“Did you laugh at him?” Tara asked.
“No. I just told him to be patient and encourage him. Be a part of his life and try to get the best out of him.”
“My dad was like that,” Reed added. “He knew how to get the best out of people.”
Tara burst into a laugh. “Yeah, I remember when we tee-peed your house and your dad made us paint the front porch as punishment. I still remember the scraping and sanding we had to do before we could even get to the painting part. And then he spent the next day critiquing our painting job.”
Reed joined in the laughter. “That’s because my dad hates to paint. And you got off lucky.”
“That’s because no one ever figured out you’re the one who shot out the electrical transformer and put the whole base on alert,” Seth said with a grin.
“How did you know?”
“You mumble in your sleep.”
“That would be great blackmail material if I hadn’t come clean with my dad.”
“The statute of limitations is over on that,” Tara said.
“Are you all navy brats?” Kenzie asked curiously.
“We are not brats, but navy juniors,” Reed corrected. “And, yes. The military is a pretty small place and no matter what base my dad was at, I always knew someone from a previous assignment.”
“High school was the only time we were all together at the same time,” Tara said.
Their conversation paused as the waitress returned with their drinks and to take their order. Kenzie ordered crab Alfredo and Reed decided on Dungeness crab.
“I’m surprised you all didn’t follow in your parents’ footsteps,” Kenzie said, picking up the conversation again after the waitress left.
“Arthur went to Annapolis,” Reed said.
“I’m in the reserves now,” Arthur added. “I was the weapons officer on a submarine for seven years. I like submarines, but military life is hard on a marriage. I met my wife in Hawaii and decided I couldn’t be away for six months out of every year, so I left active duty for the reserves.”
“Where’s your wife?”
Arthur grinned. “She’s doing a spa weekend with our daughter.”
Kenzie could understand the limited appeal of a comic book convention. “Do you all still dress up?”
“Not anymore,” Seth said. “We just like to check out the new comics and get together. Maybe do some gaming.”
Kenzie gazed at Reed. He was so different, so relaxed. She liked seeing him with his guard down. He glanced at her and she smiled.
* * *
Back at the hotel after dinner, Kenzie watched the last person exit the elevator before they were transported to their floor. Reed turned to her and planted his mouth on hers. His hand slipped around her hip and he palmed her butt. Normally this would embarrass her, but there was something safe about being with Reed.
His mouth was so warm and demanding her head was spinning. She felt his hand slip under her dress and caress her bare thigh. If he pushed the issue she’d let him make love to her in the elevator. By the time they arrived at their floor, Kenzie was really turned on. She noticed his hands shook as he used the card key to unlock the door.
Her thoughts were cut off when Reed pulled her over to the dining table in the front room of the suite. The curtains to the balcony were open. Kenzie pushed the doors open and looked out at the night. San Francisco was ablaze with hundreds of thousands twinkling lights. Car lights moved steadily down the streets below.
Reed turned off all the lights and pulled her back into the living room. He took off his jacket and grabbed her tightly.
“What are you doing?” she asked curiously, excitement sizzling through her veins.
“I’m not going to make it to the bedroom.” He pulled her dress up and over her head, unhooked her bra and shoved her panties down far enough to insert his fingers inside her.
Desire blossomed and she half groaned. “The bedroom’s ten feet away.”
He yanked off his shirt, unbuckled his belt and shrugged out of his pants and briefs.
“I’m too turned on. Watching you with my friends tonight was enough to get me started early.”
She touched his erection, sliding her fingers down the smooth skin, then up and down again, rubbing the tender tip. “Really?”
“You liked them.”
“They made me laugh. You make me laugh.”
He buried his head against her neck. “Tonight I’m going to make you scream.”
She hoped so.
His fingers slid in and out. He bent her back over the dining room table, spread her legs and pushed himself inside her. Her legs encircled his hips and she realized she still had on her Jimmy Choo stilettos. He ran a hand down her leg and along the peak of her arch.
Kenzie tilted back her head. “Make me scream.” She inclined her head toward the open window. “And anyone else who can see in here.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “No one can see us except the seagulls.”
The idea of an audience of seagulls perched on the balcony railing made her giggle. He thrust harder into her and she gasped.
“Just focus on me. We are the only people in the world.”
She could handle that.
His lips were warm and firm and his tongue slipped into her mouth. Reed’s hands caressed her bare thighs, massaging her skin until the heat rose and her flesh was scalding. Wetness and heat surrounded her and her nipples pebbled.
Reed ground himself against her. “You make me lose my head.”
She couldn’t even begin to explain what he did to her. He excited her, made her feel safe and he saw the real her. “Good.” She ran her hands up his muscled stomach. His skin was smooth and warm. She loved the way his muscles contracted under touch. The way his nipples got hard under her fingertips. Being with him was intoxicating and she loved that he responded to everything she did. She loved that he seemed to know how she liked to be touched and that she pleased him.
He laughed against her mouth. “Comfortable?”
Surprisingly she was despite the hardness of the dining table. She didn’t know she had this devil-may-care attitude in bed. Sam was pretty conventional. They never would have made love anywhere but in bed and in the good old missionary position.
“Just make love to me. Make me scream, Reed.” She reached down and massaged the tender skin of his groin. He reached between them to massage the nub of her excitement.
“Kenzie?” he whispered.
“Now,” she said.
He thrust so deeply into her she slid back on the slick table. The heat overwhelmed her and she shifted her hips to take him all the way inside of her. Oh dear God, he felt so good inside her, so powerful. She felt so full, so complete. She braced herself on the table and arched her back to get him all the way inside her. She locked her legs around his waist. He gave her hard, deep thrusts.
How she loved this man. She’d never get enough of him. Her excitement grew as he deepened his thrusts and they grew more savage. Her excitement was almost at the breaking point. Her head fell back and he buried his head in her neck.
“You feel so good,” he whispered, his tongue flicking at her lips.
“Harder, please. Harder.” Her voice came out in a harsh whisper. “Harder.”
Reed grabbed her ankles, pushed her knees up and spread her legs wider. He pounded into her. She felt suspended over a precipice. Her vagina clenched around him and she felt his body tense and a second later she felt him come. He bit down on her shoulder. The pain added to the intensity of her orgasm. Her whole body seemed to explode, each spasm more intense than the last. She shuddered, she scratched his back and finally she screamed.
Chapter 11
Kenzie slanted a look at Reed. She felt warm heat color her cheeks
. Last night had been so intense she still felt the resonating orgasms that had consumed her. Not until they’d finally sought their bed, curled in each other’s arms, did she remember he hadn’t used a condom. She hadn’t been on the pill since leaving Sam. Not that she’d planned to be off it, but felt the need to have her body return to its normal rhythm.
They wandered the conference floor. She was completely dazzled by the crowds, the attendees in costumes and even small children running around dressed as Jawas from Star Wars. Some of the women were dressed in what Reed told her was steampunk.
“Steampunk?” She stared at a woman who appeared to have a metal corset over a bright tartan skirt that skimmed the floor.
“Have you ever read Jules Verne or H. G. Wells?”
“Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Yeah. In high school.” Kenzie eyed a table laden with banker boxes filled with comic books, all in transparent protective plastic sleeves. She wanted to stop and pick through them, but Reed had already moved on.
“It’s now defined as steampunk literature. A number of modern-day authors have continued the tradition and spawned a whole subgenre in science fiction and fantasy literature.”
“I’m going to have to read some. Stop. There’s a book dealer.”
She dragged him by the hand into a booth, marveling at how much she was enjoying herself. Reed directed her to the steampunk section while he browsed the comic book section. She found her attention wandering to a teenage girl dressed in a tight-fitting leather jacket, long green skirt and top hat with goggles on her head. A swirl of her skirt showed Kenzie that she wore laced up boots with kitten heels.
“Can I take a photo of you?” Kenzie asked.
“Sure.” She stood straight and posed. Kenzie took out her phone to capture this.
She chose a couple of graphic novels and a book on the history of steampunk, paid for them and went to find Reed.
“I’m so glad we’re here, exposing me to the weird and wonderful.”
He grinned. “Thank you for saying that with admiration and respect.”
She felt sort of silly and carefree. She took his hand and they continued to wander down the long aisles.
“I would never have known about this subculture if you hadn’t decided to bring me.” She eyed a woman dressed as a steampunk pirate complete with an eye patch and plastic sword.
“It is fun, isn’t it?”
If she’d been in New York, she might have thought all these people were crazy. And Sam would have looked down his nose with scorn at them.
Maybe she needed to indulge, too.
By the end of the first day, Kenzie was exhausted, but she found a pirate costume she had to have. It had a brown leather bustier which laced down the front. The skirt was short, barely covering the tops of her thighs, and a rich brownish gray. She refused to let Reed see it, because she had a use for it later, when they were alone. Yes, they were going to have their own steampunk fantasy.
When they got to the bedroom, Kenzie pointed to the bed. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back.” She winked at him.
* * *
As soon as the door was closed, Reed quickly shucked his clothes, throwing them on a chair. Then he fell back on the bed and got himself comfortable. He was already erect. Kenzie had a way of doing that to him. He slid his hands behind his head and waited. A few minutes later he saw the light go out under the bathroom door. Kenzie opened the door and sauntered into the bedroom, dressed like a naughty pirate wench. She turned around slowly, the skirt flaring to show she wore no undies. The breasts were pushed so high under the bustier he could see the tips of her nipples. His mouth dropped opened and he couldn’t speak. His mouth went dry and the blood raced from his head.
Kenzie perched one hand on her hip and posed. “You like?”
He could only nod. He started to get up, but she pushed him back onto the bed. “I have this.”
“Are you my pirate treasure?”
She arched an eyebrow. “You don’t have to steal me.”
He went twitchy and hot as she pranced around the room before standing next to the bed, flipping up her skirt and sliding over him.
“Tonight it’s my turn.” She straddled his hips and caressed his chest, his nipples and ran her fingers up his neck to his chin. He caught one finger in his mouth and sucked on it.
A lusty smile, somewhere between seductress and innocent, showed the tiny dimple in one cheek. “Do you want me?”
“Aye, Captain. Very much.” His mouth was dry and he wet his lips.
She leaned down and starting at his navel licked her way up his body to his nipples. She rolled each nipple around her tongue and back down to his navel. She slid down his stomach until her tongue reached the tip of his penis. She licked the tip and his muscles tightened, he was so ready to let go right then.
He reached for her. She batted his hands away. “No touching.”
“Kenzie,” he groaned.
She cupped his balls and began long, strong licks from bottom to tip. Each movement of her tongue brought him closer to orgasm.
“I love touching you,” she said.
He could barely breathe, much less talk. He gasped again as her tongue swept across the tip of his penis.
She sat up, eased herself over his erection and lowered herself.
She pushed down hard and started to unlace the bustier. Her breasts fell out and she cupped them, holding out the nipples to him. He reached for her, but she shoved his hands away. “No touching.”
She massaged her breasts while he watched, the heat and excitement almost too much to bear. Then she reached down between her fold and began to massage herself. With her eyes half-closed and her lips slightly parted, she looked every inch the wanton.
She leaned forward to kiss him. Her tempo increased. He grew harder and harder. His muscles began to contract and release built inside him.
“You feel so good,” he cried.
“Yes,” she sighed as she moved over him, her softness giving way to his hardness. The rightness of this was perfect. Reed moved inside her slowly. He never took his eyes from hers. Her hands moved over her slowly and Reed relished every touch, every caress. His jaw hardened as if he tried holding back.
“Love me harder.”
“I want it to last,” she said.
“We have the rest of our lives.” He tensed his hips and thrust hard into her. She clamped her knees tightly about his hips. The tightness in his stomach built and burned. He pushed into her harder and harder until he felt her fly over the edge and a second or two later he came with her.
Chapter 12
Kenzie stood in Lydia’s living room. A rack of wedding gowns was behind the sofa and a large mirror leaned against one wall. Lydia had pushed all the furniture out the way so Nina could try on each wedding gown and parade around the room to show it off to Miss E., Nina’s mother, Grace, Lydia, Hendrix and Maya. Kenzie made a few minor adjustments to the gown and turned Nina to the mirror.
The gowns had come yesterday and Lydia insisted they have a champagne brunch while Nina tried them all on.
Nina gasped in surprise as she stood in front of the mirror and studied herself. The Marchesa wedding gown was a creamy eggshell white with an off-the-shoulder lace bodice. The skirt was two layers, lace and then an overlay of silk, which cut away to show the heavily embroidered lace insert. The train flowed out behind her for several feet. The style had a vintage, timeless feel to it that gave Nina an elegance that added to her beauty.
“I love this one,” Nina said. “It’s perfect.” She pulled her hair up and wound it around into a knot to show off her long neck.
Miss E.’s eyes narrowed critically. “This dress reminds me of the one I wore when I married your grandfather.” Her tone was wistful with the depth of her memories.
Her husband had left her before her son was a year old and had never been seen or heard from again. Kenzie often wondered what happened to him.
“I didn’t think you’d choose this one,” Kenzie said as she stood back and studied the cut of the gown and the way it lay so smoothly over Nina’s curves. “Marchesa isn’t quite your style.”
“It’s a little old-fashioned,” Grace said and she studied her daughter.
“I know,” Nina said. “That’s the appeal. I thought I would like something smooth and sleek and sophisticated. But the moment I put this one on, I felt so different. I thought I heard angelic trumpets.”
Kenzie circled Nina, adjusting the waist, which was a smidge too loose. She could easily adjust the fit with a tiny tuck here and there and no one would ever notice. “Angelic trumpets?”
“I know exactly what you mean.” Lydia clapped her hands. “When I married Mitchel, my mother picked out my gown and I hated it. It was beautiful and elegant with lots of lace and a veil that was ten feet long, but it wasn’t me. When I put on my gown to marry Hunter I heard a whole chorus of angels. That’s how I knew it was the right one.” She glanced fondly at the wedding photo of her and Hunter on the side table. She’d chosen a simple gown with tiny puffed sleeves and a drape of formfitting silk that made her look elegant and perfect.
“I just threw that one in as a ringer to give you a wider selection. I didn’t really think you would choose it, because it’s more my style than yours.” Kenzie glanced back at the rack of gowns in the middle of Lydia’s living room. She’d chosen each one thinking Nina would have a hard time choosing. But she’d gravitated immediately to the Marchesa.
“That’s why I love you.” Nina twirled slowly, watching the flow of the gown in the mirror. “You’re my best friend. You know what I need, even when I don’t know what I need.”
“Keep that thought,” Kenzie said with a chuckle. She adjusted the shoulders, pushing the lace down to expose more of Nina’s shoulders.
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