Breathless by Cheryl Douglas Page B

husband, the father
of her children.” She could see him waging an internal battle.
There was a question he wanted to ask, but he was afraid of her
answer. If she could help it, he wouldn’t waste another minute
questioning her love. “I’d be proud to call you my husband.”
    “Jesus.” He
stood up and pulled her into his arms, hugging her hard as she
buried her face in his neck. “Years, I’ve been waiting years to
hear you say that.”
    She couldn’t
stop the flood of tears even if she wanted to. But that was okay.
Eli had seen her at her best and her worst, and he still loved her.
“Promise me you won’t ever give up on me,” she whispered. “Even
when I make you crazy, know how much I love you, that I need you,
and don’t ever give up on us.”
    He looked at
her, his hands closing in on her face. “My heart won’t let me give
up on you. Even when my mind tells me to let go, my heart won’t let
me.” His kiss encompassed the fierce passion mere words never
could. He claimed her mouth, body, heart, and soul.
    Clothes were
shed in the wake of gentle caresses. Years had passed since they’d
been intimate, but Jamie knew it would feel like coming home. She’d
had a few detours, but Eli was her home.
    As he laid her
down on the bed, he braced his body over hers. “I have
protection.”
    She knew the
team insisted on annual physicals and Eli was always a responsible
lover. He knew she was on the pill… because he knew everything
about her. “We don’t need it.”
    “Are you
sure?”
    She smiled. “I
trust you, if you trust me?”
    “You know I do,
baby.” He lowered his body and blanketed her with his warm skin. He
kissed her neck. “I’ve never made love without protection. In fact,
it’s been a hell of a long time since I made love. Since you. It’s
always been only you, Jamie.”
    Jamie let him
cocoon her in a safe haven where the rest of the world didn’t
exist. Nothing existed except the two of them, taking their time to
rediscover each other. Her first lover would be her last, and
instead of instilling fear in her, it gave her a sense of
indescribable peace. “I love you,” she whispered, trailing her lips
over his shoulder.
    “I love you
too, sweetheart,” he said between kisses. “So damn much.”
    She watched him
kiss her all over, worshipping her body in a way he never had
before. Perhaps time and distance had made them appreciate each
other in a new way. They finally understood how difficult it was to
live without the other.
    His fingers
found her core and he watched her reaction. He forced her out of
her head and into the buzz building in her body. Jamie closed her
eyes and finally let go of the fear and angst. She felt as though
they’d been on a ship that nearly capsized with no hope of rescue.
But by some miracle, they had survived. They were safely docked,
with the promise of a future stretching out in front of them. The
life they’d almost lost.
    By the time Eli
eased into her body, she was more than ready to take him. She was
so close to her climax, she had almost imploded. “I couldn’t let
you go without me,” he said. “I needed to be inside you for the
first one.”
    Their eyes
locked, and he stopped moving long enough to kiss her. The kiss was
deep and intense, stoking their desire and carrying them away to a
place that surpassed their physical connection. Their union was
soul deep, and they both felt it.
    He made love to
her with the force of a man who’d been in exile, separated from his
lover for too long. His body maintained a fierce rhythm she could
tell was beyond his control. He may have planned on slow and easy,
but his body had other ideas.
    “Oh God,
Jamie…”
    His jaw was
clenched tight and perspiration was beading on his forehead when
her body finally yielded to the orgasm that had been building since
he touched her. She felt a tremor move through him as she throbbed
around him, silently coaxing him to take the fall with her. She
held him tight as