by Emma Scott
“Yes…”
I tugged his shirt off just as he lifted my dress and we came together again, not frantic but deep. Needy. His hands slipped down my shoulders, down my sides to my waist where he gently turned me around. He held me close, my back to the warm skin of his chest. His mouth went to my neck, between my shoulder blades, sending heated shivers dancing across my skin.
“Oh my God…” I gasped, arching back as he unclasped my bra and let it drop.
His hands reached around to cup my breasts, to pinch and tease the nipples while he gave open-mouthed kisses across my back. I reached behind to stroke the erection straining against his jeans but he dropped to his knees, his kisses blazing a trail down my spine. He turned me around to face him, fingertips toying at the edges of my panties while his eyes worshipped me with a hungry, reverent gaze. He pressed his lips to the center of me, over the panties, and I cried out as he tongued the silk and sucked. Teasing. Wet and hot but not enough.
“Jesus…”
“All of you,” he growled and tugged my panties down and tossed them aside. “Every inch…”
I sucked in a breath as he put his mouth on me, delving in deep immediately, his tongue working until I was dizzy and my legs weak.
My breath came short. “I can’t…”
Never breaking his hold on me with his mouth, he gripped my hips and eased me down on the bed. He pressed my thighs apart, and I cried out louder at the intense thrust of his tongue and the maddening brush of his short beard over my most sensitive flesh.
Senseless words and mindless sounds fell out of me as he took me higher and higher. Every muscle pulled taut, back arched, as I climbed. My hands made fists of the bedsheets as Jimmy plunged into me, sucked and licked and nipped until I crashed over. Wave after wave shuddering through me, wracking my body with an orgasm I felt everywhere and left me boneless and breathless. My limbs trembling with aftershocks.
God, Jimmy,” I gasped. “What are you doing to me?”
I reached for his shoulders to pull him up, but he moved slowly, taking his time, dragging his tongue over my skin and then biting the delicate skin beneath my navel. Slowly, his mouth journeyed up my body, between my breasts. He was over me now, his jeans rubbing against my nakedness, raw and hard. The first orgasm throbbing between my legs. I tilted my hips for more, writhing, as he took one nipple in his mouth.
“Please.” My hands scraped his shoulder blades. “Oh God…”
His mouth took my other nipple, bit it to the point of pain and then sucked the ache. Up higher, he ventured up my neck, my chin, and finally my mouth.
“Thea.” He kissed me deep and slow, braced over me. His hands sunk into my hair. “You’re beautiful. So fucking beautiful.”
“So are you,” I said. “We take care of each other. Always.”
He nodded, and I pushed him off of me to climb on top of him. My nakedness against the rough denim of his jeans. I kissed him softly, letting my hair fall around us to tickle his bare chest. I moved down his body, kissing the warm skin and then took his small nipple in my teeth and sucked. Jimmy made a sound deep in his chest and his hand gripped my hair.
I was memorizing him too. Every taste of skin, every sound, every movement of his body under mine, I took and kept. Locked them all away somewhere deep. The way he looked at me, his voice when he said my name, the emotion in his words when he told me he loved me.
He stripped out of his clothes and rolled me to my back again, his body wonderfully heavy over mine. I memorized that too—the weight of him as he slid inside me. He began to move, and I moved with him, our eyes locked, our kisses slowing down. His hands never left my face, forearms braced, his dark eyes holding mine.
“Stay with me, Thea,” he whispered. “Please. Stay.”
“I’m here,” I whispered back, as the pleasure grew between our joined bodies. “I’m right here, Jimmy.”
For now. But now was all we ever had.
I clutched him as the wave crashed again. Jimmy shuddered in my arms, his release spilling into me just as mine tapered.
We lay entangled for a long time, wrapped tight in each other, neither of us willing to let go.
Chapter 36
Thea
We’d spent the night bringing one another to the heights of pleasure again and again in the dark, desperate to keep the thoughts out. Now the morning was here, and the sharp light of day slanted across the sheets. Jimmy stirred and woke as I disentangled myself from him and slipped out of bed. He blinked at the clock. 9:23 a.m. Two and a half hours past the time I was supposed to take the Hazarin.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“For our morning coffee,” I said and reached for my discarded underwear and bra.
He sat up, rubbed his eyes. “Hold up. I’ll go with you.”
“I’m fine,” I said, pulling his T-shirt over my head. I wanted to take his scent with me. “I’ll be back in fifteen.”
“Thea…”
“It’s our last morning in New York,” I said.
And one of the last times I might be able to do something simple on my own, like make a coffee run.
“Take your phone,” he said. “Where are you going? Across the street?”
“Yep. I’ll be right back.”
“Fifteen minutes.”
I grinned. “And then you’ll send the warships to come get me?”
He didn’t smile. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Don’t say goodbye to me yet.
I blew him a kiss at the door and headed out.
The day was already muggy and stifling, the sunlight ridiculously bright. But I inhaled it all in and wondered how much time I had before the slow slide back into oblivion began.
“Cheery thought,” I muttered as I waited at the light to cross the street. “Don’t go looking for it.”
And maybe it won’t find me. Maybe my neurons have gotten their shit together and don’t need the Hazarin anymore.
I got in line at the bakery. The morning manager, Gregory, was behind the counter and he gave me a smile and a wave. I waved back, and I pulled my phone out and powered it up. A zillion phone calls and texts from Delia, Dr. Chen, and Rita awaited.
Bad idea.
I started to put the cell back in my shorts pocket when it chimed a text from Jimmy.
You OK?
Half a dozen smart-ass jokes came to me in response.
I’m great. I love you. <3 I typed instead. He’d never seen I love you written to him before. It was so much better than a dumb joke.
Love you, he sent back.
A smile split my face. I’d never had a man say that to me before. Out loud or in a text. I had a serious boyfriend in high school, but we parted as friends after graduation. A few hookups at art school but no one I loved. No one who loved me back. And now I loved a man more than I’d ever loved anyone or anything. The other half of my soul.
I looked at Jimmy’s words, encased in a cheerful little blue bubble but crossed with the lightning bolts from my cracked screen.
Not whole. We’re both a little cracked and imperfect, but I love us.
I took a mental snapshot of Jimmy’s text and tucked my phone away.
“How are you today, sweetheart?” Gregory said when it was my turn to order. With his salt-and-pepper beard, he reminded me of my dad. “What’ll it be?”
“Two coffees. One black…”
“The other with, to quote you: a metric crap-ton of cream and sugar.” Gregory beamed, then cocked his head. “You okay?”
“Yeah, fine. I’m just sad to leave. Today’s our last day in New York.” The words pummeled me in the heart.
“That’s too bad,” he said as he busied himself with my order. “But all good things come to an end, right?”
I swallowed and nodded. “I don’t want to go back. I want a little more time.”
Gregory didn’t hear my whispered words or see me frantically blink the tears away. “Here you go.” He
handed me a tray with the cups of coffee lodged in the holders. “And here’s some extra cream and sugar for you.” He piled the packets between the cups.
I reached for the tray and he nodded his head at my arm.
“New tattoo?”
“Oh yeah,” I said. “I got it today.”
“This morning?” Gregory said, cocking his head. “Pretty early for tattoo guys to be up.”
“Oh, no, I mean yesterday.”
Was it yesterday? Or the day before?
“What’s it say?” He peered over the counter to read it. “Keep me safe.”
“It’s what Jimmy does.”
“You look a little pale,” Gregory said, frowning. “You sure you’re okay?”
I nodded. “I should go.”
“Well, it’s been a pleasure, young lady,” Gregory said. “Next time you’re in town, make sure to pop in.”
“I will.”
“Thea?”
I blinked. “Yeah?”
Gregory shifted and glanced at the line waiting behind me. “I need to serve the next customer, honey,” he said gently.
I glanced behind me, then at the tray of coffee in my hands, still outstretched over the counter. “Oh, right. Sorry. Bye.”
Tears threatened again for Gregory suddenly pushing me out the door.
He’s busy, that’s all. And you’re over-emotional.
I took the coffees outside, blinking hard at the sunlight that was relentlessly bright this morning. I went to the corner and hit the button to cross. The light was red, then turned green and a countdown of twenty seconds began to let pedestrians know how much time they had to cross.
“You waiting for a personal invite?” a man said, as he strode past me to cross the street.
I blinked. “What?”
The timer on the crosswalk was down to eight seconds. I hurried across and tried to calm my racing heart.
I lost twelve seconds?
“Not yet,” I murmured to myself, sucking in a deep breath. “It can’t be this fast.”
I crossed the hotel lobby that was mercifully dark and cool. I rode up to the sixteenth floor. No problem. No lost time. Outside our hotel room door, I took a final, steadying breath and keyed inside.
“Here you go,” I said, too loud and high-pitched.
I set the coffee tray down on the desk beside the window where Jimmy stood, wearing jeans and nothing else.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“You mean my gaping at you standing at the window, looking incredibly ripped and manly?”
He crossed his arms, his mouth grim.
I sighed. “You’re right. No bad jokes. I… I think I lost a few seconds. Twice. Once at the coffee shop and once crossing the street.”
Jimmy’s bare shoulders slumped, and his mouth parted, but he drew himself up quickly, mentally bracing himself.
“But I’m okay now,” I said. “I need to call Delia. Let her know the plan.”
I need to call her before I can’t remember what I wanted to say to her.
“I’m going to shower,” Jimmy said slowly. “Don’t…”
“Don’t wander out the door?” I smiled grimly. “I won’t. It might’ve been my imagination. Go. Shower. I’ll call my sister.”
He nodded and went to the bathroom, probably to take the fastest shower in human existence. I sat on the bed and called Delia.
She answered after one ring. “How are you?”
“I’m okay,” I said. “We need to talk.”
“When are you coming back? James said it would be today. Are you driving now?”
“You need to rescind the conservatorship or power of attorney or whatever hold you have over me.”
“We’re not talking about that now. You need to come back. Be safe—”
“I’m safe with Jimmy,” I said. “I’m coming back, but I swear to God, you cannot use your power to keep him away from Blue Ridge. Or wherever I end up. You cannot.”
She sighed. “Thea, just come back and we’ll talk about it.”
“We’ll talk now. I might not be around to talk to when I get back. Or maybe you’d prefer that?” I closed my eyes. “I’m sorry. I know you’re only looking out for me.”
“Has it started?” she asked, her voice gentle.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Does Dr. Chen know how long I have before I… go back?” I put my hand to my forehead, willing myself not to fall apart yet.
“No,” Delia said. “I asked her, but it’s been a disaster in Sydney. She’s trying to get as much info from Dr. Milton about the patients who survived.”
“Keep me posted,” I said. The water shut off in the bathroom. “We’re heading out soon. But we’re not racing back. We’re going to stop and have lunch and take our time.”
If I have time.
“Look, I think you need to go to a hospital. The patients who had strokes…”
“They were taking the Hazarin weeks ahead of me. I’m driving back with Jimmy and I’m not going to hear anything more about it. It’s horrible enough that I’m losing…”
Myself. My consciousness. Everything I built with Jimmy…
“But I mean it,” I added quickly, turning my back to the bathroom door. “If you care about me at all, you won’t keep Jimmy away from me. I came here of my own free will. Do you hear me? My own free will. I love him.”
The bathroom door opened, and Jimmy strode out in a towel. Relief so evident on his face, I guessed it was the last time he’d let me out of his sight.
“I gotta go,” I said. “I’ll call you from the road.” I ended the call and tossed my phone on the bed.
“How’d it go?” Jimmy asked, drawing on a pair of boxer briefs.
“I’m afraid she’s going to keep you away from me.”
“Let her try.” He yanked his jeans on.
“She can. You don’t work at Blue Ridge anymore. She might ban you from visiting and I won’t even know it. Or I will, but it’ll be buried where no one can hear me.”
Jimmy sat on the bed beside me. “I won’t let that happen.”
“You can’t stop her—”
He kissed me. “I don’t want you to worry about it.”
I did worry. I knew my Antony would fight Delia for me. He’d fight too hard and she’d have him arrested.
“It’s that damn conservatorship,” I said. “If I knew she didn’t have power over me, I’d feel a lot better about…”
Sliding back into oblivion?
I shuddered.
“There is a way we can take the power away from her,” Jimmy said slowly. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, actually.”
“A coup? A sneak attack? Put eyedrops in her coffee?”
“We get married.”
My eyes widened and my heart began to beat so loud, I could hardly hear myself.
“Married?”
“I don’t expect… I mean, it’s fast. I know that. But legally, she can’t keep me from seeing you if I’m your husband.”
My husband. Jim Whelan will be my husband. I’ll be his wife.
“You’d do that for me?”
“Of course, I would. It doesn’t have to be for real,” he added quickly. “If you don’t want it to be.”
I glanced down at the flowered bedspread, tracing a line of a lily. “What if I want it to be?”
A soft inhale of his breath. An exhale. “Do you?”
I nodded and raised my eyes to his. “I think I do, Jimmy. I’m never going to love anyone like I love you. Ever. I know that in my heart. My soul. But you’re right. It’s so fast and—”
“Then it’ll be real.” His fingers stroked my cheek. “Because I want that too. I love you, Thea. I’ll never love anyone else.”
My face crumpled as I kissed him, bittersweet happiness flooding me, followed by reality.
He’d visit me every day. Disrupt his life. Maybe not go back to school.
“Wait, Jimmy, we shouldn’t.” I held his hand in mine. “It’s not fair to
you. It’s not right to chain you to me like that. We have no idea how long it’ll take before Milton makes a new drug. Years, maybe. Or never.”
“I don’t care how long it takes.”
“I know you don’t, but I want to be your wife, not your job. I want you to go back to school. I want you to pursue your dreams. I want you to be a speech therapist who does open mic nights on weekends. I want you to have friends you can talk to about me. I want you to have a place you can go on Thanksgiving. I want you to have a life.”
Jimmy’s voice was low and steady, his gaze strong.
“I will. I’m going to take care of you, and I’m going to go out and build a life so you have a place to come back to when they find a new drug. When. You’re coming back, and I will be here the whole time, waiting and building. I’ll never give up on you. I’ll never leave you alone in the desert or sealed up in a tomb.”
He kissed me urgently, then slid off the bed, to get down on one knee.
“Oh my God,” I said. “You’re really doing it, aren’t you?”
He took my hands, a heartbreaking smile on his face.
“With no shirt on.” I was sniffing and laughing now. “That’s bribery.”
His expression became intense, his dark eyes holding mine.
“Althea Hughes,” he said, “will you m-m-marry me?”
His head bowed at hearing the stutter, and he murmured a curse. I lifted his chin in my palm.
“You stutter when it’s important,” I whispered, my eyes and heart full. “Yes, Jimmy. I’ll marry you. Nothing will make me happier than to marry you.” A watery laugh burst out of me. “I even have the white dress already.”
Now Jimmy laughed, and we kissed again. Happiness defeated fear, and we lingered in the victory as long as we could, kissing and holding each other until it seemed the ticking clock in the room grew louder and louder.
I showered while Jimmy looked up the requirements for getting married in New York State on his phone. I was lacing up the front of my white sundress when I heard him mutter a curse.
“We can get the marriage license today, but there’s a twenty-four-hour waiting period for the ceremony.”
“Do we need a ceremony?”
“The officiant has to sign the license for it to be legal.”
