Chapter 42.

Jess finally returned that Thursday afternoon. She called as soon as she checked back into the motel and agreed to have dinner with me. Her brother was still around but she didn't want to deal with him. Nobody did by that point. He wasn't a particularly cooperative patient, according to the doctors who were working with him. I decided it was no concern of mine.

We'd been given a case that morning. It was too simple to warrant my skill, or even that of my team, and it was a breeze to diagnose the patient, then turn her over to the doctors in cardiology. So I was free to leave work early. I didn't want to seem too anxious to see Jess, and yet I was. And the need was much greater than any desire to appear nonchalant.

She was in a different room at the motel, but the desk clerk remembered me. He told me right away how to find her. She must have been as anxious as I was. The minute I knocked at the door, she pulled it open. The smile on her face was like the sun breaking through the clouds to brighten my day. I don't know what I was expecting to feel but it sure wasn't the exhilaration that seeing her caused.

"I'm back!" she said.

"Unless you're an apparition, I can see that."

She chuckled. "It's good to see you too."

"So, you're here for good?"

"That's the plan. Don't just stand there, c'mon in," she said, holding the door wide open and reaching for my arm to pull me in.

She didn't have ask me twice. Once I cleared the door, she closed it and threw her arms around my neck. I wasn't quite prepared for that, but her nearness, the sweet scent of her hair, were intoxicating.

"I thought we were going out to dinner." My voice sounded strange, even to me.

"There's plenty of time," she said, taking my hand and leading me further into the room.

Did she really want what I thought she wanted? What I hoped she wanted? I noticed for the first time that she'd already turned down the bed. Here goes nothing, I thought as I pulled her close and pressed against her.

"I've missed you," she said. "Seems that you've missed me too." She'd learned to do the eyebrow wriggle, from me I suppose.

I just nodded. My logical mind was telling me to take it slow, but everything else was rapidly pushing me to continue. I'd dropped my cane by then and my hands had a mind of their own, sliding down her back to her firm buns, my lips sought her mouth and my tongue slipped between her lips. She tasted of minty toothpaste. Good thing I liked minty toothpaste.

I felt her fingers on the back of my neck, stroking gently. Her caresses were so much more sensual than any hooker I'd ever employed. Somehow we found ourselves closer to the bed, close enough that the slightest push would have her sprawled across it. But I didn't have to push. Jess just backed up and fell onto the sheets, pulling me with her.

Rolling onto my side, I slid my hands under her lavender top and pushed it up over her bra. She tugged it off, then began to unbutton my shirt, to seek my bare skin under it and inside my jeans. And that touch, skin to skin, set off sparks.

She stopped to kiss my eyelids, then my lips again, as if she couldn't get enough of them. She kissed the old scar on my neck, all along my collarbone, and then continued down the center of my chest.

I rested my hand on her head, smoothing her hair, as her head moved lower. Her tongue licked the skin around my navel. Interesting sensation. When she pushed down my jeans, followed by my briefs, I had to breath deeply to slow my heart because it was threatening to burst from my chest. She continued, but only for a while, a hint of of what was to come.

She slipped off her pants and I cradled her in my arms as I rolled her on her back again and nudged her thighs apart with my knee. I braced my weight, fearing I could crush her, then growled low in my throat because one of my fantasies with her was coming true.

She was thoroughly aroused, her hair fanned out across the pillow, her eyes dark with passion.

"I've been thinking about this a long time." I didn't want to rush, though.

She watched my face as I stroked her breasts and nibbled her neck, trying hard to maintain what control I still had.

It was time to kiss every inch of her body, but once I reached the sweetest spot, rather than go on, I joined with her. The first tremors of ecstasy surprised me by their intensity, and it just went on and on. It wasn't something I wanted to analyze, just enjoy.

Afterwards, we lay side-by-side, staring up at the ceiling. "As I was saying, glad to see you too," she finally said as her breathing and heartbeat returned to normal.

Should I confess to how much I'd missed her? Or did I even have to?

"Bet you worked up an appetite," she said, rolling on her side and lifting her upper body on her elbow.

"You know me. Always ready to eat."

"Another minute," she promised, straightening her arm and snuggling against my side. "Where should we go?"

I'd passed a chain steakhouse on the way to the motel, and filed it away for future reference. It wasn't far away. "How about Lone Star?" I suggested.

"Yum, steak!"

One of the things I liked about her was her appetite. Not many women knew how to eat, or at least admitted that they liked to.

Eventually, we were able to move again. We showered and dressed, then headed out. The restaurant was less than half a mile away. The parking lot was pretty full, but I managed to get a spot not too far from the front door. We only had to wait ten minutes for a table.

"So, I saw Ellie and the baby after they got home," Jess said.

"I hear she's back in her apartment and working at Boomer's again."

"Chase told you."

"They're taking it slow."

"He may want to, but I don't know about her," Jess said.

"Then why did she go back to Dorsey?"

"She's of the opinion that absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"Hmm."

"What, you don't think it's true? Look at us! I was only gone a few days and look what happened when I got back."

"That was just pent-up lust," I insisted.

"Believe what you want." There was laughter in Jess' eyes as she changed the subject. "So, the project gets underway on Monday. I think I'm going to have to find a place to live this weekend."

The idea of inviting her to move in with me was still warring with my conviction that it wouldn't be the best idea I ever had.

"Maybe Remy could help me find something,"Jess went on. "Unless you know of some place."

"You can stay with me," I blurted. It was worth it for the stunned look on her face.