Winter's Heat

by Vinson, Tami

  “Baby…” Before he could finish, she turned away from him.

  “Eric, what’s going on? What do you mean ‘last time’? Why haven’t you told me you’ve been in touch with detective Jefferies?” Since he couldn’t see her expressive face, the quiet precision of her words was a sure indicator that she was upset.

  “Sweetheart, I didn’t want to worry you with all the details. I thought it made sense for me to step in and handle it. Besides it’s no less than what I would do for any of my clients.” At his explanation, Winter turned around to face him once again.

  “Eric, I’m not one of your clients, I’m your wife.” She informed him after drawing in a shaky breath.

  “At least hearing something about the case would have given me some sort of peace and not left me in the dark feeling so helpless.” She moved back as he tried to come closer to her. She knew she wouldn’t be able to finish if he touched her.

  “You can’t treat me like I’ll break apart by keeping me in the dark about things…I thought we were a team.” She felt the dam holding her emotions at bay finally break as tears stung her eyes.

  “Baby….” Eric was mentally kicking himself for the tears his saw swimming in her eyes. He had never meant to hurt her, but it seemed like his form of protection had did just that.

  “Why don’t we talk about this over dinner?” He suggested in an attempt to smooth things over. Right away, he could see her instant rejection of that idea.

  “I’m too upset to eat right now. I think I’ll just turn in early to get some rest.” Turning away, she slowly made her way upstairs.

  As he watched her climb the stairs, Eric ran his hands tiredly over his face in frustration. Remembering the look of hurt and disappointment in her eyes, caused a heavy feeling in his chest that he didn’t think he would forget anytime soon.

  Thanks to him following his baser Neanderthal instincts when it came to protecting her, he’d ignored one major thing…trust. Trusting her to still be the strong woman he fell in love with in spite of her fears.

  The only thing he could hope for now was that she would see that he’d done what he done for all the right reasons.

  Going back into the kitchen, he put away the food Winter had prepared for dinner and made his way to his office. Right now he needed something to take his mind off of things and he always had paperwork needing his attention.

  After an hour of getting absolutely nothing done, he knew he was kidding himself. Tossing down the client profiles that he had read three times on the desk, he got up to pace the floor as agitation moved through him.

  Coming to a stop in the center of the room, he stood there looking up at the ceiling as if he had the power to see through to the room above and look upon the woman who held his heart.

  He knew he needed to give her time, but had to admit to himself that that wasn’t gonna happen. Whether it was the right or wrong thing to do, he knew he had to do something. Because it was not in him to let things stay the way they were between them.

  Shutting off the light in his office, he determinedly made his way upstairs. He didn’t have a clue what he was going to say, but he made a silent vow to say or do whatever he had to do to fix this.

  ****

  Quietly opening the door, he strode into their dimly lit bedroom. As his vision adjusted to the lack of light, he was able to pick out the outline of Winter’s curvy form in their bed. He admitted to himself that he would never get tired of the sight, because of what it meant.

  She was his wife: his very life.

  The soft sound of her breathing let him know what he would find as he made his way to her side of the bed. Her beautiful face was free of the emotions from earlier and was now relaxed in sleep. One hand cushioned her left cheek while the other rested over the nightgown covered swell of their unborn child.

  This is where he belonged.

  He never took his eyes off of her as he removed his clothing. He needed to hold her so badly that he didn’t give a damn if he had to do some serious begging to do it. And to prove it, he left on his silk boxer as a barrier to her tempting body.

  Winter’s eyes drifted open as she felt the mattress dip with the weight of Eric’s muscular bulk beside her. She was amazed that she had gone to sleep at all with the tangle of emotions tearing at her mind and the heaviness in her heart, but apparently she had. She instantly regretted the way she had handled things downstairs with Eric because she knew he had only done it to protect her.

  Winter just wished she could press the rewind button in a major way and not let her raging hormones get the best of her. And as she lay there, she vowed that she would swallow her pride and end the conflict going on between them before it got anymore out of hand.

  Before she could do or say anything, she felt Eric’s arms wrap around her as he spooned himself around her body.

  “I’m so sorry sweetheart.” The rumble from his low raspy voice caressed the shell of her ear as he pulled her further into his embrace.

  “I didn’t do what I did to hurt you. I kept information about your case from you to protect you. I know that was the wrong thing to do and I swear that I’ll never do—“ Winter turned within the circle of his embrace and placed her fingertips against his lips. She couldn’t bear to hear him take the full blame.

  “Don’t ever apologize for loving me.” Her quiet voice cut through the dimly lit bedroom as she met his concerned gaze. Her fingers softly caressed his lips of their own free will as she continued speaking.

  “I’m sorry for overacting and not giving you a chance to explain.” She replaced her fingertips with the soft curve of her lips against his as she sealed her apology with a kiss.

  “I know that you were only trying to protect me, but I think all the worry over the last months came gushing out and I just felt overwhelmed.” She was woman enough to admit when she was wrong, especially when being wrong hurt the man she loved.

  “I think we can safely say that we both learned an important lesson in talking to each other no matter what.” He said with feeling.

  Snuggling into his embrace, she murmured her agreement because she felt the same exact way.

  “I also learned something else though.” He said smiling.

  Leaning back alittle, she looked at him and noticed the mischievous smile curving his lips. “What’s that?”

  “I learned that I have a shocking amount of ‘caveman’ in me when it comes to you and that I’m gonna have to fight against that from time to time.” He ruefully admitted.

  “Well, don’t fight it too hard, especially when it comes to loving me.” She ran her hands lingeringly over the rugged contours of his muscled chest as she leaned forward to back up her words with a kiss.

  All the love she had for him fueled the richness of her touch as she stroked the inner recess of his mouth with the wickedly talented tip of her tongue. From lips to hip, her hands boldly caressed as she paid homage to Eric as the man who had captured her heart and didn’t mind slaying a few dirtbags to keep it.

  Pulling back, she sat up and straddled his powerful bulk while slowly peeling her nightgown from her tempting curves. When her smooth supple brown skin was fully exposed to his hungry gaze, she couldn’t resist the need to lean down and rub the sensitive, hard pebbled tips of her breasts against the smooth muscled skin of his chest causing them both to moan at the sensations firing through every nerve ending of their bodies.

  Eric couldn’t help taking some control as he brought her breasts to lip level and gave into his favorite pastime to suckle her nipples like they were his favorite chocolate dessert tipping her right on over the edge of her endurance.

  “Baby, you know I can’t last long when you do that...” She moaned running her fingertips temptingly along the waistline of his silk boxers.

  Eric thought that was just fine with him as he wrapped her in his arms and smoothly lifted her up to shuck off the boxers. Once that was done, he repositioned her slick heat directly over his hard needy cock.

&
nbsp; Looking down, he savored the moment as he watched her pussy devour his long thick length inch by inch until he was full encased inside her tight wet warmth. It had to be the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. And just when he thought it couldn’t get any better she proved him wrong.

  Winter started a slow bucking rhythm that had him hissing in pleasure so intense that he knew he wouldn’t last for very long either. In desperation, he reached between them and caressed her clit like his life depended on it. The action caused Winter to moan and buck wildly against him as her orgasm immediately ripped through her.

  When he felt the first spasms quaking through her tight passage, he turned them both to place her onto her back as he pounded into her still quavering pussy to find his own release. When it came, he gasped with the intensity of his orgasm as cum shot in thick jets inside the hot haven of her body making him light-headed with pleasure. And Winter accepted his sensual offering with one of her own when her pussy milked him relentlessly as she found her second release. They were both caught up in a world of their own making and couldn’t help but bask in the perfect paradise they’d found in one another.

  As the wild pounding of their heartbeats gradually came back down to normal, they moved to settle into satisfied boneless heap together.

  “Baby, I might be tempted to be upset with you all the time if that’s the way we make up.” Her half-sleepy comment caused Eric to smile as he made lazy circles on the smooth skin of her back.

  “I agree completely. You have to admit that the making up part was almost—“ His reply was cut short by the sound of a ringing phone.

  Reaching over to the bedside table where he had hastily put his cell phone earlier, Eric groaned when he saw on the display the identity of who was calling.

  “Who is it?” Winter asked squinting to see the phone screen.

  “Detective Jefferies.” He reluctantly revealed sitting them both up in bed. Looking over at her, he tried to gauge her reaction to see how she felt about it. Despite the fact that everything was okay, he was not eager to test the theory with another call from the detective.

  “Honey, go ahead and answer it, I’m fine with it. It must be important if he’s calling back this late.” She gave her permission while looking anxiously at the still ringing phone in his hand.

  “You sure?” He asked. At the affirmative shake of her head, he went ahead and did it.

  “Det. Jefferies, please hold on while I put you on speakerphone so my wife can hear.” Winter smiled and mouthed a quick ‘thank you’ as he did exactly that.

  “Yes, I think you both will want to hear what I have to say….” Det. Jefferies’ clear, deep voice came through the speaker loud and clear.

  He apologized for calling so late, but felt he needed to inform them of the latest development concerning Randy Ellis. What he told them left them both sitting there stunned.

  He told them that Randy’s body had been identified in a drop house in a drug raid about an hour ago by the sheriff’s department. Apparently he’d been there all this time hiding out. Unfortunately his lifestyle had caught up with him.

  “As a matter of fact, it should be all over the news right now.” He informed them.

  Winter was the first one to reach for the remote and turn the television on. Moving back to the shelter of Eric’s arms, she sat there watching the news story unfold across the big high def screen.

  It was one thing to hear it, but seeing it somehow made it even more real.

  Despite what he’d done and all the pain he had caused, she had never wished death on Randy. A shiver went through her as the true meaning of what this meant started hitting her.

  No more jumping at every little noise in the middle of the night.

  No more wondering if Randy would come back to destroy the newfound happiness they’d found.

  It was over.

  “Sweetheart, are you okay?” Eric glanced down from the television screen to her shell shocked face. He knew just because he wanted to tap dance on Randy’s grave didn’t mean his soft-hearted wife had the same blood-thirsty tendencies.

  Winter looked at Eric as if coming out of a trance. “Yes. I’m just thankful that it’s finally over.” She turned and wrapped her arms around him and held on tight as a huge weight was lifted from her.

  She could finally move on and truly enjoy the life she had been given. Looking up into his eyes, she felt such love for him wash over her. Love she now realized she had been scared of losing these past few months.

  “I love you, baby.” She softly said finally at peace.

  “I love you too, sweetheart...” He murmured as he held on to her. As he sat there with the warm press of her body against his own, he felt a sense of relieve. Now their lives could truly begin.

  From the very first day he’d laid eyes on her, he knew that it was enviable that she be his. Nothing that had gone on in the last few months had changed that. And he knew that as sure as there was a tomorrow that nothing ever would.

  Instead of being cold and barren as her name implied, she was the exact opposite. She was everything he could want and more. But most of all, she was his soft place to fall and he knew he would forever remain wrapped up in the love he’d found in her.

  The warmth of Winter’s heat would sustain him for a lifetime.

  The End

  Author Bio

  Tami Vinson affectionately calls herself a 'desert rat' due to her native Arizonan roots. She got her unofficial start in the interracial romance genre as an avid reader in between clients at her day job as a hairstylist. Then suddenly one day she turned the page and became an author of the very same genre.

  Her first book 'Love's Redemption' , (which was written under Tami VanGurp) is being well received and she's quickly making a name for herself both locally and nationally.

  Currently she can be found writing on her laptop and wielding her flat iron with stunning precision while putting the finishing touches on her next book.

  You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter or on her website TamiVinson.com for upcoming titles.