by Rhodes, Beth
She worked her way out of the sweatshirt, the t-shirt, and the thermal so that she was left with only the sports bra, covering her amazing breasts. She didn’t stop there, though, and withdrew her legs from his hands, slid them up the bed, and sat up, tucking them under her.
She was so hot, so incredibly gorgeous with nothing on.
He licked his lips, his eyes still caught on her chest. He reached for her and grabbed the front of that offensively modest material. He pulled, bringing her closer. Her hands came out and gripped his shoulders.
David worked the bra over her head and tossed it. He framed her supple breasts with his hands then cupped them in his palms. “Thank God.”
Her brow rose.
“What?” he asked as he rolled her nipples in his hands.
“You’re praying now?”
“I pray in thanks, Maria. That you are finally naked in my bed again.”
She laughed as she shook her head. “You’re too much, you know that?”
But, on her knees before him, she returned the favor and quickly divested him of his clothes. Her hand found that sweet spot inside his shorts and cupped him. Seconds flat, he’d guess, and he was at her mercy. He tensed in her hand, and she hummed her approval as she gripped him. “Gah,” he groaned, trying to pull away.
This time he would last longer, he swore it.
But, Maria wouldn’t let him escape and drew him onto the bed, coaxing him to his back.
“No way,” he answered her silent command and rolled her onto her back. He lifted her hips, lined up their bodies to each other, and stopped. Jesus in heaven… she was wet, dripping with her desire. “Damn, Maria. Let me look.”
The gorgeous brown of her skin, the pale pink of her center. He slowly massaged two fingers in the folds of her hot, wet skin. Her back arched. “David,” she moaned.
He found her small bundle of nerves and felt his own breath turn to panting.
He palmed the bump on her belly with the other hand. She spread her legs to him and rose to her tiptoes. “Well, do it then, David. Make me come. I want to be the only one who comes for you. ”
He gripped her hips and thrust home. Achingly paced, once, twice, three times…until he lost count and closed his eyes on the feel of her around him. She was heated, pumping with him and refusing to be left behind.
Her hands traced lines over his chest and down his abdomen. She held onto his sides and curled her feet around his legs—cold feet. Slowing, he reached behind him and pulled the quilt up his back and over his shoulders. He planted his hands beside her head, and adjusted his weight onto his knees so that he could move without hurting her.
She took the edge of the blanket with a grin and drew it over his head then she pulled him down so they were flush against each other.
“The baby.”
“—is fine,” she finished for him as her arms came around his chest. They were nipple to nipple and beneath the warmth of the blanket, she circled his waist with her legs, pulling him even further into her heat.
He tucked his face into her neck and rocked against her. It was serene. Home and love and the most amazing woman he’d ever had in his bed, ever. Her mouth moved over him, from his lips where she gently sucked his bottom one into her mouth and licked the inside of his mouth, down his neck, across his shoulder… she bit lightly at his pect.
“Geez.” The beginnings of his orgasm flooded his veins. And then she grabbed his ass and ground her hips against him. “Holy—”
A sheen of sweat glistened on the smooth skin of her shoulders. And he let go with her. Wanting her, needing her. Just so damned thankful he’d found her here and that she hadn’t left.
He was saying her name, over and over, as they worked the bed together—skin on skin. His hands tunneled through her hair and he tilted her head so that he could see into her eyes. “Maria,” he whispered.
And she came with that spark and snap in her eyes as they slid shut, and the tightening of the sweet, internal hold on his dick, pulsing against him. He pumped hard and fast, faster still. And then anticipation met climax, and he tensed in her arms. David rolled to his side and pulled her into his arms on top of him, as his body gave in to the only part of love that had ever made sense before her.
~*~
Maria woke what must have been hours later. The light brush of a branch on the window made her shiver in the dark and remember all those scary movies her brothers would watch, and she’d sneak down the stairs to peek at. She snuggled deeper under the covers and further back until her bare rear found David at her back.
She ran her hand down his hip and rested it on his thigh, lightly scratching the course hair of his leg. They had a great unity in bed. This was easy, where it had all started. Being at home in these woods was her first glimpse that what they had could last.
They were good here, good in bed, connected—even through mind and spirit. It was enough. He was enough for her. And somehow, she would convince him.
Behind her, David stretched and evidence of their union nudged her. She hummed, the smile coming involuntarily. His hands moved over her.
“What are you doing awake?” He kissed her still-bare shoulder. “You need rest.”
When his hands came around and rested over the baby, a lump formed in her throat.
No matter how much distance he created during the day while his brain was functioning at one hundred percent, his natural instinct was to protect her.
But she didn’t want to sleep and she turned in his arms and straddled his waist, grinning down into his handsome face, his sleepy gaze, as his erection grew beneath her.
With gentle strokes, she rode him awake and the easy, cruise of arousal travelled through relaxed muscles and into reawakening senses. With those drowse-filled eyes barely opening, he reached for her breasts and cupped them, caressed the slope from her shoulder to her nipple.
Her head fell back as she soaked in adoration, and when his hand trailed fingers down her throat, a shiver started in her spine. Her orgasm neared; her nails dug into her thighs, and he lifted her and rocketed into her in one sharp thrust. Her eyes flung open.
Even in his position beneath her, he never submitted. The sleepy gaze turned to an intense glare as his eyes raked over her, and a smile came to her, out of the blue.
The hands on her hips tightened. “What?” he asked.
She blew out a breath as his hips pumped under her and her heart pounded so hard. “Don’t you ever submit?”
A funny look, she couldn’t quite interpret, came to his eyes. And an instant later, he growled, levered himself up to sit up, his feet under him.
She landed in his lap, stunned and amused. “Wow. That was impressive. You’re still inside me.”
He grinned. “But we’re equal now.” He had his arms around her torso as he squeezed her and they were chest to chest, breathing hard. “That okay with you?”
She nodded as he lifted her off his thighs and set her back down with aching precision. Muscles tensed and quaked as he rocked them, gently, taking her breast into his mouth and drawing passion from her that made her boneless and vulnerable.
The rocking, back and forth, pelvis to pelvis, built pressure within her.
Maria forced herself to relax, and leaned forward, resting her head on his shoulder. She wanted this to last forever, wanted the tight feeling in her gut to go on and on. He must have known because his kisses went soft, the rocking deeper and deeper. His hands traced circles on her back until she found herself hypnotized by his touch.
He nibbled lightly on her shoulder. She shuddered, lifting her hips to slide his length against her clit, then forced herself back down.
“Oh, David.” Without warning, her nerves lighted with fire, drove her into the burning of the coming orgasm. She shoved him back to his prone position and let loose, riding him with all the pent up emotion—lust, uncertainty…love.
He never hurried, never stopped the sweet caress of his hands against her skin, into her hair, down to lig
htly draw figure eights around her nipples.
The contrast drove her mad until finally, finally she climaxed, tightened around him as all thought left her.
He tensed in her arms and grasped her—hard hands on her thighs as he too let loose within her. She slumped onto his chest. Her cheek mashed against sweat-sheened skin.
David rolled them over and lifted his hip so she could get her leg out from under him. She slid the leg straight and curled the other one more tightly around his waist.
He was accommodating the tiny person between them.
She turned her head and placed a kiss on his arm before resting back down against the pillow of his muscle and snuggling into his embrace. He lifted the covers over them.
“I’ll never move again.”
His chuckle vibrated through her. “I’d like that.”
“You would?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, his hand rode down her side and settled on her hip. “I—” He stopped, cleared his throat, silent again.
Her heart skipped a beat. Her man wasn’t uncertain. He didn’t lack confidence.
“What?” she whispered, finding his glinting gaze through the dark of the room. The moon had finally reappeared and light shown through the window.
He tightened his grip for a moment before continuing his sweet stroke.
She shivered at the touch, trembled to her core, and he pressed himself into her. Maria laughed then because his arousal might have diminished some, but perhaps he wasn’t quite done after all. “Not quite ready to give up the ship?”
“I’m not too old, yet.”
“Old?” She laughed. “When we hit thirty, let’s talk about getting old.” Her breath stopped in her throat. Would they still be together at thirty? “Right now, you’re just virile—lots of endurance. You can go all night. Right?”
It was David’s turn to laugh. “I’d like to be together when we’re thirty.” His voice turned serious. “I’d like to be together when we’re forty, too.”
Tears stung her eyes as she blinked them away. She wanted to keep the conversation light, didn’t want to scare him away. “Good plan. We’ll talk at fifty. If things are going to hell in a hand-basket then, we’ll…” The touch of his fingers against her clit made her voice fade. “Or that.” And she shuddered.
It hardly mattered to her if she came again or not. He’d filled her heart with his words, with his uncertainty. He was more vulnerable than she realized. “Come on, baby,” she whispered against his neck, and reached over her leg to cup him.
He came again in an instant, flooding her, tensing in her arms, every muscle tight with strain. Her light touch made him jerk against her, and she smiled when he grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips.
“I couldn’t be with anyone else, ever again.” David drove into her one last time and then dropped into sleep against her, left her hanging on the edge to I-love-you. He hadn’t said it yet. But she was starting to think, perhaps…
He just didn’t recognize it.
She was determined to make this work. She’d prayed for a happy ending and a chance to be with the man she loved. She was married now. Some might say foolishly, but she liked to think of it as faithfully—believing in something she couldn’t see.
16
By noon the next day, the sun had come out, shining down and burning off the edge of frozen. David wanted to leave as soon as possible. He had work in town to take care of regarding the deal in Florida.
Maria hugged Tanner good-bye, secretly wishing she could stay—hole up and hide there for the rest of winter. Until the baby was born, even. He must have sensed it because he framed her face with his soft, wrinkled hands. “Don’t lose heart, my dear. Every road has bumps in it, especially the ones that get hit with a cold, hard winter. But we Vermonters are a hardier sort than usual. David’s a good man, from decent stock. As my Ellie would say, ‘Stubborn, but in a good way.’”
She nodded, the lump in her throat choking off any words.
“Now, next time, if you want to go exploring, you call me. I’ll come get you, okay? None of this wandering through the woods, scaring the people who love you.”
People who loved. Heart clenching, Maria leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for everything, Tanner.”
He meant David. It was his approval, his thumbs up. His way of telling her she was important, that she had to be careful. She appreciated it, even as she feared it, too. She wouldn’t hurt David, not on purpose.
But she was starting to understand David’s hang up.
The man in question held the door open for her. He had on his gloves, hat, and scarf. She wore the extra scarf he’d brought with him and her own gloves. The tennis shoes were going to be soaked by the time she got home.
Home.
David took her hand as they stepped off the porch—glove to glove. They trekked down the trail. Going backward on the route she’d taken yesterday. Only today, she found herself enjoying it. Her thoughts were free.
Finally, her world had come full circle, and even though she was on the opposite side of the country, in considerably colder weather, she was reminded of their time in California. When they’d become friends and then lovers.
She smiled at him when he looked her way. “You’re thinking,” he spoke as he stepped over a snow-covered mound.
“I’m thinking about California.”
He hesitated, so briefly, she second guessed herself.
“If you want to visit, you can go. Any time.”
But come back. Those were the unspoken words. She understood his fear, now.
“I’d rather stay here.”
The surprise on his face made her smile.
“Even with my father around?”
“Well, here,” she stopped. “Right here.” She pointed to the ground. To make a point. “Here, in these woods and at your grandfather’s, you are more the man I met in California. Not the man in silk ties and Armani suits who deals with money and buys and sells hotels. You.”
She thought about his time in Florida, and her heart filled with sorrow—for him. His uncertainty with her was founded in the women who’d shaped his world so far.
“I’m sorry about Tammy.”
David helped her over a fallen log then hopped to the other side as well. “She’s not the woman I knew. No. That’s not it, either. Maybe I did know her. I didn’t know me.” His arm came around her shoulders this time as they continued walking toward the small bridge over the frozen stream. “I saw myself, Ree. Really saw myself for the first time in a long time.”
She frowned. “David—”
“I love it here, too,” he interrupted. “Listen.”
She tilted her head, heard nothing but the quiet. But when he remained silent, she realized there was more. Birds in the distance, chattering away. The rustle of movement through the woods. Their own footsteps crunching in the snow.
“Every year, I take a trip across the country—like when I came to California. But, look at me. I live on the outskirts of this small quaint town, and I have a grandfather who owns a hundred and fifty acres in my backyard, but still I need to get away. Why?”
“Looking for me?” And the grin she sent him was returned along with a sound kiss on her lips.
“Maybe.” He paused. “Or, maybe I’ve never been one hundred percent happy here. Maybe it’s not the town. Maybe it’s always been my dad.”
“Oh David, your dad must care—” But she stopped. Did he? She had no idea. “It’s hard for parents to let go and let their kids make their own decisions, find their own way.”
But he was shaking his head. “No. It’s worse.”
“How can it be worse? He hired another woman to seduce you. You freaking kissed her, David.” The shot of jealousy that struck her came out of nowhere. It came from the insecure region of her heart that she kept well-guarded. “Shit,” she sighed.
“Maria.” David turned her, took her chin in his hand. “I am sorry for what went o
n in Florida. I’m sorry for this ridiculous scheme my dad concocted. I’m sorry that I let her kiss me.” He broke off, looking as uncertain as she felt. “I would give anything to make you understand. I never wanted her like I want you.”
“Oh.” Pregnancy notwithstanding, a flood of tears started in her eyes. And she frowned. “What do you mean by worse then?”
Hesitating for an instant, he kept them moving as he talked. “My dad. I never saw him so…unreasonable.”
“He doesn’t like me.”
“I don’t understand it, Maria. I swear, if I could change it, I would.”
She nodded. “You realize we are in the same boat. I’m not what your father had in mind for you—not blonde enough, not rich enough? And you are not what my parents expected of me, either.”
“Maybe we were made for each other.”
“Do you really think this will work?” She didn’t like the doubts that crowded her thoughts, but she’d known what was right her whole life. Could this new life also be right? Had her views been so narrow?
“See, now. I believe this will work, because we choose to make it work.”
She blew out a breath. “Good point.”
“Of course it is,” he answered her, twinkle in his eye and smugness in his tone.
She grinned, giving him a good-natured whack on the arm at the same time.
He pulled her against himself and into a headlock. “Try it again, lady,” he snarled with a laugh.
But she’d been raised with brothers.
Maria hooked one leg through his legs and leaned into his weight. His feet came out from under him and he fell, letting go of her as he dropped. Success. She laughed from above him. The spark in his eye was equal threat and play.
And she ran.
Down the trail and over the bridge. She almost lost it there, slipping on the wood, and grabbed the handrail as she crossed. She’d barely gotten over when David pummeled her from behind, gently lifting her off the ground into his arms. She squeezed her eyes shut and tucked her head into the crook of his neck as they both went flying. The feeling of ultimate release as exciting as being in his arms was comforting.