“I know the feelin’, darlin’,” Mark said, wrapping his arms around her from behind in a now-practiced move.
Addy leaned back in his arms, comforted in a way she never would have imagined only a few weeks before. She shouldn’t feel this way after knowing Mark for only two months. She shouldn’t have let him stay in Mel’s apartment with her. But Mel and Matt were at this moment on their honeymoon in a cozy cabin somewhere near Gatlinburg, and she didn’t want to be alone tonight.
She thought of the rest of the men in the apartments below. The original owner of the building—who had been living on the first floor—had decided to sell it to Uncle Bart after all when the second floor tenant had moved out. Luke and John were staying on the second floor, now, and Uncle Bart had moved into the first floor apartment. What her living arrangements would be once Mel and Matt got back was still up in the air, but for one week, she was going to explore what she and Mark might have together.
Addy hugged his arms about her and sighed.
“I shouldn’t be here with you,” she whispered, “but I can’t seem to care. I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
“I’m glad,” he said, kissing the side of her neck, “’cause I want you here with me, too.”
She sighed and turned in his arms, wrapping hers around his neck and laying her head on his broad chest. She might have been content to stand that way all night, but as his lips began to explore her neck and move to her jaw, she raised her face and brought her lips to his. Her mouth opened under his prompting, and their kiss deepened until his arms were the only thing keeping her from melting into the floor.
When he shifted to return his exploration to her neck and throat, she tipped back her head to give him open access.
“I don’t know about you, darlin’” he murmured, “but I don’t think we’ll be sleepin’ in separate beds tonight.”
“I hope not,” she said on a gasp, as his tongue explored a sensitive place along her collar bone.
Mark chuckled and brought his lips back to hers.
“I’m thinkin’ we’re a little too exposed out here in the livin’ room, too,” he said between kisses.
Addy felt herself blush, and she would have pulled away from him and the front window, if Mark hadn’t been holding her so tightly. He laughed and lifted her into his arms.
“Just like Scarlet O’Hara,” she murmured dreamily as he headed for the bedroom.
“Except I don’t think I’d make it up a flight of stairs,” Mark said on a laugh.
She giggled, until he set her down at the foot of the bed and went back to work, kissing her fiercely. She kissed him back, trying desperately to get her hands beneath his shirt so she could touch him. He was still wearing the jeans and sweater he had changed into before getting into the car, but the t-shirt beneath was tucked snuggly into his jeans.
“Easy, darlin’,” he whispered, letting go of her just long enough to pull his shirttail free. Then her hands were on him, molding his torso, feeling the hard, smooth contours of his muscular chest. When her fingers found his nipples, he jumped and pulled her hands away.
“That’s for me to do, sweetheart,” he said, trapping her arms behind her back with one hand while he used the other to pull the front of her robe open and went to work on the buttons on her nightgown.
Then she felt both garments slip away, and she froze as the night air found her bare breasts. No man had ever seen her like this, and she was both embarrassed and excited as never before. She was breathing hard, her breasts heaving, and she could see by the street light leaking around the drapes that he was staring at her with bright eyes.
Mortified, she pulled away, grabbing at her nightgown and robe.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
“Addy?”
She took a deep, fortifying breath. “I…I’m sorry.”
“You haven’t anythin’ to be sorry for, darlin’. I think maybe I should be apologizin’ to you, though. I thought you wanted…”
“No!” She was crying now, almost frantic with needs twisting inside of her. She felt herself tingling with the first onset of a Shift, and she angrily grabbed at her hair, using the pain to keep her in the now.
“Just tell me what you want, Addy,” he said, his words a gentle balm to her frantic nerves.
“I want you!” she cried. “Only I’ve never done this before, and I’m bound to make a mess of it!”
She heard his sigh, and was startled to hear relief rather than frustration in it.
“Then I should be apologizin’ to you, darlin’,” he said, taking her gently by the shoulders. “I can’t say I’m the most experienced buck around, but I know better than to treat you like I just did your first time out.”
Mark turned her to him once more and tenderly brushed the hair back from her face. He smiled.
“I remember the first time I saw you. Your hair was this wild, jumbled mess, soft as a kitten and the color of summer wheat.”
Addy felt herself blush again and dropped her eyes.
“I used to cut it myself.”