Chapter 49

"I've waited so long for this moment, I can hardly believe you're really here," AJ told her.

"Believe it my love," Mac whispered, drawing him closer to the bed. She reached up and started to unbutton jacket when his hands reached out to stop her.

"Please allow me that pleasure," he requested.

With a loving smile she let her hands fall to her sides while he undressed her. His gaze was almost reverent as he worked and the overwhelming look of love and awe in his eyes when she stood before him naked was almost more than Mac could bear. She felt tears welling up in her eyes as she thought of all the years they could have been together and how close she'd come to losing him tonight.

Not able to stand it any longer she reached for his clothing too. How many times had she dreamed of removing his uniform! Of course more than half of those dreams had taken place in his office.

AJ smiled at her eagerness to remove his clothes. As his jacket slid off his shoulders Mac slowly and sensuously undid his tie. The passion in her eyes caused him to shudder in response. The buttons of his shirt seemed to magically become undone and she caressed the shirt off of his shoulders. She had always admired men with broad shoulders and AJ's were strong and wide.

Mac had known that he kept in shape by running, they had even trained together for the JAGathon race, but she' never seen him without his shirt before. He was an impressive sight! His chest was well defined and covered with a thick patch of salt and pepper hair. Her fingers took delight in running through it and they both moaned when she found and stopped to play with his nipples.

"Sarah, please hurry and finish undressing me! I want to hold you in my arms!"

As she moved to comply, she asked, "Why are you calling me Sarah tonight?"

"Because Colonel Mackenzie is my Chief of Staff, Mac is my co-worker and friend, but Sarah is the woman I love, the one that lives in my dreams."

Sliding his belt out of his pants and tossing it to the floor she said, "I like that answer." Moments later she slid both his pants and boxers down his powerfully built legs as he toed off his shoes. If she had thought his chest was an impressive sight, she was awed by what she had just uncovered.

When she stood back up, he pulled her into a tight embrace. "You are so very beautiful," he sighed. "What did I ever do to deserve your love?"

"You mean other than being the most wonderful man in the world?" she asked nuzzling his neck.

"Yes, other than that," he answered with a chuckle.

"You are the kindest, most gentle man I've ever known," she told him with a sigh.

"Oh Sarah you deserve to be treated like that all the time and if you'll allow me to, I would gladly spend the rest of my life doing so."

"That sounded very much like a proposal…"

"It did? Imagine that!" he grinned and guided her to the bed. He drew her down with him until they lay side by side.

Mac looked him in the eyes before hugging him fiercely and saying, "I love you! I love you! I love you!"

Giving her that quirky smile of his that she loved so well, he asked, "What brought that on?"

"Now that I'm finally free to say it, I'm going to tell you so often that you'll get tired of hearing it!"

"Sarah you cold say it a hundred times a day and I'd never get tired of hearing it, because I love you too!"

"You know someone once told me that if you saved a dollar for every time you said 'I love you' during the first year that you are together and then took a dollar out each time you said it after that first year, that you would never run out of dollars to take out."

"That won't be true of us. I promise you that," and right there and then he made a mental note to do just that, put away a dollar for each time she told him she loved him and then each year on this date he would buy her a gift with the money. She would see that her prediction wouldn't hold true for them.

To be continued…..