Page 10 of Sexual Healing

“Well, she did confront at a restaurant where Kiley and I were dining for lunch. She soon realized she’d tried embarrassing the wrong person. I unleashed some of that Mason nice-nastiness by telling her, in so many words, that Bas had married the woman he wanted and to stop embarrassing herself by believing otherwise and being a nuisance.”

“You told her that?”

“I most certainly did. However, I did compliment her when I told her she was an attractive woman, but it was obvious her beauty was only on the outside, and Bas had been smart enough to see that. She couldn’t handle the truth and quickly left. I doubt she will confront me again.”

For the next ten minutes, Leah listened while Jocelyn shared other news with her, like how she was adjusting to being Bas’s wife and what a loving family he had. His parents, brothers, and cousins had accepted her with open arms, and although she missed everyone in Newton Grove, she loved her life with Bas in Charlotte.

After ending the call, Leah called Reese’s mother and brother to let them know he was doing okay. When she hung up the phone a few minutes later, she was pleased that they seemed appreciative for the information she had provided to them. She then threw her jeans and top into the washing machine with plans to dry them later.

Around seven o’clock, she made her way around the house, locking everything up for the night. As she passed through several rooms, she couldn’t help but remember that Reese had built this house for her, and her chest swelled with love for him.

She decided to use the guest room near Reese’s bedroom, wanting to be close enough to hear him if he woke up in the night and called for her. As she settled in bed, she lay flat on her back and looked up at the ceiling, willing herself to sleep for just a little while. As she settled in, she was tempted to pretend that she and Reese were married and living in this house together, that he was taking a shower and would soon be joining her in bed. It was everything she’d ever wanted, and that pleasant thought was on her mind when sleep finally overtook her.

•••

Reese woke to the sound of a woman’s frantic voice. Leah was calling out to him. His eyes flew open, and he forced them into focus. Then he heard her again.

“Reese! No! Don’t go!”

Jumping up, he glanced around the room, remembering where he was and why Leah was in his home. When he heardher cry out a third time, he raced out of the room, following the sound. Was she having a nightmare? Was she reliving that night with Neil Grunthall?

He entered the guest room to find her thrashing about in the bed. He knew he had to be careful how he approached her. He didn’t want to frighten her as he pulled her from the throes of the tortured sleep she was enduring. But he had to make her know it was him and not Neil, so he began talking to her in a gentle voice. “Leah, it’s Reese. You’re okay, sweetheart. You’re with me, and you’re okay.”

He watched as her eyes flew open, and she jerked upright in bed. He saw the haunted look in her eyes, which almost broke his heart. He quickly moved closer to her and gathered her into his arms. “It’s okay, baby. I’m here.”

“Reese,” she said sobbing, wrapping her arms around his neck as if she would never let him go. “I thought I had lost you. I dreamed that I saw your truck go over the edge of a mountain. Oh, Reese, it was awful.”

Reese caught his breath, realizing that her nightmare had had nothing to do with Neil but with him and what had happened to him earlier that day. He gently stroked her back and held her. “I’m fine, Leah. I’m safe.”

“But I saw it,” she said, still sobbing.

“It was only a bad dream, baby. I’m alive and here with you. Look at me.”

She slowly released him to look at him. He saw the reddened eyes, the tear-stained cheeks, and the quivering lips. He brushed a kiss across those lips and then said gently, “See. I’m here.”

“But I could have lost you,” she said in a low, trembling voice. “I could have lost you, Reese.”

He heard the gut-wrenching torment in her voice and didn’t know what to say, so instead, he did what came instinctively, pulling her closer and kissing her. A passion that he hadn’t felt ina long time poured out of him as he put everything he was into that kiss. Tonight, he felt connected to Leah in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time…nearly five years.

He tried remaining in control and fought the need coursing all through his body, but she was returning the kiss, stroke for stroke, mating her tongue with his, seeming as frantic and as desperate as he was. If being aroused could kill, then he was a dead man, because he was aroused to the nth degree. His desire was potent; it felt vital to his survival and his mental and physical endurance.

He gave in when she pulled him down on the bed with her as they continued to kiss, and when she instinctively wrapped her body around him, it took everything he possessed to keep his control and sanity. When he felt Leah’s hand on him, sliding up his thigh and then settling on his crotch, stroking his erection through the material of his pajama bottoms, he broke off the kiss and pulled back.

He knew she was not acting rationally and was simply reacting to the bad dream she’d had. The last thing he wanted to do was give in to his needs and take advantage of what she was going through. “No, Leah,” he said, pulling her hand away. “We have to stop.”

“No, Reese,” she said, looking at him with tortured eyes. “We can’t stop. We have to finish this. I need to know you’re okay in my own way. I need to know that I didn’t lose you.”

“But you didn’t lose me, baby. I’m okay and—”

“No! I have to do this! Please, let me. Take your bottoms off for me. Please.”

He heard the desperate plea in her voice and saw the tortured look in her eyes. He lifted his hips, removed his pajama bottoms, tossed them aside, and before he could do anything else, she pushed him back in the bed and straddled him. He sucked in a deep breath, trying not to notice how the T-shirtshe was wearing had ridden up nearly to her waist, giving him a delectable view of her nakedness; especially of her feminine mound.

He sucked in an even deeper breath when she took hold of his erection and began stroking it before shifting her body to bear down on him, lowering her own body to his. “Leah! Wait!”

She stubbornly shook her head, letting him know there would be no waiting. She wanted to be a part of him now. She needed the connection. He needed the connection, as well, but willed his body to remain still and to let her have her way with him. He soon discovered that remaining still wasn’t so easy when she eased down on him slowly while staring deep into his eyes.

Her body was tight, and at one point, it was like making love to a virgin all over again. But she refused to stop, and as she continued to sink deeper, he felt her inner muscles clench him. “Leah!” He called her name when she began easing up and down on him, slowly at first and then at a faster rhythm.

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