CHAPTER
Dreams do come true. Tonight I’m making love with the man of my dreams.
Athena buried her face in Drusilla Junior’s warm fur before putting the cat down next to a plate of her favorite gourmand cat food. While the spoiled darling licked up every morsel, Athena fluffed up her bed and closed the gate to the mudroom, which had been transformed into kitty paradise, scratching post, catnip and all.
She turned off her iPhone and unplugged the house phones.
Now I can concentrate on seduction.
Athena drifted through her small carriage house, old-fashioned rooms with wood paneling and fireplaces in the living room and a smaller one in her bedroom.
These rooms, the feel and look of them, had always reminded her of the house where she’d grown up. A mini money pit she’d laughingly called it while restoring the small house to its former glory.
It might be warm tonight, but she loved her bedroom lit by only flickering flames, so she struck a match to start a fire.
The four-poster brass bed loomed as wide as the wall-to-wall bunk on Drew’s boat. She saw herself and Drew there on the antique white cotton lace spread, resting on the pile of silk pillows, like they’d been on the Clayworth blue down comforter on the boat. Could smell his clean skin and feel the almost electric touch of his lips.
How would Drew feel about this intimate bower? Too soft, like the Egyptian cotton sheets on the bed?
Would the dressing table with crystal perfume bottles, and the sterling silver hand mirror engraved with her initials, seem too feminine? Would the books in the low bookcase against the far wall help him understand who she’d become in the intervening years?
She felt hot and eager but amazingly calm. There wasn’t any pretense. Any fear. They both knew why he was coming here tonight, and they both wanted it.
The old grandfather clock in the living room chimed the hour. Four p.m. Only an hour left.
She ran a hot bath and threw in her favorite bath oil, floral with a hint of spice.
She piled her hair on top of her head with tortoiseshell combs and stepped into the deep claw-footed tub. The perfumed steam swirled around her as she leaned back and closed her eyes.
This is how I prepare to seduce the man of my dreams.
When the doorbell rang at 4:58, the odd thought came to her that it could be the UPS guy or FedEx with some package, and here she’d be standing in the exquisite lavender French lace peignoir and gown from the store, with her hair falling around her shoulders and every inch of her perfumed.
She demanded the Fates give her a break.
She peeked through the lace curtain on the side windows and saw Drew on the front porch. He paced back and forth in front of the door, and his blue eyes, always arresting in his tan face, appeared the tiniest bit haunted by the possibility of defeat.
She slid the robe off. Better to let him know this night was a sure bet.
She opened the door and smiled up at him. Still a little hesitant, he stepped in, his gaze roaming over her body. She shut the door behind him and firmly turned the lock.
She felt the current coming from him. Heat. Hesitation. A magical tension. She smiled.
Something very important is about to happen here.
But who would tip the scale? Make the first move?
Me.
On tiptoe, she leaned all her weight into him and clasped her fingers around his neck. Their lips clung together, broke, met again.
Hers ached and burned a little from the hot current flowing between them.
Like he had on the boat, he swept her up in his arms and she giggled, suddenly breaking the tension, making this achingly real.
At last, I’m where I belong.
She buried her face in the curve of his neck, breathing in his clean scent. He smelled of fresh air, and soap, with a hint of lime.
He pressed soft kisses all over her face and hair, and hesitated only one heartbeat before he found the bedroom.
He lifted her up on the nest of pillows and stretched out beside her. A little muscle danced in his cheek and he looked flushed, making his eyes a riveting blue as he ran his thumb over her lower lip, stroked her cheek.
Every nerve in her body came alive.
“Remember what I did when we went skinny- dipping?” he asked softly.
She bit at her lip, trying not to smile, but failed now that she understood his noble reason.
“Of course. You made me immediately put all my clothes back on. My ego has never recovered.”
His low, intimate chuckle tickled her throat where he pressed a kiss. “Now I want to immediately take them all off.”
“At last,” she sighed. She went up onto her knees, and Drew followed her so they were in the middle of the bed, her thighs pressed against his.
He lifted a handful of her hair and touched it to his lips. “Scented of roses and everything nice,” he said softly.
His warm, dry lips opened her mouth—lingeringly, hot—and again, scorching current ran through her. Blood pounded in her throat and in her breasts under the touch of his lips and fingers.
She slid his polo shirt over his head, running her fingertips along his shoulders and down his well-defined smooth chest. She curled her fingers into the waistband of his trousers, releasing the belt and zipper.
She loved the intense, almost amazed expression on his face as he leaned back on his arms and let her pull off his pants, briefs, and loafers.
He looked irresistible smiling up at her. The long line of his flat belly and strong thighs was gorgeous, and every part of him showed that he wanted her as much as she wanted him.
Her body felt warm and flushed within the thin confines of lavender silk and lace. “I’ve always been the shameless hussy who wanted to see you naked.”
He ran his hand up between her legs, parting the silk. At his gentle urging, she lay down beside him. He cradled her head, rocking his lips over hers. “No, you’ve always been Athena the wise.”
He slid both straps off her shoulders and the gown fell to her waist. “Athena the beautiful.” His lips opened against her breasts, and his tongue made slow circles on the sensitive sides.
She couldn’t keep her breathing quiet, couldn’t stop her body from shuddering. She’d been waiting a lifetime for this.
With one gentle tug, he threw the gown to the foot of the bed. He pressed a kiss on her hot, naked belly, “Athena the wonderful.”
More silken kisses on the inside of her thighs. “Athena the perfect.” His voice, the one that had always drawn her, made her love him.
Her hips moved against his mouth and he sucked gently, his tongue stroking her.
The sizzling shock released every aching desire, drowning her in him, his caresses, and his hands cradling her hips.
Pleasure built under his mouth stroking her deeper and deeper, and she couldn’t stop the purr at the back of her throat.
“Drew,” she gasped.
He slid up over her body, taking her mouth and, at the same instant parting her thighs and pushing inside her in a movement so exquisitely perfect for her needs, her desires, she lost her breath.
Pleasure erupted in waves, one after another. She gripped his shoulders, the tension almost too much to bear. It went on and on until they were both shaking, moving together, one body hurtling through space and time, at last, at last with nothing keeping them apart.
Her face rosy, her hair a beautiful, golden, perfumed silken mess against the pillow, Drew couldn’t stop watching her.
In sleep her lips parted a little, luscious and pink. He gave in to his desire to kiss her again. He had years of kisses to make up to her.