Chapter 19
Chelsea put as much energy, effort, frustration, caring, and need into that kiss as she could. As soon as she released the pressure and let him sit back, she whispered, “Surely you don’t need a more detailed explanation than that.”
His voice thick, he murmured as he pulled her up into his arms. “No, I don’t think so.”
When he kissed her back, the kiss curled her toes and made her body sing, as she fully realized that he wanted her as much as she wanted him.
When he could, he took a deep breath and dropped his head against her forehead.
She grumbled, as she said, “Don’t even ask.”
“Don’t even ask what?”
“If I’m serious, if it’s bad timing, if it’s, … if maybe we should wait,” she whispered in his ear. “No, no, no—and no to anything else you are thinking that forms that frown you’re wearing.”
He quickly sat back, and there was that frown she was talking about. He slowly closed his mouth and then shrugged. “I was trying to give you a chance, trying to be good about it.”
“Don’t bother,” she muttered, as she slipped her arms up and around his neck again. “I’m stressed, and I’m tired, but I do know my own mind. And it would be insulting to say anything other than that.”
“I would never want to insult you,” he stated solemnly.
She grinned. “Smart man.”
He laughed, stood up, and announced, “But I’m wearing too many clothes.”
“You are at that,” she murmured. “So maybe you better do something about it.”
He pulled the T-shirt up over his head and within moments had his body completely bare and available. Then he turned to her and pointed. “And then there’s you.”
She nodded. “And then there’s me.” She lifted her nightgown up over her head, still sitting there, still in bed but only wearing the briefest of panties.
His breath let out in a gust of air. “Dear God.”
She smiled up at him. “Well, I hope that’s a good thing.”
“Yeah, … it is,” he murmured as he shifted, pulling the blanket back so they had loads of room. “You can’t imagine how much I’ve thought of this.”
“Oh, I think maybe I can,” she murmured, “because it’s been the same for me.” She propped herself up. “It just seems like such a long time ago.”
“Well, for me it has been,” he murmured. “Nothing like getting broken up and having to recover from a hard time to make you realize that you’re not exactly in the same condition you were in before.”
“I don’t particularly care what condition you were in before,” she replied immediately. “And I can see that you’re battle-scarred, but I’m quite surprised that you are all there.”
He laughed. “I don’t have quite the same body parts missing that some of the guys have,” he shared, “but I do still have a missing foot.” And he lifted up his leg with the prosthetic.
“Oh wow, I didn’t even realize. I knew you had a prosthetic from a conversation I overheard but never knew the details.”
“I know, and that’s okay.” He smiled. “I can certainly live with half a foot, versus the injuries some of my friends are dealing with.”
“Of course,” she nodded. “It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it?”
“We all went through hell together,” he noted. “Oddly enough, learning to walk again with half a foot was brutal. You don’t realize how the bones articulate and work together to make a smooth transition in your body from one step to the next, until you lose part of one.”
“Exactly,” she exclaimed. “My nurse’s training got into some of that—not anywhere near like what you’ve had to experience—but the importance of all the individual parts and pieces, no matter how obscure, which make the body function as designed is pretty amazing.
I’m sorry for all the hell you’ve been through,” she added, her hand stroking his legs, seeing the huge scars that crisscrossed his thighs.
“I can’t even imagine what all these are from. ”
“Those,” he said, “were mostly surgeries, trying to put body parts back together. I’ve got pins in my legs, and a steel rod that goes down my femur. I’ve got all kinds of metal inside and make the airport metal detectors go off like crazy all the time.”
She smiled. “Well, that’s their problem,” she declared. “I can’t imagine that they care, as long as you have whatever they need to confirm it’s all nonlethal.”
“Yeah, they treat us vets pretty decently,” he told her, with a wry smile.
“Good,” she murmured. “I would be absolutely furious if anybody didn’t understand.”
“Well, people are still people,” he pointed out.
She grimaced. “And I don’t particularly like a lot of people,” she began, “but that is not today’s discussion.” She slid down the bed. “Now that you’re undressed, I would think that we have much better things to do than talk about that.”
He gave a warm chuckle, then stretched out alongside her. “Do you want the prosthetic on or off?”
“I don’t care,” she muttered, nudging ever closer to him.
“Body parts are body parts. So you tell me where you’re the happiest. That’s all I care about.
If you’re comfortable like this, it’s fine.
If you prefer to take it off, that’s fine too.
” She pulled his head down to hers, and, just before she kissed him again, she muttered, “I just want you.”
He closed his eyes, and she could see the relief on his face as he believed her.
She smiled, kissed him gently once, twice, then she pulled him into a deeper hug and now on top of her.
He gave a chuckle, his lips still tight against hers, and she smiled up against his, feeling their lips curve against each other, absolutely loving every minute of it.
“You are one in a million,” he murmured.
“Nope,” she countered, “I’m just me.”
He wrapped his arms around her, then shifted his weight so he was alongside her. Skin to skin, warmth and heat pulsating against each other. He let a finger drift down between her plump breasts, leaning over to taste one particularly tantalizing morsel, before letting his finger trail down farther.
Following the trail of his finger every step of the way, she moaned at his easy ministrations, loving the feel of him, loving that they had this time together.
Even if a sniper was out there who might even know her name, right now at this moment she didn’t care.
It was all about the two of them—having this time together, taking this next step in their relationship, being who they needed to be in the moment.
When he slipped a finger just inside the tiny panties she wore, her body shuddered in response. He shifted up ever-so-slightly and kissed her, a deep, warming, heart-wrenching kiss that had her sagging as soon as he lifted his head. “Your kisses are deadly,” she murmured.
“Good,” he muttered, his voice thick as he slid that finger deeper underneath the panties, to her already moistened skin. “I am not against your thinking that.” He slowly slid his body down until he could take one nipple, and he suckled it deep.
Inside, her muscles clenched in response to that strong pull.
She groaned, shifted beneath him, moving his hand where she wanted it, bringing her body closer, lower, so that he would slide atop of her, but he held back.
He resisted giving her what she was looking for, and yet she couldn’t stop trying.
She couldn’t stop trying to satisfy that growing need inside her.
When he finally disposed of her panties, she opened her thighs wide and murmured, “You could stop teasing me now.”
“I could,” he murmured, as he shifted a little higher to give her a kiss. “But I don’t really want this moment to end.”
“No, I don’t either but—”
“I know,” he murmured gently against her lips. “There’s also that need.”
He placed her fingers up against his shaft, and she shuddered, feeling his own need, his own desire, knowing it was there, it was for her, and that absolutely nothing was stopping the two of them right now.
She shifted lower so he was in a better position to access her thighs and tried to pull him atop her once more.
He chuckled. “So impatient.”
“Yes,” she agreed immediately. “Impatient for you, and I don’t want to be teased right now.”
“Right now,” he repeated, tilting his head with a cheeky grin on his face. “Does that mean you’re okay to be teased later?”
“Maybe,” she whispered, “maybe later. I’m not making a promise on that, but just not right now.” With that, she started to gently bump her hips up against his.
He groaned, feeling her own need pushing against his. He slid almost where she wanted him, and he whispered, “We could draw this out.”
“We could, and we will … next time.”
He gave a shout of laughter and slid home. She arched beneath him, crying out. He stilled, and she shook her head. “No, you’re not hurting me. Just, … oh my God, whatever you do, don’t stop. It feels so good. Do not stop.”
He slowly started to move, his strokes stronger and stronger, but when he shifted his position, she cried out in frustration, thinking he was pulling back.
He kissed her deeply, his tongue crashing deep inside her mouth, whispering, “It’s okay.
Take it easy.” But she was almost in tears as she couldn’t handle her own body as it twisted higher and higher with want, until finally something yielded inside him.
Then he moved faster and faster until he couldn’t stop, and she came apart in his arms. The feeling, the tension, everything swirling around her, made it hard for her to even breathe.
She held him close as he finished and collapsed beside her.
She just held him tightly, knowing that this had been one of the most special moments she’d ever experienced, and she didn’t want it to end at all.
When he opened his eyes and looked down at her, he frowned, stroking away tears from her cheeks.
She smiled. “That was beautiful, absolutely beautiful.”
He nuzzled her cheek gently, his lips moving across her temple, soaking up the tears that she hadn’t even realized still streamed down her face.
She wrapped her arms around him and whispered, “I’m so glad we finally got here.”