“You feel good,” he murmured. “Feel good, smell good, taste good.”
He buried his face in her hair and breathed deeply, his hand on her breast.
She put her head back, surrendering her neck to his lips. He moved downward, his mouth on her breasts, her stomach. His hands followed so that her loose pants slowly slid down.
Gently, he pulled her to the ground, and as he stretched out beside her, his kisses became more urgent, asking more of her.
Jecca turned to him. She could feel how much he wanted her, and she put her leg over his bare hip. His skin was warm and smooth, and she wanted him desperately.
When he entered her, she gave a long sigh of pleasure and wrapped her thighs around him, pulling him closer and closer to her.
Even though it hadn’t been long since they’d made love, it felt as though it had been years. He seemed to feel the same urgency, the same need to be very close to her.
When they reached a peak, Jecca put her mouth against his shoulder to keep from crying out.
For a long while they lay together, their skin slightly damp, and just held each other.
“Jecca,” he whispered, his breath soft on her ear, “I’m glad you’re here with me now.”
The moonlight, the sweet scent of the flowers, the soft grass on her back, the cool night air, and most of all, Tristan’s skin on hers made her feel that she never wanted to leave this place and this moment. “This is the way I like you best,” she said.
“Naked?” he asked as he rolled off of her and pulled her beside him, her head on his shoulder. “Skin on skin?”
“No. I mean in the darkness, where I can see the real you, the man inside. Not Cupid or Ken or even the doctor, but you. The person I see with my senses other than my sight.”
“The way you looked at me at Kim’s house?”
“Yes,” she said, smiling. “You were so dazzlingly beautiful in that tuxedo that I had to look hard to see the man underneath, to see the man I knew.”
“And you liked him?” Tris’s tone was light, but he was holding his breath.
“Yes,” she said as she turned her face up to his. “I like the man on the inside the best.” She paused for a moment. “But I must say that I’m glad the interior and the exterior match.”
Tris couldn’t help laughing. “That’s just what Nell said,” and he explained about the two boys at her school.
“I’m glad she can see that. She—Was that a drop of rain?”
The rain started coming down quickly, and they were in a flurry to pull on their clothes and run back to the cabin. Tris leaped onto the side of the porch, under the railing, then hoisted Jecca up after him.
“That’s going to make your arm sore tomorrow,” she said.
“It was worth it,” he said as he kissed her and opened the door.
Outside their bedrooms there was more kissing before they pulled away to go to their separate beds. Jecca was yawning when she closed the door and she was glad her robe had kept her pajamas dry so she wouldn’t have to take the time to change. As she climbed under the covers, she wondered if Tris’s sweatpants got wet. If so, would he remove them and sleep in the nude? It was a delicious thought. She turned onto her side and went to sleep, smiling.
When she awoke it was barely daylight, and her first thought was to wonder how one small child could make so much noise. Blinking, Jecca turned to see Nell pushing her old iron cot out from the wall. The feet scraped on the floor and the. ?the springs creaked.
“What are you doing?” Jecca asked.
“A Riley is missing,” Nell said.
Jecca yawned. “What does that mean?”
“One of my Riley dolls isn’t here. Alice is missing.”
Jecca lifted up on one arm. There were so many stuffed animals and dolls in Nell’s bed that she almost didn’t have room to sleep. But Jecca remembered the importance of toys when she was a child. “Are you sure you got Riley out of the car?”
“She’s Alice, but she’s a Riley doll,” Nell corrected.