The Colonel's Baby Page 8

  Trenton drew a sharp breath. “Dea,” he whispered.

  Goddess. I closed my eyes as waves of desire washed over me. No one had ever called me so beautiful a name. My heart fell a little more for him.

  He reached out a hand, leading me to the bed. Tugging gently, he made me sit on the edge of the bed then knelt between my legs. I began to tremble, looking down at him. His blue eyes were fastened on the spot at the apex of my thighs. Gently, he rested his hands on my thighs, easing them apart so that he could look at my flesh fully.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he breathed. “I’ve never wanted to taste someone as badly as I want to taste you.”

  I nodded, unable to speak at the moment. If I opened my mouth, I’d probably be begging him for things that I wasn’t sure about.

  Trenton raised himself to kneel between my spread legs. He cupped my cheek, drawing me down for a soft kiss. I gripped his wrists, kissing him back. Heat unfurled in my belly, pooling in the center of my body. I wanted him to touch me. Did I ask? Dare I demand? I wouldn’t beg.

  It turned out that I didn’t need to do any of that. He leaned forward and began pressing kisses against my neck and chest, working his way down to my breasts. I sighed in pleasure as his warm mouth worked its magic on my heated flesh. How was it that he seemed to know how to touch me to make me feel so good? Until tonight, we’d done nothing more than kiss but he knew what I wanted without me having to say it. Which was nice since I didn’t really know what I wanted except that I needed something from him that I couldn’t quite name.

  I ran my fingers through his short hair as he drew on my nipples. Further down, another part of me throbbed and wept for his attention as well. Trenton’s hands trailed down my sides. I jumped, laughing when he tickled me.

  “So you’re ticklish too, huh?” he teased me, grinning.

  “Sometimes,” I said, brushing his hands away.

  Gently, he lay me back on the bed. Instantly, I felt my chest tighten in trepidation. I waited for him to crush me with his big body, hold me down and-

  Instead, he moved to lie beside me. Slowly, he drew his hand down my body. Lower, lower still until he just brushed me there. He lifted his eyes to meet my gaze.

  “It’s okay?” he whispered.

  I nodded slowly.

  “Are you sure? We can stop anytime you want.”

  Tears pricked at the backs of my eyes as tenderness for this man swelled inside me. He was so sweet. I took his hand and placed it over my trembling flesh. Both of us sighed at the same time as he rubbed me gently. His fingers slid easily inside me and I gasped at the new sensation. Trenton gave me a quick look, his eyes searching my face.

  “Don’t stop yet,” I whispered. “It feels good.”

  He smiled slightly. “To me too.”

  Slowly, he began to thrust his fingers in and out of me. I closed my eyes, my hands bunching the bedclothes in my fists as wave after wave pleasure washed over me. No one had ever touched me this way before, and I wanted to savor it as if this might be the last time someone did.

  When his mouth joined his fingers, I nearly came up off the bed. I cried out in ecstasy at the first brush of his tongue against me. Now I knew why Tracy enjoyed sex so much. Mama neglected to tell me how good it could feel.

  And then the chord began to tighten deep inside me. Though this was my first taste of lovemaking, I knew what an orgasm felt like. Even inexperienced as I was, I knew that it wouldn’t be enough until he was inside me, making me whole.

  “Trenton,” I whispered.

  He looked up, meeting my gaze. “I need you, darlin’,” he whispered. “I don’t know if I can hold on much longer.”

  How good it felt to be wanted! “I need you too,” I admitted softly.

  “Jesus,” he groaned and grabbed me around the waist. In one fluid movement, he rolled to his back pulling me on top of him. I could feel the moist tip of him probing me. I swallowed the fear rising in my throat. I wanted this. I wanted him. And I didn’t want to always be afraid to feel him close.

  I rolled off him and onto my back. Trenton turned confused eyes to me. I slowly, opened my arms to him and after only a moment’s hesitation, he moved to kneel between my legs.

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “I don’t want to hurt or scare you.”

  “You won’t.”

  He lifted an eyebrow as if he weren’t sure whether to believe me or not.

  I reached for him again, pulling his head down to mine. “Please,” I whispered. “I need you.”

  Trenton groaned softly. “You can have me at your feet, lady,” he murmured.

  The time for words was past. He gripped my hips and in one smooth thrust, was deep inside me. I grit my teeth against the pain of my body being stretched for the first time. I blinked back the quick tears that came and waited for my body to become accustomed to being so full.

  Above me, Trenton seemed frozen. He stared down at me, his eyes wide. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked quietly.

  “You wouldn’t have wanted me,” I said simply. “You would have laughed at me.” I turned my face from his. “It’s embarrassing you know. Being a virgin at my age.”

  Trenton lifted my chin with one long finger, forcing me to meet his gaze. “I wouldn’t have laughed at you,” he said. “I just would have done things differently.”

  “Oh yeah? Such as?”

  Slowly, he began to move his hips. I gasped as the pleasure returned and intensified. He was as affected as I was. His eyelids fluttered closed as I picked up his slow, easy rhythm, meeting him thrust for thrust.

  “I-”

  I couldn’t hold back a smile of pure feminine satisfaction. I was pleasing him as much as he was pleasing me. Knowing that made me feel better about myself, and it fueled the passion that hummed between us.

  Trenton couldn’t seem to form the words he wanted to say. Instead, he lowered his head and kissed me. I wrapped my arms and legs around him, trapping him fully within my embrace. In response, he deepened the kiss as his hips churned faster and faster against me. I clutched him tightly as my body exploded into a million pieces. And still he moved, taking me with him to reach his own release. When it hit him, he moaned my name. It sounded so sexy when he said it that way. He was the only one who called me by my full name. Tracy called me a shortened version and my parents called me mostly nicknames. I felt sultry and desirable when Trenton called me that.

  Slowly he rolled off of me to pull me close to his side. We were both quiet for a while l, allowing our heartbeats to slow and our breathing to return to normal. He idly stroked my hair and shoulders. I snuggled closer to his warm body and closed my eyes.

  “Hey, don’t fall asleep on me now,” he teased me, shaking my shoulder. “You’re Italian. You should have several more rounds in you.”

  I pushed at his chest, laughing at him. “Don’t believe everything you hear. We get tired too.” I looked up at him. “Especially if the lovemaking is good.”

  He grinned. “You think it was good?”

  I nodded, snuggling against him again. “Hmm.”

  “Me too.” He stayed quiet for a few minutes. Then he said, “Thank you.”

  I lifted my head. “Huh? For what?”

  Trenton slowly slid a hand down my body. “For this.” He stroked me gently and I felt myself thickening in response. “I never thought that I’d be your first.” He brushed his lips along my hair. “I guess after you told me what happened to you, I-I just wanted your first time with me to be special.”

  “I guess you weren’t expecting a real first time, huh?”

  He chuckled. “No. I wasn’t. But I’m glad it happened this way.”

  I smiled against his chest. “It was special for me too. I was afraid that it was always going to be like that night.”

  “It won’t be with us. I won’t hurt you or put my hands on you except to touch you and make love to you.”

  This must be what it felt like to feel cherished. Loved. It was what I saw wit
h the couple in the parking lot. It was the soft looks my mom passed my father when they thought no one was looking. And this beautiful man was offering it to me.

  “Trenton,” I began.

  “Yes?”

  “I l-” I caught myself before I let the rest of the phrase slip out. God knows I couldn’t say that to him! Not yet. The feelings were too new and I wanted to take some time to explore them. Besides, the moment you tell someone you love them, you become vulnerable to them. They can use it against you. Marco’s experience with Angelina taught me that.

  “What?” Trenton prompted me. He squeezed my shoulder gently. “What?”

  I shook my head. “It’s late. I probably should get home before my parents call the police and have you up for kidnapping.”

  A mischievous gleam shone in his blue eyes. “I could do that,” he said thoughtfully. “I could keep you here and never take you back to their house.” He shrugged. “There are plenty of places I can hide you. Hmm, and even more places where I can make love to you.”

  I smiled at his enthusiasm. “Yeah don’t think that’s going to go over well with your superiors.”

  “What they don’t know-”

  Laughing, I sat up. “I’d really better go.”

  He lifted up on an elbow, watching me pick my clothes from the pile on the floor. “You can stay, you know,” he said quietly. “I’m not kicking you out. We don’t have to make love any more tonight if you don’t want to. I just want to hold you.”

  I looked over my shoulder at him. “I want to stay. And I want to make love with you again and again.”

  “But you’re worried about what your parents will say if you don’t come home tonight. Am I right?”

  I nodded. “Yes. You’re right.” I couldn’t meet his gaze. “I guess I sound like a child, huh?”

  Trenton sat up and scooted over to the edge of the bed. He reached for his clothes and also began to get dressed. “I think you are a good daughter who doesn’t want to disappoint her parents. You respect them and their rules. That’s a rare thing these days. But you’re a grown woman as well. A sexy grown woman with needs and wants. Desires. And they are going to have to understand that, and at some point they’re going to have to let you go and live your life. The way you want to.”

  I listened but didn’t say anything. He was right. I knew that. But he didn’t know my family the way I did. Until Trenton and I became husband and wife, my dad would still run my life. Mama would still suggest that I do such-and-such, or I’d be talked about like my cousin Maria. And Marco would still get into my business under the pretense of ‘keeping an eye on his little sister’. And since I had no intentions of marrying Trenton or anyone else for that matter anytime soon, I figured I’d better go home.

  I stood up, fully dressed. “I can take a taxi,” I said, watching him pull on his clothes.

  He shook his head. “No. I’ll take you. I picked you up, I reckon I should return you. Or your father will kill me. If not your brother.”

  Moments later, he pulled up in front of my parents’ house. I paused before getting out. “Are you sure you had a good time with me?” I asked him, not looking at him.

  Trenton reached over and rested his hand on my shoulder. “It was good. No worries, huh?” He pulled me close for a kiss. “You were good. I cannot wait to see you again.”

  I hugged him as best I could in the confines of his car. “Me too,” I murmured. And because I knew one, it was late; and two, I was two seconds away from telling him I loved him, I got out of his car.

  He waved before pulling away from the curb. Good night, Colonel.

  ______

  Trenton and I had been seeing each other for a few months now. Though we’d made love often, I still had yet to take him up on his offer to spend the night at his place. I hated having him bring me home after he’d made love to me so sweetly. I wanted nothing more than to fall asleep and wake up in his arms. He never said anything out loud to me, but I could tell that he wanted me to stay.

  I think my mom was getting wise to how serious things between Trenton and I were getting. I knew that she and Papa had always wanted Marco and I to marry Italian spouses, have kids and run the family business. My brother held a similar mindset. But I didn’t. Oh sure I wanted a family. But I wanted to be free to love and marry the man I chose. And I didn’t happen to fall in love with an Italian. My heart belonged to a blond, blue-eyed colonel. Only he didn’t know it yet.

  “I see you were out late again last night. You seem to be making this a regular habit.”

  I looked up from my book to see my brother coming into the kitchen. He padded barefoot over to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee. “What’s it to you, Marco?” I asked.

  He shrugged as he came to sit at the table across from me. “Nothing. But I’ve been watching you. You seem different. I can’t put my finger on it.”

  I lowered my eyes back to my book. But inside, I felt a jolt run through me. Was it obvious what Trenton and I did? No. He couldn’t know. There was no way. “I’m the same person. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Marco sipped his coffee. “No. There’s something else.”

  I sighed and stood. “Do you want some breakfast?” When he nodded, I busied myself preparing the meal.

  “You haven’t worked a Saturday night in a long time,” he continued.

  “So?”

  “So, you’re still an employee and you have to work Saturdays just like everyone else.”

  “Papa hasn’t said anything to me. So you shouldn’t be reprimanding me. You’re my brother.”

  “I’m still your boss.”

  “You’re my brother,” I repeated. “Besides, you’re going to have to learn how to manage without me anyways. I’m graduating in two weeks. I’ve already been offered a job in the hospital on the base.”

  Marco raised an eyebrow. “On the base?”

  “Yep.”

  He blew across the still steaming coffee before taking a sip. “When did you go to the base to interview?”

  “Last week,” I said, stirring the potatoes and eggs together.

  “Hmm.”

  I set a plate in front of him and sat down with my own. “The school helped me get this job, thank you very much,” I said to my brother as I sprinkled salt over my food. “My advisor saw the opening on the website and told me about it. And I went over there.”

  “You mean what’s-his-face set it up for you.”

  “Trenton had nothing to do with it.”

  “Sure.”

  I paused, fork in hand, staring at him. “You might want to keep your mouth shut about things that you don’t know about, huh Marco,” I snapped. “The hospital looked at my records, grades and stuff, and they decided that they wanted to offer me a job. And I took it. I’ll make more money and be able to use my degree.”

  “And the restaurant?”

  I blew out a sigh, losing some steam. He was my brother after all, and I guess he meant well. In his mind, he was only looking out for his sister. “Marco, you know that I’ve never had any intentions towards the restaurant. I was there because it was the family business. It was my first job and all. But let’s be honest. I never wanted it to be my life. That’s Papa’s baby. And yours. I just don’t see myself being a waitress in my father’s pizzeria for the rest of my life.”

  “It’s our inheritance.”

  “I know. But I want to do something else.”

  “You just want to be near him.”

  That was only partly true. But he had no right to say it. “It has nothing to do with Trenton,” I said firmly. “I’ve earned this degree and I’m going to use it. I’ll always help out with the business. It’s as much a part of me as it is to you. But I went to school so I could do something more. Look, you have the business mind, Marco. Not me.” I reached over, laying my palm out on the table between us. I waited for him to take my hand.

  He didn’t hesitate as he covered my hand with his larger one.
“I’ll always be behind you, little sister. No matter what. I promise.”

  I gave his hand a squeeze. “Thank you,” I whispered. “I’ve always been able to count on you, Marco.”

  “And you always will.” He stood, taking his plate and cup to the sink. “I gotta go. I have to help with the prep for the afternoon service and still be on time for Mass.” He grinned again. “You coming?”

  I shook my head. “I’ll come in after Mass. I just need to finish studying. My finals are coming up. And if I don’t pass, I don’t have a job.”

  He nodded. “I got it.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll see you at the church then. Love you, bug,” he said, using his pet name for me.

  “Love you back,” I said, waving.

  I was in my room getting ready for Mass when my phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi.”

  A smile spread across my face as it always did when I heard his voice. “Hey. What are you doing?”

  “Thinking about you. Are you busy?”

  “Nah. Just getting ready to go to Mass.”

  “Hmm. What are you planning afterwards?”

  “I was supposed to go into the restaurant to help out. But I could probably squirm out of it. What did you have in mind?”

  He blew out a breath. “I was thinking that we could maybe drive to the beach. There’s a nice seafood place that I really like. I thought maybe you’d like to go. Some other time.”

  “I’d much rather spend time with you than work in the restaurant,” I said quickly. “I can’t get out of Mass. I’d have to be on my deathbed to not go. And even then, the priest would still have service. Why don’t you come with me?”

  “I’m not Catholic, darlin’,” he said softly.

  “So? You don’t have to be. Just listen and be respectful.”

  He sighed. “Why is it that I can deny you anything?”

  “Because you love me,” I said before I thought better of it. He stayed quiet for a moment and my face turned bright red. I was glad that he couldn’t see it. It had slipped out and I couldn’t take it back. So I stammered a little. “I uh, I didn’t mean that the way it came out,” I said quietly. “I’m sorry.”