Dark Star (12 page)

“I want to have sex.”

“Thank God,” Nate said suddenly realizing
this was what he’d been waiting for. Tonya had never been the coy
type. He loved the way she was so open and frank about her needs.
He rose to his feet but before he could move toward her she raised
a hand.

“No I love yous or any other kind of promises
implied or otherwise.”

“Tonya.”

“What?”

“Stop talking. I’ll tell you I love you if I
want to. You don’t have to listen, but I will tell you,” he said
taking her into his arms. “I know there are things we need to talk
about, but right now all I want to do is feel. I’ve wanted this for
so long. Please just let me have this.”

Tonya relaxed against him with a sigh and he
almost collapsed in relief. She was his again, at least for the
night.
Okay, Randolph, slow down. You’ve got all night.
Placing a hand on either side of her face he raised it up then
leaned down to kiss her once and then again. Each kiss was more
amazing than the last and this one turned him inside out. With a
groan he pulled her closer, knowing that it would never be enough.
The burning need to possess her, to become a part of her never left
him and now it was driving him to the point of insanity. He had to
have her now or lose his mind.

He picked her up and headed to his bedroom
with her cradled against his chest. Too strung out to even speak,
he simply tossed her down and followed her onto the soft mattress.
Fortunately for him she was apparently as far gone as he was
because she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck pulling
him closer. She pulled his shirt up from the waist and her nails
bit into his back. Each little pinprick of pain sent shards of
exquisite pleasure to his groin. Suddenly she stopped. He looked
down to see her examining a bullet scar that veered off from his
left nipple. She stared at it for a long time then looked down at a
similar scar lower on his torso. She closed her eyes and he watched
as her lips moved, then she leaned forward and kissed the upper
scar.

He shivered in response to the intensity of
the moment, then leaned down to kiss her again. She didn’t return
the kiss for a few seconds and he thought he’d lost her. His heart
surged in his chest when he finally felt her lips moving under his.
Thank God. After shoving her top up he grabbed her delicate breasts
in both hands, squeezing her tiny sable brown nipples gently before
following the caress with his mouth. He started out with light
touches of his tongue against her turgid flesh, but when he sucked
strongly she cried out arching against him begging and pleading for
more.

He slipped a hand up the leg of her shorts,
seeking the slippery flesh he’d dreamed about for years. She was
wet, her silky juices coating his hand. He leaned back just far
enough to unfasten the shorts and slip them and her panties off her
hips. Her legs fell apart almost immediately and he spread them
farther as he sought her clitoris with his fingers. He stroked it
softly but with escalating pressure as she responded with
increasingly frantic movements of her legs and hips. Then she
grabbed his hand.

“Not without you,” she said. He almost came
in his pants. Without a word he stood and shucked his shorts and
underwear in one motion. He opened his nightstand drawer and
removed the condom. Fumbling a bit in his hurry, he swore as he
struggled to open the contrary packet. He eventually got it open
and had an easier time smoothing the slippery latex over his
erection. Then he was back on the bed with her. Without preamble,
he spread her legs even wider and thrust his cock inside her as
deeply as he could in one motion. She cried out and he hesitated
fearing that he’d hurt her, but she was moving under him, urging
him on.

With increasing urgency, he slid into her
silken depths again and again, not wanting the ecstasy to end but
knowing he would die if it didn’t. He wanted to take his time to
luxuriate in the glory of his return to her. The countless endless
nights when he thought he’d lose his mind because he ached for her
so badly. All those years, all those long agonizing years without
her. The searing emptiness of his life melted away as he feasted on
the silk of her skin, the curves of her body beckoning him go
deeper and deeper. Her aroma urging him on to bury himself, never
to be separated from her again.

Her velvet touch drew him into a level of
arousal that left him mindless to anything but surging into her
again and again. Now all he could do was feel the feathery
sensations along his spine as his orgasm came closer, just out of
reach. More. More. Closer and closer he drew to the ultimate
fulfillment and the woman beneath him was all he’d ever dreamed
about. All he’d ever wanted. The feel and sound of her crying out
beneath him...The tight wet grip of her around his cock...There was
nothing else. Only her. Only this. Forever. That thought set off
the orgasm blossoming from the base of his spine. For a moment he
feared he’d failed her but she cried out as she was caught up in
the same red well of pleasure. She screamed again as he released
his seed in helpless surrender. He hovered over her, shuddering and
shaking in the throes of his orgasm. When his arms wouldn’t support
him any longer, he pulled out of her and collapsed next to her on
the bed. They lay there side by side on the rumpled white sheets,
perspiration glistening on their exhausted limbs. Nate was pretty
sure he’d never be able to move or even think again, so when Tonya
spoke it took him more than a few seconds to process what she
said.

“Have there been very many?” she asked,
gasping for air.

Nate lay beside her, still struggling to
catch his breath. “Very many what?” he finally asked, having
absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

“Women. You said earlier that when you want
to seduce a woman you speak Italian.”

“I did?” he asked, wondering just where the
hell his brain was when he said that. Leave it to his Onion to
bring up the one topic he definitely didn’t want to discuss.
Diversion was definitely the order of the day, but damned if he
could get his brain in gear to think of one. “You want to talk
about this -- Now?”

“No. No. You’re right,” she said and Nate
heaved a sigh of relief. They lay in silence for a long moment
before she spoke again. “But have there been a lot? I mean, you’ve
been watching me so you know my track record.”

Nate gritted his teeth before responding.
“Don’t remind me.”

“It hasn’t exactly been a revolving door,”
she said.

“You don’t get it. As far as I’m concerned,
even one is too many if that one isn’t me.”

“Well don’t you think I feel the same
way?”

“Do you?” he said.

“Yes. No. Oh God, I don’t know. Just forget I
asked.”

Nate felt a funny little leap in his heart.
At least she wasn’t indifferent. Time to throw her a bone. “Okay.
And no, there haven’t been that many. My Italian’s a bit
rusty.”

Tonya smiled and snuggled up against him.
“Glad to hear it. Make sure you keep it that way.”

Nate smiled as he pulled her even closer.
That wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Tonya lay sprawled on her back, looking up at
Nate who was tracing his hands over her in slow movements that were
almost reverent. She’d dozed for a while after they made love, only
to awaken to find him staring at her while she slept. His touch
wasn’t sexual, there was a warmth and tenderness there that made
her heart ache and brought a hot flood of tears to her eyes. He ran
a fingertip over her softly rounded belly but paused when he
reached the thin silvery scar that followed her bikini line.

“Looks like you’ve got some life stripes of
your own,” he said in a soft rasp. “What happened?”

“Mine weren’t made by a bullet. I’m surprised
you don’t already know. A couple years ago I had surgery to have
some fibroids removed.”

He frowned. “What the hell are fibroids?”

“They’re tumors,” she continued as he opened
his mouth to speak, “Benign tumors.” She answered the question
everyone asked. “I had a bunch of them in my uterus.”

“Are you okay?” he looked down at her a deep
frown darkening his countenance as he cupped her belly.

“Better than I was with them, that’s for
damned sure.” She shrugged. “They might come back, and they hurt
like hell, and I might not be able to have kids,” she said amazed
at her ability to keep her feelings at bay.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss on her
forehead. “I’m sorry. I know you’ve always wanted children.”

“It’s not guaranteed. I won’t know until I
try. Besides, it’s not like anyone is lined up volunteering to help
me make babies anyway, right?”

Dark color rushed under his skin, but he
didn’t respond, just gave her another kiss, this time on the lips,
and it wasn’t at all reverent. Her senses flamed in immediate
response and it was a long time before she thought about anything
other than the way he could make her feel.

* * * * *

The crystalline water sparkled in shades
ranging from aquamarine to deep green tourmaline. It had been
several days since they’d resumed their relationship and they spent
most of their time loving and frolicking on the beach. Tonya
perched on a rock in their cove as Nate demonstrated the best
technique for spear fishing. He was standing knee-deep in the water
the muscles of his arms flexing as he skewered another quicksilver
piscean. She slipped off the rock into the water and waded over to
join him, her spear grasped tightly in her right hand. He had told
her over and over again that the most important part of the art was
patience and more patience. Not exactly her strong suit, but she
was determined to master it.

She stood silently as he speared another
fish, tossing it into their creel to protect it from marauding sea
birds. Then it was her turn. He stood there silently as she found a
shallow pool with several fish nibbling on seaweed. Tamping down
her impulse to immediately spear one, she took a deep breath and
another focusing almost meditatively on the fish’s movement. It
happened just as he’d said it would, her movements became reflexive
and the next thing she knew there was a fish on the end of her
spear. She looked down at the wiggling body for a long moment,
almost disbelieving what she saw. She’d done it! She’d speared a
fish. Then...

“Oh my God, I killed it,” she whispered.

Nate waded over with a big grin. “You
certainly did,” he said. “That’ll make a fine supper for us
tonight.”

“I didn’t mean to kill it.”

“What do you mean you didn’t mean to kill it?
You’ve been nagging me to teach you how for weeks.”

Tonya shrugged aware that she wasn’t making
any sense. “I mean, I wanted to spear fish, but I didn’t want to
kill anything.”

“That’s the most illogical thing I’ve ever
heard. Fish are surprisingly resilient, but a spear through the
belly pretty much gets them every time.”

“I know that. I really wanted to learn how to
do it, I just never thought about the end result.”

“You’ve been eating the end result now for a
couple of weeks,” he said.

“Oh just leave me alone,” she said, flinging
her spear at him.

He deflected the missile easily, knocking it
into the water, but the fish flew through the air in a perfect arc
before it collided with the side of his face with a loud
splat
. Almost in slow motion it slid down leaving a trail of
water and fish slime along his cheek as it descended.

Tonya watched mesmerized by the scene before
her, then almost collapsed as she shook with laughter at the look
of comic disbelief on his face. Each time she tried to regain her
composure she thought about his stunned expression and crumpled
into giggles again.

“So you don’t want to kill a fish, but you
don’t have any problem with trying to kill me?” he said. Raising
his own spear menacingly he began stalking toward her. She wasn’t
sure, but she thought she saw death in his eyes. Squealing she
turned and ran out of the water with him fast on her heels.

Running on sand wasn’t exactly easy and even
though she was an experienced runner she had a hard time getting
away from him. The fact that she was repeatedly assaulted by fits
of giggles didn’t help her forward progress. Every time she thought
about that fish smacking him upside the head she nearly lost it.
They ran around the house twice, but each time she approached a
door she realized he was too close for her to make a clean entrance
without being trapped. Somehow she found herself cornered behind
the house in the outdoor shower.

“Perfect,” he said in a menacing tone.
“Nothing like cleaning my prey before killing it.” And with that he
turned on the taps. Tonya squealed again as the cold water poured
over her. He followed her into the shower. “Of course, I can think
of a lot better things to do with you than killing you, though
eating you definitely sounds like a good starter.”

Tonya shivered in response to the heated look
in his eyes, and when he pressed her against the back wall of the
shower she cried out at the delicious feel of his body pressed
against hers. The contrast between his heated body and the cold
water set her nerves on fire and she moaned against his neck before
she took a delicious bite. He returned to her mouth kissing and
sucking desperately as he quickly disposed of her bikini bottom. It
took him no time at all to release his erection and then he thrust
into her. He held her legs up spread wide as he pounded into her
again and again. His frantic strokes were driving her wild, and she
growled and mewled against him. Wanting more. Needing more. Her
whole body blazed in response to this assault and she simply
couldn’t get enough. Her orgasm when it came was so sudden she
almost blacked out and he wasn’t far behind, as with an almost
inhuman sound as he pulled out before he came inside her. They both
collapsed in the bottom of the shower, totally spent.