Silver Dove (Silver #2)

by E. J. Shortall

  I’d thought after Carly and Becki’s meddling, that I would be the one left to plan things. But no, Craig wouldn’t let me do a thing. He’d pulled out all the stops for this little soirée, saying he’d arranged it all himself, but I suspected that Margaret, his super-efficient and lovely assistant, had a large part in pulling it off at such short notice. With the Christmas decorations still up, and the addition of a few strategic silver New Year and Congratulations ones thrown in for good measure, the house looked amazing.

  “Do you think we’ve forgotten anything?” Craig asked, looking around the place.

  “I don’t think so. The place looks fabulous, the food smells divine, and we have enough booze to open a shop. So I think we’re good to go.” I looked around the room with a smile.

  “Well then, I think it’s time I take you upstairs so we can get ourselves ready.” He looked over at me from his position near the French doors in the living room. Judging by the mischief and heat in his eyes, though, I wondered what he was planning on getting us ready for.

  “How long do we have?” I asked, hoping we had enough time for a little fun before everyone arrived.

  Craig glanced down at his watch and then returned his heated eyes to mine. “Mum and Carly are coming over around six-thirty to help with last minute stuff. Everyone else should start arriving from seven-thirty. We have plenty of time.”

  We stood staring at each other for a few moments, neither one of us saying anything, neither one of us making the first move. He was goading me, building the tension, looking at me with his greedy, lust filled eyes, making me yearn for him. A thousand butterflies invaded my tummy and heat spread through my body wondering what he was thinking.

  Finally, he prowled across the room, heading towards the hallway. As he passed me in the doorway, he grabbed my wrist and tugged me with him.

  “We’re going to have a shower,” he growled, as we hit the first step of the staircase.

  “And then?” I asked playfully.

  “You’ll see.”

  By the time we had made it up the twenty-one steps, Craig had stripped me of everything but my satin aubergine coloured underwear set. His lips were attached to my neck and he was nipping and kissing his way upward as his hands roamed across my exposed flesh. The desperate need to have him consumed me, leaving me quivering for more and wanting him to touch me all over.

  “Craig,” I whispered, as he started walking me backward toward our room. “Craig, please. I need you.” The desperation in my voice was evident, even to my own ears.

  Craig’s mouth curved into a wicked grin. “Patience is a wonderful thing, Pingu. We are going to see the year out in style.”

  Since first meeting him, I’d had little patience when it came to sex with Craig. Making love to him was my addiction; I was always looking for my next fix. I’d been apprehensive about pursuing anything with him at the beginning, due to my own insecurities and trust issues. We could never deny the sexual attraction between the two of us from the start, though; it had always been off the charts.

  “I’d rather just enjoy the moment,” I panted as he tweaked a nipple through my bra.

  “Oh, you’ll enjoy it all right,” he exclaimed, pinching the other nipple. “In fact, you’ll enjoy it so much, I’m pretty fucking sure the neighbours will know just how much you’re enjoying it!”

  In a flash he moved, hauling me off my feet and over his shoulder. I shrieked and grabbed the first thing my hands rested on… his glorious, toned backside.

  Within seconds the shower was forgotten and he had me sprawled out in the middle of the bed. With dark heated eyes locked on mine, he was standing over me, stripping off his own clothes. He was a sight to behold.

  “You do realise baby, that this is your last New Year’s Eve as a single person right? Next year you’ll be mine. Forever.” He climbed on the bed and stretched over me, supporting himself on his forearms.

  “I’m already yours forever, Craig,” I whispered, stroking my hands along the heated skin of his back. “Certificate or not, I love you, and plan on doing so for the rest of my life.”

  With his green eyes locked on mine, I saw the relief wash over him, like it did every time I said something similar. It never ceased to amaze me that this man, this powerful business man who liked to throw his weight around to get what he wanted, was so vulnerable beneath the arrogance and tough exterior.

  “Be that as it may, next year though, at some point, you will become my wife. To have and to hold from that day forward, till death us do part.” I gulped and stared into his eyes. The thought of being separated from Craig, through death or otherwise was not something I ever wanted to contemplate.

  Without waiting for a response, he began kissing his way down my body, lingering over the sensitive areas around my pelvis that he knew drove me crazy. When I began to wriggle and writhe out of frustration, Craig grazed his hands along my inner thighs, stroking and easing my legs apart.

  “Now Craig. I want you now!” I screamed into the room, as he continued to torment me by stroking and kissing everywhere but where I needed him. My body was heating, my pulse was racing and I yearned to have him inside me. He moved closer, and then as soon as he felt me tense in anticipation, he moved away, leaving my strung so tight I was sure I would snap.

  “I told you, Pingu, we’re going to see the year out in style. Slow and sensual.” He held my gaze as he slowly pulled my panties down my legs.

  My eyes slammed shut when he gave a brief flick of his tongue over my clit, sending shockwaves through my already trembling body.

  “Well, do slow and sensual inside me, right now,” I whimpered, fisting the bedding to stop from grabbing him to yank him into me.

  “Open your eyes baby,” Craig demanded, and I felt him shift on the bed to rest over me again.

  With my eyes open and locked with Craig’s, I pleaded for him to connect us together, in the way that only two people so in love with each other could.

  “This is what you want?” he asked, and I nodded.

  In one easy movement, Craig nudged himself deep inside me and I whimpered, loving the feeling of being filled and stretched by him. No matter how rough or gentle our intimate moments were, that single connection always had me feeling overwhelmed by the love I had for this man. With a slow and steady rhythm, Craig began to rock his hips, gradually building us to euphoria.

  “You know, when this year started, I never could have dreamed I would be ending it like this, with you,” he whispered, lowering his forehead to mine.

  The tell-tale shudder that rocketed through him, told me Craig was getting close. Lifting my hips and wrapping my legs around his waist, I encouraged Craig’s deeper, faster pace. I could see by the strain on his face that he was holding back, waiting for me. Needing to give him his pleasure, I clenched around him and he let out a guttural groan.

  “Baby, God, please, don’t do that. I’m gonna… aarrgh.” With a final deep thrust, his release consumed him as he shouted out my name. The erotic view of Craig leaning over me, with absolute ecstasy on his face, and his cock pulsating inside me, sent me spiralling off to my own little place in heaven.

  “Every time,” Craig murmured, a minute or two later. “Every time, it’s like the first with you. It’s like I discover a new piece of you, a new precious gem that is gradually building to this priceless work of art.”

  With a quick kiss he rolled off me, pulling me with him, to cuddle into his chest. I knew what he meant, I felt the same.

  Craig

  I was a lucky, lucky bastard!

  Never in my life had I felt as happy and content as I did right then. Amber had brought so much more than fantastic sex into my life. She completed me. She grounded me, encouraged me to be a better person, and helped me forget my past.

  All I saw was Amber.

  She was my priceless treasure, and all I wanted to do was wrap her up and keep her safe and protected forever.

  “You alright, baby?” I asked, stroking alo
ng the smooth skin of her back. She was quiet and kept her face buried in my neck.

  “Hmm mmm,” she murmured.

  “Hey, don’t go all quiet on me. Talk to me.” Nudging my fingers under her chin, I tilted her head so she would look at me. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  A single tear escaped her eye, creating a glittery trail down her cheek.

  “You really do love me don’t you?”

  Of course I did. I tried to show her, and tell her that often enough. Using my thumb to catch the stray tear, I then traced it along her jaw and up to her lips.

  “Of course I do, more than life itself. You know this already. What’s brought this on?” I asked her, my voice soft and reassuring.

  She remained quiet for a minute, before responding.

  “What you just said… it was beautiful. No one has ever said anything like that to me. It makes me feel… loved and cherished.” She took a deep, shuddering breath and briefly closed her eyes.

  Shifting us so that she was once again on her back, and I was leaning over her, I looked down into her beautiful hazel eyes.

  “I’m no poet, Amber. I can’t write you romantic sonnets or any of that shit. All I can do is speak from my heart. I do love you, and I’m sorry if I don’t always show you.” I frowned, wondering what more I had to do to show her how much she meant to me.

  “I don’t need you to write me poetry, Craig. I just need this, exactly this. Words mean nothing without the actions to back them up, David proved that to me.”

  Why did she always have to bring that idiot up? After the way he treated her, and what he’d tried to do to her in her old flat, I was surprised she’d never hired a hit-man. I swear to god, if I ever set eyes on him again, I would finish what I started the first time I met him. But I didn’t want her wasting any of her energy on him; I didn’t want her thinking about him.

  “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again now, and I’ll continue saying it until you get it into that head of yours, I am not David. If I tell you I love you, then I love you. If I tell you I want to marry you, then I want to marry you. If I tell you I want you to be the mother of my children, then I want you to be the mother of my children. Got it?” I was raising my voice, irritation swirling around me but I didn’t know why. I’d always had this battle with Amber and her insecurities. I just wished she would let them go, and trust that whatever I told her was the honest truth.

  I closed my eyes, and drew in some deep, calming breaths. When I opened them again, she was staring up at me, her own eyes wide like saucers.

  “What did you say?” she asked, barely above a whisper.

  Confused I told her again, “If I say I love you then I mean it.”

  “No, not that part. The last bit.”

  Wracking through my brain, I tried to remember what came spewing out of my mouth in my tirade.

  “I said I love you, that I want to marry you, and… oh-”

  “You didn’t mean it did you?”

  “Yes,” I replied.

  “Yes what? Yes you didn’t mean it, or yes, you did mean it?”

  With a deep sigh I moved to the side of the bed and stood up to pull on my boxers.

  “Yes, I did mean it. Of course I want children with you, Amber, at some point in the future. I’m not getting any younger and I want to be able to enjoy our children. I want to be able to take them to the park and kick a ball around with them. I want to take them to Disney World, the zoo, and the circus. And I want to do it all while I’m still young enough to be able to keep up with them. But not yet, we need time for us first. I not ready to be a father yet.”

  I had no clue where that all that came from. Yes, I’d thought about children… at some point in the future. I mean, I’d only just convinced Amber to marry me; I didn’t want to ruin things by adding kids to the equation.

  “So you do want children?” she asked with an even tone. When I looked back at her, she was sitting up, hugging a pillow to cover her nakedness.

  “Is that not what I just said?”

  “When?”

  “When, what?”

  “When do you want children?”

  I sat on the edge of the bed and faced her. “It’s not something I’ve given a huge amount of thought to, Ambs. I know I don’t want to wait for years, but I’m not expecting to pop a sprog in the immediate future either. Kids just aren’t on my agenda right now.”

  It was not a conversation I’d envisioned having for quite some time. But there we were, and I guess it was better that we both found out where we stood.

  “What about you, do you want children?” I asked her.

  “Yes,” she replied without hesitation.

  “And when were you thinking of starting our little family?”

  She sucked in her bottom lip and stared off into the distance. “I hadn’t given it much thought, until just now. I’ve always wanted kids, Craig. The plan had been to start trying with David straight after the wedding and for obvious reasons that plan got shot to pieces. But I don’t want to wait too long.”

  My hackles rose at the mention of David again. The thought of Amber carrying his child made my stomach churn. I needed to get off the subject. We were about to celebrate new starts, and yes a baby would signal a new start, but it wasn’t one that was going to happen in the immediate future.

  “So we’re in agreement that at some point, after we’ve said 'I do', we would both like children?” I asked, trying to get off the subject without just dropping it, knowing that would just piss her off more.

  “That depends.”

  “On what?” I asked, exasperated.

  “When you plan on marrying me… I mean if that is two years away, then no, sooner.”

  I was really beginning to lose my temper and had to get out of there and get ready, before I ended up saying something I’d regret later.

  “Just so we’re clear, Pingu. Like I said earlier, you will be Mrs Silver before the end of this next year. We can continue this discussion then okay? I’m going to go into the other bathroom to shower and get ready. Are you okay getting ready in here?”

  She seemed shocked by my abruptness, but I had to get out of there. I wasn’t used to having deep conversations with women. I couldn’t handle them.

  I grabbed my clean clothes and shower stuff, and walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind me. The look on Amber’s face as she sat there on the bed watching me go almost made me break my resolve. I almost turned around to go back to her. Almost.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Amber

  It’s funny, but up until our conversation earlier, I hadn’t thought about if or when I would start a family with Craig. Looking out at our friends and family, surrounded by Christmas decorations, though, I imagined a small dark haired, green eyed little boy running around, playing pranks on everyone. I could see him running up to Craig and asking for a piggy back, which Craig would give him without hesitation, love for his son shining in his smiling eyes.

  “Hey, what are you dreaming about over here, Pingu?” Craig’s arms wrapped around me from behind and pulled me against his chest.

  “Nothing, I was just watching the girls, they have no shame,” I replied with a laugh, leaving out the details of my vision of Craig’s mini me. After the abrupt way he’d ended our conversation earlier I got the impression he was in no hurry to start a family. There was no point in bringing it up again.

  “Are you not going to join them?” Craig asked, laughing.

  Becki, Carly and her best friend, Melody, were in the centre of the living room, doing the Macarena. Between sexy hip swings and elaborate arm movements, they were trying to cajole others to join them. Not surprisingly, nobody else was game.

  “Oh God no, I’ll leave it to the disco divas. They’re doing a fine job out there,” I giggled, as Becki grabbed old Mr Johnson from next door and started teaching him the moves.

  I thanked God when the Macarena ended and some of our more modern and favourite tunes started playing. �
��This Could Be the Year’ by Ryan Star filtered out from the speakers and Craig spun me round in his arms, causing me to squeal in surprise. With his hands resting on my hips, he started rocking us to the upbeat rhythm.

  “This is going to be our year, Ambs,” Craig exclaimed, looking deep into my eyes. “We have no excuses anymore, and everything ahead of us. When that clock strikes midnight, we enter a New Year full of happiness, hope and promise. I want you to know I am so happy you took that leap of faith with me all those months back. Next year is going to be perfect.”

  There was something special about the final hours of New Year’s Eve. Where you reflected over the past twelve months and all that had been good, and bad, in your life. And then you move into the New Year with new promises to yourself, and others, and hope that the days, weeks and months ahead of you will be kind.

  In the past twelve months I’d moved on from a broken relationship, and straight into a passionate, love at first sight, romance with the man holding me right then. The same man who had promised to always love and protect me, and build a future with me as my husband. Bring on the New Year, I thought. I couldn’t wait.

  When the song ended and another began, Craig tugged me over to a quiet spot near the doorway. He wrapped his arms around me from behind again, and rested his chin on my shoulder as we looked out at our friends and family having a good time. It had been the perfect evening.

  “Will you come outside with me at midnight, Pingu?” Craig asked, and then bit down gently on my earlobe, sending shivers down my spine. “I have something I want to give to you, but it has to be at midnight.”

  “What is it?” I asked breathlessly, enjoying the feeling of his lips moving over the sensitive skin of my neck.