By Honor Bound (4 page)

Now he realized exactly what he had been missing. This woman did things to him he’d never felt before. She twisted his insides and wrapped his soul in hers, breaching his mental defenses when even the VC couldn’t.

A slight blush on her cheeks and a sexy little smile on her lips, Angela lowered her eyes as she hooked her thumbs in the waistband of her white satin panties and slid them off. The triangular patch of dark hair between her legs made his breath catch. It seemed everything about her was beautiful.

He cupped one of her calves in his hands and stroked upward, over her soft, smooth thighs and ran his fingers through the arousing thatch of curly hair. With one of her hips in his hand, he used his other to continue stroking her soft mound. His thumb found the ruddy peak of her clit and he stroked over it. She drew a sharp breath at his touch.

Tenderly, he parted her thighs and circled her clit with this fingertip, pushing it in slightly. She felt so hot and wet that his erection leapt. It seemed he turned her on as much as she aroused him.

Removing a wet fingertip, he circled her clit.

Angela shivered and fell back on the rug, closing her eyes as he stroked and caressed where she was so warm and aching. Her clit throbbed as he stroked faster.

“Oh, Abe!” she gasped. His free hand moved up her ribs and found her breast. His thumbs rolled over her nipple and clit simultaneously. Angela was going to shatter, but she didn’t care. He was giving her something she so desperately needed. So desperate—

“Ahh! Oh, God! Oh, Abe!” she panted, her entire body convulsing in hot waves of throbbing pleasure. As they crashed over her, she couldn’t see. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears. Every muscle in her body convulsed in the most exquisite manner imaginable.

She lay still for several moments, her eyes closed as her breathing returned to normal. Angela had orgasms before. She enjoyed masturbating every now and then, just to rid herself of natural sexual urges. Never in her life had she dreamed an orgasm so intense. It must have been because she’d been under Abe’s control. The thought of him touching her was as exciting as the actual sensations. The combination created almost unbearable pleasure.

“That had to be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Abe said, lying beside her and stroking her throat.

Opening her eyes, she smiled. “That had to be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever felt.”

“It will get even better, darlin’. I promise.”

“I know.” She cupped the back of his neck and drew his face closer for a kiss. “I want to feel you inside me, Abe. I want to know what it’s like.”

Reaching for his trousers, he tugged something out of his pocket. She watched as he opened the condom and rolled it on.

With a raised eyebrow she asked, “You always come prepared or were you planning this after all?”

“I won’t lie. I was hoping for it.”

“Well, you are honest.” She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling.

“But I wasn’t hoping just for tonight, Angela.” He turned her face toward him. “I can’t explain how I feel. I’m a man of action. Always have been. I can’t rightly put these emotions I have into words.”

“Try.”

“The other day when you opened the door, I felt like somebody had kicked me in the gut. You grabbed hold of my heart and you’re not letting go. That’s never happened to me before.”

“Me either, but I always hoped it would.” She smiled. “Either I’m the biggest fool in the world or I’m right about you being…”

“Being what?”

“If I say, I’ll probably scare you off.”

Lying beside her, he pressed her body close to his as he stared deeply into her eyes. “You’re never scaring me off, understand? I’ll go if you ask me to, but other than that you’re not getting rid of me any time soon. How do you feel about a broken-down Marine set on making you his woman?”

His woman!

“Abe, we’re moving too fast, aren’t we?”

“Way too fast.” He smiled, nuzzling her neck.

“You know, I don’t care. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever been this happy.”

His gaze held hers. “I’m glad, Angela.”

“So am I.” She clutched his head as he kissed her.

Looming above her, his hands braced on both sides of her head, he gazed deeply into her eyes as the tip of his cock pressed against her pussy lips.

Abe resisted the urge to groan with pleasure as he inched his way inside. She was so warm and soaked with passion that he longed to plunge in hard and fast, but he couldn’t. Angela was not some two-dollar dock-hanging whore. Beneath him, she stiffened a bit and drew a sharp breath as her tight, virginal pussy rebelled a bit against his thickness and length.

“Try and relax, sweet thing,” he murmured against her lips.

Her arms slid around him and she gripped his back tightly as he moved with agonizing slowness. Finally he remained still, buried hilt-deep. After a moment, she relaxed and wiggled her hips. A smile curved her delicate lips and her hands stroked his back. It felt so damn good buried inside her that it was all he could do keep his thrusts slow and easy.

Angela’s eyes slid shut as Abe thrust. Wrapping her legs around him, she pressed her heels against his calves as her hips joined his rhythm.

“Oh, Abe!” she gasped, clinging to him tightly.

His thrusts quickened. Other than the rasp of his breath, he remained a quiet lover, his lust and desire simmering inside, waiting to burst forth.

“Ahh!” she cried, convulsing in waves of pleasure.

A couple more thrusts and he came, his silence broken with a throaty groan of pure ecstasy. “Damn it, woman! Angela, oh, God!”

Orgasm shot through him, wrapping him in pleasure from head to toe. He collapsed atop her and listened to the slowing of their breathing.

Lifting his head from her shoulder, he gazed at her.

“You all right?” he asked, stroking wisps of hair from her forehead.

She smiled. “Better than all right.”

Angela snuggled close. Wrapped in each other’s arms, they gazed at the flames crackling in the fireplace.

Chapter Four

Angela awoke to the aroma of coffee and the sound of rhythmic chopping. Flinging off the covers, she smiled as cool air fanned her naked body. What a marvelous night it had been. The memory of Abe’s gorgeous, powerful body claiming hers with such tenderness and affection was better than any fantasy. Running a hand over his side of the bed, she longed to see him again as soon as possible.

Reaching for her robe, she slipped into it as she walked to the window to find out the cause of the annoying chopping sound. Tugging up the shade, she blinked against the sunlight. Again she smiled. Abe shoveled ice from her front walk. As if sensing her stare, he turned, his lips curving up in the slightest half-smile as he waved.

Feeling giddy as a schoolgirl, Angela waved back and disappeared into the bathroom where she washed and fixed her hair and makeup.

Naked, she walked into the bedroom just as he stepped inside. Gasping, she covered her breasts, then realized how silly that must appear after last night.

“Sorry,” he said, his gaze sweeping her. “Should have knocked.”

“I guess it’s a little late to be shy.” She tried sounding nonchalant in spite of the blush heating her face.

“God, you look beautiful.”

She placed a hand on her hip. “So are you going to keep looking or let me get some clothes on?”

“I apologize, ma’am.” He looked amused as he left her to pull on her underclothes and a sleek black-and-white polka dot dress with a red belt that matched her lipstick. Slipping her feet into black pumps, she glanced at herself in the full-length mirror behind her door. It must have been the happiness she felt being with Abe, but she hadn’t looked this good in weeks.

In the kitchen, he stood, barefoot and shirtless, making more coffee. Angela licked her lips, her pulse racing. The sight of his big bones and hard muscles had her more than ready to head right back to the bedroom.

He glanced at her over his shoulder as she approached and ran her hand from his forearm to his shoulder.

“Took off my shirt and shoes. Picking ice can be as messy as shoveling snow. I drove back to my place early this morning. I needed a change of clothes and you needed salt for your walk.”

“Thanks for doing that. Would you like eggs with your toast?”

“Scrambled.”

 “Fine.”

As Angela cracked eggs into a bowl, her heart fluttered as she asked, “How many days’ worth of clothes did you get at your place?”

He chuckled. “Is that ‘cause you’re afraid I’ll overstay my welcome?”

“Actually I was hoping you’d stay for a few days. Polly will be with my parents for the rest of the week.”

His arm slid around her from behind and his hand folded over hers as she used a wire whisk to beat the eggs. Taking her earlobe in his teeth he licked it gently then kissed her cheek.

“If I stay here for a week, it’ll be awful hard to leave.”

“Maybe not.” She turned, gazing up at him. “We might find we can’t stand living with each other.”

“So maybe we should make like a couple of those long-haired hippies and try out living together.”

“Excuse me, Master Sergeant, but just because I slept with you doesn’t mean I’m a—”

“Hold on, darlin’.” His brow furrowed and he grasped her shoulders, turning her to face him. “That blood on those sheets this morning surely wasn’t from some two-dollar whore practicing free love and all that. I guarantee if I stay here I won’t want to go.”

“You’ll have to. With Polly—”

“I’d never do anything to hurt your reputation or expose that girl to a damaging situation.”

“Then what are you saying, Abe?”

He dropped his hold on her and walked across the room, running a hand over his peach-fuzzed head. What the hell was he saying? That the short time he’d spent with her had given him a taste of what he’d been missing all his life? That he was tired of having no one to come home to after spending months in strange places having his ass damn near blown off by enemy fire? Was it really Angela he wanted or the illusion of what she offered? No. He’d never been a man ruled by dreams and fantasies. He was thirty-three years old and had never gotten this close to any woman. Sure, he’d had sex, but he’d never hung around afterward to chop ice off her front walk and look at her whip up scrambled eggs. Just seeing her in that prim, high-necked dress with a strand of pearls around her neck and her hair combed just so as she cooked breakfast made his gut twist with tender feelings he’d never experienced. Earlier, when he’d walked in on her, the sight of her blushing face and gorgeous naked curves had not only given him an erection that would have shamed a breeder bull but stirred his emotions.

“Abe, I really want you to stay,” she said, “but I’m afraid.”

“Of me?”

“Of doing something I’ve been told all my life is wrong.”

 “Then I’ll go.” He cupped her face in his hand. “Just tell me we can see each other again?”

Angela sighed and took his hand. She kissed his palm. “And I’m afraid because—”

“What?”

She was falling in love with him. Falling fast and hard. Unless she stopped herself, he’d probably end up breaking her heart. Not intentionally, but as a side effect of his duty. Losing Jim had been terrible, but she couldn’t imagine losing a husband to war. Something told her that if she and Abe continued as they were, they would undoubtedly marry. She didn’t buy for one moment her insinuation that after living together they’d find they weren’t compatible. Like any other powerful emotion, love was often immediate. The brain registered hate, pain, hunger, thirst, and jealousy right away, so why not love?

The phone rang. Glad for the interruption, Angela reached for it. “Hello?”

“Sweetheart, it’s Mother.”

“Hi, Ma. How’s Polly?”

“Just wonderful. She’s playing with her Christmas gifts. I wanted to make sure you got home all right.”

“Is the Marine there?” Her father shouted in the background.

“That’s none of our business if he’s there!” Patricia snapped. “Just as long as you don’t do anything you’ll regret later, sweetheart. Remember, if a man can get his butter for free, why pay the dairyman?”

Angela gritted her teeth. “I got home fine, Ma. I was just about to eat breakfast. Can we talk later?”

“Uh-huh.” Patricia sounded all-knowing. “He’s there, isn’t he?”

Yes, Mother, he’s here and after breakfast he’s going to take me upstairs and fuck me even better than he did last night.

Abe glanced at her with a raised eyebrow as he placed aside his coffee mug and squatted beside her, sliding a hand up her skirt and stroking her clit through her satin underwear.

Stop it
, she mouthed the words silently, resisting the urge to giggle.

“Sweetheart?”

“Mother, I have to go before my eggs get c-cold.” Angela’s pulse raced and she tried to keep her voice steady as Abe tugged down her panties and stroked her clit with his index finger while his thumb slipped partway into her damp pussy.

“Angela, are you all right? You sound strange.”

That was probably because Abe was now under her dress, his tongue and lips toying with her clit. Shock combined with sensation almost knocked Angela off her feet.

“I’m fine, Ma. Just st-starving. I need to eat. Bye.”

Angela slammed down the receiver and leaned against the kitchen cabinet, panting, her pulse racing.

“Abe, stop it!”

His tongue thrust into her pussy then ran down her clit and circled it with sinful skill.

When he pulled back, she thought she’d die from need. This man’s touch was becoming an obsession. Her body ached for him as much as her spirit cried out for him.

“You really want me to quit it, Angela?”

“No. God, no.” She closed her eyes as his hands cupped her buttocks and he resumed licking and sucking her swollen, aching clit.

“Crazy, I must be crazy!” she gasped. “Oh, Abe! Oh!”

Her words turned to a high-pitched cry of fulfillment as he rested the flat of his tongue to her clit and pressed with quick pulsations until she came. If not for his hands clasping her bottom, she probably would have fallen on the floor. Smiling, she rested limply against the cabinet, warmed from the inside out. The man roused giddy yet sensual feelings from deep inside her. He nourished them with loving caresses, masculine, throaty whispers, and tenderness reflected in eyes that had seen the worst life had to offer. Knowing that he could treat her with such care, that he hadn’t grown completely hard in spite of all he’d endured, touched her profoundly.