SWEET ANTICIPATION (20 page)

Lauren tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “I’ll have to check my calendar,” she answered with a shaky laugh, in a frantic attempt to lighten the mood. “But I don’t think Melanie and I have any plans for Friday.”

“I’ll try to call you again before then. Tell Melanie hello for me and don’t forget to give her that kiss.”

“I won’t forget. Good night, Jordan, and good luck at your meetings. Don’t let the slime get you down. Just keep reminding yourself how important your work is and how many people are waiting for little angels like ours.”

“Yes, angels like ours ….” he repeated wistfully before telling her goodbye.

Chapter Twelve

By Friday afternoon Lauren was a nervous wreck. She had changed clothes three times, rearranged the throw pillows on the couch five times and checked on the roast in the oven too many times to count. Everything had to be perfect tonight.

Jordan had called her almost every evening during the past week, but their conversations had centered around Melanie or his activities in Washington. When they had talked the previous night, they had decided that since he would be tired and he wanted to spend some time with Melanie, they would eat dinner at Lauren’s house, then have their talk after the baby had been put to bed. Lauren planned on making everything as homey and attractive as possible, which she hoped might, when combined with a cute and appealing Melanie, make Jordan realize what he would be giving up if he were to walk out on them now.

Unfortunately Melanie had plans of her own. All day she had been unusually fussy, refusing to nap and wanting to be held constantly. After awhile, even that didn’t make her happy. Lauren was trying to jiggle the baby in one arm while she worked in the kitchen as the time for Jordan to arrive grew nearer. But Melanie wasn’t interested in staying quiet or holding still. It was as if she could sense Lauren’s tension, which was making them both restless and irritable.

Again and again the little girl’s tiny fingers had become snarled in Lauren’s neatly coiffed hair, pulling the pins out of one side until half was still neatly arranged while the other side hung in straggling tendrils. The final straw was when Melanie spit up on the front of her frilly pink dress as well as Lauren’s black silk blouse. When Jordan opened the back door Melanie was crying loudly and Lauren appeared to be ready to join her. It took him just a few seconds to appraise the situation and go into action.

“What’s my little girl screaming about?” he asked in a soft, calm voice. Carefully he lifted Melanie out of Lauren’s arms and started walking toward the nursery. “I’ll take care of her if you want to freshen up a bit,” he called over his shoulder as he left the room.

Lauren knew she was dangerously close to tears, but sheer determination kept her eyes dry. She would not let Jordan see her crying again. Already he must wonder if she was terribly incompetent and she would not let him think that she was a whimpering, unstable, helpless female. She had to convince him that he had simply hit her at a bad moment.

Returning to her bedroom, she took a dark cranberry-red blouse out of her closet and locked herself in the bathroom. After removing the black blouse, she rinsed it out in the sink so that the stains wouldn’t set, then unpinned the rest of her hair and brushed it until it curled loosely around her shoulders. Slipping the clean blouse on, she buttoned it, then tucked it into her black slacks. After another quick touch-up of both her perfume and her lipstick, she was ready to face Jordan and help him quiet the baby.

But as she walked into the living room, instead of hearing Melanie’s cries, she heard Jordan’s rich deep voice chattering on and on to the infant. Lauren hesitated in the doorway, immeasurably touched at the sight of the man holding the child in front of him, her ruffle-covered bottom and short, fat legs resting on his while one of his large hands cradled Melanie’s head and the other supported her shoulders as he talked directly to her. Melanie was staring up at him, transfixed, her eyes wide and her round sweet mouth slightly open. She lay there, very still, listening to him as if she understood every word.

“You must have the magic touch,” Lauren said as she walked up to them. “She’s been grumpy all day today.”

“I think she actually recognizes me,” he replied proudly and a little incredulously.

“Of course she does. I told you she missed you.”

“And I missed her,” he answered, dropping a kiss on the baby’s fuzzy blond head.

“Would you like to give her a bottle now? As soon as she eats and settles down, our dinner should be ready. She hasn’t slept for more than a couple of hours all day, so she should fall asleep early.”

“I was hoping she hadn’t eaten yet this evening. I’ve been looking forward to giving Melanie her dinner bottle all week,” he said, smiling down at the baby.

Lauren got the bottle out of the refrigerator and warmed its contents before returning to the living room. But Jordan had relocated to the nursery and was rocking Melanie in the chair Lauren had bought specifically for that purpose. After handing him the bottle, she left the two of them alone and went back to the kitchen to finish the preparations for their meal.

She had just set the table and was pouring the gravy into a gravy boat when Jordan walked into the dining room.

“Melanie’s full, dry and sound asleep,” he announced, obviously pleased with his accomplishment. He walked to the sink and rinsed out the bottle. “What can I do to help you in here?”

“You could get the bread out of the oven and carve the roast. Oh, and don’t forget your apron.”

Jordan had already been heading toward the rack where she kept her aprons hung. “What’s this? Did you make one just for me?” he asked as he took down an oversize navy-blue apron and held it around his waist. Instead of lace, it had a contrasting border in a lighter shade of blue that matched the two pockets and the large initials
J
and
D
that had been appliquéd to the front.

Lauren tied the strings behind his back and laughed. “You look very chef-like in that. I’m sure your grandmother would be proud of you.”

Jordan turned around, moving much more quickly than she had expected. She started to step away, but his hands reached out and gripped her shoulders, holding her just inches away from him. His stormy eyes gazed down into hers, searching for a response to some unanswered question. She returned his look steadily but wordlessly, as all power of speech seemed to desert her.

“Lauren, did I tell you how much I’ve missed
you?”
he asked, his voice barely louder than a husky whisper.

Mutely she shook her head, aching to hear more.

“Well, I did. Washington is a beautiful city, but it’s very lonely when the people you care about aren’t there with you. Maybe, someday, you and I can go there for a visit or a honeymoon. We could explore all the monuments and museums and be regular tourists.”

“Honeymoon?” she finally managed to whisper.

“That’s part of what we need to talk about, but first, there’s something I’ve wanted to do since I met you,” he said, pulling her against him and giving her a tight hug. “You don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to feel your body next to mine, just like this, without the baby between us.”

“But the baby
always
seems to be between us, even how,” she sighed.

“No, she isn’t. This evening, it’s just you and me—”

“And baby makes three,” Lauren couldn’t resist adding, but Jordan shushed her by placing his fingertips against her lips.

“Shhh. For a little while forget that you’re a mother. All you need to remember is that you’re a woman and I’m a man who cares very much about you. Here, let me show you what I mean,” he said as his head lowered slowly toward hers until his lips replaced his fingers.

As if he had touched a magic switch, she melted in his arms. The contrast of her soft curves pressed against his hard masculine body and the demanding hunger of his mouth on hers sent a surge of desire oozing through every part of her body like thick, warm honey. Her blood pounded in her ears and her breath caught in her throat as his hands roved over her back, pulling her even closer.

This isn’t what I planned to do,
the part of his brain that was still having rational thoughts reminded him. Jordan knew they should talk about their relationship before it went any farther. This matter of Johnny and his persistent hold on her life and the baby’s had to be settled. It was time for her to choose to move into the future or cling to her past, and Jordan was here to convince her that the former had more to offer than the latter.

But as strong as his convictions were that they should sit down and calmly discuss these matters, he couldn’t force himself to stop kissing her long enough to speak. Lauren’s arms had slipped around his neck and her lips were soft and delicious beneath his. She must not be wearing a bra beneath her blouse because he could feel the tantalizing hardness of her nipples pressing into his chest. Instead of telling him to slow down, she was giving him too many signs of encouragement for him to be able to resist.

A groan rumbled through his chest when her tongue met his in a sensual caress. Desire pulsed deep within him and his hands slid down to cup her enticing curves, pressing her against him. He wanted her so much. Many nights in the last three months, he had lain awake trying not to think about it, even as his traitorous body had constantly reminded him of his physical need to make love to her. Never had he waited so long with such little hope for one woman.

Tonight, as soon as he walked through the door and saw her, after having spent seven long days and nights missing her, he had thought she had never looked more beautiful even with her hair messed and her blouse stained. She had lost all of her “baby fat” and her slender, yet voluptuous, figure had made his heart beat faster. The whole time he had been with Melanie, changing her clothes, giving her her bottle and rocking her to sleep, he had given himself a little pep talk about how he must be strong and wait until Lauren was ready to move on to the next step in their relationship.

And now, here he was, nibbling on her earlobes and the sensitive curve of her neck while his hands were busy pulling the tails of her blouse out of her slacks. It was as if he had lost control of his body. Only Lauren could stop him now—and he prayed that she wouldn’t.

As she murmured hoarsely in his ear, “Love me, Jordan. It’s been so long,” he didn’t know exactly what she meant—whether she was asking him “to make love” to her or to love her in the spiritual sense only-but he didn’t care to wait for a more detailed explanation. Slipping his arm down behind her knees, he scooped her into his arms, and pausing only long enough to turn off the stove and oven, he carried her to her bedroom before either one of them could have a change of mind.

Their mouths were melded together in a deep, heated kiss as Jordan set her on her feet next to her double bed. His fingers fumbled with the tiny buttons of her blouse. Freeing them at last, he pushed the sleek garment off her shoulders and guided it down over her arms. He had been right: she was wearing nothing but a thin, black lacy silk chemise beneath her blouse. His hands trembled as they cupped the soft, gossamer-covered swells of her breasts. Lowering his mouth, he let his tongue circle one rigid point, savoring the feel of the silk sliding over her skin until the material was wet before he drew the nipple into his mouth.

Lauren gasped at the explosion of delight that rippled through her as he nudged the low-cut, loose material aside and tasted her bare flesh. The thin ribbons that served as straps trickled down her arms until the whole flimsy garment slipped down to her waist. The liquid passion deep inside her throbbed as he moved his mouth back and forth from one swollen nipple to the other.

Swallowing a moan of pleasure, she felt herself sway and feared her legs wouldn’t hold her up much longer. She didn’t want him to stop and yet she could hardly bear the exquisite pleasure his tongue and lips were causing. When he finally trailed heated kisses up the shadowy valley between her breasts, along her neck and back to her mouth, she was both relieved and disappointed.

Mirroring his earlier moves, Lauren unbuttoned his shirt and helped him shrug it off, allowing her hands to slide over his broad, tanned chest in slow, sensuous circles before trailing down the thin line of hair that began at his navel and disappeared into his slacks. As her fingers drifted across the flat plane of his stomach, she felt his muscles contract and heard the audible intake of his breath.

“Oh, Lauren, I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”

“Yes, Jordan … yes.” She breathed her agreement.

Quickly they worked together to remove the remainder of each other’s clothing before Jordan pulled back the covers and gently lifted Lauren onto the cool sheet. For a few seconds, he allowed himself the treat of gazing down adoringly at her wonderfully nude body. His look traveled from the tips of her polished toenails up her long, shapely legs, over the curve of her hip and the perfection of her torso, and across her lovely face to the golden spray of hair that fanned out behind her head and tumbled over the edge of her pillow.

With a ragged sigh of anticipation, he joined her on the bed. Their bodies fit together perfectly, as if they had been made to love each other. They had both waited too long and were beyond the stage of slow, teasing foreplay. Instead, he moved over her and she lifted her hips to meet him. Lauren had been afraid that there might be some pain after the difficulty of Melanie’s birth, but Jordan entered her with surprising gentleness and control until they were both certain that she was fine.