It Had to Be You (Chicago Stars #1)(131)

“Please. . . . You’re making me crazy.”

“Shhh. I’m just getting started here, and, frankly, I expect a little more stamina from you. Maybe you could recite some batting averages or something.”

She laughed and then gasped as he gently nipped her with his teeth. A moment later, her bra fell away, and she was naked from the waist up.

“You are one beautiful woman, sweetheart. Isn’t she, boys?” /

He definitely needed to be put in his place. She began to lift her arms to remove the blindfold, but he caught her wrists and held them at her sides. “Not yet, honey. I’m real thirsty.”

Releasing her, he cupped her breasts in his palms. Once again, he began to feast on her nipples, but this time, not even the frail barrier of silk was in his way. He suckled her until she was making soft, mewing sounds.

She reached out, desperate to touch him. At some point he had taken off his own coat, and she slipped her hands under his sweater, sliding them through the mat of hair on his chest to brush his nipples.

He groaned. She felt his touch at her waist, and then the light brush of wool as her skirt fell free. He spoke softly, his voice husky. “I don’t want to scare you, honey, so I’d better tell you exactly what I’m going to do here.”

She wasn’t the slightest bit afraid and he knew it, but she decided it would be rude to interrupt.

“I’ve made a bed for us with our coats, and I’m going to lay you down on it. That’s right. Now lean back. That’s good; real good. Honey, I don’t remember telling you that you could close up your legs like that. Uh-huh, now move that knee up so I can enjoy the view.” His fingers found the sensitive skin of her inner thigh.

“Can I take the blindfold off yet?”

“Oh, I don’t think so. No sense in gettin’ you all riled up till I’m through with you.”

She was definitely going to get even with him for this. But not until she had enjoyed every second of this exquisite, thrilling seduction.

She heard the rustle of his clothes as he discarded them, and her heart swelled with love. Six months ago she could never have imagined trusting any man enough to let him do this to her, let alone one with Dan’s physical strength. Yet she lay here before him naked and open. Even though she had no idea where he had taken her, she had never felt safer and she realized that, along with his love, he had given her freedom from fear.

He lay down beside her on the bed of coats and drew her into his arms. “I’m going to kiss you a little bit. If you get bored, I can ask the band to play some music or something.”

“I’m definitely not bored.”

She breathed in his clean scent and touched the tip of her tongue to his shoulder. His muscles flexed and she felt his arousal pulsing hard against her thigh. His mouth closed over hers. Their tongues joined and everything else slipped from her mind until she was only aware of sensations. The sound of his groans, the dampness of his skin as he held himself back to pleasure her. His mouth traveled from her breasts to her waist. He kissed the insides of her thighs, then opened her to love her more deeply.

She had no idea when she lost the blindfold. She didn’t know whether it had fallen off or one of them had removed it. She was only aware of the roar of blood in her ears, the ecstasy of being joined with this man she loved so very much, the fierce passion of his love words as he thrust so deeply into her body.

“All my life . . .”

“I know. My sweet . . .”

“Forever . . .”

“Oh, yes. Forever.”

They pledged themselves with word and body, then cried out together as their love flowed warm and rich from one heart into the other.

When it was over, he held her against him as if he’d never let her go. His voice was thick with emotion. “I love you so much. I’ve been lonesome for you all my life.”

Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. “You’re the most wonderful man in the entire world.”

She could feel him smile against her forehead. “You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be?”

“I wanted to drive out the bad memory, honey. I wanted to put a good one in its place.”

She had no idea what he was talking about, and she was too lethargic to question him. Sighing with contentment, she snuggled her cheek into his neck and opened her eyes. She was aware of the gentle beating of his heart, the stars twinkling in the sky above, the soaring gridwork of steel. . . .

Her head shot up.

“Something wrong, sweetheart?”

“Oh, my God!”

They were lying naked on the fifty yard line in the very center of the Midwest Sports Dome.





EPILOGUE


Dan walked down the quiet lane and breathed in the fragrant evening air of late May. He caught the scent of rich, damp earth, along with the faint hint of lilacs from the bushes he and Phoebe had planted not long after they were married. Contentment seeped through every pore of his body even though his wife was in a snit, and he knew he was going to hear about it the minute she got him alone.

She got upset about the strangest things. Just because he’d asked a few perfectly innocent questions about that raging hormone who was taking Molly to her high school senior prom was no reason to accuse him of being overly protective. It had been odd starting out his marriage as a stand-in father for a teenage girl, but he knew he’d done a lot better job of it than Bert Somerville. He and Phoebe had secretly rejoiced when Molly had decided to go to Northwestern instead of one of the Ivy League schools. They didn’t want her too far from home.