by Becky McGraw
She giggled, then put her hand in his hair. “Looks like the boys are roughhousing in there.”
“Wow…” he said in awe and put his hand on her belly again. After a minute, he felt another kick and grinned from ear to ear. “One of them is gonna be a kicker for A&M,” he told her proudly.
“I was kinda thinking UT,” she teased.
Blood rushed up to his face and he growled, “Don’t curse woman,” then got to his feet and hugged her to his chest. “Let’s get nekkid, and bathe, so we can go eat our dinner.”
She slid her arm around his waist, then rubbed her face against his chest, and mumbled sexily, “I wish we could get nekkid and do something other than bathe.”
Tommy groaned then sucked in a breath trying to control the effects her words had on his body. “Me too, sugar…but that’s gonna have to wait until those ribs heal.”
She huffed a breath then said, “I know…but a girl can dream, can’t she?”
“Yeah and a man can too, but that’s all we’re going to be doing for a while,” he told her gruffly, then kissed her forehead. “Now, wait a second and we’ll get in the tub,” he told her and quickly shed his clothes.
The heat in her eyes as they roved over him ramped up his already barely controlled urge to take her right here on the floor of the bathroom. For a bedroom only kind of guy, his fantasies about Katie sure included a lot of places he’d never considered before. The kitchen counter, the breakfast bar, the bed of his truck on a starry night…the bathroom floor. That creek experience had totally opened his mind to all the possibilities.
“Stop looking at me like that, you’re torturing me…” he told her in a low tone, then took a step toward her and pulled her to him. He groaned when his skin touched hers, and she put her hand on his ass and squeezed. He sucked in a breath and told her, “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.”
“It’s a great idea,” Katie purred then licked a spot at the base of his throat.
He stepped back, his breathing erratic and then leaned down and put an arm under her legs and swooped her up into his arms. “Now behave, or I’m gonna spank your ass when you’re feeling better,” he said gruffly and gave her a quick kiss.
“Mmm…promises, promises, darlin’,” she said, then kissed the corner of his mouth and flicked her tongue over his bottom lip.
In ten kinds of sexual hell, Tommy walked to the tub with her in his arms then stepped up and into the tub. Easing down slowly, he settled them then pulled her back against him and told her, “Put your arm up on the side of the tub, sugar.”
Because he couldn’t help himself, he pushed her hair to one side, and kissed her neck, reveling in the slide of her body against his in the water. He put his arms around her and slid his hands over her belly and up to her breasts.
Katie moaned and said in a breathless whisper, “Now who’s being bad?”
Tommy swallowed hard against the insane desire that was marinating his brain, and sucked in a breath and put his forehead to the back of her head. “I am…I’m sorry, darlin’…let’s get this over with,” he told her and grabbed the washrag and bar of soap from the wide ledge of the tub.
“You could slide inside of me and we could make love without moving around,” she suggested with a desperate edge to her voice. “I need you, Tommy.”
“Oh, god, baby, I don’t want to hurt you,” he moaned and threw his head back against the tub. She was temptation incarnate, and he was her victim.
“I’ll let you know if it hurts me, I promise…” she said cajolingly and slid her butt against his erection.
“It’s hurting me that’s for sure,” he told her then gently lifted her hips and positioned himself at her opening. Slowly, he slid her down on him inch by inch, clenching his teeth against the urge to push up inside of her. Once she was fully seated on him, he eased down in the water a little more and savored the exquisite feeling of being inside of her again…tight, wet and so damned warm. He sighed and ran his hands up her sides to her breasts and cupped them.
Katie leaned back against him and mewled, then her inner muscles clamped around him. “This feels so damned good,” she said breathlessly, then gasped when he flicked his thumbs over her nipples.
She arched her back and moaned, not in pleasure. His hands stilled, and he told her gruffly, “Just be still, or we’re gonna call off this experiment…I’m not letting you hurt yourself.”
When she nodded against his chest, he teased her nipples again and she moaned and he kissed the side of her neck, then moved one hand down between them to find her center. Her breath stopped in anticipation, and he ran his hand along her thigh instead of touching her there, and licked her earlobe. “You taste so damned good…feel so good, baby…I’ve missed you so fucking much,” he hissed.
“Oh god, Tommy, please,” she begged then slowly rotated her hips.
With a strangled moan, he moved his hand to her core and massaged her slowly, lifting his hips so their bodies were flush, to keep her from moving around. With every rotation of his fingers, he felt her inner muscles working around him and tension built inside of him.
When the contractions got faster, more intense, he increased his rhythm and hen rolled her nipple between his fingers, and pulled. She groaned his name loudly and her body tensed, then he felt her vibrating around him, and her body pulled him over the precipice with her into a slow, delicious orgasm that floated over him like the waves of the water around them. He put his arm around her waist and held her to him, so she didn’t move, as he waited for the tremors in his body to cease.
She was breathing heavily, and he saw her cheeks were flushed. With a kiss to the side of her face, he asked her gently, “You okay, baby?”
“Better than okay,” she told him breathlessly, then turned her head to kiss his jaw. “That was incredible…um, did you…”
“Oh, yeah…that was different, but amazing,” he told her with a squeeze. “Now, let’s get you cleaned up…I’ve got some surprises for you.”
She sucked in a breath then leaned to the side to look up at him with excitement in her eyes, “Really?”
“Yeah, I’ve got a lot of making up to do for my stupidity…and not just today, either” he told her ruefully.
She grinned at him, then purred sexily, and nipped his jaw, “Well, you’re off to a good start…I can’t wait to see how you top this.”
Tommy growled and fished in the water, until he found the wash cloth and bar of soap he’d dropped, then he lathered it up and smoothed it over her body, then rinsed her off. He pushed her downward to sit further down his legs and propped her against his bent knees, then said, “Lean your head back,” then he wet her hair, shampooed and rinsed it.
After he cleaned himself up, he opened the drain with his toe, and said, “Okay dinner time,” then he slid his legs out from under her, pushed up and stepped out of the tub.
Katie went to stand and he tsked, so she sat back down, and watched him walk dripping wet across the floor to the linen closet, where he pulled out three fluffy towels, and wrapped one around his waist. When he came back, her eyes traveled up his long muscular legs, across his broad chest to his eyes.
“I’d like to lick you dry,” she told him breathlessly, with renewed desire pushing through her body.
His dark brows lifted, and his jaw clenched, then he said gruffly, “Behave, woman!”
She grinned at him and batted her eyes innocently, “I am behaving…when I’m bad you’ll know it.”
His face flushed and he bent down and put his arms under hers and helped her stand then held her arm, while she stepped out of the tub. When she was standing in front of him, naked as a jaybird, she felt a little self-conscious about her changing body, and tried to cover herself. He pulled her arm away from her breasts and his heated eyes traveled slowly over her. She didn’t think he’d have to dry her off after his perusal, because she was sure all the water on her skin had evaporated.
“You are so beautiful, darlin’…even more beauti
ful with my babies growing inside of you,” he told her and his voice crackled with emotion.
Emotion clogged her throat, her heart squeezed in her chest, and she felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. This man loved her, really and truly loved her. He didn’t care if she was rough around the edges at times, or if she was rich or poor, he loved her just like she was…big and pregnant, or sexy and slim. He was a lifetime kind of man, not just a flash in the pan good time guy. As mad as she got at him sometimes, she still loved him, and couldn’t live without him…didn’t want to live without him. Taking a step forward, she put her arm around his waist and hugged him. “I love you, Tommy Tucker…even when you piss me off.”
He trembled, then she heard the breath whoosh from his lungs. “So, you forgive me?”
“Yeah, I forgive you…” she told him then looked up into his eyes, and warned, “Just don’t do it again.”
He took a finger and crossed it over his heart and said, “Never again, baby…I’m truly sorry,” then he bent down and kissed her gently.
Tommy removed the plastic bag from her injured arm, and Katie stood there, while he towel-dried her hair, then skimmed the towel over her body, before dropping it to the floor. He picked up the robe she’d brought into the bathroom with her and slid it over the splint, and helped her shrug into it, before he belted it at her waist. It almost didn’t close over the mound of her ever-growing baby bump.
“I’m getting huge really fast,” she said with a frown, then added, “I’m going to have to get some more clothes.”
“We’ll go shopping tomorrow, and buy you a whole new wardrobe,” he told her with a big grin. “I’m sure they have your size somewhere in town.”
She balled her fist and playfully punched his shoulder, “Hey, this is all your fault, you know!”
“I’m not the one who insisted we use an expired condom,” he volleyed.
“No, you’re the one who hadn’t had sex in four years and didn’t even have one on him, after you got me all worked up!”
“Me? I’m not the one who wanted to have car sex…although, as worked up as you got me, I’d have done you on the hood of my truck!”
Katie’s breathing stopped at the visual image that presented, and she told him with a waggle of her brows, “Put that on our list, will ya?”
“We have a list now?” he chuckled, but she saw desire spike in his hazel eyes.
“If we don’t, we’re going to make one…you need an education,” she told him smugly.
He growled and pulled her into his arms, “As long as you’re my teacher, baby, you can give me as many assignments as you like.”
Her eyebrows lifted, “I’ll start my lesson plan today,” she told him and kissed his chest.
“Let’s go eat, I’m starved…” he said then took her arm and they walked slowly to the kitchen. The hot bath must’ve helped her ribs, because they didn’t seem as sore as they had been earlier today…or maybe it was the stress relief, she thought and smiled.
When they rounded the breakfast bar, she gasped when she saw the breakfast table. Tommy had it set with fine china plates, and silverware, and candles, and…flowers. Red roses, primroses…true love. “Oh, my god…” she said breathlessly.
He tensed beside her and she looked up and saw the insecurity in his eyes. “Are the flowers right this time?” he asked her.
“They’re perfect, Tommy…everything is perfect,” she said and walked over to the table and put her nose in the bouquet then inhaled the sweet aroma.
He huffed out a relieved breath, then went to the oven and opened it. Rich smells filled the kitchen and his stomach growled. “You like Italian?” he asked hopefully.
“Love it…that smells great,” she said then sat down at the table.
“Well you’re gonna love this then, Marco is a master with lasagna,” he said then pulled out the tin, and set it on a warming pad by the stove. He opened the bag of crusty bread that Marco had given him, and grabbed a cookie sheet from the cabinet, then laid the slabs open on the sheet, and slid them into the oven. “Shouldn’t be but a second, the bread was hot out of the oven when I left the restaurant.”
“I’m not in a hurry…thanks for doing all this. You sure know how to apologize,” she said with a warm smile.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet, sugar,” he told her, then brought the pan of lasagna to the table and set it down.
Tommy got serving spoons and a pitcher of ice tea from the refrigerator and put that on the table as well, then ran back to the oven and pulled out the bread. He put it paper-towel lined wicker basket and brought it to the table, then sat down next to her.
Removing the covering on the lasagna, he said, “Let’s eat,” then dished up a huge portion on her plate, and laid a piece of bread on her bread plate, then filled her glass with iced tea.
“You better stop all this, or you’re gonna spoil me,” she told him and forked a bite of lasagna into her mouth then moaned. The rich tastes tantalized her tongue and she savored it appreciatively.
She noticed his fork hovered over his plate and looked over at him. His eyes were dark and dilated, and his face flushed, “As long as me spoiling you makes you make those sounds, count on being spoiled rotten,” he told her in a darkly sensual tone.
“This is really good,” she said and took another bite.
He huffed out a breath, and then dug into his lasagna. They chatted and laughed between bites, and Katie thoroughly enjoyed the meal and his company. She was stuffed by the time she pushed back from the table and rubbed her belly. “I think the peanuts liked it too,” she told Tommy with a chuckle, as the babies kicked her in the side, rolled around a little then settled. “They’re doing a happy dance, I think.”
Tommy looked at her intently a moment, then took a long swig from his tea glass and set it back down, before he said, “I’m doing a happy dance too, sugar…I need to go get something, be right back,” before he pushed back from the table and walked across the living room. She saw him come back across the living room, then take the stairs two at a time, and raised a brow wondering what he was up to. When he came back down, he had on a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt that stretched across his muscled chest.
He looked hot, not cowboy hot right now, just good enough to eat. And if she wasn’t so lethargic and satisfied from the meal, if her limbs would cooperate and she wasn’t banged up, she would’ve indulged.
A mysterious smile played across his firm lips, and his eyes glittered as he came back to the table and sat down. “I have a present for you,” he told her and handed her a long rectangular box.
Katie looked at the box, then back up at him, before she took it from his hand. With trembling fingers, she opened it and gasped, then grinned from ear to ear. “Oh, Tommy, it’s beautiful!” she said in awe. Picking up the pendant by the dainty silver chain, she held it up for a closer look.
Tommy’s smile broadened and he told her, “Now you’ll have my heart with you always, and the horseshoe represents what a lucky man I am,” he told her and took it from her fingers to stand behind her and put it around her neck. After he clasped it, he placed a soft kiss at her nape and she shivered.
Her heart swelled with emotion, and she swallowed down the happy sob that threatened to escape. “Oh, god, Tommy, you’re gonna make me bawl…this is so romantic…thank you,” she said in a trembling voice.
“Only happy tears, darlin’…there’s more,” he told her then her heart stopped when he dropped to his knees in front of her and grabbed her hand. He looked down and pulled a small square box out of his pocket, then flicked it open with his thumb. “I haven’t done this right yet…I’m fixing that,” he told her then cleared his throat, before he looked deeply into her eyes and asked reverently, “Katie Upton, you are the love of my life, would you make me the happiest man in the world by marrying me?”