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DRAKE FELT LIKE A HEEL.  This was the first time he and Tinkerbell had ever been at odds this long.  When he had tried to make amends that night, she said she couldn’t talk, she had to study.  He had really blown it. 

“What’s wrong?” Karen asked as she looked up from putting Andrew into his sleeper.

“Piper.  She’s not talking to me.”  He’d already told Karen what he’d said to his sister.

“Try again tomorrow,” Karen suggested as she tickled Andrews tummy.  Drake smiled when he saw Andrew’s little baby smile.  The kid smiled like his mother, with his whole heart.

“Do you think it’s going to scar our boy if he sleeps in the Under the Sea nursery tonight?” Drake asked Karen.

“Why?  What do you have in mind?”

“I want a little quality time with my wife.”

“I’m not your wife,” she reminded him. 

He came up behind her as she picked up Andrew from the bed.  He pushed back her auburn hair and kissed behind her ear.  “In my heart, you’re already my wife.  You were my wife that day I picked you up in the snow.”  He felt her tremble.

“I suppose Andrew can spend a couple of hours in Alaska.  We’ll check on him in a while.”

Drake scraped his teeth against the chords in her neck.  She shivered.  He loved how responsive she was.  “Give him to me,” he whispered.

“I’ll get ready for bed,” she said as he headed for the door.  He went down the hall to the nursery.

“You going to be a good boy for Daddy for a couple of hours?” Drake asked as he put his son in the crib.  “I have plans, and I could sure use a solid.”

Andrew blinked slowly as he snuggled onto the mattress.  Drake couldn’t believe the amount of love that swelled up as he looked down at the tiny scrap of humanity in the little blue sleeper.  “God kid, you’re the shit, you know that?”

Andrew sighed as he drifted off to sleep, totally oblivious to his old man’s heartfelt words.  Just as well, now Drake needed to focus on Andrew’s mama.  He placed a kiss on the back of his son’s head and turned on the nightlight.  He assured himself that Piper’s door was tightly shut then headed back towards the master bedroom.

The room was dark.  He saw the green dot of the baby monitor, but that was it.  He took care of that with the flip of a switch.  It still cracked him up that Karen was bashful. 

“Drake,” she protested, “not the overhead lights.”

He looked at her in a beautiful silk nightie that he hadn’t seen in months.  “You turn on the bedside lamp, and I’ll turn off the overhead.  Is it a deal?”  He leaned against the wall and watched as she stretched across the bed to reach the light.  The nightie barely covered her fuller breasts, it was a beautiful sight to behold. 

“There,” she said with exasperation.

“Now the other one.” 

She gave him the evil eye, but then scooched over, and reached.  God, he was ready to come from just watching her.  What was it going to be like when he finally got his hands on her?  He knew they couldn’t have sex, but Oh Lordy, the fun they were going to have tonight.

“Drake, turn off the light.”

He slammed off the light and prowled over to the side of the bed where she was.  She grinned up at him.  He put one knee on the bed and put his arms on either side of her, effectively caging her in.  “I’m going to eat you up,” he said.

“Me first.”  She smiled.

“Nope.”  He tugged at the thin strap on her green nightie.  “As much as I love this, I want it off.”

“Uhhm.  I was kind of hoping we could start with you.” 

His head whipped up to look at her face.  She wasn’t kidding.  Her hands were already at his belt.  “No, you’ve waited long enough.  I want to take care of you,” she said emphatically.  She had his belt unbuckled and was working on the button of his jeans when he caught sight of her eyes.  She looked panicked.  What the hell?

Drake gently clasped her hands in one of his, then rolled them over so that she landed on his chest.  He stroked his other hand down her back.  Once.  Twice.  He kept doing it until she settled.  “Do you know how much I love you?”

He felt her breath sigh out.  “I know.”

“I love lying here like this.  I dream of this when we’re apart.”

“So do I, Drake.  I dream of you a lot.  I wake up hugging your pillow.  I never wash your pillowcase after you leave.  I need to keep your scent near so I can hold onto you.”

He swallowed.  He hadn’t known that. 

He tugged at the strap of her nightie again, and she tensed.  “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”  She breathed the word quietly into his neck.  He didn’t believe her for an instant.  Slowly he rolled them over so he was looking down at her.  She avoided his glance, which was fine, there were plenty of other things to look at.  To savor.  God, he’d been wanting a chance to touch her for what seemed like forever.  His hand hovered over her waist.  She yanked it up to her breast.

“Why’d you do that?”

“Uhm.”

“Miss Schoolteacher, ‘uhmm’ is not an answer.  Not that I don’t appreciate the bounty, but why’d you move my hand?  Are you hurting?”

She shook her head, letting her hair cover her face.  She’d pulled that trick in the past, he wasn’t letting it fly now.  He brushed it back, so he could see her pretty green eyes.  “Honey, what’s bothering you?”

“Nothing,” she repeated.

“Well if it’s nothing, then I get to do what I want.”  He pushed up onto his knees and in one smooth move he had her divested of her nightgown. 

“Drake!” she let out a soft shriek.

He saw that she was wearing purple panties.  God, it was just like the first time they’d ever been intimate.  “Purple.”  He grinned.

She tugged at the covers and he pulled them out of her hands.  “Nope, this body is mine for the night.  At least until Andrew gets hungry, and even then, I’m not sure he’s going to win, because Daddy has been starving for a long time.”

“You can’t mean that.”  She had her arms crossed over her belly, and everything became crystal clear in an instant.  He wanted to wrench her hands away and tell her she was out of her mind.  In fact, he was a hairsbreadth away from doing so, but he looked up into her fragile expression and memories washed over him. 

Karen had only had one other experience before being with him.  She’d been practically a virgin when she’d first come into his arms, and it was like that again.  Despite everything they had gone through, or maybe because of what she had gone through, she was delicate, and it was up to him to soothe, woo and then seduce her. 

“Drake?”

“Right here, Baby.”  He stroked the back of his knuckles down her arm until reaching the tips of her fingers, relishing it when she quivered.  He laced his fingers with hers, then brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it.  Out of the corner of his eye he saw her splay her other hand over the scar on her tummy. Hell, he’d kissed it before.  She had to know he wasn’t bothered by it, didn’t she?  That was a badge of honor.

He brought her arm up and looped it around his shoulder, then bent in for a kiss.  She responded beautifully.  Soon all thought of her response was forgotten, as he lost himself in the wonder of her passion.  Sweet and wild.  He thrust his tongue into the warm, wet welcome of her mouth and he groaned when he felt the fingers of her other hand dig into his hair, her nails scraping his scalp.

Karen bit his lip, and his cock throbbed in response.  Then she had the gall to laugh.  She knew what she’d done.  He reared back and looked into her shining green eyes.  There was his girl.  He felt moisture against his chest, then the sparkle left her eyes, and horror replaced it.

“What?  Karen, what?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head.  Drake looked down at his chest and saw a little bit of wet.  Then he laughed.  She opened one eye and stared up at him.  He snagged one of the baby towels off the nightstand.  “We might need this.  One of the guys said you leaking during sex meant I was doing it right.”

“What?!”  She hit him on his shoulder.  “You talked about our sex life?”

“Not our sex life.  He was talking about post-pregnancy sex.  He explained a few things and I listened.  Now weren’t you biting my lip?  I liked that part.”  Drake pressed his lips to Karen’s.  She turned her head.

“This doesn’t bother you?”

He looked at her in amazement, then grabbed her hand and dragged it to the front of his jeans.  She cupped his erection and he groaned again.  “Jesus, Karen, hell yes I’m bothered.  You and your body bother me a lot.”  He could tell it was time for the blunt talk portion of their conversation.

He sat up and then she let out a squeak when he easily lifted her into his lap.  She was laid out like a bounty where she couldn’t hide a damn thing. 

“Honey, you seem to be under the misapprehension that this tiny little scar upsets me.  Have I missed something.  Do my scars turn you off?”

She gave a slight shake of her head.

“Really?”

“Of course not.”

“Then how could I be turned off by this tiny little thing that you earned by bringing our son into the world?”

“Tiny?”

“Yes, tiny.  Compared to mine, this is absolutely delicate.  Just like you are.  Well except for your luscious breasts.  My God woman, just watching you walk around the house about gives me a heart attack.  And let’s face it, you and I both know why they’re bigger, and a little bit of milk between friends isn’t a big deal.”

“You are too much.”

“Bullshit, you always told me I was just right.”  Drake waggled his eyebrows, and watched in delight as she laughed.

She relaxed in his arms and he took advantage.  His hand wandered, and stroked down her side, to her waist, then rested on her hip.  She squirmed, and he took that as a good sign.  God knew he was squirming.  Her hand drifted upwards, spearing through the hair on his chest.  Game over. 

He had her flat on her back in an instant, her pretty purple panties thrown across the room.  She giggled.  He would have grinned, but he was too intent on his goal.  He was enraptured by her slick pink folds.  He parted her flesh and saw his goal.  He circled the engorged nub with his finger and she bucked up against him. 

“It’s too much.”

“It’s not enough,” he disagreed.  “It’s not nearly enough.”  He shifted downwards, and nudged her legs further apart so he could settle between them.  He touched her with his tongue, savoring her every sigh, her every moan.  He could feel her excitement rise higher as she pushed against him.  Gently he held her down, forcing her to take more.

“Oh God,” she panted.

He smiled and redoubled his efforts, loving the flood of honey that slid over his tongue.  She bucked against his hands, and he saw her hands fling outward and grab his pillow.  As she bit into it, he ever so gently bit her clit and rasped it back and forth with his tongue.  He heard her muffled scream of fulfillment.  She slumped back into the mattress and he kissed his way up her body, wrenching the pillow out of her hands and flinging it to the floor, probably next to her purple panties.  He grinned down at her.

“Proud of yourself?” she asked.

“Yep.”

“Take off those goddamn jeans.”

“Your wish is my command.”  He stood and shucked off his remaining clothes.  Her breasts jiggled as she slid off the bed and got down on her knees.  He damn near ended up on his at the sight of her.  Had he ever been this excited?

She stroked the length of him, then she staggered him even more as she rubbed her cheek against his engorged flesh and breathed him in.  “So good,” she moaned.  “I’ve missed you.”

Her dainty tongue began painting patterns up and down his body, making him shudder, making him need, right before she engulfed him in hot depths of her mouth.  He groaned.  Karen started a rhythm that felt sublime.  It was more than just passion, she made him feel loved.  He feathered his fingers through the silk of her hair, and her eyes drifted up to look at him, they were dark green with a fire he had craved for months.

“You’re beautiful.  You’re perfect,” he rasped out.

She swirled her tongue against the sensitive underside of his cock and his knees trembled.

“Honey, I’m going to come,” he warned.

She let go of his erect flesh with her hand and sucked harder, deeper, and then grasped the back of his thigh, pulling him closer.  He was losing his mind, but her meaning was clear. 

He shouldn’t.  But her nails dug into him.  His heart and mind filled with the knowledge that he had never been so loved as he shot into space.