Sweeter Than Wine (12 page)

***

"What are you doing," she murmured as her
eyes flew open and stared into the dim light at him.

"It doesn't strike me as comfortable to have
to sleep in a bra."

She smiled warmly, "It isn't."

Without even blinking she sat up close to
him, she shed her t-shirt and he stared down at her.

She looked up into his face again, as his
hands reached to pull the offending bra away. His body seemed to
react immediately. His fingers barely grazed her nipples, and she
gasped.

"The most comfortable way to sleep is without
anything on, Sam." She murmured, as she tossed her pants and
underwear on the floor. She wouldn't tell him her heart was
hammering in her ears, and her body was on fire for him, but she
felt very much like a live torch, all it would take would be one
little kiss and she'd be in his arms. Would he offer that comfort
she wondered as she lay there staring up at him.

She pushed the cover away from her and
scooted over, so he could join her.

"Lacey, this might not be a good idea, I
mean; we didn't use protection before…"

Lacey reached to cover herself and rolled
away from him. "I know."

"As innocent as you are, I doubt you are on
the pill, either." He suggested.

"No, I'm not." She whispered through the
night, her voice strained. "Truth is I've not had the need for it.
Until now."

"Well honey, doesn't that bother you a
little?" he asked, moving her hair so it rested on her pillow.
"We've already not used our heads, and next week…"

She rolled back over and scooted up in the
bed, so she was almost sitting. She pulled the cover over her and
stared into his eyes. "It probably should, but it doesn't. In case
you haven't figured it out, I'm in love with you, Sam. I think it
happened the day I saw you on the beach and heard you making that
mournful sound. Even so, I have no expectations of anything
happening between us, except the pleasure we give one another here
and now. If I become pregnant it's just a bonus of this wonderful
summer, I've had with you. It will always remind me of the pleasure
we shared. And how free I feel to express my love for you. I'd want
your baby Sam."

"No regrets?" he asked his voice low and
sexy.

"Not with you," she whispered, her hand going
to his cheek. "It would be something I could carry back to Texas.
Something that would last me a lifetime. No, I wouldn't regret
loving you Sam, or your baby."

"You're a remarkable woman, Lacey," he
whispered. "But I’m not sure I could let you go back to Texas with
my baby."

That was the closest he came to declaring
love, he suddenly realized and it shocked him.

His kissed her fingers, and reached to pull
the cover away. His eyes fastened on her breast with nothing short
of hunger. "Dammit Babe, I don't want to hurt you," he murmured as
his head dipped to caress her nipple with a tender suckling kiss.
His lips were hot, wet, and inviting. She wanted more. The gentle
tug he gave her nipple enflamed her. She opened her mouth and
sighed aloud.

She felt her feet react to his touch. Her
feet! She couldn't believe all the sensations going through her at
once every time he touched her. She wanted to feel every one of
them over and over until she could conjure the feeling up herself.
She pushed the thought of leaving back, out of her mind, and lived
for the moment.

His mouth moved up, around her neck, onto her
earlobe where he blew warm breath against her. She shivered when
his head moved again to the earlobe and he blew. His hot tongue
shot out to taste her there, and then moved on to her eyes, her
nose, and then finally her lips. His kiss was like an enveloping
volcano of hot ash pouring over a soft rock. She murmured something
against his mouth, as he backed away and stared down into her
face.

"What do you see when you look at me, Sam?"
she whispered for his ears alone.

"A beautiful goddess nymph. The kind of woman
a man dreams about and never meets. A kind of woman a man doesn't
want to let go of, no matter what"

They made love into the night. Afterwards he
held her close, his hands resting at her soft breast
possessively.

***

The next morning, he was sitting on the
patio, from the bedroom; he had his pants on, but no shirt. He sat
drinking coffee and glancing in at her every now and then.

He was falling for Lacey, but there were
things to settle first. He couldn't tell her yet, he had to know
about himself first, and understand where he belonged.

Would she stay here and give up teaching in
Texas if he asked her to? So many unanswered questions danced in
his head as he stared out over the land.

She finally joined him and he saw she had
gotten a cup of coffee too. She drank hers black, just as he did.
He smiled. They did have some things in common.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" she
asked with a teasing smile.

"We've got some things to do. First we need
to return to the original hotel, get our things. Then I want you to
go with me to my 'sister's' house. How does that sound?"

"Great, when do we leave?" she asked.

"After we have an omelet, that I intend to
make for you, and we shower."

"Okay, I love omelet's what do you put on
yours?"

"A little of everything, tomatoes, onions,
bell pepper, salsa, cheese, ham, and bacon if I have it."

"Sounds heavenly." She stood up and
stretched. "You're pampering me."

She had donned his bathrobe from the
bathroom, and his slippers and she looked so cute snuggled in them.
He was determined she would not wind him around her finger today.
There were things to be done, and settled. Then maybe he'd let
her.

"So, where do they live? I mean I know you
said in Oregon, but where exactly?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"This sister you've never seen?"

"Oh, they live in the Cascade Mountains, in a
homemade log cabin. She's been married for several years now and
very happy from what I understand. It won't take us that long once
we get to the hotel to get there, I'm sure. It isn't that far."

"How do you know all this? About being
happily married." Lacey asked, sipping her coffee and staring over
the rim at him.

"I had an investigator check them out."

"Woe, that sounds kind of sleazy, don't you
think?"

He shrugged the statement away, "Didn't know
any other way to do it. I wanted to know something about them
before I just ran up there and barged in."

"Do you think you have anything in common
with her?"

"I don't know. I hope so."

"Are you going to tell her who you are?"
Lacey watched him. "I mean right off."

"That depends. I'm not even sure how I want
to stage it. I just want to meet her, find out what kind of person
she is, maybe more than that, I don't know…"

"I guess it's natural, the wanting to know
something."

He shrugged and frowned. "You know I've
thought about that a while. Had my father told me about this
earlier, I might not feel so lost, or out of place. However, to
wait till he was dying and then blurt it out, I don't know. It just
hit me in the face. I really don't know why I'm so hung up on
seeing my sister unless it's the fact I'd like to meet someone who
is related to me by blood. She doesn't even know I exist. Perhaps
it would shock her and give her problems she doesn't need. But I
feel she needs to know about me. And I want to know about her,
about myself."

Lacey studied him a moment, "If I was your
sister, and I didn't know about you, I would want to. I would want
to know everything I could, I think…"

"Really? I'm hoping that's how she'll
feel."

"Yep, now let's take a shower and get on back
to the hotel. I'm running up a bill there I don't need." She
chuckled.

"You are right. Let's go take a shower."

Her smile lit up like a Christmas tree,
"Together?"

"With you there is no other way." He smiled
devilishly.

***

She watched him make the omelet but chopped
the veggies up herself very small and added them to it before he
flipped it. Unknown to him, her mind was still on the shower. She'd
never experienced such glorious lovemaking before. The way he
licked the water from her body set her on fire for him, and then
when they joined, he leaned her against the shower wall, while the
water peppered them gently. Oblivious to the water and the steam
bath they created.

She smiled on reflecting.

He cooked the omelets to perfection then
lined tomato slices on top. She made toast and coffee while he
finished up and then they sat down to eat.

"So do you know what you are going to say
when we get there?" Lacey asked him, as she took a bite.

He shook his head, and finally answered, "No,
I have no idea what I'll say. ' Hi I'm your long lost brother'. 'Hi
I ran out of gas down the mountain, can you help?' I just don't
know how to approach her. Maybe it will come natural when I get
there. I hope."

"Why is it so important to approach her at
all? I mean, you've lived all these years without this part of your
family, why now?" Lacey asked.

"Because there's something missing. I don't
know who I am Lacey. I thought I was one person before. You didn't
know me then. I was working for my father, as an accountant in his
lumberyard and doing everything he wanted me to do. Going to all
the right schools. Dating all the right girls. Everything was sort
of prearranged. I loved that old man and would have done anything
for him. However, on his dying bed he tells me I'm not his son. My
brother isn't my brother any longer. I don't fit any longer. That's
when I moved up here. Thinking hey, I'm closer to the others now, I
could go visit them. See them tell them. But do I want to do it? I
don't know. I don't know them well enough to call it."

"Sam," she reached for his hand, and covered
it with her own, "You’re the same man you always were. You just
have an extended family too now."

"Lacey, I didn't fit in that other family. I
did things, well, frankly because it was expected of me. Because I
loved the McKay's. I still love them. But I’m not a McKay. I'm a
Douglas, inside at least."

Lacey nodded, "Okay, then we'll go see them.
Together. Then maybe the whole thing will fit and you will find
yourself. That is what you're trying to do, isn't it, find
yourself?"

"I know it sounds silly to anyone else, as
old as I am, but perhaps it's because I am older that it's so
important to me... But I have a need to find them, to be around
them. To know them at least a little and decide where I do belong,
once and for all."

Lacey nodded, but scooted closer, her arm
going around him, "I loved taking a shower with you," she
murmured.

He couldn't seem to stop the smile that
curled around her heart. "And I thought you were beautiful when you
were dry. Seeing you in the water like that, with the droplets
dripping from your nipples and curling through your hair, and then
when you wrapped your legs around me, all I could do was be inside
you, holding you there, God you were so beautiful. The way you move
with me, slowly at first and then hot and heavy..."

Lacey chuckled, "Eat your omelet…I think I
turn into someone else when you make love to me."

"Lacey, maybe we should take this day off and
just be together…." He began.

"What do you mean? Why? Are you afraid to
take the last step to finding yourself?"

"No, not afraid, but this might be the last
chance we have to be really together."

"Why?"

"Because once we are up there, our lovemaking
has to stop. We aren't married and others might not understand our
growing need for each other. Not that I don't want you every
minute, but I need to take care of this. I can't concentrate on you
while I'm there."

Lacey frowned, "I haven't asked you to."

"Hey, I want to concentrate on you, Babe, but
this is something that has to be settled for me. Before anything
else can happen."

"I know that, and I don't intend to get in
your way. I'll sleep on the couch or whatever, or I'll stay here
while you go…"

"No, I want you with me." He corrected.
"Hell, I want to sleep with you too, but I'm not sure it's
possible. Unless we tell them we're married or something."

"You want to lie to them?" she screeched.

"It might be worth it to have you near me."
He smiled.

She liked that reaction.

"Okay, whatever you want, Sam." She said and
started to get up and clear the table off. He drew her to him. He
pulled the plush robe he wrapped her in open so he could look at
her.

She stood very still, staring down into his
eyes. Waiting to see if he'd take what she would give him so
freely.

His lips caressed her mid section, hot and
wet and wanting. She seemed surprised that he hadn't kissed her on
the mouth, but she loved the way he kissed her and she groaned a
little as he made a long trail with his lips. He pulled her hips
toward him and buried his face in her as her head fell back, and
her hair cascaded over her shoulders. She pulled up to grab him but
he was too busy readying her. The way his nose and lips worked her,
she was helpless in his arms. She hadn't known such pleasure before
it shocked and pleased her.

He stood up and picked her up in his arms, as
the robe fell to the floor. His hand slipped insider her as he
carried her, working her slowly into a frenzy.

He caressed her lips and carried her up the
stairs. He laid her on the bed and stared down at her. "I'll never
tire of looking at you."

Lacey shook her head, "All women are the
same…"

"You're wrong there. I'm not Romeo, but I've
had a few, none as uninhibited as you. None as lovely. You're so
damned provocative; I can't believe you're the same shy Lacey I
first met. You move so natural. So innocent, so lovely. Just once
more and then we'll leave," he whispered as he came down on top of
her. Skin met skin, nipple to nipple, and then suddenly he thrust
himself inside her hard and deep. She didn't object. She moaned the
pleasure he aroused in her. He wasn't being gentle, but he'd
suddenly let go of his own control and plunged inside her so deep
she wasn't sure where she ended and he began. He had kissed her all
the way up the stairs; making her want him, need him.