Page 76 of Where You're Planted

“You were fucking perfect.”

Fire burned through him, jumping off his skin, surrounding her from all sides, but she was stubbornly smothering the sparks, refusing to catch. And for what? Despite saying she wasn’t ready, her moans and whimpers became more urgent. She slid her hand up to palm her own breast.

“Let me get you there,” he begged.

She whimpered in agony, and he understood: She wanted it, but she didn’t want this to end yet. Just like him.

But she didn’t know that he planned to do this all night and every free minute of the week he had with her. “As soon as you give me this one, we’re starting on the next one,” he promised. “Let go, sweetheart.”

“Fine,” she gasped. “Yes. Touch me.”

He wasted no time, pinning her hand to the bed so he could draw that nipple she was teasing into his mouth, his tongue matching the quick flick of his thumb on her clit.

She threw her head back with a cry of pleasure, her fingers clenching tightly around his hand on the bed just as she collapsed around him. He fucked her hard through it, murmuring a mindless monologue of curse-laden praise against her skin, until her whole body spasmed at the overstimulation and she pushed his hand away with a breathless laugh.

His dick twitched impatiently, but he fought his need, buried it deep, her aftershocks fluttering around him.

It was maybe seconds, or maybe a whole fucking lifetime, before she framed his face in her hands and began to roll her hips again, her eyes bright and open and fixed on his. “Jack,” she whispered, shaking her head a little, like she couldn’t believe this electric pull between them. She wasn’t denying him or herself anything now, but still, from somewhere deep, deep down, he felt compelled to beg her. For what, he didn’t know.

His heart clamored for hers in his chest, his sweat mixing with the water on her skin. He kissed her to stop himself from saying something reckless and irretrievable and matched her movement, a deep, slow grind that soon returned to quick thrusts until he couldn’t hold himself off anymore. His release barreled through him, ruthlessly uprooting pieces of him he’d thought were safe and secure and carving out a deep, jagged path that he knew, even in this endless, skittering moment, would leave his inner landscape changed forever.

—

In the morning, Tansy foundhim in his home greenhouse. She was swimming in his pearl-snap shirt from last night and a pair of stretchy shorts, and if he’d had half an imagination, this would have been his top fantasy of the last three and a half months.

“Morning,” he said, reaching from where he was kneeling to draw her to him by her waist. He kissed her stomach through his shirt, and she threaded her fingers into the hair at the back of his neck, scratching lightly. It sent a jolt of pleasure straight down his spine.

“You have a big greenhouse,” she said.

“Thanks for noticing.”

She playfully swatted his shoulder, then slid from hisgrasp to meander down a row of tables, around the far end, and back across from him on the other side. She looked at the pallet of flowers between them. “What is this?”

“An experiment.”

One curious eyebrow lifted.

“They’re pansies. I’m selecting for a darker color. Trying to get to black.”

“Goth pansies?” she asked. “Kai would love that. What else are you cooking up in here?” She walked to the end of the row and then around to the next. He followed, smiling as she bent to smell various plants, murmuring, “Nope. No. Not it.”

“What are you looking for?” he finally asked, sidling up behind her and brushing her hair to the side of her neck so he could kiss that soft slope, settling his hands at her hips, his fingers slipping under his shirt to the warm, soft skin of her belly.

“I have a theory,” she said, squirming when his touch tickled her.

“I’m listening.”

“If you can select for a specific color of flower, you must know other science-y plant stuff.”

“The word you’re looking for ishorticulture.”

“Whatever.” She slipped from his grasp again, and once more he followed like some lovesick dog. “My theory is…you smell insanely good to me. Like,crazygood. So I figure you must have some secret plant in here with powerful sex pheromones that you’ve extracted into an oil or something.”

He laughed.

“It’s unnatural, Jack.”

“Your attraction to me couldonlybe due to sex pheromones? From a plant?”

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