by Cherry Adair
Jessie rested her eyes. She wanted him home, sitting beside her, rubbing her feet as he sometimes did. Or making love to her over there on the floor by the fireplace where he’d filled the missing gaps in her education with alacrity. Telling her what a shamelessly slow learner she was, so she had to keep practicing until she got it right.
Making love with Joshua was the best experience she’d had in her life. Dashing to the bathroom first was going to take some of the spontaneity away.
It was those quiet moments with him she cherished most: Listening to music. Watching an old movie. Talking. It was amazing they had so much to talk about, considering they hardly agreed on anything. But, no matter what the subject, they were both fascinated with looking up strange facts in Joshua’s extensive library. When she came up with some off-the-wall question, Joshua would laughingly look it up in one of his many books or on the Internet.
He seemed more relaxed. He laughed more. He seemed to like her touching him even when they weren’t making love. And Jessie touched him whenever she felt the urge, which was often. She loved the feel of his dark hair between her fingers. She adored the scrape of his rough jaw under her mouth as she snuggled against him on the sofa. He didn’t push her away. If he didn’t enjoy the cuddling as much as she did, he didn’t show it. He seemed perfectly content to let her tumble against him at whim like a pesky kitten.
Most of the time, if she didn’t dwell on not conceiving, she was happy.
His control was phenomenal. Jessie had never seen anything like it. Conrad had been right. It was hard to tell if Joshua ever got really ticked off. She’d learned the angrier he was the quieter he got. Thank goodness he’d never been angry with her.
Their lovemaking was spectacular. Jessie could never have imagined two people being more in tune, more compatible than she and Joshua in bed. Or on the floor. Or on a chair. They were both insatiable. He taught her to be uninhibited and inventive. Jessie blushed at some of her choice locations. She would never be able to look at the stairs again without remembering the rug burns she’d had on her butt the next day.
Jessie had practiced the wind sprint required to get to the bathroom, get prepared, and then get back to the bed. She had practiced until she was fast.
She sighed contentedly and slid down into a more comfortable position on the sofa. Even Fred and Ginger waltzing around the ballroom couldn’t force her eyes to remain open.
Joshua come home.
* * *
JOSHUA COULD HEAR the TV as he let himself in and set his garment bag by the foot of the stairs to retrieve later. A strong smell of paint permeated the air. She’d left the front hall light on for him as she always did when he was late. A small thing, but something he always noticed the moment he walked in.
She’d placed an enormous, and rather ugly, vase on the half-circle table against the far wall. The smell of the massed fresh flowers vied with the unmistakable odor of paint and lemon furniture polish. She’d probably worked his staff mercilessly. To them Miss Jessie could do no wrong. They all adored her. A small, satisfied smile tugged at Joshua’s mouth.
He loosened his tie and top button, his eyes gritty with exhaustion as he walked down the short hallway to the family room in back of the house.
“Jessie?”
He didn’t remember being this tired in his life. Although his business had gone well, he’d missed Jessie more than he’d thought possible.
“Jessie?”
There was no response to his second louder call. For a moment he stood in the doorway. So much for fantasizing about her silky naked skin on satin sheets. He didn’t have the energy right now anyway. He glanced at his watch. Well after midnight. She must have left the TV on and gone home.
The configuration of the room was different, the smell of fresh paint much stronger in here. His head throbbing, Joshua moved to turn off the TV before he went to bed.
The flickering test pattern illuminated Jessie asleep on the sofa, her neck at an impossibly uncomfortable angle, her feet tucked up under his robe. Her lashes cast intriguing shadows on her lightly tanned cheeks.
“Jess,” he whispered with intense satisfaction. She was here. Crouching down, Joshua ran the back of his fingers across the silky skin of her cheek.
She slept as she did everything else. Totally. Nothing short of an earthquake would wake her. He took the book off her lap and marked her place.
She stirred briefly, capturing his hand under her cheek with a sigh. With a lightening of his spirits, Joshua bent and lifted Jessie to carry her upstairs.
He lay her gently on the bed, then stripped, settling under the crisp sheets beside her. The room was dark and warm, Jessie’s scent tantalizing as she unconsciously snuggled against him. Before he could sleep, he wanted to feel her naked skin against him. He skimmed off the velour robe she’d appropriated and for a moment was tempted to turn on the light. She had a magnificent body and he wanted to see it. Was hungry to see it. But he could wait. Even with the brief glance he’d given the house when he walked through it, he could see she hadn’t wasted a moment of the time he’d been gone. Jessie must be as exhausted as he was. She stirred restlessly as he slipped her arm out of the second sleeve, her silky hair frothing over his chest as he settled her against him.
Obviously they both needed to... Ah, hell! Jessie’s open mouth found his naked shoulder and sharp little teeth took a nip before her lips trailed like liquid fire to the joint of neck and shoulder. Was she awake? Tired muscles electrified back to life as her tongue sent jolts bone deep.
He shifted to his side, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. Desire clenched in his gut. Now that she’d aroused him, she damn well better be awake! His hand made a slow and thorough inspection of one plump breast, finding the nipple pebble hard. As his body came wildly alive, he groaned aloud. He pressed her against the pillows and took her mouth. He could feel the firm curve of her breasts and hard points of her nipples now flattened against his chest. Catching a handful of springy hair in his fist, he nudged her head up so he could just make out the pale oval of her face.
“You’d better be awake, lady.”
“Cyril?” Jessie whispered huskily, as her fingers climbed his shoulders.
Joshua fell on his back, taking her with him. He grinned up at her. “Cyril? You little wretch. How long have you been awake?”
“Since you started ripping off my clothes.” Jessie ran her fingers through his hair, the tips lingering on his face. He needed a shave. “When did you get back?” She wriggled farther up his chest.
Joshua captured her hand and brought it to his lips, a feeling of profound...something pouring through him. He had no name for what Jessie did to him. He didn’t even want to think about it. Her entire satiny length was pressed the length of his body. “Half an hour ago.” His answer was muffled against the pulse in her throat.
Jessie’s mouth blindly searched for his. His arms went around her. They kissed slowly, savoring the moment.
“I missed you.” Jessie’s voice was low, husky with need.
Joshua’s grip tightened as she moved with catlike grace, her smooth skin skimming over his. He heard her sigh. Shifting her, Joshua ran his hand up her side, her skin shimmering under his hand. He found her breast and tended to it with infinite care.
He’d missed her, too. He hadn’t wanted to. For days, the memories of this woman had colored his thoughts. It was unprecedented. It was unacceptable. It was. He nudged her knees apart and settled in the cradle of her thighs. “Show me how much you missed me, woman.” He slid into the welcoming warmth of her. They made love slowly, savoring the closeness.
Suddenly her body stiffened. “Oh, damn...I forgot to...never mind.”
As her body melted into deep sleep, he reached out and turned off the alarm.
* * *
HE HADN’T HAD enough sleep. He must be getting old. Trav
eling had never dragged at him like this. The trips were becoming mundane. He buzzed Angela to put together a list of candidates for future travel.
Hell, he’d been almost too tired last night to love Jessie. Not that she’d been too chirpy herself. He grinned. He had left her this morning with her face buried in the pillow. He’d stroked his hand down the silky curve of her bare back, lingering on her heart-shaped butt and she hadn’t moved a muscle. He’d missed too many mornings when she wouldn’t have been fast asleep. And he wanted them, damn it. He was throwing away that alarm clock ASAP.
He picked up the phone. “Ange, get me Felix, then have Craig from advertising come up. No, I’ll hold while you get through. Thanks.
“Felix? Find out where the hell Vera is off to now. I want a divorce.”
* * *
JESSIE JUMPED UP off her knees as soon as the Rolls pulled up in the circular driveway in front of his house. She fought the black dots in her vision from jumping up too fast, and tugged off her soil-encrusted gardening gloves. Joshua had left before she was awake this morning. Their first morning together at the house and she’d slept right through it.
She tossed the gloves aside as she pulled open the back door of the car. “You’re home early,” she said happily, as he swung his long legs onto the brick. “Hi, Barlow,” she called over the seat. The chauffeur grinned in the rearview mirror and touched his cap, waiting for her to slam the door shut before he took off to the garages behind the house.
Jessie linked her arm in Joshua’s as they walked inside. He set his briefcase down and turned to look at her; a small smile tugged at his mouth. “I have seven gardeners,” he said dryly, taking out his handkerchief to wipe her dirty cheek. “Why are you digging in the dirt again?”
“I’ll run up and take a quick shower,” Jessie said quickly.
“I wasn’t criticizing, Jess. You can do whatever you like around—” Joshua sneezed twice. “Damn.” He walked into the family room and collapsed on the sofa, pushing one of the new pillows Jessie had bought behind his head and swinging his feet up. He held out his hand. “The house looks great. You did a spectacular job, Jessie. When I have more energy you’ll have to give me a tour. In the meantime, come and lie here beside me and tell me what you planted today.”
“Ugh, I’m all dirty and sweaty.” Jessie’s nose wrinkled.
Joshua laughed hoarsely. “I love it when you’re sweaty. Come here, woman. I’m too damn tired to chase you upstairs.”
He did look tired. His face seemed paler than usual to Jessie as she lay down beside him and felt his arms come around her. She rested her head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.
She was afraid to interpret what it meant for Joshua to turn off the 3:00 a.m alarm and then come home early the next day. She wondered if she should read anything into it before deciding not to get too excited. He was more than tired—she could tell by the way his arms held her. He was more interested in holding her than in taking her upstairs to bed. She stroked his face.
His jaw was slightly rough with the stubble he hadn’t shaved at his office. Jessie knew he usually shaved twice a day. His skin under her questing fingertips felt warm and dry.
“Do you feel all right?” She lifted her head from his chest to look up into his face.
His eyes were closed, but he rubbed a small circle in the small of her back where his hand held her close. “Tired,” he admitted on a sigh. “Just damn tired.”
He was more than tired Jessie realized as she scrutinized his pale face, scorched with two angry red patches on his high cheekbones.
Jessie carefully swung her legs off the sofa. “Come upstairs, Joshua. I think you should be in bed.”
He opened his eyes, taking a moment to focus on her face. “Don’t think I can get it up right now, darling,” he mumbled, his lids drifting shut. “M’be later.”
She laughed softly. “No sex for you, big boy.” Jessie carefully slipped her arm under his back and helped him sit up. “Do you think you can get upstairs on your own or shall I call Barlow?”
“Own.” Joshua leaned heavily on Jessie’s arm as he stood up, almost tumbling both of them back onto the deep sofa.
Terrified he would fall, and alarmed at his pallor and disorientation, Jessie managed to get him upstairs and onto the bed. After undressing him and rolling him under the covers, she searched his phone book for the number of his doctor.
“Joshua?” Jessie sat on the edge of the bed. He had fallen into a restless doze. “I need the number of your doctor. What’s his name?”
“Never get sick.”
“There’s always a first time,” Jessie said dryly. She rested her cool hand on his hot cheek. “What’s your doctor’s name, Joshua?”
He coughed, turning his head feverishly on the pillow. “Jessie?”
“I’m right here.”
“Jessica. Jessie. Jess,” he said softly, rolling over to bury his face in the pillow.
“That’s me.” Jessie went into the dressing room to call her own doctor to see if she would make a house call.
He murmured her name again, shifted restlessly and hugged his pillow.
By the time the doctor arrived his temperature had climbed to 104. Jessie bathed his hot face in cool water, dribbling some of the moisture between his dry lips. He didn’t want to drink, didn’t want to take his cough suppressant, didn’t want to do anything but sleep. He sounded like a fractious child. Her heart squeezed. Who had taken care of him when he was a child? A nanny? Had the woman loved him? Or had she just done her job?
Jessie nursed him with TLC. She managed to sponge him down without getting yelled at. First he was boiling, and then he was freezing. He hated the cold wet cloths she ran over his sweaty body. She was sweating herself by the time she’d dried him and made him take aspirin. Then she let him sleep.
Until the next time.
The next day his temperature was down and he was just plain bad tempered. Jessie carried on as if he were being his most charming best. She forced him to drink and take his medication. He couldn’t resist her when she closed the drapes and lay down beside him. “Sleep,” she’d say, stroking his hair, and he’d rest his head against her without a complaint. He’d be asleep in seconds.
She spent every moment with him in the bedroom, coaxing, cajoling, bullying and browbeating him until he got well. It was no hardship for her to take naps with him. He was a harsh taskmaster when he was sick. Worse when he was recovering.
After five days, he thought he was well enough to use the phone. Jessie had taken it downstairs. He was still too wobbly to try the stairs, and he fumed for hours. A short nap took care of that mood, Jessie thought with amusement watching him sleep on the eighth morning.
Whereas she came rushing out of sleep to get on with her day, Joshua woke with a soft sigh. She loved him best like this. When he was soft with sleep, vulnerable and malleable.
She leaned up on her elbow and touched his forehead. Cool, thank goodness. She’d made him stay in bed yesterday even though he could probably have been up. She’d teased him about how much control she had since he was too weak to fight back.
She slipped out of bed, careful not to wake him. Dressed in navy leggings and a thigh-length cable-stitch navy-and-white cotton sweater, she pushed up the sleeves as she made her way to the kitchen. She had the coffee on and was breaking eggs into a glass bowl when Joshua came in.
“Where’s Mrs. Godfrey?” he asked, referring to the cook.
“She took her grandkids to the park.”
“Hmm.” He nuzzled the back of her neck.
Jessie turned to look at him. He had showered and shaved and dressed in the jeans and dark-purple shirt she’d bought him in Tahoe. “Well, don’t you look handsome.” She moved to arm’s length, eyeing him up and down. “Great buns.”
Joshua’s lips quirked. “You’re looking at my front, Jess.”
“Trust me, I know.” She grinned up at him, automatically checking his forehead with her hand. Satisfied, she turned back to the stove. “Scrambled or omelette?”
“Scrambled.” He pulled the wide neckline of her sweater aside to nibble her shoulder.
She poured the egg mixture into the pan. A comb fell out of her hair to the floor. Joshua bent to pick it up. “I don’t know why you bother trying to control your hair, darling. It has a mind of its own.”
She used one hand to hold her hair up as she tried to force the comb back into the thickly curling mass. Joshua smiled, his eyes getting crinkly the way she loved. “That doesn’t do any good you know. It won’t stay up.”
“I can’t do anything with it. I probably look like a wild woman.”
“It looks sexy as hell.”
She gave him a speaking glance. “I’m cooking breakfast here.”
He looked at her innocently. “I was just making a comment.”
She laughed. They hadn’t made love since the night he’d come back from Russia. Considering his libido, she was surprised he hadn’t taken her on the kitchen floor by now.
He still looked a little pale. She decided she could always persuade him to take a nap with her after breakfast. The meal would never get cooked though if she had to hold up her hair with her hand. Too lazy to run upstairs to look for a scrunchie, she coiled her hair off her neck and anchored it with a pencil she grabbed from the cup by the phone.
He frowned.
“What’s the matter?”
Joshua shrugged. “Déjà vu.”
Jessie put four slices of bread in the toaster then looked at him. “Are you sure you’re feeling all right? Maybe it’s too soon for you to be out of bed. Should I call Dr.—”
“Forget the doctor.” He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, his eyes lambent as he pulled her closer. “I want to drag you upstairs and do sexy stuff to your body until you yell.”
Upstairs was good.
She would make a quick detour to the bathroom before they hit the bed. She took the pan off the stove, then draped her arms around his neck and wriggled her eyebrows. “How sexy?”