yellow and that odd blue color that you said was twice as expensive so it must be the best.”
His eyes widened. “You remember?”
“You got down on your knee as soon as we walked inside because you said you were so nervous you were afraid you’d lose your courage if you didn’t do it immediately. And I told you that you should have waited because if I’d said no, it would have spoiled the dinner you arranged.”
He nodded. “And I said that if you’d said no, I wouldn’t have wanted to have food in my stomach anyway because I would have been as sick as a dog.”
“But we ended up not eating because you just wanted to come home.”
He nodded again, the excitement in his eyes bringing more and more of the memory back to me.
I remembered the feel of his hand on my thigh as we drove back to the house. The taste of his lips as he kissed me while he fumbled with the front door. We didn’t make it up the stairs. We…a blush burned my cheeks when I realized I was sitting where we made love that night. The first time, anyway. And then we lay in bed, our fingers intertwined, planning our future.
“You wanted to go to the justice of the peace the next morning, but I told you my parents would kill us if we didn’t get married in a proper church.”
He touched my cheek, his fingers moving over my jaw with a gentleness that felt so familiar. “And I agreed because I knew it would make you happy.”
“It did.” I sighed. “I can remember how it felt when I opened that box. I remember the things you said to me, the way that felt. I just…it’s like someone took my life and cut it into little pieces and scattered the pieces in the wind.”
“It’ll come back.”
“I was happy,” I said. “So very happy.”
“We both were.”
His hand moved around my jaw, and his fingers buried themselves in my hair. I knew he was going to kiss me. And I knew what it was going to feel like. But when his lips brushed mine, I wasn’t prepared for the fireworks that seemed to explode inside of me. He tasted like caramels and salt, like a day at the beach, a lazy afternoon in the sun. He felt familiar, but new all at the same time. His kiss was nothing like the wet, invasive kisses I’d shared with Philip.
How could I forget this? I could I forget a man who was so romantic, so kind, that he would rent out an entire restaurant for me? How could I forget the man I’d planned my entire future around, the man whose children I so desperately wanted to have? And I did want them. I could feel it in that memory. I could feel the need that burned inside of me, the yearning for something that only he could provide.
I slid closer to him, maneuvering my plaster-covered leg with a little difficulty. I hated that I only had one hand with which to touch him, but I was so glad to be able to touch him at all. I ran my hand along his chest, sliding my fingers over his throat to feel his pulse pounding just under his warm flesh. And then I buried my fingers in his hair, tugging him closer to me. I wanted him closer. I felt so safe with him close to me.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he whispered against my lips.
And that threatened to make my heart burst.
His hand found its way to my hip, as he kissed my throat, my heart pounding as tingles of pleasure chased themselves up and down my spine. Then his fingers were under the bottom hem of my shirt, dancing up along my ribs, teasing me as they brushed the bottom of my bra and then danced back down. My nipples tightened, my body aching to feel his touch. As far as I knew, I’d never wanted anything as much as I wanted his mouth on my throat, his hand on my breasts.
His mouth found mine again, and I wanted nothing more than to explore his deepest secrets. A little voice at the back of my head warned me that this might be too fast. I barely knew this man. But, then again, I’d spent a little more than a year loving this man. I was engaged to him, planning a wedding, a life together. How
Alexis Abbott, Alex Abbott