by Rachel Lee
“I told you,” he said as he stood, “slow is good.”
“Slow is driving me crazy.”
“Exactly.”
His hands slipped behind her, sliding over her bottom, then causing her to gasp as he spread her cheeks and slid his fingers between them. Who’d have thought...?
But thought ceased. Sensation took over. Damn, that felt good! A series of tremors began to pass through her, and she felt like a torch bursting into flames. Aching, wanting...
Then his soapy hands slipped around front and boldly slid between her legs.
“Ahhh...” A soft cry of sheer delight escaped her at the silky touches, first sliding over her lips, then parting them so he could touch that most sensitive knot of nerves. Over and over those gentle touches lashed her higher, bringing the pinnacle ever closer.
“Easy,” he said.
“Easy?” The concept seemed foreign. What in the world did he mean?
Then his hands pulled away from her. A sound of protest escaped her but he was ruthless. He turned her under the spray, rinsing her completely.
She was just starting to feel annoyed when he urged her over to the bench.
“Sit,” he said, steadying her until she was on the bench.
Now he’d wash himself, she thought and opened her eyes to watch because he was so gorgeous, even though every instinct wanted to drag him back to the bed.
He surprised her by kneeling in front of her. He pushed gently until she parted her legs.
“Slide forward just a bit,” he said.
Then a whole new world opened to her as he bent his head and began licking her in her most private place. It hurt and felt so good all at once that her body tightened like a bowstring.
She felt as if she were in free fall and grabbed his shoulders as if they would steady her. But there was no steadiness now. The entire world vanished in a tsunami of passion she could never have imagined.
Up she climbed, feeling weightless in space, carried away by forces beyond her control. Surrendering and loving every moment of it.
All of a sudden he pulled his head away, drawing another cry from her, then he plunged into her, keeping his fingers between them, rubbing her nub, building the ache until it was so hard she could barely stand it.
Then came the spasms of completion, beyond anything she had yet experienced. Wave after wave of pleasure rolled through her, so strong they were almost painful.
She heard herself cry out, stars exploded behind her eyes and she shattered into a million flaming pieces.
* * *
She had no idea how long it was before she returned to her senses. She opened her eyes slowly, feeling Seth’s head on her breasts, once again feeling the hot, pounding water.
She felt him pull away finally, and opened her eyes to slits. He aimed the water at her to rinse her off, then began lathering himself.
“If I thought I could stand,” she mumbled, “I’d do that for you.”
“Next time,” he answered, winking.
She enjoyed the show anyway. He was perfect in every respect, at least as far as she was concerned. He made quick work of it, though, then insisted on drying her with a fluffy towel. She tried to help him, but she was still feeling weak for some reason.
“You need to eat. Let’s get something on and go downstairs.”
She put on her robe and slippers, giving him a look when he remarked that the slippers were better than her boots. He just laughed.
There she was, feeling sleepy-happy-tired from their lovemaking, and he looked full of energy. Weren’t men supposed to get sleepy afterward?
Downstairs he started the casserole again, but apparently decided she needed something sooner than that. He made coffee, then offered her some slices of cheese and a quartered apple. Man, he was making her feel like a princess, cared for in all these ways.
“Milk?”
“Please.” She made sure to get her requisite number of glasses each day, whether she felt like it or not. Although she supposed there was calcium in those prenatal vitamins, she’d never bothered to check how much. They didn’t look big enough to have it all.
She felt so good right now it was almost frightening. She didn’t know why it frightened her. Maybe because she seldom felt this good, and rarely did such feelings last.
Seth joined her at the table with fresh coffee for both of them and pulled out the baby name book. This time they didn’t laugh their way through it, but discussed names more seriously while the aroma of the casserole filled the kitchen: warming cheese and some mustard. It smelled wonderful in here.
She was feeling tugs inside her that she couldn’t explain. Almost like her emotions were headed in divergent directions. But she didn’t want to think about that now. Life had given her nothing of what she had just tasted and was tasting now. It was time to accept the moment for what it was and save the analysis for later. An after-action report, she thought almost wryly. She could debrief herself in the morning.
The phone rang just as they were finishing dinner. Seth answered it, saying little enough, but when he hung up he looked ruefully at her. “The whole fam-damily is on the way over.”
“The what?”
“My parents. I knew I couldn’t keep Mom away forever. Sorry.”
Edie wondered at her lack of irritation. Then she understood. This whole family had been at the hospital when she’d had her little scare. That meant something.
“I’d better get dressed.”
Seth leered at her. “Want some help?”
“Not if I want to be dressed before they get here.”
His laugh followed her up the stairs.
She pulled on one of her new tops and a pair of maternity jeans. She skipped her boots, though, keeping her slippers on. She smiled to herself as she realized she didn’t want them to be in the way later. Because she was certain there’d be a later.
What it all meant, she didn’t know, any more than she had known what her one-night stand with him in Afghanistan meant. Certainly there had been consequences she had never imagined, but once again she had no idea what consequences might come out of this.
As she brushed her hair out she looked at herself in the mirror and wondered if she knew the real Edie. She knew the career-oriented Edie, the do-or-die officer and pilot, but the rest of her had been stunted in some way. Stunted or buried. She felt as if she were stretching out new branches, like a tree that was trying to grow.
Good or bad? Time would tell.
She reached the bottom of the stairs just as Nate and Marge Tate arrived. Marge came bearing a coffee cake, something chocolaty, and gave Edie a quick peck on the cheek. “I always wanted chocolate when I was pregnant,” she said.
Nate shook her hand. “I hear you took one of the Hueys up earlier.”
Edie returned his smile with a grin of her own. “It was great! I’ve missed flying so much.”
“Probably could do quite a bit of it here, if you wanted.”
She stilled, wondering if he was referring to Yuma’s earlier suggestion that she work for the emergency response team. Was this some kind of family conspiracy to keep her here?
Seth didn’t seem to notice. He pulled the two kitchen chairs into the living room to add seating, then went to get coffee for everyone while Marge cut and served the cake.
Edie looked at her plate as she sat in the recliner and wondered where she was going to stuff the cake. Dinner had filled her completely.
Marge sat in the other recliner, while the men took the two chairs, balancing plates on their knees and setting coffee cups on the floor.
“You really need more furniture, Seth,” Marge remarked.
“I want to wait until I’m done remodeling.”
“This room is done,” Marge pointed out. “Just thr
ow sheets over the furniture when you’re making dust.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Edie saw the twinkle in his eyes, and Marge laughed. “There I go again. So have you two made any plans yet?”
Seth’s face stilled. Knowing him better, as she did now, she recognized the irritation it masked. “You know, Mom,” he said after a moment, “we’ll deal with this in our own good time. We’re working things out, okay?”
Marge looked down briefly, then gave him an almost watery smile. “I’m sorry. I’m just so concerned, that’s all.”
“So are we. Very. It’s okay, but whatever we do has to be good for three people.”
Nate cleared his throat. “How about them Broncos?”
The question released laughter and cleared away the tension instantly. Conversation fell into a more casual vein, with Marge chatting about the latest news from her daughters, and Nate occasionally indulging in some sports patter. Seth leaned back, a clear signal he felt they were over the rough ground.
Only once did Marge bring the conversation back to the future. “You’ll come to Thanksgiving dinner, won’t you?” she asked Edie. “Everyone will be there and we always have fun.”
“I’ll try,” Edie answered uncertainly. “If I can get the time off.” Thanksgiving with a whole family. Part of her wanted it, and part of her feared it.
Seth handed her a ready-made excuse if she wanted it. “It’s hard to get time at the holidays, Mom,” he said. “Most of the single people volunteer to cover for the people who need to get home to families.”
“Oh, that’s a nice thing to do,” Marge answered. “But now Edie has a family, too.”
Oh, boy, Edie thought, managing a weak smile.
Then, much to her later embarrassment, she actually dozed off in the chair.
Chapter Ten
She awoke as she felt her feet being lifted. She opened her eyes immediately and found Seth raising the foot of the recliner.
“Damn,” he said, “I was hoping not to wake you.”
“I fell asleep? Oh, my God, what must your family think? Are they still here?”
“Gone. And they think you’re just one very tired pregnant lady. My mom gave me a helluva scolding for not making sure you got enough rest.”
She lifted her hands to rub her eyes. “I’m so sorry. And it’s not your fault.”
“It sure is.”
She caught the sparkle in his eyes. “Well, okay, but I don’t remember objecting.”
“Do you want to go up to bed? Or do you want your cake and some milk now?”
To her surprise, her appetite had returned. “The cake and milk sound great. How long was I out?”
“Maybe three hours.”
Oh, man. She closed her eyes and straightened a little in her chair. The baby kicked a few times, gentle prods as he followed his own exercise routine. She smiled and rested her hand over those little poking feet or hands.
“He’s moving?” Seth asked as he returned with her plate and milk.
“Always. Although he got quiet earlier.” She gave him a shy smile.
“We’re training him well. He needs to remember that.”
Wow, that sounded like a forever kind of statement. At once she felt something tighten within her. The baby was forever, but the rest? God, it would have been so easy to make that decision, one she might rue for a very long time. How did people know these things? How did they ever make such decisions?
Seth bent and pressed his hand to her belly. When he felt the gentle pokes, he smiled. “Active little guy. Does he ever wake you?”
“Not yet. Well, except to go to the bathroom, speaking of which...”
He took everything from her and she rose to go down the hall to the half bath that looked only half-remodeled. New fixtures, but the walls still needed work. For some reason it danced across her mind that she’d like to paint it lavender. Hah! Seth would probably not love that idea.
She returned to the recliner and put her feet up. Her ankles were swelling again. “Not quite grapefruits yet,” she remarked, pointing.
“That’s why I decided to put your feet up. You’re sure it’s not a concern?”
“I asked, it’s not. Not as long as it only happens in the evening after a long day. Now if I wake up with them looking huge, then I should report it.”
He nodded and settled on the other recliner. “What was my dad saying about you flying a lot here?”
She hesitated. “Yuma kind of hinted that he’d like to cut back. It sounded like he was telling me they could take me on as a pilot.”
“Guess so, if Dad heard about it.” He half smiled. “This county will devour you if you want. They’re trying to get me on the sheriff’s department. Now they want to get you on the ERT. They’re good at hanging on to people they want. It’s even more remarkable considering we’ve been going through some hard times. But take our sheriff’s office, for instance.”
She forked a piece of cake to her mouth. “Yes?”
“Dad took on Micah Parish, a retired buddy of his from special forces. He took on our current sheriff, Gage Dalton, former DEA. He had Yuma start up the ERT. It’s always been like that. I could tell you more stories, but...they make room for people they want to keep.”
“They know what kind of people they’re getting that way,” she suggested.
“Maybe so. However it is, take it as a compliment that Yuma hinted at that. He must have really cottoned to you.”
“We sure had fun flying together.”
“He certainly wouldn’t have suggested it if he hadn’t been impressed with your handling of the Huey. Those helos are both his babies and his nightmare.”
“Nightmare?”
“Wendy told you he flew medevacs. Well, Yuma was raised a Quaker. Like a lot of the guys flying medevac, he reached a point of rage over being shot at over the wounded he was picking up. He flew in unarmed with a red cross on his fuselage. It might as well have been a target. Anyway, like a lot of others, he started carrying cases of ammunition in when he flew in to pick up the wounded. The crisis of conscience drove him to drink.”
“That’s awful!”
“No kidding. A pacifist turned into an ammo deliverer.”
“It’s different now,” she remarked. “No red cross, and a good door gunner.”
“War has changed. For the worst, if you ask me.” His face darkened, and she left him alone with his thoughts. She was sure he’d seen and done enough to give him some black memories.
After a moment, he shook himself free of the past and managed a faint smile. “Enough of that. Yuma babies those Hueys, but I can’t imagine how rough it must have been for him when he first started flying them here. For him to offer to let you pilot one is a big deal.”
“I guess so.” She decided it might be a good time to change the subject. She didn’t need any more pressure. Big changes had turned into even bigger changes that afternoon, and they still hadn’t settled enough to sort through them. “So I guess taking you on means taking the entire family?”
“Obviously.” He sounded wry. “And whenever you’re here, a huge chunk of the town. Everyone knows my mom and dad, and most of them know Wendy and Yuma. Think you can handle it?”
“It hasn’t exactly been hard so far.”
“You’ve barely gotten your feet wet. Still...” He shrugged. “I really like it here. Something about this place lets me shake the dust and soot off my soul.”
Wow, that was an intense statement. But looking at him, she knew he meant it. He’d found peace here. How could she possibly ask him to go globe-trotting after her and their son?
But he’d offered, and he’d meant it. There had been no mistaking the steely determination when he’d said that. This baby was going to have a father.
The only question was how much she was going to let him into her life. But maybe she had already breached the levy on that one. Maybe she had already let him in, possibly too far.
She sighed, realizing she was still sleepy, too sleepy for weighty analysis of anything. “I need to go to bed. I’m tired.”
He didn’t follow her up, but much later when she stirred in the night, she found him sleeping beside her in the bed.
Oddly, that felt comforting.
* * *
When she woke in the morning, she was disappointed to find Seth gone. Almost without thinking about it, she’d been hoping they’d make love again, but instead she heard him moving around downstairs. Probably the remodeling.
The call of nature was urgent, so she popped out of bed and headed for the bathroom. She had barely emerged when Seth reached the top of the stairs.
“Time to rise, sunshine,” he said cheerfully.
“What’s the rush?”
“Well, there’s that walk you want to take every morning, so we need to get your physical training out of the way. Then I want to show you around some more.”
He fed her a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast with juice and milk, then annoyed the hell out of her on her walk by running in circles around her.
“Typical SEAL,” she said finally.
“I’m not as fast as I used to be,” he admitted. “But it still feels good to run.”
“Do you still weight train?”
“I haven’t shown you my basement. It’s one thing I finished out. My own gym. You can use it, if you want.”
“Maybe I will. Walking is highly recommended, but I’d like to keep my upper body strength, within reason.”
“I’ll put it on the list for later.”
“You have a list?”
“Of course. Every day needs a plan.” Then he winked and she couldn’t help chuckling.
She caught sight of the mountains to the west and paused. The air was so clear this morning they looked close enough to touch. “Remember all that snow in Afghanistan?” she said suddenly. “Like that day I picked you up?”
“They have hellacious winters.”