His Tattooed Virgin(Divine Creek Ranch 12)(30)

“Pretty much,” he murmured then eased into the alleyway behind the studio. “You just hold on to me, okay?” He meant more than just maintaining her seat behind him. Because I don’t want to think about losing you, just when I’ve found you. “Tell me about your day.”

On the way to the lake, Jayne gave him the rundown on her “sucky” day, but he noted that she didn’t sound as stressed, at least until he stroked her hand where it rested on his abdomen.

With a regretful tone, Jayne said, “Seth, what if—”

Seth squeezed her hand gently. Don’t go there until the doctors tell you that you have to. “No ‘what ifs,’ Jayne. How about some ‘why nots’ instead?” She squeezed him and was quiet for several minutes.

Jayne was so unlike what he was used to. Innocent, caring, and generous. He saw it in the way she gave of herself to the kids in the library, in the way she interacted with her cousins and friends. He couldn’t picture her with a cynical attitude or expression. She embraced each new experience with relish, even ones that intimidated her, like riding on his motorcycle for the first time on July 4th. She’d been intimidated but she’d put her uncertainty aside and tried it, and enjoyed it. Behind him, she shifted, pressing her full breasts against his back, and he groaned audibly.

Catching himself, he cleared his throat as she asked, “You okay?”

“Perfect.” She stroked his chest with one hand while the other stayed on his abs. If she keeps doing that I’m going to be her willing slave, doing whatever she wants me to.

He’d have sworn he’d felt the same way for Tamar three years ago when they’d first gotten together. He’d been enthralled by her free-spiritedness. When he’d left the United States to travel with her, he’d done it with the purpose of seeing the world and furthering his knowledge of his craft in different cultures, and she’d told him she wanted the same thing. But the nightlife, shopping, and socializing had quickly won her attention over pursuing her own art.

He found a flat spot overlooking the lake and she helped him spread out the paper drape he’d brought from the workroom so they’d have something to sit on. Once they were settled, he opened the paper takeout boxes and fed her a bite of Moo-shu pork with chopsticks.

“Teach me how?” she asked as she pulled another pair of sticks from their paper package. He showed her the proper way to hold them and laughed out loud when she tried on her own and the pork went sailing through the air and ricocheted off a tree.

“We’ll let the animals have that one.” She giggled as she captured the next bite and quickly stuffed it in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed, then said, “Tell me where all you’ve traveled to.”

“Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, all over Europe. I also saw a little of India.”

Jayne licked her full lower lip after taking another bite and groaned happily as she chewed. He nearly closed his eyes, he enjoyed the sound of her pleasure so much. He wanted to bask in it, but she was asking him a question.

“How long were you there?”

“Nearly two years.”

“Wow. How did you survive?”

“I had some money saved, and I worked, practicing what I was learning as often as I could. It was exhilarating and I met some amazing people.” She sat cross-legged before him and, on a whim, he lifted her braid from where it rested over her breast. He enjoyed the fraction of a second that his knuckles brushed against her breast as he ran the braid through his hand and then removed the elastic band.

“What are you doing?”

“Playing.” He ran his fingers through the sections of her hair and hid a smile at the way her eyes rolled as she closed her eyelids. Someone liked having their hair played with. She blinked after a few seconds and the roses in her cheeks bloomed a deeper shade of pink. She disarmed him with her responses and he knew that, good intentions aside, she was wearing him down without even realizing it. She turned her attention to balancing another bite of Moo-shu pork between the chopsticks.

“What’s the strangest food you ate while you were traveling? Did anyone trick you into eating something gross?”

Seth chuckled and shuddered at the memory. “In Japan, one of my teachers tricked me into eating shirako.” His friends had eaten them too and then laughed with him about it when they’d told him what it was.

“What’s that?” She took another bite, waiting for his answer.

“Fish sperm sacs.”

Jayne stopped chewing for a second and eyed him.

“Raw.”

Jayne’s shoulders started shaking and her eyes watered. She started chewing again and he fell back on the drape laughing as she made a motion like she was going to stab him with her chopsticks. When she finally swallowed, she gasped and laughed wholeheartedly. “You waited until I had a mouthful to tell me that.”