The Proposal & Solid Soul

by Brenda Jackson

  Jason had become quiet and she wondered if he’d already regretted making the proposal. The thought that he had sent her into a panic mode made her heart begin to break a piece at a time. Then without warning, she felt his hand touch her arm and when she glanced over at him he smiled and reached for her and pulled her closer to his side, as if refusing to let her stand anywhere by herself…without him. It was as if he was letting her know she would never ever be alone again.

  She knew a part of her was probably rationalizing things the way she wished they were, the way she wanted them to be but not necessarily how they really were. But if she had to fantasize then she would do that. If she had to pretend they had a real marriage for the next year then she would do that, too. However, a part of her would never lose sight of the real reason she was here. A part of her would always be prepared for the inevitable.

  “You were a beautiful bride, Bella.”

  “Thank you.” Warmth spread through her in knowing that he’d thought so because she had tried so hard to be. She had been determined to make some part of today resemble a real wedding—even if it was a civil one in the judge’s chambers. The ladies in the family had insisted that she be turned over to them after securing a license at the Denver County Court House and had promised Jason she would be on time for her wedding.

  It had taken less than an hour to obtain the marriage license and Lucia had been there to pick her up afterward. Bella had been whisked away for a day of beauty and to visit a very exclusive bridal shop to pick up the perfect dress for her wedding. Since time was of the essence, everything had been arranged beforehand. When they had delivered her back to Jason five hours later, the moment she’d joined him in the judge’s chambers his smile had let her know he thought her time away from him had been well worth it. She would forever be grateful to her new in-laws and a part of her knew that Pam, Chloe, Megan, Lucia and Bailey would also be friends she could count on for life.

  “You look good yourself,” she said softly.

  She thought that was an understatement. She had seen him in a suit the night at the charity ball. He had taken her breath away then and was taking it away now. Tall, dark and handsome, he was the epitome of every woman’s fantasy and dream. And for at least one full year, he would be hers.

  The elevator stopped on their floor and, tightening his hand on hers, they stepped out. Her breath caught when the elevator doors whooshed closed behind them and they began walking toward room 4501. She knew once they reached those doors and she stepped inside there would be no turning back.

  They silently strolled side by side holding hands. Everything about the Four Seasons Hotel spoke of its elegance and the decorative colors all around were vibrant and vivid.

  Jason released her hand when they reached their room to pull the passkey from the pocket of his suit jacket. Once he opened the door he extended his hand to her and she took it, felt the sensations flowing between them. She gasped when she was suddenly swept off her feet and into his arms and carried over the threshold into the honeymoon suite.

  JASON KICKED THE DOOR closed with his foot before placing Bella on her feet. And then he just stood there and looked at her, allowing his gaze to roam all over her. What he’d told her earlier was true. She was a beautiful bride.

  And she was his.

  Absolutely and positively his.

  Her tea-length dress was ivory in color and made of silk chiffon and fitted at her small waist with a rose in the center. It was a perfect match for the ivory satin rose-heeled shoes on her feet. White roses were her favorite flower and she’d used them as the theme in their wedding. Even her wedding bouquet had consisted of white roses.

  His chest expanded with so much love for her, love she didn’t know about yet. He had a year to win her over and intended to spend the next twelve months doing just that. But now, he needed for her to know just how much she was desired.

  He lowered his head and kissed her, letting his tongue tangle with hers, reacquainting himself with the taste of her, a taste he had not forgotten and had so desperately craved since the last time. He kissed her deeply, not allowing any part of her mouth to go untouched. And she returned the kiss with a hunger that matched his own and he was mesmerized by how she was making him feel.

  He tightened his hold on her, molding his body to hers, and was certain she could feel the hot ridge of his erection pressing against her. It was throbbing something awful with a need for her that was monumental. He had wanted her for a long time…ever since he’d seen her that night at the ball, and his desire for her hadn’t diminished any since. If anything, it had only increased to a level that even now he could feel his gut tighten in desire. Taking her hands he deliberately began slowly lifting her dress up toward her waist.

  “Wrap your legs around me, Bella,” he whispered and assisted by lifting her hips when she wrapped her legs around him to walk her toward the bedroom. It was a huge suite and he was determined that later, after they took care of business in the bedroom, they would check out all the amenities the suite had to offer; especially the large Jacuzzi bathtub. Already he saw the beauty of downtown Denver from their hotel room window. But downtown Denver was the last thing on his mind right now. Making love to his wife was.

  His wife.

  He began kissing her again, deeper and longer, loving the way her tongue mated with his over and over again. He placed her on the bed while reaching behind her to unfasten her dress and slide it from her body. It was then that he took a step back and thought he was dreaming. No fantasy could top what he was seeing now.

  She was wearing a white lace bra and matching panties. On any other woman such a color would come across as ultrainnocence, but on Bella it became the epitome of sexual desire.

  He needed to completely undress her and did so while thinking of everything he wanted to do to her. When she was on her knees in the middle of the bed naked, he could tell from her expression that this was the first time a man had seen her body and the thought sent shivers through him as his gaze roamed over her in male appreciation. A shudder of primal pride flowed through him and he could only stand there and take her all in.

  An erection that was already hard got even harder when he looked at her chest, an area he had yet to taste. Her twin globes were firm. His tongue tingled at the thought of being wrapped around those nipples.

  No longer able to resist temptation, he moved toward the bed and placed a knee on it and immediately leaned in to capture a nipple in his mouth. His tongue latched on the hard nub and began playing all kinds of games with it. Games she seemed to enjoy if the way she was pushing her breasts deeper into his mouth was anything to go by.

  He heard her moan as he continued to torture her nipples, with quick nips followed by sucking motions and when he reached down to let his hands test her to see how ready she was, he found she was definitely ready for him. Pulling back he eased from the bed to remove his clothes as she watched.

  “I’m not on the Pill, Jason.”

  He glanced over at her. “You’re not?”

  “No.”

  And evidently thinking she needed to explain further she said, “I haven’t been sexually active with anyone.”

  “Since?”

  “Never.”

  A part of him wasn’t surprised. In fact, he had suspected as much. He’d known no other man had performed oral sex on her but hadn’t been sure of the depth of any other sexual experience. “Any reason you hadn’t?”

  She met his gaze and held it. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  He drew in a sharp breath and wondered if she knew what she’d just insinuated and figured she hadn’t. Maybe she hadn’t insinuated anything and it was just wishful thinking on his part. He loved her and would give just about anything for her to love him in return. And until she said the words, he wouldn’t assume anything.

  “Then your wait is over, sweetheart,” he said, sliding on a condom over the thickness of his erection while she looked on. And from the fascinated expre
ssion on her face he could tell what she was seeing was another first for her.

  When he completed that task he moved to the bed and toward her. “You are so beautifully built, Jason,” she said softly, and as if she needed to test her ability to arouse him, she leaned up and flicked out her tongue, licking one of the hardened nubs on his breast like he’d done earlier to her.

  He drew in a sharp intake of breath. “You’re a quick learner,” he said huskily.

  “Is that good or bad?”

  He smiled at her. “For us it will always be good.”

  Since this would be her first time he wanted her more than ready and knew of one way to do it. He eased her down on the bed and decided to lick her into an orgasm. Starting at her mouth, he slowly moved downward to her chin, trekked down her neck to her breasts. By the time he’d made it past her midriff to her flat tummy she was writhing under his mouth but he didn’t mind. That was a telltale sign of how she was feeling.

  “Open your legs, baby,” he whispered. The moment she did so he dipped his head to ease his tongue between the folds of her femininity. He recalled doing this to her the last time and knew just what spots would make her moan deep in her throat. Tonight he wanted to do better than that. He wanted to make her scream.

  Over and over again he licked her to the edge of an orgasm then withdrew his tongue and began torturing her all over again. She sobbed his name, moaned and groaned. And then, when she was on the verge of an explosion he shifted upward and placed his body over hers.

  When he guided his erection in place, he held her gaze and lowered his body to join with hers, uniting them as one. She was tight and he kept a level of control as he eased inside her, feeling how firm a hold her clenched muscles had on him. He didn’t want to hurt her and moved inch by slow inch inside her. When he had finally reached the hilt, he closed his eyes but didn’t move. He needed to be still for a moment and grasp the significance of what was taking place. He was making love to his wife and she was a wife he loved more than life.

  He slowly opened his eyes and met hers and saw she had been watching…waiting and needing him to finish what he’d started. So he did. He began moving slowly, with an extremely low amount of pressure as he began moving in and out of her. When she arched her back, he increased the pressure and the rhythm.

  The sounds she began making sent him spiraling and let him know she was loving it. The more she moaned, the more she got. Several times he’d gone so deep inside her he knew he had touched her womb and the thought that he had done so made him crave her that much more.

  She released a number of shuddering breaths as he continued to thrust, claiming her as his while she claimed him as hers. And then she threw her head back and screamed out his name.

  That’s when he came, filling her while groaning thickly as an orgasm overtook them both. The spasms that rammed through his body were so powerful he had to force himself to breathe. He bucked against her several times as he continued to ride her through the force of his release.

  He inhaled the scent of their lovemaking before leaning down to capture her mouth, and knew at that moment the night for them was just beginning.

  SOMETIME DURING THE night Jason woke up from the feel of Bella’s mouth on him. Immediately his erection began to swell.

  “Oh.” She pulled her mouth away and looked up at him with a blush on her face. “I thought you were asleep.”

  His lips curved into a smile. “I was, but there are some things a man can’t sleep through. What are you doing down there?”

  She raised her head to meet his gaze. “Tasting you the way you tasted me,” she said softly.

  “You didn’t have to wait until I was asleep, you know,” he said, feeling himself get even harder. Although he was no longer inside her mouth, it was still close. Right there. And the heat of her breath was way too close.

  “I know, but you were asleep and I thought I would practice first. I didn’t want to embarrass myself while you were awake and get it wrong,” she said, blushing even more.

  He chuckled, thinking her blush was priceless. “Baby, this is one of those things a woman can never get wrong.”

  “Do you want me to stop?”

  “What do you think?”

  She smiled up at him shyly. Wickedly. Wantonly. “I think you don’t. Just remember this is a practice session.”

  She then leaned closer and slid him back into her mouth. He groaned deep in his throat when she began making love to him this way. Earlier that night he had licked her into an orgasm and now she was licking him to insanity. He made a low sound in the back of his throat when she began pulling everything out of him with her mouth. If this was a practice session she would kill him when it came to the real thing.

  “Bella!”

  He quickly reached down and pulled her up to him and flipped her onto her back. He moved on top of her and pushed inside of her, realizing too late when he felt himself explode that he wasn’t wearing a condom. The thought that he could be making her pregnant jutted an even bigger release from his body into hers.

  His entire body quivered from the magnitude of the powerful thrusts that kept coming, thrusts he wasn’t able to stop. The more she gave, the more he wanted and when her hips arched off the bed, he drove in deeper and came again.

  “Jason!”

  She was following him to sweet oblivion and his heart began hammering at the realization that this was lovemaking as naked as it could get, and he clung to it, clung to her. A low, shivering moan escaped his lips and when her thighs began to tremor, he felt the vibration to the core.

  Moments later he collapsed on top of her, moaned her name as his manhood buried inside of her continued to throb, cling to her flesh as her inner muscles wouldn’t release their hold.

  What they’d just shared as well as all the other times they’d made love tonight was so unbearably pleasurable he couldn’t think straight. The thought of what she’d been doing when he had awakened sent sensuous chills down his body.

  He opened his mouth to speak but immediately closed it when he saw she had drifted off to sleep. She made such an erotic picture lying there with her eyes closed, soft dark curls framing her face and the sexiest lips he’d ever had the pleasure of kissing slightly parted.

  He continued to look at her, thinking he would let her get some rest now. Later he intended to wake her up the same way she’d woken him.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  THE FOLLOWING MORNING after they’d enjoyed breakfast in bed, Bella figured now was just as good a time as any to let her parents know she was a married woman.

  She picked up her cell phone and then glanced over at Jason and smiled. That smile gave her the inner strength for the confrontation she knew was coming. The thought of her outwitting them by marrying—and someone from Denver—would definitely throw her parents into a tizzy. She could just imagine what they would try to do. But just as Jason had said, they could try but wouldn’t succeed. She and Jason were as married as married could get and there was nothing her parents could do about it.

  Taking a deep breath she punched in their number and when the housekeeper answered she was put on hold, waiting for her father to pick up the line.

  “Elizabeth. I hope you’re calling to say you’ve come to your senses and have purchased a one-way plane ticket back home.”

  She frowned. He didn’t even take the time to ask how she was doing. Although she figured her parents had nothing to do with those two incidents this week, she decided to ask anyway. “Tell me something, Dad. Did you and Mom think using scare tactics to get me to return to Savannah would work?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Three days ago someone threw a rock through my living room window with a threatening note for me to leave town, and two days ago someone torched my house. Luckily I wasn’t there at the time.”

  “Someone set Dad’s house on fire?”

  She’d heard the shock in his voice and she heard something else, too. Empathy. This was t
he first time she’d heard him refer to Herman as “Dad.”

  “Yes.”

  “I didn’t have anything to do with that, Elizabeth. Your mother and I would never put you in danger like that. What kind of parents do you think we are?”

  “Controlling. But I didn’t call to exchange words, Dad. I’m just calling for you and Mother to share my good news. I got married yesterday.”

  “What!”

  “That’s right. I got married to a wonderful man by the name of Jason Westmoreland.”

  “Westmoreland?”

  “Yes.”

  “I went to schools with some Westmorelands. Their land was connected to ours.”

  “Probably his parents. They’re deceased now.”

  “Sorry to hear that, but I hope you know why he married you. He wants that land. But don’t worry about it, dear. It can easily be remedied once you file for an annulment.”

  She shook her head. Her parents just didn’t get it. “Jason didn’t force me to marry him, Dad. I married him of my own free will.”

  “Listen, Elizabeth, you haven’t been living out there even a full month. You don’t know this guy. I will not allow you to marry him.”

  “Dad, I am already married to him and I plan to send your attorney a copy of our marriage license so the hold on my trust fund will be lifted.”

  “You think you’re smart, Elizabeth. I know what you’re doing and I won’t allow it. You don’t love him and he can’t love you.”

  “Sounds pretty much like the same setup you and Mom have got going. The same kind of marriage you wanted me to enter with Hugh. So what’s the problem? I don’t see where there is one and I refuse to discuss the matter with you any longer. Goodbye, Dad. Give Mom my best.” She then clicked off the phone.

  “I take it the news of our marriage didn’t go over well with your father.”