A/N: Since I can see this one is going to be an extra-long one, I decided to post the first few chapters now, to create a little suspense. :) Many thanks as always to my readers and reviewers, especially the Faithful Four—PDXWiz, jtbwriter, Harry2 and Bishop T!
§ § § -- March 18, 2005
It was the final day of spring vacation for the island's school system, and Leslie had plans for it. She had given Ingrid the day off to spend with Jonathan Ichino, offered Haruko Miyamoto the chance to take the triplets to the beach with her that afternoon, and double-checked Christian's last e-mail to make certain she knew when he was supposed to arrive home. Now, with Ingrid happily gone somewhere with Jonathan and Haruko having just departed with the triplets to the beach near the Enclave's marina, she was preparing herself to give Christian a particular homecoming she hoped he wouldn't soon forget.
She'd been cleaning up baby toys and dropping them into the huge cloth-lined basket in the triplets' room that served as a toy chest, and now she was doing housework, mostly just dusting and straightening, waiting for Christian to walk in. None of this was very much out of the ordinary; what made it different was what she'd dressed in to do it. She was wearing a white sundress with a very short skirt…and nothing else at all. Leslie was a little nervous, but looking forward to Christian's reaction. It had to be right; it had taken a lot of effort to arrange this day, especially because she had the triplets to consider, and if anything went wrong she knew she'd be devastated.
Stacking a number of outdated magazines into a pile for recycling, she froze all of a sudden when she heard the sound of a car engine. Scuttling into the kitchen on her bare toes, she peered out the window. Sure enough, Christian was just alighting from a jeep while one of Roarke's employees went around back for his suitcase. A thrill ricocheted through her, and excitedly she raced out of the kitchen and up the stairs, setting about carefully turning down the bedcovers.
Downstairs she heard the door open and Christian call, "Thank you, Aki." A faint response echoed from outside, and she heard the jeep start up; the door closed, and then Christian called out again: "Hello, is anyone home?"
Deliberately she remained silent, wanting him to discover her in here. As quietly as she could, she finished arranging the bedcovers, then went to stand in front of the French doors to their private deck, glancing out and smiling at the deep-blue sky overhead.
"Isn't someone here?" Christian's voice asked, sounding a little disgruntled now, and Leslie grinned to herself, hearing him start muttering in jordiska when he still got no answer. His voice became clearer as he approached the stairs, and she caught some of what he was saying—he was annoyed that everyone seemed to have deserted the place, even though he'd made it clear enough when he expected to be home. He was climbing the steps, and now Leslie settled her stance and waited, her heartbeat accelerating with anticipation.
Christian came around the L-shaped wall that closed the stairwell off from their bedroom, yanking at his tie and still muttering to himself. He dropped the suitcase with a curse that punctuated its landing on the floor, got his tie loose and stripped it off—and then saw Leslie standing there, finally. "So someone's here after all! Why didn't you say anything when I called out? I thought everyone had gone…" He trailed off when a smiling Leslie approached him a deliberate step at a time, and finally seemed to notice her attire. "What's that you've got on? I haven't seen it before…looks very comfortable in this warm weather. So what's the story here, were you hiding from me?"
"Not exactly," Leslie replied, pausing in front of him and giving him a certain look from under her bangs, removing the tie from his hand and dropping it. "It's more of a special welcome for you." So saying, she began to unbutton his shirt.
He let her, watching her curiously, his hazel eyes taking in her soft smile. Then he seemed to get it and smiled faintly back. "You missed me that much?"
"Of course," Leslie said, tugging the shirt out of his slacks to get at the last button or two. "But there's more to it than that. It's…well, let's call it a congratulatory celebration for hiring all your Arcolosian employees in ten days flat." She reached up with both hands and smoothed his chest.
"Ah, I see," Christian said, and she saw the answering gleam in his eyes. Shrugging off his shirt and letting it fall, he gathered her into his arms and kissed her, stroking her back. Leslie allowed him this, returning his leisurely French kiss in equal measure to enhance her own need for him, but aware all the while of his hands on her. He stroked the fabric over her bottom, then slipped his hands beneath it—and froze, then pulled back from her. "You've never done that before," he whispered, wide-eyed.
"Done what, my love?" she murmured, still caressing his chest.
"Are you aware that you have no underclothes on?" he asked, half astonished, half intrigued. She could see the surprise and desire warring with each other in his eyes.
Smiling, she nodded. "It's part of my plan," she murmured, dropping a tantalizing kiss on his lips, pulling back when he tried to deepen it.
"What plan?" Christian wanted to know, now with both hands on her bare skin. The desire in his eyes was winning out over the confusion.
"My plan to welcome you home," she said softly, nodding once at the bed.
Christian peered over his shoulder, saw that the covers had been folded back nearly to the foot of the mattress, and raised an eyebrow at her. "Hm, tell me more."
"First, come over here and sit down," Leslie instructed, already leading him to the bed. When he obediently sat on the edge of the mattress, she knelt in front of him and pulled off his shoes, explaining, "You have a way of making me forget every little thing I want to do to you when we make love. The moment you kiss me and start touching me, I can't keep my thoughts in line, and they always blow off into the ether in just a few seconds and never come back. Well, not this time." She tugged off his socks while he watched, intrigued and even slightly amused. "This time, I'm the one in control. I'm going to kiss you and touch you and drive you crazy, the way I've dreamed of doing to you for years." She removed his Rolex and laid it on her night table with care.
"Is that so?" Christian inquired, watching her reach up and unbuckle his belt. "And what am I to do while you're busy seducing me?"
"Nothing," Leslie said, pulling him to his feet then and pushing his slacks down far enough to allow them to fall the rest of the way. "All you do is lie there."
At that Christian let out a little laugh. "Truly? Just lie there? Doing what?"
"Not a thing," she said, "except enjoy." She paused, molded her hand against him and smiled knowingly. "I knew it. You're not half as cavalier as you pretend to be, my darling. Just my describing this has you going, doesn't it?"
He chuckled good-naturedly and conceded, "All right, I confess, you have me there. So, then, what are you waiting for?"
Leslie pretended to consider it for a second or two, then smiled at him again. "Oh, I almost forgot. There is one thing you have to do…but I'll tell you when to do it." He made a noise of curiosity while she completed stripping him. "Okay…now, get into the bed and lie back, and raise your hands up and let them rest on the pillows."
He grinned at that and remarked, "As tired as I am, I have to admit that appeals to me, but I should warn you I probably won't be able to resist touching you." She just smiled wickedly, and he lowered himself onto the mattress and settled himself back, arms spread out to either side. "Well, so what's next?"
Leslie climbed onto the mattress and straddled him, settling herself gently atop him and leaning over, bracing herself with both hands. "You undress me."
Christian's smile was distinctly wicked itself, and she focused on it as he raised himself up enough to gather the hem of the skirt into his hands and lift it over her head. That smile should have warned her, she realized a moment later, for as he pulled the dress away and threw it aside, he stroked his hands up her torso till he reached her breasts, then began to lightly fan his fingertips over the nipples. Before she could protest, he delivered another of those devastating kisses of his, tongue stroking hers. Then he withdrew barely enough for her to breathe, painting her lower lip with his tongue and then catching it between both of his, suckling till she moaned aloud. He never stopped playing with her nipples the whole time, and it was only with the mightiest effort that Leslie drew back from him. Her body throbbed, centering in the moist heat between her legs. "Dirty pool," she gasped.
"All's fair in love and war," Christian replied huskily, "and I much prefer love to war." He made to kiss her again, but this time she caught his hands and pushed him back.
"Oh no you don't, Christian Enstad," she murmured. "I'm going to have my way, one way or the other. Let me give you fair warning, my sexy prince—if you try to touch me one more time, I might just have to tie your hands to the bedpost."
"There aren't any bedposts," he reminded her, disobeying her edict with a smirk and tracing two fingertips up her leg.
"Don't distract me, Christian," Leslie ordered, trying not to laugh. "If you have so little self-control that you can't abide the prospect of just letting me touch you while all you do is watch and take it in…"
"Ah, yes, that's right," Christian said and buried a hand beneath each pillow. "There, does that satisfy you, my tasty temptress?"
She grinned. "That's more like it, yes." She closed her eyes, actually grateful for his stolen kiss and caress, for it had increased her need for him threefold. Enjoying it immensely, she caressed and stroked him to an utter frenzy, only to have him return the favor once he'd recovered. In the aftermath Leslie wrapped herself around him, clinging, breathing in his unique scent: remnants of his sandalwood soap, the last traces of his cologne, and the gently musky male scent that was Christian alone.
In time they opened their eyes and gazed at each other. "Well?" he murmured.
Leslie smiled at him. "I don't know where you learned to do that," she teased softly, "but I sure hope it's not the last time you do it."
Christian grinned, broke into helpless chuckling and lifted his head, kissing her. "Oh, Leslie, my beautiful Rose, I love you," he said. "Had I known I'd get such a fabulous welcome home, I'd have finished my hiring in five days." She burst into laughter and he joined in, and they hugged each other, savoring each other's presence.
After a while Christian asked, "Now that we have our wits about us again, what did you do with our children? We could never have done what we just did without a response of some kind from them."
Leslie laughed. "Today's the last day of school vacation here, and I asked Haruko if she'd like an extra babysitting day. That way Susanna, Karina and Tobias could have a trip to the beach, Haruko could have a little extra spending money, and you and I could have our stolen few hours together."
"My wife, the genius," Christian murmured, smiling. "Very well planned, my Rose." He kissed her, and just like that they forgot everything around them again.