Finally (Mature Men, #3) (16 page)

"Take me...fuck me...love me," I whispered.

"I do, my sweet girl," he said and thrust his hips forward, driving his hard cock deep into my pussy with one, delicious stroke.

"Oh...Thomas," I moaned.

He lifted his hips, drawing all but the big head of his shaft out of me. "Call me Darkwater, sweet girl," he said and thrust back inside me.

Oh, shit! That felt good. "Darkwater...my Darkwater."

"And only yours."

I clung to him and we fucked each other with an urgent, raw need and desire that was all the sweeter because we'd both admitted we were in love. I was lost in a wonderful bliss unlike any I'd ever felt or experienced—even with him. Why? Because I knew I was loved and knew I was once again his sweet girl and his remedy.

Much later, after we'd fucked once more, we lay in a tangle of arms and legs.

Although I felt happy and content, he was silent and tense. I decided we needed to talk and clear up all remaining misunderstanding. As I lay trying to decide where to start, he suddenly turned me onto my side so we faced each other.

"Why so many pictures of him and none of me, Sherlyn?"

"You've never needed to be jealous of him, Darkwater. Never."

"That doesn't answer my question."

I stroked my fingers down his cheek. "Aren't you in for a shock?" I slipped out of bed and opened the chest at the foot of my bed. Reaching under the covers I kept there I pulled out a photo album. Getting back into bed with him, I opened the album that contained some of my favorite pictures—all of him through various stages of his life.

"This is my favorite," I said opening the page to a picture of him in a swimsuit smiling into the camera. Long, dark hair cascaded over his shoulders and chest. "This is from Am's sixteenth birthday party. It's the first time I saw you in person and I immediately fell in love with you. And I'm still falling."

I turned the page. "This one is of you wearing your National Guard uniform. And this one is from your thirtieth birthday party. This one is from Am's college graduation. This one is of you when you were only six months old." I looked up at him. "The entire album is filled with pictures of you."

"Where did you get these pictures?"

I shrugged. "Some I took surreptitiously. Most of them Am gave me." I closed the album and looked at him. "How pathetic is it for me to have cherished so many pictures of you when you have none of me."

"Clearly, I was wrong, but so are you." He rose to get his wallet. When he slipped back in bed next to me, he opened it and removed two credit cards. Under each was a color picture of me. One was of me standing on a beach during a trip to the tropics I'd shared with Am and Janine. I wore a bathing suit that I'd allowed Am and Janine to convince me was complimentary. The second picture was a headshot of me that I couldn't remember taking.

He stroked a finger along the picture. "I have a few more but these two are my favorites."

"How did you get them? Did Am give them to you?"

"Not intentionally. I helped myself to Am's collection while you two were on various vacations."

"So you had an ulterior motive for paying for those trips."

He sighed. "I hated those damned trips."

"Why?"

"Every minute you were away I lived in fear of Am calling to tell me you'd fallen for someone else. During those times, having your pictures was a little like having part of you always with me...especially when I lost you to that damned Don."

I shook my head. "Don't, Darkwater. Please. He was a good, kind man and..."

"Who you'll always love?"

I chose my words carefully. While I didn't want to downplay what Don had meant to me, I also didn't want to say anything to give Darkwater reason to hate him or to be jealous of him. "I'll always have fond memories of him." I took his hand and placed it against my chest. "But my heart always has and always will belong to you. I love you now and always, Darkwater."

"These fond memories you'll always have of him..."

"Please don't feel that they will ever in any way encroach on the depth of my love and devotion to you."

He didn't respond.

I bit my lip. "Is my remembering him with fondness going to be a problem for you? As you can see, I've removed his pictures." His silence continued for so long I fully expected him to say something like it was about damned time when he finally spoke.

"And put them where, Sherlyn?"

I took a deep breath. "I put them in an album."

"I see."

So just removing them from display wasn't going to be enough for him. "If you like, I'll..."

"You'll what?"

I looked down at my hands. "I'll get rid of them."

"Will you?"

It would hurt but not as much as losing him. "Yes. I will."

He lifted my chin and slowly shook his head. "No. No. I won't ask you to do that."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure that I'll always probably be a little jealous of him, but that's something I'll have to work on."

"I'll get rid of them."

"No. No. He made you happy at a time when I made you miserable. I guess I owe him for that. And now that I have everything I ever wanted in you, I don't need to be overly jealous of him anymore."

"Oh, thank you for understanding, Darkwater."

"Now is there anything else we need to discuss before I ravish you again?"

There were still issues to deal with. I needed to repair my relationship with Janine and meeting Shane socially would be awkward, but I felt as if everything I'd ever wanted or needed was now within my grasp.

Clearly, we'd both have to work on talking to each other when we had problems or issues, but I no longer thought that would be a problem. Together we could do anything. "No," I whispered.

He smiled. "Then let the ravishing begin," he said, easing me onto my back.

I parted my lips and sighed with anticipation as he positioned himself between my legs with his cock pressing against my slit.

I smiled up at him, sliding my hands around his body to clutch at his hips. "Please do."

He eased his hips forward.

I moaned and closed my eyes, savoring the sweet thrust. Then I tensed and quickly opened my eyes before he could insist I did.

He inhaled slowly and shook his head. "Close them if you like."

"Aren't you afraid I'll..."

"Call out his damned name again? I'm sure you will for a few more times. Every time you do, I'll fuck the hell out of you to remind you that you're with me and who you belong to."

"That sounds like a threat."

"It is, sweet girl."

The endearment removed any possible sting from his remark. "Oh, yeah? And what if I tell you that such threats will almost ensure I call his name out on purpose just so you can punish me appropriately."

To my surprise, he laughed.

"And you, Darkwater? What are you?"

"I'm what I've been for years now, my sweet, sensual girl, your exclusive property. No matter who I was with for the last few years, my heart was always yours and always will be."

"And those five to seven women you've slept with?"

"They were to ensure what I already suspected; that I no longer had a need or desire to sleep around because you were all the woman I needed and wanted in my life," he promised, bending his head to blister my lips with hot, demanding kisses.

As I happily lost myself in him, I closed my eyes. He was everything I'd ever wanted or needed. More, he was mine for more than just a transitory moment. He was mine forever. I didn't delude myself into thinking we wouldn't have problems.

He probably wouldn't say I love you nearly as much or as freely as I wanted to hear it, but that was something we could work on. Fate was smiling on us and I was going to have my happy ever after fairytale ending with my very own Prince Charming. Finally.

“O
h my god, Neida. Your tall, sinfully handsome brave has noticed you. He’s looking this way!”

Oneida Armstrong’s heartbeat increased. She swallowed quickly before she looked across the room and into the dark brown eyes of the handsome man seated alone at a table on the opposite side of the restaurant.

A shock of desire and emotion overwhelmed her senses. She felt as shaken as she had after their gazes met and briefly locked on Monday morning. Then, as now, she knew she looked at her ultimate fantasy. His raw, sensual masculinity stroked her most primal passions and needs. Something deep in his dark, compelling gaze whispered to her heart.

He’s the one. With him you’ll know either heartache and pain or endless nights of bliss and a long life of shared love and devotion. He's the one. Don’t let him slip out of your reach. Do whatever is necessary to get and keep him.

She sucked in a breath. Did he feel a sense of destiny as he looked at her? Did his heart and sensual desires recognize her as his soul mate?

They locked gazes for several more moments.

She felt as if he were probing her most secret desires. Instead of shaming her, the thought excited and aroused her. She felt beautiful, sexy and hungry to satisfy his deepest passions. Did he feel her need for him? If so, did it stroke his cravings?

He abruptly rose. Keeping his gaze locked on her, he put several bills on the table and moved in her direction.

“Here he comes. Get ready to bat your gorgeous eyes and to flaunt that outrageous rack of yours at him so he’s knocked right off his big feet.”

Neida dragged her gaze away from the handsome stranger’s and turned to give her best friend Betty a frantic look. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can!”

“He’s out of my league.”

“The hell he is! You’re beautiful. He's gorgeous! I’m so sure he’s your Mr. Right, I can almost hear the beautiful babies you’ll make together calling me Auntie Betty.”

Neida’s gaze was drawn back to the object of their discussion. With the exception of her first crush and love, her most intimate fantasies had always revolved around Native American men. She loved their skin tone, their high cheekbones, their glossy brown hair, and the mystique surrounding them.

Although a lot taller than the men populating her sensual desires, the sexy hunk strolling towards their table might have stepped right out of her most erotic daydream. She moistened her lips imagining herself slowly peeling the clothes off of his big, buff body. She loved a man who possessed a muscular build without the appearance of an overly muscled weightlifter.

She swallowed, envisioning stroking her hands over his wide shoulders, down his massive chest and his rippled abs to cup his cock. As he hardened against her fingers, she’d part her legs and welcome him inside her body. A rush of moisture filled her thong at her erotic desires.

Get a grip, Neida. What are the chances he’s attracted to plus-sized black women? He didn’t ask your name on Monday and he’s not going to ask it now.

“Neida!” Betty nudged her foot under the table. “Here he comes! Snap out of it already. Say something witty or at least smile at him.”

Even as an inner voice urged her to seize the second chance she’d been given to capture his attention, the fear of rejection kept her silent and unsmiling.

“Neida!”

The man with the sinfully dark, compelling eyes slowed his stride.

Betty reached across the table to give her hand a hard squeeze. “Smile at him and give him a reason to stop.”

He paused at their table.

Neida sucked in a slow breath, unable to look away from him. Her heart thundered against her ribs.

“Good morning ladies.”

Her imagination ran wild at the sound of his deep, sexy baritone.
Undress me with your eyes. Stare at my lips and my breasts. Give me a sign you feel some of what I feel.

“Good morning!” Even as Betty smiled at him, she gave Neida’s hand a vicious squeeze.

“Good morning,” he said, his gaze still locked on Neida.

She gave herself a mental shake. “Good morning.”

He glanced at her left hand before raising his gaze to her breasts. “It is now.”

Neida swallowed hard.

His gaze lingered on her breasts for so long her nipples hardened.

Finally, he looked into her eyes again.  he long, searching look in his dark, sensual gaze pinned her to the seat.

She parted her lips and drank him in with her eyes. He must have been at least 6’ 5” or 6’ 6”. The most attractive male she'd ever seen in person, he exuded confidence and sex appeal.
Was he married?

Noting her gaze shifting downward, he lifted his left hand. He turned it slowly, allowing her to see that it bore no signs of having recently been adorned with a wedding band.

Cheeks burning, she looked into his eyes again.

Loving Large 2: Yours, Only and Always available from marilynle.org and other online sites

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N
inety minutes into the three-hour drive, snow fell hard and heavy, making driving and visibility difficult. Sharde sat in the passenger seat of Jefferson’s SUV, praying he wouldn’t decide to turn around and head home. No matter what, if they made it to the cabin, she was going to find some way to get him in bed before the weekend was over.

Five hours after they’d left Philly, he stopped the SUV in front of the cabin. They sat staring through the windshield. Several inches of snow covered the roof and the ground around the modest small cabin. The snow still fell heavily. She squinted. Or was it now sleet?

He swore softly and reached into the glove compartment for a flashlight. “I’d better go see how things stand. Wait here,” he told her and climbed out of the vehicle, leaving the engine running.

She cast a smile upward, leaned back against her seat, and offered a silent prayer of thanksgiving. The weather had done its part, now all she had to do was hers. She closed her eyes, considering strategies for seducing him.

“Damn!”

The harsh sound and a cold blast of air snapped Sharde out of her lovely thoughts of nights of lust and unbridled passion spent under Jefferson’s big, sweaty, thrusting body.