LikeTheresNoTomorrow (3 page)

He palmed her breast, worked his tongue down her throat, and
sucked her nipple into his mouth. Red arched into him, raking her pussy closer
to his dick.

Do it!
his cock screamed.

Jim fumbled for a condom and wound up knocking them all to
the floor. There was no way to reach the ones on the other nightstand without
breaking hold. Exactly what he needed to calm his libido down.

He fell back. Red came with him, crawling fingers and mouth
down his body. His hand slapped the nightstand and found the target. So did
Red.

His hips jerked forward, plunging his cock deep into her
mouth. Jim spread his thighs, offering up his balls. Red cupped, squeezed and
rolled as if she owned them. Right now, she did. He fisted the sheets in an
effort not to clutch her head to him. He knew if he did, it’d be all over.

“Baby, stop,” he gasped. Words he’d never thought he’d ever
utter. It was a blow job, for God’s sake. What the hell was he thinking?

Red pulled up. Her lips glistened, eyes were wide. One hand
was wrapped around the base of his cock, the other cradled his balls.

“I know the feeling,” she said.

“Do you?” Jim ran a shaky hand through her short red curls.

Sighing, she licked a final path from base to tip, curled
her tongue around his cock head, and lay beside him once more.

“My turn.”

Jim pushed her gently to the bed as he tongued his way down
her body. She opened herself to him, one hand resting on his shoulder. He could
smell her pussy. He plunged his hand into her slit, drew out the juices and
sucked them off his fingers.

“I-I’m not one of those women who can come a thousand times
a night.” Her tits quivered with every word. “I’ve got one left and I’ll be
done for the night. So unless you want me to come and go…”

“Good to know we’re on the same page.”

He grabbed the packet and somehow managed to cover himself.
He pushed to his knees to keep his cock from humping the bed. Eyes locked to
hers, he spread her pussy lips and went down. Her hard, red clit was waiting.
He ignored it. He closed his eyes and inhaled her musky scent. Her lips were
plump and smooth. Red writhed with every lick, trying to get his tongue where
she obviously wanted it. Her groans made Jim feel like a super lover, as if he
could do nothing wrong. He sucked her labia between his lips, kneaded his way
up the soft flesh, then flicked his tongue over the top and down again. Then
again. And again. Those groans were a blessing that spurred him on.

She looped one leg over his shoulder, digging her heel into
his back. Jim nudged the other one up there too and rocked her pelvis up the
way
he
wanted. Then he rolled her clit between his lips. He let her
squirm only so much. She was his and he wasn’t about to let go until he got
what he wanted—her coming in his mouth.

His cock was so hard he thought it was going to split the
rubber. One touch, one hot image, and he might come before his cock ever
reached her pussy. Her clit was hot, hard as a marble. He flicked it around and
around. He felt each tiny moan she made deep in his balls. As if streaks of
lightning shot out every time she made a sound. He thought about marbles again,
shooting them as a kid. It didn’t help. His cock focused on the
shooting
part, not on marbles.

Red’s breath caught. Her body tensed. He loved making a
woman come, hated it when they faked it. Red’s orgasm was the real deal. And
when she came…he felt like a fucking god.

He kissed her thighs, nosed through her sparse thatch of red
curls, drilled his tongue into her navel, reached her tits and sucked both of
them hard. Red grappled for him the whole way, legs sliding from his shoulders
to his waist and locking tight, hands fumbling to bring him higher until she
could slip her arms around his neck.

He watched her face as he poked his cock at her entrance.
She breathed hard, eyes closed, long lashes kissing her cheeks. Then he plunged
inside.

“Oh God,” they groaned together.

He couldn’t think. She was tight, hot, slick. He wanted to
take his time. Other parts of his body thought otherwise. He plunged deep, then
ground hard to get deeper.

“Oh God, Jim, please just fuck me,” she said in a rush of
breath, and rocked her pelvis into his.

He beat into her hard, Red’s soft groans driving him faster.
She had him tight
everywhere
. He buried his face against her neck,
nibbled at her hot spot, and let the burn overtake him. Jim plunged deep…and
felt his insides pour out of him. He reared back and plunged again for a second
wave just as intense as the first. Then a third. And—
oh my fucking God
—a
fourth. He thought he’d never stop coming. His head buzzed, maybe he even
blacked out. Then he felt her kiss his cheek, his neck and his shoulders. She
rubbed his back and ran her legs slowly down his.

Petting him. Bringing him back to earth. He was drained,
wiped out, and he could barely move to relieve her of his weight. All he could
think about was how much he wanted to do this again.

“Be right back.” Jim gave her a kiss as he left the bed. He
hated this part—having to get the damn condom off.

Red nodded, offered him a lazy smile, and cuddled into one
of the pillows. By the time he got back from the bathroom, she was sound
asleep.

In my bed. All mine.

God, how he wished that was so. Jim thought about waking her
up to tell her this wasn’t a drive-by fuck. That he wanted more. He wanted her.
But he was scared to death waking her meant her leaving. No way was he taking
that chance.

Jim walked through the house, turning off lights. That’s
when he spied her purse on the table in front of the sofa. One peek and he’d
have her name, address and cell phone number. As much as he wanted all that, he
refused to violate her privacy.

After a final double-check on the locks, Jim crawled into
bed next to her. Red rolled into him, snuggled close. There went that funny
heartbeat again. The one that said he was hooked. He couldn’t wait until
morning. He prayed she’d still be there.

Chapter Three

Oh, God, what have I done?

Julia Hunicutt stared at the ceiling fan overhead, counting
the lazy sweep of revolutions as she soaked in Jim’s deep, rhythmic breathing.
She’d sunk low this time, trolling bars for a quick, hard fuck. She’d had to
scramble for an excuse to explain why she was there to Jim. All she’d been
looking for was one last fling before the Marine Corps sent her back to that
godforsaken place. She’d never imagined finding someone like him.

Fear choked her. The scream bottled up in her core
threatened to explode. She peeled the tangled bedsheet from her legs and crept
from Jim’s bed. Better that than to let him see her fall apart. Better that
than to curl against him and cling to life.

God, what had she been thinking? Picking up a strange man in
a bar? She could be dead right now.
As opposed to when? Overseas?

She’d lived in this town most of her life—what if someone
she knew walked into the bar? Or, God forbid, one of her brothers? Julia’s
mother hadn’t stopped crying since Julia learned she was being deployed for a
third time. Hearing her daughter was engaging in lewd and lascivious acts in a
bar would put her over the edge.

Julia pressed her fingers against her temples to stop the
madness swirling in her head. It and the fear were driving her slowly insane.
She snagged her dress from its little green puddle and pulled it over her head.
Catching her reflection in the dresser mirror, she finger-combed her short hair
in place, hoping it had effectively covered her scar. Then her gaze also fell
to the gorgeous man lying in bed behind her. No doubt about it. She’d been damn
lucky tonight. In more ways than one.

Damn, he was fine. When the buzz faded from great sex, what
would he think of her then?

Julia looked away. What did it matter? She was leaving.
Chances of her coming back were…

She shook the thought out of her head, then hurried from the
room. It was the wrong time to start any relationship. Her brain had no right
wandering down that road. Her unit had one week max before they deployed, maybe
less.

She snatched her panties from her purse and hauled them on.
Leaving now was her best hope of saving face, her only hope of salvaging what
little dignity remained. Despair punched her in the gut. She sank into the
corner of Jim’s sofa and curled her feet under her. Leave and go where? Back to
her tomb of a house. The girls were gone, farmed out to her brothers—another
fact she’d glossed over with Jim. Pantry and refrigerator were close to bare in
anticipation of her departure. The garden she’d worked so hard to have, the one
that helped her survive her last injuries… All her hopes and dreams gone with
the stroke of some bureaucrat’s pen.

Julia pulled her shoulders back on a deep breath, focusing
on the room around her and not her agony. It was more than she expected from
one’s typical Marine. Jim’s age might have a lot to do with it. His sofa,
recliner and the obligatory tables surrounding them were solid construction.
The dark blue gave color in a place where Navajo white was the color of choice
for walls. Family photos splashed one wall. The resemblance was clear. Nothing
up there showed any of the children were his—all group family shots.

The place was clean, even the bathroom was spotless. The
only thing out of order was the dusty backpack left inside the front door. Had
he just returned from deployment of his own, getting ready to deploy too, or
was it merely a field exercise?

What did it matter? Why should she care?

Oh but it did. She wanted to know everything about him. More
importantly, she wanted him to know the real her, not the crazed freak who’d
done him in the bar.

Leave
, her conscience commanded. She could stay at a
hotel until it was time to leave. Anything to keep from having to stay in her
empty house alone. Yeah, as if she had money to blow on something like that. As
if she hadn’t lost enough dignity, now she was considering caving up. She had a
home she loved, might as well enjoy what she could of it with what little time
remained.

Another deep inhale pulled her feet to the floor. Her heart
raced with the approaching panic attack. Tears swam into her vision. She
fumbled for her purse and missed, knocking it onto the carpeted floor. Julia
lacked the energy to retrieve it. Fortunately, she didn’t have to.

Jim had the best-looking feet of anyone she’d ever met.
Mesmerized by his toes, Julia lifted her gaze up those long, muscled jean-clad
legs as he walked toward her purse. He was bare from waist up, looking like a
playground for fallen women. Equally great-looking fingers, fingers that had
plunged deep into her body over and over again, picked up her purse and placed
it on the coffee table. Then Jim sat beside her, so close she could feel the
heat of his body wrap around her, so close all Julia wanted was to lean into
him and forget everything else.

He lifted her chin on the pads of his fingers. Her quivering
chin. Damn it all, she was going to cry. His gentle kiss only made it worse.
She couldn’t have him thinking the worst of her. She just couldn’t.

“Julia Hunicutt. That’s my name. I know it sounds trite but
I’ve never done anything like this before. Everything’s a mess. I’m heading out
for a third deployment. I barely survived the last.”

His eyes followed her movement when Julia touched the back
of her head.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen. They sent me orders here to
be close to my family while I recovered. I’m living in my great-grandparents’
old house. I get bad headaches the doctors say are my imagination. I planned a
life here. Got dogs. Planted a garden, revived the yard and orchard.”

Tears poured down her cheeks. Julia couldn’t stop them. She
expected horror on Jim’s face. Instead, he brushed away tears with his thumbs,
drawing her closer.

“My mother won’t stop crying. My father is on the phone
constantly to his congressman, senator, anybody he thinks will listen trying to
get this resolved. My brothers rant and rave, then balk at the concept of
adding my dogs to their mix of pets. All I wanted was to do something wild and
crazy tonight. To forget all of this and live again. I’m scared, Jim. So
scared. And I have vegetables ready to harvest. I revived the yard. No one
wants the responsibility of caring for it. Oh, they say they will but they
won’t. It’ll all be dead, just like me if I go over there. Tomatoes, zucchini
and…and…”

And she was cradled in his lap, head on his shoulder, his
arms so tight around her it would take a nuclear explosion to pull them off.

“I know. I know. Cry it out, baby. Just cry it all out.
You’re safe here.”

“I couldn’t stand another night in my house without the
girls. It’s lonely and empty.” With only her thoughts and fears to keep her
company.

She jerked her head up. “I’m not a whore or a barfly.”

Jim cupped her head back to her shoulder. Julia tensed,
afraid he’d feel the scar. Then she realized she didn’t care.

“I don’t know what I was thinking tonight.”

“I know you’re not a whore or a barfly. And at least you
have a good reason for your actions. My only excuse was that I was horny.”

The admission cut through her tears.

“And you are really, really,
really
hot.”

Julia giggled.

“There’s my girl.” He patted her hip, gave her forehead a
kiss. “Let’s get you some tissue and then it’s time for a cure-all that’ll curl
your toes with pleasure.”

Julia couldn’t fault him. He was a man. Their fix was always
sex. Right now she couldn’t get enthusiastic about it.

“I really don’t think I’m up for that at the moment.”

“Then you can watch while I indulge.”

She glanced up then and saw his smirk. “Oh…you mean ice
cream.”

“Yeah…what did you think I meant?” His smirk grew to a full
grin.

“Never mind.” Julia poked his ribs.

“Stop, that tickles.” Jim wriggled and playfully slapped her
hand away. “There’s a box of tissue in the bedroom.” He lifted her off his lap
and pointed her in that direction. “What’s your pleasure, Red? I’ve got it
all.”

He sure did. “Surprise me.” She would have kissed him good
if not for all the residual effects from crying.

“You won’t be disappointed, Red,” he called to her back as
she walked away.

No, she wouldn’t. “Am I stuck with that nickname?” she asked
over her shoulder.

“Pretty much,” he shot back, putting a smile on her face
Julia felt in her heart. Too bad…

Nope, she wouldn’t think about that anymore tonight.

Tissue and a cold washcloth helped the red puffiness from
crying. Having minimal makeup on tonight had helped too, although that was the
norm for her.

Jim flashed Julia a big smile when she walked into his small
kitchen. Two bowls filled with chocolate ice cream sat on the counter before
him. He looped one arm around her waist while he drizzled chocolate syrup over
his creations. The final flourish was a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips.

“Wow, that’s quite the sugar rush.” She couldn’t wait to
dive in.

“It sure is.” His lips covered hers as he cupped her ass,
anchoring her tight while his tongue danced with hers. When it ended he had her
cradled to him once more. She rested her head against his chest, listening to
the steady beat of his heart and wondering at possibilities she shouldn’t be
pondering.

“Now you’ve got me all melty.” She patted his chest and
eased away. “Don’t want that to happen with our ice cream.” Julia grabbed the
bowls and headed for the black counter-height dining table in the adjacent
niche.

Jim slipped into a chair beside her, sliding a spoon her
way. “Let’s get better acquainted. See what else we have in common besides
killer sex, the Marine Corps, big families and our love of dogs.”

“And ice cream.” She scooped up a big spoonful.

“And ice cream.” He gave a wink and dived in. “So…want to
tell me about what happened over there?”

Not really. It seemed that’s all she did, that’s all she’d
become since she was injured. Her family babied her. The military poked,
prodded and asked a million questions. Then there was the counseling, constant
and unrelenting.

“Nickel and dime it for me,” he said.

Yeah, Julia could do that. “Boom, truck exploded, shrapnel
pierced my helmet and my skull. Coma, rehab, and here I am.”

The only sound for very long seconds was the click of spoon
to bowl. Julia didn’t know how to fill it. Jim didn’t insist she try. She
appreciated him not digging more. Maybe he was processing the horror of it all.
Julia was still working on that one.

“I’ve been over there twice,” he finally said. “Never got so
much as a paper cut while friends around me…” He left the rest unsaid. She knew
the guilt he suffered. She had her own, being the only survivor in that truck.

“I missed being injured by seconds during my first
deployment. The second time I was caught in it. Jim…I don’t think I’ll survive
a third time. It’s like death is stalking me over there.” Julia was surprised
the words came out calmly, without the screaming panic in her head.

Jim slipped his hand over hers and squeezed. How did he know
this was exactly what she needed? Here was comfort, understanding and a bond
Julia didn’t want to admit to. One that strengthened when he looped his thumb
through hers and tucked into her palm.

He eased away too soon, but she didn’t try to fool herself
with thinking she’d imagined what she felt. Her heart knew. Her body knew. More
importantly, so did her soul. The timing sucked.

“You know,” Jim said as he scooped up some ice cream, ”I’m
very fond of vegetables too. If you have a bumper crop, I’ve got the stomach to
fill.”

Julia laughed. “Buddy, you have no idea what you just let
yourself in for.”

“You can enlighten me tomorrow when we go to your place to
harvest them.” A challenge on his face. A gleam in his eyes. Dread weighing
down her stomach.

Julia pushed her bowl to one side. “Jim, I—”

He pressed his index finger to her lips. “Not a word, Red.
This is now, not tomorrow, not next week…now. No one knows when their number’s
up. If we were any other couple we’d go for this.”

The guy was crazy, offering her something Julia shouldn’t
explore. At the most she had a week before she had to leave. At the worst…days.
Would it tear her up all the more when she left, or give her happy memories for
the time over there? It wouldn’t last, she knew that. Most established
relationships couldn’t sustain a seven-month deployment, or the aftereffects
returning brought. But for now?

Julia gently pushed his hand away. “If I’m going to spend
the night, I’ll need a toothbrush. Do you have any extra?”

The naughty smirk was back, along with the gleam of
mischief. “Well, since we’ve had our tongues down each other’s throats, not to
mention other
places
, you could use mine.”

She stared, unblinking, eyebrow arched, arms crossed.

Jim snickered. “Linen closet in the hall has extras. Help
yourself to whatever you need. Make yourself at home.”

“Thank you.”

Julia took him at his word, brushing her teeth, taking a
shower, giving the bed fresh sheets while Jim showered, then crawling into a
bed that felt like heaven. She’d nearly drifted off when the mattress sagged
with his weight. He spooned against her, dropped a kiss to her shoulder. No
erection stabbed her in the back, no fingers wandered to her breasts. Just
peace, contentment, a forever kind of moment.

“God, Jim, what are we doing?” she asked in a rush of
breath.

“Living in the moment, Red. Because sometimes a moment’s all
a person’s got. And while I’ve got you, we’re going to live like there’s no
tomorrow.”

Sounded like a damn fine plan to her.

* * * * *