Free That's My Baby! by Vicki Lewis Thompson

before he went anywhere.
    But sleep didn’t seem to be on his mind. She watched him shuck his clothes and remembered all the lonely nights she’d dreamed of his virile body moving in rhythm with hers. She wanted that as much as he did. Needed that, to give her a taste of what she was fighting for.
    Her gaze swept hungrily over him. She’d always loved looking at him naked. Maybe it was the long absence, but he seemed even more beautiful now, leaner, stronger-looking, his chest and shoulder muscles more defined. With his thick beard, she couldn’t help thinking of some Norse god with thunderbolts in each clenched fist.
    When he put his knee on the mattress and braced his hands on either side of her, she reached up to stroke his chest. The muscles under her hand were rock-hard.
    She glanced into his intense blue eyes. “You must have worked like a field hand over there.”
    “I dug a lot of ditches.” He leaned closer and nibbled on her lower lip. “I worked until I was so tired, I couldn’t stand. And still I couldn’t sleep for needing you.”
    His beard tickled her skin. She longed to give herself to the sensuous delight of his kiss, but first she had to know.“And did you…find someone to help you with that problem?”
    When he stilled, her heart twisted. Cupping his face in both hands, she drew back and looked into his eyes. She saw remorse there, and a crack started to form in her heart. “You did, didn’t you?”
    “No,” he said quietly.
    “No? Then why are you looking so guilty?”
    “Because it just hit me how she must have felt when I turned her down.”
    “A refugee?”
    “God, no. I would never take advantage of those vulnerable women. Another camp volunteer, from England. She wanted me, or at least she wanted someone like me. I thought I could go through with it. I tried to go through with it.” His gaze bored into hers and he sounded irritated. Whether with himself or her, she wasn’t sure. “I wanted to forget you,” he said. “I wanted in the worst way to be able to make love to her.”
    The thought of him even considering getting naked with another woman drove her crazy. “So, did you kiss her?”
    “Yes.”
    She couldn’t leave it alone. “French-kiss?”
    “Yes.”
    “You had your tongue in another woman’s mouth? How could you do that?”
    A faint smile touched his lips. “Forget it, Jess. Nothing happened. Not that I wasn’t hoping it would. I just…couldn’t.”
    Jessica was pretty happy about that. “Did you take her clothes off?”
    “Yes, and now I’m going to take off the rest of yours.” His mouth came down, cutting off her next question as he worked her arm out of the bathrobe sleeve.
    She shoved him away and gasped for breath. “Not sofast, buster. I want to get this straight. Were your clothes off, too?”
    “Mostly.” In one smooth movement he pulled the robe off her other arm and tossed it on the floor.
    “And even after all that, you didn’t make love to her?”
    “No.” He pushed her flat on the mattress and followed her down, pinning her there with his chest.
    Oh, yes. She loved the satisfying weight of him, the slight abrasion of his chest hair against her breasts. And he needed her. Only her. She gazed up at him, overjoyed with the news that he’d had a chance to make love to someone and hadn’t been able to.
    Yet she still could hardly believe it. “Is that normal?”
    “I doubt it. I think you’ve ruined me.” He framed her face in both hands, and his eyes searched hers for many long moments.
    “What is it?” she questioned softly.
    “I can’t believe I’m really here with you. I’m afraid I’m going to wake up.”
    “Me, too.” She reached up and touched his cheek. “Make love to me, Nat, before we both wake up.”
    With a groan he lowered his head and kissed her. His kiss was deep and sensuous, as it always was in her dreams, and she arched against him, praying that he wasn’t an illusion. Deepening the kiss, he slid his