Sawyer’s hands were shaking when he reached for the condom on the bedside table and attempted to slip it on. Lowering his body, he kissed her again, summoning a tenderness he hadn’t known he had. Making love with Jessica was different only because he was not the same man he had been before meeting her.

  Jessica clung to Sawyer, his kisses warm and comforting. With each brush of his lips a delicious shudder rippled through her body, bringing with it a powerful desire to surrender all of herself. “Love me, please,” she pleaded.

  “Open your legs for me, baby.”

  She complied, parting her knees as Sawyer’s hardened sex pushed into her; she moaned softly at the slow, intense penetration. Flames of desire rose quickly, overlapping her soft moans as her taut flesh stretched with each inch until he was fully sheathed. Then, in a rhythm that was as timeless as the beginning of creation, she offered him all of herself, holding nothing back.

  * * *

  Sawyer established a slow, deliberate thrusting as Jessica rose to meet him. Anchoring his hands under her hips, he held her fast, increasing the cadence, his hips moving with the velocity and power of a piston. Her gasps and soft moans served to make the heat in his loins even more intense. He lost himself in the moment and the love flowing from the woman under him, not feeling the bite of her fingernails on his back. What he was aware of was the gurgling sounds coming from her throat that erupted into an unrestrained primal scream sending him over a precipice where he surrendered all he had and was to the woman whom he knew he would love forever. They climaxed simultaneously, experiencing a shared free fall that made them one with each other.

  They lay entwined, breathing heavily, waiting for their respiration to slow while enjoying the lingering pulsing sensations. He did not want to move. However, Sawyer was forced to when he withdrew from Jessica and went to discard the condom. When he returned to the bed he found her lying on her side, her back to him. He lay beside her and within minutes Morpheus claimed both.

  * * *

  Pulling her into a close embrace, Sawyer planted a whisper of a kiss on Jessica’s forehead. The time they had spent in New York had ended all too soon. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  She watched his departing figure as he slipped behind the wheel of the Jeep and drove away. The wonderful week was over. They’d returned to Wickham Falls to pick up where they left off before their sleeping together. A hint of a smile tilted the corners of her mouth when Bootsy howled as Sawyer sped away. The two had bonded, the puppy following Sawyer everywhere while whining incessantly to be picked up.

  The week in New York had become a fairy-tale experience wherein she’d managed to visit all of the places on her must-see list, including watching the Fourth of July fireworks from the loft’s rooftop.

  Jessica clapped her hands. “Come inside, Bootsy. It’s time to go to bed.”

  Smothering a yawn, she locked the door and headed for the staircase. After a bath, she pulled on a cotton nightgown and slipped into bed alone, marveling at how quickly she’d gotten used to sharing a bed with Sawyer. She closed her eyes, and after tossing and turning for a while, she finally fell asleep.

  * * *

  After dropping Jessica off Sawyer paced the length of the porch like a caged large cat because he was too wound up to go to bed. He knew some of his uneasiness stemmed from his increasingly deep feelings for Jessica, and against all of his protestations that he wasn’t ready to marry, he wanted to claim her as his wife and eventually the mother of their children.

  He knew purchasing the pearls had been based on impulse, yet they represented more to him than just a gift to a woman with whom he’d fallen in love. The pearls would become heirloom pieces that could be passed down from mother to daughter and eventually granddaughter. He found himself thinking about future generations when he wasn’t certain whether Jessica would even agree to marry him.

  He was still pacing when his cell phone chimed that he had a text. Reaching into the pocket of his jeans and taking out the phone, he read the message, his eyebrows lifting slightly.

  Thom: Need you in New York ASAP to look over space invaders game Joon and Erik worked on in their spare time.

  Sawyer: Have Shirley make flight and ground transportation arrangements for tomorrow morning.

  Thom: No problem. Safe travel.

  Sawyer: Thanks

  He held the phone, staring at the screen for a full minute, then sent a text to Jessica’s phone alerting her that he had to return to New York to work on a project, and he wasn’t certain when he would return. Sawyer had hoped to spend time with Jessica before her friend arrived. Opening the screen door, he went inside the house, and locked it and the inner door.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jessica walked into the airport terminal. Taryn’s plane was on the ground and her friend had sent her a text to meet her at baggage claim. Her friend had flown in from New York, while her lover had returned to New York.

  The morning following her return from New York she’d turned on her cell phone to find the text from Sawyer. It was the first of daily texts sent at various hours during the day and night, and all contained the same three words: I miss you. He missed her and she missed him, too. She replied with one word: Ditto.

  Jessica broke into a smile when she saw her former college roommate, hardly recognizing her without her ubiquitous braids. Taryn had begun wearing braids in college and the last time Jessica had seen her they were nearly waist length. Now, chemically straightened dark brown blunt-cut strands ending above her shoulders and held off her face with a narrow headband made her appear girlishly chic.

  Standing five-ten in bare feet, Taryn always turned heads because with her delicate features and café au lait complexion most people mistook her for a model. She pulled a wheeled duffel with one hand and had looped a matching tote over the opposite shoulder.

  The lines around Taryn’s eyes crinkled when Jessica reached for the tote and pressed her cheek to her friend’s. “Welcome to West Virginia, and thanks for coming.”

  “Thank you for inviting me.” Taryn scrunched up her pert nose. “You’re a real savior, Jess. I needed to get away because living with my parents, and now my grandmother, was working my last nerve. I think they forget I’m a grown-ass woman when they ask me what time I’m coming home. It’s been years since I had a curfew.”

  “I love my parents dearly, but three thousand miles make our reunions all the more special.”

  “How are your parents?” Taryn asked as they made their way out of the terminal to the parking lot.

  “They’re still in Alaska.”

  “Good for them,” Taryn remarked. “My mother’s waiting for my dad to retire before going abroad, but that may change now that Grandma’s living with us. Daddy says he’ll pay someone to stay with his mother if they do decide to go away.”

  Jessica waited for Taryn to buckle her seat belt and then maneuvered out of the lot. Tapping a button on the steering wheel, she tuned to a satellite radio station featuring classic R & B. Within seconds they were singing at the top of their lungs, garnering strange glances from those in passing vehicles. Jessica laughed until tears streamed down her face as Taryn’s voice cracked when she attempted to match Mariah Carey’s five-octave range singing “Dreamlover.”

  “Please don’t quit your day job,” Jessica teased.

  Taryn sobered. “That’s exactly what I would like to do. I enjoy teaching but not the commute.”

  Jessica gave her a sidelong glance. “Couldn’t you take the railroad instead of driving?”

  “I would if I didn’t have to take a bus once I get off the train. Now that I look back I realize I never should’ve given up my apartment. What did Billie Holiday say? ‘God bless the child that’s got his own.’”

  Staring out the windshield, Jessica concentrated on the road. “Do you ever run into James at the gym?”

  Taryn shook her head. “Once I moved back to Long Island I didn’t renew my membership.”

  “Are you seeing anyone now?”

  “No. What about you? Are you seeing anyone?”

  “Yes,” Jessica confirmed after a noticeable pause. She gave her friend a quick overview of her relationship with Sawyer, leaving out the intimate details.

  “You say he’s just here for the summer. Does that mean I’ll get to meet him?” Taryn asked. Anticipation shimmered in her light brown eyes.

  Jessica paused. “I’m not sure. Right now he’s in New York working on a project and I don’t know when he’ll be back.”

  Taryn sobered. “I’m glad you met someone who makes you happy. You more than deserve it.”

  “Thanks. And you deserve to meet someone who isn’t a jackass,” Jessica countered, smiling.

  “Jackass or horse’s ass, I made a New Year’s resolution not to date for a year only because I need to get my head together and figure out who Taryn Robinson is and what she wants or needs for her future. If I could, I’d like to go back to my college days when I looked after other people’s children.”

  Jessica gave her a quick glance. “You really like being a nanny?” She and Taryn had shared an off-campus apartment in Washington, DC, and her roommate worked weekends as a babysitter to earn money to help cover her personal expenses.

  “Not so much a nanny now as a governess employed to teach and train children in a private household.”

  “Are you really serious about leaving the classroom?”

  “Quite serious.”

  “I know someone who’s looking for someone to homeschool his daughters. You’d be perfect for the position.” She told Taryn about Aiden looking for a live-in nanny.

  Taryn grunted under her breath. “I don’t think so, Jess. I really can’t imagine myself living down here. I’m a big-city girl.”

  “So was I, my friend. Don’t judge us country folks too harshly until you’ve been here awhile.”

  Taryn pulled her lower lip between her teeth, seemingly deep in thought. “Okay. I promise to keep an open mind. I have to admit, country life has been good for you.”

  “I love it,” Jessica said truthfully.

  She wanted to remind Taryn that she had options. She wasn’t in a committed relationship, she didn’t have children, she lived with her parents and was an experienced licensed educator, which meant she could pick up and relocate at a moment’s notice.

  They launched into a lively banter about their students, Taryn outdoing Jessica when it came to outrageous antics from her rambunctious kindergarteners. All conversation ended as Jessica maneuvered into the driveway to her home.

  Bootsy greeted Taryn, sniffing her legs before rolling over on his back for a belly rub. “When your mama’s not looking I’m going to hide you in my tote and take you back to New York. Then I’ll dress you in haute couture before taking you to the doggie park,” she crooned, stroking the puppy’s belly.

  “That’s not going to happen,” Jessica said, “because he’s microchipped. Come upstairs with me and I’ll show you your room.”

  Taryn stared at the furnishings in the open floor plan. “I never thought I’d say it, but I’m jealous of you.”

  A frown appeared between Jessica’s eyes. “Why?”

  “Look at your home. It’s beautiful, while I’m sleeping in the same bedroom where I grew up.”

  Jessica hugged her friend. “Remember when you told me, ‘This too shall pass’?”

  Taryn forced a smile. “I do remember, and it’s time I take my own advice. As soon as I shower and change we’re going out for dinner. My treat.”

  Jessica waited for Taryn to grasp the handle of the duffel and led her up the staircase to the second story. She knew Taryn still hadn’t recovered from the breakup with her boyfriend, because she’d fallen inexorably in love with James. Taryn had thought it serendipitous that she and James shared the same surname, believing they were fated to be soul mates.

  “Fish or fowl?” Jessica asked, glancing over her shoulder.

  “Neither. I want a big juicy steak smothered in onions and a loaded baked potato, followed by a slice of cheesecake and cappuccino.”

  “Stop it or you’ll have me salivating,” Jessica chided. “There’s an incredibly good steakhouse off the interstate. I’ll call and make reservations for eight.”

  * * *

  Sawyer fell back on the bed at the same time a moan slipped past his lips. A tiredness he hadn’t experienced in a very long time weighed him down like a leaded blanket, while he found it difficult to think clearly.

  He groaned again. His shoulders were stiff from sitting in the same position for hours. It’d taken longer than projected to work out the bugs in the video game. If the graphics weren’t so groundbreaking he would’ve suggested scrapping it. The computer-generated images were spectacular. Darius had come up with a concept for three games instead of one, and it took the engineers nearly two weeks to rewrite the code.

  In his downtime he’d checked his emails. Rachel informed him their parents were returning to the mainland on July 28, while she planned to stay until two days before the first day of classes. She’d also attached photos of Colin and Dylan in the ocean on surfboards.

  Sawyer had not realized he’d dozed off until he heard his cell phone’s ringtone. Reaching across his body he swept it off the bedside table. “Hello.”

  “Did I wake you?”

  He pushed into a sitting position. “I was just dozing.”

  Jessica’s laugh came through the earpiece. “But it’s one in the afternoon.”

  “I’ve been up for more than eighteen hours.”

  There came a pause on the other end. “I’m sorry—”

  “Don’t apologize, babe,” he said, interrupting her. “It’s good hearing your voice.”

  “I would’ve sent you a text, but what I have to tell you is too important to put in a text or email. The school district’s business manager called to say he received a check for the grant. He said to tell you the school board members are meeting next week and they want to come up with a plan to honor one of their alumnae.”

  “We’ll have to celebrate whenever I get back.”

  “You deserve the accolades, Sawyer, not me. The entire school district owes you, the committee owes you, and I owe you.”

  Sawyer eyelids fluttered as he struggled to stay awake. “I love you, Jessica.”

  A beat passed. “I love you, too.”

  His eyes opened and he went completely still, momentarily speechless. Had she said she loved him because she thought it was what he wanted to hear, or did she truly love him? “You say you owe me, and now I’m going to ask you to pay up.” The silence on the other end of the line stretched out until he thought she had hung up.

  “What do you want?” Jessica asked.

  He heard trepidation in her voice. “I want you to marry me. We’ll wait until Rachel and my folks get back from Hawaii. Hopefully by that time your parents will have returned from their Alaskan vacation.”

  There came another pause, this one more prolonged and pregnant than the first. “Look, Sawyer, you’re half-asleep and we need to talk about this at another time.”

  Sawyer felt as if he’d won a small victory because she hadn’t rejected his proposal. “You can’t talk because you’re not alone?”

  “That’s not it. It’s just that I didn’t expect you to ask me to marry you when you claim you’re not ready for marriage.”

  “That’s before I met you.”

  Jessica’s husky laugh caressed his ear. “I must really have some powerful mojo to get a confirmed bachelor to change his mind so quickly.”

  “You ain’t lying,” he drawled.

  Jessica laughed again. “Can we discuss this when you get back?”

  “Of course we can, darling. I’m almost finished with my work here. I’ll call you once I know for certain when I’ll be coming home.”

  It took several attempts for Jessica to set the cordless phone in the charger. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably. She had just gotten a marriage proposal from a man she loved and she wasn’t able to accept or reject it. By the time she rejoined Taryn on the patio she was back in control. Folding her body down to a webbed lawn chair positioned under an umbrella, she picked up the pitcher of sweet tea and topped off her glass.

  “Are you all right?” Taryn asked, giving her a critical squint.

  “Yes,” she replied much too quickly.

  Pulling her bare legs to her chest, Taryn wrapped her arms around her knees. Bootsy, who’d curled up against her legs, shifted until he lay on his belly. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “You looked like someone who can’t find her winning Powerball ticket.”

  Jessica met Taryn’s steady gaze. “Sawyer asked me to marry him.”

  Taryn sat up straight, her eyes growing wider with each passing second. “You’re kidding?”

  “No, I’m not,” Jessica replied, shaking her head for emphasis.

  “How long have you known him?”

  “I met him for the first time two months ago, even though I feel as if I’ve known him much longer. I’m friends with his sister, and when Rachel would go on and on about her older brother being Mr. Wonderful I thought their relationship was a little creepy. But when I finally got to meet him I knew everything she’d said was true.”

  Swinging her legs over the chair, Taryn asked, “Are you in love with him?”

  “Yes,” Jessica admitted without hesitation.

  “Are you going to accept his proposal?”

  Jessica shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  Taryn frowned. “What don’t you know, Jess? Either you are or you’re not.”