by Marie Morin
Almost as if he read her mind, he released her breasts and skated his hands over her ribs to the waist of her jeans. Popping the snap with his thumb, he slid the zipper to the bottom and skimmed his hand downward, cupping her. She shifted, trying to give him better access, but the snug jeans frustrated them both. Removing his hand, he pushed her jeans down her hips. She lifted up, wriggling out of her jeans and panties as his hand slipped down to cup her once more.
This time, his questing fingers found her, parting her tender nether lips and tracing the moist cleft of her sex. She released a shuddering sigh of delight, then gasped when he discovered the tiny nub of flesh at the apex of her sex and massaged it experimentally. After a few moments, he ceased his torturous play and shifted, dragging her across his lap and guiding her thighs on either side of his.
Catching her hair, he tugged until she exposed her throat for his mouth. He wove a hot trail downward from her chin to her collar bone as he released his hold on her hair and slipped his hand down, skating his palm over her bare buttocks. As he reached the base of her throat and began weaving a trail of kisses across her shoulder, he caught her hips in both hands and began rocking her body slowly back and forth across the hard ridge of flesh beneath her cleft.
He ceased after only a moment and, with a grunt that was part pain and part satisfaction, unfastened his own jeans and worked them far enough down his hips to release the engorged flesh trapped within the fabric. Watching him, Cassie reached between them and wrapped her hand around his cock.
An in drawn hissing noise escaped him as she ran her thumb over the rounded head and she jumped, looking at him guiltily. He caught her face between his hands. “No,” he said hoarsely. “Don't stop. It feels good."
He settled his mouth over hers then, forcing her lips apart and delving inside with a possessive sweep of his tongue that sent a current of need through her, winding the tautness inside her more tightly. She squeezed his cock reflexively, began massaging his length in concert with the thrust and retreat of his tongue within her mouth.
He tore his mouth from hers abruptly, digging his head into the back of the couch, his face contorted. Unnerved, Cassie loosened her grip reflexively. He caught her hand beneath one of his, teaching her the rhythm that pleased him most. She watched the movements of their hands, studied the flesh she massaged, feeling her mouth water and her kegels tense. When she looked up again, she saw that Thor was watching her.
His face twisted. Circling her waist with his hands, he skimmed her T-shirt upwards, lifting her up on her knees and opening his mouth over one nipple. The movement separated her from her plaything. The heat of his mouth diverted her, however. She pulled her T-shirt the rest of the way off and began tugging at his.
He released her nipple long enough to discard his shirt, and pulled her against him tightly, skimming his hands along her bare back. As he divided the attentions of his mouth between her breasts, her throat and her lips, he sought her nether lips once more. Parting them with a thick index finger, he traced the cleft, sought and found her clit and teased it with the tip of his finger until Cassie had to struggle to catch her breath, felt her body trembling on the verge of release.
The tentative nudge of his cock against her sex sent a surge of eagerness through her. She began pressing downward the moment he'd aligned his body with hers. He caught her hips, steadying her, guiding her. She opened her eyes to look at him as she felt her body slowly engulfing his turgid flesh. He was watching their joining, his face taut with concentration, with constraint. They reached impasse. He lifted her slightly, allowing his cock to slide almost all the way out and pressed down on her hips again.
She closed her eyes as she felt his heated stroke along her passage, filling her. The third time he withdrew and pushed, he sank to her depths. She opened her eyes and stared into his slumberous gaze, watching his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed convulsively, gasping as he held her hips tightly and arched up into her.
He gritted his teeth, his fingers digging into her hips as they clenched reflexively. She lifted upward again, and settled slowly, repeating the process a little faster the second time, a little more quickly each time afterward as her body began to move closer to release until she felt the first tremors of her orgasm.
She clutched his shoulders, squeezing her eyes tightly as she reached for it, gasping as it quaked through her. His arms tightened around her crushingly as he seized control and began meeting each downward plunge of her body with a hard upward thrust of his own. He reached culmination before the last tremors of her own had died.
She dropped her forehead against his shoulder as the last shudders of her release robbed her of the last ounce of her strength, feeling the mellowing warmth of satisfaction envelope her.
He sought her mouth with his, kissing her. “Marry me,” he said huskily against her lips.
Chapter Fourteen
Cassie's laboring heart jolted to a painful stop. When it jerked into motion once more, it seemed to bounce into her throat and lodge there. She swallowed convulsively several times and leaned back to look at him. “I ... uh ... What did you say?"
There wasn't a hint of laughter in his eyes. “Marry me."
Her gaze skittered over his face, but she could see nothing in his expression to indicate that he wasn't deadly serious. He was a little pale, tense, almost seemed to be holding his breath, but there was determination in his face, as well. Not a touch of insanity. No little gleam in his eyes or telltale twitch of his lips to indicate he was waiting to deliver the punch line. “You don't even know me."
“I know what I want."
She licked her lips, mentally slapping at the little voice in her ear screaming carpe diem! Carpe diem! If she'd had a dick and balls, they would've slithered up into her belly to hide. Instead, her kegels clenched reflexively, expelling his flaccid member abruptly.
She felt a little dizzy, as if she'd suddenly found herself standing on the edge of a precipice that dropped into infinity.
His asking wasn't the most insane part of the situation. Her screaming desire to leap at the offering topped it. “You're scaring me,” she managed finally.
He swallowed with an obvious effort. “Is that a no?"
“That's an ‘I'm scared to death because I want to say yes'."
A slow grin tilted his lips. “Then say yes."
She sent him a troubled frown. “Why?"
“Because I want to. Why else would I ask?"
Would she have believed an ‘I love you'? Probably not, but she would still have liked to have it. She swallowed with an effort. “When?"
He frowned, apparently calculating how long it would take to do the paperwork and have the tests. “Next weekend?"
She felt faint all over again. “That soon?"
“You want a big wedding?"
“NO!” she gasped. “I don't have any family to ask anyway,” she added when he looked at her questioningly.
A touch of impatience entered his eyes. “I don't want to wait any longer than it takes. I'll be damned if I'm going to sneak around just to see you."
“Is that why you want to get married?” she asked, uncertain of whether to be relieved by so simple an explanation or more alarmed. It seemed a tad excess to get married just to date, but there were certainly extenuating circumstances. He had money. He'd expect her to sign a pre-nup, she was sure, so she supposed that was probably why he wasn't too worried about discovering it was a huge mistake.
He gave her a long look. “Part of it."
She closed her eyes and took the leap. Carpe diem! Please, whoever's up there, don't let me regret this! “Yes."
He stared at her. “Yes?"
She smiled, leaning forward to kiss him on the tip of the nose and then, lightly, on the lips. “I think I'm as crazy as you are because I want to—yes."
He squeezed her tightly, opening his mouth over hers for a slow, thorough kiss. She'd began to think he would make love to her when he pulled away and tucked her against his
shoulder. “We should try to get the blood test tomorrow. We can't get a license until we get the results back. Unless you've got some objections, we might as well get the JP to marry us when we get the license."
Cassie's stomach fell out from under her. “Blood test?"
He pulled away to study her white face. “You're afraid of needles."
She didn't see any reason to deny it. She nodded.
“You can be brave for me, though, can't you?” he said coaxingly.
She grimaced wryly.
His gaze drifted to her lips, then shot back to hers again almost guiltily. “You can do this."
She dropped her head to his shoulder again. “I can do this,” she said, hoping she could.
* * * *
A panic attack hit her as soon as he parked the SUV in front of the clinic. She cupped her hands over her face, trying to keep from hyperventilating. “I can't do this,” she said in a panic ridden voice.
Thor got out of the car and came around to her door. She had to fight the urge to slam the lock down to keep him from pulling it open. He squatted in the opening, studying her when he had the door open. “It'll be all right."
“You think they could knock me out?"
She could see he was fighting the urge to smile. “I don't think they can do that."
Straightening, he leaned inside, pulled her hands away from her face and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Just think good thoughts. It'll be over before you know it."
The had to wait in the fucking waiting room nearly an hour. Contrary to what Thor apparently thought, the wait didn't help her nerves. If anything, they wound tighter as the minutes ticked off. When they took her back to draw the blood, she had to breathe into a paper bag for several minutes. Thor squatted beside her, stroking her leg soothingly. “Couldn't we just be engaged a while?” Cassie asked plaintively, pulling the bag down to talk to him as the nurse tied a band around her arm and began thumping it to find a vein.
Thor pushed the bag back up to her face. “Why don't we go ahead and get this out of the way while we're here, and then talk about it?"
The nurse was coming at her with a syringe. Cassie stopped breathing and turned to watch her. Thor caught her face in one hand and forced her to look at him. “It's just a little thing, baby."
“This is going to sting,” the nurse said.
Cassie tried to jerk free of Thor's hold. He tightened his grip. “Cassie!"
“Fuck!” she yelped when the needle went in.
“There,” Thor said, obviously relieved. “It's practically over."
“That's what you think,” Cassie muttered, clenching her teeth and her eyes.
The nurse stabbed her two more times, then tried the other arm twice. “Small veins,” she said succinctly.
Thor was almost as white faced as she felt by then. He sent the nurse a deadly look. “Find a good one,” he said coldly.
The woman cast a startled glance at him and finally went for a vein in Cassie's hand. Cassie tried to lurch to her feet the moment the woman stepped away from her. “I'll wait for you in the car."
Thor held her down. “Wait until I can walk you."
She didn't want to, but she finally subsided.
The nurse wanted her to move so she could draw Thor's blood. He knelt by Cassie instead, holding out his arm. She looked away while they drew his blood. She thought it was probably a good idea she'd waited for him because her knees had lost all their starch. By the time they got to the SUV, he was practically carrying her. He helped her into her seat and buckled her belt for her, then tilted the seat back so that she was reclining.
When he'd climbed in, he shifted around so that he could study her. “I'm sorry, baby. I didn't know it would be such an ordeal for you."
“S'ok,” Cassie said, “but, just FYI, if they screw it up, I'm not coming back."
“If they screw it up, I'll throttle somebody,” Thor said grimly.
Comparatively speaking, it turned out to be a fairly small bump in the road for them, however. They hit their first big bump on Sunday afternoon.
“We could just go ahead and move your things in tonight,” Thor suggested while they were lazing by the pool.
Cassie, half asleep, shook her head. “I'll get some boxes after class tomorrow and start packing my stuff up after work. We can move it next weekend."
“You should give them notice tomorrow."
Cassie dragged one eye open. “Why?"
He shrugged. “It would be a courtesy to give them notice."
“If I was quitting, I would."
Thor sat up and looked at her. “You intend to keep waiting tables?"
Cassie didn't like the way he said that. “It's honest work."
“I didn't say it wasn't, but you don't need to work once we're married."
Cassie closed both eyes again, but she was wide awake now. “Yes, I do. I like making my own money and paying my own way."
“You'd have more time for your studies if you didn't work. You'll have to quit before we leave to go on the dig anyway."
“I can handle it. I'll give notice when we're closer to time for the dig."
He said nothing for nearly five minutes, but she didn't need to see his face to know he wasn't pleased. “I'd rather you didn't work."
“I noticed."
“Marriage means compromise, Cassie."
Irritated, Cassie sat up and climbed out of the chaise.
“Where are you going?"
“To get the dictionary,” Cassie snapped, turning back to glare at him and planting her hands on her hips.
“Why?” he asked tightly.
“Because the last time I looked up ‘compromise’ it meant both parties yielded something in order to reach common ground. If your idea of compromise is for me to yield to your wishes every time you express one, then I wish you'd let me in on that little fact before I let that damn woman use me as a pin cushion!"
“What do you mean by that?"
She gave him a look. “You're an intelligent man. You figure it out."
He caught up to her in the great room. “You're calling off the wedding over a little disagreement?” he demanded in patent disbelief.
Cassie felt a good deal of disbelief herself that he could refer to it as a ‘little’ disagreement, but her anger dissipated as she studied him. “It's not a little thing, Thor. Don't you understand that? When you asked me, I didn't know you expected to ... own me. I'm a whole person, not a half person looking for my ‘better half'."
“I'm only suggesting you concentrate on your studies until you graduate. If you want to work then, I don't have a problem with it. But you're working too hard, and I want time with you, too,” he said in a placating tone.
It sounded really reasonable. The only problem was, she knew that wasn't what he'd mean at all.
“If you want your own money, I'll set up an account for you at the bank."
She studied him for a long moment and finally took his hand and tugged him over to the couch. When he sat, she allowed him to pull her into his lap.
“I need to know you understand and accept this, Thor, or I can't go through with this. I understand that you're from a ... different generation and people looked at marriage differently, but you have to understand that I can't live under those conditions.
“I was barely ten when my parents died. And then I had to live with a foster family. I learned the hard way that the only person you can really depend on is yourself. If you give up that, allow yourself to become dependent on anybody, then they die and leave you, or they decide they don't want you anymore, or they just leave you for someone else, and then you have to learn to take care of yourself all over again.
“I can't do that. I won't do it. I'm willing to compromise. I'll cut back to part time, if that'll make you happier. I'm not willing to become so totally dependent on you that I have no life without you."
She wasn't prepared for the tormented look that flashed in his eyes. “None of those eventualitie
s are a possibility, least of all that I might die and leave you.” He scrubbed a hand over his face tiredly. “I don't suppose you have any sage advice on how I might refrain from becoming totally dependent upon you?"
Chapter Fifteen
Her boss seemed more inclined to fire her than to cut her hours. She couldn't say that she blamed him when he was already working around her school schedule. He finally agreed to keep her on, however, so long as she was willing to work three shifts on his busiest days. She had a sneaking suspicion that he was secretly relieved. The restaurant was practically dead during the evenings early in the week and, until he'd begun allowing her to work weeknights, he'd only had one waitress on duty on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Janie wasn't too happy about losing her roommate, but Cassie agreed, since she hadn't given her any sort of notice, to go ahead and pay her share of the expenses for the next month. She and Thor almost got into another argument over it, but she realized she was going to have to stop being so touchy or they would be fighting constantly.
Janie went as her witness when they went to the Justice of the Peace. Thor brought a colleague from the college, mostly, she suspected, to make certain there was no doubt in anyone's mind that everything was ‘above board'. She didn't get the impression that the colleague was actually a friend of his.
When she asked him about it on the way home from their celebration dinner out, he merely shrugged. “I make it a policy not to grow too attached to anyone. It always ends ... badly, and I never know when I might need to move on."
He seemed distant. She had to suppose he hadn't realized that he hadn't qualified that comment. Maybe because it was the truth?
He thoroughly confused her. Despite what he'd said about ‘not being complicated’ , he was. He not only hadn't presented her with a pre-nup, he had acted insulted that she would even ask him about it, and he'd refused to consider it when she'd insisted that he needed to have one drawn up.