Her jaw dropped. “You will not. You can use the other bathroom near the entryway.”
He folded muscular arms under his head, bringing her gaze to linger on his toned upper body. The sheet had slipped down over his midsection, and she could make out the outline of his penis under the fabric. It was obvious that Lamar slept in the nude.
“Don’t take too long,” he called after her when she made her way into the en suite bath.
Nydia managed to complete her morning ablution in record time, and when she returned to the bedroom she discovered Lamar wasn’t there. The numbers on the bedside table read 6:50. If she were still working for Wakefield Hamilton, she would have been showered and dressed and ready to walk out the door to take the express bus down to the Financial District. She had given up riding the subway to lower Manhattan after several groping incidents. She was in bed when Lamar returned in a pair of boxers. He got in next to her and brushed a light kiss over her lips. She tasted mint on his mouth, indicating he, too, had brushed his teeth.
“Did you sleep well?” she asked.
Lamar pulled her into his arms. “Like a baby.”
Nydia smiled. “Me, too.”
He sniffed her hair. “What kind of shampoo do you use? Your hair always smells wonderful.”
“It’s made with argan oil.”
She shifted to get into a more comfortable position, her arm resting over his flat belly. Nydia closed her eyes. Lying beside Lamar seemed the most natural thing to do, and she wondered what it was about this man that had changed her inside and out. She’d become a romance novel heroine and he her hero. Not only had she fallen in like with him, but she was also in love with Lamar Pierce. At that moment she experienced a sense of peace she never had before with a man with whom she had been involved, and in that instant if he had asked her to marry him again, she would have said yes.
“What are you thinking, sweets?”
“How happy I feel right now. I don’t think you realize how good you are to and for me.”
Lamar twirled a curl of her hair around his finger as his chest rose and fell in an even rhythm. He smiled. “I feel the same way. I’m glad I waited for someone like you to come into my life.”
“Has it been lonely for you, Lamar?”
“No. If it had been, then I would’ve looked for a woman to fill the void. I have Kendra and my work, and that is enough to keep me occupied during my waking hours.”
“How about at night? Didn’t you get tired of sleeping alone?”
“I did in the beginning. Being married to a flight attendant meant there were nights when I did go to bed alone, so I suppose I was used to it.”
“Do you miss her?”
Lamar’s fingers stilled. “There are times when I do, but I know I’ll never forget Valerie completely because whenever I look at Kendra I’m reminded of her.”
Nydia shifted again, straddled his body. “I don’t want you to forget her. And what I don’t want is for you to ever compare me to her, because I’ll always come in second. Valerie was your first love and the mother of your firstborn, and that is something I’ll never be able to duplicate.” She gasped when Lamar flipped her over onto her back.
“I don’t want to talk about Valerie.”
She met his eyes. “What do you want to talk about?”
The corners of his strong mouth tilted as he smiled. “Us. Just you and me, and what I want to do with you.”
Her smile matched his. “And what’s that?”
“This.”
Nydia did not have time to react when his hands searched up the top of her pajama set and with a minimum of effort pulled it over her head. She hadn’t realized she was holding her breath when he lowered his head and brushed his mouth over hers. She exhaled an audible breath as he placed tender kisses at the corners of her mouth before increasing the pressure until her lips parted.
Nydia felt as if she had been drugged by Lamar’s clean, masculine scent, the warmth of his lips tasting hers, and the invisible pull that made her aware of him as a man; a man she not only wanted but also needed. His hands sent tremors racing along her nerve endings when he moved lower to suckle her breasts. Desire, hot and uncontrollable, held her captive as passion thrummed between her thighs. She was ready for Lamar, ready for whatever the future held for them.
* * *
Lamar forced himself to go slowly as he opened the drawer of the bedside table on his side of the bed and removed a condom. He placed it on the pillow next to Nydia’s head. He prayed there would come a time when he would be able to make love to her without a barrier of latex between them, but that would only happen if they were married.
He relieved her of the floral pajama pants, tossing them at the foot of the bed. He couldn’t pull his gaze away from the perfection of her petite nude body. Lamar touched the faint scar on her right side with his forefinger. “I’ll try not to hurt you,” he whispered.
