attention to her other breast and gave it equal time.
Her tight grip on his hair demanded his attention as he kissed his way down the front of her. Grasping her panties, he tugged them down her legs and over her feet.
She held out her arms to him, welcoming him into her sweet embrace.
He went willingly, powerless to resist her when she looked at him with such love and longing in her expressive eyes.
Daisy wrapped her arms and legs around him, took him into her body and arched her back. Her lips on his neck were like a trigger, sending a live current through him. Every time she touched him it was like the first time all over again.
He took her slowly, wanting to draw out the pleasure as long as he could.
She clung to him, her fingertips digging into his back, her legs tightening around his hips.
The tight grip of her internal muscles derailed his plans to go slowly. He picked up the pace, rocking into her over and over again as he captured her lips in another incendiary kiss. She did this to him every time. She made him forget everything except the incredible high of losing himself in her.
And the high was indeed incredible, especially when they reached it together like they did this time. He loved that she was no longer shy about letting him hear how much she loved the way he made her feel. Her cries of pleasure did him in, and he finally let himself join her, making some noise of his own.
One of the things he loved best about making love to Daisy was the way she always soothed him afterward with soft strokes of her hand on his back and her fingers sliding through his hair. He knew absolute contentment in the arms of the woman he loved and could only hope his friend Jared would find a way back to the woman he loved.
*
Now that the moment was upon her, Elisabeth couldn’t think of a single thing to say. Watching Jared interact with his new friends had been illuminating. She’d seen their genuine affection for him and the generosity he’d shown in opening his home to them. Not to mention what he’d apparently done for Alex and Jenny. As incredible as it was, it was that kind of gesture that brought home how different they were. Those differences had caused her to often wonder if their relationship could work long term despite the incredible love they’d felt for each other almost from the very first night they spent together.
“Lizzie?” he said softly. “Are you going to tell me why you’re here?”
“I wanted to see you. I’ve missed you.”
He blew out a long deep breath filled with what sounded like angst. She couldn’t be sure. She’d never seen him filled with angst. She’d known only the happy, cocky, overly confident Jared James. The Jared sitting on the lounge next to hers was so far removed from that guy, she almost didn’t recognize him.
He was diminished, hesitant, wary and uncertain—four words she’d never have used to describe the Jared she knew and loved.
Even his hair was different. He’d let it grow out from the close-cropped cut he favored in the city. She’d never seen it so long but had to confess she liked it—a lot. Despite the other changes she saw in him, he was even hotter than he’d been before, if that was possible.
“I missed you, too.”
He wasn’t going to make this easy on her. Not that she could blame him after she’d ruined everything. She swallowed the hard lump that had formed in her throat and forced herself to continue. “I wanted to explain…”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to. It was really good of you to come here and all, but I don’t need any explanations.”
“ I need it! I need you to know why.”
“What does it matter, Elisabeth?”
That he called her by her full name hit her like a shot to the heart. He hadn’t called her Elisabeth since the night they met when he’d decided she would be his Lizzie. He’d never called her anything else, except for honey, baby, babe and sweetheart. She’d teased him about