A Little Night Music

by A. E. Easterlin

  “I go where I’m needed. I do a walk-through of new admissions just to shake a few hands, listen to their stories, try and let them know there’s life after war.”

  “You’re a good man, Cash Montgomery.”

  “Being good usually means a reward, doesn’t it?” The hopeful expression on his face teased a laugh from her.

  “Ha! What kind of reward did you have in mind?”

  “This.”

  He scooted behind her on the bed, his thighs bracketing hers, and Kate could feel the hot perfection of his tense body. His erection pulsed against her behind, a hot, thick shaft of desire. It wasn’t fair, leaving him in this state, needing the release of her body.

  He still wanted her.

  A tortured moan escaped her lips. She’d missed this. The feel of a man against her body. All that strength and power. So good. So safe. Her head fell into the cradle of his neck as she arched her back. She sucked in a deep breath, and chill bumps covered her skin.

  She still wanted him.

  Cash massaged her shoulders, kneading the tight muscles, lips leaving moist caresses on her smooth skin, trailing where his hands led. His arms slipped beneath hers, bracing her against him. Her hands rose to cover her breasts, protecting herself.

  “It’s okay,” he soothed. His hand slid down to her belly, resting lightly, calming her fears and doubts. Cocooning her in his arms, he let her settle.

  His erection, hot and hard, began to grind against her. As his hands caressed, his lips marked a path—teased, nipped, and sucked as he murmured encouragements in her ear. Closer and closer his hands drew to the material of the nightgown she had pressed to her chest. Gently, slowly, and with great care, he laid one palm over her damaged breast.

  “Good?” he asked.

  Yes.

  “Want me to stop?”

  Never.

  His other hand moved to her natural breast and stilled, holding her, giving her the gift of tenderness and allowing her the opportunity to become accustomed to his touch.

  “Okay?” he asked with a kiss.

  “Yes,” she breathed, loving the sensations he aroused, wanting them to go on forever.

  His fingers began to move, to caress, to stimulate, and as he did, the erotic sound of her panting and his murmured grunts echoed in the room. Love sounds, sounds of Eros.

  Kate squirmed, wanting to assuage the liquid heat pooling between her legs, reveling in the rasp of his fingers on her heated skin. And trying with everything in her not to think of where his hands might go next.

  Since the surgery, she’d had no idea of what it would be like to have a man touch her battered breast. Would she feel nothing, like the deadening injection of Novocain before a filling? Would she have normal sensation on the part of her that had survived the surgeon’s scalpel?

  Kate covered his hands with hers, calling a stop to his exploration.

  “Let me, Kate. I’m not going to hurt you. We’re taking it slow.”

  Then, his hands were there—where no man had been since. Where she’d thought no man would want to be—would ever be again. Strong hands with long fingers, rolling and pulling on the essence of her femininity.

  “What do you feel?” Cash whispered, as he palmed her, squeezing, tugging.

  Kate hesitated. “I feel…more than I thought I’d feel. More sensation than I expected. It’s exciting, arousing.” Her voice barely a whisper.

  “You like it?” he asked.

  Her hips pushed back against him. “Yes…”

  His hand firmed, the other grasping until both breasts were cupped, and her inhibitions faded with each caress.

  “Speak to me, sweetheart. Give me some direction, harder, gentler, more…”

  “Just like that—exactly like that.” She moaned deep in her throat, then hesitantly asked, “Does it…feel good…to you?” Oh…God. What he was doing to her, making her wild.

  “If you’re asking does your reconstructed breast feel as good as your other breast? Hell, yes.”

  She laughed low as he continued to work her. “Men are all the same,” she teased. “Tits and ass. It’s all they really care about.”

  “I could take offense at that comment, but right now, I’ve got other things on my mind.”

  Kate nodded, her hands falling down to his thighs, letting him explore and play while he aroused her with love words, sex words, dirty words. Hands firm on her breast, his hardness swelled, pulsed hotter, thicker, and longer against her behind.

  She pressed back, and he rode her soft, round cheeks until she moaned and Cash found his rhythm. He growled and kissed his way across her shoulders and down her back.

  Suddenly, he switched positions and maneuvered them back to the center of the bed, falling on top of her as Kate plucked at the waistband of his sweats. Fumbling until he helped her, they stripped them down and off, and his impressive erection sprang free.

  She gasped.

  “Protection?”

  “I can’t take the pill because of risk for another cancer.”

  Cash nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.” He grabbed his discarded pants and pulled out a strip of condoms.

  She couldn’t resist a comment, even a silent one

  One side of his mouth twitched at her silence. “I’m an optimist.”

  She laughed out loud before he cut her off with a long, hard kiss.

  His body climbed hers until they were face to face, and braced by his forearms, he nudged her thighs apart and settled. Quickly covering himself, he guided the tip of his penis until it was cradled between the folds of her sex. The head breached the slickness of her channel, and Kate groaned with pleasure. She sucked in a breath, her eyes going wide and darkening as she gazed at the male perfection above her.

  “Beautiful,” he said. “I knew it. You are crazy beautiful, Kate.”

  “You can’t see.”

  “I can feel. God in heaven, I can feel.”

  Cash lowered, muscles straining, touched her lips, opened her mouth with his tongue, and drank. His hips moved, impaling her inch by inch until he filled her.

  He paused, planting tiny kisses over her face and neck. “You okay?”

  Kate nodded, releasing a groan of pure pleasure in answer.

  “Putting this monster behind us so I can love you like I want to, lady.”

  Kate closed her eyes and forced herself to relax beneath him. As he began the pull and push within her, he found their rhythm, and her inner muscles tightened and surrounded him. The sensation overwhelmed her, taking her out of herself into realms of ecstasy until she was lost in the pleasure he brought her.

  “For the first time in a long time, I wish I could see. Not just feel, but see.” His forehead dropped to hers, distended veins in his flushed face bearing witness to his effort to control his long-denied body. “God, Kate. It’s been so damn long, and you feel so damn good. I don’t know if I’m going to last. I. Can’t. Stop.”

  She crossed her ankles over his hips, changing their position, bringing him deeper. “Then don’t,” she whispered and undulated beneath him.

  She moved her hands to his butt and dug in, pulling him closer. He guided her legs tighter around his middle, and she clasped him, holding on, riding the thrusts and waves of pleasure.

  “Cash…” She could feel her body preparing. Conscious thought ceased. Her mind emptied. Her body in control. All focus on the point of pleasure, consumed by it, driven by it. She’d never known this with any other man.

  From out there in the stratosphere she heard the deep rumble of his voice.

  “Don’t hold back, baby. Come for me.”

  It was wonderful.

  He was wonderful.

  He stoked the fires of passion and thrust toward release. The sounds and smells of sex pulsed around them. His arms shook above her, and she reveled in his strength. His hips pumped into her as she rejoiced in his power.

  Sweat beaded his face. Kate knew he was holding back, waiting for her. She moved in t
andem, the force of their pairing squeezing the breath from her lungs. A desire she’d never known before—she never wanted it to stop. He gave; she took. As his mouth fueled the flames building between them, her body loosened in readiness for orgasm.

  “Cash!” she cried aloud, lungs straining, as his kiss became bold, possessive. Building the flames, fanning the fire.

  Blazing hot need feeding the hunger. He muttered an oath under his breath, one hand going behind her neck to cup her head, tangle in her hair.

  “How could you possibly think you are not the most exquisite woman on the face of the earth?” he rasped through clenched teeth.

  “You make me feel beautiful,” she managed to answer. “I didn’t think I could…do this…feel like this. I thought this part of my life was gone forever.”

  “Not as long as there’s breath in my body. Too much woman to waste.”

  And suddenly…her body soared into the sky with all the stars in the universe exploding around her. Kate screamed, and he smothered the sound with a consuming kiss. Frantic, she raked his back with her nails, tugging him closer, wanting to be a part of him, under his skin, one. Legs locked, face buried in his chest, she rode wave after wave of pleasure, and there was only this man, flesh slick, smelling of soap and pine and male and nasty, dirty, beautiful sex.

  Her heart pounded when he finally let go of her lips.

  “My God, Cash…that was…that was…” She couldn’t finish her sentence, and he rested his sweating forehead against hers.

  “Yeah,” he panted. “It was.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Kate snuggled into Cash’s shoulder and gazed into his face.

  Incredible. Amazing. Extraordinary. She could go on forever, but chose to plant a soft kiss on his bicep.

  “I can sense you’re looking at me, sweetheart, but I don’t have a clue what you’re thinking.” The backs of his fingers drew lazy trails up and down her spine. “You good?”

  She ran her hand across his ridged abdomen. “Umm. More than good. Blissed out. You?”

  He shot her an incredulous look. “You have to ask? I’m a guy, and I just had the hottest sex of my life. And, lady, keep touching me like that, and I’ll bliss you out again.” Catching her wandering hands, he pressed them firmly over his heart.

  She giggled. “Threats.”

  “Promises, sweetheart, promises. You doubting me?” He turned to face her, found her hair, and smoothed it back from her damp face.

  “Not after tonight. You were…”

  “Hot?” he interrupted.

  “Definitely hot,” she gave him.

  “Spectacular?” he insisted with a grin.

  Kate lifted her chin and kissed him tenderly on the jaw.

  “Most definitely spectacular. More than amazing. Phenomenal. Astounding.”

  “Sass. After that spectacular, amazing, phenomenal, astounding loving, the woman is giving me sass.” Grinning, he rolled her until she straddled him, her uber-sensitive parts planted on his package. Her eyes went to half-mast as she wiggled, causing him to groan.

  “I need a minute, sweetheart.” He grinned up at her.

  Kate smiled, ran her fingernails over his damp scalp, and got an appreciative, “Umm,” in return.

  “In case you wondered, this isn’t a one-time thing,” he stated, catching the tips of her fingers in his teeth and gently biting before releasing them.

  “Definitely not.” She bent, tracing his lips with the tip of her tongue until he gave her what she wanted.

  Cash shifted, his hands lightly exploring her face, “seeing” her. “You have a happy expression on your face, sweetheart. Glad to be the one who put it there.”

  Kate tightened her arms around his shoulders as emotion overcame her. Pressing her head at his throat, she held him while tears leaked slowly from her eyes.

  “Hey…what’s this? You’re crying?” he asked.

  She nodded, burying her face in his neck. “What you’ve given me, I never thought to have again. To have this connection with a man, romance, sex… I thought it was over for me. That I’d never find a man who could accept me the way I am. And now, this…you… Happy isn’t a strong enough word. I feel restored. Like myself again. Like a woman again. I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “I can think of a way—or two,” he offered.

  His fingers on her lips, she smiled and lifted to kiss him. “What are you waiting for?”

  Mouth to mouth, lips to lips, the kiss grew heated, and again Kate was lost. She heard tearing plastic, the pause as he protected both of them; her heart raced, skin tingled, blood rushed to her head as his body moved over hers, and he entered. Her body sensitized from his lovemaking, she gasped as he filled her, and they moved as one once more. Racing. Pounding. Climbing before spinning out of control. Out of time and space, into oblivion, until they were finally replete.

  Coming down slowly, gliding to a stop, Cash shuddered in her arms. “Too much?” he asked when he could speak.

  “Not too much. Never too much. Suzanna…”

  “Will be fine with us. We’ll talk later, but now, I’m hungry—for you. Let me in, Kate.”

  She smiled against his mouth. “Best I can tell, you’re already in.” Joyful. Teasing, and totally turned on.

  “Not what I mean, sweetheart. Keep your eye on the prize. Follow my lead.”

  With his lovemaking, he proved he thought her all woman—all beautiful, all his.

  Kate let him in—all the way.

  ****

  Sometime during the night, Cash left her. He wouldn’t want to leave Suzanna alone all night. He was a good dad. A good man. Rolling her feet to the floor in the morning, Kate felt aches in lots of places that hadn’t ached in a long, long time. Womanly aches. Good aches. Gingerly walking to the bathroom, she took care of business, brushed her teeth, and turned the shower to scald.

  She relaxed while the hot water pounded her muscles and ran over her breasts. Cash hadn’t run screaming from her bed—far from it. True, he couldn’t see, but his well-trained fingers hadn’t shied away from touching her, and doing everything possible to enhance her pleasure. It wasn’t over for her, after all. At least, not with him.

  Leading her to wonder what this was, what it meant. It didn’t feel like a one-night stand, and his comments sounded like those of a man who wanted more.

  More what? God, she’d been out of the game for too long. She didn’t know what anything meant any more.

  More sex, certainly. But beyond that? More of a neighborly friendship-with-benefits type of thing? He didn’t seem the type. Last night had felt like more. A lot more.

  Having slept a little late—busy night, she thought with a grin—she called her assistant at the foundation, letting her know she’d be in by nine, dressed, grabbed her keys and purse. When she opened the door, she almost tripped on something.

  At her feet was a huge arrangement of white roses in a hand-painted bowl. A plastic thingy stuck up in the middle held a card. Surely Cash hadn’t had time to order these. Didn’t seem like him, anyway. They were way over the top.

  Heavy, too, she thought as she grunted with the weight. The flowers encompassed almost the entire surface of her coffee table as she set the bowl down, but she had to admit, they were beautiful.

  Plucking the card, she turned it over. I still love you. Give me another chance…Clark.

  No, no, no. Her heart stopped. Fear spread all over her, and she broke out in a damp sweat. Kate was barely coming down from a sensual high from a night with Cash, and now this?

  She dropped it to the floor as if it was a flame that hissed out and scorched her.

  What the heck? It was long over with Clark. After what he’d done, after all this time? Another chance? Was he out of his ever-loving mind? She’d sooner make a date with the devil than give him another opportunity to lie and cheat and stab her in the heart.

  Looking back, why had he stayed at all? He hadn’t really loved her—never really loved her. He couldn
’t have. Not the way he’d dumped her and run.

  After they were over, Gigi had met a woman who knew Clark and had been seeing him for over six months—the six months of her chemo and radiation. Faithless man. Liar. And all that while she’d been believing in him and relying on him. Such a fool. Pathetic.

  Kate turned her back on the sweet-smelling flowers and headed out the door. There were better things to do than give Clark Burgess one more minute of her time or energy. He wasn’t worth either.

  She called Gigi when she got to work. “Got a minute? I need to talk.”

  “Yeah, sure. Something wrong?”

  “You’re not going to believe this. Just as I was leaving this morning, there was a huge arrangement of white roses in the hall next to my door.”

  “You go, girl. The guy from last week? The cute one? Mr. Sunglasses?” Gigi enthused.

  “No. Gigi. You’re not listening. White roses… They were from Clark.” White roses were his signature.

  A weighted silence filled the moment.

  “That two-timing, low-life, Satan’s spawn, son of a bitch, Clark Burgess?” Gigi loudly let loose.

  “Geez, Gigi. Language. But, yeah.” She told her what the card said and rolled her eyes in disgust.

  “I don’t believe him,” her friend ranted. “Please tell me you threw the flowers in the dumpster and ripped up the card.”

  “I should have—it was just so surreal. Took me by surprise. I happened to see him at lunch last week, just as I was leaving with a client. He was extremely rude to the man, kept trying to—I don’t know—cut me from the herd, I guess you’d say. Wanted to call me, get together. He even apologized and said he’d made a mistake.”

  “Mistake, my ass. One day he’s Mr. Wonderful, the next he’s out the door? Then to find out he cheated while you were fighting for your life? Sick. Sick. Sick. The man’s a narcissistic liar. I don’t like this, Kate. Does Clark not get that what he did was wrong?” Gigi ranted.

  “Evidently not.”

  “Do I even have to ask if you’re giving his request consideration?” her friend asked, livid.

  “That’s a definite no. Especially after last night.” Oops. Shouldn’t have let that slip.

  “Last night?” Of course, Gigi picked up on it right away. She was as loyal a friend as she’d ever find, but discreet wasn’t in her vocabulary. If Gigi knew; the entire world knew. “What happened last night? OMG. You had a date. With who? The guy from the bar? Mr. Sunglasses? Was it wonderful? Do you like him? Of course you do. He was hot.”