Chapter Twenty-One

Emma stared up at the bunk above them. Archie was awake, but silent as well. Both of them were lost in their own musings over what exactly crossing this irrevocable line meant. I love you, she had cried in the heat of passion. Emma's cheeks flamed as she recalled just how swept away she had been. The man had taken her to a place she had never fathomed existed. Emma knew passion but this…this disturbingly strong magnetic pull between them was something else entirely.

Where on earth had it come from? She'd first clapped eyes on Archie and felt an immediate kinship with him but attraction? He seemed more like the cherubic faced older brother Emma never had. Horatio's dark handsomeness had drawn her in so powerfully that she was blind to anyone else. But now here she was lying next to Archie, her body heavy and warm pressed against him and she wanted him yet again. She wanted to turn to him, have him cover her in the hot strength of his body and slide into her, sweeping her away once more.

Maybe it's the fact that he looked different. He no longer looked like the sweet- faced young man she knew. The beard made him look older, more world weary, almost a different man entirely. Emma could almost fool herself that she hadn't betrayed her husband with his very best friend, if it wasn't for Archie's eyes. Those devastatingly blue shining eyes could belong to no one else than her dear Mr. Kennedy. There was also that smile. Though there hadn't been much occasion to see it as of late, even covered by reddish gold bristles, Emma would know Archie's smile anywhere. By turns impish and beguiling, it lit up his whole face and squeezed her heart with its beauty.

He was her dear Mr. Kennedy and her body was wet and slick with renewed desire for him.

Did that make her a horrible woman? Did it make her a terrible wife? Would Horatio have wanted her to turn to his best friend more than any other, or would he see it as an even greater betrayal than if she had bedded a stranger?

And why did it not make her regret the words she had cried out? She loved him. Archie Kennedy. It was bizarre and disconcerting, exhilarating and fact. Emma tried to tell herself that Archie had been right. It was simply the months in close proximity that had brought these feelings out in her. It didn't matter why, Emma realized with a small smile. She loved him and he loved her. It was a shining light in their dark world and she couldn't bring herself to regret or reprimand herself for it.

"One half of me is yours, the other half yours-Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours, And so all yours," Archie whispered, making her jump slightly. She felt his mouth against the crown of her head.

"Archie, considering I'm lying in your arms without a stitch on, I would say the need for flowery prose is a bit late," Emma joked, reaching behind her to pat his thigh.

He chuckled, the sound making a pleasant hum in his chest against her back. "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite."

"Oh good lord, you're going to be utterly incorrigible now, aren't you?" Emma asked turning around to face him.

"Utterly," he said pressing his lips to her forehead and running his hand up along her spine. He hesitantly brought his fingers up along the bottom curve of her breast. His eyes met hers in silent question. His cheeks were stained with color and Emma's heart tightened. Now he was shy?

"I love thee, I love but thee with a love that shall not die. 'Till the…stars, er-no. What is…Oh dear. I made a mess of it didn't I?" Emma stammered laughing ruefully.

"Till the sun grows cold And the stars grow old," Archie added with a smile.

"I suppose I'll have to leave the pretty words to you and try the more direct approach," Emma took his hand and closed it over her bare breast.

His eyes flared with a look of such hunger Emma felt her center begin to throb.

"There's much to be said for clarity," he whispered rubbing his thumb across her nipple before meeting her mouth with his own.

And just like that, Emma was spinning again.

His mouth was warm and insistent against her lips as his tongue teased against her teeth. She sighed into his mouth allowing him to turn her on her back once more. He moved down, nipping at her skin until he reached her breasts. She sucked in her breath at the exquisite sharpness of his teeth grazing her nipple.

"Oh sweet God…" she moaned when he took the tight puckered flesh into his mouth and flicked his tongue over it. She slid her fingers through his hair, pressing him closer.

"Beautiful," he murmured, sliding his hands down to her hips. Her thighs fell open with an eagerness that should have shamed her but didn't.

And then his mouth was there, hovering between her legs and Emma's eyes widened with realization. This time her cheeks did warm with embarrassment and she almost clamped her thighs shut. Surely a lady did not engage in such acts!

But oh God, how she was throbbing, trembling and breathless with need. And curious, Emma admitted. She wasn't quite sure how someone loved you with their mouth but she wasn't so sheltered that she hadn't heard of such acts in hushed whispers, usually in terms of brothels and ladies of loose morality.

"This is good. I promise," Archie whispered coaxingly, the warmth from his mouth sending a wave of sharp sensation along her swollen moist folds. She clenched her lower body and bit her lip.

"Archie…" she whimpered afraid to let him do such a thing to her, aching on the knife-edge of desire for that very thing.

"Trust me, love. If you want me to stop I will but let me do this for you," he smiled up at her and then kissed the inside of her right thigh.

Her body stiffened, all except that most secret part of her that swelled and grew slick and demanded relief.

"I don't know…" she whispered, her voice small and unsure.

He pressed his lips to her center in a tiny kiss.

Emma jerked in surprise, her hips lifting of their own volition.

"More?" Archie asked, stroking her thighs as if to calm her.

She was panting, propped up on her elbows and staring down at him. Emma nodded slowly.

He kissed her there again, this time holding his lips against her damp skin for a few seconds.

Emma whimpered and gulped for a breath of air that seemed stolen away from her.

"Good?" He asked, a determined glint in his eyes.

Dear God, it was one thing to engage in intercourse with him under the cover of darkness of but to engage in this and be able to see him doing it to her, and knowing that he was seeing her completely!

She nodded, desire, curiosity and shame whirling through her at lightening speed.

This time, when he closed her mouth over her trembling center, Archie flicked his tongue along the folds, not reaching the swollen nub at her center, but moving gently around it.

"Oh good God!" Emma cried out, clamping her hand over her mouth to try and stifle her cries of pleasure. Her body bucked beneath his mouth, shocked at the intensity of sensation slamming through her. He wasn't even there yet! She grabbed the pillow and didn't stop him when he spread her thighs wider. She let him. She wanted him. She wanted him to do this insane thing to her.

She distantly wondered what she tasted like and hoped that he wasn't put off by her but the diligence with which his tongue stroked her told Emma he was getting pleasure from the act. "Archie…oh God…I…Ohhhh," Her arms could no longer hold her up, her limbs losing control and she fell back against the mattress. Her fingers tightened in his hair as she stared up and gave herself over to this exquisite pleasure he was giving her.

Then when she thought she could take no more, that the feelings throbbing through her were too strong, he closed his lips over the swollen nub of flesh at her center and sucked it into his mouth.

Emma arched upwards and bit into the pillow, a litany of screams and pleas threatening to burst past her mouth.

Archie held her thighs open and flat on the bed, stifling her movements as he expertly sucked and licked. The restricted movement only heightened her desperate need. She was at the height of her lust, naked except for the small corner of the blanket covering her ribs. Even that seemed too stifling to her and Emma pushed it aside, completely naked now and exposed except for Archie's head between her legs.

"Oh please…please…Oh my God!" When Archie took the nub between his teeth and bit gently, Emma bore down and buried her head in the mattress, throwing her arms up over her head, giving herself up to the racing orgasm that burst from her center outward to the very tips of her hair.

She sagged, utterly stupefied at what she'd just experienced as Archie climbed back up her body meeting her eyes with a desperate hunger of his own.

Again, Emma opened her thighs for him and when he thrust into her in one smooth movement, she felt as if it was truly possible to die from pleasure.