“Better let
me take a look at your stitches.”
She tipped her head forward and he gently parted her hair. His fingers were light and deft. The most pressure she felt was his breath against her scalp.
“Everything looks all right.”
“I washed around it.”
Reede stepped away, but continued to look at her. She looked back. They stayed that way for a very long, silent time. Eventually, in a low, rough voice, Reede said, “Better take your pill.”
She turned toward the sink and filled his toothbrush glass with tap water. She shook a tablet from the plastic bottle, tossed it back, and took a long drink. As she was bringing her head forward, she caught his eyes in the mirror. She replaced the snap-on lid of the pill bottle and turned, drying her mouth on the back of her hand.
Inexplicably, and totally unexpectedly, tears formed in her eyes. “I know you don’t regard me too highly, Reede, but you must know how terrible I feel about what Judge Wallace did.” Her lower lip began to tremble; her voice became husky with emotion. “It was awful, horrible.”
She stepped toward him, put her arms around his waist, and laid her cheek against his chest. “Be kind for once and just hold me. Please.”
He groaned her name and curled his arm around her waist. His other hand cradled the back of her head to hold her face against his chest. He massaged her scalp soothingly and pressed soft kisses on her brow. At the first touch of his lips, she tilted her head up. She kept her eyes closed, but she could feel the heat of his gaze on her face.
His lips brushed hers, and when hers separated, he murmured another low groan and kissed her deeply. His hands sifted through her wet hair, then caressed her neck.
“Touch me again, Reede,” she pleaded.
He unbuttoned the pajama top, then slid his hands inside it, encircling her body and drawing it up high against him. His shirt lightly rubbed against her nipples. She felt the cold bite of his belt buckle on her bare belly and the bulge of his fly nudging her mound as it nestled in the soft hair between her thighs.
Each sensation was more electrifying than the last. She wanted to savor each one individually, but the combination of them was too immense and overwhelming for her to concentrate. Every blood vessel in her body expanded with passion. She was inundated with him.
Suddenly, he moved away from her. She looked up at him, bewildered, wide-eyed, and already feeling the loss. “Reede?”
“I have to know.”
“What?”
“Have you been to bed with Junior?”
“I don’t have to answer that.”
“Yes, you do,” he said resolutely. “If you want this to go one step further, you do. Have you been to bed with Junior?”
Desire won out over pride. She shook her head and gave him a soft, whispery answer. “No.”
After several ponderous seconds, he said, “Okay, then, this time we’re going to do it right.”
Taking her hand, he led her into the living room, which surprised her because the bed had been turned down while she was in the shower. In the living room, the only light was from the fire burning in the fireplace. He had already made up the couch for himself, but he whipped the bedding off now and spread it out on the floor in front of the hearth. She knelt on the pallet while he calmly began to undress.
His boots, socks, shirt, and belt were cast aside with dispatch. Alex, acting on impulse, moved aside his hands when they went to undo his fly. Slowly, her fingers pushed the stubborn metal buttons through the holes. When all were undone, she opened the wedge wider, leaned forward and kissed him.
Groaning, Reede gently cupped her head between his hands. Her mouth opened warmly and wetly over his belly, just below his navel. “That’s my favorite thing,” he rasped.
Sliding her hands into the back of his jeans, she eased them over his buttocks, while her lips continued to whisk airy, breathy kisses over his lower body. Finally, her tongue glanced the tip of his penis.
“Stop, Alex. Stop,” he moaned. “That’s killing me, baby.”
Quickly, he stepped out of the jeans and kicked them aside. Naked, he was tall and rangy and rugged, the appendectomy scar only one of many.
His body hair caught the glow of the fire. It showed up as a golden fuzz over his tanned skin, except around his sex, where it was dark and dense. Lean muscles rippled with each movement.
“Get out of that goddamn pajama top before I tear it off.”