Long Time Coming (14 page)

She couldn't even pull him into sharp focus. She relented and headed for the bathroom.

"There's a robe behind the door. I'll turn the bed down."

Somnambulistically she dropped her clothes on the floor as she peeled them off. The lightweight cotton robe was made for a man twice her size, but felt cool and soft against her skin. She overlapped it in front and loosely tied the belt at her waist.

By the time she returned to the bedroom, Law had the covers pulled back and was plumping up the pillows. "Good girl. In you go."

She lay down and he pulled the covers over her. Snuggling into the pillow, she closed her eyes. "I don't want to die a lonely, unhappy, embittered woman like my mother did, Law.

I grieve more for her unhappiness than for her death."

"I know." He rubbed strands of her hair between his fingers. It wasn't quite dry yet and smelled like shampoo.

"I don't have any family left."

"Except for David."

"And I'm losing him."

"Not a chance." A tear slid from between her closed eyelids. He swept it from her cheek, then licked it off his thumb. "Want to hear a bedtime story?"

"As long as it has a happy ending."

"You be the judge."

"What's it about?"

"It's about this prince – a damned good-looking guy – who thought he had everything the world had to offer. He was flying high, literally and figuratively. A real cocky stud.

"Then one day he gets this letter in the mail, and it takes him to this modest house surrounded by flowers. The lady who lives there is toiling in the flowerbeds like a peasant.

She has dirt on her knees and little dots of sweat on her upper lip. But she's not a peasant.

She's really a princess in disguise.

"
She
doesn't know she's a princess, but everybody around her does because she's kind and compassionate and beautiful, with shiny dark hair and big gray eyes and a mouth …

Lord, her mouth." He paused to contemplate the lips he was gently tracing with his fingertip.

"Anyway the prince, after looking once into those big gray eyes and kissing that sweet, sweet mouth, thinks to himself,
Uh-oh, pal, you're sunk.
Typical of him, he starts behaving like a jerk, doing things like making unfounded accusations and issuing veiled threats and throwing wild orgies he doesn't even want to attend.

"The princess retaliates by putting this curse on him. She blinds him to all other women.

He's about to die of terminal horniness, but the only woman he sees or wants is the princess.

"So he goes to this oracle and asks, 'What the hell am I going to do about this princess?'

And the oracle says, 'For a prince, you're really stupid. Figure out a way to get her into your bed'."

Law bent down to test Marnie's reaction to his unorthodox fairy tale. She had no reaction to it at all. She was sleeping.

Chapter 16

«^
»

M
arnie sighed deeply before opening her eyes. Her body was languid with a lassitude as rich as heavy cream. It permeated every cell. Her heartbeats were strong and slow. She could almost feel the movement of her blood through her veins. She never remembered being this relaxed before. The inactivity was delicious.

Yawning, she stretched. That's when her foot brushed against another. She froze. Then, slowly she turned to her other side.

Law was sleeping beside her. His blond hair was tousled and the lower half of his face was shadowed with stubble. The covers were pulled up only as far as his waist. His torso was bare.

Lying very still, hardly daring to breathe, Marnie studied him. Minutes ticked by. Her conscience told her to leave the bed while it was still safe. Then, when they next met eye to eye, they would do so with clear consciences and could pretend they hadn't shared a bed. But she was so tired of "safe" and couldn't force herself to move.

A ceiling fan was lazily circulating overhead. The droning hum of its motor was hypnotizing. It was still very early and only partially light in the bedroom.

So she allowed herself these few precious minutes in which to do exactly what she felt like doing rather than what her conscience dictated she should. Forcibly she tamped down all unpleasant thoughts about her mother's death or her uncertain future where David was concerned or her impossible love for this man who lay beside her.

How she loved him! And had since he first flashed her his killer grin and called her squirt.

"Good morning."

At first she thought his voice was a trick of her imagination. But then she saw his lips curve into that familiar smile. His eyes remained closed.

"What are you doing in bed with me, Law?"

"Getting hard."

She swallowed with such difficulty it was audible. "How long have you been here?"

"All night."

"All night? Sleeping?"

"Sleeping. Off and on, that is. Listening to you breathe. Watching you. Wanting to make love to you." He opened his eyes. They were brilliantly blue in the dim room. He smiled and gave a helpless little shrug. "Getting hard."

"How did you know I was awake?"

"I sensed it. You started breathing differently. Faster. Almost like you were aroused."

He reached out and touched her pouty lips. "Are you?" he whispered huskily.

She only stared back at him, immersed in the hot blue fire of his eyes. Her tongue reflexively moistened the lips he was giving such close scrutiny He groaned softly. "Are you, Marnie? Don't answer the way you think is proper or right. Tell me the truth. Are you aroused?"

She nodded before she answered out loud. No sooner had the sibilant word been spoken than Law leaned across the pillow and kissed her softly. At first he made brushing motions of his lips back and forth across hers. Then his tongue tickled the center of her upper lip. Her body reflexively inclined forward.

His hand curved around the back of her neck and drew her head closer. The kiss he gave her was soft and deep and wet. His tongue sank into her mouth. Instinctively she raised her hands, laying them on his chest. The crisp, curly hair felt delightful against her fingertips. She played with it curiously tweaking clumps of it between her fingers.

He kissed the corner of her lips like a refrain, a benediction, then pulled back to gaze into her eyes. Shyly Marnie withdrew her hands. "Are you ready to stop, Marnie?" She shook her head no. Law stared at her intently as he slowly bicycled his legs to remove the covers.

Her eyes skittered downward and registered wordless astonishment.

"I wasn't kidding, was I?" he asked.

"No, you weren't."

"What are you doing to do about it?"

"I'm not sure."

"Think about it." He took her hand, planted a fervent kiss in the palm, then laid it over his sex. He gave a soft, masculine grunt of pleasure. "Take your time."

His eyes turned dark and he grimaced with supreme satisfaction as she grazed the velvety tip with her thumb. "Ah, Marnie." Moments later, chest rising and falling rapidly he groaned, "Goody-Two-Shoes, my foot."

He rolled her to her back and leaned above her, fumbling with the knotted belt of the robe she wore. When it came undone, he impatiently pushed the cloth aside.

His haste was immediately checked. He sucked in a sharp, shocked breath. His eyes moved over her nakedness greedily, hungrily. His expression was wearing a question mark when his eyes finally moved up to her face. "You grew up real good, squirt."

Starting at her shoulders, his hand explored its way down her arm, charting each vein in the back of her hand before moving across her chest, pausing to fondle her breast, then down her belly. He lightly ground the heel of his hand over the feathery triangle of hair before caressing her slender thighs in turn.

His touch elicited a million delicious tingles along her skin. She couldn't remain still. Her throat and back arched in response when his fingers lightly skimmed her belly; she flexed her knees when his hand glided over her hip. For once she felt an obligation only to her body and its erotic responses to Law's caresses.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered. "I don't know what to kiss first."

He decided on her mouth while his thumb mischievvously finessed her nipple erect.

With his lips still wet from the passion of their kiss, he pressed them against her breast.

She dug her fingers in his hair and gasped his name.

"Does that mean yes or no?"

"Yes," she moaned, "yes."

The very tip of his tongue nudged the very tip of her breast, flicking it repeatedly, lightly. Marnie uttered a sound close to a sob.

"More?"

"Yes."

He sipped her nipple between his lips and sucked it with gentle ardency. The stroking heat of his tongue and tugging motion of his mouth touched off an erotic explosion inside her. Up till then she had never known what an impact lovemaking could have on her entire being. She became greedy to have all of him.

He responded to her urgent prompting and settled himself between her thighs. Her creamy warmth enveloped him. He gave a glad murmur and thrust forward.

The tip of his organ barely touched her, barely glanced that precious spot, but that was more than sufficient. All the love and desire she had felt for him concentrated there and manifested itself into a shattering climax.

It spun through her body like a cyclone. She felt it in her belly and breasts. Dizzily it whirled through her system until it reached her very fingertips. Its effects continued to sparkle and sizzle long after the crisis had passed.

Finally she opened her eyes and gazed at Law, stunned by the immensity of sensation he had evoked from a body she'd never considered voluptuous. "I'm sorry."

He threw back his head and laughed out loud. "For what? For being one of the sexiest women ever created? God, you're amazing," he whispered as he whisked a kiss across her mouth. "Wonderful and amazing."

"You're embarrassing me." Her whole body felt flushed and feverish, a heat enhanced by the carnal way his eyes and hands and lips were moving over it, sampling tastes and textures.

"You've got the most sensitive nipples." His voice was hushed with admiration and awe.

"They're disproportionately large," she mumbled, halfheartedly trying to deflect his fondling hands.

"Is that why they always look erect?"

"They don't!"

"Oh, yes, they do, squirt."

His use of the pet name had surprised them both. "That's the second time you've called me that. I wasn't sure you even remembered."

"I didn't until I started making love to you."

"Why then?"

"I guess I remember watching you on the beach one day and thinking what a knockout you promised to be in a few years." His fingertips fanned her nipples lightly. "I remember regretting that I wouldn't be around to see you turn into a woman. Selfishly I'm glad that dumb son of a bitch broke your heart."

"What dumb son of a bitch?"

"The one you loved. The one who threw you over."

"Oh," she said in a small voice.

"If it weren't for him, you wouldn't be available." He lowered his head and kissed one rosy nipple. "I must be living right."

He continued to kiss his way down her body disregarding her breathless protests as his mouth moved closer to the top of her thighs.

"Law," she whimpered as he parted them.

He nuzzled her affectionately then kissed her, tasting her recent sweet release against his lips. His nimble tongue swirled and dipped and stroked and teased until she was once again on the brink of delirium.

Law levered himself above her, poised to enter. "Marnie, this has been a long time coming. Open your eyes and look at me."

She not only opened her eyes but looped her arms around his neck. With a long, deep groan, he sheathed himself inside her. For a moment he was still, breathing unsteadily as he gazed into her face.

"Aren't you going to…?"

"Not yet," he said quietly against the corner of her mouth. "Your mouth is so provocative."

"It is?"

"Hmm. Sometime I'll tell you about the fantasies I've had about it."

"Tell me now."

"No."

"Why not?"

"You'd be embarrassed and I don't want to come yet. I will if I talk about that."

He tipped her head back and kissed her. Then, moving his hands down her body and clasping her tightly around the waist, he lifted her into the cradle of his hips and began to stroke her.

* * *

It was Venus's tentative scratching that woke Marnie up the second time. Physically spent, she and Law had fallen asleep. Her limbs were hopelessly entangled with his. He had one hand possessively covering her breast and the other ensnared in her hair. When she tried to extricate herself, he mumbled grouchily, "Lie still."

"I need to get up. Besides, Venus needs to go outside."

"That bitch," he grumbled, rolling to his back and kicking off the sheet. "I'll let her out and make some coffee." He hooked Marnie around the neck and gave her a sound, tongue-thrusting kiss. "Save my place." Releasing her, he threw his legs over the side of the bed and headed for the bedroom door, unmindful of his nakedness.

Marnie wasn't unmindful of it. She lay amid the hopelessly twisted sheets and admired him until he was out of sight. Her body all but glowed with the smug knowledge that she had the most beautiful lover in the whole universe.

Making her way into the bathroom, she noticed that her body had undergone drastic changes since the night before. There were whisker burns on her breasts and stomach.

An ache that was more pleasure than pain resided between her thighs. She relished these ravages.

After taking a quick shower, she dressed. Carrying her shoes, she made her way through the house, going in the general direction of the kitchen. A partially opened door caught her eye. She gave it a slight push and it swung open.

David's room. That much was immediately apparent. Clothes had been strewn around, a bad habit that had once irritated her and which now she found poignant and endearing.

Posters of rock stars, sports heroes, and one of a bikini-clad, radiant Christie Brinkley adorned the walls. A scale model of the
Victory
stood on the desk, where there was also a stack of schoolbooks.

For him to have inhabited it such a short time, the room had his indelible stamp on it. In addition to his familiar possessions there was also a new TV with a built-in VCR, something he'd wanted for a long time. A telephone that looked recently installed was on the nightstand. His jambox had a stack of new cassette tapes beside it.

Tears clouded Marnie's eyes as she backed out of the room, pulling the door closed. She hadn't realized the extent of Law's generosity. This house must seem like paradise to David, who had been taught, mainly out of necessity, that material possessions weren't important.

She must get him back right away. Otherwise he might be lost to her forever. As soon as she saw him, she would demand that he move home where he belonged.

Law had pulled on a pair of gym shorts. He was in the kitchen, shaking a carafe of orange juice when she went in. "Coffee's almost ready."

"I don't want any coffee." Her curt tone of voice arrested the vigorous movement of the carafe. "The only thing I want from you is a full explanation for the fancy toys you've lavished on David. I thought we had settled the issue of your extravagances last night."

With carefully controlled motions, he set down the carafe. "Was I supposed to take back what I'd already given him? Be reasonable, Marnie. What we settled last night was that I was an indulgent parent because I haven't had my son for sixteen years and that you were going to be patient with me."

"Well, after looking into that wonderland of electronics passing as a bedroom, my patience just ran out."

He propped his hands on his hips. "What brought this on so suddenly?"

"You're showering David with goodies to seduce him away from me!" she accused him.

"That's not true."

"I think it is."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you've got to be first in everybody's book. Top gun. The champion.

A-number-one. On top."

"Less than an hour ago," he drawled, "you were on top. And loving every minute of it.

Or should I say every inch of it?"

She went hot all over with rage and embarrassment. Dropping her shoes onto the floor, she worked her feet into them. Spinning on the heels, she marched toward the front door.

She yanked it open only to be confronted by Venus and David on their way inside.

"Mom!" he exclaimed. "I couldn't believe it when I saw your car out front. What's going on?"

She was so startled to see him, she couldn't speak a word. She was also afraid that something in her appearance would reveal what she had been doing for the last few hours in Law's bed.

"It's your grandmother, David," Law said from behind her.