Page 89 of A Kiss at Midnight

When I finally stand to remove my clothes, my fingers are shaking. I tell myself it’s because I’m so incredibly turned on, but this takes me to a whole new place — a place I never want to leave.

Shedding my clothes in record time, I rejoin her on the bed and sigh at the perfection of our bodies pressing together with no barriers. I kiss every inch of her beautiful skin, then I’m poised above her, but I stop before I enter her.

“Every time I look at you like this, my beautiful Jewel, I can’t believe I’m the one who gets to be with you.”

Her eyes widen and glisten with tears. “Make love to me, Blake,” she demands, bringing her hands up around me and pulling me closer. I surrender to her and sink between her trembling thighs, submerging myself deep within.

She clings to me as I thrust in and out, her hands guiding me, my name a continual cry from her well-kissed lips. And I become lost in her arms, hoping never to be found again as I make love to her — and itislove — slowly, tenderly, and with a passion I could never come close to feeling with any other woman.

Looking into her eyes, I move in perfect sync with her, and when her thighs tighten around my waist, her pleasure explodes around me while I follow into the sweet abyss.

“Mine, Jewel — you’re mine forever,” I tell her as my body rests against hers, and she caresses the heated skin of my back.

“I’m yours right now, Blake.”

That isn’t good enough. No words can possibly convey what I’m feeling in this moment. It’s possession, it’s passion, but it’s so much more than that. I never was good at expressing the way I feel in words, so I decide to show her in all possible ways that she belongs to me... and I belong to her.

When I know my weight is too much for her to bear any longer, I shift our position so she’s lying on top of me, still connected, our heartbeats syncing in rhythm with each other. As I cradle her head against my chest, I can’t imagine a more perfect wedding night with the wife I chose.

We don’t sleep at all. We make love and speak of the future. I give her my heart, something I’ve never given to anyone else. I might not be able to say the words, but I show her in the only way I know how, with every caress, every kiss, and every murmur from my lips. Time, we only need more time, then I can give her everything.

Chapter Review

Chapter Fifty-One

Jewel

Stretching out my arms, I’m surprised to find the bed cold. I slowly open my eyes and smile when I see a rose and a note on the pillow where Blake’s head should be.

Good morning, beautiful. I got called into the office to deal with an emergency. I’ll be home in plenty of time for our date.

Love,

Your husband.

We’ve been man and wife for a month now. Thirty wonderful days and thirty even better nights. No matter how many times we make love, I can never get enough of Blake, a man who suddenly entered and took over my life.

He’s so different from the man I met months ago, but I still see traces of the person I made the original deal with, especially when we’re in the bedroom. The man’s insatiable, but since being with him, I’ve discovered I am too.

No matter how many times I lie in his arms, and no matter how many ways we make love, each and every time is as exciting as the last. It’s the one place Blake lets down his guard.

He’s incredibly good to me, and he’s even better with Justin, but parts of him are still held back, pieces of his soul he refuses to share. Maybe because he doesn’t fully trust me, or he isn’t capable of loving another human after what he went through with his parents.

Either way, I’m blissfully happy but, at the same time, almost unbearably sad. I’m in love with Blake, in love with this hard man who has such a beautiful soft side, ahiddensoft side, and the thing that frightens me the most is realizing that he might never be able to return my feelings.

I try not to think about it too much, because if I do, I might not be able to honor our wedding vows into eternity. And that’s what I want more than anything else. I desperately want to speak to Blake about having children, but he never mentions if he’s at all interested in becoming a father. Instead, when the subject of fathers and fatherhood comes up, a shutter closes over his eyes, and he changes the conversation.

He’s so good with Justin, but Justin is ten, almost eleven. Many men, and many women for that matter, don’t want to have their own families, but I’m not one of them. Love and children have never been a condition of my marriage to Blake, and possibly never will be. This doesn’t alter my love for my husband, though.

As hard as I try not to let the doubt creep into my thoughts of happiness, I can’t help but worry. I want a family, arealfamily, one in which everyone loves each other equally. I want babies I can watch grow, and I want Blake’s brothers to be our children’s uncles in every sense of the word. I want noisy holiday dinners and lazy summer days at the lake. I want it all. Is that too much to ask for?

For a month, I pushed aside my worries and tried instead to focus on the good. But recently, even when asleep in his arms, I feel pain, my dreams filled with visions of Blake running off with someone else, abandoning Justin and me, and starting a new life with a woman he can love.

“Good morning, Jewel.”

I startle when I step into the kitchen and see McKenzie sitting at the table, clutching some papers in her hands and looking forlorn. She waits for me to pour a cup of coffee so I can have a proper conversation. It’s not looking like it will be pleasant.

“Hi, McKenzie. I normally love to see you, but when you’re wearing that expression before I’ve had coffee, I tend to worry,” I say with a brittle laugh before I sit down, gripping my cup tightly.

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