Toys and Baby Wishes (11 page)

He pulled away and dragged in some air.  "Lexa, I said
I don't want to push you, but if we keep this up--"

Lexa heard what he was saying and she knew she should tell
him she couldn't have children.  But she loved being in his arms, she loved
drowning in his kisses, she needed to be loved.  She couldn't give up this one
precious time she might never have again.  She'd never felt this way about a
man and she was afraid she'd lose him.

Couldn't she have this one night?

"I want you to make love to me, Josh.  I want to make
love to you."

"You're sure?"

She nodded.

Josh searched her eyes for a long moment, then swept her
into his arms and carried her upstairs.

When he set her down next to the bed, he couldn't bear to
let her go.  He wrapped her in his arms and ran his hand down the back of her
head.  He felt protective--so protective.

Lexa leaned back and braced her hands on his chest.  His
heart began thumping faster.  "Do you see what you do to me?" he
asked.

She reached for the hem of his shirt and lifted it over his
head.  He helped her and dropped it on the floor.  When she ran her hands
across his chest, down to his waistband, he shuddered.  And when she said,
"You do the same thing to me," he reached for the hem of her sweater.

After pulling it over her head, he combed her hair into
place with his fingers.  "I love your hair.  It's so soft and so
natural."  His hands cruised down her arms and back up.  He unhooked her
bra and stared.  "Your skin's so white, so delicate.  You're as beautiful
on the outside as you are on the inside, Lexa.  I want to touch you and know
every part of you."

Her eyes were wider and darker than he'd ever seen them. 
"I'm going to please you, Josh.  I want to give you what you want."

"You will, sweetheart.  You will."

Josh's body stirred.  She was so sensual and unafraid of her
sexuality or his.  That in itself was a potent turn-on.

After they undressed each other, Josh laid a condom packet
on the nightstand, threw the covers back and laid down next to Lexa.  He slid
his fingers under her hair while his thumbs caressed her neck.  Softly, like
the spring rain kissing the earth, he showered small kisses over her face.

Lexa was surrounded by Josh's heat, his clean maleness, the
blue smoke in his eyes, the cosmic wonder of being in love.  There was no past,
no future, only now.  When he nudged her head towards his, she reached for him,
lost in his sensual drugging.  She could never be immune to him.  His breath
kissed her cheek an instant before his lips--warm, demanding, sharing--rested
on hers.  His tongue flicked across their surface, patiently waiting for her to
give him entrance.

Josh couldn't hold back as his body surged toward Lexa's. 
His hands seemed to be designed for the curves of her body as his tongue explored
the sweet recesses of her mouth.  Sparks ricocheted in all directions and
pricked through every part of him.

Lexa linked her arms around Josh as he deepened the kiss. 
Her heart skipped too many beats to count and heat burned between her thighs.  Reality
exploded into another dimension where there was love, sensation, union.  Lexa's
tongue met Josh's with unchecked hunger and she drew him down on top of her. 
While his mouth plundered and seduced, his hands slid up her leg until he
encountered her navel.  His thumb drew circles around it, teasing her, testing
her, inciting a firestorm of electricity.

Sliding her hand up his hip, Lexa felt his shiver as if it
were hers.  Her palm found the small of his back where she played because she
discovered it drew from him an erotic response.  His weight was heavy on top of
her, but a heaviness she welcomed because it sent waves of pleasure brewing
inside her.  When he moved suggestively, she became bolder, moving her hand
between them in search of his manhood.

Josh shifted to his side and nudged her until she faced
him.  His lips left hers and cascaded kisses over her cheeks down her neck to
her shoulder.  His hand wandered to the nest of golden hair to test her
readiness.  He taunted until a moan erupted from her throat.  He asked raspily,
"Do you want me as much as I want you?"

"Yes," she responded breathlessly as her hand
enclosed him.

He stared at her, binding her to him with his eyes.  "I
have never wanted a woman the way I want you."

"You're an incredibly sexy man."

"I need you, Lexa."

"Show me how much," she whispered.

His eyes darkened in the mellow glow of the lamp.  "I
want to prolong this."

"That doesn't matter, Josh.  Just love me and let me
love you."

His fingers quested up and down her back until he wove them
through her hair and pressed her head toward his.  Kissing her was such a
sensual experience.  Her kisses lasted, stayed with him, for him to savor when
she wasn't near.  Her lips were already parted and inviting.  He accepted the
invitation.

The tiny pulse at Lexa's throat fluttered.  Josh's lips
peppered kisses down her throat to her breast where his breath erected her
nipple.  He rubbed his chin against the bud.  When he took the hardened rosy
tip into his mouth and rolled it around on his tongue, she felt like a tornado
looking for place to spin.  Her hands searched through his thick black hair to
his scalp and massaged in a rhythmic pattern in keeping with his mouth as he
owned the crest of her breast.

When his tongue flicked out, circling the peak, she arched
upward offering him more.  "Oh, Josh.  That feels so good."

Lexa needed to show Josh she loved him, to incite in him the
same feelings he was inciting in her.  She'd decided to take tonight, each
precious moment, and live it to its fullest.  Because she didn't know what
would come after tonight, what would come after he knew...

She blanked out thoughts of the future and pushed on his
shoulder until he received her message.  He reached for the condom, slid it on,
then laid back.  Each of her movements was measured and provocative as she
curled on her side next to him.  Her knee rubbed his hair-roughened thigh as
her fingers sketched playful designs on his chest.  She pecked at his shoulder,
stopped to gently tug at a nipple and nipped at his tight abdomen with her
teeth.  Her hands were busy fondling and stroking the velvet landscape that was
the most tender.

"Sweetheart," he rasped.  "I can't hold on
much longer."  She raised her head and with graceful movement, straddled
his legs.  His hands spanned her slim waist then guided her hips until their
bodies fused.

The heart of Lexa's womanhood tensed, relaxed, tensed again
until neither of them could control the fire that was consuming them both. 
Lexa gloried in each nuance of contact as she watched Josh's eyes.  She let him
set the rhythm, knowing she could explode at any moment.  She moved in
counterpoint against him, allowing him to thrust deeper and deeper until they
composed their own symphony of light and motion and sound that climaxed to a
mighty crescendo in a final blinding crash of symbols.  A shower of shudders
rippled through her body as she heard Josh's cry of fulfillment seconds after
her own.

***

Lexa nestled in the crook of Josh's arm feeling more loved
than she'd ever felt.  He hadn't said the words, nor had she.  But the feeling
was there.

Josh tightened his arm around Lexa and she turned toward
him.  "The pot roast is going to be overdone."

"Does it matter?"

She ran her finger along his cheekbone.  "No."

He passed his hand over her hip.  "I hope that was as
wonderful for you as it was for me."

"It was."

Josh's eyes darkened.  "How long do you think we have
until the pot roast disintegrates?"

She rubbed her and over his chest.  "How long do we
need?"

His voice was husky.  "All night."

"Josh, would you like to come home with me for
Thanksgiving?  I don't want to take you away from Clare, but I'd like you to
meet Dani.  She's going to tell Dad about the baby."

Josh looked pleased.  "I think Clare will understand. 
She and her housemates are inviting a few friends from the senior center who
don't have family nearby."  He kissed Lexa's forehead.  "I want to be
part of your life.  I'd like to go home with you."

"Maybe we can have supper with Clare before we go.  I
just thought, isn't the Friday after Thanksgiving your busiest day of the
year?  I was going to stay until Sunday..."

"I have competent employees and an excellent
manager."  He tipped up her chin.  "You're more important."

If she hadn't been in love with Josh before, that would have
done it.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a long, tender
kiss.

He rolled her over on her back and muttered, "To hell
with the pot roast."

***

Lexa headed for a meeting at the senior center, thinking
about Josh.  She'd told him she'd join him at his apartment after her meeting. 
Last night had been wonderful, more wonderful than she'd ever dreamed.  Josh
had used birth control as a matter of course.  She could have said something
then, she should have, but everything had been so wonderful, she hadn't wanted
to spoil it.  So she'd decided she'd tell Josh about her sterility after their
trip to her home.  Meeting Dani and her father would be enough for now.

Lexa found a seat next to Clare and listened to the agenda
for December.  She kept checking her watch.  Clare nudged her arm.  "It's
five minutes later than the last time you looked."

She smiled sheepishly.  "Am I that obvious?"

"Just to me.  Do you have a date with Josh?"

"Um hmm."

Clare gave her a knowing smile.

Lexa leaned close to Clare and in a low voice asked,
"Does your house feel like a home yet?"

Clare's blue eyes sparkled like Josh's.  "Sure does. 
It's so nice to sit in the parlor at night and talk with friends who have the
same concerns.  We like the same music, we've shared the same historical
events, we're in no hurry when we play Scrabble because we've stopped rushing. 
It's a comfortable life."

"You sound happy."

"I am.  It was the best decision I ever made."

When Lexa looked at her watch again, Clare thumped her on
the shoulder.  "Get going, Lexa.  There's no reason to stick around here
when you want to be elsewhere."

"I can't.  I have to tell everyone something they won't
want to hear."

When the business meeting was over, Lexa was recognized and
stood.  Heads turned toward her.  Her tone was as serious as her expression. 
"I have reason to believe Mr. Stanley's financial planning might not be
the best."

Seniors who didn't know the man questioned, "Who's
he?"  But they were shushed by others who wanted to listen.  One of the
men tapped his cane and called out, "Is he crooked?"

Lexa answered, "I'm not sure yet.  But until I can get
more information, I don't think you should invest your money."

"What if we already did?" a rotund grandmotherly
type asked."

"I think you should stop payment on your checks." 
At grunts of disapproval and dismay, Lexa offered, "I know that's some
trouble and I know Mr. Stanley won't like it, but you've got to protect
yourselves.  I could be all wrong about this, and I hope I am.  If I am, I will
personally apologize to Mr. Stanley.  But until we discover if he's who he says
he is, your money will be safer in your bank."

"My son-in-law invested money in Leisureville.  What
should I tell him and my daughter?" Edna Jenkins inquired, her voice
shaky.

"How old is your son-in-law, Edna?" Lexa asked.

"Twenty-eight."

That information added more wood to Stanley's pyre.  If he
had advised Lexa against Leisureville because it wasn't long term, why would he
recommend it to Edna's son-in-law?  "Tell them the same thing I told you,
and if you know anybody else who is going to go to Stanley, tell them to wait
until they hear from you."

The crowd began murmuring loudly.  Lexa raised her voice to
say, "As soon as I know anything I'll let you know.  Because of Thanksgiving,
I probably won't hear until next week.  Until then, you can send up some
prayers and hope I'm wrong."

As the group continued to mumble and some stood to disperse,
Edna motioned to Lexa.  She met the older lady in the middle of the aisle.

Edna said, "I'm scared.  I invested five thousand
dollars.  What if I never see it again?  I can't afford to lose it."

Lexa put her hand on Edna's shoulder.  "We'll get to
the bottom of this as soon as we can.  We can't prove anything yet, so we can't
make accusations."

"Is that nice Mr. Flannigan helping you?  You certainly
shouldn't be trying to do this yourself."

Lexa smiled.  "Yes, he's helping, and he has a friend
who's helping him."

Lexa was anxious to get home.  After she tried to reassure
Edna again about her investment, she said good night to Clare and left before
anyone else could tie her up.

She'd never been this eager to leave a meeting before. 
She'd never been this eager to see someone.  Josh was changing her life.  Was
she ready for the change?

***

The Kittredge home was magnificent.  A long driveway, tall
white pillars on the porch, an affluence of rooms, damasks, Oriental rugs, and
Faberge eggs.  Josh wondered about Lexa's childhood, whether she ran through
the rooms with pigtails flying, whether she played with toys scattered around
the antique spinning wheel, whether she ever did her homework on the polished
mahogany dining room table.  He doubted it.  After a formal introduction to
Donald Kittredge, the housekeeper Anna showed them to separate rooms.

After Josh and Lexa unpacked, they walked down the wide open
staircase together.  Josh grinned.  "Are you going to sneak into my room
tonight or am I going to sneak into yours?"

"Afraid a monster will get you in a strange bed?"