Free Better Than Before (RightMatch.com Trilogy) by Kathryn Shay

might explode. Annie was draped over him, killing him with the way she tasted, the texture of her hair, her body pressing every lovely curve against him. When she flicked open the buttons on his shirt and kissed the skin she bared, licked it, he was afraid he might go off like a kid with his girlfriend in the backseat of his father’s car.
    Yet, he couldn’t stop. Fleetingly, he thought again about how he’d always been in control with a woman. But not now. His hands went to her blouse. “Can I?”
    “Oh, Lord, yes.”
    He had enough sanity to be careful with the buttons and when he tugged the material out of her jeans. The dark, lacy bra she wore registered. It had a front clasp, which he released with shaky fingers. She was full, womanly in his palms. His mind blanked and he acted on instinct. Massaged her. Lifted her. Took a nipple into his mouth. Her hair curtained them and the feel of it made him granite hard. His face was buried in her neck when he heard the pounding on the hood.
    “Hey, get a room.” A brash voice from outside their cocoon broke the sexual spell.
    “You’re fogging up the windows,” another shouted.
    The sounds soon became distant as the intruders moved on.
    Annie collapsed against him. He held her tight, their hearts beating in a wild tattoo.
    Then she began to laugh.
    So did he.
    And he’d be damned, he enjoyed the mirth, even though his body was humming with desire.
    It was then that Spence realized how much this woman had come to mean to him. His feelings had snuck up on him, and now the force of them both frightened him and filled him with joy greater than he’d ever experienced.
    He had no idea what to do with all these emotions for the woman on his lap.
     

 
    Chapter 4
    Every spring, Julia, Lauren and Annie went to the Corn Hill Arts Festival held in a re-gentrified neighborhood of Rockland. At first, when none of the couples had children, they attended as a six-some with their husbands. Then they brought babies along in strollers. Now that she and Keith were divorced, the three women kept up the tradition with only the kids in tow. As it was Thursday, the day the festival began, they had to wait until the kids were done with school but there was plenty of daylight left.
    They stopped first at a booth which was selling silk scarves. “These are beautiful,” Annie said, running her fingers over the soft material.
    “They are.” Julia watched her. “How about if I buy us all one as a treat?” She was so generous and knew Annie couldn’t afford the steep prices at the festival.
    “No, thanks. But get something for yourself.”
    Combing through a stack of scarves, Julia asked, “So how was your date with the online guy?”
    “Great.”
    “Oh, my God, she’s blushing,” Lauren put in. “She has more to share, I know it.”
    Annie motioned to the woman behind the table. “Not now.” Her words were hushed and she cleared her throat. “I’m going outside to keep an eye on the kids.”
    The boys, Alex and Julia’s son, Mark, browsed at a pennant booth next to the scarves, and the girls, Hope and Lauren’s twins, Colleen and Cora, checked out purses right across from them.
    When she stepped into the sunlight, the guys hurried over. “Mom,” Alex said excitedly. “Mark says they got a game area. He found it online. It’s new this year. Can him and me go there and play?”
    Hope and Lauren’s twins approached her, too. “I’m bored,” Cora said. She resembled Lauren while Colleen favored Nick, her doctor father.
    Lauren and Julia joined them. “What’s up?” Julia asked.
    She told her friends the dilemma and suggested, “Why don’t I take all the kids to the playground. You two can keep shopping.”
    “No fair, Mom.” Alex again. “We’re too big for the playground.”
    Mark, fifteen, added, “We’re old enough to be on our own, Mrs. Kennedy. Honest.” Her friends’ kids kept forgetting she was no longer Mrs. Kennedy.
    Julia squeezed Annie’s shoulder.