Disclaimer: I don't own them and I make no money from this.
Sequence note: Sorry, I nearly forgot this companion piece. It goes in Chapter 4 of Covet & Commit (if you couldn't already guess).
Happy reading!
Excerpt 2: Bumps & Bemusement
Frank led her upstairs and into the bedroom. He slipped her robe off of her and tucked her under the covers. Disappearing into the bathroom briefly, he reappeared carrying two tablets and a disposable cup full of water.
He sat down on the edge of the bed. "Here, sweetheart, sit up and take these."
Leaning up on an elbow, Nancy downed the medication, and then sank back onto the pillow. Frank set the cup on the side table and leaned down to kiss her forehead.
She smiled up at him. "I'm fine, Frank, it's just my head. It hurts like hell sometimes."
"I know. I am painfully aware of what a concussion feels like. That's why I want you to get some more rest while you can. The next couple of days are going to be busy for someone who's supposed to be taking it easy and recovering."
"You're too good to me... and for me," Nancy said, giving Frank a drowsy smile. "I'm so lucky that you're mine."
"I think you have that backward, sweetheart. But you did get one thing right. I'm all yours. Forever."
Frank leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. Nancy stopped him from pulling away by winding her arms around his neck. Now that she was horizontal the worst of the pain had subsided. She also hadn't missed the fact that Frank was aroused, though he was quite good at quelling the passion that usually burned in his eyes.
She allowed her lips to part and deepened the kiss. Frank didn't resist, at least at first, meeting her gently probing tongue with his own. But when her mouth became demanding, her fingers raking up into his hair, he put his hands on her shoulders and gently pressed her back onto the pillow.
"Nan, you need to rest."
His voice was deep and husky with desire. Nancy smiled up at him, and then allowed her gaze to wander suggestively down his muscular chest, over his well-defined abs, and lower. When she finally looked up into his face, again, his eyes burned dark umber with a passion that she could see he was struggling to deny.
She smiled at him seductively. "This is your last chance until after the wedding, you know. Give up the overprotective act and make love to me, Hardy."
"Nan ..." Her name escaped his mouth as more of a moan than an actual word.
As he started to lean down, Nancy's lips parted in anticipation, her eyes drifting closed. She could feel his breath softly caressing her face as he stopped a few millimeters from kissing her to murmur, "For the record, it's not an act, sweetheart."
Her eyelids fluttered open and she found herself staring into the warm depths of his eyes. Her heart nearly stopped at the love and affection she recognized there, and she hoped he could see it reflected in her own gaze. Sometimes her feelings for Frank were overwhelming.
She closed the distance and kissed him. This time he didn't even try to resist and she smiled against his lips, recognizing his surrender.
"I'll take that as a yes," she whispered.
But a moment later Frank stood up, and she wondered if he had thought better of it. Her core ached with the need he aroused in her. It simply wasn't fair that a bump on the head could so totally derail her plans to satisfy herself and him before their planned abstinence.
Then she realized that Frank had slipped off his pajama pants. He turned and Nancy felt the echo of his very evident desire in every nerve in her body. A delicious sense of anticipation enveloped her, his warm, vibrant body brushing hers enticingly as he slipped into bed.
Frank leaned up on an elbow while his other hand traced a blazing trail from her cheek to her hip, where it came to rest. "Any requests?"
The feel of his thumb stroking lightly on her hip was incredibly distracting. She gave him a fuzzy little smile. "Mmm, just you."
She slipped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him down to her. The hand on her hip moved further around and down to cup her butt as he met her lips in a gentle kiss.
Nancy turned enough so she could slide her leg between Frank's, pressing her thigh against his erection. He responded by rolling them so that he was partially on top of her, his leg rubbing against her sensitive crevice.
He set a slow, deliberate rhythm that she followed, at least to begin with. She became impatient first with his soft, almost-timid kisses. She parted her lips, pressing her tongue into his mouth and savoring the taste of him. When that no longer satisfied her desire for him, she pushed her leg more insistently against his hardness, increasing the pace of her strokes.
"Whoa."
Frank's breathless voice startled her and she stopped moving. Her chest was heaving and she clung to him, willing him not to pull away.
"Don't stop," she whispered.
But he did pull back as he took a deep, labored breath. "I'm not stopping. I just need to slow down some, sweetheart."
Nancy put her hands on the sides of his handsome face. "I wish you wouldn't," she said as she pulled him down for another kiss.
He pulled back again and looked into her face, his breathing definitely ragged and his gaze conflicted. She knew instinctively that he was afraid he was too far along to satisfy her. She wanted to tell him he was being silly, she was just as ready as he was, but that would ruin the mood. So instead, she gave him an encouraging smile and moved her legs apart in invitation.
Frank didn't hesitate. A sigh escaped her as his entire, warm length slipped along her clit in the first slow stroke that joined them.
Winding her legs around his, Nancy tried to force herself to relax and enjoy the intimacy of the moment. Frank's lean, muscular body stretched out along hers, and she shifted subtly to maximize the contact between them - craving each and every square millimeter of bonding area she could manage with the man she loved.
But Frank had been very ready, and she could feel the tell-tale pressure deep in her core. He pulled out and shifted slightly, sinking even deeper into her.
Time seemed to suspend, neither of them breathing as that magical link between them swelled from the tenuous connection in their joined cores outward, until it encompassed their entire being in a blissful unity.
And then it was over in an explosion of pure feeling and pleasure.
Even as the orgasm waned they lay locked together. The painkillers were taking hold and making her feel hazy, but still Nancy clung to Frank, wishing that there was some way to actually freeze time so she could forever be part of him.
In her dreamy state, she found her thoughts wandering to the time when she had worried about losing her individuality to the relationship with Frank. She had been such a fool for so long. An independent, stubborn fool of a woman to think that giving in to her feelings for him would somehow lessen her own existence.
The truth was that it was only with him that she felt truly whole.
NH
A/N: Sorry, I know this is kind of short. I hope you still enjoyed it. Now we're in for quite a few chapters of abstinence. Hopefully the wedding night makes up for it :).
