Megan’s heart broke all over again, this time for a little boy who’d had his mother ripped from his life far too soon. She instinctively hugged her belly.
Jack suddenly flopped onto his back, throwing his arms wide. “You might as well have your wicked way with me. I promise not to wake up until it’s over,” he said, closing his eyes and letting out a loud snore.
Now? He expected them to make love now, after practically bringing her to tears? Megan crawled back into bed and snuggled up against him with a sigh. She was going to have to sit this man down for a good talk one of these days, and explain that sad tales of his childhood were not exactly a turn-on.
He gently pushed her shoulder. “Hey, I thought we were going to make love.”
“I’ve changed my mind.”
He pushed her again, a little harder this time. “You can’t just change your mind for no reason.” His pushing hand started caressing her arm. “I thought you were horny.”
“I was, until you started talking about your childhood.”
He was silent for several seconds; then she yelped in surprise when he gently spun her around, picked her up, and sat her straddling his hips. “I’ve had a wonderful life, Megan. And now it’s time we start making our baby’s childhood just as memorable,” he said, kissing her deeply.
Oh, what the heck. They were both naked, they were in a cozy little nest in front of a roaring fire, and Jack was obviously ready. So why not?
He started chuckling—while he was kissing her!—and Megan sat up with a growl. “Now what?” she snapped.
“I was just thinking this has got to be the longest foreplay in the history of our relationship.”
“Foreplay? You call the last hour foreplay?” She wanted to smack him, but she pointed her finger at his face instead. “You are one second away from taking another swim in the lake, buster. Do you think you can possibly stay focused for ten minutes so we can actually do this?”
“Ten?” he repeated in surprise. “All this work for ten measly minutes?” He grabbed her pointing finger, gently bucking her off him and turning so he was looming over her. “I’ll tell you what. You can have your ten minutes, but then I’m taking another…” He cocked his head in thought. “Another thirty minutes for myself.” He lowered his mouth to within inches of hers. “You want to go first, or shall I?” he whispered, inching even closer but not quite touching her lips, apparently waiting for her answer.
Megan reached down and wrapped her fingers intimately around him, grinning when he jerked in surprise. “I’ll go first.” She used her other hand to push his shoulder, sending him onto his back, and rolled with him until she was once again straddling his thighs. “Pay attention and see if you can’t learn a little something about foreplay, will you?”
“Yes ma’am!” he said in a half-shout when she started fondling him in earnest.
She lovingly tortured him for several minutes, until she could see beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead and the cords in his neck bulging. Deciding he was one second away from losing control when his hands balled into fists at his sides, Megan finally took pity. She wiggled forward until she was directly over him, braced her hands on his sweating chest, then gently lowered herself down over his shaft.
They both moaned, the sound mingling with the crackling fire to drift off into the stillness of the night. “Oh God, that feels good,” she whispered, moving slowly as she adjusted to the fullness, then quickening the tempo. “It’s been way, way too long,” she ended with another moan.
His hands went to her hips, his fingers gently kneading her flesh as he slowed her motions, moving his own hips to alter his angle and depth. His actions increased her pleasure, and Megan tilted back her head and closed her eyes, savoring the feel of him moving inside her. He brought one hand to her feminine center and used his thumb to caress her sensitive bud while he continued to guide her gentle rocking.
“Go on, sweetheart,” he softly petitioned. “That’s my girl. Go visit our beautiful place.”
Megan felt herself tightening, spiraling inward, deep into the depths of the magical place he always took her. She crested with a shout of release, her entire body convulsing in waves of blinding heat. Time stopped and the physical world receded as she floated in a wondrous landscape of colorful, energized light.
“Come back to me, Megan,” she heard from a distance. “That’s it, sweetheart, come back so we can go there together.”
Megan suddenly found herself back in Jack’s embrace; he was stroking her hair, gentling her with soothing whispers as wave after wave of energy continued pulsing through her.
“That’s my girl,” he whispered in her ear. Megan realized he was sitting up, she was still straddling him, and he was still embedded deeply inside her. “Was it as beautiful as ever?” he asked, calming her with caresses to her body and tender kisses to her face.
“You weren’t there with me.”
“I’ll go with you next time, I promise.”
He lifted her off him, then turned them both until she was lying on the sleeping bag. Kneeling between her legs, he pulled her backside up onto his thighs, and Megan realized that the baby wasn’t in his way in this position.
He slowly entered her, his gaze locked on her face with such intensity, waves of heated awareness washed through her again. “Beautiful Megan,” he whispered, slipping deeply inside her, then pulling nearly out, then sliding even deeper. “I see our magical place every time I look in your eyes.”
She reached out, wanting to hold him, but he took her hands and set them over her head, wrapping her fingers around a fir bough. “Lie still,” he tenderly commanded, grasping her hips, “and let me watch you blossom. I’ll go with you this time, I promise.”
He set a gentle and thoroughly mesmerizing rhythm, and Megan felt herself focusing inward again, sensing she wasn’t alone this time. Jack definitely was present; she could feel the power of his energy threatening to take her into a storm of such intensity that she cried out.
“Shhh,” he soothed, even as he quickened his pace. “You can let go, sweetheart. You’re always safe when you’re with me,” he said, touching her intimately as he continued his gentle assault. “Come with me,” he commanded, thrusting deeper.
The storm he had conjured sucked her into its swirling vortex, and Megan was suddenly floating through a wondrous landscape of shimmering light. And this time Jack was right beside her as they explored the beautiful world together. The colors were intensified tenfold, the warmth more penetrating, the sense of wonder intoxicating.
“We can’t stay,” Jack whispered, cupping her head in his hands and kissing her deeply. “We’ll come back again soon, I promise. But you need to sleep now.”
She reluctantly let him lead her back, not wanting to leave such euphoric beauty where she felt so warm and safe—and so loved. She yawned, cuddling into his embrace.
“That’s it, little one, let me hold you in my arms. Dream with me, Megan, and let me introduce you to our son.”
She snuggled against him with a sigh of profound contentment. She didn’t know how he did it, but every time they made love, he carried her off to this beautiful place that existed only when she was with him, and then she would wake up in his arms, feeling utterly and completely loved. It had happened the very first time they’d made love, and had only intensified over the next month. If she didn’t know better, she might wonder if Jack really did possess some sort of magical power that…
A beautiful woman suddenly stepped out of the shimmering ether, carrying a baby in her arms.
Chapter Seventeen
I t was just breaking dawn when Megan opened her eyes to find herself wrapped up like a mummy in the sleeping bag. The fire was roaring, her clothes were in a pile beside her, and Jack was nowhere to be found. He’d left a beer bottle full of water next to her clothes, along with a power bar—which meant he’d had at least one more stashed someplace yesterday.