No one like Rita would pass through this place again, and she抎 gifted Jasper with her time. She wouldn抰 be sorry about that. He wouldn抰 let her be.
Jasper抯 truck reached the mesa抯 flat top and he threw the car into park, leaving it running so their air conditioner would remain on. 揑 won抰 make you go outside, indoor girl.?Having given himself permission to act on his body抯 needs, his voice sounded rough as he slid an arm around Rita抯 shoulders. 揥e can stay in here and look just fine.?
Wow. Apparently his smooth talk had been downgraded to high-school level梐long with his choice of date spot梑ecause now that he knew sex with Rita was on the horizon, his tongue weighed about eight pounds. Right along with his cock. The damn thing could have reached up and honked the horn if directed.
Rita leaned forward in the seat, releasing a slow breath as she looked through the windshield. 揟his is amazing. How high are we??
揂round two thousand feet, if I recall.?The way she抎 pushed toward the dashboard to look out the window had created a gap at the back of her pants, giving him a nice view of her nude-colored thong. 揜ita棓
Rita got out of the truck.
Jasper抯 surprise kept him in place a moment as he watched her walk to the front bumper, but he finally followed. The wind whipped at her hair, throwing it into chaos around her face, but thankfully the sun was behind clouds that morning, leaving them surrounded by shadows. 揑 think I need to単et out of the car more often.?
His throat梩he one scientists would study when he eventually keeled over from lack of Rita梬anted to question that statement. Ask her what it meant. Examine it from seventeen dozen angles. But he抎 brought her there with a mission. Urgency the likes of which he抎 been battered with at the motel didn抰 fade easily. So Jasper found himself blocking Rita抯 view of the scenery, nodding when she correctly interpreted the want in his gaze.
揙h,?she breathed. 揌i.?
Jasper curled a finger in Rita抯 waistband, tugging her up against his body梥low, languid梞aintaining eye contact as he walked her backward toward the rear truck bed. The way she stumbled and whispered a curse under her breath, forehead creasing, struck him like a fastball to the sternum. She could have been gone and he抎 have missed this chance. No more. No more waiting.
揓asper厰
He unlatched the tailgate, letting it drop with a bang, then taking her startled gasp as his opportunity to get kissing. God, how long had it been since their mouths had been together? Couldn抰 have been just last night when he was immediately drowning, fighting against the need for air. His hands wove through her hair, holding tight as he sat back on the lowered tailgate, pulling Rita up onto his lap, her knees thudding on the steel at either side of his hips. Smooth as smoke, they melded together, Jasper taking hold of her ass, urging her to rock against his pained dick, which she did, groaning up at the sky.
揃ack of a truck ain抰 ideal, Rita,?he rasped. 揑 know it. But no matter where you ride it, beautiful, it抯 going to satisfy you. That抯 what I do.?One-handed, he reached between them and set to work getting his belt unhooked, gritting his teeth over the blinding pressure behind his fly. 揑 need to do that for you. No idea厃ou have no idea how bad.?
Rita抯 eyes were at half mast, her chin reddened from his stubble. She couldn抰 seem to stop kissing him long enough to get her pants off, though, and the longer it took, the more Jasper抯 pulse slammed in a critical rhythm.
With a gritted oath, he abandoned his own zipper in favor of Rita抯， ripping it down, hoarse commands issuing from his mouth without warning. 揘eed to get you naked from the waist down, need you on my cock.?Through the thin material of her T-shirt, his mouth closed around her tits, sucking through the cotton, nipping with his teeth. 揥hat was I thinking, making us wait? I抦 sorry. Jesus, I抦棓
揝top.?Rita threw herself forward, whimpering into his neck, taking hold of his busy wrists between them. 揓asper, no. This isn抰 all you do. We卨et抯卙old on a second.?
His brain had a hard time catching up, because every spare pint of blood in his body was visiting elsewhere. 揑 have condoms. Three of them.?
揋ood. That抯 good, but厰 Her face was flushed when she straightened. Whatever his expression put across caused her to sag, even as breath raced in and out of her swollen mouth. 揓asper, I got into your truck this morning to be with you. I抦 here梚n the actual outdoors梩o be with you. I like you.?She pressed a kiss to his mouth, then another, those hands sliding through his hair like ocean water. 揥e抣l be together like this. Right now, though厰 Unable to completely hide her sexual frustration, Rita winced and sucked in a breath as she shifted off Jasper抯 lap. 揧ou think we could just talk a while??
Jasper turned his face away before Rita could see how her question梡osed in her typical self-conscious fashion梐ffected him. Every time he swallowed, someone fed a new golf ball into his mouth, until he finally stopped trying. Had any man in history ever gotten choked up over being turned down for sex? Leave it to him. Make no mistake, his willpower was being brutally tested. If Rita hadn抰 said the word no, he might have spread her legs wide and used his mouth until she turned willing. But damn if lying there under the huge sky, talking to Rita梜nowing she wanted conversation with him, of all people梔idn抰 take a mighty big bite out of his thwarted arousal.
When Rita lay back, stacking both hands beneath her head, Jasper followed suit. She looked in his direction and every cell in his body went racing.
揝o, Jasper Ellis.?Seeing Rita comfortable enough to flirt with him梬ithout hesitating or rolling her eyes梞ade Jasper ache to pull her close. 揥hat is your棓
Jasper stared at his hand, which had reached toward Rita without prompting to brush a stray hair from her lips. 揧ou ruined the sky for me today, Rita,?he said gruffly. 揑t抯 flat-out mediocre without you up against it. I reckon it always will be now.?He took back his hand, using them both to prop up his own head, his booted feet hanging over the tailgate, beside Rita抯。 揘ow what were you going to ask me??
She appeared dumbstruck for a time, which Jasper decided was a good thing, before answering. 揥hat is your favorite song??Her breath rushed out. 揑 thought we were starting slow.?
He smiled. 揟hat would be 慓reat Balls of Fire?by Jerry Lee Lewis.?
Laughter shattered her pensive expression. 揟hat抯 a good one.?
揑sn抰 it??He laid his hand down in the truck bed and Rita took it slowly, intertwining their fingers.
I have to make an impression on this woman.
I have to try and give her a reason to stay.
Maybe匢 even have a chance to accomplish that.
揧our turn, Rita,?Jasper murmured. But in his mind梐fter the ledge she抎 just pulled him back from梙e was thinking, Now it抯 my turn.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Was it self-destructive for Rita to find herself walking along Hurley抯 main avenue that afternoon, toward the Liquor Hole? Absolutely. She should have been in the waiting room with Peggy, reading People magazines from the Bush era while Aaron went through his dental procedure. Or perhaps an even better use of her time would be trying to get the goods from Belmont regarding his obvious infatuation with Sage. These were the people she would be spending the next two thousand miles sharing Suburban air space with. And yet. Here she was. Probably resembling the roadrunner-pursuing coyote, her eyes trained on the establishment ahead.
With the Clarksons Plus One leaving tomorrow梖or real this time梥he and Jasper were at the end of their plank, leaving very little room to explore the relentless samba in her stomach when she thought of him. But after he抎 dropped Rita back at the Hurley Arms梒laiming the bar needed his attention梥he couldn抰 have sat still with a boulder on each shoulder.