Finding Pride (Pride Series) (19 page)

His hair was messed up and a lock fell on his forehead, she itched to gently push it aside with her fingers. When he continued to breathe deeply, she pushed his hair aside, running her fingers down his jaw. His face was smooth with the exception of a light growth from a night without shaving.

Smiling she traced his neck line, letting her fingers walk down towards his chest, playing with the muscles and light cover of hair. She let her fingers travel further down his stomach, playing with each rib. Moving her fingers over a particular rib, she thought he’d sucked in his breath, but when her eyes moved to his face, his eyes were still closed and his breathing leveled.

So, she continued her downward path, she knew most men woke hard and ready, but she’d never experienced it herself. Let alone with someone whom she wanted to be with. Smiling to herself she remembered how he felt inside her. Slowly she moved up on her knees until she could press her heat to his, then slowly, very slowly she moved down, until she was fully impaled. Throwing her head back and running her hand up her body, she felt totally wanton, and then she started to move.

Of course Todd had awakened when she had sat up. He knew she was looking at him, and decided to let her take control.

It was completed torture when her fingers played lightly over his body. He’d been dreaming of making love to her again, so he had woken hard but when she started running her hands over him, he had grown even more so.

When she’d pushed herself up on her knees, he thought she meant to leave. He was about to grab her hips to pull her back to him, when she’d reached down and adjusted him to fit inside her as she slid slowly downwards. She started to rock her hips back and forth until he felt he could no longer control himself.

His hands reached up and cupped her hips, holding her down farther on him. She was moving slowly and when he opened his eyes he saw her hand running the length of her body stopping just below her breasts. He reached up and put his hand over hers, and ran her hand up so that she gripped herself.

Her eyes searched his own with uncertainty, then when he moved his hand to her right breast mimicking her hold, he pinched ever so lightly on the bud. Her eyes widened and then smiling, she mimicked his actions. He smiled back up at her, and leaned up to replace his hand with his mouth.

She’d meant to go slow, but her passion was building and she found herself moving more rapidly. His hands went down to her hips and guided her at a faster pace.

When she could no longer hold back, she let go and cried out his name, then melted down to his chest.

Quickly switching positions so that she was beneath him, he reached over and pulled her legs up closer to his chest so that she was opened for him. Leaning over her he took her mouth until she moaned and started moving again.

He was lost, he’d known she would be like this. Soft and warm, but he never imagined that she would be like a poison to his system, spreading throughout his entire being intoxicating until all he wanted to do was breathe her in.

She wrapped her legs around his hips and held on, knowing that he would take his fill of what she offered. Then his body went rigid and he whispered her name, spilling himself deep within.

“Good morning.” He mumbled into her hair several minutes later.

Megan laughed, and ran her hand up and pinched his butt. “You are a hard person to wake.”

“Oh, is that what you were trying to do?” He laughed and looked down at her. Her hair was in tangles and her face flushed. He’d never seen a more beautiful sight.

“I suppose you want some breakfast, since we never got around to those sandwiches last night,” he said as he pulled himself up.

Her stomach growled loudly in reply, causing him to laugh. He pulled on his jeans, leaving them unsnapped and looked down at her. “Darling, if you don’t go get cleaned up and dressed now, we might just spend the whole day on that couch.”

She jumped up, tucking the blanket around her, and made a run for the stairs. She could hear Todd laughing as she made her way to her bedroom.

By the time she had bathed, combed her hair, and pulled on her painting jeans and T-shirt, she could smell bacon and coffee. Taking one last look at herself in the mirror she paused, she’d never seen such a large smile on her face.

Not that her whole life had been hard, it’s just that misery usually followed her. She’d been pushed into circumstances that had ended up giving her frown lines instead of laugh lines. Now, however when she looked at herself in the mirror, she saw a young woman who had just enjoyed her first real night of hot sex.

Jogging down the stairs she heard Todd singing. When she stepped into the kitchen she saw him standing at the stove with her apron on, holding a spatula up to his mouth singing “I’ve got you babe”. She let out a snort and laughed at him.

“Are you going to feed me or serenade me?” Megan asked taking the cup of coffee he offered and took two whole gulps. Todd scooped some eggs on a plate already full of bacon and toast and pushed her playfully into a chair.

“I’ve got to feed you, if I’m to get any work out of you today.” He sat down with a large plate of eggs, bacon and toast for himself.

Megan just stared at her own plate. There was more food on it then she’d eat in an entire day.

Megan chuckled. “I’m wondering where the army is you were planning on feeding all this with.”

“You haven’t been eating well, or sleeping,” he said scooping a big pile of eggs in his mouth. At her look, he said, “I worked up an appetite last night, and this morning,” he said with a silly smile on his face. He looked like a ten year old on Christmas morning.

“Goof,” she said and scooped up her own eggs.

They did the dishes, side by side, chatting about the work that needed to be done. Then packed a small lunch and headed out to the cabins. The walk was short but the clean air was nice for clearing the mind.

Never had she spent a day with a man and so thoroughly enjoyed it. They laughed, joked, and flirted all day. They stopped for lunch and ended up sitting outside on the deck for longer then they expected. Todd was so easy to talk to that she didn’t realize that all the work was done and evening was quickly approaching.

Walking back towards the house they held hands and chatted about small meaningless things. Her porch light was on; the place looked inviting like home and Iian stood on the porch watching them. Smiling.

Before they got too close, Todd stopped Megan, turning his back to his brother so that he couldn’t read what he was saying.

“I’ve got some things to take care of the next few days. Can you come for dinner tomorrow?”

Megan smiled. “Yes.” She reached up on her toes and kissed him.

“Goodnight then, I’ll see you tomorrow.” As Todd walked to his car, he signed to his smiling brother not to interfere. He didn’t like what Iian signed back, but he chuckled at the gesture and the fact that his brother had never kept his opinions to himself.

As he drove back to his house, he started thinking of the plans he wanted to make with Megan. He knew without a doubt that he wanted her in his life. He just didn’t know how she felt about it.

He also knew that he needed to move slowly from here on out. She’d been everything he’d imagined, and more. She was funny, smart, and sexy. Something had just clicked when he’d seen her; it was as if he’d been waiting for her.

When he got home Lacey was waiting for him in the doorway.

“What have you done?” She scolded. Her hands were on her hips and she was blocking the doorway.

He walked up to her, picked her up and set her aside. “I’ve just driven home and now, I’m going to go up and take a shower seeing as I’ve paint and sand all over.” He started walking up the stairs when Lacey darted in front of him again, one thing to say about her, she was fast.

When she blocked his path, he was tempted to set her aside again. But, she was three steps ahead of him and they stood eye to eye. This time he could see the concern in her face. He stopped on the steps and sat down right there. Lacey sat next to him and put her hand on his arm.

“
Todd, I’m just concerned for her, she needs time.”

“I thought that too, but things just happened and… I’m not sorry, I love her. Actually, I think I’ve loved her for a long time. I know that sounds funny, but there you have it.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“You’re serious?” Lacey stopped and thought a minute, both of them sitting on the steps in silence. “How does she feel?”

“I’m not sure. Lacey, I know things are moving fast, but I’m tired of waiting. I know she’s the one. I knew the first time I saw her.” He looked into his sisters eyes and saw the understanding.

“Here’s some advice. You may know it, but Megan needs time to understand. Think of what she’s coming from, give her time to adjust.” Lacey stood and gave him a quick kiss and hug.

T
he next day was a busy one for Megan, the men had come and started installing the appliances before sun up. She had them install everything in the cabins first, before they got started on the hot tub. It seemed there was problem after problem today. First the electricity for the honeymoon cabin had been wired wrong for the microwave, then when the electrician was wiring up for the hot tub, the breaker in the main house had flipped causing the installation for the hot tub to be delayed by an hour until he made another run to town to get a forty amp breaker instead of a thirty.

By the time she headed up to get ready to go over to Todd’s she had a full blown headache from dealing with all the workers.

But, all the appliances were now installed and they looked really good. The workers had filled up the hot tub, setting the temperature to a toasty one hundred degrees. By tomorrow night, she’d be sitting and relaxing in it.

Matt had picked out oversized garden tubs for the cabins, like the one in her bathroom upstairs. New toilets and sinks for the bathrooms, as well as stainless steel kitchen sinks and refrigerators. Things were definitely coming together.

She could have the furniture delivered early next week after she finished staining and sealing the floors. She had called the doctor and set an appointment to have her cast removed tomorrow morning.

But, what had really capped the day off was the call from her lawyer about Derek. He’d said that they were transferring him to a minimum security facility at the end of the next month to await his trial, which had been moved back for the third time. Now it was set to take place in just under two months. He assured her that this was a standard procedure and that the trial would go smoothly.

She’d lived almost a year without him in her life full time, yet somehow she felt as if she’d never really be rid of his influence.

She had lain awake last night remembering the times spend with Todd and how different he was from any other relationship she’d ever had. She knew that things couldn’t get serious between them, she wasn’t ready for that. But, she would take what time she could with him and enjoy it.

Now, as she drove down the road to his house, she was looking forward to seeing him again. The road turned and then came into a clearing where she stopped her car. Ahead of her was the house, it was more of what Megan would have described as a manor.