Dusk (Dangerous Web #1) - Aleatha Romig Page 0,45

you there.”

“I want to make love.”

Her smile grew. “I think that’s what this is.”

I lifted my chest above her, my arms on both sides of her beautiful face. “No, Lorna. Tonight, when we’re Mr. and Mrs. Murray, I plan to fuck you. All night. But right now, I want to make love to you. I want you to know how fucking much I adore you, how much I know this is right. You and me. We’re right.”

Lorna wiggled beneath me, making me unbelievably harder. “Make love to me. And tonight, I’ll be ready.”

I did.

Time passed without notice.

Our bodies covered with perspiration as the temperature between us grew. It wasn’t an explosion, but a simmering inferno, the slow and steady flame that provides life. If I could ask for anything it would be that the comfort we shared, the pleasure we both gave and received, that those qualities would never fade, that on our fiftieth anniversary we would feel the way we did right now.

Over and over Lorna found ecstasy and more than once I did too. We were different in many ways and yet we fit together like I’d never known. Perhaps it was the contrast, the sheer beauty in my dark skin against her light, my girth to her petite frame, or my deep, guttural growls to her soft mewing, that made our union feel so right.

Or maybe it was as I’d said—we were simply meant to be.

In the entire universe, we were meant for one another. The stars aligned the night we met. There was no other explanation and no course of action but for us to stay as one.

It was true we’d both experienced life’s ups and down. Lorna wasn’t my first and I wasn’t hers. That didn’t matter. What mattered was that we would be each other’s last. For the rest of our lives, for eternity to come, we were meant to be with one another.

Straddling me, Lorna’s back arched again as she came undone. With a satisfied sigh, she collapsed upon my chest, our bodies still linked.

“I hear your heart,” she said, her cheek against my chest.

“What is it saying?”

“It’s saying if we plan to make it to our appointment at the court, we need to get dressed.”

I lifted my arm to see my watch. “Shit. The car is coming in less than an hour.”

Reid

Nine years ago

“Shit,” I said again before lifting her face, her cheeks flush from our activity. “Sweetheart, have you eaten?”

Her gaze glistened. “Not food.”

She eased off of me. “I need to shower again.”

“Shit.” The word seemed to be foremost in my vocabulary. “The car will be here.”

Lorna sat up on the bed beside me and looked down at the floor. “Are you going to tell me what that is?”

“Oh.” I hurried off the bed and lifted the box, straightening its lid and the bow. “It’s something for you.”

She peered my way suspiciously. “Reid, we said no wedding gifts.”

“It’s not a gift.”

Her chin came up as she giggled. It was a beautiful sound. One I wanted to hear over and over. “I think it was the big bow that might have thrown me off.”

I pushed it closer. “Okay, it’s a gift. But it’s not a wedding gift.”

“I see. It’s a gift on our wedding day...but not a—”

“Jesus, woman, will you just open it?”

Her smile sparkled as she loosened the bow. It didn’t seem to matter that we were both still completely naked or that we’d recently completed a marathon lovemaking session. We were two people completely comfortable in one another’s presence.

When she lifted the lid, her gaze came to me. “It’s a big box.”

“I’ve heard size is important.”

Lorna’s eyes scanned me up and down. As she made her way up to my eyes, she said, “Not as important as skill. But when you have both, it’s the best combination.” She looked back into the large box and pulled away the tissue paper. “Oh, Reid.”

When she looked up, her green eyes were glassy.

“It’s not supposed to make you cry.”

Lorna reached in and pulled the ivory dress from the box. It was satin, and designed to fit only her. I’d found her measurements from the time Mason had arranged a special dress for her, the night we’d met.

“I hope it fits. I know this isn’t a real wedding, not with a church or any of that, but I wanted you to...well, I guess, I thought...”

Lorna climbed to her knees and scooted to the edge of the bed until she was right in front of