“I’ll put them in your pockets.”
His eyes were dancing as he walked to her door. “Looking forward to it.” He waited until she unlocked the door, then walked in behind her. Once inside, he simultaneously closed the door and pulled her to him. “About that dessert…”
She tilted her head up to his, her eyes on his lips. Warmth spread out through her limbs, coating them. “Coming right up.”
It was all the encouragement he needed.
He took his time, making love to every part of her. It had been an extremely long day and he wanted nothing more than to expunge it from his brain.
Wanted, he realized, to think and feel nothing but Natalya until all traces of the day were completely washed away.
Each time he made love with her, it was the same thrill. And yet, it was different.
Mike made love to her in so many ways, she couldn’t begin to keep track, couldn’t manage to keep up. It was like running beside a train, her belt caught in the door. She couldn’t slow down, couldn’t catch up. All she could do was run.
He made her aware of all the different, gloriously erotic spots on her body, spots she’d never even known were there. Pleasure mushroomed and spread all through her like liquid sunshine.
She worked hard to please him, to create, at least remotely, the same kind of pleasure for him that he created within her. But it was hard to stay focused on his pleasure when he made her want to do nothing but relish hers.
Each part of her vibrated with anticipation, with desire, with a need to feel and savor what was happening down to the lowest depths of her soul. He made climax after climax erupt through her body like a moment in time forever looped, before finally joining her for the ultimate sensation.
The euphoria that she’d felt growing finally exploded, raining its fragments down around her. Through her.
And then, it withdrew by tiny increments until it was gone. Leaving behind only shadows. And the nagging thoughts that continued to plague her, that whispered along the borders of her mind, reminding her that she was being dishonest by not telling him what he needed to know.
Mike rolled off her and she lay there, staring up at the ceiling, searching for words, at a loss as how to string them coherently together. All she knew was that she loved him and she didn’t want this to end. But it would. Once he knew, it would.
“Is this a solitary journey, or can I come along, too?”
It took her a second to realize that he was speaking, another to realize that he’d asked her a question. She turned her face toward him. “What?”
“You look lost in your thoughts,” he explained, pulling her closer against his side. “I was just wondering if you were going to let me in on them.”
She took a breath, shading her eyes with her hand. With every fiber in her, she tried to block out the sensations his very presence next to her kept resurrecting. “I don’t think you really want to know that.”
There was something about her tone that made him uneasy, but he pushed on. “Wanting to know is the definition of a detective. Try me.”
She almost didn’t say it, almost just turned toward him and began to kiss him. But then the words just spilled out. “I can’t get pregnant.”
Of all the things he would have guessed her saying, this wouldn’t have even remotely been on his list. Stunned, Mike sat up and looked at her. “Have you been trying?”
Caught up in her thoughts, his question threw her. “What?”
“I thought you were on birth control pills,” he told her, trying to make sense out of what was going on here. “Have you been trying to get pregnant?”
“No!” As if trying would ever make it happen.
“Then—” Words deserted him. He began again. “I don’t understand,” he confessed, waiting for an explanation.
It hurt even to think about it, much less say it. “I can’t get pregnant—ever.”
Natalya made it sound like a conscious decision. The thought shook him as he struggled to comprehend. “Because you don’t want kids? Because, if it’s the profession you’re in, don’t let it get to you. I’ve heard a lot of people say that once you have kids of your own, it’s different—”
“You’re not listening,” she insisted, breaking in. “I can’t have kids. Not because I don’t want to but because I physically can’t.” She felt tears beginning to dampen her eyes