She had missed this part of the marital relationship. This sense of completion as she appreciated the differences between her and her husband. Maybe they still needed time to adapt and learn about each other, but she sensed that they made a good couple.
This time he was the one who turned around. “Now I get to do your front,” he said in a husky tone that sent shivers of delight up and down her spine.
“Who am I to argue with the boss?” She handed him the soap.
He slowly ran his hands over her skin, starting at the shoulders and working his way to her breasts, spending considerable time brushing her nipples which sent sparks of pleasure through her core. She groaned and leaned her head back. He kissed her neck as his hands slid lower. She parted her legs and allowed him to clean her with the same attention she’d cleaned him just moments before.
His fingers were skilled as they caressed her most sensitive regions, and she gasped when she realized she was going to reach the peak sooner than she expected. She should have expected it to be quick. Years of celibacy had made her extremely sensitive to his attentions.
“Not yet,” she whispered as she pulled his hand away. “I want you inside me when it happens.”
He turned off the water and grabbed the towel from the hook outside the door. He wrapped it around her shoulders and kissed her, allowing his tongue to brush hers. He cupped her face in his hands and deepened the kiss. She let out a low groan and clung to him.
Then he picked her up in his arms and carried her out of the shower and to the bed where he gently placed her. He moved over her and resumed his kisses. His erection pressed lightly against her, tempting her to take him into her body, which was exactly what she did. She gasped as he slid into her. Time had erased the memory of how wonderful it felt to be this intimate with a man.
He murmured her name and reached between them so he could rub her sensitive nub, continuing what he’d begun in the shower. She brought her legs up around his waist and shifted so he was deeper inside her. She was only briefly aware of her moans as she moved her hips, surprised he could retain enough self-control to hold himself still as he caressed her.
He brought his lips close to her ear. “You feel good, honey.”
The momentum continued to build, and she lost all concept of time or where they were. The build was slow and purposeful. He took his time going faster and then slowing, until it was time to increase the rhythm of his thumb as it worked in circular motions on her. And when she cried out her need for release, he worked faster so that she found her completion. She grasped his arms and expressed her pleasure.
He slowed the intensity of his movements until the lingering effects of her orgasm subsided. Then he shifted so that he was fully inside her and began his careful thrusts, using the same patient building that he’d employed on her. She savored each motion, her body still clenching tightly around him. Yes, she had missed the physical expression of love and the pleasure it brought. When he found his release, she held onto him and smiled in satisfaction as his seed filled her.
They remained still for a long time, each content to hold the other and listen to each other’s heartbeat that seemed to beat in unison.
Finally, when the silence was broken, he was the one who said, “You take me to the very heights of heaven. I only have one request.”
“What is that?” she softly asked.
“Don’t let me fall back to Earth.”
She brushed his cheek with her fingers and whispered, “Never.”
Chapter Eighteen
Two weeks later after work, Amy took Danielle to the mall so they could find a suitable dress for the affair due to take place that Friday evening. She tried not to think about it because whenever she did, her stomach went into a series of flip flops. She hated large social functions.
Danielle made a careful study of the dresses on the rack in front of her. “Hmm... I think black would be good. It slims the figure, not that you need it—” she winked—“and it says that you are sophisticated.”
“Whatever color my dress is, I want it to be a dark one.” Amy’s eyes fell on a navy blue gown. “What about this one?”
Danielle rolled her eyes. “You are going to a party, not the convent.”
“What’s wrong with it?” Amy inspected the dress with its long sleeves, long skirt and high neckline.
Her friend pretended to yawn. “Nothing if you want to bore your husband.”
“I’m not trying to turn Nathan on. I’m trying to survive the night without looking like I don’t know what I’m doing.” With a loud sigh, she returned the dress to the rack in front of her. “Oh, who am I kidding? I’m totally inept at this kind of thing.”
“Which is why you want to direct people to your more desirable assets.” She grinned and picked out a black strapless gown with a cut up to the mid-thigh. “Now this says, ‘Do not pay attention to what I say but how great my legs look.’” She wiggled her eyebrows and giggled.
“No way. I’d look like a high priced whore.”
“Maybe I should buy it. Randy would love it.”
“Might as well.”
Danielle squealed. “I’ll go try it on.”
Amy chuckled before she turned her attention to the next rack. She saw a black dress that she thought might work. It had spaghetti straps, a heart-shaped bust line, a slimming trim along the waist and a skirt that spread out ever so slightly so it wouldn’t hug her legs. She immediately loved it.
Once she tried it on and was happy with it, she joined Danielle in picking out a small black purse and matching shoes.
“Okay, Granny,” Danielle said as they passed the lingerie store. “Now that you’re married again, you’ll need to forgo the dull white underwear.”
“My underwear is comfortable.”
“Your underwear does not match your new dress.”
“Who cares what my underwear looks like? No one’s going to see it.”
Danielle stopped in front of the store and shook her head. “Amy, it’s been much too long, hasn’t it? You’ve forgotten that men are visual. Sure, maybe no one at the party will see it, but your husband can. What you need to do is let him see you put it on. Then it can drive him nuts during the whole night until he can’t take it anymore, throws you over his shoulder, and whisks you off to your home where he makes mad passionate love to you. If you tease him just right, he won’t even make it to the bedroom.”
Amy burst out laughing. “That’s got to be the most ridiculous scenario I’ve ever heard.”
“Ridiculous or erotic? There is a huge difference.” Danielle gave her a pointed look. “No man thinks your inability to hold off until you get to the bedroom is ridiculous, and I seriously doubt any man would protest getting a sneak preview of what’ll happen after a night out.”
“And you don’t write romance novels because...?”
“Don’t have the time. I’m too busy with Randy.” She winked. Then she sighed. “Alright. I’m also too busy with the kids. You do have to find time to squeeze the fun stuff in once they come along.” She took Amy by the arm and practically dragged her into the store. “This will be fun. Trust me.”
Though Amy protested—mostly because she was mortified to be caught in a lingerie store, she had to admit it might be fun to show Nathan something more interesting than white bras and panties.
In the end, Danielle talked her into three new sets of underwear and a red teddy. “You need red,” Danielle insisted. “Red says passion.”
And so Amy opted for the red teddy instead of the light blue one.
“I can’t wait to surprise Randy with what I got,” Danielle excitedly said as she sorted through her three bags. “He’ll love it!”
“I’m sure he will,” Amy mused.
Danielle had bought twice as much as Amy and was glowing from the shopping spree. “This is just how I envisioned our days would be like when you married Mr. Rudolph. You and me...shopping and you actually buying something...” She dabbed her eyes. “It
warms my heart.”
“You’re so full of it.” Amy rolled her eyes and headed down the corridor for the exit.
Danielle followed her. “What? You didn’t like my sentimental moment?”
Amy sighed. “I don’t think you’re ready for the Hallmark Channel yet. You need to be a little more sincere.”
“Okay. So I’m not an actress. We can’t be everything.”
“True.”
“Amy,” Danielle began as they walked out into the warm sunny weather, “if you do get pregnant, are you going to stop working?”
“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it.”
“I’d miss you at work, you know? But I’d totally understand. I mean, it’s not like you need to work to pay the bills. My mom watches my kids so I don’t have to pay for daycare. Otherwise, there’s no way I could afford it.”
They reached her car, and they put the bags into the backseat.
When the car started on the first try, Danielle said, “I’m so glad your husband put a new engine in this relic.”
Amy hated to admit it, but she was too. She couldn’t imagine her life without Old Snoopy. She patted the dashboard. “This car and I have been through a lot together. He’s a part of the family.” Amy shifted the car into first gear and pulled forward out of her parking spot. “It was nice of Nathan to take care of this car.”
Danielle smiled at her. “It’s nice to see you in love.”
“I don’t know if it’s love. It seems too soon.”
“Don’t you believe in love at first sight?”
Amy glanced at her with a ‘there’s no such thing’ look. The light turned green and she turned right onto highway 50.
She shook her head. “Such a thing does exist. Your problem is that you’re much too skeptical. I hope your husband loosens up that quality about you. Lord knows I’ve been trying since we met four years ago, but I still haven’t made much progress.”
“Love takes time. You need to go through life’s ups and downs together.”
“Love is a choice you make. The other stuff happens regardless of it. You determine you’ll stick it out. The problem people run into is that they spend their time thinking about themselves instead of their spouse.”
Amy’s eyes grew wide as she inspected her friend. “That is unusually deep of you.”
Danielle shrugged. “I have my moments.”
“We’re still going to get our hair done tomorrow, right?”
Looking surprised by the sudden change in topic, Danielle nodded. “Sure. It’ll be fun.”
“I made the appointments for us right after work. I hope Randy’s okay with you taking all this time to do this with me.”
“He’s fine. I promised him season tickets to the Nebraska Husker games. He’ll do anything for football. This year Chase is old enough to go with him. Randy already bought him a red sweatshirt.”
Amy chuckled. “At least he didn’t insist on decorating the nursery in Husker paraphernalia.”
“No, but I had to promise we could go with a red theme.”
“He’s a lost cause.”
“Tell me about it,” Danielle agreed. “I wish I could go with you tomorrow night. I know how big social events frighten you.”
“They don’t frighten me. I just never know how to act or what to say in a big group. Besides Nathan, I’m not going to know anyone else there, and I’m sure that he has to talk to some people. I can’t hang onto his arm all evening.”
“If it helps, you can watch other people and imagine what they’re talking about. It helps speed up the time, and if the conversation is right, it can be quite amusing.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “You are so strange.”
“Maybe. But I’m never bored!”
“I guess that counts for something.”
Once Amy dropped Danielle off, she went home where she found Nathan in the den.
“How’s it going?” she asked.
“Pretty good.” His gaze lowered to the bags in her hands. “Did you get a dress for Friday night?”
“Yes. Danielle wasn’t much help though. She wanted me to dress up like a tramp.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
She noted the amusement in his eyes. Shaking her head, she asked, “Why am I not surprised?”
“I can’t help it if you’re sexy.”
Pleased by his words, she blushed. “Yeah well, I got something special for you.”
His eyebrows rose in interest. “You did? What is it?”
“You’ll find out tomorrow night.”
“Can’t you give me a hint?”
“It’s something that will make you happy,” she replied suggestively.
“Does it have something to do with you and me being alone?”
She shrugged innocently. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
“You know that’s not an actual answer.” Though his tone was scolding, his smile was playful.
“It’s the only one I’m giving.” Enjoying the light-hearted banter, she decided to add, “Let’s just say you’ll be thanking Danielle.”
He frowned. “That doesn’t sound like something conducive to us having sex.”
Winking, she said, “You’ll like it. I promise.” She motioned to her bags. “I better put these away. I don’t want you to get any ideas on what the surprise is.”
“And if I do some snooping?”
“Then I won’t surprise you, so don’t you dare!”
“It must be good. Okay. I won’t snoop.” Before she could head for the bedroom, he asked, “Do you want to eat out or stay here?”
She thought for a moment. “Go out. I’ll be back down when I’m ready.”
“Sounds good.”
Smiling, she turned.
“Oh, Amy?”
She looked back.
“I miss you already.”
She laughed. “You’re silly. I’ll be right back.”
He chuckled as she headed for the stairs.
As she put her new underwear away, her skin warmed at the thought of making his fantasy come true. She thought it might be a perfect end to the evening once they left Jack Bently’s place. And since they’d be downtown anyway, it wouldn’t be out of the way to go to his office.
She cleared her throat as she tucked her underwear deep in her drawer in case Nathan decided to do some snooping around. Closing the drawer, she hung the dress up and put the shoes and purse away. Now all she had to do was survive the engagement, and the rest would be downhill.
Chapter Nineteen
Amy took a deep breath as she inspected her reflection in the bedroom mirror. She thought the black dress looked nice enough on her. It hid her not-so-great features while showing off the curve of her breasts and hips. She had to admit the hairstyle Danielle picked out for her was a good one. Black clips swept her hair back from her face and her locks hung in soft waves past her shoulders. Danielle even insisted on applying some make-up that she promised would not cause a rash. Danielle had laughed as she gave Amy the facial, but Amy still cringed at the memory of what she put her friend through. She was lucky that Danielle was a good sport about things.
Nathan entered the bedroom carrying a black velvet box. He looked fabulous in his tuxedo. Her mouth grew dry at the sight of him, and she was blushing like a high school senior ready to go to the prom.
“I thought you might like some accessories, so I took the liberty of doing some shopping.” He held the thin rectangular box out to her.
“You did the shopping?” she asked as she took it.
He shrugged. “Okay. My secretary picked them out, but she’s always shown great taste.”
She laughed. “It’s probably just as well since this is jewelry.”
“I don’t know the first thing about picking out the right earrings or necklaces for a black tie event.”
Maybe she should have minded, but she didn’t. He thought of her, and she liked that. When she opened the box, she saw a simple white gold chain with a pearl. The
pearl was encased in a white gold heart and two small diamonds were on each side of the heart. The earrings were pearls.
“I love these,” she admitted, surprised his secretary picked something out that suited her perfectly.
“Carmen was sure that you’d like them.”
“She was right.” Amy turned to the dresser and put the box down. She lifted the earrings out and put them in her ears despite her shaky hands.
“Nervous?” he asked.
She glanced at his reflection in the mirror. “Does it show?”
“A little.” He took the necklace and unclasped it. “But you’re so beautiful, no one will notice.”
Her face grew warm from the compliment. She swept her hair up so he could put the necklace on. If she wasn’t so uncertain about how to act, she might not be so anxious. She figured she’d be expected to act sophisticated but how, exactly, did sophisticated work? Was it how she walked and laughed or in what she talked about? No. She wouldn’t talk. She’d smile and do a lot of nodding. As long as she didn’t trip on something, she should be okay. Thankfully, they already ate. She’d hate to try to eat like a rich person, though she guessed she technically did ever since she married Nathan. Still, that was not in front of a group of well-to-do entrepreneurs.
He finished with the necklace and kissed her neck.
Her skin tingled. Turning around so she could face him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and stepped on her tip toes so she could kiss him. His arms slid around her waist and he pulled her closer against him.
She had to admit that being in love was one of the best experiences a person could ever have, and even if she gave Danielle a hard time about it, she agreed that the love she and Nathan were beginning to develop would grow stronger over the years. The ‘in love’ feeling would not always be there; it would be replaced by something more solid and stable. But there was no reason why she shouldn’t get the most out of the honeymoon phase of their marriage. If Sean’s death had taught her nothing else, it was that she had to appreciate what she had while she had it.
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