Intimate Healing

Okay, here is the first chapter of something new I've been working on since November. It's almost complete, and I figured I'll share the first chapter before I send a partial out for publlishing. This is aimed at Harlequin Blaze so beware, lots of sexual innuendoes and content. I'm looking for people to cretique this and tell me if it's good enough and if not, what needs work?

WARNING: as previously stated, sex, sex, sex!!!

Chapter 1

Jordan’s heart stopped beating for a second when she saw him jogging just ahead of
her. It couldn’t be him! It just couldn’t. It had to be a look-a-like with the same sexy face and seductive blue eyes. No, it couldn’t be him. It must be the hot sun shinning in her eyes. The man she remembered had blond hair, and this guy had a sexy shaved head which made her think of bad boys who rocked in bed. The man she remembered didn’t have a six pack. This guy was running shirtless and his body was all tanned skin and sleek muscles. She remembered him as being sexy, but now he made sex on the beach seem tame. And he was tall then but he was taller now. She stopped in her tracks and blinked twice to ward off the hallucination. It must have been the melting heat that was making her hallucinate things. When she opened her eyes he was still there, and he still looked good. Okay, so she wasn’t hallucinating. He was really there. But how? This was California. She thought that she will never see him again, not since that night when . . .

“What’s wrong?” Petra Calian asked as she walked through the soft green grass trying to keep up with Jordan.

Jordan quickly turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. “Nothing,” she lied and quickened her pace. “Nothing at all.” She couldn’t tell her friend. It would be so embarrassing to say it to anyone, and seeing him again brought back the awkward feelings she had felt on that night when . . .

Petra ran to keep up with her and grabbed her arm, forcing Jordan to a stop. “Oh no, you’re not walking away. What’s up?”

Jordan turned sharply and was blinded by the overpowering afternoon sunlight that could blind even a cat. And cats were known for having great eye sight.

Tilting her head upward, she caught Petra’s suspicious eyes. “The sun was just glaring in my eyes, “Jordan lied, not so believably. Think, Jordan, think, she told herself. Maybe he won’t remember me? Yeah, it’s been long enough. Maybe he forgot all about me? Truth was, she knew she was acting childish. She had changed so much since that night when they almost made love he probably wouldn’t even remember her. She had dyed her hair; her figure had gone from that of a teenage girl to a woman of curves made for seduction. She had gone from shy and insecure, to being the most successful veterinarian in the whole county. Even if he did recognize her, what was the big deal, so much time had gone by that they would probably laugh about the past now.

Jordan shook her head and mentally rolled her eyes. Who was she kidding? He would never laugh about what she did to him. Oh no, never. For a moment, she laughed about it, at her own cruelty, and then she realized that what she had done was simply unforgivable.

“Bullshit.” Petra snapped her back to reality.
“Well it was.”

Quite suddenly a shadow fell upon them both and a deep male voice said, “Excuse me.”

Jordan practically jumped out of her skin at the tone of his voice. That had changed! It was sexy before, but it didn’t have the smoky feel of a passionate lover before. Before, his voice shook when he got hot and bothered. It shook with the need to be pleased. Now, she could almost guarantee that his voice wouldn’t shake. Now, she knew by the sound coming out of his mouth that he could please a woman sexually with just his words. He could turn a woman on enough for her to just close her eyes and hear him speak and work the magic with her own hands.

She was about to pass out with the fear that he might recognize her but he simply jogged around and continued jogging, now ahead of them. She exhaled and realized that she had been holding her breath.

Petra gave Jordan a knowing smile as she leaned in and whispered in her ear. “You know him.”

“No,” Jordan said and flipped her black hair, letting it bounce around her shoulders and down the middle of her back. It suddenly got a hundred degrees hotter and she felt like her blood will soon come to a boil.

He stopped and turned around and Jordan stopped suddenly just like a deer caught in headlights.

Yicks! What should she do? What could she do?

She quickly lowered her head, trying to avoid his gaze, avoid the spark of recognition that scared her so much.

Recognition marked his eyes and he smiled. His lips were so kissable, and she remembered those kisses. Oh, those sweet passionate kisses.

“Jordan?” He paused, somewhat uncertain. “Jordan Powells?”

“Y-yes,” she stuttered out and slowly lifted her head, giving him her best confused impression that she could muster up. For someone who lived in California, acting wasn’t her most natural gift and she hoped that this attempt at acting wouldn’t fail her the way lying had done her in the past couple of years. She was a brilliant liar in her teenage year but once she hit adult hood Jordan decided to give it up. Some skills can be lost if not practiced. “Do I know you?”

Petra rolled her eyes and Jordan elbowed her in the ribs, causing Petra to suppress a surprised yelp.

“Nathan,” he said and then decided that she might need more information. “Nathan Hill. Remember, Victor Mount High School. That was what, eleven . . . twelve years ago?”

“Oh yes, Nathan, how are you?” She smiled as if she had just realized who he was. She wondered if he could read through her. He wasn’t all that good at reading her before, twelve years ago; then again she lied better back then too. Scary how she lost her gift for telling a believable fib.

He took a few steps toward her and Jordan was tempted to run away, but that might seem to be a bit uncivilized. “Wow, you’ve changed. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
I didn’t change enough, she thought to herself. She had dyed her hair from an icky brown to a jet black; maybe she should have changed her icy blue eyes into vindictive green with colored contacts.

Sensing Jordan’s discomfort, Petra made herself known. “Hi, I’m Petra. I’m Jordan’s friend” She extended her bracelet covered hand at him and waited for him to shake it. Burges made himself known too as he barked in introduction and started wagging his tail. Petra gave her dog a stern look and put a ring covered finger to her lips. Burges sat down on the warm summer grass, and then he laid down making himself comfortable.

“Hey there,” said Nathan as he bent down to pet the pug between the ears, and Burges absorbed the loving attention he was getting. He signed as if annoyed when Nathan turned his attention back to Jordan and Petra.

“High school, huh?” She got her curly honey colored hair out of her tanned triangular face and cursed the warm soft breeze that blew occasionally. “Did you two go out or something?” She gave him a curious look with her seductive green eyes.
“We did, actually,” Nathan said, “She broke my heart.” His expression turned sad, as if his mind was thrown back into their distant past together.

Petra’s glossy lips opened in surprise as she turned to Jordan. “Really?”

Jordan simply blushed and nodded. Since running away wasn’t an option, she shyly looked up at Nathan and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s okay. You dumping me the way you did was actually a blessing.”

Ouch! She knew she wasn’t the best woman on the face of the earth, but loosing her was a blessing to someone?!

“At first I hated you, but after some time, I changed because of you?” Nathan continued. “So thank you.” The look in his eyes said that he knew something that she didn’t. It also told her that he was toying with her like a cat with a mouse.

Jordan flipped her black hair again as a feeling of annoyed frustration was building inside her. “You’re welcome?” Was she on some reality show? Where there camera’s hiding everywhere waiting to catch her faint out of embarrassment?

Petra draped a tanned and toned arm around Jordan’s shoulder. “So Nathan, what did our little Jordan do to break that heart of yours?”

“Oh, that’s a long story.”

She looked at her wrist watch. “I have time.”

“And I don’t,” Jordan said as she got her thoughts collected. “I have to get home and make dinner for . . .”

“You have no one . . .” Petra had interrupted her, but didn’t finish her own thought since Jordan was giving her a murderous look. She swallowed and looked up at Nathan. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You too,” he said and glanced at Jordan. “Do you two live around here?”

“What?” she acted like she didn’t hear the question.

“Yeah, I live two blocks over,” Petra said, and after looking over at Jordan’s direction, she added suggestively with a wink of her eye. “We live across the street from each other.”

“Oh . . . Great!” Nathan sounded excited. “I just moved from Michigan. I live one block over that way.” He pointed east. “Maybe I’ll see you girls around sometime.” He looked at Jordan. “Too bad you’re too busy to catch up now.”

“Oh, I’m busy,” she almost yelled out in her naturally hoarse voice as she briskly walked away. “Busy, busy busy.”

“Maybe one of these day,” he yelled after them and Jordan pretended not to hear.

This was the worst thing that could ever happen to her. She had worked hard to forget Nathan after what she did to him and the way she left. She had finally managed to forget him, for the most part, and now he was back. Why couldn’t the past remain in the past? Why couldn’t her past remain in the past?

#

Twenty minutes had passed since she bumped into Nathan. What was he doing here? Michigan was so far away, why did he come here? Why California? It wasn’t even the nice ritzy part of California; this was just a small little suburb away from Los Angeles. What was he doing here? Did he come here to look at the stars? In this part of the state the only stars one saw was at night in the sky. This was more farm land then Hollywood land. Sure, there wasn’t any farm houses within five miles of her home, but after that there were orange farms, and lemon farms and a vinery about twenty miles south. Sometimes, Jordan would get a sick horse or cow, or even a pig at her animal hospital. She knew Nathan wouldn’t be caught dead on a farm, so there had to be some good reason why he was here. She remembered that he had an aunt living in California, but that was near Los Angeles. Wouldn’t he go there? It must not have been the aunt he came to California for. Why did he have to move to this part of California? Even more, why did he have to move within a couple of streets of where she had established her home at? Well, hopefully she won’t have to see him ever again. So he lived a couple of streets away from her; so what? She didn’t know all of her neighbors. She didn’t talk to everyone that lived around her. Maybe she will never see him again?

There was a knock on her door and Jordan actually jumped up. Who could it be? Maybe she would be better off ignoring the door. Yeah, that’s it, ignore the door.
Her phone chimed. A text message! She walked over to it and read it.
Open the door!

She released her breath, once again realizing that she was holding it in. It was just Petra. A little more relaxed, Jordan walked to the door and opened it.

Petra stood there, with both arms extended. In one hand, she held a bottle of tequila and in the other one she held strawberry margarita mix. “You said you’ll tell me over drinks.”

Jordan moved aside to let Petra in and sighed, knowing that her little secret was soon going to be out. On the other hand, it would be good to tell someone as to what went down. Someone who would tell her that she wasn’t a horrible person for what she had done and that Nathan deserved every humiliating second of it.

Petra made herself at home, mixing the ice cubes, and both liquids in a blender. Being a part time bartender at a local country bar, she had a skill that Jordan didn’t. “So what happened?”

Jordan sat down at her kitchen table and took the margarita that Petra had made. “It was junior year of high school.” She took a sip and flipped her long black hair back off her shoulders. “Nathan was very popular and I was the shy good girl. He had a reputation with the girls, especially virgins. “

Petra was on the edge of her seat, literally. “And?”

“I had a huge crush on him, so when he asked me out, nothing mattered. I accepted it not thinking it through.” For a second, she flashed back to that day and her unbelievable excitement over that incident. “He was popular and I wasn’t. He had a reputation for deflowering girls and leaving them, and I was a virgin.”

“Aha,” Petra said. “Go on.”

“We went out for a couple of weeks and every time he had tried to get me into bed, and every time I told him I wasn’t ready. Then one day, one of his old victims’ warned me about him and being reminded of what he used to do before dating me, it occurred to me that he was only using me.”

“So you dumped him?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what did you do?”

“I kind of played him at his own game.” She took another sip of her margarita. “I told him that I wasn’t ready and that if he wasn’t using me to beat his own record, than he would be able to wait. And if he was using me than maybe he should find someone else.” She took another sip.

“That’s it? That was all you did?” Petra seemed surprised. “That doesn’t seem as cruel and heartbreaking as Nathan made it seem.”

Jordan looked at Petra for a long time, just stared into her eyes. “Can you let me finish my story?”

Petra scooted herself up on her seat as she was about to fall off. “Okay, I’m sorry. I’m listening.”

“He stayed with me but he stopped trying to get me into bed. He took me out, showered me with gifts, and then always took me home at the end of the night. He met my parents, had dinner there several times. He became a real boyfriend. I knew that in a few months, my family will be moving permanently to California. Since I didn’t have that many friends in school, I didn’t have to tell anyone about the move except for the faculty who kept it quiet. Finally, the day came when we were going to jump into a moving truck and leave the house we were renting and our life in Michigan behind.” She paused to take another sip. “Nathan and I had been dating for four months and he didn’t know a thing. The day before moving, I told him that I was finally ready.”

Petra’s eyes glowed with curiosity and she was sitting on the edge of her seat, again.

“Nathan took me out to a fancy dinner that night, and then he rented a hotel room for us. It was so romantic . . .

She hadn’t expected him to go all out, with candles burning on all available surfaces and pink rose petals thrown on the red bedspread and the grey carpet. There was a box of chocolates lying on the center of the silky bed. It was light in the room even though there were no lights on, the dozens of candles kept the place well lit and romantic. Soft, classical music played on the CD player and the room smelled of roses and candle wax.

“Wow,” Jordan said, surprised by it all, by the ambiance and the romance.

Nathan wrapped his arms around her from behind her and pulled her body to his chest. “It’s all for you,” he whispered in her ear.

“Did you do this for all your other virgins?”

“No, just you.” He turned her around to face him and stared into her eyes. “Because you’re special.” He kissed her forehead. “Because you’re you.” He kissed her neck. “Because I love you.”He kissed her lips.

That was a lie! It had to be! Sure it sounded believable, with the way he looked at her, the honesty in his eyes. But he was lying! Right? She flipped her brown hair and let it bounce on her shoulders and down her back.

He cupped her face with his hands. “I love you. At first I only dated you to get in your pants but I fell in love with you.”

He must be desperate, Jordan thought. “I love you too,” she lied but the lie came out way too easily, as if it were the truth. She couldn’t love him. He was a user and he was selfish and he . . . But he didn’t use her, and he wasn’t selfish around her. He was caring, affectionate, tender, loving. . . No, that had to be all an act on his part to get her into bed.

“I love you,” he said again as he started unbuttoning her sweater.

Jordan was about to be swayed by it all and give up on her plan to hurt him when she remembered the words of a girl whom he had deflowered and left. He told her that he loved her too. No, she couldn’t sway; she had to keep to her plan. Standing up on the tips of her toes, Jordan kissed him passionately and pulled his t-shirt up over his head.

“I want to see you naked,” he whispered into her ear.

She put a trembling finger on his lips. “You first.”

He nodded as he unbuttoned his jeans and let them drop. Nathan stepped out of them, and Jordan got an eyeful of him in his black boxer briefs that were so tight around his ass and the sticking out bulge in the front. She was all wet and tingling down there, watching him undress. He pulled down those boxer briefs too and there he stood, in all his male glory.

He was hard.

He was big.

No, actually, he was huge.

She bit her bottom lip as she watched his dick. Bouncing her hair over her shoulders, she licked her lips lusciously at him.

“Don’t be afraid of it,” he said as he guided her hand out of her hair and onto his penis. Jordan wrapped her fingers around it and something inside her pussy pulsated as she imagined what it would be like to be invaded by something like that. Her heart jumped in her chest as she slowly began moving her hand back and forth.
He groaned in pleasure. “That’s it. Don’t stop. That’s it.”

“Wait,” she whispered.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

“I have to go to the bathroom,” she said coyly and shrugged innocently.

“Now?” he asked, scratching his head.

“I have to pee,” she said softly and raised her eye brows.

Nathan smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Okay, go, but when you come back I want to see you naked.” He kissed her again and whispered into her ear, “And I want to know what you feel like inside.”He let his hand fall down and cupped her tender spot between her legs.

She gave him a reassuring look. “Of course, that’s what we’re here for.”
“That’s my girl,” he said and slapped her playfully on the butt. Trusting her, Nathan plopped down on the bed and gave her a sexy wink.

Jordan walked around the corner to where the bathroom door was and the hallway door was. She simply walked out of the wrong door.

Petra’s soft laughter snapped Jordan out of her thoughts. “I can’t believe you did that? Did he chase you?”

She downed the last few drops of her margarita and stood up to put her glass in the sink. “No, I made sure that some of the girls he deflowered were outside the door, and after I left they walked into the room to demand for apologies.”

“Did you ever see him after that?”

“Not until today.”

Petra shook her head and laughed. “You are so deliciously evil.”

“Well thank you.”

Still laughing, Petra stood and put her empty glass in the sink. “I’m proud of you. He was obviously a complete jerk.” She walked to the door to leave. “Do you think that he really changed?”

“Yeah,” Jordan said sarcastically. “Maybe his dick got smaller.”

Petra laughed and sighed as she opened the door and noticed her husband’s car in the driveway. “Well, I have to get going. The impotent is home.”

Jordan gave her a good-bye hug. “It’s called divorce.”

Petra rolled her eyes and walked away without a response. She locked the door and walked to the sink to wash the two glasses. Feeling a nice buzz, she laughed over what she had done to Nathan when there was a knock on her door.

She looked around and noticed the bottle of tequila and margarita mix sitting on her counter top. Petra had come back to pick those up.

The knock came again and Jordan shouted, “Coming, Petra.” She unlocked the door and opened it. Her heart stopped as she looked at the person on the other side of the door.

“Expecting someone?” Nathan asked as he walked right past her into the house.