Moonsong (24 page)

“Whenever you want to? Oh, so I’m supposed to strip down whenever you snap your fingers? I think you’ve got that backwards, darlin’. I’m supposed to keep you shut away in my bedroom for my eyes only.”

If she thought for a moment he was the least bit serious there would be something very disturbing about that sentence, but instead she returned his grin. “Split it fifty-fifty? I’ll take odd days and you can have even ones?”

“Deal.” He fell to nuzzle against her neck with a soft growl, and Amelia giggled at the rasp of his unshaven cheek on her sensitive skin. They took turns wrestling off the remainder of their clothes, and Cutter seemed hell bent on driving her insane with need as he took his own sweet time with each strip of bare flesh her discarded clothes revealed. And then there was nothing between them but a cushion of space that fairly sparked with a current of excitement.

There would be time later to take things slower, plenty of time to explore every curve and hollow of each other’s bodies, but in that instant, she had the urge to brand him as her own before anything else interrupted. That same need fueled Cutter’s kisses as he rolled her onto his back and her thighs parted to accept him.

They both froze with a shared sigh of pleasure as he took her in one swift movement, their bodies locked together for long seconds while they enjoyed that simple delight. And then he began to move, and there was so much more.

Amelia wasn’t a shy, virginal girl, but nothing prepared her for what it was like that first time with Cutter. She forgot to arch her back like she’d seen in a movie and thought looked sexy. She forgot to make little sounds of encouragement to make him think he was doing well. She forgot to play all those games designed to make her partner think she was good at what they were doing. She forgot
everything
, but the feel of his body against hers as they moved together.

All too soon she felt the edge of her release dancing just out of reach, and Millie almost wished it would go away; she wanted it to go on forever. But it hit her with surprising force, robbing the breath from her body as she trembled beneath him, his name on her lips as she came apart in his arms in a shimmer of ecstasy. Dimly she was aware of his shuddering release above her, and then he collapsed, his welcome weight stilling the last of her tremors.

For a long while they lay like that, still joined, neither one wanting to shatter the mood with unnecessary words until a low rumble broke the silence. Cutter lifted his head to look down at her in surprise. “You don’t say?” he smirked.

“No… of course you can be hungry. I should have thought of it before I attacked you like that. I should have seen to your needs.”

Was that all?
“Hey,” Millie reached for his cheek, pulling him towards her for a tender kiss. “You can attack me like that any day. I was a willing attackee.”

“There’s no such word as attackee,” Cutter snorted, allowing her to kiss him.

“Sure there is, you were the attacker, I was the attackee; next time we can switch,” Amelia waggled her brows at him in an effort to get him to return to the easy, relaxed mood before her stomach growled.

“I think the word you’re searching for is prey, as in helpless and innocent, of which I am neither.”

“Well neither am I,” she bit his lip playfully, drawing it into her mouth. “Now… what have you got to eat in this place? I’m starving,” she grinned. Cutter rose to fetch her every kind of snack food he could lay his hand on when she insisted she didn’t need a full cooked meal. Wrapping the extra blanket around her at his bidding, Amelia smiled over every offering he brought her, rewarded with his quick grin before he left to find something else to tempt her with.

Finally he joined her on the quilt, promised cups of coffee in hand. “Do you always eat your late night snacks naked on a quilt in front of the fireplace?” she teased him lightly, offering him a cracker topped with easy cheese. For someone who seemed so proper with her nudity before, he was certainly comfortable in his own skin.

“Only when beautiful girls keep me from my supper,” he grinned, accepting the bite and downing it whole.

“Get a steady parade of them do you?” she quirked a brow.

“No, darlin’, you’re the only one brave enough to walk through that door,” he picked up her hand and kissed it. “Are you warm enough?”

“Cutter,” she gave him an exasperated sigh. “I’m plenty warm. You don’t have to coddle me you know; I’m not a delicate flower. In fact… I think I’m a little too warm,” she let the blanket fall from her shoulders.

His eyes tracked the movement of the blanket before returning to linger over her bare flesh. “Yes, you are, you’re my delicate Amelia Rose,” he reached out to touch her soft skin.

Food forgotten as she caught another kind of hunger from him, Millie let the blanket fall the rest of the way.
How could she want him like that again so soon?
Not too long ago she’d been sure she would die from pleasure if he’d kept it up any longer, now all she could think about was getting him into bed. “It’s late,” she said softly, reaching out to smooth her hand over his chest. “Maybe you’d better put me to bed?”

“You said put you to bed, I’m just doing as my lady commands,” he grinned, capturing her mouth with his as he carried her to his bed.

“Oh…anything I command?” her eyes sparkled with mischief. “I have to say, I have an idea or two…” He tumbled her down onto the bed but she quickly slid out from under him, wanting to take the initiative this time. “My turn, remember?” she smiled, pushing none too gently on his shoulder until he toppled onto his back.

* * *

Much
later, Amelia snuggled up beside him. Exhausted but very, very happy, she laid her head on his chest with a contented sigh. They lay together entwined, the flickering firelight from the other room the only thing illuminating the room.

Her eyes popped open, suddenly wide awake, and she propped her head up on his chest to look down at him in the uncertain light. “Marriage? Isn’t it illegal or something for you to propose to me while you’re still married to someone else?”

“Funny. But hey, if you’d rather wait until after the divorce is final for me to ask you…”

“No….” she interrupted hurriedly, “No, you can ask me now, I don’t mind,” her smile was a mile wide. “Aren’t you supposed to get down on one knee though?” Millie couldn’t help but tease and Cutter quirked a brow. “What? This is my first and only real marriage proposal that doesn’t involve a briefcase full of cash, or someone shoving a ring on my hand. Can I help it if I want a little tradition?” Maybe it was silly, but she’d been daydreaming about her own engagement since she was a little girl and Ken first proposed to Barbie.

With a long sigh, Cutter gently disengaged himself from their tangled limbs and swung out of the bed. Instead of kneeling beside it, he crossed to the dresser and opened the top drawer, retrieving a small leather pouch. Returning to the bed, he got down on one knee and reached out to capture her hand, pressing it to his heart. Millie giggled at the gesture, scooting closer so he could stay upright and remain on his knee.

“Amelia Rose Singer,” he began formally. “Would you do me the great honor of accepting my proposal and becoming my mate, my partner, my wife?” Opening the little leather pouch, he drew out a woman’s ring set with a ruby at the center of a flower worked in white gold.

“Oh Cutter…” Amelia’s eyes went soft and dreamy at the sight of the ring. Had he really been planning on asking her to marry him? She’d been under the impression he’d only asked because Chase had forced the issue. “It’s beautiful, where did you get it?”

Cutter picked up her left hand and slid it onto her ring finger. “It was my mother’s ring, my father made it for her on their tenth wedding anniversary. She gave it to me when she got real sick. She wanted me to give it to the girl who stole my heart, she said.”

“And you didn’t give it to…
her
?” Millie realized she couldn’t remember his first wife’s name.

“Celia didn’t want it. She wanted a diamond, and she wanted to pick it out herself,” he said dryly. “That should have been my first clue, I expect.”

“Oh… yes, of course yes!” Millie laughed, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him thoroughly. Cutter held her tight, his kiss turning insistent as his body responded to her touch. They came together once more, starting to learn what each other liked, finding the right rhythm of the dance, and when they were both spent and well sated, he cradled her to his side.

“Cutter?” she asked, stifling a yawn beneath her hand, barely able to form words, but she couldn’t let go and fall asleep until she asked him one thing.

“James,” she repeated. “Good night, James, I love you,” Amelia sighed happily, a smile on her lips as she stopped fighting the fatigue that rose up to claim her.

“I love you too, darlin’,” his arms tightened around her for a brief hug as he drifted off himself, for once, completely at peace.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The peace was short lived.

In the stillness of the early morning the sky started to lighten, tinged with a ruddy pink, the sign of another storm on the horizon. They moved silently through the forest, surrounding the little cabin, waiting for the signal, crouched in readiness.

Amelia slumbered, lost to dreams.

"Millie hurry up or we're gonna leave without you." Luc's voice came floating to her out of the ether.

"I want to bring my babies!" she protested, toting an arm full of dolls.

"No Millie, they'll get all dirty down by the river, leave 'em here," Luc insisted, his image wavering between how she'd seen him last before he died and as a younger teen.

"They won't care, I want to give them baths," she insisted, refusing to leave them behind.

"Fine then we'll go without you," Luc gave a shrug, looking to Chase who stood waiting by the front door with a conspiratorial wink.

Chase grinned in amusement, "Yeah just leave her here."

"No! Wait! Don't go without me, I'll be right back!” Braids flying, Millie ran back to her bedroom to toss the dolls down onto her bed. A quick look to the empty doorway, she hesitated, chewing on the inside of her lip. Picking up Anna, she stroked her soft hair and then shoved her as deep as she could into her pocket, pulling her loose t-shirt over the top of the doll's head that still peeked out. "I'm ready!” she called out; confident the boys wouldn't look twice and spot her secret passenger.

Stepping over the threshold of the doorway, the scene shifted; Luc and Chase already lounging by the river, shirtless, messing around with a fishing pole, completely ignoring her as usual. Amelia meandered down the riverside, careful to remain within their eyesight, but not too close before pulling Anna from her pocket, trying to restore some semblance of order to her squashed hair. Talking softly to the doll, she scolded her for getting dirty, just as Luc had warned, and began to strip her down for a proper bath.

The next thing she knew, Millie was in the water, trying desperately to reach Anna, who slipped from her grasp and bobbed farther and farther away, taking her to where Millie's feet could no longer touch the bottom.

A worried glance over her shoulder to where the boys were, Millie pushed away from the comfort of the shore, desperate to get her doll back before Luc noticed. Anna dipped and bobbed in the water, grinning up at her with her sweet smile, mocking her as she swam out farther and farther.

Amelia was so tired...

Her head slipped under once, then again. There was shouting from the shore and Chase was there, yelling for her to hold on. Looking for her brother, Millie clearly saw Luc turn to meet her eyes, and then deliberately turn his back on her, bent over the fishing pole again. "Luc!" she called out, frantic to catch his interest. Maybe he hadn't seen her?

Chase claimed her attention, reaching out to her with a large branch. "Grab on!" he called out, his face etched with worry. After a couple of near misses, Millie caught hold of the stick, her relief palpable as she waited for him to pull her to shore. While she watched, Chase’s face changed, becoming cruel, hard. No longer a little girl, clad in her nightgown, Amelia clung to the stick, barely able to hold on.