CHAPTER FOURTEEN
NIKI STARED UP at him with her heart in her eyes. “Oh, Blair, I’m so sorry,” she said, not knowing what else to say.
He caught her hand and brought the palm to his mouth. “It’s all right. I haven’t had feelings for her in a long time,” he confessed. “It isn’t something she could help, you know. People are what they are.”
She nodded. “She must have been in terrible pain when she married you.”
“She was. She’d been badly treated by her father, when he found out that she didn’t like men in that way. I think she struggled with her identity all her life.” He kissed her nose. “You know, that first night, when I held you in the easy chair in your living room, after your blind date tried to hurt you—I was sorry that I was engaged, despite what I thought I felt for Elise.”
“Really?” she asked, all eyes.
He nodded. He traced her soft mouth with just his forefinger. “You made me hungry, and not just physically. When I was sick, and you went against your doctor’s orders to nurse me, and Elise wouldn’t even come back to the States to see about me, I realized what a mistake I’d made. I divorced her soon after that.”
“I remember.” She smiled sadly. “You got drunk on my graduation day, and Dad and I brought you home with us.”
He sighed. “I’d just found out that Elise was a lesbian. And I was debating my conscience at the time, as well,” he said, not wanting to admit that his hunger for Niki had helped provoke the drinking.
“Why?”
He studied her. “That can wait a little longer.” He scooped her up and carried her to the bed. He put her down and pulled the cover and sheet back. “You need sleep,” he said softly. “I’ll have room service bring up supper when you wake up.”
“Where are you going to be?” she asked as he rummaged through her suitcase for a gown. He brought out the beautiful white lacy one that they’d bought together.
“Walking on the beach,” he replied with a smile. “I don’t have the luxury of free time very often.” He pulled off her shoes and slacks and blouse and then her bra. He stared at her pretty, pert breasts with delight. He smiled. “You’re darker, here,” he whispered, bending to put his mouth tenderly against the suddenly hard tips. “They’re more sensitive, aren’t they?” he added when she gasped.
“Yes,” she agreed.
He slid the gown over her head and pulled it down before he put her under the covers and smoothed her long blond hair out on the pillow. “My sweet angel,” he said quietly. “You are so beautiful, Niki.”
“I’m not beautiful,” she scoffed, flushing.
He chuckled. “It’s in the eyes of the beholder, precious,” he reminded her. “Do you need anything before I go?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry I’m so tired.”
“We’ll make up for it later,” he teased. “Okay?”
She smiled sleepily. “Okay.”
“Sleep well.”
He turned the lights out and went out the patio door onto the beach, where the waves were washing up on the shore. He felt like the luckiest man on earth.
* * *
WHEN NIKI WOKE up hours later, Blair was lying beside her on the bed, wearing tan Bermuda shorts and a yellow knit shirt. He looked very handsome, with his black hair thick and clean and wavy, and his broad face freshly shaven. He smelled of soap and light cologne, and Niki thought he had to be the most gorgeous man in the whole world. His chest was broad, and curling black hair peered out of the opening at his throat. She remembered how it felt against her bare breasts and blushed in spite of herself. Her eyes lowered to his legs like tree trunks, muscular and faintly feathered with hair.
He was chuckling softly at her intense scrutiny.
“I can’t help staring at you,” she confessed. “I think you’re gorgeous, Blair.”
“I think you are, too,” he replied. One lean hand brushed back her own hair. His eyes were soft and tender on her wan face. “Feel rocky?”
“Just a bit,” she said. “The fatigue is the worst.”
“It will get better,” he said. “I read this book,” he added. “All about the early stages of pregnancy. Those vitamins, in time, will make you think you can lift the front end of a semi.” He chuckled. “And the morning sickness will go away soon, too.” He leaned closer. “As long as you don’t try to eat eggs,” he teased.
She rolled over toward him and curled up in his arms. “I’m glad that you aren’t angry about the baby,” she said. “I was scared to death that I might not ever have a baby. I sort of pushed you off balance...”
He was laughing. “I was already off balance. I wanted you to the point of madness two years ago. It hasn’t gotten better in all the time between, either.”
She turned her head on the pillow so that she could look into his eyes. “Really?”
He traced her mouth with his forefinger. “Really. I got more out of kissing you than I ever got out of sex with anyone else.”
“Wow. Really?”
He laughed. That was what she’d whispered after their first intimacy. “You make me feel ten feet tall.”
She moved closer, tracing her fingers along his jawline. “And you make me feel beautiful.”
“You are beautiful, Niki,” he replied, drawing her close. “Inside and out. And you can’t possibly imagine how much I want this baby. I want it almost as much as I want you,” he said.
She smoothed back his hair at his temple. “I thought you loved Elise, that I would never be able to make you forget her. And then there was Janet,” she added sadly.
“Janet.” He kissed her forehead. “I took her out trying to forget how it had been with you on the beach,” he confessed. “I was so hungry for you that I could hardly bear it. Janet was a diversion, honey. Only that. I could have married her years ago if I’d wanted to. It was always only friendship on my part. Nothing more.”
“We were friends,” she pointed out.
He nibbled her lower lip. “I was trying to protect you from me.”
She laughed softly, because he was smiling. “Why?”
“Because we’re so far apart in age,” he said. His face grew solemn. “But then we thought you had cancer, and I realized that nothing guarantees us another day of life, that I could outlive you. It was a staggering reality.” He winced. “You don’t know how I felt, when you told me about the spot on your lung. That’s why I got drunk and took you to bed, Niki. You didn’t have to push me over the edge. The trick would have been keeping me out of your bed. I was desperate for you.”
She smiled lazily. “I noticed.”
He sighed as he kissed her nose. “Life is unpredictable. We have to live it one day at a time and not worry away the future. I’ll take care of you,” he added tenderly. “All my life, Niki. As long as I live. I’ll cherish you.”
She moved closer. “And I’ll take care of you.” She brushed her mouth against his and smiled at the instant response.
He drew her closer. “Do you think...” Niki suddenly sat up in bed and held her hand to her mouth. He let her go and followed her mad run into the bathroom, reaching for a washcloth even as she rushed to the toilet.
“Oh...damn!” she groaned as she lost what little food was in her stomach.
He bathed her forehead with cool water and smiled. “We’ll get through it together, honey,” he said from beside her. “It will get better. I promise.”
* * *
LATER ON BLAIR ordered food from room service for them. Niki was able to keep a little soup down. Blair fed it to her spoonful by spoonful, watching her as if she was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen.
“Is my nose on backward?” she teased.
He chuckled. “I’ve never been around a pregnant woman,” he explained. “Every minute of it fascinates me.”
She was pale and lethargic, without makeup, still wearing the nightgown he’d put her in. He didn’t seem to mind a bit. She loved the expression on his face.
“It fascinates me, too,” she replied. “I’ve always wanted children. But after I got to know you, the only ones I wanted were yours. I used to dream about it.” She stopped eating. “What if this is just a dream, Blair? I’d rather die than wake up!”
“So would I,” he said gruffly.
“You could pinch me, just in case,” she said.
He bent and kissed the tip of her nose. “I do not torture pregnant women,” he informed her haughtily.
She smiled from ear to ear and accepted the last spoonful of soup.
That night she slept close and warm in his arms, curled into him like a treasure, safe and cherished. He might not truly love her, she thought, but he cared for her a great deal. It made her happy that he wanted the baby. But it was worrying that she was too sick to offer him the physical part of marriage. She hoped the nausea would pass soon, that she’d feel the way she did that one unforgettable night in his arms.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING Blair tried to finish breakfast in between constant business calls. She knew that it followed him everywhere. He spent much of his time delegating chores, answering questions, positioning management personnel. He saw Niki watching him with a tiny, loving smile and forgot what he was saying. The caller had to prompt him to answer the question. He did, then ended the call. He turned his phone off and tossed it onto a table near the patio window.
“I hate the damned cell phone,” he muttered. “You can’t make people leave you alone as long as it’s turned on.”
She moved close to him and pressed herself into his arms. “You’re a high-powered businessman. You have a lot of people who depend on you to keep the corporation running,” she said simply.
His broad chest rose and fell. “I guess so.” He kissed the top of her head. “You’re very tolerant. You should be yelling at me for letting business interfere with our honeymoon.”
“Okay. Consider yourself yelled at,” she laughed softly.
His arms contracted. “Life is so uncomplicated when I’m with you,” he said, trying to put a feeling into words. “Easy. I live in a state of constant turmoil at work. People are short-tempered. Executives complain. Subordinates argue. Then I take you for a walk on the beach, and all the stress goes away. Just being with you is... I can’t explain it.”
She smiled, pleased. “I’m not a stressful person,” she said simply. “I don’t challenge you or try to compete with you.” She pulled back and looked up at him with her heart in her eyes. “I love you,” she whispered. “I could never do anything that would cause you pain or upset you.” She winced. “Well, I did a few times, like the hiking trip, and then being so stressed about the chest X-ray,” she backtracked.
“None of that was your fault, baby,” he said softly. “You were scared to death, and your emotions ran away with you. That wasn’t like you to do anything that would cause trouble for other people.” He brushed back her hair. “My mother was like you,” he said. “Quiet and loving and gentle. She had a temper, and she could argue when she needed to. But she was wonderful company. Like you.”
She smiled. “My mother was like that, too,” she said. “Dad loved her so much. I thought I might lose him, too, after she died. He ran wild.”
He looked down at her. “I know how he felt,” he said huskily. “When I thought you had cancer, had to face the fact that I could lose you...” His face clenched. “I pushed you away because I thought you’d need someone younger, a few years down the line, that it wasn’t fair to saddle you with a husband so much older. It never occurred to me that I might survive you.” His eyes closed and opened, agony in his expression. “Nothing mattered after that. If the cancer had killed you, I wouldn’t have had a life. I wouldn’t have wanted to live.”
Her heart stopped in her throat. Her mind went back to her time in the hospital, when Blair had stayed by her side, had refused to leave her even to sleep. He’d hired specialists, taken care of her, been willing to marry her even if she was facing a death sentence. When he realized she was pregnant, he’d acted as if he’d won the lottery. He couldn’t wait to marry her. He read everything he could find about pregnancy, wanted to be part of every second of the experience. And after all that, she hadn’t realized how much he cared.
He kissed her eyelids closed. “You looked, but you didn’t see, did you, Niki?” he whispered.
She shivered in his arms, pressing closer, so that her body was completely against his. “No. I never dreamed...” She swallowed hard. “I thought, maybe, it was just desire.”
“If all I’d wanted was one night with you, it would have been easy enough to seduce you, baby,” he whispered at her ear. “I wanted much more than a night.”
“You took care of me,” she said. “You were always nurturing me, doing whatever I needed you to do, always there when I was sick.”
“I always will be. As long as I live.” He hugged her against him, hungrily. “You took care of me, too, when I got bronchitis. You risked your own health to do it. I knew then that you felt more than friendship for me.”
“I never knew,” she whispered.
He laughed softly. “When you want to take care of someone that badly, it’s a little more than friendship. Then on Christmas morning, when the little girl who wanted a doll hugged me, and I saw the light in your eyes—” he paused, swallowing hard “—I started thinking about babies. I’d never wanted one so much.”
Her face brightened. “I wanted one, too, Blair. But only yours. Nobody else’s.”
He bent and kissed her. “I pushed you away so brutally after Mexico.” He sighed. “I knew you were dating the health-food nut, but I thought maybe you really cared for him. He was younger, more suited to you, or so I thought.” His face hardened with the memory. “Truth is, he landed you in the hospital. I couldn’t get to you fast enough. He’s damned lucky he didn’t get more than a punch. I wanted to strangle him!”
She drew her fingers down his cheek. “You never left me, while I was in the hospital,” she recalled. “You wouldn’t even leave me to sleep. You can’t imagine how it felt, to know you cared that much. I thought you’d gone for good, that you didn’t want me.”
He drew her palm to his mouth and kissed it hungrily. “I couldn’t have left after that,” he said huskily. “I was afraid that I’d lose you. Especially when you told me about the X-ray.” He closed his eyes. “I’ve never known fear like that in my life.”
“Neither have I,” she confessed. “I just went overboard, thinking I was going to end up like Mama did.”
“I wanted one night with you, to keep in my heart, in my memory, for the rest of my life.” He stared into her eyes. “It was the most perfect night I’ve ever had.”
“For me, too, even though it was my first time.” She nuzzled her face into his throat and held on tight. “Nothing you can read prepares you for how it feels.”
“It felt like explosions inside me, like swallowing joy,” he whispered. “Never like that. Never in my whole life.”
She smiled against his throat. “I hope we can have another one, once I can stop throwing up,” she moaned.
“It will pass,” he promised. He lifted his head and smiled. “I’ve read all the books. I know what to do for you, even for backaches when you get bigger.”
“I’m going to look like a pumpkin in a few months,” she said, staring up into his black eyes as she smiled. “Will you mind?”
“Hell, no,” he murmured, nuzzling her cheek with his. He chuckled. “I’ll take dozens of photos and put them on my desk at work.”
“I’ll do the same with photos of you.”
“And I plan to limit some of those business conferences. I won’t travel as much, especially while you’re carrying our baby.”
“Our baby.” She slid her hand up into his wavy black hair, loving its thickness. “I was so afraid that you’d think it wasn’t yours. I knew that you said Elise couldn’t get pregnant...”
“I didn’t know about her birth control pills,” he replied. He smiled. “But, honey, exactly how would I think the baby was someone else’s? I was your first lover,” he whispered. His voice deepened. “I remember every sweet second of it. I’d never have doubted it was mine.”
“You wouldn’t? But why?” she asked, honestly curious.
“Because you love me, Niki,” he said quietly.
She smiled. “Yes, I do. So much!”
“I thought I’d found love twice in my life,” he said. “Both times were false starts, because I didn’t really know what love was.” His arms tightened around her. “I found it in the oddest place. In a quiet, shy young woman who played with me and made me hungry for a family, for a place to belong.”
She smiled against his chest, her eyes welling with tears. “You have a place to belong. You belong to me.”
He nuzzled her ear. “And you belong to me, my darling.”
“I’m so tired,” she said. She smiled at him, and then her face contorted. “Oh, gosh...!”
He picked her up and carried her into the bathroom just in time. He went to get a washcloth, wet it and brought it back. She pressed it to her lips and her forehead. She started crying.
“Honey, what’s the matter?” he asked worriedly.
“It’s our honeymoon,” she wailed. “And I’m going to spend it kneeling in front of a toilet!”
He laughed tenderly. “You’re pregnant,” he mused. “It sort of goes with the condition. I don’t mind. I really don’t.” He took the cloth and bathed her face with it. “In sickness and in health, baby,” he said softly. “I took a vow.”
“I’ll take care of you, if you need me to,” she promised.
He felt warm inside, not only at the words, but at the love in her voice when she spoke them. He was the richest man alive, and it had nothing to do with money.
“I’ve been alone all my life until now,” he said quietly, brushing back her hair as she finally got up and flushed the toilet.
“So have I, really, except for Dad and Edna,” she replied. “I feel awful.”
He picked her up gently and carried her back to bed. He put her down on the coverlet while he searched for her new yellow nightgown.
“It’s daylight,” she said.
“You’re sick,” he replied, smiling. “You can get up when you feel better.”
He pulled off her long dress and tugged the pretty yellow frilly gown over her head. It was one of the ones they’d bought together at Neiman Marcus.
He tucked her in. “Need something to drink?” he asked gently.
“Is there any ginger ale in the minibar?” she asked.
“I’ll check.” He found one can of it, opened it and handed it to her.
“Thanks,” she said, smiling up at him. She sipped it, finding that it calmed her stomach quite nicely. “Blair, can you find my pills in the little suitcase? There should be two bottles—one’s vitamins and the other is nausea medicine.”
“I’ll check.” He dug them out and handed them to her.
“I forgot to take the nausea pill this morning,” she said with a sheepish smile. “It’s new.”
“It’s all new, isn’t it, honey?” he asked, his face radiant. “For both of us.”
“You said that after Elise, you never wanted to marry again.”
He sat down beside her, his fingers teasing around one pretty breast in the deep neckline of the gown. “That was how I felt. Until Elise, I never wanted marriage.”
“Not ever?”
He shook his head. “Then even before the divorce, I wanted you. I would have died to have you. But you were so damned young!”
She smoothed over his fingers, coaxing them into the deep neckline. “Love doesn’t have an age limit,” she said simply. “I’d have loved you if you’d been my age or older than you are. It’s what’s inside you that I love, Blair. It has nothing to do with the outside. Even if the outside is utterly gorgeous,” she added, eating him with her eyes.
His high cheekbones flushed, but his black eyes twinkled. “Gorgeous?”
“Oh, yes,” she said. She grimaced. “And I wish I felt like doing something about it.”
“Sick again?” he asked gently.
She sat, swallowing for a minute. She took the nausea pill and lay back. “It’s dreadful to feel this way on a honeymoon in paradise,” she groaned.
“You’ll feel better. When you do, we’ll go tour the island, even if we have to carry a pail with us,” he added with a grin.
She laughed at his expression. “Okay.”
“And that’s what I love about you,” he said softly. “I’ve never known anyone as easygoing as you are.”
“You are.”
“Only with you, baby,” he replied, and he was serious. “Most of my executives hide when they see me coming. I’m temperamental. Or at least I was,” he added. “I think marriage might lighten my mood.”
She beamed. “I’ll work on that.”
He chuckled. “See if you can sleep for a bit while I finish taking care of business,” he added, picking up the cell phone. “I’ll go outside to yell at subordinates, okay?” he asked, bending to kiss her forehead. “If you need me, I’ll be close by.”
“Thanks, Blair.”
He kissed her eyelids. “My sweetheart,” he whispered. “You look so beautiful, Niki, even pale as a sheet and without a trace of makeup.”
She kissed his hard cheek. “My gorgeous husband. You’re beautiful to me.”
He made a face, winked at her and went out the sliding glass patio doors with the phone.
* * *
NIKI ENDED UP dozing again after the last bout of nausea. When she woke up, Blair was lying on his side, propped on an elbow, just watching her. He was wearing tan shorts. His broad chest was bare, and he was barefoot. She caught her breath just looking at him. His chest was broad and muscular, covered with curling black hair. His legs were like tree trunks, muscular and finely covered with hair. Even his feet were attractive, big and tapered.
“I could spend hours just looking at you,” he confessed softly. “You’re so beautiful, Niki.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” she mused. “You’re gorgeous.”
“How do you feel?”
She stretched. “Much better.” She rolled over into his arms and pillowed her head on his chest with a little sigh. “Are you finished yelling at people?”
“For today,” he chuckled. “I shut the damned thing off. Business gets tedious.”
She smoothed her hand over his chest, loving the play of muscles when she touched him. He was warm and strong. She turned her face and kissed the skin under the thick hair. He stiffened a little. It amazed her to find him vulnerable. That made her bold.
She raised up, resting her chest on his, and kissed his mouth. Her nightgown was low-cut, and the top of her breasts pressed warm and soft into his chest. He looked at her with laughing black eyes.
“Are you trying to seduce me?” he asked.
She pursed her lips. “Mmmmmm,” she murmured. Her small hand tangled in the thick hair over his chest and moved slowly down. His body tautened even more. “What a delicious thought,” she whispered.
He laughed softly. “Go ahead. I’m easy.”
“Are you really?” she whispered. She moved her mouth warmly over his. She loved kissing him. His mouth was broad and chiseled and warm. She teased it with her lips until he nibbled at her own mouth, and she was lost.
He turned her slowly until she was under him, his hands going to the straps of the gown. He lowered them very gently, brushing his chest over her naked breasts until she gasped with the sudden pleasure.
He tossed the nightgown over the side of the bed. It was followed in quick order by her panties and his own clothes. His mouth smoothed over her soft breast, his tongue sliding gently against the hard nipple. She arched up, and he chuckled before his mouth began to move down her body. It went from her neck to her calves and back again, up her sides, to her back, all over her. And all the while he touched her, arousing her to such a fever pitch that she was almost in tears when he finally turned her onto her back and slid between her long, trembling legs.
He touched her gently between her legs. “Yes, you’re ready for me.”
“Ready?” she asked, concentrating on the slow movement of his hips as he began to enter her.
“Your body produces a very effective lubricant,” he whispered over her mouth. He pushed down gently and felt her envelop him. “You see? It makes it easy for me to go into you.”
She flushed, because the intimacy was still very new. “I see.”
His mouth moved onto hers, teasing, exploring, while his hips rose and fell in a slow, easy rhythm that very quickly caught her up and made her whole body tense with each downward movement.
“We have to learn to please each other,” he whispered. “First times are difficult. But it gets easier as we go along. Do you like this?”
His hips moved from side to side, and she shivered and cried out.
“Yes, that works, doesn’t it?” he teased. “How about this?”
The movements were quick and hard, and she began to moan and dig her nails into his arms. Even that first night had been nothing like this. She shivered with each movement of his powerful body, felt him so deep in her body that she thought they might be joined forever. He was far more potent than he’d been the first time. She arched up to him, her eyes wide open with pleasure and surprise.
“You...you’re...more than last time,” she gasped.
“Much more,” he whispered, holding her eyes. “Men are more potent at times. This is definitely one of them.” He moved down. His body shuddered, and he whispered huskily as the pleasure bit into him, “Oh, God, honey, I don’t think I can...hold it...much longer!”
“You don’t have to,” she said, moving with him. She gripped his shoulders hard. Her body trembled. “Please, now!” Her voice broke on the word as pleasure bit into her like a knife. She cried out with each quick, sharp, deep movement of his body, watching him the whole time.
Her eyes on him intensified his pleasure, which was already monstrous. His hands gripped the pillow on either side of her head, and he gave in to the passionate hunger. “Oh, God, baby, oh, God, it’s like...dying...!” he choked.
Her eyes closed on the fierce pleasure he gave her. She felt his body arch down into hers as she was almost swept away in the overwhelming pleasure. It was nothing like before. She convulsed under the driving rhythm of his hips, shuddered and moaned as her whole body seemed to liquefy with molten heat.
She didn’t think it could get any better, but it did. Just as she climaxed, he moved down against her, and she shot up into realms she’d never dreamed existed. She sobbed into his shoulder as her body moved involuntarily up toward him, pleading, hungry, insistent.
He shuddered one last time, and she felt him throbbing inside her. Her hands smoothed over his damp back, holding him close. He tried to spare her his weight, but she pulled him back down again.
“No,” she whispered. “I like to feel you lying on top of me like this. I love your weight on me.”
“You feel like silk to me,” he murmured breathlessly. “Was it too quick?”
“You’re kidding, right?” she laughed huskily. “It was wonderful, that first night. But it was nothing like this. I thought I might die...of pleasure,” she said, flushing. She slid her legs around his, loving the intimacy. “It feels so good, being with you like this.”
He rolled over onto his back and took a deep, long breath.
She pillowed her cheek on his hairy chest and smiled. “Tired?”
“Deliciously tired,” he mused.
“Me, too.”
“Want some ginger ale?”
“That would be nice.”
He moved away, got to his feet, padded to the minibar and found her a ginger ale. He opened it on the way back while she lay on her side and watched him with wide, soft, curious eyes.
“Oh, Blair,” she whispered. “You really are gorgeous. I am a very lucky woman.”
He laughed. “I’ll have to start working out more, so that I don’t start drooping too soon.”
She sat up and curled her arms around his neck. “You don’t have to do anything of the sort,” she said quietly, her eyes loving on his face. “I love you so much, Blair. More than anything in the world.”
His high cheekbones had a faint flush. He handed her the ginger ale. “If I started counting my blessings right now, I’d be old and gray before I finished,” he said. He searched her eyes hungrily. “You’re my world now, Niki. My whole world. It’s just you and me. Forever.”
She sat up, beautifully nude, and studied him.
“Looking for hidden treasure?” he mused, laughing at her.
“Oh, something like that,” she said. “I was thinking...”
“Thinking?” he asked as she moved toward him, climbed onto him, her knees going on either side of his hips.
She lifted up and positioned him, delighted to find that he was more than ready to accommodate her. She slid down onto him with a soft gasp. “I was wondering,” she whispered, “how it would feel...if we did it like this.”
His big hands helped her, because she very quickly became too weak to keep it up. Pleasure overwhelmed her, so suddenly that she felt as if she dropped from a great height.
“Blair!” she cried out, shivering in pleasure.
“Oh, it’s good like this,” he breathed, moving her hard against him, impaling her. “Good, good, good...!”
“Yes...” Her voice trailed away into a smothered scream as the intensity shot her up like a rocket. She shuddered and shuddered and wept. Pleasure almost as deep as pain racked her slender body, while Blair held her hips and went into her so hungrily that she felt blind, deaf, dumb from the utter joy of it.
“Now...” he choked. “Now, now...!”
He cried out, a hoarse, deep groan that echoed in the room, combining with her high-pitched moans as they climaxed together.
“Dear God!” he moaned at her ear when they were able to breathe and speak again.
She clung to him, weeping. “It’s...it’s... I can’t even find words!”
“Paradise,” he whispered. “That’s what it is, Mrs. Coleman,” he added, using her married name for the first time. He looked down into her wide, soft gray eyes. “Paradise.”
She smiled slowly, her body perfectly attuned to his, her eyes blinded by the love on his face. “Paradise,” she agreed.
* * *
THEY WENT HOME a week later, tanned and so much in love that they became quickly inseparable. They moved into the house next door to the Ashton ranch, and Niki’s father and Edna were frequent visitors.
The long months of her pregnancy ended in a very quick delivery. Blair barely made it to the hospital with her before their little boy was born. The baby looked up at them with blue eyes.
“Our son,” she whispered.
He kissed her and then the baby’s tiny forehead. “You don’t need to die to find heaven,” he said softly, looking into her eyes. “If you’re very lucky, you find it right here on earth. Like I have.” His mouth smoothed over hers tenderly. “I love you so much it hurts, Niki,” he whispered unsteadily. “Oh, God, honey, I’d die for you!”
Tears stung her eyes. “I’d do the same for you,” she whispered.
She looked up at him with eyes so full of love that they almost blinded him.
“I will never leave you,” she whispered, chipping away at that tiny fear that still showed sometimes in his black eyes. “Never.”
He swallowed, hard. His mouth brushed over hers hungrily. “I’ll take care of you all my life.”
She smiled tenderly. “And I’ll take care of you, my darling, all my life.”
She drew his face down to hers and kissed him. It was still magic to her, to love and be loved so much. And to have a child, born of that love, a living symbol of it, really was heaven on earth.
She let him go and shifted the baby in her arms, kissing his soft head with wonder. “We still haven’t discussed names,” she said.
“I like Todd,” he said softly. “For your father.”
“Yes, I like that, too, for his middle name. What was your father’s first name?”
“Jacob.”
Her eyes softened. “Jacob Todd Blair?” she suggested.
He smiled back. “It sounds good.”
“It sounds very good.” She touched her fingers to his lips. “I’ve loved you since I was seventeen, you know,” she told him softly, laughing at the shock on his face. “I just had to grow up enough to convince you I was old enough for you.”
He touched his mouth to hers. “You convinced me,” he said on a husky laugh. He searched her eyes hungrily. “My little hothouse orchid. I love you insanely.”
She felt warm inside, cherished and secure. “I love you back, insanely,” she whispered intently.
His mouth crushed down on hers for a few heated seconds until the baby moved restlessly in his mother’s arms. They both looked down at him then, their hands locked together over his small body. And they beamed.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from by Allison Leigh.