Clover by Braxton Cole Page A

foresight. If he’d been thinking, he would have slipped his fingers beneath the sheer satin fabric to touch her bare breast, but he was too overwhelmed by what they were doing. His only priority was to keep doing whatever it was that was drawing that sexy whimper from Clover.
    Except he really, really wanted to feel her skin, feel the pucker of her nipple beneath his thumb rather than the imprint of it through her bra. To do that, he’d have to stop touching her, if only for a moment, and that was made impossible by the noises she was making.
    She wrenched herself away and grabbed his hand at the same time. “God,” she panted into his mouth and held his hand still. He swiped his thumb against her nipple again just to see what she’d do. She jerked and moaned, then pushed his hand away completely. “Barbecue.”
    The word barely penetrated the haze and he rested his forehead against hers to try and settle his body. “Right.”
    Clover looked at him, her eyes hooded and full of hope. “We can finish this after we eat if you want.”
    He nodded, sobered by the reality of what she was offering. His body, especially his cock, loved the idea of going further, but a very large voice of doubt yelled that he wasn’t ready, that he’d do it wrong and mess things up between them. He’d waited this long to have sex because he wanted it to be right, special. With Clover, he definitely wanted to take the next step, but the pressure to do it right was even greater.
    The reality that they were both leaving at the end of summer made him second guess everything. He already couldn’t imagine how he was going to let her go, but he knew it would be harder if they shared something as intimate as sex.
    It all added up to make him far more reluctant than he should be. At nineteen, he should be jumping all over it when a hot woman offered herself to him, but he’d seen firsthand with his parents what happened to two people who listened to their bodies over logic. They were miserable together and that permeated every aspect of their lives, especially their relationship with him.
    Clover was different, he knew. She loved her family and he’d never heard her raise her voice in anger. Hell, he’d never seen her angry. She was too logical, driven by the need to be practical. There was no reason to think he would repeat his parents’ mistakes with her.
    Jake shook his head. He was getting carried away. He needed to relax and let his feelings and their relationship evolve naturally. When he was in the moment with Clover, nothing else mattered. He wanted everything from her and all his second thoughts evaporated.
    He decided to let it all go, at least for now, and kissed Clover softly on the lips. The only thing he was absolutely certain of was how much he enjoyed doing that. They could sort the rest out later. “Right, let’s get that barbecue started.”
    “Over here.” She led him around to the back of the deck.
    “Wow.” Jake expected a barbecue like his parents had. They’d bought it at Home Depot and his dad put it together one weekend with the help of a lot of swearing and several beers. It was about three feet wide and one of the wheels fell off if they tried to move it.
    This barbecue was nothing like that. There was a fifteen foot long set of cabinets with a marble countertop. On one end, there were two long silver hoods. He guessed they were about four feet each. Next to that, there was a four-burner gas stovetop. Clover flipped up one of the lids and opened the cabinet door beneath it. She turned to Jake with a smile. “Can you turn on the propane?”
    “Sure.” Jake looked around for a small tank like he had at his house, but couldn’t find one. “If you tell me where.”
    “Down the stairs, right there.” Clover pointed at a set of tanks that stood just on the other side of the deck. They were obscured by a tall hedge that blocked the view of the yard. The tanks stood chest high to Jake.
    “This is like extreme