.
She needed to leave this place. It had been stupid to stay this long. But she needed to get out of here and relocate to a new spot. Rather than drive to a neighboring town to check her mother’s emails, she would check using the computer at the lodge. While she was on there, she’d use one of her social media accounts or sign into her old email account. Something that might make her pop up on Turner’s radar. It would be a good time to leave him a breadcrumb because she’d be getting in her car right afterward before anyone else woke.
She was leaving like she should have done a week ago. Leaving before she got any more attached to this man she had no business being with. Before she let herself hope for something more in her life than being the decoy her mother so desperately needed.
Kaeden O’Shea had filled her mind since the moment she saw him. And it was only getting worse. Last night should have been about nothing more than sex, about seeking the relief of a really good orgasm, the kind that ran all the way to your toes with its pleasure.
But it wasn’t. When he looked at her, she felt so much more than just the wild, heart pounding attraction that his dark eyes and taut muscles brought out in her. She felt too much. Like she wanted to wrap herself up in his arms and tell him everything. Tell him all the secrets she’d been holding in. All the burdens she’d been carrying for too damned long with no one to talk to about them.
Well, no more. She was leaving.
She had to fight off a sob as she thought about leaving this place. She loved Carl and Evelyn. She hated to think of abandoning them, especially without even leaving them anything more than a bullshit story about a family emergency somewhere that she had to get to in a hurry.
And she couldn’t begin to face the way she was feeling over leaving Kaeden. It was too much. And it shouldn’t be. She’d only known the man for a little over a week. She shouldn’t want so much more with him.
She shoved down her emotions and used her key to let herself in the main building and into the small office next to the front lobby of the lodge. The computer took a few minutes to boot up and she waited impatiently as the internet started. Then she quickly pulled up the site for a women’s clothing store.
She picked out a pair of pants and a shirt in her mother’s size and added them to a cart.
She opened another browser and looked up an assisted living center in a city in California and had them sent there under her mother’s name. She used one of the credit card numbers she had memorized so that her credit card would pop. Between them tracing the card’s use to here and then needing to check to see if her mom was in that facility, that would give Turner two places to look that neither she or her mom would be in by the time he found them.
She closed the browser then hesitated. She wanted to check for any new emails from her mom. Even if Turner tracked her here, it wasn’t like he’d have a computer specialist check the computer or anything. And she could clear the cache and scrub the browser’s history.
She opened the browser again and checked her emails. There were three new ones from her mom.
She glanced out at the window. It was still dark out. She read them greedily, knowing she needed to toss her things in a bag and go as soon as she was finished. She would drive a short way and when things opened up, she’d leave her car somewhere and hitch a ride for a bit until she could buy a new car. She had cash put aside for that.
She read through her mother’s account of the new exercise class run by an instructor who was very nice but looked like she had a lot of plastic surgery done to her face. And, as her mother put it, “her ponytail is clearly clipped on fake hair.”
Joy closed that email and moved to the next. This one told her all about the new desserts they’d added to the menu at the center. Joy had to admit, the triple chocolate dream cake did make her mouth water. She grinned. Her mom made sure she emailed often even if it was only to talk about food or something she painted in class.
Joy eyed the window as she opened the last email. She was pushing it too close. She needed to go. Evelyn would awake at first light to start making breakfast for the guests.
She smiled when she opened the third email, seeing her mother’s bright face smiling at her from beside a large bouquet of flowers.
The smile didn’t last, though, when she saw the words under the image. The flowers had been a gift. Her mother didn’t say who they were from. It was silly for Joy to worry. They could be from someone else in the center. Lord knew her mom had friends. And maybe she was dating again.
Joy frowned. She had a hard time believing her mom might let any man get close after what Turner had put her through.