Picnic in Someday Valley (Honey Creek #2)(40)

Jesse sat at the little kitchen table and didn’t talk. He looked around, surprised how small and plain her kitchen was. Then he realized she probably never cooked in here. She had a bakery out front.

Her tears dried and she said, “Sorry you found me like this. You’ve visited on the one day I’m falling apart.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“No. Not anymore. I’ll just cry again.”

“You’re a hard woman to get to know, Adalee.”

“All women are hard to know if they are worth the knowing.”

She refilled their coffee and both relaxed in silence. He liked watching her, talking to her. Some men think women are the most beautiful when they’re all dolled up with makeup and fancy hair. But he liked them natural. No makeup. Hair wild. Cheeks still wet with tears. She was a beautiful woman and didn’t seem to know it.

“Would you mind if I kissed you again sometime?” He thought of adding that it had been a long time since he’d kissed a woman, but he didn’t want to hear himself say the words.

“I wouldn’t mind, but I’ll need a minute.”

She was halfway up the stairs before he realized she was leaving him. For her, sometime must have meant right now.

Jesse drank his coffee and waited. In a few minutes he heard her coming back. Just before she touched the last step, she hesitated.

It looked like she’d washed her face and tried to comb back her hair. She was wearing the same soft comfortable clothes. Touchable clothes, he thought.

Jesse walked up to her and took her hand in his. He tugged her down the last step and stared at her. Everything about her fascinated him. She had light green eyes that seemed to look deep inside him, as if she could see all the way to his soul.

He noticed her full lips. The need to push his mouth against them was strong. He didn’t know if what he was doing was right or wrong, but he’d asked if he could kiss her again and she’d said yes.

He gently placed her hand behind her waist, drawing her against him. Her clothes were so soft against him, and what was beneath her clothes felt even softer. She was full breasted, turning him on as she leaned against him.

Digging his free hand into her hair, he brought her mouth to his and thought that kissing her seemed the most natural thing in the world to do. They matched perfectly when he lowered his head slightly and she lifted hers, as if offering up those full lips for him to taste.

This was no hard-and-fast kiss like they’d had in church. This one was slow tasting. He moved both of her hands to the middle of her back and hugged her closer until he felt the heat of her body warming him. The fullness of her breasts on his chest made him heighten the kiss. She felt so good against him. He’d been flying blind for so long, and suddenly he’d found a safe landing.

As he deepened the kiss, she followed him into passion just as he hoped she would.

When she tugged to free her hands from his, he held tight. “I don’t want you to touch me. I’m afraid I’d shatter. Just let me hold you for one more minute.”

“Take all the time you want,” she whispered against his ear, “but keep kissing me. I like the way you make love with only a kiss. It’s like you’re starving and I’m your only satisfaction.” She melted against him and he sighed.

She smiled, obviously knowing what she was doing to him. “I don’t need my hands to touch you, Jesse.” Her lips moved across his face to his mouth. Words tickled his lips. “I can touch you every time I breathe.”

Then she proved it as he tasted her throat. She pressed against him with each breath. The sensation made him feel half drunk.

As the kiss deepened once more, he let go of her hands and touched her bare shoulder. Slowly, like a man molding clay into perfection, he moved his hands down her body, over the soft shirt, memorizing every curve.

When he lightly brushed over the side of her breast, she made a little sound and he knew he was doing something right. She was welcoming him.

“You like that?” He smiled as his fingers made the journey along the side of her breast again.

The tiny sound she made was all the answer he needed.

She pulled away a few inches and leaned her back against the wall. He felt for a moment that she was giving him a great gift. His hands grew bolder as she rested her head back so he could kiss his way down her throat.

He slid his hand beneath the soft material of her shirt and lightly moved his knuckles beneath her free breasts. “You want this?” he whispered as he moved an inch higher.

“Yes,” she whispered back, then made that little sound of pleasure before she kissed him deeply while his fingers covered one breast as his palm took the weight of perfection.

She didn’t hold him except to kiss him as completely as he kissed her. She gave in to his touch. Letting him learn her body. Rewarding him when he slowed long enough to whisper in her ear.

He’d never kissed so deeply or with such a hunger. For this moment in time, she was his. All he didn’t know about her didn’t matter. All he wanted was her near.

When he finally pulled away to let them both breathe, he didn’t stop touching her. Her eyes were closed. Her mouth slightly open as if waiting for his next kiss. And best of all, her body moved slightly with each brush of his fingers.

As his hand tightened around one mound, he whispered against her ear, “I want more of you. I need more.”