by Lori Herter
“Say you’ll marry me.”
Josie pushed her bangs to one side, feeling stymied, dumbfounded. He’d left her with no more fears. No more obstacles. It was an odd feeling to be so carefree.
“Okay, okay. I’ll marry you!”
She stood and instantly he caught her up against him. With one arm around her back, the other around her waist, he clasped her to his broad, solid chest so tightly she could barely breathe. Her chin caught on his shoulder at an awkward angle as he held her for several long seconds, but Josie was already on her way to heaven. Strong and masterful, he embraced her as if she were the only thing of importance to him in the universe.
Why had she been resisting this? she wondered.
He loosened his grip and bent toward her. Her mouth met his and she slid her arms around him, kissing him back as her own passions kindled. Breaking the kiss to come up for air, she gazed up at him with joy. “I love you, Peter. You’re still the kindest, handsomest, sexiest man I ever met.”
His face grew so bright, he seemed lit from within. “Sexiest, too?”
She laughed. “Why are we talking? You can prove it right now, if you like.”
Desire ignited in his eyes. “I’ll prove whatever you want me to.”
Her breaths coming faster with sudden impatience, she stepped back and pulled her sweater off over her head. He reached for her as she threw the garment to the floor, drinking in the sight of her cleavage above her bra. His hands found the hook at the back and undid it. She felt it loosen, and, anxious to be rid of it, she leaned away as he held on to her waist, slipped the bra off her arms and tossed it on top of the sweater.
His hands slid upward to caress her bared breasts, his eyes full of heat and tenderness. “I’ve longed to touch you,” he said as he kneaded her flesh, flicked his thumb over her pert nipple. He drew her against his shirt and kissed the tender skin of her neck. “I’ve wanted you so much.”
She went to work unbuttoning his shirt. He pulled it apart and caught her up against him again, skin to skin. They kissed with a frantic, bewildering urgency. Josie’s heart was beginning to pound so strongly, she was sure he could feel it. Indeed, she could feel his heart thudding beneath his rib cage. As she writhed in his embrace, restless with anticipation now, she pulled the shirt out of his belt. Without letting go of the kiss, he shrugged the shirt off. When his hands came back to her, they slid down the length of her spine and beneath the waistband of her pants.
Josie eagerly took his cue, wriggled out of the rest of her clothes and kicked off her shoes. As she stood in front of him unclothed, he gazed over her body with raw and adoring desire. She looked at his belt and began to unbuckle it with trembling fingers. When she noticed the definite rise beneath his zipper, she slid her hand over him with anticipation and awe.
She felt moisture making her slick between her legs, and an aching need swept over her. “Let’s… Where? How?”
“The couch in the waiting room?” He kissed her hotly and slid his hand over her breast, down her stomach and into her tangle of hair.
When he touched her sweet spot, she gasped. He slipped two long fingers inside her and did something mysterious within her that made her go weak in the knees. “No,” she whispered, closing her eyes at the overwhelming sensation.
“But you like it.” He kept on driving her mad with his hand.
“No…no, no.” She moaned. “I’m too ready.” She slid her hand down the length of his arousal, using pressure to feel him. “I want you inside me. Thick, and hard…thrusting. The way I’ve dreamed about it.”
His eyes quickened with hot, roguish sparks. “So you’ve been dreaming about me all the while you’ve been avoiding me!”
She smiled, realizing what she’d just admitted. “Yes.” She began to unzip his pants.
His breaths came fast as she took hold of his freed arousal.
“So…the couch?” he asked, urgency in his voice.
“All the way out in the waiting room?” She felt too impatient.
He looked around. “The chair. Sit astride me.” He began to pull off the rest of his clothes.
“Wait,” she said, feeling weak with frustration as a new thought came to her. “Do you have something? Last time we had a condom.”
“No. I don’t have anything here.” He kicked his discarded garments out of the way and moved toward her.
“I’m not on the pill.” She ran her hands fitfully through her hair. “I don’t even know what days I’m fertile. I could get—”
He pulled her to him as a profound expression came into his eyes. “Pregnant.” He nodded. “That’s okay.”
“Peter, we’re not married yet. I don’t feel right about—”
“We could do it tonight.”
“Sure, we could do it, but consider the consequences.”
“I mean, get married. We could drive to Vegas tonight.”
She stared at him. “Tonight?”
“It’s only a five-hour drive.”
He sat on the chair and pulled her down facing him, her legs straddling his. She began to breathe raggedly again, wanting so much to feel him inside her, filling her. She toyed with his erection. “Neither of us is being very sensible, are we?” she whispered breathlessly.
He smiled. “I think you’d look beautiful pregnant. I want us to have children.”
A fuzzy warmth stole over her. She felt as young as a dreamy teenager again. Looking at him through a sheen of tears, she said, “Okay. It won’t be long till our wedding day.”
“That’s what I’ve been waiting to hear.”
They kissed sweetly, and then with increasing passion. He stroked her hair, which had fallen forward over her breasts. Pushing her dark tresses aside, he found her nipple and drew her into his mouth. The sensation made her gasp, and she grew delirious as he kissed and caressed her. She could sense her breasts swelling from his handling, feel her nipples become supersensitized. Aching for more, she played with his arousal, so near to where she wanted it to be. She toyed with it, stroked the length of him. Using her thigh muscles to rise up, she guided him in, moaning as she felt the thick shaft slide deep inside her. Breathing heavily, he clasped her to him, his face at her breasts, kissing her soft flesh as his big hands caressed her body.
She started a rhythmic up-and-down movement with her thighs, closing her eyes at the feel of him sliding back and forth inside her. He began to thrust in the same rhythm, and she started to writhe with acute pleasure. The sweet friction made her gasp softly with each thrust. He looked at her with adoring fervor, and she kissed him in sensual abandonment as his thrusting grew more urgent and compelling. She matched him with her own female force until both were breathing raggedly, looking at each other with tender, possessive love.
All at once the feeling of intense suspension, of waiting for the moment, came over her. Ecstasy flooded her soul as her body convulsed with voluptuous waves of pleasure. He watched her, enjoying her joy, then gripped her tightly, closing his eyes. She felt his thickness throbbing inside her, his seed bursting into her.
As they slumped against one another, relieved and fulfilled, she felt a bit dizzy, as if the room were swaying.
Both grew alert and looked at each other.
“Was that us, or is the earth really moving?” she asked.
He glanced through the open door to the hanging lamp over a drawing board in the outer room. Her gaze followed his. The lamp was gliding back and forth an inch or two, like a pendulum.
“An aftershock. It’s another sign,” Peter said. “The earth itself is applauding our union. So how soon can we get married?”
She laughed a bit. “How soon do you want to?”
“Yesterday?”
Josie smiled. “It takes time to plan a wedding.”
“So how about Las Vegas?”
“When, now?”
“I want it all settled,” he told her. “I want to get that song out of my head. I’ve got a house. I want you there again, as my wife. And sooner or later, kids
. Is that what you want?”
Josie had to nod. “Yes.”
“Well?”
“Yes! Yes, yes, yes. I won’t be able to sleep tonight. We might as well start driving! Who cares if it’s the middle of the night?”
“We’ll be driving east, into the sunrise. It makes sense, logically and poetically.”
Josie rolled her eyes. “To think I’m going to be spending the rest of my life keeping pace with your brand of logic!” She got up and took his hand. “So let’s begin the journey….”
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ISBN: 978-1-4592-3573-1
Heat of the Moment
Copyright © 2003 by Lori Herter
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