Her grin widened as she leaned forward and put her head on mine. “No, that makes you crazy.”
“Ahh,” I whispered as I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulling her closer to me. “Then I don’t even have to ask, I’m used to being crazy for you.”
“Is that so?” she asked as her lips hovered over mine.
“It is.” I leaned in to kiss her neck.
“
Uhhh,” She moaned and ran her fingers through my hair as my hand moved to the zip down the back of her dress. “Malachi…”
“Hmmm?” I asked against her skin. Kissing her chest, I pulled down her bra.
“We…we made it another day.”
I pulled back to look up at her.
She continued speaking. “This morning you—I was worried, and now we’re here together again.”
The sincerity in her voice, how relieved she was, it hurt. Knowing she’d spent the day like I did, worrying if this was the end. For all the strength she demanded of me and us, deep down she was scared. Tucking my arm under her legs I lifted her up and took her towards the bedroom. Walking across the hardwood floor I laid us both in the center of her bed.
“You’re right, we made it,” I whispered, though a voice spoke out in the back of my mind to remind me that anything could happen at any point in time. However, I’d never given in to that fear before and I wouldn’t give in to it now, not with her in my arms. “So, let’s celebrate now, tomorrow, every night for the rest of our long lives.”
Bending over, I kissed right above her breast, over her heart and continued to work my way down from there.
ESTHER
Stop? Think straight? Did they not know that loving her was never an option I chose? Like flowers that bloom in the spring and leaves that drop in fall, it was uncontrollable, it was my nature. I put no conscious effort into it. I could only love her and be forever honored by the love she gave me in return. My love for her ached from the core of my being and spread outward to the rest of me. It kept me warm in frozen waters and cool in scorching lands. I was sure if they cut me open I’d bleed love for her. If any man should love, I’d warn them to do so with the utmost caution, for they would no longer be men but slaves. And slavery is contrary to every man’s philosophy. It was madness. But what is love if not madness? Tell me what other emotion drives a man to betray his basic instinct to survive? Where no rational thought mattered if it did not contain her. From the first moment our eyes met, I knew that I belonged to her. And yet it was her who had first declared she was mine in body, soul, and mind, chaining her heart to my heart, and cementing our love to infinity. Love is the butterfly in Pandora’s box.
He’d written those words in his first novel, The Woman I Love, and when I’d read it, it made my heart race and had left me breathless. Now I was laying naked beside him as the woman he loved.
“How much longer are you going to stare?” he murmured, even though his eyes were shut in the darkness of my room. Reaching over to him, I brushed his hair from his eyes, causing him to look at me.
“Until I physically cannot keep my eyes open any longer,” I whispered back. He said nothing for what felt like hours and his eyelids closed once more, allowing me to see his long eyelashes again. I reached out to touch him again but he caught my hand.
“I’m begging you, Esther…” He licked his lips.
“For what?” I asked when he didn’t go on.
“Mercy,” he replied. “I’m begging you for mercy. I can feel you tugging at my heart, it’s already yours. I’m already yours. But when I look into your eyes, I feel as though you are begging me for more and I’m at a loss as to what else to give you.”
“M…Montana.” My voice cracked but I said it. I said what I wanted. His eyes opened and I repeated it. “I want Montana. I want to make love to you every night and steal your breakfast in the morning. I want to talk about nothing and about everything…Let’s go back.”
He reached up and placed his head on my face before he bent over and kissed my forehead. With a snicker, he said, “So unmerciful.”
Smiling I wrapped my arms around his bare chest. “You’re free to make demands too.”
“I demand,” he whispered as he rolled me onto my back and hovered between my legs, allowing me to feel him pressed up against me, “all of you…forever.”
“Body, mind, and soul…ohh!” I arched my back and gasped as he thrust inside of me.
MALACHI
She snored softly, her hair a mess around her face as she turned onto her side and rolled into a ball. Reaching over, I brushed her hair aside and kissed her forehead.
“Beloved,” I whispered above her.
She grinned and rubbed her eyes as she woke up. “I smell food.”