The Doctor’s Secret Bride: Chapter 18

The mattress sagged as he lowered his weight next to her. Supporting his body on one elbow, he traced his fingers slowly down her body from the valley between her breasts to the apex of her quivering thighs. She moaned softly as his fingers slid across the Brazilian waxed area of her groin.

“Yes, this is exactly where we were.” He pressed the heel of his palm into the smooth mound of her pleasure box, teasing the sensitive knob of her clitoris before parting the flesh and sliding a finger inside her moistness.

Michelle gasped as his finger began to slide magically back and forth inside her. She dug her nails into his arms and squeezed her thighs, afraid of the strength of her own passion. While his fingers wreaked havoc between her legs, he lowered his head and sucked on her breasts again, only much more gently this time as if he wanted to savor the taste and feel of her in his mouth. She groaned when his lips trailed down the hollow of her throat, drizzling feathery kisses on her skin as he continued to strum her with two fingers, now. Her insides clamped around him. “Please, Erik…”

“Please what?”

“Take me, now. I want to feel you pumping away inside me.” She reached out to clasp his sex that was pressing urgently against her thigh.

He sprang out of her reach. “Not yet. I want to enjoy you, feel you fall apart in my mouth.”

Michelle shuddered as his lips started down the slope of her body, leaving a fiery trail of desire everywhere he touched. He dipped his tongue into her bellybutton then dragged it south. When his mouth neared her garden of delight, he pulled his fingers from inside her, nuzzled her clitoris with his nose and inhaled deeply. “Sweet.”

He spread her thighs, settled between them, and pinned them to the mattress with his arms. He grinned wickedly up at her as he used the pad of his thumbs to expose her completely to him. He blew his hot breath on her sensitized clit; he flicked her gently with the tip of his tongue, then grazed her ever so lightly with his wet lips. Over and over again, he repeated the agonizing foreplay until she began to writhe in uncontrollable ecstasy.

Michelle clasped her hands over her mouth to stifle the scream that erupted from her throat as firecrackers seemed to explode beneath every inch of her skin. “Erik,” she cried as she burst into flames that consumed her for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually, she went limp on the mattress, her body jerking around like livewire.

But he wasn’t done with her, yet. He dragged his tongue downward from her clit, probed the sensitive area just below it for agonizingly tense moments before he plunged it deep inside her. He covered her completely with his mouth, clamping his lips about her and explored the hot depth of her passion, pulling the copious liquid from the reservoir of her desire.

She cried out his name again as the passion lashed at her. He passed his hands under her and cupped her buttocks. Pulling her into his face, he rammed his tongue in and out of her and lapped up the molten lava coursing from her squirming body. The primal animal sounds coming from deep in his throat coaxed her onward and upward to another mind-blowing orgasm.

“Come again, wife. One last time for your husband.”

Michelle moaned as her body began to vibrate, as desire pumped through her veins, hurling her beyond the point of sanity. She exploded into a million sensitized pieces.

Erik kept his mouth glued to her until she stopped shaking. Then and only then, did he withdraw his lips from her. The scented heat of her soft flesh was so intoxicating it made him lightheaded. He rose above her like a dark and powerful lord with a single purpose in mind—to enjoy his lubricious booty.

He retrieved a small packet from the lamp table and tried to rip it open. The damned thing wouldn’t give. It was the first time in his life he would use a condom, and he hoped it fit and held. He didn’t want to, but Michelle had warned him that she might be ovulating. Michelle wanted to have his babies and he would love nothing more than to see her little belly swollen with his child. She was already his wife, but it wasn’t time for babies.

Coitus interruptus crossed his mind, but Erik knew when the time came, he would not have the strength or the desire to leave her.

“Let me help,” Michelle murmured dreamily as she watched him fumble with the foil. She took it from his unsteady hands and ripped it open with her teeth and fingers.

He chuckled. “You’re an expert at this, huh, Mrs. LaCrosse?”

“I’ve had practice.” She smiled as she held his turgid erection in her hand and somehow between them, they got the rubber on. She brushed his hand away and smoothed it down to the base. Instead of letting him go, she began to pump him in her palm, sending electrical shocks spinning through him.

“You’re so hot and pulsing and hard as a rock, my husband,” she said on a girlish giggle.

“Then prepare to be rocked hard, my tight hot wife,” he responded on a throaty laugh.

Damn, he didn’t know sex could be this much fun, that he could speak uncouthly in the bedroom. Cassie had been extremely conservative, almost puritan, the very opposite of the current woman in his bed who’d turned him into a bad, bad boy who deserved a spanking, he thought with wild excitement as he came down over Michelle and spread her thighs wide apart.

He grunted when she eagerly wrapped her arms and legs around his shoulders, leaving her lower body open and vulnerable to him.

It was a sweet act of divine submission.

He loved it.

He loved her.

Erik held her eyes as he guided his shaft to her moist entrance. They both inhaled sharply at the contact, as if they were touching for the first time. He knew it would be like this every time they made love. His heart swelled with the knowledge.

He placed his hands on the pillow on either side of her head and drew closer, pressing his arms against her thighs. He wanted to take it slowly and savor every delicate thrill of her tight body encasing him. He wanted to hear every little sigh, every infinite sob, but the fervent heat in his manhood wouldn’t let him. His mouth captured hers as he surged fluently into her, pushing ambitiously onward and upward until he felt the sensitive head of his cock lock tightly against the opening of her cervix. Another powerful thrust of ownership took him into her womb.

It was a raw act of ultimate possession.

And he was making no apologies.

Finally, she had all of him. “You’re mine. Only mine,” he groaned against her mouth.

She whimpered and began to pant and tremble at the rude and deep invasion. He felt her insides tighten around him like smooth, wet velvet. She was so small, so hot and tight, he closed his eyes against the intense pleasure, his heart hammering as his breath caught in his throat.

He captured her face in his hands and his tongue swerved into her mouth as he began to move inside her. He rode her slowly, coming all the way out and then thrusting possessively back into her. Again and again he slammed into her, rotating his hips and flexing his buttocks, repeating the exquisite assault until their bodies were in glorious harmony with one another.

The sensual heat of ageless mating consumed them, body, mind, and soul, pushing them higher and higher until the precipice of delight was breached. Erik didn’t want to leave her, ever. He wanted to remain like this, hard hot flesh sheathed securely inside silky hot flesh for all eternity. This was love, pure and explosive.

Time literally stopped moving as Erik and Michelle labored lethargically in the glory of their passion-filled lovemaking. Her world was filled with him. His was filled with her. Nothing else mattered. Nothing, but what they presently shared. Nothing, but what they gave to each other. Nothing, but what they received in return. This was what love was all about—giving and taking. And they each gave in turn, just as much, then more than they received.

Michelle gasped in a continuous flow of sweet agony as the powerful impact of Erik’s masterful thrusts raced through the core of her body and spiraled through to her throbbing heart. She was acutely aware of every millimeter of his thick length, every muscle, every ripple, as he pumped in and out of her.

Her tender nipples pressed intimately into the damp hairs of his chest as electrical shocks scorched through her body. She stroked the strong tendons in the back of his neck and ran her fingers down the damp, slick muscles of his back and across his tight flexing buttocks, urging him on as he filled her with an amazing sense of heavy completeness.

Her moans were deep and guttural as she moved intimately and subtly beneath him. And as sweat poured from their bodies, she succumbed to the erotic pleasure he stirred in her soul.

“Erik… Erik… Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop…”

But all good things, Michelle knew too well, eventually came to an end. Her movements became wild and frenzied and she bucked with uncontainable ecstasy as the tremors of another climax began in the deepest parts of her being. The powerful vibrations spread to her toes and she curled them to capture the fiery sensation, not wanting to surrender to the explosions. It was too sweet. “Not yet…. Not yet…”

“Let it go, Michelle,” Erik rasped against her mouth, his hot, racy breath mingling with hers, their lips and tongues intertwined like their limbs. He couldn’t hold out any longer. He felt her tensing, tight as a bowstring as she pulled him along with her into the vortex of blissful splendor.

“Come with me. Let’s ride the wave together, my sweet, beautiful Michelle.”

“Yes… Oh, yes… Yes…. Ahhh… Ahhh… Hmmm….”

Her quivering body arched upward to meet his final, desperate thrusts. Her limbs locked about him, and she hung there, suspended as she felt the raging heat of passion rising in her like the hottest fire, washing over her, pulling her into an undertow so primitive and violent that it clouded her brain. She abandoned herself to the whirl of inebriating pleasures that rippled between her thighs and leaped through her system.

Erik shouted something in her ears, and as she quivered, teetering on the edge of the powerful eruption, she felt him tense within her, pouring his seed into the thin sheath of protection. Animal-like grunts rumbled from his throat as he collapsed on her, crushing her into the wet sheets, his huge body trembling with the shuddering release.

Michelle held him as her tender muscles milked him, relishing the pulsing tremors of his orgasm deep inside her body. His mouth was buried against her throat, and as she lay in the haven of his love, she began to sob.

Michelle wept, because Erik had told her that he loved her.

Her brain may have been numbed from the floodtide of passion, and he may have been engrossed in the throes of his earth-shattering orgasm, but the words had melted into her heart and soul, just as distinctly as his flesh had melted into her.

“I love you, Michelle.”

Michelle thought it would be a long, long while before she heard those words from him. They rang in her ears, loud and clear. She dragged her legs from his shoulders and dropped them to the mattress.

He left her briefly and went into the bathroom. When he returned, he spooned her against his hard warm body and spread the covers over them. He said not a word. With a deep, satisfying contentment, Michelle liberated her mind and soul to those four precious words and drifted off with Erik into blissful oblivion, their exhausted bodies so tightly intertwined, it was difficult to tell where one ended and the other began.

***

“Daddy, are you and Michelle going to have a baby?”

Erik stopped dead in his tracks on the beach where he and Precious were taking an early morning jog. He tried to maintain his composure as he stared at her in dazed exasperation.

His chest heaved from the exertion of his run, and from his daughter’s left-fielded question. He bent forward, resting his hands on his knees. “Where’d that come from?”

“I saw you kissing Michelle.”

“When?”

“Last night in the living room.”

Erik cursed inwardly. “Precious Rebecca LaCrosse,” he growled, “you were supposed to be in bed. Why were you sneaking around in the middle of the night spying on Michelle and me?”

“I wasn’t spying, Daddy. I was thirsty and just wanted some water.”

“What else did you see?”

“Nothing. I went back upstairs when I saw you. I’m sorry, Daddy.” She sniffled as tears pooled in her eyes.

Erik cursed again for yelling at her and getting her all upset. After all, it wasn’t her fault. He was the adult here. He should have known better than to be carrying on like a horny teenager getting his first piece of tail on the living room sofa with a child in the house.

More annoyed with himself than with Precious, he sighed angrily and started an irritated walk toward the cottage. After a few moments, he stopped and looked back over his shoulder to see Precious slowly following him, her head low, her shoulders drooped and tears running down her cheeks. His heart took a giant leap to his throat.

He knelt on the sand and held out his arms. She immediately ran to him, burying her wet face against his chest. He curled his fingers into her soft hair. “It’s okay, baby. Daddy’s sorry. I shouldn’t yell at you. You didn’t do anything wrong.” He held her until her sobs quieted then he took her small hand in his, gave her a wide grin, and continued on to the cottage.

A soft breeze off the ocean rustled through their hair as cool waves lapped playfully at their feet. The sky was a bright, deep blue with just a hint of wispy clouds scattered high and far away. Seagulls clucked merrily overhead, flapping their wings noisily as they dove into the ocean to catch an early breakfast.

It was going to be a beautiful day. It had been a splendid night. He and Michelle had made sweet love until the wee hours of dawn before he sneaked back to the third bedroom to avoid Precious finding them in the same bed.

“So are you and Michelle going to have a baby, Daddy?”

“Precious, babies don’t come from kissing.”

“Yes, they do.”

“Who told you that?”

“I asked Mommy where I came from and she said you were kissing, and I grew in her tummy then you took me out. Sam Martin at my school tries to kiss me, but I don’t want a baby, Daddy. I wouldn’t know what to do with it, and my tummy’s way too small.”

Erik stopped walking and closed his eyes, momentarily at a loss for words. It took all his effort to hide his humor. Precious was too young to understand the facts of life, but he could not have her believing babies came from kissing someone of the opposite sex. And he was definitely going to have a little chat with this Sam Martin. He spoke in as casual a tone as the delicate situation afforded. “Precious, babies don’t come from kissing.”

“Mommy lied to me?”

Caught in a pickled jam, Erik stooped down to her eye level. “No. She didn’t,” he said firmly, taking her hands in his. “It does start with kissing, though. When two people like each other, they enjoy touching, hugging, and kissing each other.”

“You like Michelle?”

“Yes.” Love her. His forehead wrinkled as a faint memory from last night flashed across his mind. Did he say it? “I enjoy kissing her and hugging her, but it takes a lot more than kissing to make a baby.”

“Like what?” Her eyes were wide and questionable.

Erik stood up. Here he was, a gynecologist, and he was too embarrassed to discuss the facts of life with his daughter. Damn. He didn’t ever want to explain sex to her. He wanted her to remain his sweet innocent baby, forever. “It’s complicated. When you’re older, I’ll explain it.” She needed a mother. He was more certain of that now than ever.

“How old?” she asked, skipping merrily along beside him.

“About fifty,” he grumbled.

“Fifty? I’ll be too old to have a baby then.”

“That’s the idea.” He grinned down at her scowling face. “Okay. Maybe in a year or so.”

“Okay. I’ll remind you.”

“I’m sure you will.”

“Daddy?”

“What now?”

“If you and Michelle get married and have a baby, will she be my mommy, too?”

She already is. “I suppose so.”

“I think she’d make a great mommy.”

“You think so, huh?”

“Hmm.” She threw back her head and smiled at him.

Erik squeezed her tiny fingers. “I smell banana pancakes and sausages all the way down here. You think those are Michelle’s?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah. We better hurry before she eats them all up. I’m really hungry,” she said, rubbing her tummy.

“Me, too.” He picked Precious up, and with one swift motion, tossed her over his shoulders. Her soft giggles blended harmoniously with his deep chuckles as he trotted in a happy gait back to the cottage and Michelle.

Erik couldn’t remember ever being this happy. Life was smiling on him once more.

After breakfast, they took the ferry across Nantucket Sound to Nantucket Island and spent half the day touring the island and shopping exclusive stores.

Michelle couldn’t believe how easily Erik dished out money on her and his child. Her protests were lost on him. Last night, she learned he was a man who always got what he wanted. He had ways to make her do things, try positions she didn’t even know were possible.

When she’d asked how he became such a master at the art of love, he’d grinned and said, “The Kama Sutra, baby.” Then he’d explained some of the Tantric and Taoist secrets of love to her. If every man on the planet would take the time to learn those secrets, all women would walk around with stupid grins on their faces all day, Michelle thought. She was blessed to be one of the grinning, lucky ones.

“Come in here for a minute.” Erik edged Michelle into a small jewelry shop. “You have one more birthday gift coming.”

“You just bought me three gorgeous dresses and a Prada purse, Erik. I think that’s more than enough.”

Ignoring her, he pulled her over to a middle-aged man behind a glass counter.

“Erik, you made it,” the man said as he pulled a pair of thick spectacles from his face. He smiled at Precious. “She’s getting more beautiful every day, man. Wait until she starts dating. You’ll be wearing a hole in your floor and tearing your hair out.”

Erik chuckled. “So that’s why you’re bald, Joel?”

“Mock all you want, man. Your day will come.”

“I know, and I’m not looking forward to it.” He placed his hand in the small of Michelle’s back. “This is Michelle. The birthday girl.”

Michelle exchanged a smile with the kindly man who immediately reached behind the counter and handed Erik a small gift-wrapped box.

Erik handed the box to Precious.

Precious handed it to Michelle, a dazzling smile lighting up her perfect little face. “Happy birthday, Michelle.”

“Come on, guys.”

“You don’t want my present?” Precious asked, pouting.

“Of course, honey.” She glanced at Erik, knowing that he knew she would never say no to Precious. She reluctantly took the box.

“Open it,” Precious chirped excitedly.

“Okay.” She pulled off the wrapper and flipped the lid on the black velvet box. A pair of platinum, heart-shaped earrings, with two huge diamonds nestled in the base of the hearts, dazzled her. Michelle gasped. They must have cost a small fortune. “Erik, I can’t accept these,” she said adamantly, holding the box out to him. Wife or not, this was too much.

His eyes twinkled, mischievously. “You can’t refuse a present from Precious.”

“Please, Michelle. I picked them out myself on the computer,” Precious wailed.

So that’s what they were doing on the laptop while she was getting dressed after breakfast. She’d come downstairs just as they were putting it away. They looked like they’d been caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar.

“But these?” She eyed the jewelry skeptically.

“You don’t like?” Joel asked.

Michelle glanced around to find that they were the main attention of the few other patrons in the small store. She was causing a scene. She gathered Precious to her. “Thank you. This is the best gift I’ve ever received. I’ll wear them always, starting now.” She pulled a pair of zirconias studs from her earlobes and dropped them in her purse.

“I’ll help,” Erik offered, moving closer to her. “You are a LaCrosse woman and you should be spoiled like one,” he whispered for her ears only.

The warm touch of his hands made Michelle tremble. Even after making love with him all night, her body still craved to dance beneath his fingers. She couldn’t wait for night to fall again.

They had a light seafood lunch then spend the other half of the day on the Children’s Beach on Harbor View Way next to the Steamship Wharf. Precious met up with some of the kids from the beach yesterday and played softball and other games into the early afternoon.

They went back to the cottage to shower and dress for dinner at a local restaurant, not as posh as Andreas’, but elegant, nonetheless. Michelle wore one of the dresses Erik had bought her that day. Erik surprised her with a cake, and the staff and other patrons sang happy birthday to her. They were worn out and dragging by the time they returned to the cottage, and it didn’t take long before an exhausted Precious fell soundly asleep.

Michelle was waiting in bed when Erik finally emerged from the bathroom with a towel hitched around his hips. Judging from the subtle tent in front of him, Michelle knew he was ready—ever ready—for her.

She pulled back the covers with a smile. Erik dropped the towel to the floor and climbed into bed next to her. He bent over and kissed her lips. Words were unnecessary between them. He kissed her deeply and thoroughly while his hands played with her breasts. The smooth length of his penis grazed her thighs, sending pleasure shocks through her. And just as she was about to melt with desire, he released her mouth and said, “Precious thinks we’re having a baby.”

Michelle’s eyes flew open. “What? Why?”

“She saw us kissing last night.”

“Oh, no.” Michelle pounded her fist into the mattress. “Erik, suppose we’d made love on the sofa.”

“It would have scarred her for sure. We have to be careful. I don’t want her confused.”

Michelle stiffened at his words. Well, she was the child’s nanny, not her mother. It wasn’t like she and Erik had made their marriage known to her, or anyone else. This, right here, was the reason he’d married her.

“I’m sorry. That came out wrong.” He kissed the corners of her mouth.

Michelle shrugged. “I understand. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay.” He rolled off of her and turned on his back, staring up at the ceiling. “You’re my wife. I shouldn’t be worrying about our relationship confusing my daughter.”

Michelle turned on her side, propped her elbow on the pillow and cradled her head in her hand. “Erik, you married me for this, and I went along with my mind, heart, and soul wide open. You’re still confused about your feelings for me, so it’s—”

“I’m not confused.”

“Even so, I’m her nanny, still.”

“She thinks you’d make a great mommy.”

Michelle grinned. “She said that?”

“Her exact words.” His eyes softened as he gazed into hers. “And I agree. It’s just that—” He closed his eyes and sighed.

“What?”

“I learned something in D.C.” He paused and took a deep slow breath. “You remember I told you Cassie and I were on our way home from a birthday party in Manchester the night she was killed?”

Michelle nodded, remembering too well the pain in his voice as he’d confided in her the first day on the job.

“Well, we were arguing about a conversation I overheard between her and Clayton—the birthday boy who used to be one of my best friends and colleague. He was telling her to tell me the truth because he couldn’t lie to me anymore.”

Michelle was not going to ask if they were having an affair. She didn’t want to know. “You don’t have to tell me, Erik.”

“They weren’t having an affair,” he voiced her thoughts. “I accused them of it, though. I was badgering Cassie to either deny or admit the affair. I mean, what else was I to think?” He sighed again. “I should have known Cassie well enough to know she would never do something like that. But I was blinded by jealousy. After she died, I asked Clayton to tell me what the secret was, but he refused. Then he resigned from the hospital and went to Africa.”

Michelle watched him closely, wondering what else besides an affair his wife could have done. It got so quiet in the room, she could hear the ticking of his watch on the bureau, four feet away.

He wiped a hand slowly down his face. “Clayton was at the convention in D.C. I was not leaving without answers. He finally told me that Cassie had her tubes tied after Precious was born. He said he kept quiet after she died because he thought the truth would hurt me even more.”

Michelle gasped in shock. No wonder he’d tossed his wedding band in the Potomac River. “You had no idea?”

He shook his head.

“Why would she do something like that?”

“A while ago, my mother told me that before we were married, Cassie saw a psychic who told her she’d die young.”

“Oh my gosh, Erik.”

“Apparently it was to happen in childbirth.” He snickered sarcastically, and Michelle knew it was to cover his pain, his guilt. “I wanted to start a family immediately after we were married, but she wanted to wait. It took three years of begging before she agreed to have Precious.” His chest heaved on another sigh. “She didn’t trust me enough to confide in me, so she had her tubes tied. And for five more years, she laid in my bed and made love with me, listening to me go on and on about having more children, knowing she could not give them to me, and not saying a word.” Anger and betrayal were evident in his voice and eyes.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like to have somebody you love lie to you like that,” Michelle said in an attempt to comfort him. “My little fib about my father was eating me up inside. I’m so grateful you forgave me for lying to you.”

Thinking about the irony of the matter, Erik shook his head. The thing is, if Cassie hadn’t deceived him, there would’ve been no secret, no conversation between her and Clayton for him to overhear, no suspicions, no fight in the car, no hopping out into the road at the very moment that drunk came along. And there would have been no Michelle.

“I don’t know if I would have forgiven Cassie if she’d told me the truth that night,” he said, stroking his hand up and down Michelle’s arm. “I don’t know if I could have stayed with her, even if I’d forgiven her. Maybe our love would have survived it. I don’t know. One thing I do know for certain is that I loved her and I did not want her dead.” His voice shook with sorrow. “Precious should not have had to suffer the loss of her mother. She should not have to grow up without her. That’s my biggest regret in all of this.”

Michelle stretched out beside him and laid her head on his chest. His heart beat heavily beneath her ears. His pain became hers. He’d been deceived by the woman he’d shared his life with. It would be hard for him to trust another woman again. Even her, who brought him so much pleasure.

So what if he didn’t remember yelling out his love in the heat of passion last night? The knowledge was alive in her heart. And just a minute ago, if she dared be presumptuous, he’d spoken of his love for Cassie in the past tense.

Erik eased Michelle gently against the mattress, leaned over, and gazed intently into her beautiful, compelling eyes. Eyes through which he could see his future. Children. Grandchildren. The cautious side of him wanted to wait until he got to know her better before telling her how he felt. After all, he’d known her for only three months. He’d known Cassie since high school, and look how she’d deceived him. He still hadn’t really known her. But his mother’s words, when he told her what Cassie had done came back at him.

“Erik, if it’s one thing Cassie’s sudden death should have taught you, it’s that life is short. You must make every second count, dear. If you love Michelle, and I know you do, you should tell her, and start a future with her right away. What’s the point in waiting when your heart knows what it wants?”

His mother was practicing what she preached. She and his father were already engaged.

Erik smiled down at the lovely naked vixen in his bed. His heart knew what it knew. Michelle was the only woman for him. “Michelle,” he said softly. “I remember yelling out that I love you last night while we were making love. The fact that I can’t get enough of you should tell you how I feel. But to clear up any doubts in your beautiful mind,” he continued, threading his fingers through the short silky stresses of her hair, “I’m helplessly, hopelessly, head-over-heels in love with you. I think of you all the time when we’re apart. When I’m with you, the world and all its pressures just melt away. Your smile gives me hope, courage, and strength. You make me feel like a man who can do anything.

“And this, right here—” He traced a finger down her throat, to her heaving chest, circled her breasts, then down her belly to the soft flesh of her Venus mound, “is the best this side of heaven. I do love you, with all my heart, soul, mind, and body, Michelle Juliet LaCrosse.”

“Oh, Erik.” Tears seeped from the corners of Michelle’s eyes. He’d finally said exactly what she’d been longing to hear for three months now. And she was too choked to respond to his poetic, romantic, heart-rending declaration of love.

Her heart beat heavily with requited love for him, but at the same time she feared what being in love meant. Especially since she hadn’t been completely honest with him about her father. Yeah, she’d fessed up and told him that he wasn’t dead, but she hadn’t told him that he was a drunk, that he was no different from the man who’d killed Cassie. “Erik, I—”

Erik bent his head and kissed the tears from her eyes. “I know you love me. You’ve said it often enough.”

Michelle cupped his chin and gazed into his soft grey eyes. Why spoil the mood with unpleasant talk of her father tonight? This was the moment for her to revel in the aftermath of Erik’s declaration of love. There would be time to talk later.

“I know you want to tell everyone that we’re married,” he said, circling her mouth with his finger, “but I just want to keep you to myself a little while longer. The local press will have a field day with it. I don’t want to share you, yet. Not even with my daughter. We’ll make the announcements shortly after we get home.”

“Okay, when we get home, we’ll announce our marriage.” And I’ll tell you the rest of the story about my father. She had to since they were going public with their marriage. She just wished Robert would hurry up and find something on Dwight Carter.

Erik fell back against the pillow, pulling her on top of him. “No more talking. I need some loving. Can you handle that?”

“I can handle that.” Michelle kissed him deeply and intimately, then feeling empowered by his love, she began kissing her way down his body. His fingers curled in her hair as she circled his nipples one by one with her tongue before tracing slowly down his chest to his belly. His stomach heaved on a groan when she dipped the tip of her tongue into his navel. His sex slapped against her thigh with anticipation, as she kissed the area around his groin.

Smiling seductively, Michelle kissed her way lower. She smelled his heat, his desire. It was poignant and it made her drool with the thought of taking him into her mouth. Just as her lips grazed the base of his turgid penis, he clasped the sides of her head and pulled her up.

Confusion swirled in her mind. Why wouldn’t he let her go down on him?

Gazing at her intently, he positioned her knees so she flanked him at the sides like a stallion. His eyes blazed with passion as his shaft throbbed against the crease of her buttocks like an agitated snake. He took hold of her hips and raised her slightly upward.

“Erik. Why… Ahh…”

She curled her back as he began to penetrate her. God, he was so hot. She braced her hands against his chest, closed her eyes, threw her head back, and trembled with pleasure as he forced more of himself inside her.

He tightened his hold on her hips, pulling her down as he swerved upward, time and time again, forcing her to take him completely. And when she did, he held her by her buttocks, locked around him like hot, wet silk. He rocked slightly from side to side, hardly moving within her now.

Michelle loved this technique that he told her was a favorite of the Tantric and Taoists. This glorious feeling of naked pulsing flesh meshed in mating euphoria was an infallible way to engender love.

“You feel so good.” He groaned.

Michelle’s eyes flew open. She stared at the box of condoms on the nightstand. “Protection, Erik.”

He pulled himself to a sitting position and wrapped her legs around his waist like a pretzel. “I’ll pull out.”

Michelle moaned as pleasure pulsed through her. “You won’t be able to, and as much as I want to start a family with you, I want to wait until I’m finished with the center, and my book. Get one chapter of my life completed before starting another. Then I’ll give you all the babies you can handle. Is that okay?”

Erik groaned again. “Fine. I get it. Just hurry.”

Michelle reluctantly disengaged her body from his and reached for the box of condoms. She pulled one out, ripped it open and rolled the thin sheet of rubber over him. Task completed, she settled her hands on his shoulders and positioned herself over him again. He leaned forward and whispered something in her ear.

“Oh, you’re so dirty, Dr. LaCrosse,” she said on a shudder and a blush. “I didn’t know the upper-class talked like that.”

“Neither did I, until I met you.” He laughed and guided himself back inside her. As she settled down on him, he sucked on her breasts, one at a time, making loud suckling sounds like a hungry infant. Michelle clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to contain the quakes threatening to erupt inside her.

They remained in this position for an eternity, kissing, caressing, pleasuring each other with their hands and lips then Michelle decided it was time to grant the request he’d whispered in her ear. She pushed Erik back against the pillows then passing her hands behind his head she grabbed on to the iron headboard. Lifting her knees and placing her weight on her feet, she threw her head back, and began to ride her man, slowly at first, then harder and faster, moving up and down on his turgid shaft like a rodeo cowgirl on a bucking bronco.

“Yes, baby, yes… Work me…” Erik wrapped his hands around her waist, buried his head in the sweet valley between her bouncing breasts, and growled his sweet appreciation as his brain exploded.

Erik never knew love or passion of this kind existed.