" 'Nez, we ain't supposed to - "
Where her touch landed stopped his words and made him deepen a new kiss. Her curvaceous body fit against him in all the right places and her hands were causing delirium.
"I gotta get this battle off me, suga, then I swear I'll make restitution. I'm so dirty, you don't want none of this 'til I clean up."
"Are you kidding me?" she whispered. "I want all of it, Mike. What would I do without you?"
Kisses pelted his chest and shoulders and his Adam's ap ple as he lifted his head to try to keep his mouth from hers. He didn't want to go against Marlene's wisdom, but damn, this woman was driving him outta his natural mind.
Inez's hands splayed wide, her fingers stretching, huge square-cut diamond catching light as she pressed against him, letting her satin-finish tongue glide over every brick in his ab
domen. A shudder put his back against the door; a warm whis per of a kiss caressed his navel until his groin contracted. Although she was just an itty-bitty thing by comparison, the places she could reach with her short, fine self were buckling his knees. When she kissed him there, right where it hurt so good, he slapped the molding.
"Suga, you gonna make me mess up Marlene's instruc tions, girl... c'mon now. You better quit while you're ahead." His protest sounded weak even to his own ears as his rough palms glided over butter-smooth, brown skin, and lush, squeezable curves when she stood.
"If something woulda happened to your big, crazy ass, Michael, I would have died," Inez said, closing her eyes to rub her cheek against his chest. "Damali would have been trying to restart my heart, but I swear to you, man, I would have refused to come back out of the Light." She smothered him with another kiss when he leaned down to receive it, and then threw her arms around his neck.
He lied to himself, thinking he had no other choice but to pick her up and take her into the bathroom with him. That's what he was saying in his mind the whole time her micro-braids teased his shoulders and her plump, juicy behind made him stupid while he kneaded it as he walked them across the floor. He remembered something Marlene had said about them both having to get doused, and after doing purges a hundred times over the years, half-memory kicked in, and he functioned on autopilot.
It was just that somehow he forgot to let his baby girl get out of her pretty teddy. The shower went on and she went in with it. And somehow it was impossible to make himself actually put her down. She was in charge of soap, he was doing the heavy lifting, the soap was working as greased lightning against friction, and the quick prayer they'd both said at the door would have to handle the rest.
* * *
"don't touch me!" Dan nearly shouted as he hopped around in a circle stripping down.
"Don't even hold the bag, back away from it, honey. Oh, shit, your period is late, and I brought this home ... remind me to kick my own ass once I'm out of the tub."
"Dan ... it's - "
"No, no, sweetheart, I swear I'll take care of everything. Don't you worry," he said, frantic, yanking off combat Tim berlands and stuffing his clothes in a bag. He didn't under
stand how women could just smile and be cool at a time like this. He looked at her for a moment and stopped struggling with his clothes. "You are so beautiful..." Then he returned to his crazed stripping.
"There's so many things I gotta do - gotta call my parents, gotta make sure I have a living will and set up a trust fund, and make sure there's enough in an IRA, should something happen and - "
"Daniel," she murmured, coming close to him.
"Ohmigod, are you crazy, Heather! Don't touch me!" He bolted away from her and into the bathroom, jumped in the shower, then peeked through the glass door when he heard her come in.
Panic sweat mixed with the shower spray as he looked at her gorgeous gray eyes and profusion of auburn ringlets that fell to her toffee-hued shoulders. But he couldn't stop staring at her.
"Oh, God, Heather, I love you so much and wanna hug you so bad right now ... If I had known ..."
"I love you, too," she whispered, touching the edge of the opened door. "But you were supposed to go with the other men, or you would have never been able to live with your
self, Dan. And then, how could I live with me for not allowing you to live with you?" He closed his eyes and hung his head, the slight accent of her sweet Scottish brogue washing through him and making him want her. She was so open and giving and so everything he'd prayed for... correction, everything he'd begged Heaven on his knees for, and now she might be carrying his child?
For several seconds he just stared at her, allowing the shower spray to pelt his back. It was too much to absorb af ter the night he and the fellas had just had. And his wife, a woman who loved him enough to take his name and bear his children was this gorgeous redhead ... her Scottish mother providing the luscious silken tresses and startling gray eyes, her Ghanaian father giving her skin a perpetual, stunning tan, and the Creator designing her voluptuous body by his dreams and the stars ... Daniel shut the shower door, ashamed of his body's reac tion to the beauty on the other side of the glass, and began soaping. Just as soon as he closed the door, he heard it open, and he turned to see Heather na**d and joining him.
"What... what're you doing?" He backed up, trying to make himself fit into the far corner so he didn't touch her.
"They said we both had to wash, right?"
"Yeah, but you're pregnant." He glanced over his shoulder at her. "You can't be in here."
"Might be pregnant," she said with a sigh. "True I'm late, but a lot of things can throw off a woman's cycle, not the least of which is battling demons, stress, and - "
"So, so, that means that until we know for sure, we should be careful... and this isn't being very careful. We have to stop all kinds of risky stuff, like taking showers together when we're supposed to be purging, and, and, other stuff. You know?" She fought not to laugh and a smile held it back. "Women can still make love while they're pregnant, you know, love?