Hawk's Way Grooms (17 page)

He waited for the laughter, and it came—a warm, happy sound that made his heart soar.

“Oh, Mac,” Jewel said, her dark brown eyes bright with joy. “If you only knew how much I've wanted to hear you say those exact words—or something very like them.”

“You have?”

“I've been terribly jealous,” she admitted. Jewel rubbed her cheek against the curls on his chest, then kissed him, sending goose bumps skittering across his flesh. “I'm so glad,” she said. “I've wanted you all to myself.” The smile returned as she said, “And now I've got you.”

She pushed his shirt off his shoulders until it caught at his wrists, effectively making him a prisoner. Instead of releasing the snaps, she shot him a grin and said, “You're my captive now. I can do whatever I want with you.”

He leaned down to kiss her, and she stepped back and wagged her finger at him.

“Oh, no, you don't. I'm going to be doing the kissing and touching.” She reached down and cupped him with her hand.

“You're going to kill me,” Mac said through gritted teeth.

“You don't like it?” she teased.

“You know I like it,” he retorted. “I like it so much I'm about to burst.”

“Good,” she said. “Now you stand right there while I undress.”

Mac's eyes went wide when Jewel began a striptease in front of him. No woman had ever removed a T-shirt, bra, jeans and panties quite so seductively.

Don't think of yourself. Think of her.

Mac's pulse was pounding in his temples—and elsewhere. His whole body quivered with excitement.

“You're so beautiful,” he said when she was naked at last.

She touched the crisscrossing scars on her face and the more visible scar on her thigh, where the operations to mend her leg had been performed. “You don't mind?”

He solved the problem of the imprisoning shirt by pulling his arms up over his head and using the shirt between his hands as a chain to encircle her and pull her close. “All I see is a beautiful, desirable woman.”

She made a sound of pleasure when her breasts were finally pillowed against his naked chest. He spread his legs and urged her between them. Her hands curved around his waist and ventured up his back all the way to his nape. His blood raced as her hands caressed him.

He shuddered out a breath.
Think of her. Give her pleasure. Make it good for her. Don't think about yourself.

He lowered his mouth to hers, sealing them together, mimicking the sex act with his tongue. The sounds she made in her throat caused his groin to tighten even more—if that was possible. He pushed against her and felt the heat of her through the denim as she rubbed her mound against him.

“I never knew it could feel so good,” she whispered. “I never imagined how wonderful it would be.”

He kissed her eyes and cheeks and nose before he reached her mouth again. She kissed him back eagerly, her tongue thrusting into his mouth, tasting him, dueling with him as he sought to return the favor.

Mac had forgotten about his jeans. She obviously had not. He felt her hands on the zipper again, and this time he let her lower it and reach inside.

“Okay?” she asked.

Think of her. Think of her.
“Okay,” he rasped.

But if she thought she was going to have it all her way, she was wrong. When Jewel reached for him, Mac got rid of his shirt and reached for her. He slipped two fingers inside her quickly, before she could protest, and settled his thumb on the tiny nub that was the source of so much delight.

“I can't…concentrate on you…when you're doing that…to me…” she panted.

His body was hard, pulsing in an agony of delight. It was a good thing she was not more experienced, although her innocence was likely to be his undoing.

He concentrated on bringing Jewel to a climax, focusing his attention on kissing her, touching her, pleasing her. Soon her hand was lax against him, her eyes closed, her jaw clenched as the pleasure overtook her. She leaned into him with her hips and arched her body toward him, making it easy for him to kiss her breasts, to suckle them and to tease them with his teeth and tongue.

Sweat beaded on his forehead, as he watched the play of expressions on her face. The rapture. The delight. The confusion as her body tightened more and more, as he pushed her higher and higher. The ecstasy as her body rippled with pleasure. And the love, as she looked up at him from hooded eyes and rose on tiptoe to find his mouth with hers and thank him with a kiss.

He picked her up, pulled down his bedcovers and laid her on the sheet. Her eyes had already slid closed before he pulled off his jeans and briefs and slid into bed beside her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back into the hollow of his belly. He lay there bone hard and unsatisfied—but very pleased with himself.

He had brought Jewel to climax twice now and managed to control his own urgent need. Surely it would not be so difficult to put himself inside her and do it so she would not recognize his inexperience. She seemed to have put completely out of her mind what had happened six years ago.

He wished she were awake now. He wished he did not have to wait. If he could just make love to her this instant, he knew everything would be fine. But she seemed perfectly satisfied to lie beside him. She did not seem the least bit interested in any more touching or kissing.

Mac got the first hint of his error when he felt Jewel's hand sliding up his thigh, headed for the barely relaxed, unsatisfied part of him.

“Jewel? What's going on?”

She turned in his arms to face him. Her eyes were two shiny spots in the darkness. “I want to make love to you, Mac.”

“We just—”

“I want you to put yourself inside me as deep as you can. I want to make you feel as wonderful as you've made me feel.”

Mac swallowed hard. He felt like crying. “God, Jewel. Now?”

“Now.” She touched him, and his body stood at rigid attention. She lay back and urged him over her.

She didn't have to urge him very hard.

For a moment she hesitated, and Mac realized she was remembering the past. This was the way he had found her with Harvey Barnes. Harvey was on top, and she was helpless beneath him. Like Harvey, Mac was stronger. He could do to her whatever he wanted.

Mac saw her rising fear and said, “It's me, Jewel.”

Her whole body relaxed, and she smiled up at him sweetly. “I know, Mac. Love me, please. And let me love you.”

Patience. Patience.

Patience went out the window the instant his body reached the entrance to hers. Mac tried to go slow, but she was wet and hot, and he wanted to be inside her so bad, that it took only three brief thrusts before he was buried deep inside her.

Mac paused, his weight on his elbows, his hips cradled in hers, and looked down, ashamed of his haste and afraid of what he would see on her face. “Jewel?”

“I'm fine,” she said, her eyes glowing, her fingertips caressing his cheeks. “I'm wonderful.”

It was all right. She couldn't tell it was his first time…because it was also the first time for her, he realized.

It was easy then, to think of her and not himself. “I don't want to hurt you,” he said.

In response, she lifted her knees on either side of him, then wrapped her legs around his buttocks, seating him even more deeply inside her.

“My God,” he muttered. “Jewel, I…” He withdrew and thrust as slowly and gently as he could, but the inevitable urge to mate, to put his seed inside her, drove him to move faster. When she lifted her hips and pushed back, the friction created unbelievably exquisite sensations.

Go slow. Slow down. Wait for her.

He saw Jewel's face through a haze of desire, heard her guttural sounds of pleasure and finally felt her body, slick and wet beneath him, begin to convulse.

Her body squeezed him, wringing pleasure beyond anything he could have imagined. He arched his head backward in an agony of joy as he spilled his seed inside her. His body pulsed, emptying itself in powerful thrusts before he lowered himself to lie beside her and wrapped her in his arms.

His breathing was ragged, his blood still pumping so hard it throbbed in his veins. He could not find breath for words, and would not have known what to say if he could have spoken.

“Thank you, Mac,” Jewel whispered, snuggling close. “No man could have made me feel more lovely…or more loved.”

Mac kissed her on the temple, a wordless thanks for saying what he had not been able to find words to express. The pleasure of this first time for him was all the sweeter, knowing she was happy.

Mac thought of all the women he could have made love to and had not. All the sex he had turned down in those early years, which had put him in the position of making love for the first time to the very woman he hoped to marry. As far as Mac was concerned, that meant Jewel was the only woman he would ever make love with.

Maybe he should have felt deprived. He did not.

Intuitively Mac knew that sex with a stranger—or even an acquaintance, would not have been as earth-shattering, or as bone-melting, as his experience with Jewel. Without the love he felt for her—and the love she felt for him in return—the sex act would not have brought him nearly so much joy.

“What are you thinking?” Jewel murmured.

“How much I enjoyed making love to you,” he replied with a smile.

She kept her eyes lowered, and she was obviously struggling to speak as she said, “Considering the experience of the other women you must have slept with, I can't imagine my first efforts were much to shout about.”

“Will you marry me?”

Mac had meant to distract her from a discussion of his sexual experience, and the proposal worked. But not in the way he had hoped.

“Does that mean you were satisfied?” she said, arching a brow. “I don't want to spend my life wondering how I stack up against the competition,” she said wryly.

“I'm never going to be comparing you to anyone else,” he muttered.

“Why don't I believe you?”

“Believe me.”

“How can I believe you?” she said, rising to her elbow and staring down at him. “Are you telling me you never found a single other woman who was more appealing to you in bed than me?”

“That's exactly what I'm saying,” he retorted, sitting up abruptly. “Because there were no other women.”

She sat up just as quickly to face him, and the sheet dropped to her waist, exposing her breasts. “You're kidding, right?”

The sight of her nipples, full and rosy, set his pulse to galloping. “No man would kid about something like that. Until a few minutes ago I was a virgin. Now damn it, will you or won't you marry me?”

He had known she would laugh if she ever found out the truth. But he had never expected such gentle laughter. Such joyful laughter. Such loving laughter.

Jewel pushed him onto his back and straddled him with only the sheet between them. She leaned down, her lips close to his and said, “Oh, yes, my darling. I will most definitely marry you.”

“It doesn't bother you that I don't have more experience in bed?” he demanded.

She chuckled. “Why should it? This way we can both learn exactly what pleases us. For instance, do you like it when I bite your earlobe like this?”

He shivered at the searing sensation of pleasure.

“Or would you rather I kissed this spot below your ear?”

Mac groaned. He had switched their positions and had her beneath him in two seconds flat. “I like it all,” he said, nipping her earlobe and then kissing her below the ear, feeling the frisson of pleasure that rippled through her. “Just so long as I'm doing it with you.”

“Well, then,” she said, smiling up at him, “why don't we practice making a baby?”

Mac laughed, then cheerfully indulged the future mother of his children.

J
EWEL SAT IN A ROCKER ON THE COVERED
porch of the two-story Victorian house Mac had built for them. It stood on Hawk's Pride land her father had given them as a wedding present four years ago. Jewel had wanted a white house with lots of gingerbread trim with morning glories entwined in it, and that was exactly what she had.

She sighed with pleasure every time she looked around her. This was her favorite place to be these days. She was nursing her second son, while the first, blond-haired, blue-eyed, three-year-old Evan, played with a football at her feet.

“Daddy!” Evan cried, leaping up as Mac appeared around the corner of the house.

Mac opened his arms when he reached the foot of the steps that led up to the front door, and Evan launched himself into his father's arms. The two looked very much alike, down to the twin dimples in their cheeks.

“Welcome home,” Jewel said with a smile.

“It's good to be home,” Mac replied, settling into the rocker beside her with Evan on his lap. “How's Dustin?”

“Hungry, as always.”

“I can see why he enjoys dinner so much,” Mac said with a teasing smile, as he eyed the breast that provided his son's nourishment.

Jewel blushed. Even after four years of marriage, Mac talked about her breasts as though they were the best gift he had ever been given. “How did your trip go?” she asked.

“I got two Pro-Bowl quarterbacks, a former Heisman Trophy winner and a record-setting kicker to commit to a week each at Camp LittleHawk.”

“Fabulous!” Jewel said. “I knew you could do it! What about the fund-raiser?”

Jewel had been as surprised as Mac when Andy Dennison suggested they raise money for Mac's sports camp from the public. The Camp LittleHawk fund-raiser had become a highlight on the sports calendar and football players from around the league were delighted to be invited to participate.

“Everything is in place,” Mac said. “Andy says he thinks we can double what we made last year.”

“That'll mean we can build another couple of bunkhouses,” Jewel said. “And hire the help we'll need to staff them.”

Mac nodded and set his rocker to moving. “How were things around here while I was gone?”

“The high school-age summer counselors arrived yesterday for their week of training.”

“Did he come?”

Jewel smiled. “He came.”

Mac leaned his head back and turned his face away, but Jewel had already seen the tears that leaped to his eyes.

“He's been in remission for three years, Mac. Don't you think it's safe now to admit how much you like the kid?”

Mac turned back to her and reached out to take her hand in his. “I suppose it is.”

“I thought so. That's why I asked him over for dinner tonight.”

“What?”

“You can come out now, Brad,” Jewel said.

The screen door opened, and Brad Templeton stepped onto the front porch. “Hi, Mac.”

Mac rose and set Evan down.

It was questionable which of the two men moved first, but the instant they met, they wrapped their arms around each other and hugged tight.

Neither of them said anything, but if they were as moved as Jewel was, they were both too emotional to speak.

Mac recovered first, pushed Brad an arm's length away and said, “Let me look at you. How old are you now?”

“Sixteen,” Brad said.

“You've gotten taller.”

“You look the same.”

Mac pulled off the New York Mets baseball cap and tousled Brad's dark hair. “Looks like you need a trim.”

Brad grabbed the ball cap and tugged it down. “Now that I've got a little hair, I'm not about to cut it off. Besides, the chicks like it like this.”

Mac laughed as he put an arm around Brad's shoulder and headed back toward Jewel. “Just remember,” he said, pointing his thumb at Jewel, “this one's taken.”

“I thought you had the hots for her,” Brad said, winking at Jewel. “Guess I was right.”

Mac laughed, then sobered. “I'm so glad you made it back here,” he said, his voice breaking with emotion.

“I owe it all to you. I kept on fighting, like you said. And here I am.”

The screen door slammed again and Jewel's brother Colt appeared on the front porch, tossing a football from hand to hand. At eighteen, his shoulders had broadened, and he had grown a few more inches. His hair was too long, and his face held a perpetual look of defiance. “If the reunion is over, I promised to throw Brad a few passes.”

“Sure,” Mac said, giving Brad a nudge in Colt's direction. “Let's see what kind of speed you have, Brad.”

Mac returned to the rocker and settled down, picking up Evan again and holding him in his lap.

“Football,” Evan said, pointing to Colt and Brad.

“Yep. Someday you're going to be playing, sport. But right now we're going to watch your uncle Colt and my friend Brad.”

As the two of them watched Brad run in a zigzagging pattern, Jewel said, “Colt finally told Dad he's been accepted to the Air Force Academy.”

Mac missed seeing Colt throw the football, because his attention had switched to Jewel. “What did Zach say?”

“He was angry that Colt hadn't said anything to him before now about wanting to go into the Air Force.”

“And?”

“They're not speaking at the moment.”

“What did Rebecca say?” Mac asked, his eyes back on Colt.

“Mom was hurt by all the secrecy. And she's afraid for Colt, because what he wants to do will put him in the path of danger.”

Mac's mouth turned up wryly. “That shouldn't surprise her. Colt has led a pretty reckless life the past four years. It's a wonder he got through high school alive.”

“I can't help thinking how unhappy Colt must have been all these years, knowing he was going to disappoint Dad and hurt Mom when he finally told them the truth about what he wanted to do with his life.”

“Who'd have thought it,” Mac said, watching the perfect spiraling pass Colt had thrown land gently in Brad's outstretched arms. “He would have made one hell of a pro quarterback.”

“Apparently he'll play football for the Air Force Academy,” Jewel said. “When he's done, he plans to fly jets.”

Mac brushed his thumb across Jewel's knuckles, sending a frisson of pleasure streaking up her arm. “Do you think Colt would talk to me?”

“I'm sure he could use an ear to listen,” Jewel said. “I've invited him for dinner, too.”

Mac smiled. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

“It's been twenty-four hours, at least.”

“I love you, Jewel.” Mac raised her hand and kissed her palm.

Jewel found herself breathless as she met his avid gaze. “It's time for another lesson in the bedroom,” she said.

“Oh? What are we learning this time?”

“How to make a baby
girl,
” Jewel said.

“Sounds interesting,” Mac said. “When does class start?”

“Right after the dinner dishes are done,” Jewel said, “and you talk to Colt and he drives Brad back to Camp LittleHawk and we get these two into bed.”

“I'll be there,” Mac promised with a grin. “This is a lesson I don't want to miss.”

Jewel laughed. “Just get it right this time, or you're liable to find yourself with a whole football team before we're through.”

“I wouldn't mind,” Mac said softly. “As long as we get at least one girl who looks just like you.”

Before Jewel could answer, a football came flying onto the porch, and Mac and Evan abandoned her to play football with the two teenagers.

Jewel fingered the soft curls at Dustin's nape and brushed her hand across his baby-soft cheek. She was looking forward to Mac's inventive lovemaking tonight. Knowing his determination to do everything to the best of his ability, it was bound to be a delightful adventure, full of fun and laughter.

Only this time, she would have the last laugh. Jewel's smile grew as she imagined the look on Mac's face when she told him—after the lesson, of course—that his daughter was already on the way.