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“I had dinner sent here.” She lifted the covers off the plates. Eric couldn’t keep his hands off her. He slid his hand down her back where the dress dipped low, and she shivered, and he watched the expression on her face, one of pure need. He pulled his hand away with a smile and slid out her chair. He touched her arm, her elbow, and she sat. Eric took the seat across from her and studied that face, that body. Abby would be all his in every way tonight.

“You’ve been mighty busy today, haven’t you?” he asked. She kept her expression to one of innocence and then smiled subtly as a sparkle lit up her face. “Speaking of which, I was sent down here to meet the admiral, who I was told had mysteriously flown in. I was starting to think I was losing it, being so distracted that I don’t even know when someone comes aboard my ship. I’m afraid Petey got the brunt of my rant.”

“It’s not Petey’s fault. As you know, it’s not as if I can walk around the ship dressed like this to find you.”

Eric groaned as his gaze lingered on her creamy white breasts, her cleavage teasing him from the V of that tantalizing dress. He couldn’t wait to peel it off her. “Where’s Rachel, or is Petey or someone else babysitting now, too?”

“She’s sleeping. I nursed her before you came, and hopefully she’ll sleep for several hours.”

Eric watched as she picked up her knife and fork, cut into the roast beef, and chewed. He was starving, but it wasn’t for food. Although he cleared his plate in no time, swallowing the meal, he wasn’t even sure what it was he had eaten.

He just watched her, and when she glanced up and took of sip of water, she set it down and said, “Is something wrong? You’ve been awfully quiet.”

He tossed his napkin on his plate and slid back his chair, pacing the room. “We have a lot to talk about.…”

When he faced her, she was holding her chin high and stubborn. Then she rose from the chair and stepped toward him. “Yes, we do, but not now, please.”

“I would like nothing more than to take you to bed and make you mine right now, but there are things you don’t know about me.”

She crossed her arms and gave him a look of irritation. “Well then, tell me.”

“I’m an overbearing man, and I can be a real bastard at times. You need to understand what you’re in
for. I will protect you, I will order you, I will piss you off, and I will demand all your attention. I won’t let you go, and if you want to leave, you can’t. You’re mine.”

“But if I’m yours, are you not also mine, and is Rachel not yours? Will you love her and protect us? Will we have all of you? Can I depend on you? I want more children and a home. Will you grow old with me?”

“I won’t let you go, Abby, or Rachel. You’re my wife, and you get all of me. She’ll be mine, too.” He still didn’t touch her, but she put her hands on him.

“I think I fell in love with you when I saw you above me after you saved me. You’re too hard on yourself. I’ll tell you
who I see: a man who risked everything for me, for Rachel. You kept me safe, and, dammit, you’ve made me angry, hiding things to protect me when Gail lied and tried to hurt you. I just wanted to help, to protect you like you protect me.

“You’re not as bad as you think you are, and I honestly don’t want to have a life without you. The thought of being with you and having your children fills me with such happiness…I can’t
explain it. I do have a mind of my own, so I won’t promise not to argue with you or disagree with you, but I won’t go against you. I believe in you, in us, and I want you.”

“You don’t get to put yourself out there for me,” he said, resting his forehead against hers. “But I will always, always protect you, defend you, and fight for you. That is my right.”

He took his thumb and gently traced the outline of her lips. Leaning in, he rubbed her nose tenderly and caringly with his, and then, ever so lightly, he brushed her soft lips with his, slow at first, then deepening the kiss while tracing her lower lip with his tongue. He tasted her, and she opened slowly on a gasp, and Eric deepened the kiss until she was clinging to him. Her breasts pressed into his chest as he slid his arm around her back and the other around her bottom and lifted her against him so he could feel every part of her.

A cry from the next room had him loosening his arms, and she pulled away.

“Let me check on her. I’ll be right back,” said Abby breathlessly.

Eric watched the sway of her shapely hips, outlined in that indecently sexy dress, and he wondered who had given her such an outfit.

Abby walked back in carrying Rachel. “I just need to feed her again, and then she should go right back to sleep.” She walked right up to him and then turned around, turning her back to him. “Can you unzip me? I can’t seem to do it one handed.”

As he reached down to unzip her, he felt the pain of such a gesture, wanting nothing more than to take her now. As the front loosened, she sat on the sofa and put Rachel to her breast. When she moved Rachel to her other side to finish, she glanced up and seemed startled that he was watching her so intently. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” he asked with a teasing tone. Crossing his arms, he winked. “I love watching you.”

Her grin was intoxicating, and so was the blush that tinted her cheeks. When Rachel slipped off her breast, asleep, Eric moved her cradle out by his desk, securing it so it wouldn’t move and so they would not disturb her. Eric had no plans to be quiet.

Abby carefully settled Rachel in bed. When she stood up, she slid up the front of the dress to cover her breast and reached around to zip it up, but Eric stopped her with his hand.

“Don’t touch it,” he whispered firmly in her ear as he slid his arm around her waist. Turning her in his arms,
then pulling her tightly against him, he whispered softly against her lips, “Where were we?”

Before she could reply, he leaned down and kissed her with his tongue. He licked until she opened and deepened the kiss, pulling her to him. He reached around and pulled her zipper all the way down, hooking his fingers in the straps of her dress and sliding it off her until it pooled at her feet. She was standing there in just her plain white cotton underwear and nothing else.

He lowered his head to run his tongue down her neck, tracing the outline of her collarbone, then in a path down to the indentation between her breasts. Cupping her breasts, he ran his calloused hand over her right breast, twisting the nipple gently between his fingers while watching her reaction closely.

She gasped, and he felt the shudder inside her. Holding her tightly as he bent her back over his arm, he lowered his head, taking a nipple in his mouth and then running his tongue over it.

He couldn’t get enough of her mouth, of kissing her, and he touched her lips again in a deep kiss that was all tongue and teeth. He slipped his hand under the elastic of her underwear and slid them off until they pooled at her feet and she stepped out. He didn’t know how long he could last as he scooped her in his arms. Hers went around his neck, and he set her on the bed, covering her with his body, pushing her arms above her head.

“Leave them there,” he whispered, and then he slowly made his way down, alternating between kisses and tracing his tongue over the smooth skin to her navel, then lower to the triangle of hair at the apex of her thighs.

She felt his hands on the inside of her thighs, caressing them, then moving up slowly to where they joined, then beginning to probe her slickness with his thick fingers, pushing deep inside, gently, while massaging the bud of pleasure with his thumb. Withdrawing his finger, he spread her quivering thighs wide with work-roughened hands, then put her knees over his solid shoulders, leaning in and gently kissing her there.

“Eric…no, you can’t. Make love to me. I want you inside me.” She reached for him, tried to pull him up.

“I plan to, just not yet.” He wanted to make sure she enjoyed every part of this loving, and tonight he would see that she was fully pleasured.

Abby grabbed his hair, and she groaned, saying
over and over, “Oh, Eric, I love you.”

He didn’t think he could take any more. He had to have her now. He pulled away, and she whimpered and then watched him with a look of seduction he’d never before seen in her eyes. He tore off his clothes, boots, and tossed them aside, then climbed back on the bed, and she
gasped when her eyes ran over his hardness. She ran her hands down his chest to touch him, but he grabbed her hand because he knew he wouldn’t last.

“Not this time. I need you too much.”

He spread her legs wide, and he was between them. He braced himself on his arms and gazed into eyes that were filled with such longing for him. “Just so we’re clear, Abby, you’re now mine,” he said. Then he thrust inside her, and she moaned.

“Yes, oh yes” was all she could say. He watched her as he moved inside her.

Eric could feel her building and tightening around his him as he thrust into her. Capturing her mouth once again, he swallowed her screams of pleasure as her nails scraped his back, and he kept going faster and harder. He could feel her begin to convulse around him again, and this time Eric couldn’t hold back. He allowed himself to let go, transported by the climax, emptying his seed into her womb.

Collapsing on his side, Eric took Abby with him, both arms surrounding her and holding her tightly as he remained inside her. Waiting for their breathing to return to normal, he traced his hands down her back. He heard her sniff.

He pulled away and lifted her chin, and he was stunned by the tears shimmering in her eyes and the stark realization of how hard he had ridden her. Eric was infuriated with himself as he wiped the lone tear with tender care as it fell down her cheek.

“Oh, Abby, I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you? I just wanted you so bad, and it’s been so long.” Aghast at what he had done, he pulled her into his arms. Leaning her forehead against his chest, he felt the subtle shake of her head, then pulled back just enough so he could that angelic smile light up as she spoke softly.

“No…no, you didn’t hurt me. My God, Eric, it was wonderful. No one has ever made me feel as cherished and protected as you have. No, you didn’t hurt me,” she repeated again as she reached up and cradled his face in her hands. “Oh, you sweet man. You gave me such pleasure.… You’ve made me so happy.”

Eric propped himself up on his elbow to look down on her naked splendor. Then, tracing a hand over her bottom while pulling her closer, he gently squeezed. “Sometimes, you really amaze me,” he said. Lowering his head, he gently kissed that lush mouth, and he deepened the kiss as he moved over her. Nudging her thighs apart, he entered her again, this time slowly, with
such gentleness that it touched something deep inside him: a connection, this rightness, as if linking two souls together forever.

The sound of the door opening and then closing in the outer cabin had Eric slipping his arm out from under Abby. He looked down to see her sleeping peacefully, hearing the soft murmur under her breath while she stirred slightly and then rolled over on her side.

Slipping out of bed quietly, Eric pulled on his pants and shirt. Opening the door of the bedroom and closing it quietly behind him, he found Petey there, clearing away the dirty dishes that were on the table.

Petey jumped when he saw Eric.

“At ease,” Eric ordered him in a lowered voice.

Petey finished clearing the dishes. “Do you need anything, Captain?”

“No, that’ll be all. You went to a lot of trouble helping Abby set up this dinner.”

He stuttered as a deep blush crept up his face. “C-captain, I-I…”

Putting his hand on the young man’s shoulder, Eric said, “Just make sure this doesn’t become common knowledge around the ship, Petey.”

Petey grabbed up the trays and hurried out the door, almost knocking down the XO as he entered and upsetting the whole tray. “Sorry, sir,” he said.

Joe said nothing, just nodded, and his eyes widened at Eric and how he must look, standing there barefoot in his pants and an open shirt. Then his gaze landed on Abby’s red dress lying in a heap on the floor. Closing the door behind him, Joe strode around the cabin. “So, where is she?”

Eric gestured with his head toward the bedroom door. “In there, sleeping.” Eric stepped around the desk and peeked down at a sleeping Rachel, who looked absolutely peaceful. Then he spied what Joe was staring at in the middle of his cabin floor: Abby’s red dress and underwear. He scooped them up and tossed them on the sofa, and he didn’t miss the smirk on Joe’s face.

“I won’t stay long.… I presume everything’s okay.”

“Just out of curiosity, whose idea was it to tell me the admiral was on board?” Eric asked.

Joe chuckled under his breath and then raised his hand in a teasing sort of way.

“I thought so. That seemed too devious for Petey. I’ll be sure to get you back for that one.”

“Oh, I think you already have. Don’t forget I’ve shared my cabin with you for the past few weeks. I do hope you won’t be returning.”

Eric flinched with the last remark, realizing he had been quite the bastard since the day of his wedding. He was surprised the crew had tolerated him so well.

Joe casually walked over to the baby, who was sleeping blissfully in her makeshift bed. Shaking his head, he walked to the door. “I’ll make sure you’re not disturbed tonight,” he said, and he left.