A Little Bit of Sugar (Snowed In & Snuggled Up #1) Read online

  He groaned again and slid his fingers into her hair, gentle, holding her while his hips gave a small, instinctive pump.

  Madison thought she might die from the pleasure of it, the power that surged through her senses in an erotic flood. She licked and kissed and sucked until she could feel him trembling.

  “Jesus,” he breathed, hauling her and hooking her legs with his arms. She wrapped them around him, holding on while he kissed her like it would save his soul. He kissed her like it would save hers, too.

  By the time he lowered her on the bed, the need inside her had become a consuming, living thing and only he could satisfy it.

  He followed her down onto her peaches and cream comforter, scattering dainty pillows in every direction as he settled over her, his hips between her spread thighs. Bracing his weight on his arms, he stared into her eyes for a long moment. His erection pressed hard against her, not yet engaged, but straining for contact, and her body answered the silent call to feel him. To take him in and make him a part of her.

  He might have meant to speak, then. But it seemed the sight of her stole his thoughts. In the end, he only kissed her again, with the slow and tender thoroughness that gave attention to every detail.

  JT was a man who’d been made to kiss. He used his tongue in ways that drove her mad, making her body arch, making her burn as he worked his way down, touching her breasts, kissing them, too. Murmuring her name like a prayer.

  There was no rush. There was no hesitancy, either. JT touched her like she belonged to him. Some of it he’d learned in the back seat of his Jeep when they’d been young. Some of it he might have learned with some other woman. It didn’t matter, though. Their experiences apart had brought them here, to this world of togetherness. Whatever he’d learned, wherever he’d learned it, it became part of them, part of the innate knowing of someone else, because you’d watched them laugh, watched them cry, held the power to break their heart. They’d been that to each other and it brought depth to the kaleidoscope of feelings swirling between them.

  He pulled away, but only to fish a condom out of his wallet, and then he was back, hips between her thighs. His touch rougher, but not careless, as he positioned himself and slid inside her with one powerful stroke, that rolled her eyes back and reverberated through her entire body. He began to move, setting a pace that pushed her to the edge. Possessive, strong, he claimed her with each powerful movement until she came like lightning in a mountain storm—all at once, in an explosion of electrifying sensation that flashed against a black sky in blinding brilliance.

  He shouted her name and followed, his face buried in the hollow of her shoulder, his arms holding her tight.

  “Jesus, Madison,” he said, beneath his breath. “How did I ever leave you?”

  It wasn’t a question. She wasn’t even certain he meant to say it out loud.

  But she’d heard it and even as she let him tuck her against his body, even as she made love to him again and again and again that night, the question remained in her mind.

  Asked but not answered.

  Chapter Ten

  It was hours . . . or possibly weeks later, and they were still awake, still in bed. JT had padded downstairs wearing nothing but a grin and brought them cold water. They’d shared it, like lovers do.

  She wanted to be content. Replete. And her body was, but her head? There was too much going on in there and she couldn’t block it out. Not when so much of it was right.

  They were touching hands, reading each other by the calluses on their fingers, the lines on their palms. He might be a writer, but he was not a man who would ever be tied to an office chair. She knew that about him, just as she’d known he was not a boy to be confined by a football uniform.

  His hands told her that he worked with them. He used to carve, just like his grandpa. A shelf in her kitchen still held the collection of little animals he’d chipped from pieces of wood.

  What did her hands whisper to him?

  That she still loved him?

  It was true yesterday. It would still be true tomorrow.

  It didn’t matter the time between, the distance apart. How brief the reuniting . . . . Break this man down to the core and she would still know him, be able to pick his faceless, shapeless essence out of a crowd.

  She turned on her side and smiled at him. “So what happens now?” she asked.

  JT grinned back. “I hope more of the same.”

  He rolled all that long masculine muscle against her and her eyes fluttered shut as his naked heat made her arch toward him. She couldn’t say no to him. She didn’t want to say no to him.

  Later, they took a bath together in her great big water goddess tub. She floated between his slippery legs, head resting beneath his chin, spine against his chest and belly.

  They were silent, floating with their own thoughts, when JT’s voice rumbled beneath her head. “It doesn’t have to be here or there,” he said, as if in answer to a question. “People have long-distance relationships all the time.”

  “Is that what we have? A relationship?”

  “We could, if you wanted.”

  Like it was her choice. The hot water and his soothing touch had finally quieted her agitated thoughts. Now, his words awoke the turmoil she’d managed to hold at bay.

  “How would that work?” she asked softly.

  Unaware of her feelings, he said, “I was thinking of staying up at the cabin—assuming I can talk my two brothers into putting the brakes on this sale. Maybe stay through the holidays.”

  Through the holidays . . . nearly six more weeks.

  “What if you can’t talk them out of it?”

  “I will.”

  “But what if you can’t?”

  He shifted to look down on her face, but she kept still, not looking up. She couldn’t, not when her chest felt tight and her eyes stung.

  “We could figure out a Plan B. I could stay at Mrs. Carter’s bed and breakfast. Unless Constance hates me for reasons I can’t remember.” He laughed, a low, wonderful sound that nearly broke her heart. “I don’t think I ever pranked her back in the day.”

  His hands came up to her shoulders, slippery and warm, as they began to rub. She sank into him.

  “And then what?” she asked.

  “We figure things out.”

  She nodded, thinking. Wondering why this conversation made her so sad. Plan B—any plan—was better than the alternative of him leaving after Thanksgiving and not looking back. Yet deep inside, she felt that something major was happening here. Some turn in the road that could only lead to disaster. In the back of her mind, she’d been counting down. Three days. That’s all she had. And her heart had agreed to accept that. Her soul had decided it could endure the separation afterwards. She didn’t regret having taken a chance with her heart. She’d survived losing him once before. She could do it again.

  But what he spoke of now . . . it was half. Half a commitment. Half a relationship. Half of a future.

  “What things would we figure out?” she asked woodenly.

  “Like where I would stay,” he murmured, confused. He tried to see her face again, but she kept her focus on her fingers, moving through the clinging bubbles.

  “Let’s say you decide to stay here, with me,” she said.

  He smiled against her shoulder and kissed her there, rocking his hips beneath hers in a languid, sensuous caress. “Let’s say that.

  “What happens then?” she asked, trying to hold onto her thoughts. Knowing if she didn’t keep going, she might not have the chance again later.

  “What do you mean? You want me to predict the future?”

  Ah, there it was. That defensive note she’d been expecting. She’d heard it before, when they were young. When she’d asked for more than he’d wanted to give.

  “I want you to tell me where you hope it goes from here,” she said.

  JT shifted behind her. That movement lacked the fluid sexuality of the one before it. He was tensing up. Withdrawin
g.

  “I can’t do that,” he said.

  “Why not? Because you’re not sure?”

  “Of course I’m not—wait. You’re sure? You know where you want to go from here?”

  “I never stopped being sure, JT,” she said in a low voice. “Call me small town, call me whatever you want. I never really got over you. And now I’ve opened my heart again . . . and I can’t pretend I didn’t. So if my asking you what you want scares you? Then run away, JT. Do it now.”

  He drew back, sloshing water over the side of the tub. “What’s going on, Madison?”

  She sighed and covered her face, shook her head. Took a deep breath. After a moment, she stepped out of the bath and wrapped a towel around her. The air felt chilled after the hot water and the embrace of the big, warm man who’d held her. JT stared at her with narrowed, watchful eyes. He was lost and bewildered in this conversation. She didn’t blame him. She was leading the way, and even she was unsure of where she meant to go. She almost felt sorry for him, but she had too many unsettled emotions of her own to spare any for the man who’d whipped them into chaos.

  JT stood as well, grabbing a towel and cinching it at his waist. She’d just spent hours making love to him, but the sight managed to steal her breath, anyway.

  Still dripping, he said, “From the second I told Hamilton that I’d meet him here and listen to what he had to say, I was thinking of you, Madison.”

  She looked up, wanting it to be true.

  He shook his head. “But you don’t even know me. Not anymore. “

  Of all the things he could’ve said, that one cut deep. “Do you believe that? Do you really believe that I don’t know who you are? You don’t think you know me? What if I was only a core?”

  “A what?”

  “If all that was left was the core of me. You don’t think you’d recognize that? The fundamental parts that make me me?”

  His mouth was open, confusion rioting in his eyes. “Madison, I don’t know what you want me to say. Yes, I hope this works out. Because all those years I was gone, I didn’t just forget about you, either. But we’re different people, now. And I’m looking forward to learning who you’ve become . . . to you doing the same with me . . . .”

  She nodded, willing herself to back off the ledge she’d somehow reached. He sounded rational, caring. And she sounded like a crazy female stereotype, looking for love in all the wrong places. She took a breath, wiped her eyes, and forced a small smile.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, when she wasn’t sure it was true. “I didn’t mean to lay that on so heavy. Guess I’m trying to get my bearings.”

  His exhalation held relief. He stepped forward and pulled her into his arms, holding her chilled body in his warm embrace.

  “We’re both doing that, Madison.” She nodded, again, face pressed against his chest. “And I promise you, we’ll figure things out.”

  She wanted to believe that. Lord, how she wanted to believe that.

  Reluctantly, she pulled away. “I need to get ready for work, now,” she said.

  He stared at her for a minute too long, making her feel like he could see right inside her. And she felt far too vulnerable for that.

  “Yeah,” he said at last. “I’ve got to get going, too. I’m supposed to meet my brothers up at the cabin.”

  Madison smiled, but it wasn’t real. “Okay. I’ll see you later.”

  JT cupped her face and kissed her so sweetly, she almost cried. “You’re going to see a lot of me,” he said. “Get used to it.”

  “I will,” she answered, but she didn’t mean that either.

  Chapter Eleven

  JT stood on the wrong side of the door, listening to the shower run, wondering what just happened. Wondering if opening the door, getting in with her, would make things better or worse?

  He’d tripped up somewhere and now he didn’t know how to fix it.

  You know me.

  He did. He knew the big heart and quick smile. The straight talk and tender lips. But she was asking for the impossible. Too much, too fast. He hung his head, remembering his conversation with Cody.

  Evidently, JT didn’t know a damn thing about women, either.

  Dejected, bewildered, he went home to shower and change so he could head up to the cabin and meet his brothers. Later, he’d be back at Madison’s door and they would do exactly what he’d said.

  Figure things out.

  When he got home, he found his mom in the kitchen, wearing a shimmering silky nightgown with an ornate robe over it. He blinked, surprised. Not her usual morning garb, but he didn’t think much of it as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

  “How was your date?” she asked in a too-cheerful voice, with a too-bright smile.

  “It had its moments.”

  “Good. Good. Are you headed up to meet your brothers now?” A storm’s blowing in so the roads are going to be bad.”

  “Yeah. After I clean up.”

  “You’re going upstairs?”

  “That’s where the shower is.”

  “Well, I thought maybe you’d want to skip it and just get up there before the storm hits.”

  “Don’t worry about the storm. I have four-wheel drive. I’ll grab the chains out of the garage just in case.”

  She nodded and took a hasty sip of her coffee.

  “Everything okay, Mom?”

  “Yes. Everything’s fine. Everything okay with you?”

  Everything was hell and gone from okay, but he didn’t want to tell his mother that. No way was he discussing Madison with her, though she seemed all wound up to hear the details.

  “I heard something weird last night,” he said instead.

  His mother paled. “What?”

  “Madison said that she’d heard dad was going to be in town. She said his name was linked with the investment deal we’re out here to talk about. You know anything about that?”

  His mother made herself busy wiping off counters that were already spotless. Her agitation set off alarms all through him.

  “Mom?”

  “I’m not supposed to say anything,” she answered, concern heavy in her voice.

  “About what?”

  “Hamilton wanted to tell you himself.”

  JT could feel the tension climbing up his spine, digging its tentacles into his brain. He hadn’t started with a lot of patience, but what little he had, just ran out. “Tell me what, Mom?”

  “You have to promise not to be angry.”

  “I’m already angry. Tell me.”

  “The investor . . . the one who made such a lovely offer on the cabin? He’s a friend of your father’s.”

  All the blood drained from his head. JT steadied himself against the counter. “Go on.”

  “And . . . your father is brokering the deal.”

  Fuck.

  For a moment, he couldn’t even say that much. He could only stare at his mother like she had two heads and one of them belonged to an alien.

  “You knew about this?” he managed at last. Of course, she had. She’d just said as much. But his brain couldn’t get over that huge hurdle.

  Your dad is brokering the deal.

  His deadbeat, piece of shit dad. Hamilton knew how JT felt about him. Hamilton knew that JT would not have agreed to even listen had he known his dad was involved in any way, shape or form.

  “Does Scout know?” he demanded.

  Silently, she shook her head, no doubt transfixed by the steam surely shooting out of his ears.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked worriedly.

  He was going to drive up to the cabin and wring Hamilton’s neck, that’s what he was going to do. He turned to head for the stairs.

  “JT?” A note of panic had entered his mother’s voice, now.

  “What?” he said through gritted teeth, facing her again, trying to remember that she was just the messenger. But she’d known and she’d never said a word.

  “Uh,” she began, then stopped, eyes shifting
to something over his shoulder.

  JT spun around, expecting to find Hamilton or Scout standing there. Instead, he came face to face with Henry Venti, wearing nothing but a pair of silky red boxers and sheepish grin.

  Incredulous, JT looked from his mother who had now turned a rosy shade of tomato, to Henry who beamed at him.

  “Good morning,” Henry said in his booming voice.

  Maybe if the morning hadn’t taken such a wrong turn with Madison he might have behaved better. Maybe if his mother hadn’t just confirmed that Hamilton had stabbed him in the back with this deal from his dad, he’d have shown some control. Or maybe if he didn’t know that Henry had already lost one wife due to infidelity . . . . and just maybe if Henry had been wearing fucking pants, JT wouldn’t have lost it so completely.

  But all those things had happened and before he could even think, he punched the galloping gourmet right in the face.

  Chapter Twelve

  Madison knew Chris would be waiting for her at Lane’s with a million questions, and more than anything, she wished she could just skip it. Skip going to work, skip talking to her best friend and skip the tears that were just waiting to fall. But the holiday season was upon them and she had a dozen orders to fill on top of the usual business. They didn’t have to be done today but if she started procrastinating now, she’d never get them done on time.

  She and Moof walked in the door expecting to find him armed with coffee and a smile. The coffee was waiting, but there was no accompanying smile. Chris sat behind the counter, staring broodingly into his cup.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey,” he answered, his voice so blue it made her forget her own problems for the moment.

  “What’s wrong, Chris?”

  He sighed and shook his head, but after a few moments of coaxing, she finally got him to talk.

  “You saw me with Cody last night?”

  She nodded. “I wondered what was going on. You two looked pretty intense.”

  “Yeah, that’s usually how the closet talk goes.”