A Christmas Night to Remember(36)
By the time Zeke brought out the desserts Melody was sure she couldn’t eat another thing, but the Madeira cake spread with lemon curd, dosed with limoncello liqueur and topped off with raspberries and a mascarpone custard was the perfect end to a perfect meal and she ate every morsel. Replete, she finished the last of her wine, and when Zeke got up from the table and pulled her over to one of the sofas, sitting down beside her, she didn’t protest.
‘It’s midnight,’ he murmured after a moment or two, his voice smoky-soft. ‘Happy Christmas, darling.’
Darling. He shouldn’t call her darling, she thought, but then she pushed the reasoning behind it away, not wanting anything to intrude on the moment. She watched as he reached into his pocket, bringing out a small package which he handed her, kissing her once very lightly. ‘What is it?’ she said suspiciously.
‘Open it and see.’
‘Zeke, I didn’t want anything—’
‘Shush.’ His mouth was harder, more insistent, and this time the kiss left her entire body trembling when he raised his head. ‘Open it,’ he said again, his voice husky.
The eternity ring was exquisite: sparkling diamonds and emeralds set into a delicate ring of white gold. When Zeke slid it onto her finger it nestled perfectly between her wedding ring and engagement ring, which was a beautiful thing in itself, with emeralds clustered round a magnificent diamond. Melody stared down at the glittering stones, anguish vying with other emotions she couldn’t even bring a name to. She pressed the palms of her hands onto her eyes, hating herself for what she was doing to him.
Zeke gently brought her fingers away from her face by grasping her wrists, his dark eyes gazing into her tormented ones when she stared at him. He had aged in the past three months, she realised with a little shock of mortification. Time had become ingrained in the features of his face, the way it did when someone had suffered unbearable bereavement or loss. Had he unconsciously let go of her? In some deep recess of his mind had he known what they’d had was over? Was that it? Knowing Zeke as she did, he would have fought such a feeling. He would have felt he was letting her down.
‘I love you,’ he said simply. ‘That’s all this means. I will always love you. This feeling isn’t optional. It’s not something I can turn on and off. When you came into my life I thought I was doing all right, that I was autonomous, cool—call it what you will. Your arrival was unexpected and unsolicited. I wasn’t looking for for ever. I don’t think I even understood the notion until you stood on that stage and danced your way into my heart.’
Her breath caught in her throat. ‘I can’t dance any more.’
‘But you are here. That’s all that matters.’ He lowered his head until their lips were millimetres apart. ‘You have to believe that, Dee, because I don’t know how to convince you beyond saying it and showing you how much I love you.’
With a soft exhalation she accepted his mouth on hers. She fell against him, needing his strength, his maleness, his overwhelming virility, all the qualities she’d missed so deeply. He kissed her heavy eyelids, one after the other, pressing them closed as though he knew she needed to shut everything but the feel and taste of him out of her mind. Melody found herself in a velvety darkness made up entirely of what his body was doing to hers, her desire mounting as he deliberately deepened the kiss until the reality of the touch and taste and smell of him was irresistible, a fire which burnt everything in its path. She wanted him. She ached with it.
He picked her up in his arms, carrying her towards his bedroom. He manoeuvred the door open and carried her over the threshold as gently as if she were a china figurine. Kicking the door shut behind him, he walked into the dark bedroom, lit only by the soft shadowed glow of a bedside lamp he must have left on earlier.
Melody tensed as he laid her down on the bed, but instantly he was beside her, wrapping his arms round her in a gesture intended to reassure and comfort. There was no force, no urgency, his mouth caressing her lips with small kisses that gave pleasure without demanding a response.
Her breasts were pressed against the hard wall of his chest, and slowly and repetitively Zeke began stroking her back, his mouth moving all over her face in the same swift kisses as his fingers carefully worked down her spine from her tense shoulders to the seductive flare of her hips. Gradually she relaxed again, her body curving into his as his lips returned to her mouth and he kissed her more deeply, his skilful hands and mouth evoking the burning desire she remembered from the past.