She smiled at him. “You love him,” she said. “Already.”
I love him,” he agreed. “And I love you. So why are you a bundle of nerves?”
She rose gracefully to her feet and put her arms around his waist. He rubbed her back. “Talk to me, Teresa,” he said. “What are you thinking that’s got you so tense? Are you having second thoughts about marrying me? No one would blame you if you did. Not even me.”
“I am worried that you would regret it,” she said. “I’m worried that you’re doing this because you think it’s the right thing to do, because I’m the mother of your child, and you think I need you. I have learned through this that I can take care of myself, Ryan. I only want us to marry because we love each other and are committed to each other. Not because you feel obligated to rescue me.”
Ryan was silent for a moment, continuing to rub her back. “I think you are rescuing me, as much as I am rescuing you,” he said. “I am a mess you know?”
She smiled. But he could still feel the tension in her body.
“And what else?” he asked.
“I’m afraid I won’t please you, Ryan,” she said, her accent stronger in her stress. “That I won’t be enough to make you happy. I’m not experienced. I don’t know all the things your other partners probably knew.”
“And thank God for it,” he murmured against her hair as he held her.
“Possibly,” she agreed, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “But I have gained weight. I have the body of a mother now, and I am afraid I won’t please you.”
Ryan pulled her close enough that she could feel what she did to him just from being held.
“It isn’t about you pleasing me,” Ryan said slowly. This was important, and he had to get it right. “This is about pleasure, your pleasure, my pleasure, our pleasure together. Do you really think if you kiss me here,” and he pointed to the corner of his mouth, “and I was hoping for a kiss here,” and he pointed to his lower lip, “that you will have somehow disappointed me? I will just say, kiss me again, Teresa.”
She giggled.
“We do know some things that give pleasure,” he said. “I know that you like this.” He used his thumb to rub over her nipple, teasing it until it has a hard nub. She looked at him through half-lowered lids. “And you think, huh, if he likes to do that to me, maybe he would like it, too.”
And he took her hand and put it on his chest, and she used her thumb as he had, and she smiled as his reaction.
“Pleasure,” he repeated. “There are some things I know I don’t like: sharp pointy things near my butt, for instance,” and he was rewarded with her laughter. “But most things? Teresa, I love the way you touch me, I love the way you feel and respond when I touch you. There is no one way you have to do it and get it right, or I will be disappointed. You just have to love me.”
“And no sharp pointy things,” she said solemnly, her eyes twinkling.
He grinned at her. And then he kissed her. It started out gently. He was tired, she was tired. They had a son sleeping just feet away. He wanted a shower. And he wanted their first time together, this time together, to be right for her, and for them. Then he kissed her. He kissed her along her hairline, around her forehead, and then down to her eyebrows. Along her cheekbones. Her jawline. It was almost like a meditation, he thought. A chance to reacquaint himself with the delicate features of this beloved person. He nibbled on her lips, teased them with his tongue. She opened her mouth to him, but instead of entering her mouth, he teased her tongue into his, letting her set the pace of exploring his mouth.
She was timid at first. Shy. They’d been apart for over three years, he reminded himself. And although he would never ask, he didn’t think there had been anybody for her during that time. So, he let her explore. Let her taste him. Let her be the aggressor, as sweet and gentle aggressor as he had ever experienced. That thought amused him.
She felt it. “What?” she asked, pulling her mouth away.
“You’re so sweet,” he said honestly. He touched a finger to her lips. “What do you want, Teresa? I’m putting you in charge, here. Say the word, and we’ll do showers, and go to bed and sleep. You tell me. We can curl up together and tease each other until we’re both squirming with need, and then? If you want to wait? That’s OK, too, and we can make each other want tomorrow night too.”
“I would never do that!” She said scandalized. Then she looked at him when he laughed.
“Wanting can be good in itself,” he said. “Frustration gives a man something to look forward to. We take this slow and easy, if that’s what you want, Teresa.”
“And if I want it fast and hard, and now?” she whispered.
He kissed her. And the kiss was fast and hard and left no doubts about what he wanted, right now. She clung to him, and she was smiling when he lifted his mouth from hers.
“Sí,” she said. “That’s what I want, mi amor.”
He grinned, a bit devilishly. “We’ll see,” he said. “See if you can have what you want — without waking Rafael.”
She looked at her son, and then at her lover. “We’ll see who finds that most challenging,” she said laughing.
And he kissed her. He stripped off her clothes, and then his. He found the foil packet in his wallet that he’d tucked in there with great
