by Lila Munro
“Please, Madi, you have to let me do this for you.” He continued to rub her and stroked the edge of her ear with his tongue. “Trust me.”
“But I want you inside me.” A tight heat began to build under her belly button again. “Please, Rafe.”
“I know, honey, but I want you so much, I don’t want to disappoint you.”
She let go of him and let him slide his fingers in her and back out to circle her engorged clit. With her hands full of his blanket, she arched her back and cried out as waves of electric pleasure washed over her. Instead of abating her desires, however, her need for him to join her in completion only grew as he fumbled in the nightstand drawer locating a box of condoms.
Before she’d fully come back from where he’d taken her, he settled between her legs and she pushed up to meet him as he plunged inside her. He groaned in ecstasy. Like a warm soft leather glove, she clung to him, coaxing him to the edge of an ethereal abyss. Together they moved in the ages-old coalescent dance, losing themselves to one another. He held himself off her and looked into her eyes as their bodies met over and over. Her now forest green eyes were hooded and glazed with heat. Faster he moved and she increased her pace to match her breathing as it became labored again. With her bottom lip clamped between her teeth, and her eyes shut, a primal groan erupted from deep within her as she fell over the edge again, her nails grating his back as she fought to remain grounded.
Unable to hold back any longer, Rafe drove himself into her one final time as far as he could go. He shuddered and moaned, feeling her pulsing around him, squeezing him and heightening his pleasure, draining him. Completely spent, he lowered himself beside her. Watching her on her back with her chest heaving as she tried to take in enough oxygen, his eyes wandered lower and it was then that he finally saw the jagged white scar running across her lower belly. Unable to help himself, he ran his fingers over it.
“It looks pretty awful, doesn’t it?” She peered out from beneath her sleepy lids.
“No, it’s as much a battle scar as any I’ve seen on any Marine and nothing to be ashamed of.”
She put her hand over his and squeezed. “I want to go see her over Memorial Day.” She paused and opened her eyes all the way. “Will you go with me, Rafe?”
“Yes, I will.”
He pulled her to him, the thin veil of moisture that coated her silky skin mingling with his own. Slowly her breathing returned to normal, and then fell into a regular rhythm as she drifted off. Marveling at her peacefulness, there was only one thing he knew in that moment. He wanted to wake up with her in his arms well past tomorrow morning.
Chapter 7
A warm, slobbery tongue ran over Madi’s cheek, bringing her back from the darkness that had enveloped her, holding her hostage throughout the night. Swiping her face with the back of her hand, she turned over only to have her shoulder assaulted by the same gooey licking. She turned again to be greeted by Gretchen’s cold black nose. When she peered out of the slits of her eyes, she saw that she had spent the night in Rafe’s bed. That wasn’t her intent. She’d planned on leaving in the night and going home, but she didn’t remember falling asleep or Rafe getting up.
“Hello, Gretchen.” She pushed up on one elbow and scratched the dog’s head. Gretchen replied with one sharp bark. “So, where’s your daddy?”
Her clothes were neatly folded and placed on a chair beside a tall mahogany dresser along one wall. She pushed the navy blue cotton sheets back, stretched, and got up. Mostly dressed, with her bra tucked in her back pocket, she set off in search of the front door. The inviting aroma of coffee drifted down the hall distracting her, beckoning her to the kitchen before she managed to locate it. A fresh pot was ready with a mug sitting nearby, a note propped against the crimson ceramic.
Good morning,
Take your time, I’m taking care of the horses. There’s creamer in the refrigerator. See you soon.
Rafe
Feeling spoiled, she filled the red mug with coffee, found the creamer, and topped off the nutty goodness, giving it a quick stir. She walked through another doorway that led to the living room and discovered his space was as masculine as she’d imagined it would be. The oversized furniture was draped in chocolate leather, the end and coffee tables were solid oak, and the lamps boasted sturdy wooden bases topped with ecru linen shades. A couple of paintings hung on the plain off-white walls, both of which were of hunters in the snow. A bookshelf stood on one wall filled with hardbound editions of best sellers by Clive Cussler, Dean Koontz, and Louis L’Amour. On the other wall was an entertainment center holding a rather large flat-screen television, a rather substantial sound system and a six disc DVD player. It was evident that he was from the rugged country of Montana from the collection of antlers and bones in a glass case. It was also apparent that no female had swayed his living conditions.
On her way past the couch, she fingered his uniform blouse that was draped over the back of it, then picked it up and smelled it. His pheromones clung to it. Her center coiled at the masculine odor that filled her senses, reminding her of last night and bringing a smile to her face.
Stepping outside, she found the skies were bright blue, dotted with a few cottony clouds. The slight breeze was laced with the sweet smell of lilac and irises drifting from the flowerbeds lining the front of the house. Instantly heated by the sun’s rays, she could almost feel summer being born. This was the best part of the season, the almost summer, the deliciously warm time before the Missouri humidity set in and made everything and everyone miserable.
She left the porch, humming a tune, with Gretchen trotting happily along beside her, and made her way around the house to the barn where Rafe was filling a water tub in one of the stalls. He softly conversed with Daisy, the sorrel mare she’d ridden a few days ago, as he worked. He wore a pair of faded jeans with a hole above one knee, a dark green t-shirt with a short-sleeved button-down shirt over it, and his beat-up boots. Dark stubble covered his jaw and a worn blue ball cap graced his head.
Quietly, she leaned against the gate of another stall and watched him. His arm muscles corded, nearly bursting with each movement. The memory of those arms holding him hovering over her last night swept over her as heat rose over her midsection and singed her breasts. She didn’t think she would ever get her fill of him. They hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface of this thing that had caught like a forest fire between them and last night had only served to increase her need to be with him. Seeing him in his element this morning made her want to do things she’d never really conceived she was capable of before.
She and Gage had enjoyed a decent enough sex life, or so she’d believed until now. As with everything else, as she was beginning to realize, he was the one in control of that as well, deciding when and where and how. And the past few years there hadn’t been much of any of it even when he wasn’t deployed. Rafe had let her decide she was ready, and he had neither orchestrated the whole thing, nor asked her for anything. In fact, he’d put her first, something Gage had never done. Until last night, she didn’t know there were men like that. If this was the way it could be, she knew now why Meredith and her mother were so keen to experiment. But she didn’t see herself drifting around from man to man, she just wanted Rafe.
Barefoot, eyes gleaming, she stayed propped against the gate, watching him until he turned and discovered her presence.
“Good morning,” he managed to say as he walked toward her, pushing his cap back on his head. “Did you sleep okay?”
“Better than I have in months,” she answered, straightening up, setting the mug down, and moving toward him. “It would seem that cure of yours works wonders.”
When they met, he ran his arms around her waist as she put her arms around his neck and he picked her up. With her legs around his waist, he backed her into a stall post and took her mouth, forcing her lips open and driving his tongue inside, finding hers.
His hard-on rode up between her legs and a thick wetness began to build
, heating her from the inside out. With her pinned to the wood, he moved his hands to the back of her thighs and held her prisoner, running his tongue down her throat and biting her shoulder.
“Madi, how did you manage to get under my skin? I’ve never wanted anyone this much.”
Reaching down, she tugged her shirt up and jerked it over her head. She tossed it away, giving him access to her breasts, letting him feed on her, driving her into a frenzy. He sucked one nipple until it was hard beneath his lips, then blew his warm breath over it, causing it to coil further, then moved to the other breast giving it the same treatment. Somehow she managed to reach between them and unbutton his jeans, releasing his engorged cock so that she could feel its rippled surface gliding through her fingers. She was so heavy with wetness, it was oozing through the thin fabric of her panties and her clit became a puckered nub, demanding his touch.
“Touch me, Rafe, please. Make me feel like you did last night.”
He backed away from the post, still carrying her, and moved away from the stalls to the opposite wall where several hay bales were lined up. Gently, he laid her across them, then sank to his knees between her legs. Agonizingly calculated, he unzipped her jeans and pulled them off, followed by her black lace panties, leaving her completely exposed and vulnerable. She lay before him like a sacrificial offering. Raising her legs, he parted her folds with his thumbs, and took her clit under his lips, sucking at first then licking, feting her essence, her musky femininity wafting between them.
So intent on what he was doing to her with his lips and tongue, she barely noticed he’d slipped two of his fingers inside her until he began to move them in and out of her, coaxing her to twitch under his mouth. She drew in a sharp breath and moaned, grasping his head with both her hands and pushing herself into him wanting more. Taking her hands away from him, she put her arms at her sides and leaned up to watch him continue to assault her throbbing pink flesh.
His eyes wandered up and caught hers, so intimate was it that she wanted him to quit what he was doing and drive himself into her. But he continued licking her with his hardened tongue, holding eye contact with her until she clenched around his fingers. A euphoric inferno raced through her, shot out her middle, and ran down her legs. She began to contract slowly at first, then so hard and fast she nearly sat straight up, with Rafe still between her legs. He took his mouth off her then and kissed the insides of her thighs, his stubble razing her flesh, awakening every hypersensitive nerve, causing her to tremble. Still running his fingers in and out of her, he allowed her to ride the wave of pleasure until she collapsed back on the hay, panting and sweating, trying to catch her breath.
With his eyes locked on hers, he tossed his cap off, jerked both shirts off in one fluid motion while toeing off his boots, then managed to shimmy out of the rest of his clothes like they were interconnected. He pulled a condom from his pocket and sheathed himself. Kneeling on the hay in front of her, he placed her legs on his shoulders before slipping inside her. He thrust into her, and with her face flushed with desire, she repeated his name like a prayer. In answer to it, he reached between them, found her clit with his thumb, and ran tight circles around it. She ran her hands behind her thighs and pulled opening herself up wider for him, thrusting up to meet his repeated strokes begging for release.
His constant attention to her clit soon had her pulsing again and a kaleidoscope of colors ran across the backs of her eyelids. Another shock wave moved out in concentric waves from under her belly button and shot out of her to meet with the friction between her body and his. Just as she went over the edge, she cried out. She brushed his hand away from her, pulled him down on her, and thrust up, demanding he drive deeper.
Rafe followed her with a primal growl, driving into her, his energy meshing with hers as he trembled inside her. He fell across her, burying his head in the crook of her neck, gasping for air. For several minutes they lay there, a tangled mass of limbs. Sweat rolled off them, ran down their bodies and disappeared into the hay, sending up an incense of hormones and musk. The only sound was their labored breathing and the birds chirping outside.
When he could take a deep breath, he pushed up off of her and pulled his pants on leaving them undone, then draped her with his shirt before picking her up.
“Where are we going now?” she asked weakly, with her head on his shoulder.
“I think we need a shower.” He stopped, leaned in and kissed her, then kept walking, a smile on his face. “Then I think maybe we should go back to bed.”
* * * *
Seemingly inseparable, they spent every minute of the day and night together after that, except when Rafe had to go to work. He hated getting out of her bed in the mornings, leaving the comfort of her warm body curled up next to him. They were as good as living together he spent so much time at her house, and Gretchen had moved in refusing to leave Madi’s side. It seemed the dog loved her more than she did her master.
No matter how much time they spent together though, it was never enough for him. The only thing that interrupted his joy in finding her was the fact that the decision on whether to re-enlist or retire was still looming on the horizon. He didn’t know what he was going to do yet, but he did know that his decision would affect them both. Knowing someone for so short a time shouldn’t have warranted considering what they wanted, but for him it did. He just didn’t know how much he was willing to give up in order to have her in his life. The Marine Corps was everything to him. Without it, he wasn’t sure what he’d do, but he didn’t know what he’d do without Madi either, and he wasn’t sure she was ready to start following him around for another ten years. All he did know for sure was that he was going to have to bring it up soon and make a decision, and that was going to be one of the hardest things he’d ever done.
* * * *
“That was very good, Nev,” Madi complimented.
Her niece’s lessons were going well. The child had inherited the musical gene and picked up on everything very quickly, and always exceeded what Madi expected from her. She came every Tuesday and Thursday after school, even if Madi had to go to school to pick her up herself. After discovering how inclined she was, Meredith and Madi had decided they would stop at nothing to get the girl whatever she needed and would get her into the best school possible for her musical training when the time came. She would have an easier life than they had if it killed them. No lousy boyfriends or husbands, and she would achieve her dreams without guilt or bending to someone else’s.
And at the rate things were going, it was beginning to seem feasible that it would kill them. Meredith was talking about taking a second job to afford the harp, and Madi had been tempted to jump off a bridge that morning when yet another one of Gage’s credit companies came knocking on the door with another mountain of expenses he had incurred without her knowledge. How she would pay those off was a mystery and she wondered how many more times it would happen before it finally stopped. The only bright spot in either of their lives were the men who had stepped in, unexpectedly filling the voids neither of them had fully grasped to begin with.
It was in the middle of Nev’s sterling rendition of Chopsticks that the phone rang.
“You’re doing wonderfully, Nev. Just continue while I get that.” She hoped it wasn’t more bad news.
“Hello?” she tentatively strained out.
“Hey, honey, how’s everything going?”
Madi was glad it was Rafe and not another bill collector. She let out a sigh of relief before answering.
“Rafe. I’m okay. Is something wrong?” Normally he wouldn’t call her in the middle of the day from work.
“No, nothing’s wrong, everything is fine. Are you sure you’re okay? What’s with the long sigh?”
“Hang on.” She peeked around the corner to make sure Nev was still practicing and couldn’t hear her. “Another bill collector found me today.”
“How much this time?”
“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.” She
leaned her forehead on the wall. “How the hell did he get these companies to keep giving him money, anyway?”
“Baby, I don’t know,” he answered, his voice laced with concern.
“So what were you calling for?” Talking about the bill wouldn’t get it paid.
“I found someone to horse sit this weekend.” His voice perked up. “Looks like we’re set to go to Kentucky.”
“Well, what luck,” she exclaimed sarcastically. “Buy a lotto ticket on the way home, all our problems will be solved, and we can go to Disneyland.”
Rafe laughed. “That’s the spirit, now if the floor refinishing fairy would come by while we’re gone and get that task completed, all would be right in the world.”
* * * *
Dawn was just breaking Friday morning, sending a few pink streaks across the bed covers, when a knock at the door set Gretchen to howling. Rafe rolled over, releasing his hold on Madi, as she groaned and pulled the covers over her head. How she would have liked to have stolen just a few more minutes of sleep before having to start the day. Before either of them moved any further, the knocking resumed, further distressing poor Gretchen who felt it was her duty to announce every visitor they had.
“Well, no rest for the wicked, is there?” Madi rose and threw her old pink chenille robe with one pocket missing over her short-legged pajamas.
She saw it was almost six and knew within reason that the person at the door had to be Corporal Tanner. He was one of the students in Rafe’s class and had grown up in Wyoming. His family owned a ranch and his father was on the rodeo circuit, so he’d been around horses all his life. Since he wouldn’t be able to go home for Memorial Day, he was the perfect candidate to take care of Daisy and Belle for the weekend.
