She had the great satisfaction of seeing the smile leave Nate’s face. His eyes went to her feet, then slowly moved upward over her naked body. All of it was exposed to his view. By the time he reached her eyes, there was sweat on his brow.
Oh! The deep feeling of triumph to see lust in the eyes of the man you love.
Holding her arms out to the side, she gave a slow turn so he could see all of her, front and back. She was proud of the body she’d achieved from a lifetime of work.
When she turned to Nate, his eyes were wild. He pulled her against him, his clothes against her bare skin.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.
She knew what he meant: pretty, delicate little Stacy. She gave a snort of contempt. “Try it.”
It was as though her words released something in him. When he picked her up, her legs went around his waist, his hand running the length of one of them from waist to ankle, all while his lips never left hers.
She didn’t know when he unfastened his trousers, but by the time he got to the wall, he was ready for her. He entered her with all the force of his desire. She arched her back against the wall and pushed against him, taking him deeper and deeper inside her.
As his strokes began, Terri lifted her arms and put her hands against the wall, pushing hard. Nate could take it. He could hold her full weight, easily stand up against her strength. He cupped her backside and pulled her even closer.
When he came, Terri was clawing at his back, trying to rip the shirt off him.
“Sorry,” he whispered into her ear. “Next time is yours.”
He carried her down the hall to what had been his bedroom.
She expected him to lay her down gently, but he didn’t. He dropped her so she bounced on the mattress.
“I spent night after night imagining this.” He was looking at her beautiful nude body on the bed.
“And here I thought you never noticed me.”
“In those shorts?” He was slowly unbuttoning his shirt, taking his time. “Did you cut them off?”
“Maybe.” She turned onto her side, drew one leg up and put her hand on the curve of his backside. “Was it too much for you to handle?”
When Nate took his shirt off, Terri drew in her breath. She was going to get to touch what she’d seen so often!
“You shortened your shorts and I lifted so heavy I nearly detached my pecs.”
She got up on her knees and ran her hand over his chest, over the curves of the hard muscles. “It was worth it.”
With a quick gesture, he let his trousers fall to the floor—and Terri saw him hard and upstanding, ready for her. She ran her fingertip down the side of him.
“Not too much for you?” he asked huskily. “All the men in my family are—”
“Do shut up,” she said pleasantly, and he did.
They made love all night. With Terri on top until her legs gave out, then Nate rolled her beneath him.
At first he was cautious about putting his full weight on her, but she just laughed. “I’m not a Townie.” They knew who she meant but she didn’t say the name. Reality, consequences, and worse, separation, would happen tomorrow.
But now, for this one night in heaven, they had each other.
Only once did Nate try to persuade her out of the year-long separation. Terri said, “We can’t build a life on the tears of an innocent person.”
After that, they didn’t talk much. But then, they’d done that and nothing else for weeks. Talked to cover their longing. Talked of work and other people and past experiences that hid what they’d really wanted to say. They’d shared experiences instead of emotions. Confessions of past feelings instead of declarations of true love.
There had been gentle hints of future wants and needs. Bits of hope that somehow they’d be together.
All these were replaced with touching, tasting, tongues, fingers, hands. Exploring bodies they’d seen but had been forbidden to touch.