“I wouldn’t have forgiven myself, Micah. I’m yours, forever.” Just as I finished saying what was supposed to be a romantic statement, my stomach growled loudly. I laughed, “Time to feed the baby; he doesn’t like it when I skip meals.”
“Stay put,” he stated, leaning over and kissing my forehead, “I’ll fix you something.”
I listened to his clatter in the kitchen, the scents and the sounds of breakfast as he prepared it. I was starving, but I rolled to my side and grabbed the pillow he’d used last night and I inhaled with all the power my lungs possessed. Oh, how I missed the smell of Micah Gavarreen.
I dozed off for a little while, but soon he was whispering my name as I rolled over and sat up. He had the breakfast tray prepared for two as he reached over with his free hand and propped the pillows against the headboard.
He scrambled eggs and added ham, fresh mushrooms, onions, and cheese to make an omelet. He filled two wine glasses with orange juice, and found the mammoth cinnamon rolls I bought at the market yesterday. It didn’t take long to finish everything off as we leaned together, shoulder to shoulder, and ate. The roll was the last to go. Since they were so large, he only brought one and had cut it in half. It was delicious, and I could have eaten the entire thing, but I peeled it off in half-moon rings feeding a strip to him and then a strip to me until it vanished.
Micah didn’t bring a napkin, but he took my sticky, cinnamon bun fingers and placed them slowly, one at a time between is lips and suckled each one clean. It tickled so badly I could barely take it, but it was so unique that I had to do it to him. I took his hand and pulled his index finger across the icing that was left on the plate and then placed his finger in my mouth and slowly clean the sweetness from his skin. He closed his eyes, his breathing becoming faster as I began to repeat the process with his icing-free fingers. He was starting to moan and I knew it wouldn’t be long before the tray would be moved and he would have me in those strong arms.
“Drink your juice,” he said with a deep quality to his voice as he pulled his hand away.
I did as told and placed the empty glass back on the tray. He was being so slow and purposeful as he sipped his drink.
I took the glass away from him and downed the juice. “Move the tray,” I told him as I began to unbutton my blouse.
Instead he rose up, lifting the tray from the bed and left the room. I could hear him in the kitchen rinsing the dishes, but that didn’t matter because it gave me enough time to prepare for him to return. When he stepped into the doorway, I had removed my clothes and was laying on top of the comforter and wondering if he found me to still be attractive with the change to my anatomy. One thing was certain, my breasts felt as if pregnancy had double them in size. He wouldn’t leave the doorway and I wondered if he disliked my nude appearance. I began to feel unsure under his gaze.
“If you don’t like the way I’m-I’m shaped now, I can get under the covers.”
“Leese, you’re perfect-absolutely stunning pregnant. It’s me.”
“Please, Micah. Take off your clothes and get in this bed with me. I need you so much.”
He sighed and approached me, “How can you want me?”
“You’ve got to stop asking yourself how and start realizing why: I love you. I’ve loved you since I started falling for you in Pensacola. I loved you in Louisiana and I loved you in Palm Beach. I loved you in Georgia, and Colorado Springs and even in L.A. Why be surprised that I love you here in California?”
I reached up and began undoing his shirt and suddenly he was over me, frightening me to retreat among the pillows.
“But you’re afraid of me,” he confirmed as he held me in his steady, green gaze.
“Yes, I am. But you’re going to change all that right now. I only have one request,” I said with a shaky voice as I continued opening his shirt.
“Tell me, baby,” he breathed.
“Don’t bite me.” He used to bite me gently and it felt wonderful, but since the attack the idea of his teeth on my skin terrified me, “You left a couple scars the last time.”
“Show me,” he whispered.
I rolled my right shoulder forward and showed him the fine pink crescent and then over my left toward the back of the base of my neck resided its twin. He moved to come up behind me as he brought his mouth to cover the spot on my neck. He kissed it so gently and let his tongue roam over the reminder of what had been so violent between us. He kissed and caressed all the way to the mark on the right and repeated it with deliberate slowness. He lowered me back onto the pillows and then stood and finished removing his clothes. He gathered me against himself slowly as I gasped at the warmth of skin on skin.
I never had experienced such deliberation, not even on our wedding night. It was incredible as he stripped away the painful memories of our last encounter and filled me with more desire and need than I knew existed in the human body. The doctor had been right. Every touch, every kiss, the scent of his skin, and the taste of his tongue against mine was magnified to a place beyond my comprehension.
His body joined with mine and took me on the longest building, gradual ascent to climax I’d experienced. I tried to raise my hips to quicken his stroke, but he wouldn’t permit it as he brought me there at his intentional pace. I don’t know what I was saying by the point I reached the top, but I was loud and breathless as we crested.
What amazed me, as we lay locked in the lover’s embrace was that, even lying on me, he never lowered his weight. It was as if he was floating gently at the point of skin to skin contact. The baby moved and I heard Micah’s mirth as he felt it against his own stomach. “I think he wants his space back,” he snickered against my neck, but then he pulled back slightly and stared into my eyes. “I love you with all my heart, Annalisa,” he said, kissing my neck once again and then rising to his feet. “Is your shower big enough for two? I’d love to wash you and then tuck you into bed.”
“You have no idea how good that sounds to me, right now.” It was mid-afternoon when we finally snuggled into the bed in our favorite position, but this time his arm was across my hip so as not to crowd the baby. We didn’t wake until sunrise the following morning. He rolled out and said he was making breakfast, again.
“You’re going to spoil me,” I teased.
He turned and looked at me very seriously, “I owe you a lifetime of spoiling.”
“I accept,” I giggled. “Oh, but man, I’ve got to go pee!”
I came out of the bathroom and heard him on his cell phone as he prepared breakfast.
“…yes, all of you,” he was saying. “Do you think I’d ask if it wasn’t important? Tomorrow morning at Dad’s casino-by ten a.m. Yes, it does and you’ve got to hear it.” He hung up and then turned to me. “Leese, I didn’t ask you, but we need to meet with my family. We can fly there in a couple hours, or we can drive there in about eleven, but I’d like to eventually get you back home. I’ve talked to your mom a couple times and, unless she’s as good at hiding things as you are, she doesn’t know about the baby.”
“No, she doesn’t. How long would it take us to drive to Florida?”
“A week at a slow pace, five days if we travel ten to twelve hours a day. Why?”
“I was thinking, after we drive to Vegas, I’d like to drive to Colorado Springs and see Ryan.”
His head snapped up from the food he was preparing to look at me, “I need to see him, but I don’t know how well it’s going to go. Our last meeting wasn’t very-friendly. I don’t even know if he’ll let me in his house.”
“I think he’ll be willing, if I talk to him first. I’ve wanted to call him anyway. Do you mind?”
“Of course not.”
I took my cell phone and went out on the front porch. The air was crisp enough to make me step back inside to grab my cashmere sweater hanging on a hook by the front door. I sat in the rocker and dialed his number. It was a Tuesday morning in early May and I guessed that Candace might be at school. It was 7 a.m. California time, so that meant it was 8 in Colorado. Perfect timing since she has to be at school by 7:45.