Not Quite Right (Indigo Love Spectrum)

by Tammy Williams

  “You two will have to save this laugh-fest for another time, because it’s time to cut the cake,” said Jackie, ending the friendly catch-up.

  Kenny nudged her shoulder. “You’d better get going.”

  Darci leaned over and gave him a hug. “Thank you for everything, Kenny.” Their embrace tightened. “Thank you for being the best friend a girl could have.”

  “Don’t hold back, Darci.” Kenny kissed her cheek and flashed his widest grin. “I’m the best everything a girl can have.”

  Darci gave Kenny’s arm a sportive punch and made her way to Steed. Thankful for all the wonderful changes in her life, but grateful some things stayed the same.

  * * *

  Steed swooped Darci into his arms, eliciting a jovial laugh from her. He could listen to her laughter all day. “There was a time I could barely get a smile out of you,” he said.

  “You’ve put your best foot forward since then. I’ve been walking on air from the moment you shared your choice for our wedding day. Who knew you would make that feeling so literal.”

  “Just following a tradition, Mrs. McGraw.” He brought her into the room and slowly turned around. As planned, the room was set up exactly as they’d left it. “What do you think?”

  “It’s identical to our last night here, except on this evening things are going to end a whole lot differently.”

  “So very differently.” His lips brushed hers. “Darci, I’ve spent the last seven nights dreaming of this day. The way you would look as your father escorted you down the aisle to me, and the way I would feel when we exchanged vows. But nothing I dreamed was as wonderful as the reality.”

  “Our wedding was incredible, wasn’t it?”

  “It was perfect.” Steed held Darci’s gaze as he carried her into the bedroom. “Just like this night will be.”

  “I really hope you think so.”

  “It will be.”

  “You, uh, you gave me thirty minutes I didn’t want the last time we were here. I want you to take ten, while I go into the bathroom and slip into something more comfortable.”

  Steed agreed, having a couple of ideas for setting the mood in mind. “Okay, I think I can be without you for ten minutes.” He lowered her feet to the floor. “But just ten minutes.”

  “Nine and a half.” Darci gave him a quick kiss, grabbed the small carry-on the bellhop had brought in earlier, and disappeared behind the bathroom door.

  Steed stripped down to his black boxer briefs, and then went about setting the scene. With the last of a dozen candles lit, Darci returned. Her compliment on the room barely registered as all of his attention had remained fixed on the slinky white ensemble barely covering her incredible body.

  “You look so beautiful, Darci.” Steed trailed his finger along her cheek. She trembled ever so slightly, but enough for him to notice. “Don’t be afraid.” He brought her hands to his lips and then held them to his chest. “I’ll take care of you.”

  “I know. I’m not scared, Steed.” She glanced at the bulge in his briefs. “A little nervous, maybe.”

  “You don’t think I’m nervous?”

  “You? No.”

  “Well, I am. An anxious, sorta excited kinda nervous. You’re a virgin with expectations I’m expected to meet or exceed. That’s pressure.”

  Her gaze swept over his body again. “Sorry. Doesn’t look like you’re feeling any pressure to me.”

  Steed laughed. “Sometimes looks can be deceiving. You turn me on, Darci, and I want you so much, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have a little stress. I think that’s what you’re feeling.”

  She nodded. “Yeah.”

  “I’m going to be very gentle with you, but if you feel uncomfortable with anything at all—”

  She pressed a finger to his lips. The warmth of her touch and the look in her eyes stopped him cold. His breath caught, and the stirring in his loins intensified.

  “I know there’s going to be some discomfort, but I trust you, Steed, and I love you.” She kissed him softly. “I think we’ve done enough talking.” Darci slid the super-short sheer robe of the skimpy ensemble off her shoulders and onto the floor.

  Steed caught her hands as she went for the straps of her gown. “Let me do that.” He slipped his forefingers underneath the thin strips of cloth and dragged them down her arms. “I want to enjoy unwrapping the best Christmas present I ever got.”

  Transfixed, Steed watched as second by second, inch by inch, the soft material fell away, introducing his new bride’s beautiful body to his approving eyes. His gaze traveled slowly, taking in all the places he’d only dreamt about before. “I want to pinch myself to see if I’m dreaming. Beauty like this can’t be real.”

  “Pinch me.” Darci stepped forward. “Feel how real I am.”

  Following her instruction, Steed eagerly took possession of her mouth while his probing hands squeezed and caressed every inch they could. He rolled his hips and pushed against her, letting her feel just how much he needed her.

  Darci’s soft sighs grew deeper with the trail of his lips along her neck, across her shoulders and down to her breasts. His tongue flicked the taut nubs. Darci’s blissful sighs rippled through him when he slid his hand between their meshed bodies and buried it at the apex of her thighs.

  She cried out in sweet pleasure as his fingers moved against her sensitive little bud. He released her breast from the suction of his lips and slowly removed his hand. The look of passionate need in her eyes fueled his desire for her. Steed’s briefs grew tight, too tight. He feared at any moment his pulsating erection would burst unexpectedly out of his briefs like a demented jack-in-the-box and pop straight into Darci’s heat.

  As if sensing his need for relief, Darci slid her hands into the back of his briefs and slowly pulled the cotton material off his body. Freed from its restricting confines, his liberated manhood shot out like a butterfly breaking from its cocoon. Darci’s sharp intake of breath was unmistakable.

  A curious, shaky hand took possession of him, slowly moving up and down his length. Steed closed his eyes and surrendered to her incredible touch. Silky hair brushed the path her sensual kisses created from his neck to his shoulders to his hard, achy nipples. A deep, guttural moan, emanating from a place inside him he didn’t know existed, reverberated in his throat as Darci continued to stroke, kiss, and caress him. He wondered how she could ever feel insecure. Every demonstration of her love for him pleased him more than the last, and left him wanting more and more of her.

  Reclaiming Darci’s sweet lips, Steed led her to the bed. They fell atop the softness without breaking their kiss. The feel of her writhing body beneath him, hot and aroused, left Steed aching to spread her thighs and stroke her to submission, but he knew she wasn’t ready. Getting her ready would be his pleasure.

  With whisper-soft kisses, Steed dusted Darci’s forehead and worked his way down her radiant bronze skin. His lips slid along her breasts and across her flat tummy. His tongue darted inside her navel and then continued on a downward path. He lifted her knees and parted her thighs.

  “Steed?” she whimpered, her breasts rising and falling from the rapid beat of her heart.

  “Trust me,” he said, before engaging her in the most sensual of kisses. His lips and tongue possessed her. Darci’s cries grew louder at his every encounter with her tiny bud. Her body thrashed on the bed and her knees trembled about his head, but he never broke his concentration. He was lost in her. Breathing in her scent, drowning in the taste of her, in the pleasure he gave her.

  His erection pulsated and jerked, bouncing off the cool linen like a springboard after a dive, searching for but not finding that tight, warm space it needed to rest. She was so wet, so hot. But was she ready?

  Still savoring her sweetness, he slipped a finger inside. Her hips responded. Fingers threaded his hair, holding him closer. Her moans increased. Spurred by her reaction, he eased another further still and encountered her barrier. Her soft grunt paused him for several seconds, bu
t then her velvety walls closed around his fingers, urging them to go further, deeper. He willingly obliged as her hips rose and fell with the motion of his fingers. She was ready.

  Steed raised himself above her spread thighs and slowly pushed forward. Her hot tightness enveloped him immediately, welcoming him inside. He continued on and encountered her virgin wall. Darci grimaced. Her hands gripped his upper arms.

  “You okay?” he asked, near delirious from the incredible feel of her, but intent on being aware of her needs.

  She nodded.

  “Am I hurting you?”

  “No, you’re loving me.” She nipped his lips. “Love me.”

  She’d said the right words, but her discomfort was all too real, and Steed knew that. “Darci, I…”

  “Love me.”

  Pulling almost completely out of her, Steed again raised up before plunging forward in one swift motion. Darci cried out as he broke through her maidenhead, filling her completely.

  Neither moved. Darci’s eyes stayed closed and her hands stayed tight around his arms.

  Steed fought the blinding urge to thrust inside her. Never had he felt anything as incredible as Darci’s love. But he knew she hurt, and even buried deep and throbbing to near explosion inside her, he couldn’t think of himself. Darci, his wife, his love, was who mattered, and he would be a statue for however long it took. Sweat trailed down his face. Please, God, don’t let it take too long.

  * * *

  Even with her eyes closed, Darci could feel Steed’s gaze on her. His warm breath caressed her, and his words of love comforted her. How his lower half could remain so still defied comprehension. Many men in this same position would be thinking of one thing, and staying still wasn’t it. But not Steed.

  He’d been considerate of her all night. The way he touched her…The feel of his soft lips and hot tongue between her thighs, eliciting urges and desires in her she didn’t know she had. A delightful tingle awakened in her core with the sensual memories. Guttural moans rumbled in her throat. He made her feel so good. So wanted. So loved.

  Steed throbbed inside her, seemingly expanding with every passing moment. The feel of him in her hands could never prepare her for the feel of him inside her, as if warm satin and steel mated and produced the force that filled her so completely. There was pain, but in the context of everything, the most heavenly pain.

  She opened her eyes. Steed’s finger brushed her cheek. “How do you feel?” he asked, his voice strained with need and filled with concern.

  “Besides a little guilty for making my brand-new husband test the bounds of patience and restraint by remaining stark still in what has to be the dream location for any other red-blooded heterosexual man, I feel a little sore.” She eased up and kissed him ever so softly. “But just a little.” Curling her legs around his waist, she undulated her hips. “I’m ready.”

  Steed groaned. “You sure, Darci? I don’t want to…”

  She silenced him with a deeper kiss, and his once-stationary hips joined hers in a gentle sway. Their tongues met, twisting and sliding in a tempo mimicking the motions of their gyrating hips. Her arms closed tightly around him, and he took the lead in their lover’s dance.

  Exalting the heaven he’d found between her thighs, Steed pushed inside her like a slow-moving piston, advancing and retreating. Wondrous pressure built deep inside Darci, and the earlier pain became a distant memory.

  Steed’s words, his movements, and his touch made real all the feelings she’d heard about but wondered if she would ever experience. She dragged her feet against the back of his legs. The silky hairs tickled her feet. His moans grew deeper. This was real. She buried her face in his shoulder, nipping him, tasting the salt of his skin. Steed whispered her name. The emotional timber in his voice made her body tremble. He was so real. Her husband. The man she loved.

  Darci arched her back, bringing Steed closer to the firestorm he’d created in her. His thrusts grew deeper, faster. Her legs tightened around him. The spice of their joined bodies perfumed the room, drugging her, thrilling her. The delicious pressure grew more intense. Darci clung to him. Her body stiffened.

  “Look at me, Darci,” Steed directed, his breaths heavy and his heart pounding against her chest as he continued his frenzied motions. “I want to look into your heart, see your very soul when I take you there.”

  He pushed deep inside her and then ceased his movements. Darci cried out. Her body convulsed and trembled in release. Keeping her eyes open became impossible as wave after wave shook her. She thought of her first taste of expensive chocolate, and how she swore sex couldn’t be as good. Her cries grew louder as Steed called her name, jerking against her, filling her womb with his seed. Chocolate could not compare. She’d never been happier about being proven wrong.

  Steed rolled over on his back, bringing Darci’s head to rest on his chest. He kissed her forehead. “So there’s no question in your mind, let me tell you, Mrs. Steed McGraw, you did not disappoint,” he said breathlessly, draping a cool sheet around their entwined bodies.

  Darci smiled. She didn’t have to hear those words, but she enjoyed them nonetheless. The feel of him inside her, the way he’d said her name at the height of his pleasure…Her smile widened. Oh, she definitely knew.

  “You kinda let me know already.” She rolled her hips. “But I appreciate your verbal confirmation.”

  His fingers combed her hair. “How do you feel?”

  She propped her chin on his chest. “You keep asking me that.”

  “Because I always want to know you’re okay.”

  “I’m better than okay. I’m absolutely fantastic.”

  “And how!” Steed grinned. “Was it everything you expected?”

  She kissed his chest. “No, it was way better.”

  Steed smiled broadly. “I aim to please.”

  “You did.” Her finger circled his nipple. “I’m not sorry I waited, but I can’t believe what I’ve been missing.”

  “On a purely selfish note, I’m glad you found out what you’ve been missing with me.” He took her hand, brushing his thumb against her adorned finger. “I’ve come to appreciate the close relationship you share with Warwick, but since I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting you first, I’m glad I got this significant first with you. And I gotta tell you, it was definitely a first for me, too, because I’ve never experienced anything like what you and I just shared. I guess it’s what love and marriage will do.” Steed blew out a breath. “We’re married.”

  “And the activity we just indulged in sealed the deal.”

  “Uh-huh. It means you’re stuck with me forever.”

  “Ugh. That long?” She smirked.

  “Hey.” He gave her shoulder a playful scolding tap.

  Darci laughed. “Seriously, I’m looking forward to spending forever with you.” Her fingers splayed in the silky, dark hairs on his chest, enjoying the feel of the soft, damp hair and rock-hard muscles beneath her hands. “Meeting you made me want something I never gave much thought to—domesticity. Before I came back to Sterling, I was caught up in my career. I dated, but waiting wasn’t hard, because love and commitment weren’t issues. Now, the idea of somebody calling me ‘Mommy’ is a bigger thrill than getting the impossible interview. And you did that.”

  “Even when we butted heads, I’d find myself grinning and daydreaming of chasing you and a parcel of giggling children around a big house with a white picket fence and a carpet of green grass.” He chuckled. “I guess that’s the American dream.”

  “A dream a lot of the world might see as a nightmare.” She twined her fingers with his. Noting the striking contrast in their coloring. “We never really talked about our differences.”

  “Because we don’t have any. I’m not unaware of the narrow minds of the world, but I’m not big on what other people think, and I know we’re stronger than anything out there.”

  “Me, too.”

  “You know, we got along like oil and water in the beginning
because we’re so much alike. Stubborn, hardheaded, and never wrong. And if we’re never wrong, it must mean we’re right.”

  Darci snuggled against him. Happy, content, and ready for whatever lay ahead. “Yeah. Just right.”

  About the Author

  A native of Denmark, South Carolina, Tammy Williams is a graduate of Denmark Technical College and Voorhees College. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and Lowcountry Romance Writers of America. Not Quite Right is her third novel.

  Visit Tammy’s website at TammyWilliamsOnline.com, send an email at TamWllms@aol.com, or write to her at P.O. Box 84, Denmark, South Carolina 29042. She always enjoys hearing from readers.