“Maybe I’m a little scared, but I’d be just as nervous if I were older.”
The night she’d attended the party with him she’d met several of the beautiful young women who hung around Princeton in the hope of catching an Ivy-league husband. They’d made it clear they’d been with Matt numerous times and would jump into bed with him again in a second if he so much as looked at them.
“I don’t want you to go away and sleep with someone else.”
He pulled her to him and ground his mouth urgently into hers. “Oh, Baby,” he murmured, “I promise, I won’t.” His hands skimmed down her bare back and slipped under the waistband of her jeans. Kneading her bottom, he pulled her tightly against his erection. “This is insane. You’re so young. I shouldn’t do this.”
“I know. But do it anyway.” She threw his words from the night they’d met back at him. “Please. If you leave without making love to me, I’m afraid you’ll forget about me.”
“Not possible.” He chuckled. “You think sleeping with me will brand me as yours?”
“Yes,” she whispered, unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off his shoulders.
“You’ve got nothing to worry about, Sweetheart.” He scattered kisses over her face and neck, panting as he slid her slacks down her hips. “I’m going to love you whether we have sex or not,” he whispered.
“I wish I could believe that.”
“You’d never doubt it if you knew how you scare the hell out of me.”
“I scare you?” She stared at him, awed that such a confident guy could feel as unsure as she did.
“Yes, damn it. I’ve never felt this way about anyone else. Before you came along, I believed I was invincible and could conquer the world. Now, I live in constant terror you’ll realize I’m not good enough for you.”
“Of course you are.” She drew back and caressed his cheek. “I love you.”
Burying his face in her hair, he laughed softly. “This is downright comical. Four months ago, I couldn’t get my pants off fast enough when a girl gave me the green light. Now, all I can think about is why I shouldn’t take the woman I love to bed.”
She dropped her gaze to his straining zipper. “You have protection, don’t you?” She sensually raked her nails through the light dusting of hair on his chest.
His jaw clenched and turmoil filled his eyes. He hesitated a moment but eventually dug his wallet out of his back pocket and withdrew two packets.
Once the decision was made, he didn’t hesitate. With a single dexterous flick of his fingers, he unhooked her bra and maneuvered her back onto the bed. He peeled off his pants, and knelt next to her wearing just his briefs, staring down at her breasts. The blatant longing dilated his pupils so his eyes looked almost black.
Trembling at the intensity of his gaze, she crossed her arms over her naked chest. Maybe this wasn’t such a hot idea after all.
“Please don’t hide yourself from me, Sweetheart.” He pried her hands away from her body. “I’ve lain awake nights, imagining you like this. You’re beautiful.” His mouth twitched and tightened as if he had trouble restraining his tongue.
Considering his experience, her ego couldn’t help but swell right along with her nipples. If he didn’t stop pinching them, she would go out of her mind from the exquisite torture. As he ran the pad of his thumb softly over the crest, she whimpered. “M-Matt, I’m scared.”
“Why?” He kissed her gently. “You know I’d never hurt you.”
“I know.” She wasn’t sure how to explain her fear of the unknown or the irrational feeling that her heart would seize if she became any more excited. But after he slid his finger between her legs, she ceased to care.
His tender stroking thrust her into a cyclone that hurled her into a burst of sensation that made the slight pain when he entered her almost unnoticeable. Their frenzied joining made her feel as if she’d been made specifically for him. Unfortunately, she had only a few minutes to revel in their coupling before he shuddered violently and gave a final thrust deep inside her before she climaxed again.
When he collapsed, he buried his face in her neck and rolled to his back, pulling her on top of him. “Oh, Abby, I’m sorry I couldn’t last longer. I’m so in love with you,” he murmured into her throat. “I don’t want to leave you.”
She lifted her head and looked down at him, tears spilling over her cheeks. “I’m afraid something’s going happen to you. Promise you’ll come home to me.”
He pushed her head onto his chest. “I promise, Sweetheart. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky and be stationed stateside or assigned to Korea at a base that has housing for families.”
What a dreamer. The only place the military was sending GIs was Vietnam.
He pressed his lips to her forehead, and whispered, “I can’t wait to sleep with you in my arms every night.” When she rolled off him, he sat up and grabbed a couple of tissues from the bedside table to clean himself up. “Shit! I don’t believe this.”
“What’s wrong?”
He flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “The condom busted.”
“Oh, no! Has that ever happened before?”
“No. But I’ve never used this brand. Last week, one of my buddies bummed the two condoms I normally carry. I think the ones he gave me as replacements were too tight.” Matt punched the mattress. “Damn it! I knew something like this would happen.”
“It’s okay.” She caressed his cheek and looked down into his eyes. “It’s not as if I don’t want to have your baby. Besides, what’re the odds that I’ll get pregnant this one time?”
“You’ve heard of Murphy’s Law?” A full fifteen seconds of silence followed before he asked, “What day did you start your last period?”
She had to think for a moment to recall. “Remember the night of your graduation party when I asked to go home early because my stomach hurt?”
“Great.” He snorted. “That was exactly two weeks ago. You’re probably as fertile as a bunny right now.” Blowing out a distressed breath, he reached for his cigarettes and lit one. “I’m sorry, Abby. If Aunt Flo doesn’t visit in two weeks, I’ll talk to my CO about getting some leave to get hitched.”
When she didn’t say anything, he tugged on her chin, turning her face toward him. “What’s the matter?”
She yanked his hand away. “Don’t sound so thrilled about the prospect of marrying me.”
Wrapping his arms around her, he rained a series of smoky kisses over her face. “Baby, I want to be your husband more than anything in life. And I want to have half a dozen kids with you. It’s just not the right time.”
“Why? What would make it so terrible if it happened now?”
“I have no idea how long my first tour of duty will be. I’ll probably be sent to ‘Nam, so it’ll be at least a year before I’m allowed to come home. I can’t stand the thought of going half-way around the world and leaving you to have my baby alone.” He tucked her into the crook of his shoulder and pressed his face into her hair. “I want to share all of that with you someday.”
As she snuggled deeper, her heart pulled in two directions. Half of her wanted to be pregnant so he would marry her right away, and the other half dreaded she might have to have their baby without him.
She trailed her fingers down the center of his chest to his navel. “Matt? She slid her palm even lower, making him shudder. “Do you think, since a bunch of your little fellas are already swimming around inside me, maybe we could do it again? Without a condom.”
He stubbed out his cigarette in the night table’s ashtray and flipped her on her back. “Sweetheart, I swear you must be psychic.”
Chapter 7
Matt glanced over at Abby, wishing he could read her mind. The dreamy look in her eyes suggested he’d find something exciting going on inside her head. He touched her arm, making her flinch. “Don’t you feel well? You’ve barely touched your dinner.”
“I’m fine. I guess I’m just not very hungry tonight.”
She stood, scraping what remained on her plate into a pile for the garbage disposal.
He grabbed her wrist. “No, don’t throw it away. Put it in the fridge, and I’ll eat it later.” It still amazed him that Americans took food for granted and how much they wasted.
Once they cleaned up from dinner, Matt jerked his head toward the door. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to see what I can do with the bike. Would you let me know when the boys are ready for bed so I can say goodnight?”
“Is he talking about Matt’s Harley?” Peter asked Abby.
“That’s how I’m paying him to paint the house.”
He released a disgusted groan. “Please tell me you’re kidding. When I wanted to sell it for you two years ago, you bit my head off. Do you have any idea how much you could get for the motorcycle? It’s a classic.”
Great. Matt clenched his fists. Now she and her brother would both think he was trying to swindle her. “I tried to buy the bike from your sister. When I asked her to name a price, she refused.”
“I’m sorry.” She raised her hands. “I don’t care how much I could get for the motorcycle. I hate the idea of profiting from selling something Matt loved so much. Mac needs transportation, and I need the house painted. This is a win for everyone. If I want to help out someone who gave almost seven years of his life for my country, it’s my business.”
“Fine.” Peter turned to Matt. “Do you mind if I tag along and give you a hand?”
Nothing could make him happier than to have Peter join him. It would give him an opportunity to squeeze her brother for information. “Sure, that’d be great.”
While they worked on the motorcycle together, Peter entertained him with stories from his years in the service and watched Matt with a wary expression. After an hour of bending his ear, Peter sighed. “Listen, I’m sorry about what I said at dinner. You seem like a nice enough guy. I just don’t want to see things fouled up for Abby with Rob. Tommy’s at an age where he really needs a dad.”
“I understand. I got the impression you didn’t think much of Abby’s husband, so I guess a dentist is a step up, huh?”
“On the contrary. Matt was my best friend. We roomed together our last two years at Princeton.”
No wonder Peter seemed familiar. “So then what’d you mean by that crack about Abby’s lack of judgment?”
“Matt was a fantastic friend, but he was a real horn-dog. You know, a love’em and leave’em kind of guy. His dick saw so much action, his buddies all wanted to know which brand of rubbers he used so they could buy stock in the company.”
“But he didn’t leave your sister. He ended up marrying her.”
“Yeah.” Peter sneered. “After he knocked her up. She was just a naïve, impressionable kid. The only reason I didn’t kill the bastard was because I wanted my nephew to have a father.”
“Still,”—Matt shrugged, screwing in a new spark plug—“he did right by her.”
“He should’ve kept his fucking hands off of her to begin with. Even the guys in the dorm hassled him about robbing the cradle.”
“Don’t you think he must have cared about her if he still dated her with his friends teasing him?”
“I thought so until I overheard one of the guys ask him why he was wasting his time with my virgin sister when he had girls waiting in line to jump his bones.”
“He was that popular?”
Pete rolled his eyes. “Oh, yeah. And it wasn’t as if Matt was macho looking or anything. He didn’t even have to shave until halfway through college.”
“So what accounted for his great sex appeal?”
Pete handed him the socket he pointed to. “Don’t get me wrong. Matt had a great build. He just had this baby face that looked about seventeen.”
Now, he looked nearly a decade older than he was. He couldn’t win.
“And he was a helluva of a nice guy. Matt had a real magnetic personality.” Peter laughed. “And one of his dates evidently told all her friends he was hung like a Triple Crown winner. After that, the town girls were constantly waiting outside the dorm for him.”
Matt scratched his beard. “So what’d he tell the guy when he asked why Matt was wasting his time with your sister?”
“He said Abby had the sweetest mouth he’d ever kissed, and my sister was worth taking cold showers for. I thought he meant he was waiting to marry her. Instead, he got her pregnant.”
Matt swallowed hard. When he’d first seen Abby, it’d surprised him how young she seemed. “Exactly how old was she?”
“Funny you should ask.” Peter snorted. “The son of a bitch was just waiting for her to turn eighteen.”
“But the age of consent is sixteen. And if he didn’t care about her, wouldn’t he have continued fooling around behind her back?”
“You would’ve had to know Matt to understand. He had his own code of ethics, and in a lot of ways, he was a real Boy Scout. She was my kid sister, and I think, in his mind, Abby’s turning eighteen made her a woman rather than a girl.”
“In other words, she was fair game?”
Peter nodded. “He slept with her only a week after her birthday.”
“Maybe he really loved her.”
“I doubt it.” Her brother’s lip curled. “I’m not saying he didn’t care at all. But I knew how many notches he had on his bedpost.”
The number of erotic dreams he’d had during his captivity suggested Peter hadn’t exaggerated how sexually active Matt had been. He couldn’t remember being with anyone specific, but whenever the guys had talked about sex, he’d somehow known he’d been with a lot of different women.
“He even went after a couple of his professors’ daughters,” Pete added.
Obviously, he’d kept his instructors from finding out. Otherwise, he never would’ve graduated summa cum laude.
“But the worst thing about him going after my sister was Abby really fell for him. I blame myself for it. When I brought him home for dinner, I figured he’d leave her alone because she was so young. Unfortunately, I was a little late noticing my baby sister had developed some dangerous curves.”
Curves was an understatement. In addition to her knockout figure, Abby also had a face Helen of Troy would’ve envied. Matt finished tightening the last bolt on the new battery, and handed Pete a helmet. “Okay, I think we’re ready to try it. Hop on.”
As he swung his leg over the seat, Pete stopped him. “I’m sure after all of your time as a prisoner, you’re hornier than a herd of cattle. Just don’t come on to my sister.”
~~~
After the boys finished brushing their teeth, Abby caught Tommy dragging Royce into the living room. He pulled his giggling friend down behind the armchair with him. “Shhh....she’s gonna hear us.”
“Tommy, Royce,” she called, “No more fooling around. It’s time to take a shower and hop into bed.”
“She can’t make us go if she can’t find us,” Tommy whispered.
“Okay, I know you’re behind the chair. I can see your feet.”
Tommy popped up like a wire snake springing from a can. “Aww, mom. Can’t we stay up a little longer? We wanna watch The Partridge Family.”
“No. The show isn’t even on tonight. Now get.” She pointed toward his room.
He clicked his tongue and stuck out his lip. “You’re mean.” He raced past Royce, yelling. “I betcha I can shower and get my ‘jamas on faster than you.”
“No, you can’t.” Royce whipped his shirt over his head before they even reached the bathroom door.
Abby followed them and picked up their discarded clothing as they stripped down to their underwear. Their shower lasted barely sixty seconds and probably didn’t remove all the paint splatters, but she let it slide.
A few minutes later, Royce shouted in the bedroom, “Done! I win.”
Tommy finished dragging on his pajamas and pointed down at his friend’s clean briefs still lying on the bed. “Unh-uhhh. You didn’t put your underwear on.”
“I’m
not wearing any tonight.”
“Mom! Royce can’t go to bed without underwear, can he?”
She pursed her lips and shrugged. “I suppose if he wants to, he can.”
“No fair!” Tommy stamped his foot.
“Oh, well.” She tossed their dirty clothing into his hamper and picked up their damp towels. “It’s time you learned life’s not always fair. Into bed, both of you.”
Her son leaped onto his mattress from several feet away. “Where’s Mac? I want him to tuck us in.”
“Yeah.” Royce bounced on the other bed.
“He just left with Uncle Peter for a ride on the motorcycle. He’ll come say goodnight when he gets back.”
“Oh, wow! Maybe he’ll take us for a ride tomorrow.”
She shuddered at the idea of her son on the back of the Harley. “Absolutely not!”
“No fair,” Tommy muttered, punching his pillow. Laying back, he folded his hands and said his prayers with Royce. When they finished, Abby pressed her lips to each of their foreheads and sang In My Life as she had practically every night since Tommy was born.
As she pulled the covers up, Tommy grabbed her arm to stop her. “Mom, do ya think my daddy can see me from heaven?”
Swallowing hard, she nodded. “Yes, sweetie, I know he can.”
“Do ya think he’d be mad at me if I want a new dad?”
She hugged him tightly, tormented by similar questions involving her own loyalty. Could her husband forgive her for getting married again?
“Your father would understand if you love Rob someday,” she assured herself as much as she did her son.
“Oh.” Tommy pushed her away. Obviously, that wasn’t who he’d had in mind. “Do you think Mac’ll let us paint again tomorrow?”
“That’d be cool,” Royce agreed. “My dad doesn’t ever let me do fun stuff like that.”
Abby closed her eyes and drew in an unsteady breath. “We’ll see.” She tucked Mr. T. Bear under Tommy’s arm. “Now, no more talking. Goodnight.”
She left the door open a crack and froze outside the room, hearing Royce whisper, “Tommy? Do you think Rob’ll hit us after he marries your mom?”
The Memory of You Page 11