Pressing her body even more tightly against the wall, he removed his remaining hand from beneath her hips and reached for his fly. His penis emerged, pointing up and out in its eagerness to replace his finger inside her, but he waited. By Jenny’s own admission, it had been a long time for her, and he’d never felt so engorged. He wanted to make sure her body was ready for him.
His resolve to go slowly lasted about thirty seconds, and he could stand it no more. He couldn’t navigate putting on a condom in this position. Through the haze of desire he tried to reason. She’d been virtually alone since coming to New York. A sixth sense told him she was safe...well, that and the little head with which he was doing most of his thinking. As for the risk of pregnancy, well, Jenny was his wife. They’d work it out.
He made his decision in an instant, and soon experienced a bliss like he’d never known as he filled her. She was tight inside, and his knees felt weak at the unique feeling of having no barriers between them. His hands quickly returned to cup her hips, and he felt a new wave of heat radiating from her skin. She wanted this as much as he did.
Little squealing sounds came from Jenny’s throat that didn’t entirely sound like delight. She was so tight. He hoped he wasn’t hurting her. “You’ll stretch for me,” he whispered.
“I know. Don’t stop,” she pleaded.
He’d been half afraid she would ask him to do just that. Relieved, Dexter squeezed the flesh of her backside and lowered her onto him, yielding to the need for her that had obsessed him for months now, and he watched Genevieve’s sexual awakening take place before his eyes. Her breath came in long moans of surrender that encompassed her entire body, and her muscles clutched at him, as if welcoming him home.
And he knew with a certainty in which he knew his own name that he never wanted to be anywhere else.
As their gasps faded, Dexter summoned much-needed strength, then in one motion straightened his knees and lifted Jenny off his now-limp penis and carried her to the bedroom.
He set her down on her back on the king-sized bed he hadn’t had the patience to bring her to earlier, then laid beside her. She was wiggling back into her nightgown, and once she finished he propped himself up on his elbows and moved his face over hers, gazing down at her intently for a full ten seconds before speaking. “I’m sorry, Jenny.”
Her brow wrinkled in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“You deserve flowers and music and candlelight, and I wanted to give you those things. Instead I didn’t even get you to the bed. I did bring you flowers, but I ended up dropping them on the floor. I think they’re a lost cause. They’d already gotten a little soggy from the rain.”
She raised her hand and stroked his cheek. “It’s all right, Dexter. I was feeling pretty eager myself.”
“Um...there’s something else. I didn’t use a condom. We weren’t exactly in a position conducive to applying protection,” he pointed out with a little embarrassment, “and I just couldn’t bring myself to stop. But you saw my test results, and I can assure you nothing’s changed since they were drawn. As for the other possibility...well, it was one time. Surely we couldn’t be that unlucky.” He’d promised himself that he would pull out of her in time, but he hadn’t been able to...she just felt too, too good. Now he was beginning to regret being so reckless, even through his awe. Never before had he engaged in intimacy without a condom for protection. He never knew it could be this good. Everything else had been about release. This had been about loving someone.
About loving Jenny.
She shrugged. “Well, I guess it’s too late to do anything about it now. It’s kind of like me walking in on you using the bathroom, huh?” she added with a smile.
“You’re awfully cavalier about it.”
“That’s because I know some things you don’t,” she replied. “I’ll share them with you now. First of all, I don’t have test results to show you, but you don’t have to worry. I’m not carrying any STDs.”
“I didn’t say I was worried about that.”
“You don’t have to say it. We just had unprotected sex. You’re a doctor, Dexter. You know what can happen in a case like that. That’s why you gave me your test results in the first place.”
“All right, I’m relieved,” he confessed. “Now tell me the rest.”
“I put in my diaphragm hours ago.”
“You did!”
“Yes. When I used the restroom after the agents left I did more than just throw up. I knew then I didn’t want to be alone tonight, not with everything hanging over us and after all we’ve been through.” Genevieve lowered her gaze, remembering her misery of just a few hours ago. “I forgot to take it out after you said no. There’s a possibility that after a bubble bath and all these hours it might not do its job, but like you, I don’t think we could be that unlucky.” She reached out to touch her fingertips to his cheek. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to us, Dexter. For all I know, they’ll deny my claim. I didn’t want to be sent back without being with you. And I wouldn’t have missed it.”
“Neither would I. Thank God I came to my senses. As for the INS, well, we just have to hope for the best. Both of us have a lot to lose.” He ran his fingertips over her throat. “But let’s not think about that now, Jenishka,” he said softly.
“What?”
“What Z.L. calls you,” he said. “I like it.”
“Say it.”
“Jenishka,” he obliged, with a flourish.
“Say it again.”
Dexter felt his erection forming in a fresh wave of desire. “Jenishka,” he whispered, his mouth moving closer to hers.
The first thing Genevieve became aware of when she awakened was the arm draped over her hip. A tingly feeling formed in her core.
Last night she made love to her husband, nearly sixty days after their ceremony, and it had been every bit as thrilling as he hinted at in Baltimore. No wonder Dexter, who’d said he woke up early every morning automatically, was sleeping so soundly. They stayed up most of the night pleasuring each other. Never before had she known such raw, unrefined joy. At least she’d gotten a few hours of sleep before he returned. Dexter, of course, had been unable to sleep, and his restlessness and the feeling that he’d made a terrible mistake had sent him back into the night to come to her.
The second time they made love they actually took the time to undress, as well as apply protection. After that there’d been a third time, and then they finally slept. Genevieve had never felt such an absolute sense of fulfillment. In her heart she knew she was in love with Dexter. It was just like her mother told her so many years before. The very sight of him made her light up inside...and when he left her it was as if someone had turned those lights off and left her lost in the dark.
She shifted to her back, and his hand moved upward to cup her breasts. When he began to squeeze them, she knew he was becoming conscious.
And when his hand slipped inside her nightgown, she knew she was going to start her day off in the best way possible.
Chapter 23
Chaos erupted at the New York University Medical Center, adjacent to the M.E.’s office, on what had otherwise been a fairly quiet weekday afternoon after mysterious fumes began leaking from the air vents of a nearby office building. Patients were being brought in to the emergency room by the dozen, and all qualified hands were called in to lend a hand. Dexter volunteered to do some screening to help weed out the less serious cases. He was palpating a patient’s abdomen, performing a local physical exam for a complaint of passing out, when his cell phone began to vibrate. He drew in his breath. He’d done a second interview last week at a prestigious Lower Manhattan firm that had gone particularly well. When he felt the vibration against his pelvic bone he had a premonition that his ship had just come in.
He pulled the phone out of his pocket. One glance at the name in the display panel and he quickly excused himself. Shucks, nothing he’d observed suggested the patient had a life-threatening condition. And if th
e woman fainted again, at least she was already laying down. What harm could it do?
“Gray here,” he said crisply into the receiver as he headed toward the employee lounge. The voice on the other end identified himself as the administrative partner of the firm, whom Dexter remembered from his interview. After exchanging pleasantries, Dexter listened, enraptured, to the details of the offer. All background movement ceased, and he felt as if he and the person on the other end of the line were the only humans left alive on the planet. In less than two minutes, he saw his future as snow and ice in strong Arctic sunlight —bright, bright, bright.
“That sounds...acceptable,” he said, not wanting to sound overly eager. In truth, it sounded like music beautiful enough to move him to tears. Until now he’d never understood how a notorious tough guy gangster like Al Capone could be reduced to tears by the opera. All his struggles, working fourteen hours a day, trying to function on quantities of food that wouldn’t keep a rodent alive, unable to do anything about his grandparents’ mortgaging of the home that had been paid off years before...it was all about to pay off.
Not only had his ship come in, it was the Queen Mary.
And there was one person he wanted to share the news with more than anyone. The woman he dreamed about the first night he met her. The woman he wanted to share his life with.
He hadn’t seen much of Jenny since that wonderful night they spent together. In spite of all the wonder and marvel of coming together, neither of them had been sure how to proceed. Everything was backward; they’d started by getting married first and then getting to know each other. Dexter wanted Jenny to be his wife because he loved her, and if it hadn’t been for the unexpected appearance of Barry Henderson at her condo last week he would have blurted out his feelings.
With the insight he had now he was glad for the diversion. Dexter believed Jenny when she told him that she didn’t love Barry in a romantic sense, but Dexter knew she had a deep loyalty toward him, probably stemming from his offer to marry her...and that loyalty could force her to feel guilty about, even try to repress, any feelings she might have for him.
As much as Dexter loved and wanted Jenny, this was the worst possible time for him to give her the courting she deserved and they both needed to give their relationship desperately needed balance and a natural progressive feel. Not only did he have final exams coming up, he had job interviews to prepare for.
They’d celebrated a few weeks ago when Jenny got word that the INS was granting her legal residence status. Mrs. Galasso had neatly penned on the bottom of the printed letter, ‘Every happiness to you both.’ That hadn’t surprised him—she struck Dexter as the type of woman who read romance novels and who appreciated a happy ending. But both he and Jenny had been shocked to read Mr. Chmielewski’s angular print below that read, ‘All the best to you.’
“We must have really been convincing,” he’d said in awe. “I was really worried about him failing us.”
“So was I,” she said with obvious relief.
He’d put the letter down. “This deserves a celebration. Why don’t we go out for some dinner? On me.”
But it was what happened after he brought her home after their meal that still made his breathing ragged, just thinking about it. “I haven’t congratulated you properly on a job well done, Mrs. Gray,” he said before lifting her face to his. His kiss had been demanding, telling her what he wanted without words. His eager hands first pulled away the pins that held her hair up, running his hands through its thickness when it was free. Then he reached beneath the hem of her sweater to caress her soft skin, and finally down to cup her round behind. He felt Jenny rise on her toes to diminish the difference in their heights, and he pressed her groin to his, wanting her to feel his burning need for her.
This time they made it to the bedroom, where Dexter’s insistent hands peeled away her clothes until she was nude. He tore off his own clothes, stopping only to apply a condom, and joined her on the bed, one hand squeezing her breast, the other eagerly reaching between her already parted thighs. He loved the way Jenny gasped when he touched her there, her arms looping around his neck and pulling his face close to hers. He wanted her so badly he didn’t know which desire to satisfy first, that of tasting her or being inside her.
The first choice won out, and he moved down her body, shifting her hips diagonally so he wouldn’t collide with the footboard. He licked and nibbled until the liquid of her release poured out of her and onto the sheets. She was still breathing heavily when he climbed atop her, but she bent her knees and rode in rhythm with him on another trip to ecstasy, and he held on to her like he never wanted to let her go.
Although he spoke to her daily, he hadn’t seen her since that night. He cited studying as the reason, not mentioning the two interviews he had scheduled. If he was offered a position he wanted to surprise her with it. It would be the first step toward beginning a real courtship that, if he had his way, would lead to their marriage lasting forever.
He couldn’t wait to tell her, both about his job and how he truly felt about her, because now, finally, the time was right.
Genevieve stared at Barry in disbelief. “You want me to do what?”
“I’m a free man, Genevieve. And now I want you to unload that slob you married and marry me.”
“Barry, that’s insane! This isn’t changing partners on the dance floor, it’s marriage! There’s no way someone in my position, who only became legal by marrying an American citizen, can possibly get a divorce right after! Dexter and I will both be exposed as frauds.” Besides, I don’t want to marry you, Barry. She didn’t want to be harsh, so she chose to focus on the absurdity of his request. With any luck he would get the point without her having to say anything blatantly cruel.
“Don’t worry, Gen. My lawyers say they can work it out.
“You’ve spoken about Dexter and me to your lawyers?” Cold fury gripped her. “I never authorized that, Barry! How dare you do that without asking my permission first?”
“Gen, take it easy. They can’t divulge anything. Whatever I tell them is bound by attorney/client privilege.”
“Barry, listen to me. I’m married. The U.S. government has granted me legal residency. Nothing is broken here.” She shook her head incredulously. “Why are you looking to fix something that doesn’t need it?”
“Because I love you, Genevieve, and I can’t stand to see you married to somebody else. Besides, it’s too risky a proposition. Just because the INS decreed you can stay here doesn’t mean they can’t change their mind, Gen.”
Her shoulders stiffened at his patronizing attitude, but it wasn’t possible for her to become more angry than she already was. She couldn’t believe he had discussed her private affairs with a third party. She was about to tell him to forget about her, that she could never love him in a romantic sense no matter how well he treated her, but the ominous tone of his next words stopped her in his tracks.
“It can still come out that you paid Dexter’s tuition in exchange for him marrying you.”
She gasped. How had Barry known that?
“Come on,” he said with a sly smile, “did you think I wouldn’t figure out why you chose him? Stan and Brenda are friends of mine. They’ve mentioned that he was having trouble raising tuition money. They were afraid he’d try to find someplace cheaper to live. Those rooms they rent bring in about two grand a month, you know.”
“All right, so I offered to pay his tuition if he would marry me,” she admitted. “But there’s still no way the government can find out about it.” A horrible thought burned in her brain. Unless you tell them.
But Barry wouldn’t do that...or would he?
“The man’s going to be a lawyer, Gen. Do you have any idea how much investigation those law firms do into the background of potential employees?”
Suddenly she could stand his arrogance no more. “No, but I do know you don’t have to sound so pompous about it,” she snapped.
Now it was Barry’s turn to
breathe in. “Where did that come from?”
“It’s just that you have this way of sounding so condescending when you’re trying to convince me to do something. I don’t like it, Barry. I may be younger than you, but I’m not a child.”
He covered her hand with his. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to watch that. I just want you to understand that you’re not completely out of the woods. A lot can still go wrong. A potential employer of Dexter’s could easily uncover something. Listen, Genevieve, I know about these things. I’m telling you, the best thing to do is file for divorce and marry me. We can explain that we broke up and you had a whirlwind romance with someone but realized that you made a mistake.”
“I’m sorry, Barry, but I won’t do it. The whole suggestion is ludicrous. I told you before that I found someone else to marry me because I wanted to spare you the pain of an unhappy marriage. And even if you can’t see it, I know I did the right thing. The INS is satisfied that the relationship is valid. Everything worked out in the best fashion for all parties involved.”
He increased the pressure on her hand. “It’s not only for your own good, Gen, but for Dexter’s, too. If he’s found out he’ll never get a license to practice law.”
Her body went rigid. She didn’t have to be psychic to pick up on what he was trying to tell her without using the actual words. Barry intended to make sure that Dexter was found out if she didn’t play along with him. Her mind raced, and she quickly played her trump card. “I think you’re forgetting that if Dexter is found out, I’m found out, too. You can’t marry me if I’m sent back.”
“You wouldn’t be sent back. You were the victim in all this, a desperate refugee who fell prey to a con man.”
The thought of Dexter as a grifter was so incongruous that under any other circumstances Genevieve would have burst out laughing. Unfortunately, the picture Barry painted was too sobering. Perhaps he and his team of high-priced attorneys had worked out a way to protect her and offer Dexter as a sacrificial lamb. It was up to her to protect Dexter any way she could, even if it meant going along with Barry’s ridiculous plan. Barry’s potential unhappiness didn’t mean nearly as much to her as the solidity of Dexter’s future.
Save the Best for Last Page 24