A Fallow Heart (Tommy Creek #2)(70)

Her mouth falling open with shock, Jo Ellen slapped her hand over his mouth. Above her fingers, his eyes heated and he kissed the insides of her palm.

Heat speared through her. She swallowed, rattled by the powerful sensation. “My God. You really don’t mind if I’m on top at all, do you?”

This time, his laugh was incredulous. Grasping her fingers, he removed them gently from his mouth. “Of course I don’t mind. Why would I mind?”

She shook her head, suddenly unable to come up with a good answer without bringing Travis Untermeyer into the conversation, which she refused to do.

His gaze softened as if he understood. “Jo Ellen.” His fingers grazed through her hair in the softest caress. “As long as you’re doing it with me, I won’t mind anything you want to try. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee you I’ll love it.”

She pulled in a heavy breath when he continued to hold her stare. “Well…” She exhaled. “In that case, I want to strip off all your clothes, one piece at a time so I can see every inch of you revealed slowly and thoroughly. Then, I want to explore you, touch and lick each little thing I deem interesting. When you can’t take any more of that without begging for mercy, I want to climb onto your lap, take you into my body, and ride you both backward and forward until you make us explode like you did last night. And I want you to lay there without stopping me, letting me do it all without a word of complaint.” She cocked her eyebrow, challenging him. “What do you think of that plan, farm boy?”

His mouth moved, yet only a croak escaped. After a second attempt, he licked his lips and rasped, “I think I just came.”





“What’re you thinking?”

Cooper opened his eyes as Jo Ellen asked the question; he gave a loose grin, glad she cared to know. Tucked up against him with her back to his chest and her bottom snuggled tight against his lap, she rested her head on his bicep as she idly drew patterns along his arm. He loved every second of her touch.

“Mmm,” was his initial, muffled response before he lifted his face from her shoulder and licked his lips to wet them. “I’m thinking I have to dedicate this spot to you. It will now and forever more be called Jo Ellen’s orchard. I may even spray paint your name on a tree with John Deere green.”

Instead of smiling and thanking him, she twisted her neck around to send him a frown. “But I thought this was your mom and dad’s special place?”

He gave a snort. “Yeah, real special.”

Immediately Jo Ellen sat up and whirled to face him completely. “Okay, that’s it,” she said, positioning herself to sit Indian style as if ready for a long heart-to-heart. “What in the world is going on between you and your mother?”

With a groan, he flopped onto his back and consulted the dark sky. He didn’t want to talk about that. “That’s another discussion for another time.”

“No. I want to know what happened. You love your mother, Cooper. I have never seen a guy so dedicated—”

“Stop,” he rasped, his voice hoarse with pain and regret. “I…it…God.” He thunked the back of his head onto the ground, once, twice. She was going to make him talk, wasn’t she?

Jo Ellen reached out, touched his arm, and he was a goner. It all spilled out.

“Last month,” he started regretfully, “I was helping her box up all of Dad’s old stuff because, well, we both know he’s never coming home to use them again.”

Gaze softening with pity, Jo Ellen began to stroke his bicep. Only feeling worse, he closed his eyes, trying to steel himself against her soothing comfort. “While I was helping her, I found a letter.”

When he didn’t continue, Jo Ellen softly said, “Okay. What did the letter say?”

He glanced at her and sighed. “It said Brendal wasn’t my sister. Not my full sister anyway. She’s not my dad’s biological daughter.”

Mouth dropping open, Jo Ellen gaped. “She cheated on your dad?”

He scowled. “No, not exactly. She was already pregnant when she married him though.”

“Oh my God.”

When she didn’t say anything else, looked incapable of further speech, he nodded. “Yeah.” That had pretty much been his response too. “So there you have it. The deep, dark, dirty Gerhardt family secret. My innocent, sweet, God-fearing mother married my dad while she was pregnant with another man’s baby.”

“Holy…” Jo Ellen opened her mouth a few times before lying down to rest her cheek lightly atop his chest. “Did Thad know?”

He nodded. “Yes. The letter was from him actually; to her. Never once in my life did I see him show her any physical affection, like a touch, or a hug, or a kiss. All these years, I just assumed that’s how they were, you know. How he was—outwardly gruff and distant but inwardly soft and caring. But I don’t think that was the case at all. He poured his heart out in that letter, told my mother how much he loved her, how he’d always loved her. He knew she still loved Brendal’s real father, but I guess the guy died in Vietnam or something, I don’t know. Those details were vague. What he emphasized was how much he cared for her. He actually told her it was okay if she didn’t return his feelings, he could love her enough for the both of them. Then he begged her to marry him. He swore he’d raise her child as his own, and no one would ever know the difference. And…I guess that’s exactly what they did, because none of us ever knew.”