Tori Carrington - Reckless

Oh, he knew that the last thing he should be doing was baring the true way he felt about Heidi, especially to Heidi herself. But, damn it, the instant her soft lips had met his, he’d been incapable of doing any differently. He’d lived with his desire for her for so long that he couldn’t have stopped himself if he tried.

His heart beat unevenly in his chest as he fitted himself against her slick portal. She’d given him the go ahead. That’s all he needed just now. He’d deal with the rest afterward…

Heidi shivered and curved her feet around his hips, bringing her vulva to rest solidly against his pulsing length. He watched, fascinated, as she leaned back against her arms, proudly displaying her full breasts, their pink tips seeming to scream out to him for attention. He bent to take one stiff nipple into his mouth, rolling it around like a pebble on his tongue as he entered her in one smooth, long stroke.

Her moan wound around him more tightly than her legs, reaching for something inside of him he hadn’t known was there. He slid his hands up over her hips and then under her, providing a pad against the hard surface as he pulled her slightly over the edge of the counter and then entered her again.

Sweet mercy…

She felt better than any woman had a right to.

He told himself that he was reacting so powerfully to her because he’d gone so long without a woman’s company. But he’d never been very good at lying, not even to himself.

He grasped the flesh of her bottom more tightly, holding her still as he thrust into her again, the action causing her breasts to jiggle. He gritted his back teeth, staving off climax. No. He’d waited too damn long for this for it to be over so quickly.

Kyle paced himself, slowing his strokes until his balls felt as though they might explode. Yes. That was…

Heidi’s back arched and she stretched her neck, letting loose a moan that bespoke her own pleasure. Her muscles contracted around him and she shuddered, reaching her own crisis point.

Just knowing that he was the one who had caused her so much pleasure rendered Kyle helpless to withhold his own climax.

HEIDI HAD HEARD of the morning after. But what did you call this?

Whereas she might now be seeking to cuddle with Jesse, she found herself slowly returning to the kitchen counter, hard and cold beneath her back.

Kyle appeared to be experiencing the same intrusion of reality, for while he lay against her, he was stiff and unmoving. And she guessed it wasn’t simply because he’d just come, but because he’d come while inside his best friend’s girl.

The instant she formulated the thought, Kyle pulled away from her, turning to put himself back together while she pushed up from the counter and did the same.

Oh, my God. What have I done?

Heidi had pulled on her panties and slacks and was reaching for her bra when the floor bucked under her. She grasped the counter edge for balance and closed her eyes tightly against the images of Kyle kissing her, touching her, making love to her.

She’d spent so much of her life avoiding situations like this that she had no idea what to do now that she had actually gone through one.

“Heidi?”

Kyle’s voice was soft behind her.

She held up a hand. “I’m okay.”

By okay, she meant that she wasn’t about to pass out. But she was by no means okay in the emotional sense.

“Are you sure?”

She forced herself to stand straight and take a fewdeep breaths, clutching her bra between her breasts as if the lacy material were enough to protect her against the world.

She nodded. “Yes.” She smiled at Kyle shakily without really seeing him. “I’m sure.”

She reached for her shirt and finished dressing.

Kyle cleared his throat, looking about as comfortable as she was. Which was not at all.

“Maybe I should get going…”

“Maybe you should go…”

They spoke at the same time.

Heidi averted her gaze, completely incapable of looking him in the eye for fear of what she might see there. It didn’t matter if it was the cool regard that she was used to seeing from him, or smoldering need; she didn’t think she could handle either just then.

“I’ll call you later,” he said, moving toward the door.

“No. No, don’t. Please.” Heidi swallowed thickly, hating the plaintive sound in her voice.

“Heidi…”

“Please. Just go.”

He did.

HEIDI WASN’T SURE what time it was. If forced to guess, she’d say after midnight. She was fuzzy on just how she’d gotten home, or why she’d ended up sitting on the kitchen floor, beyond that she’d gone to the refrigerator to get something cold to drink after a shower and had instead slid to the floor, holding the door open with her foot so that the cold air hit her hot face. She’d long since allowed the door to close but hadn’t been able to summon the energy to get up.

She was thankful that Jesse hadn’t popped up, as he sometimes did even when she requested time alone. She didn’t know what she would have done if he had. In the state she was in, likely she would have spilled everything the moment she opened the door to him.

And then what?

She rested her head against the shelf of her bent knees and tightly closed her eyes.

God, what had she done?

She hadn’t known it was humanly possible to want something so badly that you took it regardless of the consequences, only to find those same consequences hitting you in the face the moment after the deed was done. What had been up was now down, what had been right was now wrong.

And where she had been good she was now bad.

“You’re so judgmental, Heidi. If you’re not careful you’re going to be a bitter old woman by twenty-five.”

The words were a familiar refrain from her mother and, lately, her sister.

She’d never paid much attention to them and their opinions because, well, she’d always been in the right. She wasn’t the single mother of five children from three different men, only one of whom she’d ever been married to. And now her younger sister appeared to be following in their mother’s footsteps, marrying as soon as she found out she was pregnant and then divorcing before the kid was even born.

Melody lived on and off with their mother in the same cramped clapboard house where Heidi had been raised, with little more than two nickels to rub together between them at the end of the week.

“And now I’m one of them.”

She snapped open her eyes, the words serving to jerk her out of her state of shock.

Everything had happened so quickly she’d only thought about how her actions would impact her life with Jesse. She hadn’t stopped to consider the soul searching she would have to do to understand her actions.

She’d struggled to be such a good girl all her life, but the struggle hadn’t been about defeating temptation. Every child born with the name Joblowski had a soiled reputation from day one, and Heidi was determined hers wouldn’t be justified. But even though she’d never shown interest in any of the boys throughout middle school, she’d been called Heidi Ho merely through her relationship with her mother and her younger sister Melody, who had enthusiastically lost her virginity at thirteen and rushed headlong into womanhood without a care in the world.

It wasn’t until high school and meeting Jesse that she’d achieved any kind of identity of her own, separate from her family. And she’d always be grateful to him for that.

She rubbed the heel of her hand against her forehead, trying to loosen the tight knot there.

Gathering her wits about her, she slowly got to her feet. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but whatever it was, losing Jesse wasn’t an option. She loved him. He loved her. And there was no reason not to proceed with their plans.