She turned to face him and smiled. “You just need to perfect the brewing process.”
“Maybe I should take lessons from you.” He smiled back.
“That would be a first, me teaching you something.”
His eyes darkened. “You have no idea how much you’ve taught me, Natasha.” He spoke with a real seriousness to his voice before moving closer to her, making her flush for some reason.
She thought back to etiquette lessons at school where she’d been a rather impressive student, a natural lady is what Miss Priory-Reece had said about Natasha Bailey. She didn’t imagine etiquette lessons formed part of the curriculum in every school, but when you went to an expensive, private girl’s school they were looking to produce ladies of the future, not just GCSEs. In fact, if you didn’t get any GCSEs but were a lady, you could marry well and send your own daughters there. Jim had seriously broken the rules by entering the invisible circle around her that represented her personal space. She could feel his breath warming and then cooling on her skin, he was so close. She breathed heavily and when he reached round to remove the clip from her hair she swallowed hard. Her knees were shaking, she could feel it. Is this what make up sex would be like with Jim? If the anticipation was anything to go by she may pick a fight on a daily basis. He was leaning in further now, so close that his lips were close enough to kiss, but she made no move to kiss him, she just looked at him, watching her. Her knees had gone beyond shaking now and she really did feel like this was her first time, first time ever, with anyone.
“Tasha,” whispered Jim now as he pushed her hair behind her ears. “Tasha,” he repeated as his hands moved down over her cheeks and cupped her face, tilting her chin up slightly before moving in to kiss her, gently, tenderly.
His arms wrapped around her. She was so wrapped within them she would have believed he’d grown extra limbs.
“Tasha,” he whispered as his lips gently mouthed her ear.
She wasn’t sure why he kept saying her name, but it wasn’t a question or a request for a response from her. It was almost as though he was reminding himself that she was there, that she was his. Her towel was missing now and she seriously thought her knees were going to buckle beneath her, but as if sensing this, Jim lifted her up and carried her towards the bed. He placed her down gently, almost as though he was handling a precious, delicate, priceless artefact. He lay beside her and stroked his hands across her, starting from her head all the way to her toes and back up again. Every hair on her body stood on end and her skin felt as though it was being lifted from her body, she had never felt so alive. He then replaced his hands with his lips and his tongue. He kissed her, gently exploring her mouth and even though he traced his kisses lower he kept returning to her mouth.
This wasn’t just sex, not the sex that they had. There was very little conversation or talking, which was always present for them, but they were communicating on a deeper level, an emotional level. This was making love. It wasn’t just a pseudonym for sex, it was real, it existed and it was this. Jim snaked down her body again until he was nestled between her legs, preparing to lower his mouth to her delicate folds that were already soft and moist. Was this supposed to be part oflove makingbecause oral sex had always been more about sex than love in her experience, but as he gently aroused her with just his mouth she knew this was definitely part of their love making. She felt the familiar sensation low inside her body, building, climbing and ready to break, but as her release arrived it was different; intense, but not in a screaming, clawing the sheets kind of way. She had been almost silent, just a single whimper left her lips.
“Tasha,” she heard him say again as he made his way back up her body to kiss her waiting lips, exploring her mouth gently, but purposefully.
He hovered above her for a few seconds before settling his hips between her legs. He gently eased into her, causing her to let out a low whine, something between a cry and a moan. He was barely moving and yet she could feel everything, slow and precise, rocking against her, touching her in exactly the right place, in just the right way.
“James,” she called in a whisper before his mouth was on hers again. Whilst he usually devoured her with his mouth this was different, he was almost caressing her lips and tongue with his. His whole body was doing something to and for her, something she couldn’t quite place or name for a few seconds and then it occurred to her. He was loving her, really loving her, but there was more, more than she’d ever felt with anyone. He was cherishing her. Maybe that’s why husbands promised to cherish their wives in the traditional wedding service.
His pace increased slightly and she could feel everything inside her was contracting and pushing her closer to a climax, so sweet, but almost painful, and as it began to build and build she could feel tears ready to breach the dams of her eyes. She loved this man like nobody she’d ever known. She thought about Gail again and felt bereft at the mere thought of being without him which did nothing to keep her tears at bay, quite the opposite. As the tears fell, she came with a moan and clung to him like a limpet as he stilled inside her and cried her name once more.
He moved so that he was lying next to her on the bed and bent down to brush away her tears and kissed her again.
“Are you okay?” he asked, still obviously concerned by her emotional state.
“Yes, fine,” she replied a little hoarsely.
“I appear to have made you cry again, baby. You may need to stop doing that or I will think you don’t like the things we do.” He held her tightly.
“I think we both know that I more than like it and I may have contributed to that too, but it was all very intense, emotional.” She ran her hand across his abdomen, moving up until it rested on his chest. “I don’t want you to die and leave me,” she told him on a choked sob.
He made no reply, he just held her against him for a while and she knew that he’d felt it like she had. He loved her, she knew that, but she really had felt it. Her final words must have made very little sense without him knowing the context of her emotional state courtesy of Gail and yet he accepted her words and the meaning behind them. She assumed he’d put it down to their age difference and the likelihood that he would die before her. That thought alone caused another sob to leave her body that he pulled in tighter, comforting her.
She smiled inwardly at the sense of love and belonging she felt whilst held within the warmth of his arms. When she’d told Mickie that Jim had screwed her, but that was not an exclusive club, she’d meant it, still did, but now she felt sure she had just joined a most exclusive club. Her hands were on the move again, making their way to his hair. As she ran her fingers through it she kissed him as gently as he’d kissed her. She knew he needed to feel as loved by her as she’d needed it from him. He needed to feel that they were okay, that she’d moved past his deceit regarding Mickie. That she had in some way forgiven if not forgotten and she was determined to show him exactly that.
Chapter 14
Tasha was just stirring from a brief nap after their second bout of love making when a freshly showered Jim appeared and smiled down at her. “Shall we go out for dinner, wherever you want?”
She shrugged, unsure if she was ready to move from the bed never mind going out for dinner. “Or we could stay in and order pizza.”
“I offer you dinner at any restaurant in town and you choose pizza at home.”
“I have very simple tastes.” She stretched out like a cat. “Plus, I thought we should probably put some thought into getting married before Lizzie and Pippa select their own designer bridesmaid dresses.”
“You still plan on marrying me then?” he said as a question and a statement.
“I have no intention of marrying anyone else or letting anyone else marry you, so that would be a definite yes.” She allowed herself a small and genuine grin that seemed to give Jim the final reassurance he needed that things were okay between them.
“That is a date then, Natasha. What do you want on your pizza?” He sounded more confident now, confirming that her reassurance had been necessary.
“Meat or vegetables are fine, but no fish, nor fruit.” She pulled a distasteful expression at the idea of fish or fruit on her pizza.
