Rush of Redemption (Rush Series #2) (7 page)

He crushed his lips against
hers and ravished her mouth with his own. He stroked her tongue with his, the
sensual slide of it making her groan. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed
her wherever his lips landed, smothering her with his lips, his arms, his body.
He laid her back and frantically began to run his hands over her body. Still on
his knees, he kissed his way down her body, licking and caressing as he went.
She whimpered when he sucked the tip of her breast into his scorching hot
mouth. He kissed across her chest and drew the other into his mouth, his cheeks
hollowing as he sucked. He continued his journey down, licking, sucking, and
stroking with his devilish lips and tongue. Her back arched from the bed when
he thrust his deviously wicked tongue into her quivering and sensitive core.

“Oh, God,” she whimpered.

With sure, steady strokes
he devoured her, sucking and licking until her entire existence seemed to begin
and end where his lips met her body. Heat seemed to explode in her belly and
traveled to every nerve ending. She began to beg him, plead with him… curse
him.

“Please… I need you now… I
can’t take it anymore… I’m burning… damn you…” she whimpered.

While he heard her words,
he didn’t stop; the words only served to drive him to intensify his onslaught.
With gentle fingers he probed her… enticing her… inciting her… causing her to
burn further until she couldn’t stand it any longer and grabbed his head
between her hands and rocked her hips into his mouth. With a shattering cry,
she came and twisted under his lips as the sensations became almost unbearable.

On shaky legs he rose,
grabbed a condom, and slid it on with less than steady fingers. He pushed her
further up on the bed and climbed over her. He caught her face once more and
kissed her long and sweetly.

“Let me know if I hurt you,
okay?” he whispered.

“Okay.”

It took every ounce of
self-control he had to slide in slowly when all he wanted to do was slam into
her warm, silky body. With careful deliberation, he inched in until she had him
sheathed from tip to root. He paused and looked down into her face. “I love
you, Trinity Grace. I wished my whole life for you, and you’re all I ever
dreamed you’d be.”

With slow, steady motions,
he slid rhythmically into her body. Over and over, he plunged into her, the
soft pliancy of her body contrasted with his hard, rigid shaft. His body began
to shake as it became conflicted with his need for release and his need to be
gentle. His control began to break away from him and his plunges became nearly
desperate.

“Oh, God, baby! I need you
so much,” he groaned as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. When the
need became too great, he bit softly into her shoulders. “Please, baby, come
with me, come now, I can’t hold out much longer, please, baby,” he begged
frantically.

She wrapped her legs around
him to draw him even further into her. As the need grew, she dug her
fingernails into the hard muscles of his hips and ground herself against him.
Her head lolled from side to side as she began to clench and pulse around him.
“I’m almost there, I’m almost there…” she chanted over and over. Tears began to
leak from her eyes as the beauty of this with him became too much.

“I love you,” she whimpered
as her thighs began to quiver and her body began to tremble almost
uncontrollably.

Needing to watch as she was
thrown over, Rush drew back and grasped her head firmly within his palms. He
watched as her eyes began to glaze over and she struggled to keep them focused
on his. He lifted his body up and slid smoothly into her and she seemed to go
up in flames.

“Thank God,” he groaned, as
he slammed into her once more before finding his much-needed release. “Thank
God!” he reiterated into the column of her neck.

Trinity looked up from her position draped across his chest. She
was lying on her stomach, with one arm bent resting on his chest with her face
propped up on it. Her free hand was tracing the contoured grooves seemingly
carved into his perfect chest. He had one hand resting on her shoulder, rubbing
her soothingly and rhythmically.

“I can’t believe you let me
go all evening and never once mentioned that tonight was the night,” he
complained.

She gave him an indulgent
smile. “I already had plans with 
Sundra
 and
I didn’t know how late you were going to be.”

“Trust me when I say, I’d
have thrown 
Sundra
 out and quit my job,” he
groused.

She smiled. “You’re the
CEO, a little hard to quit.”

“But being the CEO, I could
have come home early, and we could have done this like six… seven… hundred
times already.”

She giggled at him before
pressing a soft kiss against his satiny skin.

He brushed the back of his
fingers against her cheek. “You okay?”

She crawled up his chest to
cup his face in her hands. “I’m better than okay. I’m fantastic. I love you,
Mr. Drayton,” she whispered against his lips.

He grinned against her
lips. “Hmmm, fantastic you say?” Wrapping his arms around her, he said softly,
“I’ll 
show
 you fantastic...” Tightening his grip, he pulled
her closer to him as he stroked into her mouth. Carefully, he flipped her onto
her back and he leaned over her, increasing the pressure on her mouth. He’d
just moved his hand and captured her breast when a tiny wail broke the silence.
They both stiffened at the intrusion.

“And so it begins,” Rush
mumbled good-naturedly.

Chapter Five

Trinity woke the next morning to find Rush picking up where he’d
been forced to stop the night before. Instead of the frenzied need of the night
before, however, this time it was slow and easy. He took his time and savored
her, nourished her, and cherished her. He whispered words of love against her
ear and she lay quivering beneath him begging him as she always did for him to
release her from the clawing need taking over her body. With practiced ease, he
led her to the cliff of desire then gently pushed her off.

This time, it was him
draped across her chest, propped up on his elbow to alleviate his weight from
her slight frame. He lay calmly now, slowly rolling a section of her hair
between his fingers.

“I wish we could stay like
this all day,” he murmured.

“I don’t think your son
will allow that,” she replied.

He sighed. “It doesn’t
matter. I have to go into the office anyway.”

“On a
Saturday?”

“I’m afraid so. There are
issues with a couple of developments we have going up. I’m afraid I’ll be
forced to go see them myself. I’m trying to resolve it from here, but it’s
proving to be difficult.”

“What about the engagement
party?”

He leaned forward and
pressed his lips against hers. “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away. I’ll leave
work in time to dress at my place and stop here to pick you up. Okay?”

“Fine.
 Good thing for you I have another handsome man to keep me
company,” she teased.

His expression turning
serious, he said, “You’re a really good mom, you know.”

She preened underneath his
praise. “I want to be. He’s a remarkable little person.”

“He’s lucky to have you…
I’m lucky to have you,” he said softly.

“Indeed you are and don’t
you forget it,” she teased.

“I won’t,” he promised
solemnly.

Five o’clock found Trinity sitting in the baby’s room nursing both
the baby and a nagging headache. She’d been battling the headache since noon,
but it still persisted. There was nothing more she longed to do than to put the
baby down and bury her head under a pillow while she willed the migraine to go
far, far away. She prayed this headache wouldn’t be like the last one, but it
was brewing, begging to take root, it seemed. She pressed her lips against
Blake’s tiny, dark hair and closed her eyes.

She woke with a jerk and
glanced quickly at the clock. She swore. She’d have to hurry. The nagging
headache still persisted. If the headache didn’t get any worse she thought she
could endure it for a little while anyway. She thought momentarily about
calling Rush and canceling, but couldn’t do that to him. He was trying so very
hard. She’d just have to take a double dose of Tylenol and suck it up. She put
Blake in his crib and rushed to the door when it chimed. She was thankful to
see Anna standing at the door. Rush really did think of everything.

Showering quickly, she blew
her hair dry and rolled it up in hot rollers. She donned the green dress 
that
was the exact color of Rush’s eyes
, her lips twisted as she recalled saying
those words out loud to 
Sundra
. She really did
have it bad. She took her hair down and brushed it quickly. It fell in
cascading waves around her face. She stopped a moment to press her fingertips
against her eyes as the headache once again made 
itself
 known.
It was going to be a long night. Keeping an eye on the time, she quickly
completed putting on her makeup when she heard Rush talking to Blake. She
slipped into her shoes and was taking one last look in the full-length mirror
when he entered the room behind her.

Her heart constricted in
her chest at the sight of him. His custom-fitted, black tux showed off the
powerfulness of his body. He flashed his sexy grin which made her catch her
breath. He was just so gorgeous. Would there ever come a time when looking into
his face would stop taking her breath away? He came to stand beside her and
placed his hand against the small of her back. The emerald green of her dress
did indeed match the green of the hazel in his eyes. The dress was made of a
crinkly taffeta that left her shoulders bare. She wore her mother’s locket as
her only accessory. The color of the dress offset her dark hair perfectly and
made her eyes seem nearly black.

“Keep looking at me 
like
 that and we’ll never make it out of here,” he
murmured as he pressed a kiss against her head. “You are so beautiful, Ms.
Grace.”

“As are you, Mr. Drayton,”
she murmured in return.

Turning towards her, he
grasped her hands within his and brushed his lips against her cheek so as not
to smudge her makeup.

Looking deep into her eyes,
he said, “You have made me happier than I have any right to expect. I can’t
believe you are standing beside me right now and have agreed to become my wife.
I’m amazed at how strong and brave you are to be able to move past our
extremely messed-up beginning. I bought you a small token to commemorate this
day. I hope in the future, when you wear it, you’ll always remember how much I
love you… right now… in this moment.”

As he spoke he reached into
his pocket and withdrew a necklace. He reached behind her and unfastened the
locket at her neck and slipped it into his pocket before fastening the necklace
to her neck. He lifted her hand and kissed it before turning her to face the
mirror again. She gasped at the startling beauty of the necklace. The chain was
embedded with clusters of rock-cut diamonds which led down to an enormous
emerald the same color as her dress. She blinked rapidly to stay the tears
which threatened to fall. On this day, right now, she did indeed feel loved.

She turned and gave him a
watery smile. “Kiss me, you fool,” she whispered. Being ever gallant, he
complied.

~*~

Rush seemed miles away as they drove towards his grandfather’s
estate. Trinity felt a shiver run through her. His somberness reminded her of
Vail. Her only consolation was that it felt more
  like
he was lost in thought rather than pensive.
She glanced repeatedly at his profile, but for reasons of his own, he kept his
own counsel. As for herself, she felt a little thoughtful as well. She wasn’t
sure what she was walking into.

Wanting to break the
silence, she asked, “Were you able to resolve your issues today?”

He snapped his head in her
direction. “What do you mean?” he asked quickly.

Her brows rose at his
tone. 
“Your properties?
 The ones you went
into work to fix?”

His shoulders visible
relaxed. “No. I’ll be forced to go down there soon. I’m trying to put it off
until after we’re married, but I don’t know.”

She nodded her head but
didn’t comment. Instead she turned her head to look out of the car window, not
that she could see much in the surrounding darkness. She missed little Blake
already. Other than the dinner which had been cut short, she’d not been without
him. Before she was ready, Rush turned onto
Draymont
 Lane,
and after passing a stand of willow trees, he was pulling up in front of a
massive grey stone house. From the illumination of the outside lights, Trinity
was surprised at the number of vehicles already present. Who were all these
people? She assumed they were friends and family of Rush’s.

When Rush opened her door
and offered her his hand, she could feel the tension radiating from him. His
edginess only succeeded in feeding her own, which in turn kicked up her nagging
headache. She rolled the muscles in her neck slightly. The door opened as they
approached. A tall, silver-haired man somewhere in his mid-seventies stood in
the doorway.