For months, those deeply satisfying kisses were the extent of their necking. Their intimacy developed gradually, as their initial physical attraction matured into something stronger. She had yearned to feel his hand on her breast long before he had dared to place it there. From touching her through her clothing, he had advanced to reaching inside to caress bare skin. Now, her breast filled his gently kneading hand. They tempered the abandon with which they kissed so that they could fully experience the pleasure of their caresses. His lips whisked hers as she reached into his letter jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. Her hands moved over his smooth, hard chest. Reaching behind her, he unfastened her bra with a skill that he had developed from practice. He touched her nipples. They hardened beneath his stroking fingers.
Jade murmured her delight. When he pressed his open mouth over one nipple and applied his tongue to it, she gave a soft cry of longing. “Gary, I want to make love.”
“I know. I know.”
Her pantyhose fit tightly, but he worked his hand beneath them and into the dense curls that had been mashed flat. Only in the last few weeks had they allowed themselves to go this far. It was still new and strange and wonderful to feel Gary’s fingers caressing the most secretive part of her body.
She bit her lower lip to hold back her moans of pleasure. Her breasts were raised to sensitive peaks that he gently sponged with his tongue. She wanted to weep from the joy of sharing her body with him. Tonight, she decided to return the pleasure he so unselfishly gave her. She loved his tall, solid, athlete’s body and wanted to know it more intimately. Reaching between his thighs, she awkwardly pressed her palm against the fly of his pants.
Gary’s head snapped back. He sucked in a sharp breath. His caressing hand fell still beneath her pantyhose.
“Jade?”
She was embarrassed, but resolutely kept her hand where it was instead of drawing it back. “Hmm?”
“You don’t have to do that. What I mean is, I don’t want you to think I expect it.”
“I know. But I want to.” Her palm applied more pressure.
Whispering her name repeatedly, he grappled with his belt buckle, a button, and his zipper, then tentatively guided her hand inside his trousers. Beneath his underwear his skin was hot. His shaft was hard. He folded her fingers around it. Jade was shocked by how big it was. She’d had indications, of course, but feeling an indistinct bulge against her belly through her clothes was far different from enclosing his fully extended sex with her hand.
While he kissed her fiercely, she bashfully explored his erection. Her hand made a sliding motion up and down that stopped his breath. He groaned her name and slipped his finger up between the fleshy lips of her sex.
The motion caused a friction unlike anything Jade had ever fel
t. She tilted her hips up, reaching for him, reaching for something that eluded her. Again he moved his finger. It was like being skimmed by Fourth of July sparklers. Her entire lower body tingled.
“Gary?” This was a marvelous discovery. She wanted to tell him about it, share it with him. “Gary?” Her hand closed tightly around his penis.
With a low, frustrated growl, Gary pulled away from her and sat up. He pushed her hand away from his lap. “Stop. If you don’t, I’m going to make a mess.”
“I don’t care,” she whispered.
“I do.” Crossing his hands over the top of the steering wheel, he ground his forehead against his white knuckles. “Jade, I’m sick of this shit. I want to do it so bad.”
The promising tingles that she had felt now blinked and went out. She regretted that. They had been stunning, breathtaking, almost scary, but she wished she could have found out what they led to. Was it an orgasm?
But her primary concern was for Gary, who she knew was far more frustrated than she. She moved closer to him and smoothed her hand over his head.
“I don’t know which is worse,” he said hoarsely, “not touching you at all, or touching you to this point, where I want you so much I hurt all over.”
“I think not touching at all would be much worse. For me anyway.”
“It would be hell for me, too. But we can’t go on like this.”
“Then let’s not.”
He raised his head and looked at her. For several moments, his brown eyes searched her face. Then he lowered his gaze and shook his head regretfully. “We can’t, Jade. You’re the best thing I’ve got going for me. I can’t ruin it.”
“Why would making love ruin it?”
“What if you got pregnant?”
“I wouldn’t. Not if we take precautions.”
“You still could. Then our chances for getting out of this place,” he jutted his chin toward the windshield, “would be shot to hell. I’d have to grow soybeans for Ivan Patchett, and you’d have to go to work in his goddamn factory. Everybody would say I had no better sense than my daddy, and they’d be right.”
Because of the ever-growing number of little Parkers, the joke around town was that Gary’s father, Otis, didn’t know when to quit. That was just one of the stigmas that Gary was determined to shrug off.