“Bertrum, I love you. I’ve always loved you, but I was too stupid to know it. I want to be together again.”
Bertrum, visibly shaken, muttered, “Leticia, you haven’t looked at me like this for seventeen years.”
Leticia threw out her arms. “Honey bunny!”
Letting the earrings and dress drop to the floor, Bertrum stepped toward her. “Twinkle-toes! Shall we go up the golden staircase together again? It has long been my fondest wish.”
“Yes!” Leticia threw herself into his waiting arms.
Tears stung Athena’s eyes. Really, she should do something, but she wanted them to have this moment of bliss.
“I know, Athena, I want them to have this moment, too,” Drew whispered as if he’d read her mind, shared her feelings. “But we should do something.”
With real regret, Athena tried to get their attention. “I’m sorry, but you really shouldn’t be doing this in those clothes.”
Leticia, her chest heaving with emotion, turned absolutely clear eyes on her. “My dear child, this is exactly what we should be doing. Life is short, and our fates are in our own hands. We can’t recall our past choices, but we can learn from them. Seize the day, dear child. Seize the day! I certainly plan to do so from this moment on. Honey bunny,” she murmured, throwing herself back into Bertrum’s waiting arms, and they embraced with all the gusto of lovers half their ages.
The ambulance sirens were right outside on the circular driveway. Drew opened the door for them.
“We’ve dealt with this before,” Athena told the paramedics, who were staring at Bertrum and Leticia locked in a passionate embrace. “Just give us the gloves and masks and stand back.”
She threw a set to Drew, who, grinning from ear to ear, suited up and surrounded the couple with her.
“Leticia, we must go to the hospital now,” Athena called loudly, trying to get her attention.
Bertrum looked up, Leticia’s red lipstick smeared all over his face. “Are we playing dress-up again?”
“Yes.” Drew gripped his arm. “You lie down here on this stretcher and watch.”
“And you be the nurse over here.” Athena, holding Leticia’s hand, helped her onto the second stretcher. Athena placed the blanket over her. “We need to change your dress now, Leticia. Here, let me help you.”
Athena got the heavy champagne gown safely in plastic. Drew had already wrapped the black dress Bertrum had dropped on the floor.
“Remember, twinkle-toes, you dressing up for me used to be one of our favorite games,” Bertrum chuckled, turning his head to gaze at his wife, who blew him a kiss as the paramedics wheeled her out the door.
She and Drew watched the ambulances roar away, sirens wailing. “That was the most…” Words failed her, and she laughed until she found her voice again. “Outrageous display of love reborn I’ve ever seen. Thank goodness for Bertha’s toxic stays.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Drew stripped off her mask and gloves. He pressed two long kisses on her open palms and gazed up at her with such mischief in his eyes that she laughed.
“Athena, may we please go up the golden staircase together again? It has long and shall forever be my fondest wish.”
CHAPTER
She couldn’t get him home fast enough.
The instant they walked into her bedroom, she grasped his tux shirt and one by one loosened the mother-of-pearl studs.
As each stud fell to the wood floor with a little ping, they both laughed.
She knelt to nuzzle her face into his firm belly.
He gasped. “Athena, stop. I’ll never last the ten minutes it takes to get you out of that damn dress.”
She looked up into his face. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
His skilled fingers were already moving over her back, undoing buttons. “Thank God, I’ve always been a quick study.”
“At getting women out of their clothes in record time?” she chuckled, unzipping his trousers.
“It’s the first thing little Clayworth boys are taught.” He slid her dress off her shoulders and her breasts fell free.
His arms were around her, lifting her high on his bare chest so he could meet a sensitive nipple with his tongue.
She pressed closer, wanting more. Wanting him.
Cradling her head, he gently laid her on the bed, her hair cascading over the pillows and his arm as he stretched out on his side.
Maybe it was the profound joy she’d seen on Bertrum and Leticia’s faces, or maybe it was the culmination of wanting this man, like this, for most of her adult life. Getting it, and finding him, this intimacy, everything and more than she had ever hoped, dreamed, fantasized about.
Everything about Drew was so sweet to her senses it made her head reel with pleasure.
Each chiseled bone in Drew’s face relaxed into tenderness. His hands drifted over her body, freeing her of the heavy dress.
His fingers stroked her wrist and shoulder where the sailing bruises had faded into her pale skin. Stroked across her breasts, down her rib cage to her stomach and below.
“Like a goddess, but not a statue. Warm, loving Athena.” His husky voice warmed her lips as the heel of his palm kneaded her until her thighs parted and she arched into his hand and mouth, bringing a tighter, brighter passion than before.
Their gazes locked, his mouth hovering above hers, and with a slowness that felt like liquid fire, he entered her.
The pattern of her breath changed, and so did his.
Their other night of love had been as close to perfect as she’d dreamed. But this, this exquisite fit of their bodies, burned like a fever. They moved in primal rhythms, each sensual motion so tender, so loving, she closed her eyes and lost track of herself. There was only this power they created together.
Like Drew had done his whole life when he knew he couldn’t under any circumstance oversleep, he woke every hour on the hour to check the time and to kiss the closest part of Athena he could reach.
When he awoke the next time, he shifted down to lay his cheek under her breasts, listening to her heartbeat. He felt at peace.
He tightened his arms around her and pressed his lips into the Jicky-scented warmth between her breasts and called her name, “Athena.”
“Yes, I’m here,” she whispered and ran her fingers slowly through his hair.
“I have to leave you in the morning. I’ll be away in England for a week or so.”
He felt her stiffen in his arms, and he shifted higher so he could see her face. He could always read her feelings in her eyes.
Her eyelashes were a dark fringe as she looked down and then up at him, staring with an intensity that demanded answers. “Why are you going to England?”
“I’m sailing in the Fastnet.” He said it as quick as he could. She of all people knew what this meant to him. To them.
“Why?” He heard the tears in her voice, saw them glisten in her eyes. He pressed his lips there, tasting the salt.
“They sailed in that race because of me. I wanted it. I should have been on that boat with them. By racing in the Fastnet, I’ll have closure. Be at peace with their choices and mine.” He spoke aloud the guilt and pain he’d held close to him for fifteen years.
“Drew, there are other ways to honor them.” She shivered, shaking so much he knew he’d said too much, too soon.
He never wanted there to be another secret between them. He tried to hold her. “Athena,” he breathed.
“Light a fire first,” she whispered.
He flung back the covers, went to the fireplace, and found the long matches on the mantel to light the logs.