by Cathie Linz
She tried not to be nervous. She and Jack had never actually discussed the specifics of their honeymoon night, other than the fact that they weren’t taking a trip out of town or anything, since he had to return to work the next day.
But the subject of sleeping arrangements hadn’t come up. She knew he expected this to be a marriage in every sense of the word, except for love.
“You’re quiet,” Jack noted.
“Yeah,” Kayla agreed, but she couldn’t find anything to add to that. Her tongue felt glued to the roof of her mouth as they pulled to a stop in front of their new house.
Kayla felt strange wearing her wedding dress as they walked up the front walk. She’d been here yesterday in jeans and a T-shirt. The weather had cooperated with one of those early tastes of spring Chicago got if it was lucky. The temperature had reached the sixties today, and even though the sun had gone down, it was still in the fifties.
As Jack opened the door, Kayla was all set to hurry inside. Fifty might be mild, but not when you weren’t wearing a coat.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“Tell me about it when we’re inside,” she replied, trying not to shiver as she nudged him aside.
She might as well have tried moving the John Hancock Building.
“I’m supposed to carry you over the threshold.”
“You’re still recovering from a broken leg. You don’t have to carry me in this marriage, Jack, like I’m some kind of burden. That’s not what I want. Having you by my side, maybe holding my hand, that’s more than enough.” She held out her hand to him.
He took it. “Okay, but I reserve the right to carry you over the threshold later. Not that I’m a pro at whisking women off their feet.”
“Yeah, right,” she scoffed with a grin.
“I’ve had more experience with the fireman’s lift, draping bodies over my shoulder, but I guess that’s not the most romantic thing.”
“I don’t know. The view might be kind of nice from back there,” she noted with a saucy look at his backside.
“How many glasses of champagne did you have at the reception?”
“Only two. I preferred the punch that Sam made.”
“Jeez, Kayla, that punch is more potent than the kick of a mule. Sam brews it strong enough to make twentyyear veterans of the department weak kneed.”
She knew all about being weak kneed. Looking at him made her feel that way. “I only had one glass,” she quietly said.
Now that they were in the house, her earlier trepidation returned big-time. Humor had gotten her over the first threshold so to speak, but what was she supposed to do now?
Well, she knew what they were supposed to do, it was their honeymoon night. She’d been married before. She knew the routine. Not that her honeymoon night with Bruce had been anything to fantasize about. And not that anything involving Jack was routine.
She moved forward and almost smacked into a pile of boxes.
“Relax,” Jack said before reaching out and switching on the light. He’d seen the way she’d flinched when he’d put his arm out. “Look, I think the best thing for us to do tonight is to just take things slow.”
“Slow?” Images of him making love to her all night, slowly exploring her body from head to toe, filled her head and tightened her throat, making her voice come out in a froglike croak.
“It’s been a wild couple of weeks. I don’t know about you, but I’m beat.”
Immediately Kayla’s concern went from her own jitters to his well-being, just as he’d intended. “Is your leg okay?”
“It’s fine. But I’d feel better getting out of this rented tux,” he muttered, tugging off the bow tie and shrugging out of the jacket. He had the buttons on his shirt undone before she blinked owlishly and muttered something about changing as she headed for the bathroom.
Staring at herself in the mirror, Kayla wondered if she looked as confused as she felt. Leaning closer, she could detect some remnants of panic in her eyes. She’d nervously bitten all her lipstick off, a bad habit of hers.
It wasn’t until she tried to remove her dress that she realized how hard it was to reach the tiny buttons marching down the back. She nearly put her back out trying to reach them, twisting this way and that. Each time, she got close enough to feel the button but not close enough to unfasten it.
Not wanting to ruin the dress, she had to admit defeat ten minutes later. She needed help. And there was only one person around to give it.
Gathering her long skirt in one hand, she returned to the living room, hoping to find him. “Um, Jack?” There was no sign of him. “Jack?” she repeated.
“I’m in the bedroom,” he called from down the hallway.
She wasn’t about to walk into that temptation. Instead she said, “Could you come here a minute?”
“Sure.” He came, all right, wearing a smile and a pair of jeans with the top snap still undone. “What did you want?”
Her eyes were fastened on his bare chest and the intriguing swirls of dark hair trailing from his collarbone all the way down to his navel. Not too hairy, he was just right. Trying not to drool, she snapped her mouth shut and counted to five. “My dress,” she said, sounding like a fish out of water. “I can’t reach...”
“Sure thing. Turn around.” He put his hands on her shoulders to make sure she obeyed his command. “These things sure are small.” She looked over her shoulder, just to make sure that he was referring to the buttons and not to any part of her anatomy. Not that there were many small parts of her anatomy. “Stop wiggling,” he ordered.
The ivory satin material rustled as he released the delicate pearl buttons from their tethers, freeing her gown so that it fell from her shoulders and slipped even lower with every fastening that was undone. The only thing holding it up was the hand she had plastered against her front.
The brush of his fingers against the small of her back was nearly her undoing.
“There.” Now he was the one sounding raspy. “That should do it.”
“Thanks.” Clutching her dress and her dignity, she hightailed it to the safety of the bathroom, where she changed into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, not exactly customary honeymoon night apparel. But then this was not exactly a customary marriage.
“What box did you pack the linens in?” Jack asked from outside the door.
It took them a bit of hunting to find the appropriate box.
“I’ll sleep on the pullout tonight,” Kayla said, hating the tremble in her voice.
Jack didn’t say anything, but he did help her open the couch. He also helped her shake out one of the bottom sheets for it.
She was kneeling on the mattress, having just tucked one corner of the sheet in place, when she straightened and found herself nose to nose with Jack, who was kneeling on the other side, having just tucked that corner of the sheet in. Their hands touched and lingered. The embers that had glowed when he’d undone her dress now blazed into a fullfledged inferno.
A second later they were kissing, intensely, passionately, with no holds barred. Kayla didn’t even know she was lying on the mattress until she felt him covering her like a blanket, his powerful body fully aroused.
“Are you sure? I thought you wanted to wait,” he murmured.
“I want you. Now.”
Eight
Jack wasted no more time. Words were abandoned in favor of actions. He expressed himself most eloquently with a kiss, telling her how much he wanted her, how much he needed her. And if she was in any doubt, the hungry fervor of his tongue echoed the throbbing message of his body.
The time had come. Kayla gloried in the freedom to express her desire, returning his kiss, matching his passion. She’d never felt so wild or gloriously free.
He slid his leg between hers as he deftly removed her T-shirt. She didn’t have to worry about his shirt, it was gone already, allowing her more time to enjoy the warmth of his skin, the delicious friction of his chest hair again
st her breasts, the powerful ripple of muscles. His shoulders were broad, she knew that already. She didn’t realize how perfectly her hands cupped the curve of his shoulders, almost as perfectly as his hands were cupping her breasts.
The material of her bra soon became an irritant, because it prevented her from feeling his bare skin against her. Murmuring entreaties to hurry, Kayla encouraged him to undo the front fastening, showing him the hidden clasp before returning to her own explorations.
She’d never been so fascinated by the human form before. And not just any human form, only Jack’s. She found the scar he’d told her about, caused by the ember that had fallen down the back of his collar. Her fingertips soothed the slightly puckered skin, before digging into his back as pleasure streaked through her body at the feel of his open mouth on her breast.
Their first kiss had been like dancing in the heart of a flame. But this...this was like being consumed by wildfire. Not a single flame, but a conflagration.
She arched her back, offering more of herself for his temptation. Jack willingly complied, adding the devilish swirl of his tongue to his already erotic arsenal. At the mercy of her desire, Kayla speared her fingers through his dark hair, relishing the sensual feel of the rough silkiness between her fingers, as the ache between her legs increased to a feverish pitch.
Her hands reached for his zipper the same moment his fingers reached for the placket on her jeans. Words were incoherently mumbled, by him, by her, as his lips returned to her mouth. Their need was so great that even as they hurriedly dispatched their clothing, they couldn’t stop kissing.
And then there were no barriers between them, just his aroused heat against her moist pliancy. Whispering dark promises, he rubbed where it gave her the most pleasure, dipped and sampled where it gave her the most delight. The slip-slide of his finger created a friction, a tension, a tightening and then a release that she hadn’t expected.
She’d expected him to just take her, not to so caringly see to her pleasure first.
Kayla’s look of astonishment and then sultry enjoyment made his own smile all the more wolfish. “This is only the beginning,” he assured her, then took her to the heights once again.
Delicate ripples were still traveling through her inner muscles when he kissed her. She reached for him, needing to feel him inside her. She guided him home until the blunt tip of his shaft was poised at her feminine passageway, that hidden place he’d already seduced with his fingers and now filled with his sex.
With one heated thrust he was there, embedded deep within her. She gasped at the rightness of it, even as her body stretched to accept him.
“Are you okay?” His voice was rough, his touch gentle. She nodded. “It’s just...it’s been a while.”
Jack remained where he was, unmoving as he tried to maintain his self-control. But the feel of her surrounding him was too powerful for him to resist. He shifted against her.
“Don’t go,” she whispered, putting her hands against his hips and holding on to him.
“I’m not going, I’m coming,” he growled, his movements faster now, pumping, sliding, thrusting. He tried to wait for her, but his body was demanding satisfaction. Then he felt it, the first tremors taking hold of her, and then him. Now. Now!
Kayla panted as the ecstasy gripped her with velvet talons. Her entire being pulsated, ebbing and flowing, surging on. Her hair was in her eyes as she watched Jack’s face tighten, his smoky eyes dark with raw emotion. He froze above her, shouting her name even as he poured his life source into her. When he collapsed in her arms, her last conscious thought was Mmmm, yes, I could get addicted to this!
“Is that a mattress coil poking me or are you just glad to see me?” Kayla saucily inquired before turning onto her back and looking at Jack, who’d been snoozing spoon fashion behind her.
“Both,” he growled, kissing her, the lazy swirl of his tongue fanning new fires. “What are we doing out here on this lumpy pullout?”
“Nothing at the moment,” she murmured, “but stick around, it could get interesting.”
“Mmm, I’ll show you interesting.” He pulled the sheet off them both and leaped out of bed.
He was stark naked and fully aroused.
“You’re right,” she murmured appreciatively. “What you’ve got there is very interesting. And very impressive.”
“Then you should be impressed with this.” Without further ado, he scooped her in his arms and carried her to the bedroom. He almost walked them both into the door frame as he became distracted by the lush rosiness of her bare breasts.
As it was, he nicked his elbow on his way in the room. Kayla winced sympathetically at the sound of the whack. He then tumbled her onto the bed where they were soon entwined.
“This bed bounces,” she noted.
“So do these,” he returned, cupping her breasts in both his hands. “I like this one best,” he murmured, kissing her right breast. “No, this one is best,” he decided a moment later, turning his attention to her left breast. “Mmmm, it’s a tie.”
Tie...Kayla felt tied in knots as desire returned with a vengeance. She’d never experienced anything like this before; the elemental pleasure, the raw ecstasy, the earthy foreplay.
“Maybe if we changed the view,” Jack said. His wicked grin should have warned her of his intentions. The next thing she knew she was perched atop him, her thighs bracketing his hips, her breasts brushing his chest. Putting his hands on her hips, he scooted her up his torso until her breasts were at his mouth level.
He’d noticed the kittenish sounds she made when he caressed her breasts before, and he wanted to explore new ways of exciting her until she purred like a she-tiger. Her husky gasps expressed her joy as he took her into his mouth, suckling her, ravishing her, seducing her with his tongue and teeth.
She writhed against him, the movement of her hips creating a backfire that devoured him as his little she-tiger positioned herself to take him for the ride of his life, coming down on him with silky wet insistence, rocking against him with sultry wildness.
The seducer became the seduced as she took him places he’d never gone before, reaching her climax moments before his.
“We did this backward,” she told him much later.
“Not yet, but I’m game if you are,” he wickedly whispered in her ear.
She slapped his shoulder in a halfhearted reprimand. “I meant we should have discussed birth control before we...”
“Had sex like two love-starved maniacs,” he suggested, with the look of a man trying to be helpful.
“You have such a romantic way with words,” she retorted tartly.
“We’re married now. What’s the problem?”
“I’m on the pill,” she said bluntly.
“Don’t you want to have more kids?”
“Someday. But I’d like to get used to being your wife and having you as my husband first. Couples should talk about these things before the wedding,” she muttered, hoping she didn’t look as embarrassed as she felt.
“We were kind of busy before the wedding, buying houses and stuff,” he teased her. “And for your information, I happen to agree that we should spend time together as man and wife and get used to this marriage thing before expanding our family.”
This marriage thing. Is that how he saw things between them?
“Besides,” he continued. “I need to practice parenting skills on Ash first.”
“Ash?”
“Yeah. It’s a nickname. She told me she’s never had one before.”
Kayla couldn’t help herself, she kissed him. Sweetly, gently, appreciatively.
He said, “What was that for?”
“For being you.” A man who would be all too easy to love, she silently added.
“Forget putting all your eggs in one place, never pack all your underwear in one suitcase,” Kayla declared two days later. “I can’t imagine what happened to it. You didn’t have anything to do with that suitcase going missing, did you?” she as
ked Jack.
He was the picture of innocence, not an easy thing for a man with a wicked smile to do. “Who me?”
“Yes, you.”
“What makes you think I had anything to do with it? Perhaps the fascination I have with your underwear?” he guessed, his grin becoming downright naughty. “I’m only fascinated when you’re in them and then I’m only interested in getting you out of them. But since you’ve been moaning about your missing underwear for forty-eight hours now, I brought you a surprise.”
“I have not been moaning,” Kayla denied.
“Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes moaning is good. I love those kittenish moans you make when I kiss you here....” He leaned over to swirl his tongue over the curve of her ear. “Are you ready for your surprise?”
“I’m as ready as you are,” she huskily assured him, hooking her fingers in the belt loop of his jeans and tugging him closer.
“Here you go then.” He handed her a bag from a major department store. Inside were several packages of underwear, the white cotton kind she liked. At the bottom of the bag was another bag, this one from a famous ritzy lingerie store. Inside that was a handful of sheer, silky bikini panties in peach and ivory.
Raising an eyebrow at him, she saucily asked, “And who did you get these for? Me or you?”
“They’re too small for me,” he replied, tugging her into his arms. “I do admit to being kind of curious to see how you’ll look in them, though.”
“Only kind of curious?”
“Real curious.”
“I can tell,” Kayla huskily noted, seductively rubbing against him. She could also tell that she was running the risk of falling for her new husband, but there didn’t seem to be anything she could do about it. So she enjoyed the moment and decided to let the future work itself out.
“If Jack goes to bed with you, how come me and Hugs can’t, too?” Ashley asked Kayla after they’d all been in the house a week.
