A combination of trepidation and excitement filled Blair with three parts can-do attitude and one part yellow-bellied coward as the cab pulled to the curb.
"Please don't let this be a mistake," she whispered as she shoved open the taxi door and slug her purse over her shoulder.
Commit to a goal and go for it, the words echoed in her head.
But she didn't have a clue how to approach her husband for a procreation-only get together. In the past when they'd made love she hadn't minded initiating the encounters, but this time there would be no love involved - just sex and if she was lucky, a baby. She'd checked her calendar and the timing seemed right.
She slipped her key into the lock and let herself in the front door. The aroma of grilling beef reached her, making her mouth water and her tummy grumble. Se stopped in surprise. Was Chuck home? "Chuck?"
"In the den."
She dropped her bag, took a deep breath for courage and made her way to the back of the house. Her legs trembled like a virgin's. Crazy.
As she past the kitchen, she noted the man in chef whites standing by the range, Turing steaks.
"You're home early." She said as she entered the den.
He turned twisting the cap on a bottle of sparkling water and filled to champagne flutes waiting on the counter of the small bar. He brought one to her.
"Are we celebrating something?" How could he know she'd conquered her reservations and made a decision?
"The builder called. He said you'd sighed the contract."
Oh. That. "Yes."
He clinked his glass to hers. "Congratulations. You'll have a brand new office open in no time. May it be successful."
Her heart pounded against her chest wall. She took a sip, swallowed and then blurted, "I bought nursery furniture today."
Chuck's chest expended on a deep inhalation.
"Bout damn time," he muttered and set his glass aside, then he took hers, too, even thought she'd only had one sip.
He grasped her waist, his hands burning her through her knit dress, and pulled her body flush against his. "Wanting to hold you, touch you and taste you has been driving me crazy."
Her nervousness dissolved like sugar in boiling water - right along with her knees. She and Chuck had been good together. She should have known he wouldn't let this be awkward. The sex would be easy and natural, the way it had always been. All she had to worry about was protecting her heart.
He bent and kissed her, a soft sweep of his mouth over hers, a gentle nip off her bottom lip, and then he settled in. His lips pressed her apart and his tongue tangled with hers - slick, hot, wet and full of hungry passion. He tasted good, like the Chuck she remembered. Her heart raced as she ran her hands over his thick biceps, broad shoulders and strong back.
His hands skimmed over her, hitting every erogenous zone. She'd missed this. Missed them.
Blair leaned back and met his passion-darkened gaze"Looks like dinner is going to get cold."
Chuck fisted the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head. She gasped at the suddenness of the move. He stared down at her breasts and cupped them with his hands, sending a current of need straight to her core.
"I never thought it possible for you to be more beautiful then you were before. I was wrong."
She cupped his face and stroked his beard-stubbled jaw. "Thank you."
He bent and nuzzled her cleavage. The softness of his lips contrasting with the coarse rasp of his five o'clock shadow caused desire to fist in her abdomen. He dusted a string of butterfly light caresses across each curve until she ached for more. She arched to give him better access and to press her pelvis against his. His thick erection burned into her.
Reaching behind her, he released her bra and peeled the lace away, then captured a tight nipple with his mouth. Wet heat surrounded her sensitive flesh. He tugged with his lips, his teeth, his fingertips, forcing a moan of pleasure from her.
Heat radiated from her core. She raked her fingers through his soft hair and held him close. He knew exactly how she liked to be touched. Not too rough. Not too gentle. No one had ever been able to play her body the way Chuck could.
His fingers stabbed into the waist band of her panties making her grasp, and then the fabric lessened and her panties fell to the floor. His palm coasted over her hip, her belly and then over her heat. Pleasure sliced through her. "Chuck."
Eager to have his skin against hers, she kicked her clothing aside. And again he pulled back a few inches to study her. His expression gave approval as he reached for the buttons on his shirt. "Beautiful."
A moment's self-consciousness swept her. "I've gained weight."
He crushed her with a brief, hard kiss. "Baby, your new curves make me hot."
A smile bubbled to her lips. "I'm glad. Hurry," she pleaded and tried to help him disrobe, but her hands tangled with his, slowing him down. Impatient, she abandoned his shirt to tackle his belt and trousers.
Her fingers fumbled with the leather and metal, then he was as naked as she and it was her turn to feast on his wide shoulders, deep pectorals and washboard abdomen. She traced the thin line of hair bisecting his lower belly to his erection. She wrapped her fingers around his hard, satiny flesh and stroked, loving his grunt of approval and the blaze of his skin against her palm.
He scooped her up, swung her around and sat her on the bar. His fingers found the slick seam of her body and massaged her swollen flesh, making her womb clench with want. She wound her legs around his hips and tightened her brig on his steely flesh. "That feels wonderful."
"Slow down, baby."
"I don't want to go slow." She wanted fast and furious, a sensation overload to crowd out thoughts, doubts and fears that this could be a mistake. Sex with Chuck felt so good, so perfect and so right it scared her. They were so instantly in tune it could have been yesterday, instead of a lifetime ago, that they'd made love in this exact spot. In this room. On this bar. While some meal grew cold.
She hooked a hand behind his nape, yanked him close and kissed him, pulling him with her as she lay back on the cool wooden surface.
Chuck's body blanketed her with heat. His thighs pressed hers apart and hiS fingers found her exposed centre, then he took a nipple into his mouth, laved, sucked and nipped it while he manipulated her until a knot of tension twisted so tightly in her tummy that she thought she'd snap. He must know how close she was to the edge. He'd always been able to read her body language.
He worked his way down her torso, over her ribs, across her waist to her hipbone, then her circled her navel, alternately teasing and arousing her with soft lips and hot tongue and bristly chin.
Blair's muscles wound tighter with each inch he covered. Then he found her centre, sucked her into his mouth and flicked his tongue over her. Release hovered just out of reach.
"Chuck, I want you inside me," she whispered and tried to guide him.
He lifted his head from her. "Not yet."
His chin rasped her tender flesh, making her toes tingle. And then he pushed her over the edge. Orgasm crashed over her.
His gaze locked with hers as she tried to catch her breath, then he captured her hands and carried them over her head, rising above her and pinning her to the bench top. He stroked his penis against her, his silky hard flesh gliding over her slick crevice as he sawed back and forth.
Each smooth advance and slow retreat moved her closer and closer to a second release and her back arched in anticipation. He paused leith his thick tip at her entrance.
"Don't you dare stop now," she ordered hoarsely. Squeezing her legs around him, she lifted her hips.
"And if I do?" She felt him smile against her temple.
"I'll make you pay."
His chest shuddered against hers on a rumble of laughter, then he plunged forward, thrusting deep into her body and pushing the air from her lungs. He drove in again and again, and she lost command of her body. Orgasm fractured her, emptied her lungs and seized control of her muscles, making them jerk and spasm.
Chuck buried his face in her neck. "I...can't...hold...on."
"Don't even try." She pulled her hands free, raked her nails down his back and nipped his earlobe in the way she knew would break his restraint. His groan filled her ear as he bucked against her and emptied into her.
An urge to hold him close and cuddle descended on her. But there was no place for lovey-dovey this time around. As her skin cooled and her respiratory rate returned to something approaching normal, the gravity of the situation descended upon her. They could very well have made a baby tonight, and if they had there was turning back.
Fear made her heart pound. She'd been sure she could do this earlier. But that was before they'd made love and she'd lost sight of her goal. Get pregnant. Get out. Instead, she wanted nothing more than to make love with Chuck again. And again. She couldn't afford to let him become an addiction that could ultimately destroy her.
She pushed against his shoulder, "Let me up."
Chest heaving, Chuck slowly levered himself off her, his eyelids were heavy, his face relaxed and his hair...well, she'd wrecked it. The strands stood in dark, irregular spikes.
"Going somewhere?" A smile lifted one corner of his mouth, and the tenderness in his eyes made her tummy swoop alarmingly.
She couldn't care about him. She had to remember this was a simple case of supply and demand. A business transaction. She wanted a baby. He'd promised to provide one. But the warmth and wetness of their joined bodies felt better than any business transaction she'd ever conducted and far more personal than insemination at a clinic would have been.
She squirmed to get out from under him and stanched her clothing from the floor. This wasn't more than sex, was it? Of course not. She'd have to be a total idiot to risk loving him again. She needed space and time to get her head together. "I'm going to shower before dinner."
"Sounds good." He pulled up and refastened his pants as if he planned to join her - the way he once would have.
"Alone," she insisted and fled.