Memories of Gold (10 page)

She pulled away, gasping and afraid that her thoughtless action might have ruined everything, made the situation so much worse. She took deep breaths, close enough to smell him, and the manly scent of him made her want to lean in once more.

She looked into his eyes, searching for a reaction. His were serious and locked onto her. His arm still pinioned her body to his and she could feel how his body reacted to the kiss. In a husky growl that betrayed his desire, he said, “Maybe we should go back downstairs.”

He was trying to protect her honor
,
she realized. But she could see that it was a struggle for him to stop himself from taking her. And when she kissed him, he had kissed back, just as hard and with as much passion. His jaw was clenched with the force it had taken for him to say those words.

Mary threw caution to the wind yet again, but this time with more thought and surety. Just a little more that she can hold close, even if she lost him. “No.”

Her mouth found his again. This time he held nothing back, could hold nothing back. The arm around her waist pulled her tighter, and his other hand cupped the nape of her neck, giving added strength to the kiss.

A strangled groan escaped him as his desire overtook any possible qualms. His hands moved over her body, struggling to feel her curves through her dress and corset. Mary felt sudden frustration at her clothing, wanting his hands on her bare skin, and moved away just enough to access the buttons that ran down the front of her dress.

With quick, deft movements, she unbuttoned and stepped out of her dress, leaving her standing in a corset and chemise. He began kissing at her neck, now free of cloth and lace, as his hands joined hers on the back of her corset. Mary’s breath came in heavy gulps, her body driven nearly to ecstasy as he lightly nibbled the spot just below her ear and moved slowly downward, sucking and biting every inch as he made his way downward.

With sudden relief, she found herself divested of the corset as he pulled out the last of the ribbon, and her chemise only took a moment to remove. She was standing nude in front of him. Though his hands never left her skin, he leaned back a short distance, just enough to look down at her pert breasts, her nipples excited and erect, her smooth, taut stomach, down to the small patch of dark hair at the joining of her legs.

His breath came out in one long sigh, and for a half a moment, Mary was worried he was disappointed; for the first time, Mary wanted a man to like her body, to desire her.

Before she could begin to feel embarrassed about standing naked in front of Jimmy, who was still fully-clothed, he once more closed the small gap between their bodies. She could feel the rough cloth of his shirt rubbing against her chest as he whispered in her ear, “You’re so beautiful, Maria.”

Her heart melted and she felt almost as if she would cry—from happiness, excitement, worry, astonishment at the assortment of feelings, she could not guess. No man had ever made her feel this kind of electricity coursing through her, yet it was so comfortable and right at the same time.

As he continued kissing her, now biting lightly along her collarbone, he tightened his grip around her waist and lifted her slightly off the ground, carrying her towards the bed. Everywhere he had kissed her tingled with thrilling sensations, and the bulge in his pants pressing against her drove her to the edge of her passion. She was relieved he was holding her up; she was sure her legs would give out beneath her otherwise.

As they moved with a single mind towards the bed, bodies intertwined, lips never leaving each other, Mary reached down with one hand and began unbuttoning his shirt and trousers. Her fingers slid along the side of his member reaching out from beneath the cloth. He moaned at the touch and began kissing her with even greater intensity than before. The backs of her legs pressed against the edge of the bed, and he leaned forward, tilting her backward onto the blankets.

As she dropped and her breasts moved away from him, he took the opportunity to set his mouth to work along her breastbone, nipping and sucking as he moved slowly closer and closer to the two peaks. She pressed her fingers against his bare chest, feeling the heat wafting off him, the power of those muscles beneath the skin. She wanted to touch every part of him, feel all of him.

Mary had never experienced this before. The passion and pure joy of the moment seized her, and she opened her eyes to look at this man she wanted,
needed
to be with. She had always been his, and ten years apart had not changed that.

And then her mind turned to the room above the saloon covered in silks, and the men she had brought there, and she was overcome with shame. Jimmy was unaware of her profession, and he deserved to have the truth before anything further happened between them. She knew she should stop it.

As she resolved to halt the events that were transpiring and gathering the willpower to do so, though, he reached her left nipple and began flicking it with his tongue, bringing it into his mouth, and his hands raced along her hips towards her thighs.

His fingers slid along the inside of her thigh, touching the most intimate places in such a way that sent notes of ecstasy through her, coaxing her into a state of bliss. Everything else in her mind dissolved. She arched her back, her eyes closed, overcome with sensation, and all her resolve wilted as her body responded to him. The muscles in her stomach clenched, and she cried out as she felt herself being swept away on waves of pleasure.

It was like nothing she had experienced, and she reveled in the bliss of the moment.

Then leaning above her, his mouth pressed to hers, and she could do nothing but give all of herself to her love.

She hugged him tight to her body and kissed him deeply, sucking his bottom lip into her mouth. His breath hitched and he groaned her name, sending tendrils of excitement through her. Her fingers wrapped themselves in his hair, and he ran his hands along her skin as they tasted each other.

She wrapped a leg around him, pulling his body towards her. Slowly, he eased himself fully on top of her, his manhood inches from entering her. He paused and looked at her, his eyes dark with passion and his jaw clenching again at the effort to stop himself. He stared into her eyes and asked, “Are you sure?”

His concern overwhelmed her. How could she be anything but sure when they were supposed to be together? She answered by pulling him closer, kissing him again, and he slid inside her. She gasped at the feeling, overcome with it. She had never known coupling could ever come close to the sensations she felt at that moment.

Their bodies pressed tightly together, and she felt everything melt away as she enfolded him.

Jimmy looked down at the beautiful woman beneath him, every muscle in his body responding to her movements, her expressions, her voice as she breathed his name. This was the only thing he wanted, what he’d been unknowingly searching for all this time. Her face contorted as she was whisked off again, and he went over the edge with her. He interlaced his fingers with hers, kissing her again as spasms racked his body, never wanting to stop.

Chapter 6

They looked at each other in the early afternoon light, lying close on his bed. She snuggled closer to him, laying her head on his chest. He put his arm around her and sighed, content. He felt perfectly happy and at ease for the first time since he was a child.

He knew that they would need to get up soon, that others might come back at any minute, but he was simply unable to bring himself to do anything but absorb what had just happened. His eyes roamed along the curves of her beautiful body, taking in as much as they could, and then returning to her face, her eyes bright, her lips swollen from the kisses and pulled into a soft smile.

He ran his hand across her stomach, feeling a sense of ownership when she shivered pleasantly at his touch, still sensitive. He had never expected this to happen, but he could feel nothing but ecstatic about it. This was right. She was right.

He pulled her closer.

“Do you remember our first kiss?” he asked her, his voice soft.

She laughed. “I was around eight. You stole my whistle—“

“Stole back the whistle you had taken from me,” he corrected.

“Well, be that as it may, you refused to give it back to me unless I gave you something better for it—“

“And you decided to be tricky.”

“I was being
clever
. Besides, I had nothing to give and you knew it. I got the whistle back, and I did give you something. A kiss counts.”

“It was more like a distraction. You were just trying to surprise me enough so you could grab the whistle out of my hand and run away.”

“It worked.”

“Only because I never expected you to be crazy enough to kiss me.”

“Well, I guess you were wrong,” she replied as she leaned in for another.

After a few moments of tight embraces and light kisses, he began to feel the blood rushing through him, his nerves lighting up with fire and his body reacting to her allure. Before he could get carried away again, though, he broke apart from her. He brushed the hair from her face.

“We should probably rise and dress, Maria. I have no idea when Mrs. Jessup or anyone else will be back,” he said reluctantly.

Her half-smile turned into a half-grimace. He imagined she was picturing what would happen if someone entered the boarding house while they were still undressed and in his room. That would be a difficult situation to explain, and would certainly not help him befriend the town members, he guessed.

Then her expression clouded over slightly, and he wondered at it. It seemed more than just a reaction to the possibility of someone walking in. This looked more like regret, and his heart constricted, realizing what he’d done to her. He had assumed from the pleasure she had experienced that he hadn’t been her first, but it was possible he was wrong.

If he was, a woman’s purity was not something to be handled lightly, and he had let himself get carried away and taken it from her. If not, she still had a reputation to uphold that he endangered. She lived in this town, after all. The confused threads in his mind fell into place—San Francisco would have to wait, for a while at least.

He put his hand to her cheek, trying to pull her back to the moment. “Maria, I am sorry if this put you in a difficult position. I can send a wire to San Francisco and get the permanent manager position here before the end of the week, and then we will fix everything up. I can speak to the preacher today, if you like. This should be a good thing. I will take care of it all, I promise.”

She turned away and sat up. He felt a gulf separate them, and he wanted to do something, anything, to get rid of it and return to a few moments before, when everything was perfect. “Maria?” he asked, hoping she would explain.

She turned back to him, a slightly artificial smile on her face that didn’t completely reach her eyes. “Everything is fine, Jimmy. You were right; we certainly don’t want to get caught like this.”

She started bustling around, putting herself and the room to rights, stacking his clothes next to him on the bed as she went. He stayed still, lost in his confusion. She knew he meant to marry her. Did she not believe him? Not
want
to marry him?

His thoughts continued along dark paths as he tried to solve the mystery of Maria’s mood. He rose and dressed, watching her and hoping for a sign or explanation. She turned back to him and their eyes met. Her expression softened, but he could still see the anxiety in her face.

He wanted her to understand how much he cared for her. He walked over to her, pulled her towards him, and kissed her again, this time soft and lingering. It quickly turned into a more passionate, hungry kiss as their desires reawakened, but Maria pulled away from him before they could get carried away once again. She touched his face and said softly, “I must go, Jimmy. I will see you again soon.”

And then she was gone. He could hear her feminine boots on the stairs, then the front door opened and closed, and he sat down on the bed. Did she regret what they had done?

She had seemed so happy as they lay there together. What changed?

Jimmy went through all the events that had occurred since that morning, his gut twisting with anxiety even while he felt flutters of happiness as he pictured her expressions, the mad dash to his room, how she had stubbornly refused to go back downstairs—he smiled slightly, thinking of her independent streak as a child and how it had not been lost in the passing years—and the passionate touch of her lips against his. He could still feel his body yearning for her, and he longed to take her into his arms again, but she was gone.

She had not explained her odd behavior and what was wrong, but it no longer seemed to matter. He loved her, and that was enough.

He never told her that. Jimmy slumped back onto the bed, astonished. When he said he would marry her, it sounded like he meant it as a quick solution to their irresponsible behavior or some such—not as a pledge of love. What had he been thinking? He berated himself for his idiocy.

And now she was gone, and he had no idea when he would next see her, he realized. They had never talked about another time they would meet. She had never told him where she lived. If he knew, he could go there to try to solve these puzzles, but for the moment, he had nothing.