He felt that, too. His jaw muscles clenched as he tried to hold still for her.
Finally, it was over. Caroline’s head sank back down to Jack’s shoulder, and all her muscles loosened. His hands loosened their hold on her and began caressing again, lightly. More to relax than to arouse.
Arousal was impossible anyway. There was nothing left in her to excite, all her cells had turned into little puddles of protoplasm.
Slowly, Jack withdrew from her. Amazingly, he was still semierect, though Caroline had no idea where he could go with it. He could forget about her. She was already starting that long, luscious free fall back into sleep.
“Caroline? Honey?”
“Mmmmff.” Caroline had no desire to talk or do anything other than lie bonelessly on him, feeling his hand moving gently through her hair. She might never get out of bed again.
“It snowed all night. I need to shovel the snow on your drive and the paving; otherwise, it’ll turn to ice.”
“No,” she mumbled. He wanted to get out of bed? Caroline held him more tightly. “Later.”
“Believe me, honey, I’d rather stay in bed with you, but it needs to be done.” She felt him kiss her hair and move out of her grasp. He threw the covers back just long enough to get out of bed, then covered her back up immediately.
The instant Jack left the bed, it turned cold under the covers. For the first time, Caroline was aware of how wet her groin was with her juices and his. Jack tucked the comforter around her shoulders, his hand lingering for a moment, then she heard him go into the bathroom.
He came out and a few moments later, the door closed quietly behind him. He must have dressed though she hadn’t heard. He was the quietest man she’d ever known.
Caroline wanted to watch him dress, she wanted to see him naked in the daylight, but her eyes simply wouldn’t open. Her breathing slowed, and she drifted into sleep as if into the arms of a beloved friend.
When she woke again, the quality of the light outside the window had changed. Even through the overcast she could tell it wasn’t early-morning light anymore. Caroline lay in bed, thoroughly relaxed. The extra little nap had done her good, and she felt refreshed, almost…happy.
Let’s not go overboard, she thought wryly. Some would even say she’d made a huge mistake and was headed for trouble. Sleeping with your boarder was not a good idea on so many levels it wasn’t funny. When the affair ended, it was possible that he’d look for quarters somewhere else, and she’d have lost a very good boarder in exchange for some sex. Very good sex, it was true, but still.
Something impinged at the edge of consciousness, and suddenly she was aware of a regular noise that had been in the background a long time, coming from outside. Even while she’d napped there’d been the noise, she realized.
What was it? A regular, scraping noise. Caroline threw back the covers and dived for her dressing gown hanging from a hook on the bathroom door, hopping barefoot gingerly to her slippers. It was cold!
Pulling on the dressing gown, she made for the window but stopped in her tracks when she passed the mirror on the chest of drawers.
Caroline hardly recognized herself. Her hair was a wild reddish mass around her face, flying in every direction. She looked rumpled and unkempt and…incredibly satisfied. Her cheeks were flushed, her mouth looked slightly swollen from Jack’s endless kisses. There was a tiny mark on her throat that could only be—a hickey. My God, she hadn’t had one of those since high school. She was sure Jack hadn’t meant to give her one, but she distinctly remembered him sucking at her skin while he was coming.
The memory of that moment, of feeling him swell inside her, then explode, brought a bright flush to her face and neck and had her clenching her thighs. She could still feel him inside her. Seeing her face in the mirror, Caroline thought she looked like a woman still making love.
She would have been appalled if it weren’t for the fact that it had been so long since she’d seen her own face as anything but pale and pinched with worry. Now all she needed was a flower behind her ear, and she could have been a carefree tourist on vacation in Hawaii with her lover.
The swishing sound continued. Curious, Caroline glanced outside the window and saw him, methodically shoveling snow and doing a superb job of it. Somehow he’d found where she kept the shovel in the garage and had cleared a path almost to the street. It was a long path and the snow was deep. He must have shifted several tons of snow.
He’d not only cleared the walkway to the street, but he’d also cleared the driveway and found the bag of rock salt in the garage and strewn it over the paving stones so it wouldn’t ice over.
It would have taken Randy, Jenna’s nephew, five hours to do that job half as well, and it would have cost her $30.
As if there was an invisible thread connecting them, he suddenly stopped and looked up. Meeting his dark gaze was like a punch to the stomach.
She raised a hand in greeting.
He deserved more than that. He’d done a hard and disagreeable task for her without her even asking. Caroline threw up the window sash and stuck her head out into the freezing air.
“Thank you! Come in now, and I’ll fix you a warm breakfast, you must be freezing!” Her breath formed a cloud around her.
He only had that light denim jacket on, no match for the bitter cold. He didn’t even have gloves! Caroline made a mental note to buy him warm winter gloves as a thank-you for shoveling the snow. She’d love to buy him a jacket, but her budget wouldn’t stretch that far, and he probably wouldn’t accept it. He seemed like a proud man who wouldn’t like to be reminded that he couldn’t afford a winter wardrobe. He might accept gloves, though.
Jack waved his hand at her to get back. “Close that window! Don’t catch cold! I’ll be finished in a little while.”
He waited until she pushed the sash down, then bent to his task again. Caroline watched through the pane for a moment, admiring his economy of movement. He seemed to apply exactly the right effort for the job, movements regular and smooth.
Suddenly, she flashed on the memory of another moment when his movements were regular and smooth—inside her, pumping with the regularity of a machine. The memory sent a heat wave through her so intense her skin tingled, and she knew she was blushing furiously.
This was something Caroline was simply going to have to control. The man was no fool. He was observant and perceptive. Her skin was like a beacon signaling what she was thinking and feeling. She was remembering the sex, and it was out of her control. Amazing. Normally, Caroline had massive amounts of self-control and was always very cool and in command, the complete mistress of herself with men.
Jack, apparently, was the exception.
Well, she was going to have to learn fast how to deal with her wayward thoughts because Jack was going to be coming in very soon, and she had to be able to deal with him without turning red every other second.
Half an hour later, Caroline had showered quickly and cleaned up after last night’s dinner.
In the shower, she had resolutely thought of her bank account, the boiler, and the last payment for Toby’s funeral, which was due and would wipe her out financially for a couple of months. All things guaranteed to depress her spirits.
She needed that, because when she started washing herself, she was constantly reminded of how she’d spent the night. Washing herself between the legs had required particularly disheartening thoughts because before she soaped up, she could smell Jack and sex in the steamy cabinet and could still feel him between her legs, where she was slightly sore.
So while she dressed, went downstairs and proceeded to clean up, she was giving herself little pep talks about how she could remain cool when Jack walked back in. She could, she definitely could, why—