Love's Own Reward

by Dana Ransom

  “Your back,” she murmured.

  “Who cares about my backside?” he muttered, finding her lips again.

  “I do. It’s the first part of you I fell in love with.”

  He turned, kissing her, caressing her with a mounting impatience as the water beat upon his back. After a minute he claimed, “All clean,” and she wasn’t about to argue. Plastic bags were stripped off her hands and left where they fell in the bottom of the tub.

  While they dripped and shivered standing toe to toe on the bath mat, Jess wrapped a towel around Charley’s shoulders and began to buff slowly. She closed her eyes, arching, leaning back into it, until she heard his low groan. Then there was the exquisite feel of his mouth at her breast. First one, then the other, and his tongue lapping at the beads of moisture that trickled between. Jess patted the towel down the curve of her back, over her buttocks and trim legs as he lowered to his knees on the rug. He rested his damp head against her hip while drying her legs with long, leisurely drags of terry. His rapid breathing scorched across her skin.

  “There’s more room for this sort of thing down the hall,” she told him in an incredibly strained little voice.

  “Let’s go.” He stood, keeping the close contact of flesh on flesh.

  “But you’re still wet.”

  His hand dipped down, plunging briefly. “So are you,” he growled roughly. What could she say? He was right.

  He started kissing her again, and when she was wound about his neck, he reached down to pull her legs up around his waist. She locked her ankles and held onto him for all she was worth.

  “Where do you want to do this?” he asked raspily.

  She was kissing his mouth, his cheeks, his eyelids, his temples, gasping in between, “The bed, the floor, the kitchen table. I don’t care as long as it’s soon. Make it soon, Jess.”

  He walked with her wrapped about him, carrying her down the hall to her bedroom. He bent her back at the edge of the bed, letting her down easy and coming down with knees on either side of her. With one hand anchored behind her head, the other flashed out, knocking the shopping bags and boxes to the floor in an expensive spill to clear the way as he dragged her in a fireman’s carry up the quilted cover. Finally he settled on top of her, moving, shifting, so the fit would be just right. Then he lifted up on his elbows and smiled.

  “God, you feel good.”

  Charley reached up to rub her fingertips along his scratchy jaw. “So do you.”

  He moved again, nestling between her uplifted knees. And he hesitated, more than a little concerned. She was so tiny and he was so aroused he feared he’d tear her apart. “Let’s do this nice and easy.”

  “Jess.”

  “Umm?”

  “Just shut up and do it.”

  “Okay.”

  He lowered his head slowly, touching her parted lips with his tongue, touching, feathering light little flickers until she moaned in an anguish of impatience and jerked his head downward to smash their mouths together. She thrashed beneath him, moving her legs restlessly on either side of his as yet motionless hips. She rocked hers, tempting him, begging him.

  “Jess, please love me.”

  “I do, baby. I do.”

  She made a soft noise of anticipation as he pressed against her, unsuccessfully at first. Realizing the wait was almost over made her bold. She reached down, touching him, stroking him, finally guiding him while his kisses stole her breath away. Then she accepted him inside, sheathing him in tight, liquid fire until the sense of fullness was incredible. She wanted to weep with the joy of it, that sensation of complete and utter harmony. He was still, lodged deep, breathing in light, shallow pants, wanting to be sure, very sure, he wasn’t causing her any discomfort. Then the low, purring rumble vibrating in her throat answered his concerns.

  “Oh, Jess, quit stalling before you drive me out of my mind!”

  She responded to his first tentative strokes with an urgent exuberance, clutching him about the neck, arching off the bed to receive more of him. Her little body trembled and twined around his, hips shifting, heels running up and down the backs of his calves and thighs. She made exquisite little moans as her face pressed into the side of his neck.

  It was worth waiting for. It was worth dying for, she thought wildly, trying to cling to the moment, to sustain the taut edge of ecstasy even as he provoked her so far beyond that she wasn’t sure she could ever find her way back. Then her tension burst into long, wracking shudders that seemed to go on and on forever. The violent pulls of her pleasure were enough to drag him with her over that last hurdle into pure sensory paradise. And his ragged sigh of satisfaction was the sweetest sound Charley Carter had ever heard.

  It took a long time for them to regroup even a shred of their composure. There was no hurry. It was too much of an effort to do more than breathe. Finally Jess turned his head slightly and brushed a languorous kiss across her forehead. That’s all it took to recharge her desire for him. She moved against him, charting the swells of his shoulders with her fingertips, tracing the cording of his throat with her lips. She felt him give a start of surprise.

  “What’s this?”

  “Ummmm,” she answered, licking along his jawline, letting her mouth drift over to find his. They shared a long, thorough sampling, then he tucked her in close and simply held her. For all of ten seconds. Then she was shifting impatiently, nibbling along his shoulder, rubbing her knee over the crisp hair of his thigh.

  “What?” he demanded. “More?”

  “And more and more and more.”

  That concept might have enticed him if she hadn’t already sucked his energy level dry. He twitched away from the provocative forays she was starting along his hip. But she wouldn’t be discouraged. She followed him as he rolled onto his back, straddling him, riding his hips with the encouraging movement of her own.

  “Charley, come on. Give a man a minute.” He tried to sound stern. It was hard to do when her hot little mouth was biting at his chest.

  “Take all the time you like,” she purred.

  If he’d hoped she’d allow him to burrow into the embracing comfort of her covers, he was mistaken. She began to scoot down the length of him, nipping sharply along the taut curve of his rib cage while her hands moved lower. She was impatient with the gauze covering that kept her from reveling fully in the textures of his body, his wonderful, wonderful body.

  “Jess.” Her voice was thick with desire.

  “Don’t,” he cautioned with a touch of aggravation. “Charley, come on. I’m not kidding.”

  “Do I act like I’m kidding?” She licked long and lasciviously down the flutter of his abdomen. He grabbed her shoulders and hauled her up. Her attention shifted immediately to his mouth.

  “Charley, stop it.” But she could feel him smiling. “Don’t. I’m an old man. I’m tired.”

  Her thigh rubbed across his groin. “No, you’re not,” she argued huskily.

  He groaned. The hands gripping her shoulders began to knead involuntarily. She felt his breathing alter, deepening, roughening, and she grinned.

  “You’re not going to give me a break, are you?” he grumbled as his hips started to rock with her insistent rhythm.

  “No.”

  He closed his eyes and shuddered briefly. His gaze was smoky when it fixed on hers once more. His hands plied the smooth flesh of her back, working down to cup the firm curve of her seat. “I thought you scientists were a patient lot. Always sitting back to watch things grow at their own rate.”

  “This scientist likes to accelerate the process. I prefer hands-on research and lots of input.”

  “Input, huh?”

  “Lots of it,” she affirmed with a naughty wriggle of her hips.

  “All right, goddammit,” he growled. “You asked for it.” He shoved her
roughly on her back and thrust into her with a pile-driving force. She jerked, going rigid, her eyes squeezing shut, her breath suspended. And his heart stopped. “Charley? Baby?”

  Her eyes opened, all dark and dazed and dewy. “Oh . . . Jess.” Her arms curled around his neck, drawing him down to her.

  Between her hot, gobbling kisses, Jess told her, “You are one greedy, demanding woman.”

  “Only where you’re concerned,” she murmured, moving with the hard strokes of his body. “Now stop complaining.”

  “Oh, baby. I’ve got no complaints.”

  JESS WOULDN’T have believed an atom bomb exploding at the foot of the bed could have roused him from sleep. But a mewling sound of panic did. He opened his eyes, blinking off the disorientation. Where—? Charley’s bed. Hers was the balled form quaking beside him. Fully awake, he leaned over her, stroking her shoulder.

  “Charley?”

  She whimpered, tucking tighter into the wad of isolating terror. He could see the moisture rimming her closed eyes, spiking her lashes, and his heart turned inside out.

  “Charley. Charley, baby, wake up.”

  She felt the strong hands pulling at her, drawing her away from the danger, from the horror, from the pain. But she fought him, wildly, glancing blows from her ineffective fists off his arms and chest and the side of his head.

  “No,” she wailed. “Let me go!”

  “Charley. It’s all right.”

  She struggled against his attempt to embrace her. The frantic race of her pulse quickened his own. The sight and sound of her tears and her terror twisted his emotions in brutal knots.

  “No. I have to save them. I promised. I promised.”

  Jess dragged her to his chest, crushing her rebellion, absorbing the violence of her weeping. He could feel the wetness on his own face as he cradled her close. His voice was raw. “Don’t. Charley, don’t. Let it go. You couldn’t have saved them. You did everything you could. Please, baby, don’t cry. Don’t cry.”

  He felt her jerk sharply, and then her arms went around his neck, chokingly tight, trembling fiercely.

  “Jess?”

  “That’s right. It’s Jess. Shhh. It’s all right. Shhhh. I’ve got you. You’re safe. Shhhh.”

  “Jess . . .” She suddenly went still. He could almost feel her confusion gathering. She touched him almost disbelievingly, running her hands along his shoulders, the back of his neck where it met with the wavy ends of his hair. “Jess . . .”

  “Shhh.”

  “Oh my God,” she whispered softly.

  She pushed against him and he let her go. From a cautious distance she looked at him, wide-eyed and uncertain. As if she were seeing a ghost. Or the truth.

  “I never saw your face,” she whispered hoarsely, staring at it now as if for the first time. “It was you.”

  He didn’t like the stark intensity of her expression. This was it, when the lies started surfacing. He tensed.

  “Why didn’t you tell me, Jess?”

  “I . . .” What could he tell her? The truth? That would be a switch. Panic started swelling in his chest, clamping around his throat, but he struggled to speak. “I tried . . . You didn’t know me at the hospital. I was afraid . . . Oh God, Charley, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  But she continued to stare at him, not understanding anything beyond a basic fact. “You saved my life.” And then an even scarier one. “You could have been killed.” Her arms flew around him, hugging desperately. “Oh God, Jess. You could have been killed!”

  He started shaking and couldn’t seem to stop. All the vivid memories of that day resurfaced with a blinding stab of mortality. And the words poured out, tumbling over one another, almost a babble of fear too long suppressed. “Oh, Charley. I keep seeing it over and over and I keep thinking, ‘What if I hadn’t been in time? What if I’d waited just one more second?’ I could have lost you. It makes me crazy to think about it.”

  She was stroking his rumpled hair gently, soothingly. “Then don’t. Don’t think about it. You should have told me. You’re a hero, Jess. Part of the reward—”

  He cut her off coldly, jerking back out of her embrace. “I didn’t do it for the goddamn reward!”

  Charley touched his cheek, feeling the muscles tense and tremble beneath her fingertips. Her voice was hushed. “Neither did I, Jess.”

  He blinked. Then he scooped her up, pressing her close to the thunder of his heartbeats. “God, I love you!”

  Charley squeezed her eyes shut and smiled. Everything was perfect. A dream come true.

  Thirteen

  A SHRILL RINGING. A low muttered curse. A chill of cool air as the covers were jerked from her.

  “Get the goddamn phone.”

  Jess?

  Jess.

  Charley didn’t have time to truly appreciate the fact. The phone kept ringing. Why hadn’t she thought to put the phone on silent? And Jess had rolled onto his stomach, dragging all of the covers around him in a swaddling cocoon. A string of expletives grumbled up from under the pillow he’d pulled over his head.

  The phone.

  All she wanted to do was cuddle up to the man in her bed for another few hours of undisturbed rest. But the ringing wouldn’t stop, and when she tried to wiggle under the blankets next to Jess, he snapped them selfishly about him and growled, “Leave me the hell alone!”

  “Well, excuse me,” she muttered at his mummified figure. “I have to get up to answer the phone anyway.” And for leverage, she pushed off from the pillow, shoving his face hard into the mattress.

  Aware of her own lack of clothing once she stepped into the brightness of her living room, Charley snatched up the first available covering. That happened to be Jess’s jacket, which was draped over the couch. Then, she shuffled to the end table on the other side of the sofa, half hoping the phone would quit before she picked it up.

  “ ’Lo?”

  “Charlene? Is that you?”

  “Good morning, Alan. What time is it?”

  “Almost eight. Where have you been? I’ve been calling since you left yesterday.”

  “Why didn’t you leave a message?”

  “You know I hate those things. Where were you?”

  “Chicago.”

  “What? It sounded like you said Chicago.”

  “I did. I went shopping in Chicago.”

  “Shopping.” He made it sound like some dubious unnatural habit.

  “I needed some things.” Why was she explaining? And why was he calling at this ungodly hour on the weekend? “What was it you wanted?”

  “I want,” and he stressed that, “to finish our conversation. I’m sure you’ve had time to think over what we discussed and have made the right decision.”

  “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I think I have.”

  “Good.” He sounded positive and pleased. And Charley realized it had never occurred to the man that she might not have decided in his favor. “I think we have cause to celebrate. How about dinner tonight?”

  “Aren’t you afraid someone might see us together?” She couldn’t help it. Nor could she ignore the bitterness edging those wry words. It was as if she were recognizing for the first time how his concealment of their relationship had hurt her.

  He sounded smug and that made her teeth grind with unaccustomed fury. “I don’t think we have to worry about opinion anymore.”

  “Does that include mine, too?”

  There was a long silence, then he said tersely, “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

  “I’m sure you don’t. As for dinner, I’m afraid I have plans.” Or she was hoping she did.

  “Cancel them.”

  “I don’t want to cancel them, Alan.”

  He
blew up. “What could be more important than what I have to say to you? I’ll pick you up at six.”

  “Alan, no!”

  “No? What are you trying to say?”

  “I’m saying no, I don’t want to go out to dinner with you. I have plans that are important to me. We can talk when I come in to work next week.”

  “If you still have a job,” he drawled menacingly.

  Charley drew a breath. Her temper hit a flash point. “Are you implying that if I don’t go to dinner, I don’t have a job?”

  Silence. Then an exasperated, “No, of course, not.”

  “Good.”

  “What about my money?”

  “Your money?”

  “For our research,” he clarified quickly.

  “I’ll be making a press announcement at the award ceremony on Monday. You might want to be there.”

  “Are you sure you’re all right, Charlene? You just haven’t been yourself lately.”

  “On the contrary,” she murmured more to herself. Alan would never understand.

  “Maybe I should come over.”

  “What? Now?” She gave a start as something warm blew against her ear. One of Jess’s arms banded her middle beneath the bulky jacket, and the other gathered her hair away from the nape of her neck. And he began to nibble that sensitive skin.

  “We need to talk, Charlene. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I don’t like it.”

  She was liking it. Very much. Jess was nuzzling her neck, his morning beard supplying a devastating friction. “Ooooh.”

  “What? What did you say?”

  “I—I said I’m sorry, but I’m going to be busy. Ummmm.”

  “Charlene—”

  Jess snatched the receiver. “She said no, you jerk. What’s with you? They teach you to split an atom, and you can’t understand a two-letter word? No. N-O. Get it? Or don’t you know how to spell, either? Or how to put two and two together and come up with get lost!” He slammed the phone down, then looked at a startled Charley to see if he’d overstepped his bounds. Her gaze was unpromisingly cool.