Shadows of Yesterday
Page 32

Wordlessly he collapsed atop her and fastened onto her mouth rapaciously. Her tongue met his in an erotic skirmish as her arms folded across his shoulders. Holding her tightly, his mouth still on hers, he rolled them over and over on the floor, their legs entangled.
Coming to rest with Leigh lying over him, he frantically sought the buttons of her blouse. They fell free one by one in spite of his clumsy fumblings between passion-laden kisses.
When all were undone, he lifted his head to caress with his lips the swell of her breasts above her bra, dragging his tongue across the creamy expanse, stopping at intervals to brand her tender flesh with a fiery kiss. Her fingers twined in his hair and pulled him against her.
When he had tantalized her past endurance, he unclasped her bra and moved it aside. He watched her face as his hands caressed her gently, kneading her breasts as they lay full and feminine in his hands.
With the least persuasion of his fingertips, her nipples hardened. Infinitely careful lest he hurt her, he rolled them gently between his fingers.
“Does that feel as good to you as it does to me?” he asked in a seductive whisper.
The throaty murmur that escaped her lips became a beseeching whimper. Raising his head, he soothed the swollen buds with solicitous lips and tongue and, at the same time, satisfied his own need for her.
Her blouse hung on either side of his head as he drew on her sweetly. The metered flexing of his mouth pulled at her heartstrings. A floodgate was lifted and she was inundated with more love for this man than she had known herself capable of.
His hands slipped under her skirt and half-slip to glide up her thighs and over her bottom. Hooking his thumbs under the elastic of her panty hose, he pulled them down her legs. She completed the procedure when he eased her onto her back. The garment was negligently kicked free.
Leigh now became the aggressor. While Chad braced himself above her, she tugged the shirt from his waistband and unbuttoned it. Then, with fingers made daring by consuming passion, she unfastened his jeans and glided them over his hips. With eager hands they explored each other’s most intimate places.
“I want you so much, Leigh. So much, darling,” he groaned.
“Yes, Chad. Oh God, yes.”
He let his arms fold beneath him as he lowered his body onto her. A mutual sigh of gratification spiraled above them as he possessed her.
Long, glorious minutes later, they lay replete on the carpet, a heap of wrinkled clothing with arms and legs and two heads that seemed disinclined to separate.
“You look downright unkempt,” he observed teasingly.
“Do you mind?”
“You could be naked and I wouldn’t mind.” They laughed at the irony of that statement. “How long do you think Sarah will let this debauchery go on?”
“We’re on borrowed time already. She’ll be ready for her supper before too long.”
“Do we have time for a bath?”
She moved her head to look up at him. “A bath?”
“Come on,” he said on a sudden burst of inspiration. “I’ve had this seven-foot-long, four-foot-deep mosaic-tile bathtub for two years and I’ve never been in it.”
She let herself be led into the bathroom after first checking to see that Sarah was still sleeping. The bathroom was indeed decadent in its opulence. The tub was surrounded by plate glass that overlooked a private, fenced garden—except there were no plants growing in it.
“Chad, why haven’t you ever planted anything out there?”
“Because I never planned to entertain ladies in this bathtub. I promise if you’ll take a bath with me, by this time tomorrow there’ll be a tropical rain forest out there.” He spoke with his hand over his heart and with such sincerity that Leigh laughed.
“By all means, let’s initiate the bathtub.”
While the huge tub was filling up, they rid themselves of the mussed clothing. The process took an inordinate amount of time. They assisted each other, but prolonged kissing countered helping hands. When they were both naked and stepping into the tub, Leigh lamented, “It’s a shame you don’t have any bubble bath.”
Chad thought for a moment, then said, “Just a minute.” Undaunted by his nakedness and wet feet, he left the bathroom.
Leigh lowered herself into the tub, which was still only half-filled with warm water. Chad returned with a plastic bottle of dishwashing liquid. “You’ve got to be kidding!” Leigh cried as he stood over the tub and squirted a long stream of the liquid soap under the tap.
“When in need, improvise,” he quipped.
The dishwashing liquid made a mountain of suds over the surface of the water as they sat facing each other, Leigh’s legs lying over Chad’s. They luxuriated in the feel of wet skin under lathered hands. The bar of soap was often lost and searched for by hands that found more delightful quarry under the water. Lips were granted kisses for the most trifling of reasons.
One kiss lengthened to the point that Leigh forgot their bath, forgot everything but the mouth that wreaked havoc with all her senses. A hunger that should have been appeased only intensified, until she felt the pressure of his hands on her hips, drawing her closer. “Chad,” she said in wonder, freeing her mouth from his when she felt his tender probing between her thighs. “Is… is it even possible to do with… with the water… and…”
She had only an instant to marvel over a smile that could be both devilishly wicked and lovingly reassuring.
* * *
Sarah had cooperated and didn’t wake up until they were dressed, albeit in clothes somewhat the worse for wear. Chad, commiserating with the crying baby, declared that he was faint with hunger. Wrapping Sarah warmly, he took her and her mother outside for a brief glimpse of the Christmas lights that had come on automatically at dusk.
Sarah was fed first and then put on a pallet on the kitchen floor to play while Leigh and Chad ate omelets.
“I’ll have to buy a swing and a playpen or something, won’t I?” he mused between bites. “I sure can’t be hauling those things back and forth from your house in the Ferrari.”
“You could always use your truck,” Leigh said sweetly, batting her eyelashes. “But then, it’s always so cluttered, isn’t it?”
He shot her a killing look as he got up to pour himself another cup of coffee. “You’ll never let me live that down, will you?” He came back to the table with the full, steaming mug and slouched in his chair. “At the time it was safer for you to think I was a mechanic. I didn’t want to arouse your suspicions by driving up in a Ferrari. Besides,” he said with a lascivious wink, “I was too busy arousing everything else.”