Diamond by Sharon Sala Page B

and his body as easily as she breathed.
    At first his movement inside her was nothing more than a slow burn that made her limbs weak and her heart race. And then it changed to a spiraling ache as he increased the power and speed. She felt his own need grow as he buried himself deeper and deeper into her in an all-consuming need for completion.
    When his quick, intense breaths became harsh gasps for air, she lifted herself to him, wrapped her legs around his waist, and took him with her into the light.

    Jesse stared mindlessly up toward the ceiling and tightened his arms around her as she slept toward morning. He remembered the first touch of their bodies as they had joined, and then everything after that was an intense blur of heat and need. He’d never been as swept away by passion in his entire life as he had by this woman.
    Diamond moaned in her sleep, and to Jesse it sounded like a sob. He looked down in sudden fright, aware that the woman he held in his arms had become more than a passing fancy. The thought of her pain was unbearable to him, just as was the thought of never loving like this again.
    “Ah, God, lady,” he whispered. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to love you, not like this.” He ran his hands gently up and down her arms and then pulled the sheet over them both. “I wasn’t supposed to love you…but I do.”
    Only Diamond didn’t hear him, and when morning came, Jesse didn’t repeat it. He could only stare in wonder as the sunlight coming through his window blazed a path across her hair and brought a myriad of colors to life. And when he ran his fingers through the thick, honey-colored strands, the highlights glittered, like diamonds falling through his hands.

    Henley let himself in the back door and started the coffee before he noticed that the food he’d prepared the day before was still untouched. He was walking through the living room on his way upstairs when he spotted the first article of clothing on the steps above. It didn’t take him long to see the path of clothes, or to notice that they weren’t exclusively Jesse’s.
    He smiled to himself and then made a hasty but quiet retreat back downstairs. It looked as if his boss had gotten over his anger about the truck. He walked into the kitchen, pulled pen and paper from a drawer, and began to compose a note.
    Henley closed the back door quietly behind him, locking them in and himself out. He’d just given himself the day off, and from the look of things in the house, he didn’t think anyone was going to mind.

    The phone rang in another part of the house. Jesse’s answering machine picked up the call. And no matter how loudly Tommy yelled into the phone, no one got on the line.
    He slammed it down in disgust, knowing that he’d have to make a trip out to Jesse’s ranch if he wanted to accomplish any work today, or else wait until tomorrow.
    Tommy rolled off his bed and started to dress when he remembered how withdrawn Jesse had been on the way home. Something told him that pushing Jesse into working on his only day of rest might be a mistake. He yanked his pants back off, plopped down on the bed, and dug in his shirt pocket for the unopened pack of cigarettes.
    He’d bought them in Denver, right after Jesse had refused the offer of the buxom Bobbie Lee. It was the first time Tommy could ever remember Jesse completely turning off at the sight of a pretty female fan.
    “Damned woman,” he muttered as he peeled the wrapper and tapped out the first cigarette he’d held in over a year. He slid in into the corner of his mouth, struck a match, and took the first drag. It was intensely satisfying, he told himself, and well worth the wait. If he had to suffer that blonde bitch in Jesse’s life, he wasn’t going to do it willingly. A man had to have some pleasures, he thought…and besides, everyone dies eventually. How he got there was his business.

    Diamond woke slowly and looked down at the head pillowed