Despite the fact that her feet were singing a sad tune and her body was tired from head to toe, Auggie pulled the Jeep into the grocery store parking lot. Josh had been reclining against his seat with eyes closed, but they opened when the vehicle came to a rest.
“We’re home already? Did I doze?”
“No but go ahead if you want. I’m just picking us up food.”
Josh straightened in his seat and looked out the window. The combination of trans-Atlantic travel and keeping up with the pace of Auggie’s lifestyle had him knackered. He had no idea how she did all she did without falling on her face.
“Aren’t you tired? I’d think we could scrounge up food at the house. Or order pizza again.”
“I am not eating pizza for Christmas dinner,” she said. “And I’d rather not brave the shops tomorrow on Christmas Eve.”
“Christmas Eve already,” Josh said. “You have the leftovers, though. Surely that is enough turkey for the season.”
“Yes,” Auggie said, “I have leftovers. Don’t think I don’t know what you did with yours.”
“Lor, woman. He needed it far more than I.”
She couldn’t argue with him on that score. After they’d served the meal, they’d both stayed to help with the cleaning. If he’d wished, she’d have made excuses for her foreign guest. Instead, it had been Josh who had insisted. So, she’d scraped plates and washed dishes and he’d cleared and stripped tables, cleaning, folding and storing them.
All the volunteers had received a plate of turkey dinner to take with them as a thank you for their troubles. Hers sat, wrapped in tinfoil, on the Jeep’s back seat. Josh, though, had handed his off to one of the afternoon’s guests. He’d thought he’d done so secretly, but she’d seen the handover take place, had seen the misty eyes and triumphant smile of the man who’d walked off into the night with a plate in one hand and a gift-wrapped pair of wool socks and mitts in the other.
It had made her own eyes mist over. There was no way she’d let a man with a heart as huge as Josh McLaughlin’s eat pizza for Christmas dinner.
Which was why, regardless of how her feet screamed at her, Auggie opened the door to her Jeep and stepped outside into the crisp evening. She heard the Jeep’s passenger door slam closed, but she didn’t wait for Josh to join her, just moved off with her usual brisk steps.
“Augusta.”
He jogged over to join her. When she didn’t stop for him, he simply took both her arms in his hands and tried again.
“Auggie, wait. I don’t expect you to cook me a Christmas meal. You do know that?”
“Did I say I was cooking it for you?” She gave him the kind of look a teacher might reserve for a slightly slow child. He didn’t buy it for a moment. “And anyway, I won’t do a turkey. Not with it just being the two of us. Something simple and easy. So don’t worry your pretty little head.”
She smiled at him to take any sting from her words and attempted to resume walking. Josh wasn’t quite ready to let it go. He didn’t want to let her go, in truth, so he stepped into her when she would have moved around him, and he pulled her gently into his body. When his arms wrapped around her, he felt the way she stiffened. Almost immediately, though, she softened against him. With his eyes at half mast, he rested his chin on the top of her head and simply breathed her in right there in the centre of the lot.
“I’m going to remember this Christmas,” he murmured. Pulling away ever so slightly, his fingers lifted her chin and his lips touched hers with a gentle finesse that made Auggie yearn for every little bit of him. He made her yearn for years and years of him. Of moments just like this one, for the rest of their lives.
“Josh.”
She whispered his name as he rested his forehead against hers. They stood there a moment longer before he backed up and let his arms drop to his side. Reaching over, he offered his hand. With only the barest hesitation, she took it, and they walked into the store holding hands like the sweetest of lovers.
“I’m not going to stop trying to convince you to fly home with me,” he said.
She glanced over at him from under her eyelashes. He’d said it on a completely conversational tone, but she heard it for the warning and the promise it was.
“I’d expect nothing less,” she told him with a smile. “And, it’s not like I wouldn’t enjoy the trip. I’m just…” She gave a shrug that lifted their joined hands, “Needed here.”
There were things he could have said, Josh knew. Although he suspected she didn’t realize it, she’d given him an opening by the admission she’d made. For now, though, he’d let it rest. They’d shop; they’d return home. If she’d let him, he’d take her to bed and make love to her until she didn’t want to live a moment without him.
He followed her around the store as she loaded items into the cart. Occasionally, he tossed a selection of his own into the mix. When it came time to pay, he held out his credit card and ignored her protests.
“You can buy my groceries anytime you want,” the cashier said to Josh. With the other woman getting her flirt on, Auggie simply surrendered. The cashier had a point, after all. She’d be back to paying for her own way soon enough.
“I’m supposed to be getting you to sign a contract,” Auggie grumbled as they wheeled the cart over to the Jeep and started loading up the bags, “Not making you pay for my dinner.”
Josh grinned at her. He didn’t bother to point out that he fully intended to eat the food they’d purchased, too. Or that she’d saved him hundreds of dollars by letting him stay at the house. Instead, he leaned in and settled the last bag against the back seat then shut the door and climbed into his seat.
Pulling the seat belt across his chest, he looked over at where Auggie now sat.
“I’ll sign your contract tomorrow. Tonight,” he paused, reached over and touched her arm with familiarity, “I’d like tonight to be about us. Can you give me that? Can we take the night, Augusta?”
“Yes.”
She said it simply. Yet, she meant it with every breath inside her. Maybe she couldn’t have him forever, but she could be his for the night. She was looking into his eyes when she said it, felt the satisfaction, the heat that immediately flared. There was something else there, too, and Auggie blinked when she recognized it -- relief.
He’d worried she’d turn him down.
The knowledge made her heart hurt, just a little. Turning down Josh McLaughlin was something she suspected might be beyond her. Nor did she want to. For as long as he was here, Auggie thoroughly and completely wanted to savour every moment. She would remember this Christmas, too. Once he returned home, she would relive every moment.
For tonight, she’d pretend he was truly her guy. She’d lie to herself willingly and love him like they’d never part. And when the time came to say goodbye, well, there’d be memories to cherish on dark, lonely nights.
She pulled up outside the liquor store and unbuckled.
“What are ye doing, fine thing?”
Auggie looked over at Josh and let out a deep breath. Then she smiled.
“If we’re were going to celebrate, if I’m going to seduce you tonight, I plan to set the scene to perfection. You’re a whiskey man, so that’s what we will drink. Since I don’t happen to have any on hand…”
She shrugged and started to open her door. Josh lunged and grabbed her wrist.
“Hold up. Wait just a moment. Yer seducing me tonight?”
“Yes,” Auggie said and gave a single definitive nod.
“Auggie, luv, you won’t be needing whiskey to do that.”
She gave him a look that somehow managed to be shy and determined all together.
“I want it to be a night you remember.”
“Luv.” There were just no words to tell her how she moved him. “Do you even know how to pick out a decent whiskey? Shouldn’t I be the one to go in?”
“I can figure it out. My knowledge of the spirit might be incomplete, but I’ll do my best to choose well.” At his dubious expression, she shrugged and tugged her hand free of his. “I’ll ask someone. Then tonight I’ll paint my body with the brew, and watch you cleanse me with your tongue.”
He choked. Just simply swallowed his own tongue right then and there. The images her words burned into his brain left him with an instant hard on. She waited until she was certain her words had hit their mark, then she slid out of her seat. She left him cursing inventively.
She was back in moments, the bottle the clerk had helped her select buried in a brown bag. Josh reached for it, curiosity etched all over his face, but she shook her head and held it out of his reach.
“Unh uh.” Settling it behind her seat in the rear of the Jeep, she turned to smile at him. In response, he groaned. Signaling, she pulled out into traffic.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Josh turned his gaze on her as she drove at the most sedate pace he’d ever experienced as her passenger. Now she decided to pay attention to speed limits.
“What makes you think I even want to be seduced?”
Her answer was a snort. Flicking her gaze from the road to the thickness tenting his pants, she gave him an incredulous look.
“Fine. I want it. Can you not drive this thing faster then? Because once we’re home, I’m going to be giving you the grandest, deadliest screw of yer life.”
Auggie grinned. Maybe his words sped her heartbeat, but she’d be damned if she’d speed the Jeep up. Let him suffer. Sure, her own breath was shallow with anticipation, but that was part of the memory, the fun.
“When we get home, you’ll be unloading these groceries. I’ll be upstairs taking a quick shower.”
“Fuck the groceries,” Josh growled, “And damn the shower. We’ll be needing one together after, anyway.”
Delighted with his impatience, she laughed as they parked in the driveway. She squealed, though, when she’d barely stepped out of the vehicle and already he was at her side of the Jeep. He stepped into her body, used his weight to press her back up against the side of the jeep, and his lips descended.
He kissed her with quick, hard gulps, his mouth meeting hers with heady force. She could taste his desire, breathe in the need he had of her. Returning his kisses with the same hunger, Auggie reached around and let her hands cup his ass, squeeze his buttocks. In response, he growled, and ground himself into her. When his lips moved to her neck and nipped, she yelped, and arched herself into him.
“There’s ice cream…” She broke off against a moan as his lips sucked the spot on her neck he’d nipped, as his hands curved over the wool of her dress to squeeze her breasts. “It will… melt.”
She managed to get the words out between pants -- barely -- and then his hands slid behind her, cupped her butt and lifted her so that she had to grasp his shoulders or fall back.
“No chance.” She felt like heaven pressed against his body. He was throbbing, straining against his zipper. He wanted her with a ragging need. He wanted her right here, in the open under the silent starry sky, wanted to watch the silver streams her breath made as he pounded himself into her and let the heat burning inside him scorch away the cold of the night air. “Not in this weather.”
He staggered sideways with her, set her butt on the hood of the Jeep, and parted her legs with his body. Lifting up her skirts, he lay his palm flat against her inner thigh. She hissed as the cold hit her, but he kept his fingers moving until they travelled all the way up and found gold.
When his fingers shoved aside her panties and circled her, she whimpered and clamped her thighs around him.
“Josh, no.”
“No?” His fingers had slipped inside her and now he pulled them out. The sensation was too delicious to resist, and Auggie moaned against his neck.
“Oh. Yes.” She rocked her hips forward against his hand. It felt so good. He had her drenched -- no way she could deny. “We’re in the front yard. People will see.”
“It’s dark. And just the two of us here. There’s no one to see. No one could, anyway.” He moved his fingers over her again and she whimpered, surrendered. “There’s my girl,” he murmured in approval. “Just like that now.”
“The house…”
“Next time,” he promised. “Right now, I want inside you. I want to take you here and now for all the stars to bear witness that I am Auggie’s and she is mine.”
His words were like some sort of strange spell. Listening to him had all logic spinning away from her. There was a perfectly good private house only feet away, but as his fingers stroked her and his words enticed her, Auggie knew she was his for the taking right here on the hood of her Jeep.
“Do it,” she said. Lifting her legs, she wrapped them around his back. She heard the teeth of his zipper parting and then the full, hot head of him was pressed against her lips. He spread her with his fingers and plunged fully into her with one, massive, deep stroke. She groaned as her body accepted him, as he stretched her, filled her. Sensations rocketed through her as he pounded into her with fast, demanding thrusts that she met with needy little murmurs of encouragement.
This was no gentle seduction, no sweet love making. No, this was mating, plain and simple, and Auggie was every bit as swept away as was Josh.
“Watch me,” he ordered. “I want your eyes on mine when I take you. I want you to know what this is. What I feel, want from you. What it will be always.”
She did as he wanted, locking her eyes on his face as the night shadows raced over their straining bodies. There was no question in her mind what it was Josh wanted her to know -- he had no intention of walking away or giving her up. Given half a chance, he would make her belong to him body and soul. The knowledge had her body clenching around him. As if only waiting for the right signal, Josh reached between them and stroked her as he thrust. It took less than a moment before she went off, the climax shooting through her system like a falling star.
He covered her mouth with his, swallowed her cries of ecstasy. Grabbing her hips, he pumped himself into her in faster, harder strokes. Only at the last moment, with the groan that was tearing at every one of his muscles ripping from his throat did Josh pull out. The icy air hit him, and he closed his fist around himself immediately. One stroke of his cupped hand down his length was all it took to have him emptying himself into the dark of the night.
“Oh God.” Reality slapped Auggie on the side of the head. “We didn’t use a condom.”
“You’re safe, lass,” Josh said, leaning into her as he did his best to slow the heaving of his chest. “I’ve no diseases. And I pulled out.”
“Stupid,” Auggie muttered. She was in shock. How could she have let Josh… without protection… in her bloody front yard, even.
And yet, as he reached down and zipped himself, as he straightened her skirt, spanned her waist with his hands and lifted her off the Jeep, she could already feel desire pooling inside her again. She frowned, but she placed her palms on his chest, felt his heart still thundering underneath her fingers, and she felt her pulse zip.
“I’ve never…”
“Not used protection?” He gave a little smile. “I’m not exactly in the habit, either. Seems I lost my head just a little, Auggie luv.”
“I’ve never made love outdoors,” she said with her lips quirking up at the corners.
The smile reminded Josh of a cat who’d licked up the cream, but the way she dipped her head shyly was so sweet he felt his body respond to her again. Apparently, he had an extremely rapid response time for Augusta Chamberlain.
“And how do you feel then?”
“Grateful for trees,” she said, and when Josh laughed, she joined him.
“For trees. I bring you to a shuddering climax, but it’s trees you’re thankful for.” Shaking his head, he turned her towards the front door and gave that fine trunk of hers a light slap. “Go on in with you, Auggie. I’ll bring in these bags. And Augusta?” He waited until she turned to look his way. “Clean yourself up, lass, but don’t lose those boots.”
“Why?”
“Because my love, someone promised to offer me a lick of whiskey. And I want you wearing nothing but those boots when I collect.”
He watched her eyes flare wide. The look on her face was so utterly shocked, it was all he could do to keep his hands to himself. The urge to pull her back into him was ridiculously strong.
She read his expression. Didn’t wait. Just turned her back and fled.
“Wise woman,” Josh muttered. He watched as she disappeared into the house and shut the door firmly behind her. Dipping down, he grabbed the shopping bags in one hand and the brown liquor store bag in the other. Grabbing the neck of the bottle he smiled in anticipation of the night to come.
He’d flown across the Atlantic to further his business interests. Who knew he’d find his match waiting for him here at the same time? That, Josh accepted without reservation, was exactly what he’d done. Auggie was the woman for him. None other would do.
Hauling her groceries through the front door of her home, he smiled with anticipation at the many ways he would show her just that tonight.