by Ashley Ladd
She nipped at his nipple then sucked it.
“We can’t spend our entire lives in bed.”
“Why not?” She saw no downside to it. She climbed on top of him and cradled him between her legs and rubbed her pussy against his swelling cock.
“Uh, I’m forgetting why not…” His arms curled around her, and he moulded her to him.
Unfortunately, she remembered why, but she longed to put it off. Two out of three was good, right? Maybe she could be a silent benefactress to Judy, pay for her doctor’s bills and house repairs anonymously.
“What are you thinking?”
“Only about you and your luscious bod,” she lied, feeling guilty for letting her mind drift during such an intimate moment.
He tapped her head. “I don’t believe you.”
She looked up at him and frowned. “Are you a mind reader? Did you forget to tell me something?”
He screwed up his face and rubbed her upper arms. “No, but I can read you and something’s troubling you.”
She narrowed her eyes and laid her cheek against his chest. “What makes you think so?”
“Because you stopped moving. You’re just laying here.”
“Oh.”
“So? Am I right? What is it? Can I help?”
She feared no one could help. Her time was running out, and she’d yet to do a thing to contact or help Judy. She wondered if he’d dislike her after he heard how she’d abandoned her friend. “I don’t know if anyone can help.”
He slid his finger beneath her chin and forced her to look up at him. “You can tell me anything…except that you don’t love me.”
A chuckle arose in her throat, and she play punched him. “Can’t you tell I’m insanely, madly in love with you?”
His eyes darkened, and he murmured, “Show me.”
Her heart leapt for joy, and she hoped he meant forever, not just for the remainder of her stay. She was scared to ask, to ruin their bliss or be too forward.
“I mean it.” He rolled her onto her back and propped himself onto his elbow and gazed down at her. “I’m here for you. Don’t ever doubt that. So, are you going to tell me what’s troubling you?”
She wished she had no doubts, but after their history, a few remained. Not about her feelings for him. Not about her intentions.
“I was just thinking about an old friend…”
Dax’ lips twisted ruefully. “It had better not be a he. You’re mine, and I’m not letting you go without a fight.”
“No. I told you there’s no one except you. I have some unfinished business I promised myself I’d take care of on this trip with a ‘she’, but now I don’t know how to go about it.”
His expression became inscrutable, and he didn’t move for several moments. Finally, he asked, “Was it an accident that we bumped into each other at the deli?”
Oh God! She was loath to lie, but did she dare admit she’d planned that? That she’d known where to find him? That she’d gone so far as to hire a private detective to hunt him down, or that the Ghost of Christmas Past had prodded her to do it?
Finally, after debating herself into a frenzy, she crossed her fingers and toes. She couldn’t live with more lies. At least, she’d respect herself in the morning.
She was convinced that if he’d been honest with her all those years ago, things would have turned out much better. “Because I never stopped loving you, and I couldn’t go another day without finding you and seeing if we could have another chance.”
Simultaneously relieved and appalled that she’d admitted one of her deepest, darkest secrets, she waited with bated breath for his reaction. After he’d been silent so long she was about to admit defeat and leave, he pulled her back against him. “Tell me I’m not dreaming, that you’re really here?”
His hand felt so warm, so safe, and so powerful, she began to melt. “Tell me I’m not making a complete, utter fool of myself. Please don’t laugh in my face.”
“Don’t you know you’ll always be my baby? That we’re meant for each other?”
She put her fingers to his lips. “I’ve been in heaven these past couple days with you. If only they’d never end.”
He captured the hand against his lips, turned it over and put a kiss in her palm. “Why would you think they’d have to end?” Shadows flitted across his eyes, and his lips thinned.
Reality slammed into her and she remembered her job down in Ft. Lauderdale and how her boss expected her back soon. “I live in Florida. Long distance relationships rarely work.”
She’d missed Cincinnati almost as much as she’d missed him. But was it too soon to quit her job and move back here? He hadn’t exactly asked her to marry him or even to move in with him. As much as her dad seemed to enjoy having her visit, she doubted he wanted a permanent roommate either. “I’ll be here one more week, then who knows? I’ve wanted to come back here for a long time.” She wasn’t sure about the cold, but she’d dress warmly and make the best of it…if it meant having him.
“Really?” He pulled her closer and lowered a kiss to her lips.
His kiss felt so familiar and so new. It was like déjà vu. It intoxicated her when he drank deeply of her lips until neither of them could breathe.
Dax wrapped his arms around her. His hard cock pressed against her pussy, and his fingers kneaded her nipples as his lips nuzzled her neck. “Umm, you’re so very tasty. I can’t get enough.”
Straddling her, he sought her moist heat. “You’re so very beautiful, even more than before, as impossible as that sounds.”
Groggy, as if he’d awoken her from a sound sleep, she dreamily gazed at him. “Promise me I’m not dreaming. That we’re really together, naked and about to make love—again.”
A primitive growl rolled off his lips. “Let me prove it.” He slid his hands between her legs and spread them.
“I promise we’ll do things right this time around. We’ll always talk, no matter what happens. So tell me, did you tell me the whole truth about why you came to find me now? I mean you’re not dying, and you had to square away your life?” Fear pooled in his eyes as he hovered above her.
She curled her fingers around his cock and gently pumped it, anxious to feel it inside and be one with him. “I promise you I’m not dying. I’m very healthy.”
It was now or never. She sucked in her breath, closed her eyes and prayed he wouldn’t think her crazy. “I had a bad dream about the Ghost of Christmas Past. He came to me and showed me and you, then you with Max and Axel at Max’s hospital bed…”
Dax frowned and his brows became one long line. “So you knew about Max before you met in the pizza parlour? I don’t remembering telling you about his hospital incident, about…”
She didn’t know if she should tell him the whole truth. But then he’d just promised he’d always tell her the whole truth from now on so she couldn’t do any less. Inhaling deeply, she caught his gaze. Slowly, scrunching up her courage, she licked her lips. Finally, she admitted, “The Ghost showed me. We were in the room. I was there when the doctor told you Max would be okay, that he only had a mild concussion…”
Dax looked at her long and hard. “That’s some dream…if it was merely a dream.”
She winced. It had been too good to hope that he would believe something that sounded as nuts as this. “You don’t think I was really visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, do you?”
Slowly, he said as he smiled into her eyes, “Stranger things have happened. Who knows?”
“You don’t think I’m mad, that I imagined it or dreamed it? I mean, it sounds crazy. If it was real, why didn’t the other two ghosts of Christmas visit?”
He lowered his lips and murmured against hers, “I don’t know. I’m just grateful that you came back to me. I didn’t want to live my life without you.”
“I don’t want to live without you, either.” She opened her lips to him, inviting him inside. Ravenous for him even though they’d made love several times during the past couple of
days, she murmured, “Shut up and fuck me, mister.”
He quirked his brow, then the sun dawned in his eyes. “You’re a real tigress, aren’t you?”
“You mean you don’t remember?”
“How could I forget? It’s one of the things I love about you. I’m hungry for you, too, baby. Always and forever.”
“You talk too much,” she murmured, grinding her hips and aching to have him inside.
“We have a lot to catch up on…”
“Later. Fuck me first. Shove your big cock in me. Now! Ride me hard!”
“Anything for my baby,” he promised and drove into her with a feverish heat that consumed her.
Heady, bewitched, she lost herself in him. Lightning struck her multiple times, and she was a raw livewire of need. She couldn’t get enough and bucked beneath him.
In ecstasy, she came several times that night.
Chapter Five
“There’s one more thing I have to do before I go home…” she drawled lazily after she awoke in Dax’s bed the next morning. She envisioned how she’d make this room theirs, add some feminine touches to the very masculine, evergreen-and-brown room. A dust ruffle on the bed and matching pillow shams for starters. She’d repaint the room a lighter colour, something they could both agree on like light blue or an off white. She’d replace the utilitarian lamps with something that had more flare.
“Home?” Dax pulled away from her as he broke into her thoughts. “I thought this was your home, that you were going to move back to be with me.”
Aghast at her slip, she tried to back peddle. “Do you want me to be in Cincinnati? Permanently, I mean?”
“You called Florida ‘home’,” he drawled not very happily, and he regarded her warily. “I thought Cincinnati was your ‘home’?”
“It was. It is.” She swore inwardly, wishing he would give her more to go on. How did she explain this without coming out and asking him if he wanted to continue their relationship, and if so, in what capacity? She was afraid she’d scare him off if she implied marriage or even living together. One week back together wasn’t exactly a promise of forever. “I’ve lived in South Florida for almost twelve years. It is ‘home’, but so is Cincinnati. I have two homes. But Cincinnati is my second love…”
He scowled and lifted her off him. “You’d rather be there? I guess it was a good thing we spent this trial time together. Better to find out now than after you’ve moved up and destroyed your life…”
“Whoa! Back up! Don’t put words in my mouth.” She struggled to a sitting position and held out her hand to stop him. “I meant, Cincinnati is my second love after you. ‘You’, Dax Anthony DiCesare, are my first love.” She tapped his chin. “Get that through your thick skull, will ya? Don’t go getting paranoid on me. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I will always love you. Got it?”
“So, are you going to move back to Cincinnati?”
A dreamy smile curved his cheeks, and he pulled her onto his lap and smothered her with kisses. His hands roamed her body and played with her breasts.
He wasn’t making this easy on her. Taking another chance, hoping he wouldn’t freak, she asked, “What do you want to happen, between us I mean, after I move back here?”
He pulled away, the perplexed look back on his face. “What do you mean, what do I want to happen between us? I want us to be together. What did you mean you have one more thing to do? Do you mean to marry me?”
She sucked in her breath and stared long and deep into his eyes. She wasn’t sure if that was a proposal so didn’t know how to respond. However, her pussy quivered and grew moist, and she began to squirm against the bed. “Are you asking?”
“That depends…”
This was intolerable. A scream strangled in her throat. “On what?”
“On if you’ll say yes or not. Would you say ‘yes’?”
Oh, Lord, she hated games and wanted to pull the words from his mouth. “If you ask me to marry you, I’ll say ‘yes’. Are you asking me to marry you?” She held her breath and prayed for the answer she longed to hear.
“I’m asking.” He cupped her breast and pulled her back into his arms.
“Then I’m saying ‘yes’.” This time, she plundered his lips until she could no longer breathe.
“The sooner the better. We’ll go ring shopping today, and we’ll get the license.”
Blissful, she was ready to have her wicked way when he stopped her and asked, “So, put me out of my misery, and tell me what it is you have to do if marrying me wasn’t it?”
“I need to make up with an old friend.”
Dax scowled. He tapped her forehead with his finger. “Which old friend? Do I know her?”
“No. Her name is Judy.”
His eyes seemed to roll back in his head, as if he was scanning the past, and he finally said slowly, “I don’t remember you ever mentioning anybody named Judy.”
“That’s because I was ashamed to talk about her. She was my best friend when I was growing up, but things happened. I need to apologise and beg her forgiveness.”
“Maybe she’ll be a bridesmaid at our wedding?”
“I think we’re rushing things. I don’t even know if she’ll talk to me. We didn’t part on good terms.” She wouldn’t hold her breath. Somehow, she had the feeling Judy would be her toughest challenge yet.
“I’ll come with you. I’m with you all the way,” he said and tweaked her nipple. He rubbed against her making sure she couldn’t ignore his rampant erection.
“Oh, I know you’ll come with me.” She impaled herself on him. “We were made to ‘come’ with each other.”
He rammed into her then held her hard against him as she milked his seed and came with him. “Definitely. You’re my baby.”
* * * *
On and off all night, in between more love making, they’d discussed how she could help Judy. The private detective had given her a complete list of doctors and hospitals Judy had been seen by, so Tiffany could contact them and see if she needed further surgery or care her Medicaid wouldn’t cover. She hoped they’d talk to her if she was offering to pay. She’d saved a good bit of money and invested wisely, so she could afford to provide a decent amount of help.
Dax slid his arm across her shoulders and pulled her close. He caressed her ear with his lips. “It’s lovely of you to want to help your old friend, but are you sure you can take this on? You weren’t at fault for her accident. She might not want to accept anyone’s charity.”
There was so much to think about, so many considerations and feelings involved that Tiffany wrung her hands and chewed her lip. “If I do it anonymously, she might.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Either way, I have to apologise in person. I’ll never be able to face myself in the mirror if I don’t. I should have done this years ago. I hate myself for turning my back on my best friend.” In one way, this was worse than losing Dax had been. She could have saved Judy, but she’d been too busy saving herself. Or so she’d thought. She hadn’t realised she’d been risking her soul and her friend’s.
With firm hands, Dax turned her to face him. “Listen here. You didn’t know what would happen. You were a scared kid. Judy did this to herself. She has to take responsibility.”
“But if I’d—”
“Stop that! I’ll support you in helping her but not in blaming yourself. Unless you stop, you’re on your own with this one.” He gave her a very stern look and tapped her forehead. “Now, do you want my support or not?”
She searched her soul and tried to look at the situation with her adult eyes and heart instead of through her teenage eyes. Yes, she could have helped Judy had she’d known then what she knew now or had the wisdom that came from maturity. But she’d acted, in what she’d thought to be good faith at the time, by not telling Judy’s mother about her addiction. She rested against Dax and appreciated his strength. “Thank you. You always know the right things to say.”
Dax dropped a kis
s on her head, making her feel cherished. “I wish I did. Obviously, I didn’t way back when. We live and learn. This time, you’ll do right by her.”
Tiffany stepped back and squared her shoulders as she locked gazes with him. She heard the Rocky battle theme and felt courage girding in her loins. She also felt the Ghost of Christmas infusing her with wisdom and strength. A check made out to Judy burned in her pocket. One way or another, she was going to help her friend, whether she wanted it or not. “You’re so very right. We’ve both learned a lot, and we won’t let fear rule our lives again.”
* * * *
A few minutes later, Dax linked his fingers through hers as they stood on the wobbly wheelchair ramp. Then he said, “Look! Mistletoe.” Before she could look, his lips came down on hers, and they drank deeply of one another.
The door creaked open, and a woman cleared her throat. “Can I help you? Or did you just decide not to let good mistletoe go to waste?”
Tiffany froze at the sound of Judy’s unmistakable voice. She steeled herself for what she would see. The detective’s report had revealed her old friend was still confined to a wheelchair. Just thinking about it, made her heart tighten, and she dreaded seeing her friend’s body frail and twisted. Even more so, she dreaded seeing her friend’s spirit shrivelled and bitter. She prayed that wasn’t what she would find.
Dax squeezed her hand. “Go for it. You can do it. I’m with you all the way,” he whispered in her ear, his breath warm and tickling. He moved out of her way so she was able to see Judy. Judy looked at least ten years older than herself, although Judy was at most a year her senior. Her hair was bleached blonde, and she’d not put on an ounce of makeup. She was plump and her legs were strapped to the chair. Her fingernails were ragged and red and green chipped nail polish adorned every other finger.
Tiffany’s breath caught in her throat, and her tongue refused to move. Her gaze devoured the woman in the chair, and she wished like hell time machines were real, so she could take Judy back through time and fix everything. But she couldn’t, and she found herself choking up again. It was impossible to remember this wasn’t her fault. It sure felt like it.