Real Romance

chapter Twelve



Marie struck another match, wondering what on earth she was doing. But then David came up and nuzzled the back of her neck with his five o'clock stubble, and she knew exactly.

"Oh, David," she said, as little tingly kisses worked their way around the side of her neck, "you just... you just—"

"I know," he said, hungrily looking in her eyes. "You do it for me, too."

He laid his hands on either side of her glasses frames and gently tugged the turquoise wires from behind her ears.

"David," she said, her breath straining with the word. For heaven's sake, she couldn't even say his name without a million shivers racing down her spine. "I can't see a thing without those."

"Give me your hands," he said, whispering a kiss first onto one eyebrow, and then another.

Marie tightened her grip around his back.

"No," he commanded, with a fierce nibble to her neck. He raised his head and looked down into her eyes.

Even through her hazy vision, she could see him wanting her, needing her. She released her grasp and willingly surrendered her hands to his.

"What you can't see," he said, lowering her hands to the front of his jeans. "You can feel..."

Marie held her breath, as her heartbeat became a gallop.

He brought her hands around to his lean hips and held them there. "And, you can certainly hear..."

He paused and then put his mouth over hers and completely devoured her in a passionate kiss.

"Marie," he said, pulling back for a moment. "I have something very important to tell you."

And, this time, she wouldn't stop him. Because nothing in her entire life had felt so right, as she stood there holding him, unabashedly enjoying the feel of his muscular body.

"I'm glad I didn't tell you earlier, that you didn't let me," David said, his voice a low tremble. "Because then, it was only something I thought was coming..."

He pulled back his brow and swept loose strands of her hair behind her ears.

"Marie," he said, taking her chin in his hands, wanting so badly to kiss her, to dive into her sensuous fire once again—but knowing he needed to finish. "I've fallen in love with you."

She felt her knees buckle, but he lowered his strong arms and caught her around the waist, just in time.

"You look like you need to lie down," he whispered, giving her the softest kiss. "Which way is the bedroom?"

Marie didn't know what had happened to her voice, but it was gone. Or, maybe he'd scared it out of her with his sinful-as-sex, wet kisses.

He loved her? Loved her?

Her heart thumped loudly in response. No, it couldn't be. Not so soon after...

But then again, this felt nothing like Cecil, or Paul, or even eager Eddie, her very amorous date for the high school prom.

But, she ached in her very soul to believe this was love.

Fortunately, his safe supporting arms were still around her. "Ah... I do need to lie down."

He bent low to scoop her trembling knees into his left arm, but she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"David," she said, as he straightened to look in her misty eyes. "I don't know how, I don't know why... but I've fallen in love with you, too."

Through the mist, she saw him flash a smile, and then, quicker than she could blink, she was quite literally swept off her feet and carried down the hall.



David dropped Marie onto the cushiony goosedown duvet, then straightened to loosen his belt. Though she couldn't see the details of his features, she'd captured it all picture-perfect in her mind. His ocean blue eyes, his divinely lopsided grin, his gloriously golden, manly-smelling skin...

Marie reached up and caught the front of his jeans by the waistband.

"What's this?" he asked, as she tugged him forward.

"David Lake," she said, her voice taking on a sultry quality he'd never heard. "I'm ready."

David sucked in a breath as Marie unbuttoned his pants and yanked down his fly.

"Come here, David," she said, sliding her hands down into his jeans and under the band of his briefs. "I want to see you."

David exhaled and dropped his jeans to the floor, not sure his own knees would hold up during all this excitement.

"Wow!" he said, kicking off his shoes and the rest of his jeans and springing onto the bed. "Keep talking!"

"Oh, honey," she said, purring kisses into his chest as she unbuttoned his shirt. "You haven't heard anything yet."

David fell back on the bed in wonder. Ecstasy. Excitement, as she trailed kisses down his chest, stopping at his navel to tease it a little with her tongue.

Marie didn't know what was happening, or what had overcome her. All she knew was that she wanted him, and wanted him in the worst way.

She caressed his broad chest once more, exploring the muscles there, then trailed her fingers softly, slowly down the line of his belly.

"Marie, Marie," David moaned softly. "Oh... don't stop."

He sounded positively... out of control.

She was liking this a lot. Then she straddled him and slid one hand over his hard arousal, rubbing it gently through the soft cotton of his briefs. Taking the initiative again, she pulled them off, leaving him. naked except for his open shirt.

David sat up and pressed her lightly on the shoulders. "You have me at a disadvantage," he said, kissing the top of her head.

Marie looked down at her sweater dress, wadded up around her thighs, and knew he was right. She reached for his hands and brought them to her hemline, encouraging him to help her.

In one quick move, David had lifted the dress over her head and reached for the clasp at the back of her black lace bra, as her hair cascaded down around him in waves.

"Help me," he pleaded, unable to work the clasp to his hurried satisfaction.

She reached back behind her and undid her bra, shaking it loose so her ample breasts fell freely into David's waiting hands.

"Baby," he moaned, leaning forward to lick and nibble, caress and suckle, until her panties felt damp and she knew she'd have to remove them.

Marie climbed off of him and sat on the side of the bed to remove her pantyhose and high-cut underpants.

"Come," he said, quickly shucking his shirt. He pressed her down onto the bed, "it's my turn."

She lay back on the pillows as he crouched over her in that panther-like pose she now loved so well.

"Marie," he said, lowering sensual kisses to her neck, her lips, her breasts. "I do love you, I do."

He brushed his length against her, and she felt her insides clench with a desperate yearning to know more of him.

David lowered his hips to hers, supported himself on one elbow, then used his free hand to caress her breasts once more. He lightly pinched her erect nipples and rolled them until she cried out with pleasure. Then he brought his full warm mouth down upon each, in its turn, to arouse her even more.

"David," she said, shifting her hips, "I don't think I can wait..."

That was all the encouragement he needed to lower his hands to her hips, stroke her thighs, then slip a hand in between her legs. He inserted one finger and tested the wetness there with a tender skill.

"Oh," Marie cried out, feeling her body convulse. "Oh, oh..."

David slowly withdrew his touch, and parted her thighs, positioning himself to enter her.

She gripped her hands around his naked backside and pulled him into her—hard.

He began to move in a powerfully erotic rhythm and her whole world started to dissolve.

Marie arched her hips as David caressed her breast with one hand and cupped her bottom in the other. Then he began to ride her hard and fast.

"More!" she cried out, as he tightened his grip and lowered his mouth to hers.

Their tongues tangled, their teeth nipped, and he thrust harder, over and over again, sending her to one peak after another. Marie bit his shoulder, his neck, lost in passion... until they each cried out, a deep primitive sound that united them both and sent them spiraling into bliss.



David wrapped his arms around the sex goddess snuggled against his chest. He had suspected from the start there was more to Marie than met the eye, but he'd had no way of knowing she'd respond so ardently.

"Well. That was heaven on earth. What next?"

"Dunno," she murmured. "Let's do it again."

"You're insatiable."

"If you've got a better idea, I'd like to hear it," she said sleepily.

He ruffled her already tousled hair. "You're only half awake. How about a bedtime story?"

"Hmm. Just so long as it's not Silence In The Trees."

"Hell, no."

Something in his tone made Marie sit up partway, and study him for a long moment. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me you didn't like that book?"

David yanked up the sheet and buried his chin in the covers. "Guilty," he said, barely visible from his eyebrows up.

He lowered the blankets and gave a tentative smile. "Do you hate me?"

"Hate you? Oh, David! You nut," she said, giving him a playful shove. "Silence In The Trees was without question one of the most boring books I've ever read. But"—she stretched one long leg over his marvelously hairy calves, and snuggled closer—"I thought you liked it!"

"Well, honestly," he said, lightly caressing her arm. "It was a strain making it past chapter Two."

"But you said—"

"No, I didn't," he said, shaking his head. "I said I thought you'd like it. Hey, wait a minute!"

He tilted sideways and tried to meet her eyes. "Next, you're going to tell me you don't like reading Publishers Weekly either."

"I don't," she said, sounding indignant. "Except, of course, when business calls for it. I'm a bookstore manager, what do you think? I read all the journals, but that doesn't have to mean they're my idea of fun."

David swatted her on the bottom through the thick layer of bedclothes. "That's my girl! I knew you had better sense than that."

He cocked one eyebrow. "You prefer that steamy stuff—"

"Romance, David. It's called romance."

"Oh, right. I really liked the part where that buxom librarian and her friendly doc were getting, uh, romantic."

Marie grabbed him by the chin and looked up. "Admit it, big boy, you liked that book, didn't you?"

"Wellll..." He drew the word out, stalling for time.

"David Lake!" she said, releasing his chin and popping his shoulder. "You were really into it... I saw you. Anyway, what do you like to read?"

"Well, I've got another confession," he said, ducking back under the blankets. "And this one, I don't think you're going to like as much."

He couldn't see her troubled look.

"I don't read much," his muffled voice said through the covers. "Not really." He peeped out into the darkness, expecting a verbal assault. "That is, unless you count the sports section of the newspaper."

He was sure that she'd be angry, that she'd discount him as a worthless fraud. But instead, she burst out laughing.

"Oh, David, I'm so glad."

"Glad? That I'm not well-read or—"

"David," she said, patting his chest, "I like you just the way you are." The fact that he wasn't into pretentious modern literature made him even more attractive than she'd found him to begin with. And to think, at one time she'd compared him to that unmentionable man now in New York.

David sighed and hugged her tighter. "Well, I'm glad that little mix-up with Cecil didn't do any lasting damage."

Marie wriggled out of his grasp and sat bolt upright in bed, clutching the blankets to her chest. "What mix-up? What are you talking about?"

"Well, I might as well tell you," he said, reaching over to massage her arm. "Now that we have an understanding."

She scooted over on the bed and withdrew from his reach.

"Hey," he said, his hand suspended in the darkness.

"David, tell me the truth. The whole truth, this time, about you and Cecil."

"Huh?"

"David," she said sternly, as if she were scolding a child.

"It's nothing," he said quickly. "Nothing, I swear. I didn't know the guy from Adam when I walked into the cafe looking for you. And then we got to making conversation. He, oh, brought me my coffee. I asked if he knew you, but he... what I mean is, he told me he had a way... that literary types liked him."

Marie humphed, but he continued. "Then he offered—I swear, I didn't ask—some recommendations on things I could read, an approach I could take to get a women like you interested."

"Like me, specifically?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Holy cow... I mean, oh, boy. I mean, no, absolutely not."

She narrowed her eyes and wished she had her glasses.

"You don't think," he said, "I would have actually mentioned you by name? That I was interested, I mean? But I was. Boy, oh, boy, was I. From the moment you walked into my—"

"David," she said, unfolding her arms and crawling back over to him, "you can stop babbling now. I forgive you."

He lay there, feeling a little stunned, as she perched like a lioness and clambered on top of him.

"But I—" he said, as she began to tug down the sheet, "I just wanted a chance to explain."

"Don't worry," she said, stripping him naked on the bed. "I understand. It was natural. You figured since he was my boyfriend he'd—"

David reached up and put his hands on her shoulders. "Boyfriend?"

Marie settled her bare derriere on his thighs. "Didn't you know?" she asked innocently.

"I—uh—boyfriend? No way! When I asked you..."

"Guilty," she said, feeling anything but. "I guess we've both told our fair share of little white lies."

She looked down and spread her hands on his beautifully solid chest. He was without a doubt the handsomest man she'd known.

"Forgive me?" she asked, wriggling sensually.

"Oh, God, Marie," he said, grabbing her hips, "anything. Anything at all."