She lifted the heavy arm away from her and moved slowly so as not to awaken Chad. He was sleeping soundly. Leigh slid to the edge of the bed, yawned broadly, and then stood up. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that she hadn’t disturbed him. The brass clock on the bedside table indicated that they had been asleep for over an hour.
The lush carpet absorbed her footfalls as she crossed the room and peered over the back of the loveseat to check on Sarah. She was still huddled in her crouch and sleeping peacefully. A bead of saliva rolled down her chin. Leigh smiled tenderly, her heart constricting with love.
She went back to the bed. Chad’s slow, even breathing told her he was still deep in slumber. His face was relaxed, the lines around his eyes less evident. His hair was boyishly mussed. He was a model of masculine beauty.
Leigh felt a mischievous demon prod her as she gazed at Chad’s tranquil face. She eyed her pillow speculatively. The temptation was too strong to resist. Picking it up, she raised it high. It was on its rapid descent to his head when his arm shot up and caught it in midair.
Leigh stifled a startled scream and scampered away from the bed. In one athletic lunge Chad was off the bed and after her. He tackled her in the middle of the room, toppling them both to the carpet.
“Thought you had me unawares, didn’t you?” he asked, rolling her onto her back beneath him.
“I’m sorry, Chad, I’m sorry. Oh, no, p
lease,” she pleaded as he started tickling her. “Chad, no.”
“Apologies will get you nowhere.” His hands were everywhere. She batted at them until her own hands were pinned on either side of her head by iron fists. They laughed together, breathing heavily from overexertion. Her breasts rose and fell with each gasping breath. The laughter gradually quieted as they were made aware of each other, of the sexuality that each of them exuded, of the heat of their bodies, of the desire that surged between them.
They became still save for the deep breathing. Their eyes locked, then dropped at the same time to each other’s mouth. They stared. Chad’s tongue came out to wet his lips. Leigh wet hers, and their eyes came together again. His hands released her wrists to hold her head, sifting through the coppery strands that glinted against the dark carpet. Her hands lifted to close around his head, to touch with loving fingers the hair that lay against his shirt collar. He moved, transmitting a message to her with his body. The message was received and acknowledged with an answering movement.
Wordlessly he collapsed atop her and fastened onto her mouth rapaciously. Her tongue met his in an erotic skirmish as her arms folded across his shoulders. Holding her tightly, his mouth still on hers, he rolled them over and over on the floor, their legs entangled.
Coming to rest with Leigh lying over him, he frantically sought the buttons of her blouse. They fell free one by one in spite of his clumsy fumblings between passion-laden kisses.
When all were undone, he lifted his head to caress with his lips the swell of her breasts above her bra, dragging his tongue across the creamy expanse, stopping at intervals to brand her tender flesh with a fiery kiss. Her fingers twined in his hair and pulled him against her.
When he had tantalized her past endurance, he unclasped her bra and moved it aside. He watched her face as his hands caressed her gently, kneading her breasts as they lay full and feminine in his hands.
With the least persuasion of his fingertips, her nipples hardened. Infinitely careful lest he hurt her, he rolled them gently between his fingers.
“Does that feel as good to you as it does to me?” he asked in a seductive whisper.
The throaty murmur that escaped her lips became a beseeching whimper. Raising his head, he soothed the swollen buds with solicitous lips and tongue and, at the same time, satisfied his own need for her.
Her blouse hung on either side of his head as he drew on her sweetly. The metered flexing of his mouth pulled at her heartstrings. A floodgate was lifted and she was inundated with more love for this man than she had known herself capable of.
His hands slipped under her skirt and half-slip to glide up her thighs and over her bottom. Hooking his thumbs under the elastic of her panty hose, he pulled them down her legs. She completed the procedure when he eased her onto her back. The garment was negligently kicked free.
Leigh now became the aggressor. While Chad braced himself above her, she tugged the shirt from his waistband and unbuttoned it. Then, with fingers made daring by consuming passion, she unfastened his jeans and glided them over his hips. With eager hands they explored each other’s most intimate places.
“I want you so much, Leigh. So much, darling,” he groaned.
“Yes, Chad. Oh God, yes.”
He let his arms fold beneath him as he lowered his body onto her. A mutual sigh of gratification spiraled above them as he possessed her.
Long, glorious minutes later, they lay replete on the carpet, a heap of wrinkled clothing with arms and legs and two heads that seemed disinclined to separate.
“You look downright unkempt,” he observed teasingly.
“Do you mind?”
“You could be naked and I wouldn’t mind.” They laughed at the irony of that statement. “How long do you think Sarah will let this debauchery go on?”
“We’re on borrowed time already. She’ll be ready for her supper before too long.”
“Do we have time for a bath?”
She moved her head to look up at him. “A bath?”