The Purple Heart (19 page)

I ran my hand over his chest again;
probing for his remaining
medals,
and found two others. I
kissed each one in turn. I continued with my search over his skin
and finally found the last scar. It was right over his heart. I
stopped; my fingers shook as they hovered over it. I looked into
his eyes. There were tears there. There were in mine as
well.

“
Sydney.” His voice was
soft and breathy. It gave me chills to hear him, to feel that scar,
so deep. Goosebumps broke out all over my body.

“
Aiden. You took a hit
directly to your heart? How the hell are you still
alive?”

“
Right now, it’s you that
makes me feel alive, like I never have before. Sydney, I … I think
…” he hesitated.

“
Aiden. Say it. Say it out
loud. I want to hear it, I’m ready to hear it now.”

“
I’m falling in love with
you, Sydney. What I mean is, I’m already there.” He looked shyly at
me, like I would push him away again. But my heart exploded in my
chest again and tears formed in my eyes.

“
Aiden. Do you honestly
love me, not just the idea of me?”

“
Yes, Sydney. I think I
fell in love with you the second I saw you. I’ve said that before.
I hope you believe me now.”

“
Aiden, I feel the same.
I’m in love with you. I’ve never felt this strongly about anyone in
my entire life. I don’t think I ever will again. You’re my
click.”

“
Your click?”

“
The one. You’re the person
I’m supposed to be with. There’s no other explanation. You’re my
soul mate. I love you, Aiden.”

“
It’s you and only you for
me, it’s always been you. I feel so lucky to have this chance to be
together.”

“
I’m the lucky one. This
really does have to be fate.”

“
It’s our
destiny.”

He rolled me onto my back and he
crushed his lips to mine. I crushed right back. I slid my tongue
into his mouth and pressed my body as hard as I could into his. I
wanted to pull our bodies into each other and make them one. I
couldn’t get him close enough to satisfy my thirst for
him.

Our kisses became frantic and our hands
began to touch anything we could reach. He reached down to my
breasts and began to massage them with his hands. He kissed my
nipples and sucked on them. His tongue made small circles and he
would then bite them gently. I arched into him to give him more
access. I moaned in pure ecstasy.

“
Make love to me now,” I
whispered into his ear before I began to nibble on it. He groaned
and I felt him nestle himself between my legs. He was right at my
entrance and he was hot and very hard. I began to ache even more
for him. He slid himself up and down my folds. I ground my hips
into him, needing to feel more friction.

He removed himself from my body and
pulled me to my feet. He pushed me up against the wall, picked me
up, his hand supporting my bottom, and I instinctively wrapped my
legs around his waist. I had to have him now.

“
Please, Aiden, I want to
feel you inside me. I need to feel you inside me.” He plunged hard
and deep at my request. My entire body began to tingle. It felt
like he was making love to every single cell in my body.

His mouth covered mine in a passionate
kiss, and he held my face in place. His entire body and soul seemed
to encompass mine. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t give for this
man. I wanted to give him everything, every part of me. He owned
me.

He was strong, yet gentle and was
completely focused on what was happening between us on every
level.

“
Oh God, Sydney, you feel
so amazing. I can’t … Oh, I—” He was lost in our lovemaking as
well, unable to say what he was feeling. I was in the same boat.
This was like nothing I had ever experienced before.

He thrust slowly in and out of me,
kissing me with each move. I was grinding back into him, trying to
move faster. The feel of him was so intense I couldn’t help
myself.

“
Slow down, Sydney. I want
this to last all night if at all possible. If you keep moving like
that, it’s only going to be seconds.”

“
I can’t help it. You feel
so good. Oh, Aiden. I just can’t stop myself. I can’t get enough of
you.”

We fit together like puzzle pieces.
Whether we were making love, holding hands, or just holding each
other, it was as if our bodies were made for each other. He fit me
perfectly in every way. Each time he pumped into me, he hit the
right spot, and my body would shudder with what I could only
explain as the beginning of an orgasm. But then, it would slow
right before I went over the edge. I grabbed his ass;
oh it was
so muscular and perfect
. I felt it flex each time he pushed
into me. He was intoxicating. I felt high. I could only respond by
pulling him deeper into me.

He moved us onto the bed so he could
get better access. Once there, his groans became increasingly
louder. I ran my tongue down his neck, wrapped my fingers into his
hair and pulled him to me. I began to bite his neck gently, sucking
and licking. I wanted more of him. I couldn’t figure out how I
could
get
more of him. My lips searched for his and I sucked
his lower lip into my mouth. I tugged at it with my teeth and
swirled my tongue over every inch of his. I felt out of control. I
just wanted more, more, and even more. I felt the familiar
tightening deep down and soon I was having wave after wave of the
most intense orgasm I had ever had. Aiden watched my face the
entire time.

“
Sydney, I’m going to come.
I can’t hold back anymore. Just watching you like that. You’re so
sexy. Knowing that it’s me who’s pleasuring you.”

“
Aiden. I want to feel you
come.”

The thought of him coming inside of me
drove me insane and I began to slam myself against him harder and
faster. He grabbed onto the top of my headboard and began to drive
into me. Within moments he let out a loud moan, buried himself as
deep within me as he could possibly get, and began to shudder with
me.

We lay there together panting, kissing,
and still touching each other everywhere. I was ready to go another
round.

“
Aiden. I don’t know how to
express how I’m feeling right now. That was just—”

“
I know. I can’t explain
it, either. Maybe we should do it over and over again until we can
find the right words.”

I smiled while tousling his hair with
my fingers. We stayed in bed together just kissing and holding each
other for a while longer until my stomach began to
growl.

“
Hunger. Food.”

“
That sounds like a
fantastic idea, but just something quick. I plan on
this
being the rest of our week’s activity.”

We got dressed,
sort of,
if you
count wrapping sheets around us as being dressed
,
and
pranced downstairs to grab sustenance in the form of leftovers,
snacks, and drinks. We brought it back upstairs.

That was pretty much how we spent the
entire night. Making love, talking, noshing on snacks, and then
making love again. We spent a lot of time just staring at each
other. No words exchanged between us. I never met a man who could
turn me on using eye contact alone, but Aiden had it covered. It
was the cause of at least three love making sessions. I couldn’t
keep my hands off him.

At some point, being extremely content
and exhausted from making love into the wee hours of the morning,
we drifted off to sleep. He kept his arms wrapped around me, as if
he was afraid that if he let go, I would vanish. I had no
intentions of going anywhere. All I wanted was to be right here, in
his arms, forever.

* * *

When the day’s light began to creep
into the room, we began making love all over again. We stopped at
some point to take a nice hot bath. I was almost sore from the
sexual calisthenics we’d performed most of the night. I thought it
would be a good time to do a quick call in.

“
I’ll be right back. I have
to check in with work.”

“
Well, I’m certainly not
going anywhere. I’ll be right here waiting for you. I’ll get the
bath all set up,” he said sweetly.

I gave him a huge grin and ran to grab
my cell to call Cheryl and Gina.
Work shmirk.
After showing
up at their door as a sad excuse for a living creature, and making
them listen to me cry incessantly, they deserved to know what had
been happening at my house since Aiden’s return. I wanted to share
my high spirits with them. I needed to squeal in delight with my
girls.

“
Well, hello there, Sydney.
So how’s life with your soldier boy going?”

“
Cheryl ...”

“
You had sex with him. I
can hear it in your voice.”

“
How did you ... never
mind. All night and all morning. I only took a break to call you. I
had to squeal like a little girl with someone.”

“
Okay, I’ll squeal this one
time, but Gina is the one you should call. She’ll want every single
detail. Squeal,” she said without any enthusiasm at all.

“
Nice, Cher. It was so
amazing. Like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

“
You don’t get around much,
do you?” Cheryl’s sarcasm never left her side.

“
No, I don’t. But from what
I do remember about sex, it was nothing like this at all. This was
just ... indescribable.”

“
Well, don’t get all
dick-whipped on me now. I still want you to take things slow, not
jump into bed with him the second he came back to you. Although,
let me give you some claps of approvals there, too. Didn’t think
you had it in you. You slut.” She laughed this crazy laugh to make
it sound evil. I giggled back.

“
Okay, well, I better get
back upstairs before all the bubbles disappear.”

“
Bubbles?”

“
We’re taking a bubble
bath.”

“
Oh man, you’re so gone. I
can’t wait to meet this guy.”

“
Well, tonight’s finally
the night. Promise me you’ll behave!”

“
I’ll do no such thing.
That would be out of character for me.” She was quite serious, even
though there was an edge of sarcasm to her statement.

“
Really? Do I need to call
Gina about that, too?”

“
No, I’ll behave, to a
degree. I won’t interrogate your soldier, if that’s what you mean.
I might make idle chitchat with him and ask him where he’s from. Is
that going to be an issue?”

“
As long as there are no
bright lights or water torture, I’m fine with it. We’ve talked
about a lot of things. He’s not holding back anymore,” I told
her.

“
Look, I know this guy
means everything to you. I’m pretty sure you’re living my past.
This is just like I was with Gina. Don’t think I didn’t see how
miserable you were when he left. I’ve never seen you like that in
all the years I’ve know you, and to tell you the truth, I don’t
ever want to again. Being without Aiden doesn’t become you,” she
admitted.

“
And this
means?”

“
This means I’m going to
restrain the best I can and try not to butt in. I can’t make any
promises, though.”

“
I’ll take it. And
Cheryl?”

“
Yes, my dear?”

“
I wanted to thank you and
G again for being there for me, this time in private. I know this
whole thing is so not like me at all. Even when you were completely
against Aiden and I jumping into things, you still helped me at my
lowest point without telling me you told me so.”

“
Are you getting all
sentimental with me? I’m so not going there,” she said, half
kidding. Cheryl was not all about the warm fuzzies.

“
Cher, please. I want you
to hear this. You’re my family, both you and Gina. I mean it.
You’re like my sister.”

“
So that makes Gina your
sister-in-law?” she chuckled.

“
No, she’s my sister, too.
I feel like the bond we have is what I knew having siblings would
be like. I want you to know my will states that if anything happens
to me, you and Gina get this house.”

“
Stop it. You’re freaking
me out. Don’t talk like that.”

“
But I want you to know.
It’s a done deal. And I also want you to list me as the guardian
for the baby, if something should happen to you both. I promise you
I’ll raise your child like you would have,” I said, the words
coming from deep within my heart.

“
Please don’t. I feel sorry
for this kid already having me as one of its parents.”

“
Shut up. Don’t put
yourself down. You showed me exactly the kind of parent you’re
going to be. Both of you did. That is the luckiest child in the
world, getting the two of you.”

“
Stop, you’re actually
making me blush. And as you very well know, that’s not an easy
thing to do.”

“
I most certainly will not
stop. You need to hear this. This little baby will be surrounded by
so much unconditional love. She will know what love really is. Not
just by watching you and Gina together, but seeing how you come to
her side, no matter what. Even if it’s something you don’t agree
with, you’ll be there to hold her and make it all better. She’s so
lucky.”