Just the Man She Needs (29 page)

“Why not?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Because I don’t want to risk not leaving there.”

She opened the door to Ashton at precisely seven o’clock, and he seemed unable to still his gaze from her as it roamed from her head to her feet. “You are so beautiful,” he said in a soft voice. “At least to me, you are perfect.” She had dressed her best in a short red-silk-chiffon sleeveless dress, fitted to the waist and flared with multilayers from the hips down.

She wasn’t sure what she should say to that, so she handed him her key and stepped out into the hallway. “Thank you. You look wonderful,” she said of his Oxford-gray striped suit, pale gray shirt and red-and-gray paisley tie. “You always look great.”

“Thanks. I enjoy pleasing you.”

“It’s a nice night for walking,” she said, but she’d decided that she wasn’t going to ask him where they would eat.

“Yes it is, but we’ll take the car tonight.” The driver held the door while Ashton assisted her into the limousine. “Don’t you want to know where we’re dining?”

“I don’t really care,” she said, “as long as we’re together.”

“Keep that up, and I’ll have a big head. I love that kind of talk,” he told her.

When the car turned into Riverside Drive, she caught her breath. Was he taking her to his home at last? The car stopped in front of his house, but she didn’t let herself breathe. Maybe he’d forgotten something. He got out, assisted her out of the car, walked with her up the stone steps and opened the door.

“Miss Felicia! Miss Felicia!” Teddy cried, jumping up and down. She knelt and brought him into her arms. “My daddy said he was going to get you. We’re going to eat now. Come on, I’m hungry.”

Ashton took Teddy by the hand. “We have to give our guest time to settle down and relax. You’re not that hungry.”

“No, sir. I ate some potato chips, but I want Miss Felicia to see what Miss Eartha cooked. Daddy, can I play my CDs for Miss Felicia?”

“If she wants to hear them, yes.” Teddy looked at her with an inquiring expression.

“I’d love to hear some jazz, Teddy.” He showed her a CD. “That would be very nice.” She looked at the boy and realized that he was dressed precisely like his father. “Teddy, you look wonderful, and I notice that you and your father are dressed alike.”

“I like to look like my daddy,” he said. “You look so pretty, Miss Felicia, and you smell so good. Doesn’t she, Daddy?”

“Like father, like son. She definitely does, son.”

Eartha came into the living room, “Good evening, Miss Felicia. Dinner’s ready, Mr. Ash.” Teddy grasped Felicia’s hand and walked with her to the dining room.

Felicia’s hand went to her chest, and she stifled a gasp at the elegant table, it’s beautiful place setting complemented by yellow and red roses and tall yellow candles. “This is beautiful,” she said when Ashton lit the candles and dimmed the electric lights.

Teddy said the grace and, an hour later, having dined on a seven-course meal worthy of any five-star restaurant, she’d been seduced to putty. As they left the table, Ashton kissed her in the presence of Eartha and his son and walked back to the living room with his arm tight around her. Her adrenaline began pumping, and she couldn’t help wondering what else he had in store for her. Surely, he wouldn’t allow their perfect evening to end with her in her bed and him at home in his.

“Good night, Miss Felicia. My daddy said I have to go to bed now. Will you come stay with me?”

“I’ll come again soon,” she said, leaned down and hugged him.

“I love you, Miss Felicia.”

“I love you, too, Teddy. You’re so precious.”

When she raised her head, her gaze caught the naked love in Ashton’s eyes. “I’m going to put him to bed, and I’ll be right back,” he said, tipped up her chin and flicked his tongue over the seam of her lips. Frissons of heat shot through her, and her heartbeat accelerated, and she thought it tumbled down to her belly.
Control yourself, girl.

“Good night, Miss Felicia,” Eartha said. “It sure was a pleasure to prepare dinner for you. I hope I get to do it on a regular basis.”

Well, that couldn’t have been plainer. “And thank you for that wonderful dinner. I can’t imagine why Ashton would ever eat out.”

“You know a man has to do his thing. I just go with the flow,” Eartha said. “Good night.”

Ashton came into the living room. “I’m ready to go when you are.” How strange that he didn’t wait for her to decide when she wanted to leave!

As if he read her mind, he said, “I can’t wait to get you alone.”

The limousine awaited them, and within fifteen minutes they arrived at the building on Central Park West in which she lived. The second that he stepped into her apartment, he had her in his arms. His hands roamed her body, and she could feel the hot blood shooting to her loins. He lifted her to fit him, and she parted her lips for his kiss. Hungry. Starved. Like a glutton, she sucked his tongue into her mouth and he pressed her back to the wall, letting her feel his desire for her. Trembling, she took his hand and rubbed the nipple of her left breast.

“Do something,” she said. “You’ve been teasing me all evening.”

“What do you want? Tell me. Anything. I’ll do anything you want. I want to please you.”

“Kiss me. I want to feel your mouth on me.” He feasted on her nipple until her moans filled the air. She pressed her hands to his bulging sex and stroked and squeezed until he shouted.

“Stop, baby. If you don’t, I’ll lose it.” He lifted her, carried her to her room and continued his onslaught upon her senses, rocking her while he unzipped her dress. He knelt and pulled off her shoes. “I want to love every inch of you, kiss every bit of you until you can’t ever want any other man.”

“I only want you,” she said, panting for more of him.

He stripped himself quickly and joined her in bed. “Tell me you love me the way I love you,” he said.

“I do love you. You’re everything to me, but don’t tease me. I’m aching to get you inside of me.” Shivers snaked through her as he kissed her throat, sucked her nipples and licked his way down to her belly, kissed the inside of her thigh until every nerve in her body stood on end.

“Ashton, please. I’m…I’m…I’ll die if you don’t get in me.” The thrust of his tongue into her vagina brought a sharp, wanton cry from her lips. He worked at her until she thought she’d die if she didn’t explode, but he wouldn’t let her.

“Please,” she moaned. “I want you to get into me now.”

He made his way up her body, looked down at her and smiled, and her heart turned over. “Take me in, sweetheart.”

She grasped his penis with loving hands, raised her hips, brought him home and he sank into her. With a hand beneath her hips, he positioned her, and began storming inside of her. She let herself go. Lord, it felt so good, and so awful as he brought her to the brink time and time again, only to postpone the moment she longed for.

“Please, Ashton, let me have it. I can’t stand this.”

“Is it good to you?”

“You know it is. If only I could burst wide open.”

“All right. Be still, and I’ll take you there.” He rode her furiously, and when the pumping and squeezing began again, he accelerated his moves. She thought she’d die, and then she gave in to it and to him. He hurled her up and then down until she thought she was dying. And then, it came. Blessed relief came as he drove her to ecstasy, collapsed in her arms and spent himself.

“How do you feel?” he asked her.

“Wonderful. Where’re you going?”

“I’ll be back in a minute.” He strode to the chair over which he had draped his jacked and came back to the bed. She couldn’t believe it when she realized that he was on his knees. “Will you marry me, Felicia? I’ll be a good husband to you and a good father to our children. I will love you and care for you for as long as we both breathe. Will you be my wife and the mother of my children?”

“Yes. Yes. It’s what I want. I’ll be a good wife and a good mother to Teddy and our other children.”

“I know you need to work for your own feelings of self-worth, and that’s fine with me. We can have all the help you want.”

“What will we do with my apartment?” she asked him.

“We’ll keep it. If we want some privacy, we’ll go there and have time for ourselves.”

He took her hand and slipped a two-karat white diamond on the third finger of her left hand. “Will you marry me soon? I’m tired of living without you.”

“Give me two months. Felicia Parker-Underwood. How does that sound to you?” she asked him.

“Fantastic. It’s my dream come true.”