Flipping the first manila folder open, Kate picked up her pen, put her other problems aside and jumped feet first back into the Corps.
“Geez, Kate,” Donna whispered, “relax a little, huh? You’re more nervous than Jack is.”
That’s because Jack wasn’t giving this little dinner party for a visiting general, Kate thought, and once again let her gaze sweep across the crowded kitchen countertop. They’d had the meal catered, thankfully, so she didn’t have to worry about poisoning a superior officer. But she still had to make sure the dinner went smoothly. Not only because she was an officer, but because her husband was the colonel.
Reaching up, she rubbed the spot between her eyes, hoping to soothe the headache beginning to throb there. She’d made it through appetizers and the main course; all that was left was dessert. Then she could crawl to her room and into a hot tub.
“Yoo-hoo, Kate?” Donna’s voice came in a singsong fashion. “Are you listening?”
Reining in her racing thoughts was a struggle, but she managed. Glancing at her new daughter-in-law, Kate gave silent thanks again that Donna had attended this little party. Ordinarily a first sergeant and his wife might not be invited, but as the colonel’s daughter, Donna most certainly had been.
“I’m here,” Kate muttered darkly. “Though I wish I were in Tahiti.”
Donna grinned. “It’s almost over.”
“Three wonderful little words.”
“The general’s happy, Dad’s happy, what’s the problem?”
The problem was, she wasn’t used to being one of the “wives.” She was much more at home chatting with the officers. Now, though, as both a major herself and a colonel’s wife to boot, she didn’t know which group she belonged to.
Neither and both, she supposed, which didn’t clear up a thing for her.
But she didn’t say all of that aloud. Instead she only said, “I just want this to go well, that’s all.”
“Well it is, so cool down.”
Good advice. She’d try to take it. Nodding to the enlisted men serving tonight’s meal, she went back to the dining room, followed by Donna.
“Ah,” the general announced. “Major, I was just telling your husband what a fortunate man he is.”
Kate plastered a smile on her face and took her seat. “I hope he agreed with you, General.”
Tom shot her a quick grin, and Kate’s toes curled.
But the general didn’t notice. The older man just went on talking. “You run a tight ship in your department, Major. And you throw a great party.”
Relief, pure and heady, washed through her. “Thank you, sir.”
“You ever want a change of pace, we could use you in Washington.
Kate blinked and shifted a glance at Thomas. His easy smile was gone, replaced by a quiet, thoughtful look that could almost be described as grim.
But then dessert was served, and the topic of conversation drifted to the Los Angeles Dodgers and their chances for a pennant.
“It was a nice night,” Tom said as he turned out the last light in the living room.
“I’m just grateful it’s over,” Kate told him, and leaned against the doorjamb to pull off her high heels. She sighed heavily, and a small, satisfied smile curved her lips as she luxuriated in the freedom from three inches of torture.
His gaze locked on the soft bow of her mouth, then slipped down along her throat to the deep vee of her red silk blouse. The swell of her breasts enticed him, and he looked lower still, to where his child formed a slight bulge in her abdomen.
He ached to touch her. To trace the changes in her body with his hands. To smooth her skin with his palms and feel her tremble beneath his touch. He wanted nothing more than to slide into her depths and stay there, locked together for the next forty years or so.
“You look beautiful,” he whispered, and her eyes opened, darting him a quick glance.
“Thank you,” she said softly, then chuckled half-heartedly. “But I’m afraid this will be the last time I’ll be wearing this particular skirt. The button’s under such a strain, I was afraid all evening it would pop and take someone’s eye out.”
“I’m sure no one else noticed,” he said. At least, no one but him. And Tom found that bulge in her tummy only added to the erotic images his mind formed about her, constantly. Groaning inwardly, he attempted to change the direction of his thoughts. “You impressed the hell out of the general.”
Kate grinned. “He liked the strawberry shortcake, anyway.”
Tom laughed. “Three helpings worth, but who’s counting?”
“Did you notice Jack was too nervous to eat a thing?”
No. He hadn’t been paying the slightest attention to his son-in-law. Or to anyone else for that matter. “All I noticed was you, Kate.”
Her breath caught. “Thomas...”
“When the general suggested you move to Washington, I thought my heart would stop. I suddenly couldn’t breathe, thinking about being so far from you.”
He moved across the room toward her, his path lit by the slivers of moonlight tracing pale fingers along the carpet.
“I’m not interested in going anywhere at the moment,” she said quietly.
“Glad to hear it,” he said in a rush. “Because I’d miss you. Your hair. Your eyes. God help me, your mouth. Your breasts. Your rounded belly.”
She dragged a shaky breath into her lungs and swallowed heavily. “Thomas, I don’t think—”
“Don’t,” he whispered as he came to a stop directly in front of her. “Don’t think, Kate. For tonight, just feel.”
“Thomas, I only wanted to say—”
He reached up and framed her face with his palms. His thumbs stroked gently across her cheekbones as his gaze moved over her features with deliberate, exquisite, care. “I know what you’re going to say, Kate,” he told her, his voice a hush of sound in the stillness. “But let me talk first, okay?”
She nodded slowly.
“It’s been a long time, Kate. And I need you more than I ever did. I want to hold you,” he went on, his body tightening even further as he told her exactly what he longed to do with her. “I want to bury my body inside yours. I want to hear that little surprised gasp you make when we first join together.”
She dipped her head slightly and smiled.
Hooking a finger beneath her chin, he lifted her face until their eyes met “Kate, I need you, honey. I need to be with you. I’m so hungry for you, I can’t think of anything else anymore.”
“But, Thomas—”
He laid one finger across her lips, silencing any protest she might make.
“Don’t make me wait any longer, Kate,” he said, then corrected himself. “Don’t make us wait any longer. Be with me, honey. Be with me tonight Let’s finally and at last, really be husband and wife.”
He stopped talking then, because he’d pleaded his case as well as he could Oh, he might have told her that while the general was talking, Tom had been imagining laying Kate down on the dining room table and covering her with the whipped cream and strawberries just so he could lick it all off her. And he might have said that when he was in a conference with several captains only yesterday, he imagined himself running down the halls to her office, locking her door and taking her there on the floor, surrounded by her mountains of files.
He could even have told her how much he wanted to kiss the swell of her abdomen. To touch the home she’d made for their child and to lavish attention on it and every other square inch of her body.
But he was pretty sure she understood all of that. Knew just by looking at him that he was a man on the ragged edge of desire, and that only she held the key to keeping him whole.
Seconds that felt like hours ticked by. His heartbeat seemed to thunder in his ears. Once again he heard the general’s voice, offering Kate a job in D.C. Once again, he felt the floor fall out from underneath him at the very idea of losing her.
Looking into her eyes, he waited what seemed an eternity befor
e she reached up and touched his hair, smoothing a wayward lock from his forehead. Then her small, warm hand caressed the side of his face, and he somehow managed to contain the groan welling inside his chest.
“Thomas,” she said softly, a hint of a smile on her face, “all I was going to say was, I want you, too. I don’t want to wait another minute.”
He breathed again.
“I want you inside me, Thomas. I want to feel like a part of you again.”
“Kate,” he murmured tightly, his voice strangling in his throat.
Her hands moved to the buttons on her blouse. One by one, slowly, almost as if she was deliberately drawing this out for both of them, Kate pushed the tiny red buttons through their holes until her blouse hung open, revealing a red lace-and-satin bra that nearly brought Tom to his knees.
But even as he thought that, she flicked the front hooks with her thumb and forefinger, releasing her breasts from confinement. The chill air in the room pebbled her nipples instantly and Tom’s mouth watered for the taste of her. He looked his fill, savoring the sight of her as a man in the desert appreciates an oasis.
Then she reached for his hands and placed his palms atop her breasts. Arching into him, she let her head fall back on her neck, lifting her lips for his kiss.
“Touch me, Thomas,” she whispered from the back of her throat. “Fill me with you, and when we’ve finished, fill me again.”
He kissed her, then, plundering her mouth, taking and giving all he’d longed to share with her for what seemed forever. And it would never be enough.
Eleven
His thumbs and forefingers tweaked her hardened nipples and Kate felt herself melting into a pool of molten desire. Every square inch of her body trembled with the need for more. She shivered in his grasp and parted her lips for his tongue. His sweeping invasion left her breathless, clinging to his shoulders to keep herself upright.
When he moved his hands from her breasts, she moaned her disappointment, but it was short-lived. He bent and scooped her into his arms, cradling her close as he hurried down the hall to the master bedroom.
Kate didn’t even glance at the guest room where she’d been staying for the past three weeks. Tonight that was over. She couldn’t wait another day. Couldn’t bear the thought of spending one more night apart from him.
The darkened room was awash with moonlight, its dim, silvery glow splashing across the wide bed and its dark blue quilt Striding toward the bed, Thomas set her on her feet, then reached down and grabbed the quilt, tossing it to the foot of the mattress.
Trembling, Kate shrugged out of her blouse, then let her bra slide down her arms to fall on the floor at her feet.
He pulled in a long breath and released it on a sigh. Reaching for her, he laid both hands atop her breasts again, rubbing his palms across her nipples until Kate swayed unsteadily, bracing the backs of her knees against the bed.
“It’s been a long time, Kate,” he murmured, then bent his head to kiss first one erect, dark pink nipple, then the other.
She moaned and clutched at the back of his head. “Too long, Thomas. Far too long.”
He smiled against her, she felt his lips curve. Then he straightened and looked down at her. His dimple flashed, and Kate’s stomach flip-flopped. “We’ve been married nearly a month, Kate.”
She didn’t know where he was going with this, and at the moment, she didn’t care. Reaching for the buttons of his long-sleeved white shirt, she hurriedly undid them, anxious to have the feel of his skin beneath her hands. But when his chest was bared, he caught her wrists and held them tight.
“Thomas?”
He smiled and shook his head. “As much as I want to just toss you onto this mattress and join you there, I’m going to take my time about this.”
She almost groaned. All she wanted now was him. His touch. His body.
“A month married or not, Kate,” he said softly, drawing her gaze up to meet his, “this is our wedding night.” Then he grinned again. “And it’s going to be a long one.”
She shivered in anticipation, even as his words tugged at her heart. He did love her. She knew it. She could feel it. Why else would a man tormented by desire want to take his time and make this night as special as it should be?”
“Whatever you say, Colonel,” she whispered through suddenly dry lips.
“Someday, I’m going to remind you of those words,” he teased, then gave her just enough of a push so that she lost her balance and flopped backward onto the bed. “But for now, I’m through talking.”
“Thank heaven,” she whispered, and held her arms up to welcome him.
Instead of joining her, though, Thomas slowly undressed, tossing his clothes heedlessly into a pile. Kate watched his every move, luxuriating in the pleasure of seeing his magnificent body again after so long. She reached for him, wanting to stroke the finely muscled, tanned flesh of his chest, but he kept out of reach, that damned dimple of his teasing her.
When he was naked, he turned his attentions to her. Carefully, he slid her skirt off, drawing it down over her hips and along her legs, leaving her in nothing more than a half-slip, her panties, stockings and garters.
Deep inside her, Kate’s muscles twitched eagerly. A damp warmth flooded her, pooling in her center, aching for his attentions. But Thomas wouldn’t be rushed.
He tugged her black silk slip down and off, then paused to admire the picture she made against the soft, white sheets. “Kate, if you only knew how often I’ve imagined you here, just like this...”
Even though she’d known that was true, her heart soared to hear the words. If she missed hearing three more little words, she told herself that at this moment, it didn’t matter to her. All that mattered was finding what she’d had with Thomas again. Finding the magic they always discovered when they were together.
“Thomas, I want—”
She broke off when he hooked his fingers beneath the band of her panties and pulled them down. Sensations crowded one on top of the other. She felt the cool of the sheets beneath her back, the chill air dusting across her most-sensitive flesh and his fingertips along her calves, branding her with the heat of his touch.
Swirling tendrils of expectation rose up inside her as his hands moved slowly, inexorably up the length of her legs. Her calves, the backs of her knees... Kate sucked in a breath when his fingertips dusted across her skin in just the right places. And then up farther still. He bent over her, running his palms lightly, teasingly along the outsides of her thighs and up to her hips, covered now only by the lace of her garters.
“Oh, my,” she whispered brokenly, giving herself over to the churning emotions boiling within. Thomas. Only Thomas. His fingertips slid across her flesh, beneath the garters and around to the insides of her thighs. Through the filmy fabric of her silk stockings, his hands worked a magic that threw her into a maelstrom of feelings.
She parted her legs, silently offering him more, demanding more from him. Kate thought she heard him chuckle, but she couldn’t summon the strength to open her eyes and check. Every ounce of her being was focused now on the placement of his hands. On willing his fingers to move a bit higher. To touch her center. To stroke the tender spots within her that would bring her to the edge of eternity and back again.
And then he did and Kate gasped.
Gently, tenderly, he stroked her most-intimate flesh, building the fire that threatened even now to engulf her. Over and over again his fingertips danced across her body, rubbing, caressing, touching her in the way that only he ever had. He slipped one finger into her warmth, and Kate felt as though she might catapult right off the bed. Instead, she grabbed handfuls of the sheet and held on tight to a world that was suddenly spinning out of control.
“Let go, Kate,” he said, “let me watch the pleasure take you.”
Her breath came in short, harsh gulps. A spiraling sensation built low in her belly and threaded upward, sending ribbons of delight streaming throughout her bloodstream. Still, she fought t
he release hovering just out of reach, wanting to make this heavenly torture last for hours. And when he stopped touching her, she thought she might weep for the loss of him.
“Thomas...”
“It’s all right, Kate,” he whispered, “just slide down here.” He took hold of her legs and pulled her toward the edge of the mattress. She lifted her head to look at him and when she figured out what he had in mind, she groaned in anticipation.
Kneeling on the floor, Thomas set her legs across his shoulders, letting her feet dangle against his back. Smiling up at her, he smoothed his palms across her skin, pushing over the small bulge in her abdomen, then sliding down to cup her behind.
“Oh, Thomas,” she said, “you don’t have to—”
Then his mouth closed over her and she forgot to breathe. His lips and tongue smoothed over her center, nibbling, licking, teasing, torturing her with adoration. Kate raced toward completion now, unable to withstand such intimate attentions. Lifting her head slightly, she looked down at him, watching him love her. Watching him take all she was and give her even more in return.
As the first wave of release hit her, Kate called his name brokenly. Her hips rocked. His hands on her bottom tightened their hold, and, safe in his grasp, she plummeted into the abyss that had been waiting just for her.
No sooner had the convulsive easing passed, than Thomas raised up on his knees and bent over her stillquivering body. Tears filled her eyes as the man she loved kissed the swell of their child.
“Happy wedding,” he said with a wink.
“This is your wedding night, too,” she reminded him, touched deeply by his tenderness. “It shouldn’t all be for me, Thomas.”
Smiling as he shifted her gently to the middle of the bed, he assured her. “Believe me, Kate. It was my pleasure.” As he positioned himself between her thighs, he added, “And so is this.”
Pushing himself into her depths, Tom paused to savor the moment of coming home. Because that was what it felt like. Entering a safe harbor. Going home, to a home he’d always longed for. Kate. It was always Kate. There was magic here, he knew. He supposed a poet would call it love. But a man burned by that emotion could only call it peace.
Colonel Daddy Page 11
