As If You Never Left Me (Crimson Romance) (21 page)

Phase Two, she decided, was much better than Phase One. From here on out, she was going to do everything she could to be sure they spent as much time as possible in Phase Two. It was almost worth having to go through Phase One to get here, but it would be better if they could bypass it altogether.

She pulled his shirt open, narrowly missing yanking loose a few buttons. Moments later her face was buried in his chest, her nostrils full of his smell, his soft hair tickling her face. His legs tangled with hers, his weight pressing her into the bed. She wanted him so badly, couldn’t stand the thought of the layer of clothing between his skin and hers.

He was already working on that situation. His long fingers pressed loose the button on her jeans, jerked down the zipper, then slid under her panties. Too fast, she thought at first, but it wasn’t. She was more than ready for him, all wetness and heat as his fingers dipped inside her. He slid two fingers in, in an easy glide, and her body opened to the penetration, ready, more than willing.

As he worked her, his fingers probing, thrusting, she clutched him hard against her, moaned against his throat, then fastened her mouth to the pulse there. She loved the taste of his skin. She devoured it, kissing up the side of his neck, lipping his earlobe. One hand dove into his hair while the other fought to open his fly. She worked the button loose, then the zipper, her fingers plunging past to curl around his rapidly thickening shaft. It grew as she touched it, hardening within the curve of her fingers.

A moment’s separation then, just enough to shimmy down his pants and hers, enough to allow skin to meet skin all down the length of her legs. The roughness of the hair on his thighs against the smoothness of hers aroused her to the point of tears.

“I love you,” he murmured, a sensuous slide of his gorgeous mouth against her ear. “I love you so much.”

“Never leave me again,” she said.

“I won’t if you won’t.”

“I won’t.” And a weight lifted from her heart, because she knew without a doubt it was the truth.

He tilted his head back just long enough for her to see the tears brimming in his eyes, then lowered his head to her breast.

Her world narrowed to the movement of his mouth, his tongue against her nipple, circling it, his teeth touching it carefully, his mouth suckling. Fire stabbed through her, breast to groin, filled her, impaled her.

He moved down, his lips soft and mobile against her belly, her navel, her thigh, tongue tracing cool trails over her skin. Then his hands gentle against the insides of her thighs. He cupped her knees, flattened his palms against them, opened her up. Bending in toward her, he kissed the soft flesh high inside her thigh, bit her gently, firmly, licked her, moved up, until his mouth closed over her.

She closed her eyes, just feeling. She was as vulnerable here as it was possible to be, but there was nothing to be afraid of. She was open to him, taken by him. His tongue slid over her and she shivered, feeling her body begin to weep for him. Then thought vanished as she rose and crested, her body shaking, her voice coming out in a keen at the intensity of her orgasm.

When she was done, as her shivering climax stilled, he lifted his head and pillowed his face against her belly. He was breathing nearly as hard as she was, caught up in her ecstasy. Her hands slid down her own skin until they touched his hair, slid into its thick silk. He looked up at her face and smiled.

“Come inside,” she whispered.

His smile deepened and warmed. There was a moment’s pause as he fumbled in the pocket of his cast-aside jeans for a condom, then he kissed his way back up her body. He licked her breasts, one nipple, then the other, kissed her collarbone, her throat, her mouth. Finally, hand on her thigh, he pressed her open and slid inside her.

She let out a slow, deep breath, feeling him slide in. He kissed her again, savoring her mouth before he began the rhythm. He rose above her, and feeling his movement inside her, she suddenly realized she was no longer afraid. Her heart was safe with him; she knew that now. Fear was no longer relevant.

The realization made her want to weep. The tears gathered on the edges of her lids until she could no longer fight them. He saw, and kissed her damp cheeks even as his own climax took him over. With his lips against her tears, he stilled inside her, pressing hard into her, the warm sensation spreading up into her chest. She could feel him come, could feel his body tauten, feel him pulse. Finally, he let out a ragged breath and opened his eyes. His face was wet, and she touched the tears with the tips of her fingers.

“I’m coming home with you tonight,” he said. He lifted a hand, cupping her breast, stroking her nipple with his thumb. “But only on one condition.”

She blinked, startled. “Condition?” She thought they’d covered everything, settled all their differences. What was he going to do now? What was he going to say that would ruin it all?

He brushed her hair back from her forehead. “Yes. Just one. Just one little one.”

“What?”

“You need to turn the heat up at night.”

She laughed, relieved. “God, that’s all? You scared me.” She touched his face, feeling the beginnings of rough stubble. “Okay, I can do that.” Pulling him closer, she whispered into his ear. “But I still think heat’s for wimps.”

April in the Rockies was unpredictable, but for this day the weather had cooperated.

Standing on the ridge behind her house, just above where the backyard began its dizzying descent down into the valley, Joely shaded her eyes and peered toward the distant peaks.

“So much for that snow the weatherman predicted yesterday.”

Perry grinned. “He didn’t know you were getting married today.”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Joely with a grin. “I forgot to call him.”

The last few months had been wonderful. Starting life all over again with Rey was an adventure she was glad she hadn’t missed out on. It had been a great deal like the first months of their marriage, way back when, but sweeter in some ways. In other ways it was bittersweet, as they thought about what they’d lost, but they tried not to dwell on that aspect of it.

Given what they’d been through, it seemed only appropriate to Joely that they commemorate this new stage in their relationship. Especially now.

“So how are you feeling this morning?” Perry asked.

“Better. I actually managed to eat a little breakfast this morning instead of just saltines.”

“No barfing on the groom, now,” Perry cautioned.

Joely grinned. “Why not? This is all his fault.”

“Now, now, what happened to all those promises about unfair blame? Last I heard, it took two to make a baby.”

Joely’s eyes twinkled as she stroked her barely-rounded abdomen. It would be a while before she started to show. “Yeah, I guess I have to admit I was there.”

“So when is the groom due to arrive?”

“Three. He went into work this morning to finish up some things so he won’t have to worry about them while we’re gone.” They were honeymooning for four days near Mesa Verde. Low-key, but that was what they both wanted.

Rey had found a job, not in Denver, but at a small but well-established law firm in Evergreen. He’d taken a sizable salary cut, but the cost of living here wasn’t nearly as high as in Manhattan. He seemed to enjoy it, too, once he’d adjusted to the slower pace. It was an opportunity to learn more about family law and environmental issues, and that also had proved a benefit. It seemed to Joely he was more at peace with himself and her and the entire world than he ever had been before.

And now there would be a baby. They’d need to look for a larger house — Joely’s little cabin was barely big enough for herself and Rey, much less a child and all the necessary accoutrements. That, too, they’d take one step at a time.

Rey arrived home early, and at four o’clock they stood in front of a minister, reciting newly written vows.

Joely took Rey’s hands in hers and looked into his dark eyes. “With the good times ahead and the bad times behind, I pledge myself to you, heart, soul, and mind.”

His mouth quirked a little. She knew it was miserable poetry — she didn’t care. His wouldn’t be any better.

“We made our mistakes but we move on in love, for where two hearts are mended, God smiles from above.”

“I pronounce you re-wed,” said the minister. She, too, wore a silly grin. “What God has brought forth, let none set amiss, now seal your new love with a re-married kiss.”

Joely laughed out loud. That hadn’t been in the program. But Rey cut her mirth short with a firm kiss, his hand cupping her belly. After a long, gentle moment, he tilted his head back.

“You’re never getting rid of me now,” he said.

She tapped the end of his nose. “Good. That’s the way it should be.”

And there, under the April sun, with his hand against the soft curve of her abdomen, she knew it was the way it would always be.

You can’t go home again.
But what did Nick Crocetti know? He’d never had a home.

One thing he could not stand was any form of rank sentiment. Especially in himself. The emotion had been missing from his tumultuous life for years, so why in hell did it rear its ugly head now?

Nick glared at the name on the colorful flyer he had pulled from under the door of his bar. Veronica Barnes Titus.
Ronnie Barnes
. The annoyingly cheerful flyer announced the grand opening of Titus Bakery on Waterloo Street.

It couldn’t be her; she had left town ages ago. Titus? Right, he’d heard talk she’d married, was she still? He hoped the rumors of her recent divorce were true. Any talk of Ronnie Barnes perked his interest through the years, though he would outwardly pretend he didn’t give a damn what she’d been up to.

Nick crossed the threshold and closed the door behind him. He tossed his keys on the bar and hit the light switch by the door. Fluorescent lights flickered and buzzed washing the brick interior in a hazy illumination.

He spread the flyer out on the counter and read it again. When he saw her last at her father’s funeral, he’d kept a respectable distance. She was still the luscious blonde he remembered and she still wore glasses that always seemed to slide down her nose. It’s not as if they’d ever spoken to each other. Nick knew her brother Tyler slightly, they were the same age. He should’ve walked up to her and offered his condolences, but she no doubt would’ve seen the blatant lust in his eyes. A crass statement at a funeral, especially her father’s.

The memories roared back whether he wanted them to or not. Nick arrived in Rockland, Maryland in the twelfth grade. At the time, he had nowhere else to go, so he lived with his uncle, a man he barely knew because his parents had washed their hands of him. Nick’s home had never been a happy one, and with his parents obtaining a divorce and going their separate ways, neither wanted a hulking six-footer who hadn’t finished growing and who had a penchant for getting into constant trouble.

His lips curved into a cynical smile as he thought of his first motorcycle, a fire engine red 1975 Indian. Nick removed the baffle plates from the bike’s exhaust muffler just to annoy the hell out of everyone with the noise. The personification of the bad biker dude, he’d been all attitude and presence on his red Indian. He spoke to no one and everyone got out of his way when he walked down the hall at school. Nick hated Rockland High. Talk about not fitting in. He wore black leather even back then.

One person he’d noticed was Ronnie Barnes. Two years younger than him, she’d been outgoing, gregarious, and popular and everything he wasn’t. She had a killer body then and from what he observed three years ago at a distance, she still did.

While her glorious curves attracted his attention and stirred his raging teenage hormones, the intense feelings expanded beyond lust the more he’d observed her. Kind and generous with her friends, affectionate and teasing with her brother, she appealed to him in all ways. His first crush. Hell, his first serious bout of puppy love, unrequited though it had been.

Nick leaned on the counter and gazed outside into the parking lot of his small bar, The Chief. There stood the object of his current affection, his 2013 Dark Horse Indian, one of two motorcycles he owned. Damn, the bike was beautiful, all black and sleek with the tell-tale fringed leather seat. If anyone touched his baby, he would rip out their spine. The bike was parked where he could keep an eye on it while he worked in his bar.

His thoughts drifted back to Ronnie. Nick wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything, then or now. However, Ronnie Barnes rendered him mute. For months he tried to screw up the courage to approach her and to talk to her, but by March of his senior year — he was gone.

The bakery was located at 35 Waterloo Street; if he remembered right it used to be a beauty parlor back in the day. Maybe he should check it out.

Suddenly, Nick felt as if he were back in high school. Why did Ronnie Barnes have him acting this way? The unsure teenager he used to be, which he thought he’d moved past. Not as far as she was concerned, apparently.

Over the years, there had been no shortage of women. One of Nick’s rules since he lost his virginity at age sixteen was that he never slept with a woman more than once. Cold and calculating perhaps, but it worked so far. Sex to Nick was a necessity of life, like air or food, nothing more. He never once engaged his heart in his many encounters.

When did he last have sex?
Oh yeah.
He smiled knowingly. Four days ago he hooked up with a waitress at the Top Hat Diner. What a night. Is that what he wanted with Ronnie Barnes? A night of hot, wild sex? Swinging from the rafters, pounding, driving with plenty of raw, animal lust? Hell, yeah. Nick dreamed about sinking into her luscious body since his teens. He imagined how tight and wet she’d be when he’d finally get her under him. He hardened just thinking about it. His leather pants groaned in protest at his sudden erection.
Down boy
. Nick folded the flyer and stuffed it in his back pocket. Guess he’ll be buying cookies or bread in three days’ time. He watched as the Budweiser truck pulled into the parking lot to make his delivery. The time had come to get to work and push Ronnie Barnes out of his mind.