The next thing she knew, they were kneeling in the wet grass and her dress had fallen down around her hips. Through the haze of her desire, she realized they hadn't kissed. She wanted to see what it would be like to engage in one of those dirty soul kisses with him. She leaned back far enough to gaze at his obstinate mouth, then tilted her head toward it and closed her eyes.
Her lips brushed his, but a strand of her hair was in the way. She reached up to push it aside, only to feel herself tumbling backward.
He sprawled next to her, slipped his hand under her full skirt, and ran his palm up the inside of her leg. A lock of wet, dark hair curled over his forehead. His white T-shirt had gone transparent from the rain, and she could see his flesh beneath. His fingers brushed over the silky crotch of her panties.
"You feel so good," he said.
She lay nearly naked in the high, wet grass, and she should have been cold, but she was on fire. She couldn't speak as he tortured her through the nylon, almost, but not quite, touching where she most wanted to be touched. He set one leg across her knee, holding it open, as if there were any need.
"Too many clothes," she managed, clutching a handful of wet cotton T-shirt in her fist.
"My thoughts exactly."
Even as they rose to their knees, he continued to cup her, rub her, so her legs remained parted and her breathing grew shallow and rapid. She jerked his T-shirt from his jeans and dragged the wet fabric up over his chest.
He pushed his finger beneath the leg opening of her panties and slipped it inside her.
She gasped and sagged against him.
"Don't move," he whispered.
He withdrew, circled, entered. Withdrew again. That torturous circling. Another entry.
"Oh, no…" she moaned.
He caught her earlobe between his lips and held her still like a great male animal keeping his mate in place while he took his pleasure.
She groped for the snap on his jeans, fumbled with the zipper, slipped her hand inside and caught him in her fist.
Now he was the one who gasped.
"Don't…" he moaned. He withdrew his finger and moved it forward. He rubbed.
"Don't…" she moaned, as she stroked him.
They shuddered together, each on the brink of a precipice neither was ready to tumble over.
He took his hand away.
She took her hand away.
They rose together, and he let her finish removing his clothes. They made a bed from her dress, his jeans and T-shirt. He threw her tiny yellow panties on top, then stepped back to gaze at her as she stood before him, the rain running in rivulets over her shoulders and past the sprinkle of freckles on her chest. It slid over her breasts and down her belly.
While he gazed at her, she looked her fill at him. His chest was muscular from hard work, his abdomen flat where it wasn't rippled with muscle. Rain matted the dark hair at his groin, making his erection even more prominent. She could no longer resist touching it.
"Take your time." He drew in his breath, and his voice rose slightly in pitch. "I'll give you all of five seconds."
He gave her longer, although not much, and then she found herself once again falling backward as he tumbled her onto the ragtag bed they'd made in the wet Carolina grass.
He spread her legs, and she knew that he was going to do something blissfully raunchy. She squeezed her eyes shut as he raised her knees. "Oh, Bonner… Please don't disappoint me."
"It's a good thing," he whispered against her inner thigh, "that I'm a man who does his best work under pressure."
"Ohhh…"
She hadn't expected that he would dawdle so much, taking his time as he parted her, studied her, touched here and there with the tip of his callused finger, brushed with his lips, his tongue… When she felt the first gentle suction, she began to sob.
He understood, and he didn't stop. She shattered within seconds.
As she recovered, she felt her eyes fill with tears. "Thanks, Bonner," she whispered.
"My pleasure."
He reached for the wallet that had fallen out of his jeans, but she caught his arm. "Not yet, okay?"
He groaned, but fell back. She liked that he was willing to let her take the lead, and now she was the one who dawdled, touched, and explored, satisfying years of curiosity.
With no warning, she found herself on her back while he grabbed his wallet and spoke in a strangled whisper. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I know this is important to you, but believe me, you'll get a lot more enjoyment if you let me take over now."
"Okay." She smiled up at him.
He smiled back at her, but only briefly. She saw the exact moment when the shadow of remembrance came over his eyes, just as she watched him fight against it.
He shut his eyes, and she knew he was trying to forget that the woman who lay beneath him wasn't his wife. She couldn't bear letting him pretend she was anyone else, so she brushed her fingertips across his lips, and said softly, "Don't go squirrely on me now, dude, or I'll have to throw you out and find a younger model."
His lids shot open. She grinned and took the condom from him. "I'll do this."
He grabbed it back. "No, you won't."
"Spoilsport."
"Hussy."
She'd erased the darkness from his eyes, and only seconds passed before he settled between her thighs.
He felt so good there. Heavy, but solid. Dampness had penetrated their makeshift bed, and the sodden grass squished beneath her back. She should have been uncomfortable, but she could have stayed like this for a thousand years, safe and sheltered beneath his strength with the warm summer rain falling on their bodies.
She had never imagined she could feel aroused and weepy at the same time. She pushed herself against him, needing more. He pushed back, but her body wasn't as willing to accommodate him as her mind.
"Sorry," she managed, wanting to burst into tears.
"It's been a long time for you," he replied, not sounding all that upset about it.
Once again he began his slow dallying. Even though his breathing was uneven and she could feel his tension, he didn't rush.
But she wasn't nearly as patient. It was his fault. He was too big; he was too… She arched against him and writhed, really writhed, couldn't help herself because she had to… she simply had to…
"Easy… Easy…"
"No!" She pushed against him, doing her best to impale herself. Needing… wanting…
He reached between their bodies. What was he doing now? Idiot! Moron! Couldn't he stick with one thing at a time? Couldn't he-
She exploded into a million pieces at his touch, and he drove inside her.
Above them, the skies split open, drenching their naked bodies. She wrapped her legs around his and dug the heels of her hands into his shoulders, wanting him closer, even closer.
Rain pummeled his back as he thrust high and hard. She buried her head in the crook of his neck because she was drowning in the cloudburst, drowning in sensations so overpowering she didn't want the storm ever to end.
It went on forever and was still over too quickly. She lost herself once more, just as he came apart.
She held him and reveled in his rough shuddering. He was too big for her, too heavy, but she felt bereft when he finally eased his weight.
It was raining so hard they could barely see the house, and they both seemed to realize at the same time how embarrassing this lust in the rain was for two people who needed to keep some distance from each other. If they'd gone inside and found a bed, at least there would have been a certain dignity about it, but this backyard tussling in the rain spoke of a need so overwhelming that neither wanted to acknowledge it, certainly not with tender words.
He levered himself up, raised one knee, and glanced down at her. "Pretty good for a beginner."
She rolled to her side so that the ends of her hair dangled in the trampled grass. "Now quite as wild as I would have liked, but definitely adequate."
He arched one brow.