Stolen Kisses (23 page)

“A little, but a very sexy idiot. I’ve always thought of myself as very staid and serious, so I couldn’t imagine any reason for someone like you to be interested in me. You just kept showing up.” She dropped his shirt on the floor and gave a satisfied sigh as she ran her hand over his chest. “You scared me to death, but I kept remembering how delicious you looked in your rabbit outfit.”

“‘Delicious’?” Trevor looked a little embarrassed by the word, although it didn’t stop his clever fingers from unhooking the clasp of Jessie’s lace bra. “I think that applies to you in that little red number you had on at the Bushes’ party. Want to wear it for me again sometime?”

“Are we getting kinky again?”

“I think you mentioned we should do it straight first,” he murmured, his hands slipping beneath the layers of her satin panties and pantyhose to pull her close into the heat of his desire.

Together they finished undressing and slipped onto the bed in a tender embrace. Jessie was amazed at his gentleness as he set out to explore her body slowly. They had the confidence of new lovers, secure in their feelings. They knew they had all the time in the world, stroking and caressing each other as if neither of them had experienced lovemaking before. She sighed as his fingers teased the slope of her breast before his lips softly sipped at the hardened peak. He murmured his approval as she alternately kneaded and caressed his chest and hips.

Time seemed to stand still, transporting them to a place all their own. This time Jessie felt the heat begin to kindle within her ever so slowly, almost like her dream while they were camping. She knew it was more than a dream now as Trevor captured her lips in a leisurely, soulful kiss that seemed to pledge his devotion. Pulling him close into the cradle of her hips, she returned his pledge with a promise of her own.

Suddenly the lassitude seemed to leave them both, and the storm of passion that had taken them earlier quickly returned. Trevor groaned as she wrapped her legs around him, urging him on. After running from him for so long, she wanted to show him how much she truly cared. Arching up to meet his driving thrusts, she fleetingly wondered what kind of child they would make. Then as completion claimed them both, she knew that she would be content with only Trevor in her life.

Chapter Eleven

“Trevor, wake up. It’s time for me to go to work.” Jessie looked down fondly at his sleeping face where he lay using her breast as a pillow. Even after twenty-four hours, she wasn’t sure that she wasn’t in a dream. They had barely moved from her bedroom yesterday, only foraging in the kitchen to satisfy their more mundane appetites. For hours they talked about the chaotic weeks behind them and their plans for the future. They made slow, leisurely love, reveling in the freedom to express themselves physically and emotionally.

Now reality was disrupting their paradise in the form of her alarm clock. She had to get to work, and Trevor was a dead weight that kept her from moving. “Trevor, get up.”

“Justhitthesnooze,” he grumbled as his hand came up to fondle her breast. A silly smile curved his lips.

“Oh, no, you don’t.” She pinched his shoulder before he could undermine her resolve. After all, most of her busy schedule this week was working on his house.

“Hey, that hurt. This doesn’t bode well for our future together,” he muttered, but only moved over to clutch the pillow next to her.

“I’ve got to get to the office to check on your deliveries, buster,” she explained and bent to placate him with a kiss. She made sure she kept a close eye on his hands, however. It wasn’t necessary, since he was already asleep. With a philosophical shrug, she headed for the shower.

A half hour later she returned to the bedroom, fully dressed and with a cup of hot tea in her hand. Trevor hadn’t moved. Was she going to be able to have a coherent conversation with him before she left?

Just then his arm reached out, and when he found only empty space, he opened his eyes. He looked at her upright figure balefully. Then he pushed himself up on his elbows and shook his entire body like a wet dog.

Jessie watched in rapt fascination. “Do you do that every morning?”

“Only when I find gorgeous women in my room.” Flipping over, he punched up the pillows behind him and leaned back.

“It better be only one woman from now on, especially in my house.” She softened her words by sitting down on the edge of the bed to kiss him.

“Mmmm, maybe I could get up at this unholy hour if that’s my reward,” he murmured a few minutes later. “Sure you don’t want to stay home and try to make babies?”

“I knew I never should have told you why I was looking for a husband. I’m never going to live it down.”

“Are you always this alert as soon as you get up?” he asked suspiciously, scrubbing the palms of his hands over his face. “We’re going to have some serious trouble ahead, since I’m barely coherent before noon.”

“Just something else we can work out together.” She started to get up, but his hand at her wrist kept her in place.

“I have a feeling we’re going to have a very educational period of adjustment.”

“Jessie, how serious are you about having a baby?” he asked earnestly, apparently making an effort to be awake.

She considered the question as she sipped her tea, not coming up with an easy answer. “I don’t know. I thought a baby was what I wanted, but I’m not sure I wasn’t simply looking for someone like you. Someone to share my life with.”

“That’s what you’ve got, but I don’t want you to give up on something you really want,” he stated firmly. He became engrossed in watching the movement of his thumb moving over the back of her hand. “My house is definitely big enough for kids, so there isn’t any reason to put off getting married. I remember reading about women having babies later in life, and it gets more difficult after forty.”

“Married?” Jessie almost spilled her tea on his bare chest.

“You were planning on marrying me, weren’t you?” Trevor looked provoked by her surprise.

“I hadn’t gotten that far. I’m still trying to adjust to waking up in your arms,” she answered honestly. “Do you want to get married?”

“Damn straight. I didn’t go to all the trouble of chasing you for a silly affair.”

“Okay, don’t get angry. Saturday night was the first time I’ve ever seduced someone, and now we’re talking marriage. I’m just not used to any of this.” She smiled at him to ask his forgiveness, trying to ignore the rapid beating of her heart. Trevor wanted to many her.

“Get used to this.” He snaked his hand around her neck and pulled down her head, claiming her mouth with his. For a moment he teased her by nibbling on her lower lip, then suddenly deepened the kiss, plundering and taking a heated response.

“Oh, boy. I’m not going to get anything done for the rest of the day,” she managed to gasp a few minutes later. Getting unsteadily to her feet, she belatedly remembered her cup on the nightstand. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“I’ll be doing the late show, so just wait for me in bed,” he told her, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Jessie hurried out of the room before she changed her mind and climbed back into bed. She’d known all along that Trevor Planchet was going to be a bad influence in her life, only she hadn’t realized how much she was going to enjoy it.

“The turret room would be a great room for a little girl, wouldn’t it?”

Jessie murmured sleepily in response, not really registering the words that rumbled in her ear. She was too comfortable snuggled against Trevor’s warm body. The past three days had been absolute heaven, she decided in drowsy satisfaction, idly stroking the hair-roughened plane of her lover’s chest.

“Stop that. I’m trying to have a serious discussion,” he ordered, but softened the reprimand by capturing her hand and raising it to his lips.

“What did you want to discuss?” She tilted her head back to look up into his solemn face. The sight of him in the moonlight was still too new for her not to marvel at her luck. Her fantasies about Trevor’s brass bed had exceeded her expectations. “I thought you’d be tired after working late tonight.”

“Do you want a boy or a girl?”

“You’re becoming obsessed with this.” With a sigh, she placed her palms on his chest, resting her chin on them as she met his gaze. Children seemed to be a subject he returned to again and again.

“We haven’t even discussed the wedding yet, and you want to talk about children.”

“Well, the Planchets seem to run to boys, but I think a little girl with black hair and blue eyes would be perfect.” His fingers tangling in her hair made her want to purr, but she was beginning to know his moods. He wanted to be serious, at least for the next few minutes. “Men have biological time clocks, too.”

“I just focused on finding a husband, then having a healthy baby, and never really thought about whether it would be a boy or a girl,” she admitted. “I have an equal number of nieces and nephews, though only six of my brothers and sisters are married. Mother and Aunt Lena are working hard to get Phillip and Cassie down the aisle, though.”

“I’m not sure I’ll ever remember all of them. It will take a score card to keep them straight,” he murmured, his gaze thoughtful. “Maybe I wasn’t kidding about the Ringling Brothers at my wedding. Your family will be quite a crowd. Tell me the roster again.”

“My family is not a football team,” she protested good-naturedly. She’d had twenty-six years to get used to the number, but having that many prospective in-laws probably was a little daunting. “Okay, here we go. You talked to my mother, Aunt Lena, and Betsy two days ago when we officially announced our engagement.”

“Right. Your mother lives in Florida with your Aunt Lena. Betsy is the next oldest and runs a souvenir shop with her husband in Branson, Missouri.” He smiled in triumph at his recitation, then frowned as he tried to remember the rest. “You and Betsy went to college together, because you all took turns going to school and working part-time to help each other with tuition. She has four kids, and two of them are twins?”

“No, Julie and Janet are twins, and Betsy has two little girls. I think I’d better do this by age.”

She couldn’t help giggling over his confusion. Except for the night they’d shared childhood reminiscences by the campfire, she hadn’t discussed her family. “I’m the oldest—”

“And the prettiest.”

“Thank you,” she acknowledged graciously, dropping a kiss on his collarbone.

“None of that. We have important matters to discuss.”

“Spoil sport. Betsy is a year younger, Cameron and Miles are a year younger than she is; Cam still lives in the old homestead outside Jackson with his wife and two boys. Miles is a forest ranger in South Dakota. Julie and Janet come next; they’re the twins. They are both married and each has two girls.” She paused for a minute to check if Trevor was still awake. He had one arm propped behind his head, and though his forehead was creased in concentration, his eyes were closed.

“Hey, why’d you stop?”

“Just checking to see if you were keeping up.”

“We were on the twins,” he prompted before settling back in place. His free hand stroked absently up and down her bare back, but his mind was preoccupied with her family.

“After the twins are Lawrence and Duncan. The four of them liked working in Mom and Aunt Lena’s bake shop when they were growing up and went into business together after college. They’ve expanded and have three stores in Jackson and four in Memphis.”

“Any kids?”

“You
are
obsessed.” She really didn’t mind. Their whispered conversations in the middle of the night were something she was coming to cherish. Once she had finished her litany, she was sure she could channel his thoughts in another direction.

“No, I want to get this right.”

“Maybe I should get you a pencil and paper,” she returned dryly at his earnest tone.

“Just keep going. I think I’m finally getting them all straight.”

“Larry has a little girl and Duncan has a son. That leaves Phillip and Cassie—the two babies, as the parents insist on calling them, even if both of them are close to thirty.” She couldn’t keep the note of pride from her voice. “Phillip finished law school last year and joined a firm in Knoxville. Cassie has a master’s degree in computer programming and works for NASA in Huntsville. And there you have it: one woman’s family.”

“That’s some family. Almost thirty people!” he exclaimed, giving a silent whistle as he slanted her a startled look. “You realize that the DeLords outnumber the Planchets almost two to one. Are you going to want all your sisters for bridesmaids?”

“Worrying about a circus wedding again?” she couldn’t help teasing, tracing the pattern of his collarbone with the tip of her finger. As much as she loved them, she really didn’t want to think about her family right now.

“Just wondering where we’re going to put all of them if they all come to visit at one time. Maybe eloping wouldn’t be such a bad idea, after all.”

“You don’t have to worry about being outnumbered. My family is very quiet in comparison to yours. Maybe we are more self-contained because there are so many of us,” she said thoughtfully, thinking of the night of Tory’s rehearsal dinner. “I don’t think a wedding with our families and friends will need the riot police, unless your father gets out of hand. As long as you show up, I’ll be happy.”