Chapter Forty-Eight

Moonlight slanted through the window and across the long line of her back.  Her hair was spread in a dark wave across the pillow.  Richie traced his fingers lightly up and down, unable to stop touching her.  He couldn’t say he had ever taken an interest in a woman’s back before.  He had always been a boob guy, but the vision of her in that damn gold dress she had worn a month ago had him changing his favored female body part.  His fingers drifted up to toy with a lock of her hair.  Apparently he was no longer partial to blondes either.  

His fingers slid lower again, and around to cup her breast, to tease her nipple.  He marveled at her body’s response to his touch even when she was asleep.  Her nipple puckered and goose bumps blossomed along her skin as he caressed and stroked.  The silvery light of the moon through the window sparkled along her skin and he saw the slight movement even as he felt her hand close over his.

“Richie.”  His name rolled off her lips in  a soft, sleepy whisper.

He dipped his head, pressing his lips to her shoulder.  “Shhh” he replied as his lips roamed across to her neck.

She rolled to face him, their lips met in a tender, heated kiss.  Her hand slid across the warm, broad expanse of his chest.  She levered up on her elbow, her hair spilling to the side and her hand braced on his chest.  “You have so little hair” she murmured as her fingers caressed absently.  Mark had had a chest full that arrowed down and across his belly.  Richie had about ten on his chest and an even sparser amount on his stomach.

He chuckled quietly.  “Does that bother you?”  He tugged her gently, their legs tangling under the sheets until she was draped across him.

She shook her head and pressed her lips to the side of his neck.  “Not in the least.”  She closed her eyes.  This was not the time to be thinking about Mark or making comparisons.  Sliding lower, she pressed her lips to his chest and heard his sharp inhale as her hair slithered along his skin.  “It’s orchids.  Midnight orchid” she said quietly as her tongue found a coppery male nipple.

“Mmmm.  What was that?”  He was sure she had said something but he had no idea what.  Her mouth could be very distracting.

Stephanie picked her head up and looked at him.  “You asked me earlier about my perfume.”

His brows beetled together in a question.

“When you walked in the door, before you kissed me senseless, you asked me what it was.  It’s Midnight Orchid.”

“Oh” he remembered as he pulled her down to him again and kissed her.  “It’s my favorite of all the ones you wear.”

She smiled against his mouth.  “I could tell.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded her head again, “Yeah.  You keep smelling me.”

He nuzzled into her neck and inhaled again.  “I can’t help it.  You smell damned good.”  His hand slid down between them, finding its way between her thighs.  She gasped as those too-talented fingers brought her to the edge of orgasm and then retreated only to end up in his mouth.  “You taste damned good too.”

Their conversation faded and their kisses and touches grew more frenzied.  He pulled her on top of him once more and reached for the night table.  Her hand closed around the foil packet first and, sliding back on his thighs, she rolled the latex down over his more than impressive erection.

Rising up on her knees, she took him in hand and slowly lowered herself onto him.  The size of him hadn’t worried her.  Mark had been a big man too.   It was the feeling of him inside her that brought her the greatest pleasure.  She had never thought she’d feel this sense of completeness again.  Never thought she’d find another man who could mean so much to her again.

Richie curled himself up, wrapping her legs around his waist and holding her on his lap as she gradually took him inside.  His lips trailed down the slim column of her throat, her quiet purrs music to his soul.  He lost his hands in the long fall of hair down her back, lost himself in the one woman who felt more right in his arms than any had before.   

 
Locked together in the middle of the bed in the deep of the night, they rocked together, giving and taking, pushing each other until all they could do was hold on as release slid through her and rolled into him, leaving them sated and satisfied.

~

Pushing at her hair, Stephanie stood and paced to the window.  Richie had left to go work out and meet with Jon and she had been trying to work.  She couldn’t concentrate.  She crossed from the window to the bedroom.  The bed was still rumpled from sleep and sex.  She sat on the edge and picked up a pillow, bringing it to her face.   She could still smell him there.  Holding the pillow she fell back across the bed.  Her feelings were all jumbled and she didn’t know what to do with them. 

How could she possibly feel like this for another man?  Mark was supposed to have been her one and only, wasn’t he?  She stared at the ceiling.  How could she possibly love another man?   She shook her head.  It couldn’t be love.  It was just…she sighed.  She liked Richie, a lot obviously otherwise she never would have slept with him.  The attraction between them had been too strong to ignore, but love him?  No way.  It had to be a serious case of like on her part.  She had given her heart and those three words to one man and vowed “all the days of her life” to love him and just because his life was over didn’t mean her vow ended, did it?

Frustrated at her lack of answers, she sat up and hurled the pillow toward the headboard.  She was going to make herself gray and crazy at this rate.  She needed to set this aside, stop thinking about it for awhile and hit the shower.  Richie was going to be back soon and she wanted to be dressed and ready to go when he did.

The knock on the door came sooner than she expected.  Wearing only her jeans and a burgundy push up bra, she crossed the room to answer the door.  “Hi.”  Her eyes met his and she felt more settled, less confused.  Maybe it would be love after all.

Richie leaned in and bussed her cheek.  “Hi yourself sweetheart.”  He scanned her up and down, “as much as I like what you’re not wearing, you might want to put a shirt on.  It’s cold outside.”  He turned her into his arms, “and in case you didn’t know, I don’t share well with others.” 

She chuckled, “and here I thought this was an appropriate rock concert outfit.  Damn it.”

He laughed.  “For a private concert, absolutely.”  He walked them into the living area.  “I thought you’d be ready to go by now.”

“So did I” she told him as they sat on the couch together.  “I lost track of time after you left.  I just need a few more minutes.”  She pressed her lips to his cheek and stood to head back to the bathroom. 

He followed her.  “Where’s your ticket for tonight?”  He watched as she pulled on her shirt and fixed her hair. 

“It’s in my purse.  Why?”

He held up a finger, “can you get it for me?  I want to see where you’re sitting.”

She dug in her purse and handed the print out to him.  “I told you, it’s a craptastic behind the stage seat.  I hope you’re wearing tight pants tonight.”  She finished up in the bathroom and came out to sit on the edge of the bed to pull her boots on.

He looked from the ticket to her face.  “This is a shitty seat” he told her and then ripped the paper in half. 

“Richie!”   She couldn’t believe he just ripped her ticket in half.  Now what was she going to do?  There were no tickets left for the concert.  She was about to let him have it but he stopped her.

He held up a hand to stop her from yelling at him.  “You deserve a better seat sweetheart.”  And before she could say anything more he pulled something from his pocket and slipped it over her head.  “I know you have a pit ticket for tomorrow night, but for tonight, you won’t have to look at any of our asses.  You can see the show from wherever you want.  Preferably down front so I can see you.”

Trembling fingers lifted the pass and held it up to her eyes.  “Oh my God.”  All the mad went out of her.  She had an all access pass hanging around her neck.  She threw herself into his arms, peppering his face with kisses.  “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

He laughed and kissed her back.  “Your welcome.  If you had told me you wanted to come, you wouldn’t have had to pay money for a ticket you know.”  He stared down into her face, “that goes for any show you might want to come see.”

“But I can afford to buy my own tickets and I really don’t mind.”  She looked at the torn paper where it lay on the floor.  “I’ve actually had worse seats than that and didn’t mind.  At least I was in the building.”

He took her hands and brought them to his lips.  Yep, he was totally in love with this woman.  “As long as we’re together, you don’t have to spend your money to come see me play sweetheart.”  Letting go of one of her hands he picked up the pass, “this is good for the entire tour.  Just don’t lose it.”

She shook her head.  She’d keep it under lock and key.  Right after she took a picture of it so she could show her friends.