Chapter Twenty-Five #2
“Well, you’re going to have to make apologies for inflicting that on me then,” she said, shaking her head in fake disappointment. “I can’t let it stand.”
“I’ve given you brandy to warm your belly and a bubble bath to warm your arm,” I reminded her, and she leaned back again with a satisfied smile. “I’m happy to add a massage to the mix if it pleases the queen.”
One eye popped open, and she drank me in. Her breasts floated lazily on the water, tempting me to reach out and cup them. “I’ll never turn down a massage after a warm bath. Unless you mean my arm, then I’ll pass.”
“Baby doll, I wasn’t thinking about your arm when I made that offer. I was thinking about your long, sweet neck, gorgeous back, tight backside, and long legs. Don’t even get me started on what I’d do if you were lying on that gorgeous back.”
“But do tell, Dr. Warren,” she said, lifting her eggnog to her lips again, taking a long gulp. Something told me she was out of her element doing this dance, but by God, she was sexy and didn’t even know it.
“Trust me when I say the person sitting across from you right now is not thinking about his medical degree.”
“A shame,” she said with a frown. “I was thinking about what those trained hands could do to my body to cause pleasure instead of pain.”
“Woman,” I said between clenched teeth. “It’s taking every ounce of willpower I have to sit here and not pull you onto my lap the way I’ve wanted since the first day I laid eyes on you.”
“The first day you laid eyes on me, I was sweaty, covered in taco grease, and wearing a t-shirt that said, Let’s taco ‘bout it.”
“You were,” I said with a smirk. “And you were still gorgeous.”
“Such a smooth talker,” she said, batting her eyelashes until I gripped her thighs and pulled her to me, my patience waning the longer we danced.
“When I was younger, I was known to smooth-talk my way into a woman’s pants, but now, what I say is what I feel because life is entirely too short to play games.”
“Good thing I’m not wearing any pants.” The thought alone made me moan in a way I didn’t even try to hide.
“I noticed that, and I can say, I’m a fan.”
“What are we doing here, Major?” she asked, her arms around my neck.
“Having a bath,” I answered, nuzzling her neck as I stroked slick hands up and down her back to wash it. The wind blew hard against the windowpanes, reminding me of the storm outside. “Sharing warmth.”
“No expectations?” she asked, and I buried my lips deeper in her neck as I exhaled, drawing goosebumps to her skin.
“None,” I assured her. “Other than sharing my heart with you.”
“Your heart?” I felt her breath hitch at the two words.
“You own it,” I said, leaning back to hold her gaze. Hers was smoky in the candlelight with a touch of fear around the edges. I didn’t know why, but I wanted nothing more than to blow it away.
“I own your heart?” she asked as though she either couldn’t believe that to be true or had misheard me.
“Since the day I met you, Jaelyn. Every time I started to question if I’d made the right choice moving to Bells Pass, you’d pop up and have dinner with me or offer a smile that kept me going until the next time.
I sought you out so we could spend time together, because when we did, all the noise in my head quieted.
In you, I found a little bit of peace. Then I was called into your hospital room and charged with fixing something inside you that was broken.
Never, in all my years as a doctor or any of the surgeries I’d performed, had I ever questioned my skills more or hesitated before every decision I made in the operating room as I did that night.
The idea of being the one to cause you pain made me want to vomit.
That’s when I knew every decision I made since I started high school as a fresh-faced twelve-year-old would lead me to you. ”
“You started high school at twelve?” she asked, her eyes wide. “I mean, I knew you were smart, but—”
“But so are you, even if you’re missing the point.”
“Your point is that I healed you more than you healed me.”
“As I said, smart,” I agreed with a nod. “I’ll always carry the evidence of how broken I was, but for the first time in nine years, I feel whole again.”
“I noticed the scars,” she said, tracing a large one that ran across my abdomen. “I thought only your leg had been injured, but now I know the truth. You were a hero that day in so many ways.”
“Just a guy who was still breathing with enough skills to make sure others did too,” I said with a shrug of my shoulder. “I didn’t save them all.”
“But they saved you,” she whispered, placing a soft kiss on my lips.
“No, you saved me. Sometime between making out in the middle of a field of trees and watching you love a baby I wished was my own, I had a moment of clarity. That was when I couldn’t deny the truth to myself any longer. I’ve fallen completely in love with you, Jaelyn Riba.”
“You love me?” she stuttered, the words whispered in such disbelief that it broke my heart.
Tucking a stray hair behind her ear, I smiled.
I hoped it said she was safe with me. I hoped it said it was okay to feel vulnerable and unsure.
“I do, and I understand that you may not feel the same way. It’s okay not to know how you feel or be afraid of how you feel.
I’m not telling you this to make you uncomfortable or to push you into doing or saying something you aren’t ready for.
I’m telling you this because I believe in honesty and open communication. ”
She held my gaze for so long without saying a word, all I could think was that I’d scared her or pushed her too far. When a tear dropped from one eye and made its way down her cheek, the eggnog swirled roughly in my gut. I swiped the tear away with my thumb, leaving behind a rivulet of bath water.
“Don’t cry. There’s no pressure here. If you don’t feel the same way, that’s okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Wrapping her in my arms, I leaned back, letting her lean against my chest as I slid lower into the water to keep her warm.
When she gazed up at me, the fear was gone.
There was nothing there but a pair of clear, shining brown eyes and a smile that released some of the tension in my chest. “I wasn’t crying because you said you love me,” she whispered, resting her warm, wet hand against my chest. “I was crying because the moment you said the words, I wanted to say them right back, which answered the do I or don’t I scenario running through my head since this morning at the farm. ”
“Which way were you leaning?” I asked, my hand cupping her bottom to hold her steady. I forced my concentration on her and not on the soft, tight flesh against my palm.
“Do I. Hence, the suggestion we take a bath together,” she admitted with a shrug.
“Stripped bare, there’s nothing to hide behind.
It occurred to me that there are only two people who truly matter when it comes to my feelings for you.
You and me. That’s not going to change, no matter what.
Long before you said those three words, all the little things you do for me showed me your heart.
I love you, too, Major. I was just too afraid to admit it and risk having my heart broken. ”
“Sweet, Jaelyn. I think I just got my Christmas miracle,” I whispered, lowering my head to kiss her.
The first kiss that didn’t hide my true feelings for her.
“The only two people I care about are in this room. No one else. If anyone, and I mean anyone, tells you they have a problem with us, encourage them to say that to my face because it will not go well for them.”
Her smile was pure innocence and bliss. “Something tells me you’re a lover and not a fighter, Major.”
“Never have I been happier to tell a woman she’s right,” I admitted. “But I am known for banging out a strongly worded email.”
Her snort of laughter was everything. “So gallant. Now, please, would you stop talking and make love to me?”
The breath I was inhaling froze in my chest. “You want me to make love to you?”
“If you don’t, I might combust from pure sexual frustration,” she admitted, her hand slipping between our wet bodies to encourage my participation in the movement toward making love.
Spoiler alert, I didn’t need much encouragement.
The groan of pure pleasure escaped in a way that said she had all the control, and she knew it.
Before I could stop her, she ducked under the water and wrapped her warm lips around me, leaving me utterly thoughtless.
When the woman wanted something, she went for it. That much was clear.
My body tightened, coiled, and shook with the warring sensation of the water, her heat, and the feel of her hands on my hips. If she kept this up, I would be a limp noodle in thirty seconds. Gently, I lifted her from the water, and she came up with a gasp and a naughty smile on her lips.
“Here ends my willpower,” I growled, attacking her lips in a hungry kiss that surely told her the plans that lay ahead.
First, I had to get out of this tub and to the bed without burning into ash.
“Bed. Now.” I moaned the two words as she pressed her soft belly against my hardness created by her, for her.
“Here. Now,” she moaned back until I lifted my head in surprise.
“I don’t want the first time we make love to be a quickie in a tub. I want it to be slow so I can see every inch of your beautiful skin.”
“Who said it has to be a quickie just because we’re in a tub?” Her smile was naughty as she gripped me in her hand, ensuring that all sensible thoughts disappeared from my brain. “We’ll have time for slow and sensual later.”
“I knew I loved you, but you’re so damn sexy I can’t think straight.” That’s when the pail of cold water hit me. “I don’t have any condoms.”
“Don’t need them,” she said, kissing her way down my neck and across my collarbone. “I’m on the pill. Haven’t missed one in twelve years. I’ll do the heavy lifting.”
“Baby doll, that’s the sexiest thing anyone has ever said to me,” I whispered against her lips.
Her tongue darted out to trace mine, so while she was distracted, I gently pulled her over me and slid inside her, stilling the moment her gasp filled the room.
Holding her hips, I fought against her desire to move until she moaned low in her throat.
“Let me go,” she cried.
“Shh,” I whispered, hushing her. “Relax into me.” It was an order more than a suggestion, and she lowered herself to my chest, her bottom pushing outward with the movement, which drew a more prolonged moan from her.
“This is the moment that changes us. Where we become one in heart, body, and soul. Don’t rush it.
Savor it.” I planted kisses across her forehead, holding her tight to my groin while she buried her hands in my hair.
Need built inside her, but still, I waited.
My one goal was to prove to her that she was the only woman I’d ever make love to again.
“Do you feel that?” I asked, and she nodded, her whimper spiking my skyrocketing need.
“Love in its purest form,” I whispered before I released her hips and attacked her lips with the urgency of a drowning man.