Goodnight Kisses (12 page)

Smiling, she repeated the stroke which thrust his
hips forward. “Uh-huh.”

“You’re about to push me to mine,” he said, catching
her hand to stop the next stroke.

She grinned. “Spoilsport.”

“Spoilsport?” He playfully, shoved her backwards
onto the bed and climbed over her. “We’ll see who’s the
spoilsport.”

Giggling, she attempted
an escape.
“I was joking!” The delicious promise coiled desire in
the pit of her belly and slowed her retreat. She loved the game,
and the consequences of losing were going to be excruciatingly
sweet! His hand, twice the size of hers snagged one wrist. She
squirmed against him, fighting the capture of her other hand, but
lost. “No!”

Above her, he waited with a corrupt smile.

She squirmed again. “I guess I’m at your mercy.”

The smile dissolved and for the longest time, he
simply stared at her.

Her arms, taut from the game, relaxed. “What?”

A slight lift to the corner of his
mouth which could have been mistaken for
remorse
triggered panic
to rise in her. The night was too
perfect,
and she had been to
brazen.
Now,
what? “Did I do something wrong?”

A brief frown grazed his forehead. “No. Why would
you think that?”

“I thought maybe all that talk about licking spoons
might have turned you off.”

A tender smile darted across his lips. “No, darlin’.
I love it when you talk about licking my spoon.”

She blushed. “Then why did you stop?”

He imprisoned both wrists with a single hand and
lifted her arms above her head. With his free hand, he traced her
cheek. “You’re so beautiful. I had to stop and stare.” His lips
followed close behind, burning a sensual path of fire down her
jawline.

Relieved he wasn’t having second thoughts about
making love to her, she basked in the way his lips made her feel.
Attractive. Desired. Loved.

He tasted the shallow dip of her
lower neck, and the sensitive valley between her
breasts
. He shifted lower without releasing her hands to the dress
she thought was a hindrance, but the thin wet material clinging to
the rise of her nipples like a second skin, posed no problem for
McCrea. The pointed sensation of his teeth raking over her peak
through the garment arched her back, and he made sure he gave each
breast the same expert attention. His was nothing like her amateur
foreplay. “McCrea.” The guttural cry gained her an intermission by
way of a long, hard kiss that left her panting for more.

Catching the thin material of the dress between his
teeth, he unveiled her from breast to belly inch by inch. Eleanor
knew she was completely at his mercy, and playing the captive
amplified the intensity of his every move. She was his to do with
as he pleased, and the thought made her body writhe beneath
him.

His knees at her waist shifted
wider and allowed his hand to
glide
downwards towards the
apex of her thighs. The earlier demonstration of his dexterous
fingers vaulted her pelvis upward in expectancy and urged a moan
from her throat.  Under her panties, his fingers advanced into
her folds to graze her already sensitive nub. Persistently, but
softly he manipulated and filled her until the threat of a
climactic spiral edged closer. “Please, don’t make me─” her voice
broke with the plea.

“Come,” he finished with another plunge which curved
her body again.

In the truck, he played her body with the skill of a
master violinist, hitting all the right notes at just the right
time. Even now, he had her body humming with a sensual song. But it
wanted more. Craved more. “Please.” Her head twisted from side to
side. “I want you.”

He released her hands and slipped the dress past her
hips, thighs and ankles. Her wispy panties came next, followed by
his briefs.  On his knees, he tore open the foil packet,
removed the condom and rolled it up his shaft. Its size had grown
and caused her eyes to widen with a silent question.

He bent to kiss her lower belly,
and his tongue traced a ring around her navel before moving over
her. With his knee, he divided her legs and pressed his
erection
against
her. “Your body was made for mine.”

The erotic encounter of hard
and
soft
brought a moan to her lips. Her nails raked down
his chest, to his waist and around to latch onto the hard muscles
of his buttocks as her hips reached to his with an instinctual urge
to become one.

He shifted his weight to a hand beside her head, and
the other found the scant space between the small of her back and
the mattress. The texture of his slightly calloused palm lifting
her upward opened her legs in an unspoken invitation.

“That’s it,” he exhaled against her ear.  “Open
up for me.” With that sensual command, he entered her. Tore past
the threshold of her virginity and claimed her. 

A searing pain, far worse than she expected briefly
overpowered her desire, but she endured knowing it was part of her
body merging with his. She buried her face in his chest and held
her breath, fighting past the discomfort and openness that came
from giving herself to McCrea. Her lover. The man who would always
be in her mind. “It won’t last long, baby.”

The penetrating
sting
lessened,
and the sweet desire she had felt before slowly crept back in. Its
fire torqued in the pit of her stomach and burned down to where
their bodies joined. The delectable ache controlled her once again.
She twisted her hips with a petition of his name.
“McCrea.”

“Are you ready?”

She knew now the control he spoke of and that he was
exercising it at great cost. His whole body vibrated with a
restraint she couldn’t comprehend. When she answered him with a
nod, he dropped to an elbow to kiss her forehead and drew back. The
friction lifted her head up with a gratifying moan.

He shuddered and pushed into her again. “So tight,”
he whispered against another thrust. “And so damn sweet.”

Hoarse cries of an unfamiliar voice
escaped her
lips,
and she transformed in his arms.
He took down the fortress around her heart and freed her.
The
cold,
lonely world she knew before disappeared. With
McCrea’s love, everything was possible. All things were
new,
and she was his, and though he hadn’t said it, she knew he
loved her. How could he not? Everything he was doing reflected it.
His touch. His words. His kiss. His eyes, all spoke of
it.

The poignant moment brought her to tears, and she
was moved to honesty. “You’re the one, McCrea.” 

“The one?” his voice was rough with the
question.

Her lips trembled under the weight of her words, and
she gazed up at him through misty eyes. “The one I love.”

He froze.

She held his face with both hands
because she wanted to savor the memory of this moment. He kissed
her palm. First one and then the other. She waited for him to say
something ─anything. But his words never came. As he made love
to
her,
a twinge of hurt mingled with their unbridled
passion. She reminded herself McCrea wasn’t a man who expressed
love easily and his
intimate,
and ardent lovemaking was
enough. He would voice his love in his own time.

When he couldn’t hold back, he
unleashed what restraint he had left. He drew her higher, and
closer to the sun than she’d ever been before. The thrust of his
hips
was
tempestuous and his body tight like a whip-cord.
Her legs clenching tight around his hips. “Please.”

A final heave finished him with a groan and washed
her in ecstasy. He fell, spent, to her breasts and with hearts
pounding, neither said a word.

McCrea shifted his weight to the bed and rested his
head on her shoulder. She kissed his forehead and caressed his
shoulder with a brush of her fingertips. Never had she felt more
attractive, desired and loved than she did right now. He couldn’t
deny the love between them or the magic of what they had just
shared.

“McCrea?” He was so still, she thought he’d fallen
asleep

“Yeah,” he answered with a hollow voice.

“I love you.”

He rolled to his back and closed his eyes.
“Darlin’,” he said with a sigh as he sat up on the edge of the bed
to grab his jeans from the floor. “Never let sex make you say
things you don’t mean.”

Wounded by his coldness she sat up to explain. “Sex
didn’t make me say it. I wanted to tell you earlier but…” 

He heaved one leg into his jeans and then the other,
jumped to his feet and headed into the living room.

“Where are you going?”

“To the truck. I need a cigarette.”

She heard the front door open, the truck door slam
and his footsteps on the porch. He didn’t return to the bedroom,
and the longer she waited the more nervous she became. Why was he
distant all of a sudden? Had she done something wrong? She slipped
his shirt on, and took the lantern into the living room. He was at
the door, staring out across the porch and into the rain with his
back to her.

Smoke from his cigarette billowed around him as he
exhaled.

“McCrea?” She sat the lantern on an
old table near the fireplace, and circled his waist to lay her
cheek against his
rain-soaked
back. “What’s wrong? Was it
me? Was it because it was my first time?”

His hand covered hers and lifted it to his lips for
a kiss. “No, Eleanor. Your gift to me was priceless.”

Her gift? He considered her virginity a gift. A
priceless gift. God, she loved this man. Her arms tightened around
him. “Then what is it?”

A long draw filled the air with more smoke, and his
silence persisted.

“Please talk to me. Let me help you.”

A quick flick, sent the cigarette out into the rain
and his hands gripping the frame around the door. With his head
down, he stared out into the dark night as if he were on the edge
of a great abyss. “You really want to help me?”

“I do.”

“Then marry me.”

A blast of hot needles pricked her
body. Numbly, her hands
fell,
and she took a step back.
“What?”

Her retreat brought him around to explain. “I told
you tonight would be more.”

She swallowed back nausea. “I didn’t think you had
marriage in mind.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets, and the weight
shifted his jeans lower to the tan line around his hips, exposing
more of the V-shaped muscles she’d felt against her thighs minutes
ago. “I thought you’d be happier.”

Happy about being trapped?  “You thought
wrong.” 

“But you just said you loved me.”

“All the more reason not to marry you.”

He frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Marriage? The very notion terrified
her. “Love and marriage are two different
things,
and I want no
part of the latter.”

“Why not?”

She glared at him, hoping he would
accept her refusal without
an explanation.
 

He didn’t. “I’m waiting.” His face was hard and
drawn, nothing like a man seeking a loving marriage. If he was this
dismal before, how would he be in six months, or a year? In a
lifetime?

Like,
Rex.

He’ll be just like Rex.

Bitter. Heartless. Cruel. Malicious.

And I’ll be as miserable as my mother.

When she couldn’t summon a truthful
answer without
diving
into her fear of marriage, she
went to the obvious faults of his proposal. One she knew he
couldn’t deny. “You’re a roamer. You like your freedom and having
your choice of women.

He took her hands in his. “I told
you the truth this afternoon. I don’t sleep around. I’d take my
vows
seriously,
and I’d expect you to do the
same.” 

“Don’t lie.” She jerked away. “I know your
type.”

“My type?” he asked tautly. “You know what everyone
says about me.”

“I know what I see, McCrea. Vanessa Worley is one of
your whores!”

His face twisted. “Vanessa is a whore, but she’s not
mine!”

“You’ve never slept with her?”

He looked away. “That was a long time ago.”

“But you did sleep with her!”

“It was high school!” he yelled.
“Everyone had a turn at Vanessa! It’s a mistake I’ve had to pay
for
ove
r and over!”

Mistakes. She was guilty of a few herself. The
biggest being opening her heart up to the man standing in front of
her. “This is crazy.”

“Why is it crazy?”

“I’m not the marrying kind either.”

“Why? Do you have trouble with fidelity?” he
snarled. “Can’t give up the other guy? The one you’re also in love
with.”

“God!” She threw up her hands. “Are you really that
blind?”

“I guess I am,” he seethed.

“I wasn’t meeting anyone at Tubs!”

He blinked.

“I was there because I knew you’d be there.”

“But this afternoon you said you
wanted to seduce
─.”

“You, McCrea! You’re the one,” she repeated.

Another blink. Then another.

“I wanted to seduce you. Don’t you see? It’s always
been you, but you’ve never noticed me. Until I practically threw
myself at you!”