The thought caused him a moment of pause. He’d never gone without protection. Not even while married because Carol hadn’t wanted to go on the pill. Something about weight gain and risks that he didn’t understand. And since he’d never even come close to having the children conversation with her, he’d always worn condoms.
But now…
Josie drew away then rolled over onto her back, placing her legs on either side of his as she gazed up at him.
And in that one moment, Drew knew that he’d be the luckiest man in the world if the woman, this woman, who had rocked his life to the core, would be the mother of his child.
When he reentered, he didn’t turn away, didn’t mask his emotions, and he met hers head-on.
A FEW HOURS LATER, Josie roused from a light sleep, her bottom snuggled against Drew’s hip where he lay on his back next to her. A few of the candles had burned themselves out, leaving the room dimmer than it had been earlier. But the light that filled her was more than enough compensation.
She’d never experienced before what they’d shared tonight. Now she understood what it meant to truly make love. And she wondered how anyone could ever compare cold, emotionless sex with what she and Drew had just shared.
The scent of their mixed passion filled her senses and her chest felt as if it were packed with cotton batting, as weightless as a cloud. Longing and need filled her on an emotional level as powerfully as physical desire, and she was loath to examine it too closely for fear that it might vanish.
She heard Drew’s even breathing catch, then he rolled over, placing his front against her back. Her womanhood was swollen to almost the point of pain from his passionate attentions, but that didn’t stop her from wanting him all over again.
She turned and slid her right leg over his, rubbing herself wantonly against his growing arousal. His hand moved over her stomach, causing her to catch her breath as his fingers burrowed into her curls and fondled her at the same time as he entered her again.
Heat spread through her limbs, and she tilted her hips back and forth in time with his leisurely strokes, his fingers keeping pace against her. She reached down between them and caressed his balls, pressing them against her clit then encircling the base of his penis as he entered her then exited.
She loved every moment of their joining. It fascinated her. He fascinated her. She didn’t think she would ever tire of discovering the things that mildly stimulated him and the ones that shoved him right over the edge. While she enjoyed touching their joined parts, following the movements, he liked to watch. She thought of climbing back on top of him so he could do just that when a sudden climax caught her off guard. He came at the same time she did.
He slowly stroked her until her spasms subsided, drawing her closer against him, despite the heat.
“Water,” he whispered against her ear. “I need water.”
She moved to get up.
“No. You stay here. I’ll go get it.”
She lay back, lazily watching as he got up and his tight butt disappeared into the connecting bath. A moment later he came back out with a towel secured around his hips, grinning her way, then going out into the hall through the drawing room. Soon thereafter, she heard his footfalls on the steps.
Josie closed her eyes and realized she was smiling. She idly drew her fingertips along the length of her stomach, then back again, then trailed a path to her own womanhood. She wanted to cup herself, as if the action could somehow trap Drew’s sperm inside her.
She stretched her neck. Is this what her grandmother and mother had done with their lovers when they’d conceived? Had they been with men they loved, but knew they couldn’t have except in one important way? Had they thrown caution to the wind, praying for a child out of the most moving experience of their lives?
The thought that Drew’s sperm was even now making its way toward one of her eggs made her chest feel lighter still.
A sound made her open her eyes.
Only it wasn’t Drew standing gazing at her from the open doorway.
It was Philippe.
19
DREW WASN’T SURE what had hit him. All he knew was that when he opened a bleary eye, he was lying facedown first on the kitchen floor, the tile cool against his cheek.
He felt the back of his head, his fingers coming away with dark liquid. Damn, but that hurt.
He attempted to get up, only to feel the floor shift under him again and force him back down. Oh, boy. This wasn’t good. He remembered the open front door.
Josie…
JOSIE WAS INSTANTLY AWARE of how open she was to the man looking at her as if he had a right to. Her legs were spread, her breasts bare.
She quickly lifted to a sitting position and pulled the top sheet to cover herself.
“Philippe! What are you doing here?”
She smoothed her hand over her hair, looking around.
“Has something happened? Is something wrong?”
He hadn’t answered her and his silence made her heartbeat kick up a notch.
She started to get up from the bed, suddenly not comfortable in the prone position while he continued to look at her. “Jesus, Philippe, what’s going on?”
Before she could stand, he was knocking her back down on the bed.
Josie gasped, struggling to turn to face him, but he seemed just as determined to keep her facedown, his weight threatening against her.
“You just wouldn’t do what I wanted you to do, would you, Josie?” he asked, his voice low and menacing.
Fear quick and sure spread through her with alarming rapidity.
“What are you talking about?” She fought to keep the panic out of her voice. “Philippe, let me go, for God’s sake.”
He chuckled into her ear but there was no humor in the sound. “Oh, no, Josie. You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.”
She felt the evidence of his arousal against her bottom. Bile rose up in her throat.
“I…I don’t understand,” she said. “What have you asked me to do that I didn’t do?” She knew she was grasping at straws, but she needed to understand why someone she had thought her friend was attacking her in her own bed.
She thought of Drew down in the kitchen. Surely, he should have returned by now. Had Philippe done something-
“You wouldn’t sell the Josephine.”
The warmth disappeared from Josie’s blood.
“That’s right. That’s the whole reason I was here. Why I ever took a job in this godforsaken place. I was hired to convince you to sell to Dick Rove.”
The name on the envelopes that arrived every week like clockwork.
“But no, you wouldn’t listen to reason. Even as you sank deeper into debt, you held on to this hole-in-the-wall dump.”
He moved to strip the sheet from her body while still holding her down.
“God damn it, Philippe, what are you doing?” She thrashed against him, alarm growing. “You’re gay.”
Again the laugh.
“Rape is about power, Josie. Not sex.” She fought to hold on to the sheet as he struggled to take it from her. “Not that I am gay, mind you. I just knew that when Samuel died, you would be leery of strangers. An easygoing gay guy who still lived with his mother seemed to be just what you were in the market for.” His words sounded closer to her ear. “Well, I don’t live with my mother. And, as you’re about to find out, I’m not gay.”
Josie wasn’t capable of hearing his words. She was all too aware that she was losing the battle with the sheet and that given his larger size and greater strength, she would be no match against him.
He shoved her face into the linens and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to think about how he was about to sully the beauty of what she and Drew had spent the night doing.
Blindly, she reached a hand out in front of herself. Her heart filled with hope when she felt the edge of the end table, then the base of a candleholder. Grasping it, and praying that the wick was still burning, she swung it in his direction.