Move the Sun (Signal Bend #1)(65)
She stayed relaxed and calm as long as she could, giving herself over to his touch, letting herself feel the way her need moved all through her, heating and loosening her joints and muscles all the way to her toes.
His fingers were on her, in her, moving faster and harder by degrees until his body was shaking under her with his own efforts, and she couldn’t stay calm any longer. As her climax rolled closer, gaining speed, she grabbed his hand between her thighs and forced him to go harder, move faster, until it was on her, and she needed to coil her body up, but he wouldn’t let her, he held fast, whispering, “go, go, go, go, go, baby,” and she went rigid, ecstasy shooting through her like electricity, her sight going red and starry behind her eyelids, and she screamed.
When it was over, Lilli’s body went limp and liquid, and Isaac clutched her tight to keep her on his lap.
She was glad; she felt sure she’d have ended up in a puddle at his feet. He’d done that to her—for her— with only his hands.
He kissed the skin beneath her ear and whispered. “I love you, Sport. You’re mine, and I’m not letting you go.”
Lilli knew she should resist those words; he couldn’t know what the next weeks would bring. But the tendrils of ecstasy still held her, and when his arms tightened around her and he stood, swinging her legs into his hold, all she cared about was him making good on his plans for the night.
oOo
“Lilli . . . Lilli . . . Lilli.”
Sweet Jesus, she was going to kill him. She’d just gotten to sleep. Now he was running a finger up and down her spine, saying her name in an extremely life-threatening singsong voice.
She groaned and swatted at him. “No f*cking way.” She tried to pull the covers over her head, but he blocked her.
“We gotta go, baby. You can sleep in the camper if you want. Rise and shine—or, well, rise, anyway.
Looks like the shine’s awhile off.”
“What time is it?” She turned to glare at him.
“6:30.” About and hour and a half since they’d collapsed, sweaty and spent. How could he be so chipper? “Come on, soldier girl, that’s practically lunchtime for you, right?” He gave her ass a swat and got up. “Hey—I’m gonna make some coffee. You get up now, you can shower all by yourself. And there’s a brand new box of Cookie Crisp on the kitchen table.”
Grinning like an idiot, he left the room. Lilli got up. She wanted some room in the shower this morning.
Showered, dressed, caffeinated, and full of sugary cereal, Lilli felt marginally better. When she climbed into the camper, she felt even better. It was awesome. It was a little one, with a van front, a tiny kitchen and seating area, and a bedroom of sorts in the back. The best, very best, part was that it was at least 40 years old. Gold shag carpeting. Rust, gold, and avocado floral print upholstery. It was the tackiest thing she’d seen in a long time.
“Holy shit, this is beautiful!” she cried as she opened the side door and tossed her pack on the floor by the banquette. Isaac, standing on the ground leaning into the driver’s side, gave her a look that said he thought she was delirious, and she climbed into the passenger seat and grinned. “No, really, I love it. This is gonna be great!”
The way he was smiling at her now gave her a little heart tremor, and she said. “I love you.”
He wiggled his eyebrows in response. She liked that he didn’t mindlessly repeat it back when she said it.
Like her, he valued those words and used them sparingly.
“Hey, come over here and sit behind the wheel for a sec—I need to check the trailer lights.” They were pulling a trailer behind the camper that held his show gear and inventory as well as his bike. She climbed over the center console and sat behind the wheel.
The lights checked out, and Lilli climbed back so Isaac could take the wheel. As they pulled away from his house, Lilli realized that she was in a fantastic mood. Despite the lack of sleep, despite the darkness in her past, despite what loomed in the near future, she felt light. She felt happy.
She didn’t want to lose it. She didn’t want to lose him.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Isaac liked to arrive when setup opened; it got crowded once all the vendors were all trying to get their tents and booths together at once. But after their athletics of the previous night, he and Lilli had gotten a later start than he wanted. Not too bad, though, and the setup was going fine.
Isaac loved these shows overall, some more than others. Some, the juried art shows held in the middle of a bigger city, like St. Louis, were a nightmare to get to, expensive, and generally not worth the f*ckery.
This one in Tulsa, though, an arts and crafts show staged at a big state park on the far edges of the suburbs, was his favorite. It was big, so there was some earning potential. There was a good campground in the park, so most vendors set up camp there, and they’d do a big bonfire each night and party hard deep into the night. It was a good group of folks—mellow, good-natured, a little on the rougher side. Isaac’s kind of folks.
They’d dropped the trailer first thing, then parked the camper at their site and walked back to set up his tent. The booth rental fee included the actual booth, a white 10’X10’ tent with removable sides. It took awhile to get started, because everybody was glad to see everybody else—a lot of these men and women Isaac called friends, but they only saw each other a few times a year, at these shows. So there was hugging, fist-bumping, and arm-clasping to do with the vendors who were there when Isaac and Lilli got there, and the ones who continued to file in.