Lucky (17 page)

She slid onto one side of his bed and crawled beneath the covers, then pulled them a little farther back, giving him the room and an invitation to come in.

Nick stared long and hard at the sight that she made, lying still and waiting for him to join her. With a groan of defeat, he leaned over and turned out the light. Instantly the room was in darkness.

Lucky bit her lip and waited. And then she heard his towel hit the floor and felt the bed give as he crawled in beside her. Before she had time to consider the consequences, Nick was lying full-length beside her, and pulling her gently but firmly into his arms.

“Just so I can sleep,” he promised. “Just so I can sleep. If you’re in my arms, then I know that you’re safe.”

Tears squeezed out from beneath her eyelids as she pressed her face against his chest. It should have felt unfamiliar, even slightly uncomfortable, lying body-to-body against Nick’s nudity. But somehow she felt as if they’d been doing this all their lives. He was safe, and strong, and well. She sighed and shifted once against his side.

In the dark, Nick felt her hand as it slid out and across the breadth of his chest. When it centered upon his heart, she paused and then stopped. He felt the tension in her body ease, and moments later, heard the soft, even breathing as she slept.

He shook, and tried not to cry. It was the most moving gesture he’d ever experienced. Only after she’d been able to feel life beating in his chest had she relaxed within his arms.

“Sweet baby,” he whispered, and lifted her hair from her neck and spread it out across the pillow behind her. “My sweet, Lucky girl. Say a prayer for us both that we can live through this.”

Beyond the walls of the Chenault estate, far below in the city streets, life went on at its normal, frantic pace. But for Nick and Lucky, it existed only within each other’s arms.

L
ucky’s laughter echoed from her room and out into the upper hall, drawing Nick closer and closer into the web of enchantment in which he’d found himself caught since his release from the hospital.

Nearly a week had passed since he’d come home, and in that time he’d watched the shadows disappearing from Lucky’s eyes, and seen her appetite, as well as her state of mind, returning to normal. It was only a matter of time before the living need to claim his woman got the best of him.

Lucky laughed again, and Nick wondered who, or what, had tickled her fancy to such a degree. He paused outside the door, thinking that an intrusion might not be welcome. And then he heard the unmistakable sounds of a baby, and he was so stunned that he walked into the open doorway in spite of good intentions to acknowledge her right to privacy.

“Pretty baby. Yes, you are,” Lucky crooned, and laughed when the chubby little girl cooed and wrapped her fists in Lucky’s hair, pulling the handful of hair closer and closer to her toothless little mouth.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Lucky warned, and laughed again as she unwrapped her hair from around the child’s tiny fingers. “You can’t eat my hair.”

The baby gurgled, then kicked against Lucky’s stomach as Lucky cradled her in her arms.

“Someday I’ll have babies just like you,” Lucky said, and brushed her fingertips through the wispy black strands of hair framing the fat little face. “Lots and lots of babies.”

Lucky pressed a kiss against the petal-soft cheek and felt her heart tug as the baby began settling against her chest. Moments later, the girl poked her little thumb into her mouth and started to doze as Lucky’s voice whispered against her ear.

“And you know what else, little angel? My babies will never be hungry…or afraid. They’ll never wonder where their mother is, or why she didn’t love them. Your mother loves you, yes she does. She’ll be fine. You’ll see. You’ll see.”

She chanted the promise and then started to rock, humming the tune to a lullaby she’d almost forgotten she knew. The baby fussed once or twice, old enough to recognize the unfamiliarity of the woman who was holding her. Yet not old enough to care that the comfort she needed was coming from someone else. Unable to resist the motion of the rocking chair, the baby’s eyes shut. Finally, the only motion in her body was the occasional tug
of her tongue against her thumb as Lucky’s humming vibrated next to her ear.

Nick was motionless. Their hair was nearly of a color. The only difference was in the length of the curls. Touched beyond words at the sight of Lucky rocking a child that could have been her own—their own—moved him deeply. But the mystery of the baby’s presence still remained. Unable to resist, he walked into the darkened room.

Lucky looked up and smiled. She pressed a finger to her lips in a plea for silence and then looked down with longing at the baby who’d fallen asleep against her breast.

“She’s asleep,” Lucky whispered. “But I hate to put her down. I’ve never held a baby this small before.” And then her eyes filled. “Oh, Nick. Isn’t she beautiful?”

His voice shook. It was all he could do not to kneel at her feet. “Beautiful is hardly the word.”

Needing to be closer, yet afraid to disturb the peace of the moment, he settled for the edge of the bed instead of her arms. “But whose baby is she? And why on earth is she here?”

“Oh, Mr. Chenault!” Shari burst into the room, and then quickly lowered her voice when she saw that her grandchild had fallen asleep. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I didn’t know where else to turn, and Lucky offered to help.”

“What happened?” Nick asked.

Shari Garcia had been with them since Nick was a child. She was part of his family. He couldn’t imagine what had caused her such concern, or why she felt it necessary to apologize.

Lucky answered for her. “Shari’s daughter-in-law, Angelina, had a car accident a short while ago.” The tiny girl squirmed in her sleep, and instinctively Lucky patted her bottom in time to the rocker’s motion, lulling her back into silence. “It wasn’t serious, but she’s in the emergency room getting a cast on her leg as we speak. This little thing was in the backseat and wasn’t hurt a bit! Wasn’t she lucky?”

Nick couldn’t resist a caress of the baby curls that feathered across Lucky’s hand as she cradled the child’s head. The hair felt soft, almost weightless, yet at the touch, it curled around his finger as if it had a life of its own. An odd sort of pain settled around his heart as he watched the joy on Lucky’s face.

“I’m glad she wasn’t hurt,” Nick said. “But I don’t want to hear another word about apologies, Shari. After all, what are families for if they can’t help out in an emergency now and then?”

“Thank you for being so understanding,” Shari said. “I just came up to get her this moment. Her other grandmother, Angelina’s mother, is downstairs ready to take her. Lucky dear, I can’t thank you enough for helping.” Shari gently removed the sleeping baby from Lucky’s arms.

The maid’s nervous explanation made Lucky’s heart drop. She wasn’t ready to give the baby up. And then Shari was gone, leaving Lucky with empty arms and a man who was waiting to fill them.

“Oh, Nick…she was the sweetest little…”

Nick took a deep breath, and when the words came out, they resonated from the passion he was feeling.

“I want to make love to you, Lucky. No more waiting. No more excuses. I would give you a dozen babies tomorrow if you wanted. Right now, I’ll settle for a practice run on the real thing.”

Within the space of a second, Lucky’s heart felt like it had shot to the roof of her mouth and then dropped to the region of her stomach. The fire in Nick’s eyes was impossible to mistake. But it was the longing in his voice that sold her. And after what they had endured, and while the love that she felt for this man had grown on a daily basis, she knew that waiting any longer would be ridiculous.

“Then lock the door. But I feel it only fair to warn you that I’m scared to death.”

“Oh, hell,” Nick groaned, as the lock turned beneath his hands. “Don’t tell me things like that. It makes me feel guilty as sin.”

“No! I’m not scared like that,” Lucky said, and then blushed. “I know what you look like. I’ve slept with you naked in my arms, remember?”

He covered the distance between them in two steps. “Yes, honey. I remember vividly.” He cupped her face and tilted her lips toward his, blending their breaths with a kiss of apology. “I’m sorry, but it’ll probably be uncomfortable for you at first. I can’t make that any better.”

“You still don’t get it,” she said. “I don’t know what to do.” And then she shrugged and sighed. “I feel so stupid. I mean…yes, I know
what’s
going to happen. It’s just that I don’t know
how
to make things good for you. That’s what scares me.”

Nick caught her hand and then pressed it to the center
of his chest, holding it in place with the pressure of his own. “This is what real fear feels like, baby. I love you. Beyond words. And no matter how much I try, what we do is going to cause you pain. I can hardly bear the thought.” Their foreheads touched as his words settled around Lucky’s soul.

“Then make love to me, Nick. Get me past this hurdle and I’ll get you past the fear.”

“I’ll get some protection,” Nick said, and started for the door.

“I’m on birth control pills,” Lucky said. “Have been for weeks.”

He groaned, thinking of how she’d prepared for this day to come and still feared it happening.

The room was in shadows. Outside the afternoon sun of late September was persistent and hot. Inside the house, a fire burned hotter as the last of their clothes went in a heap upon the floor.

Lucky stood at the side of her bed and watched as Nick came toward her. His body was long and lean and darkly tanned from years under the Nevada sun. His manhood surged out before him as he walked, jutting toward her with a sexual demand she could not miss. Deep in the center of her belly, heat coiled and writhed and left her shaking.

“Nick…”

Uncertainty was in her voice as she reached to his face. “Sssh.” He caught her hand and coiled her fingers around his prominent sex, suspecting that it was the one thing she feared, and needed to confront.

He expected hesitancy, even rejection; instead she nearly sent him to his knees when, with both hands, she held, then encircled him, moving her fingers lightly upon the silken shaft in an exploratory manner as she marveled at the shift of skin against muscle.

“Oh, God.” Nick gritted his teeth and closed his eyes against the need to thrust himself within the nest that she’d made of her hands. “Whatever you’re doing, don’t stop.”

Lucky’s pulse pounded. The feel of him within her hands was frightening, and yet intriguing. So big. So strong. Her lips went slack at the thought of taking all of this power inside of her.

His hands slid up her arms and then down, palming her breasts as his thumbs began circling the dark areola surrounding her nipples. Spiral after spiral, he increased the pressure in subtle increments so that when his thumbs finally found their targets and rubbed across the jutting pout of the nubs, she lost every skill she had, including balance. Nick caught her before she fell.

“Oh…I…”

The catch in her voice, and the grip she had on his arms, were all he needed to know. His teeth shown white through a fleeting smile before he resumed what he was doing. So she liked being touched like this. He would have bet everything he had in his pocket—if he had one—that his woman would not be a lady in bed. It was the best news he’d had all week.

“You like that, baby?”

She moaned in response to his question. It was the best and only answer she could manage.

His hands slid from her breasts to her back and then down to cradle her hips, pulling her gently but firmly against the thrust of his manhood, careful to center the tip of himself on that tender waiting bud between her legs.

One thrust. Slow, gentle. And only so far. Lucky arched against the surge of desire that ripped through her belly. She shivered as she heard herself moaning Nick’s name aloud.

“More?” Nick asked, and rubbed the place where he’d been with the pads of his thumbs instead. Again, she would have gone to her knees had he not caught her.

“Oh…oh…I—”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Nick growled, ignoring his own body’s demand for relief.

Her hair fanned out behind her as she went from an upright to a prone position in nothing flat. Nerves jerked in every inch of her body while Nick’s mouth and hands explored places she hadn’t known existed. And it was not enough. Things hurt that wouldn’t ease. Pressure built with no promise of release.

“Nick, what are you doing?” she gasped, as she watched the top of his head move south from her belly button. “Oh, my God!” she gasped, as it became patently clear. “I don’t think…I can’t do…” Then she arched, her legs parting instinctively to make way for the man who’d settled himself between.

“Oh, but yes, pretty baby, you can,” Nick whispered, and found the tiny little nub that would trigger her explosion.

Blood thundered behind his eyelids as Nick’s tongue snaked out, testing the territory around the fragile skin.
He needed to be inside her and it wasn’t time. She had to be so far gone in need that when he thrust, she would not feel the pain. It was the only way he could fathom what had to be done.

Lucky moaned, and rocked upon the bed beneath the command of Nick’s caress. His mouth and his tongue, and the sweep of his hands across her body, were driving her mad. It was an endless, driving throb that demanded release.

“I can’t stand this,” she groaned, and pushed helplessly at his shoulders, wanting him to stop or put this to an end. “It’s too much. It’s too much.”

Nick’s hand slid back into the curls at the juncture of her thighs, this time increasing the pressure to the point that he could actually feel the tremors of a climax beginning beneath his fingertips. Sweat broke out across his body as his own desire suddenly demanded completion.

Without warning, it came upon her. A blinding, mind-shattering burst of joy that rocked her senseless. As wave after wave of pleasure ebbed and flowed through her body, Nick lifted himself above her, poised at her threshold only long enough to aim and thrust.

It coincided with a wash of heat that ripped through her belly so perfectly that for a moment, Lucky didn’t even know what had happened. But while the feelings of climax continued to ease, she slowly came to realize that she was full where she’d once been empty.

She opened her eyes and focused on the man who held himself suspended above her body with majestic grace, and lifted her arms to pull him down.

“Oh, Nick…Oh, Nick. It’s over, and it was beautiful.”

“No, baby, it’s just beginning,” he muttered, and started to move.

Lucky’s eyes widened as she felt the returning surge within her body and realized in shock that Nick was already inside and she’d never felt him enter. Shocked by the size of him, she moaned with renewed delight as her own body adjusted to his presence, just as she’d known it could. Hard to the point of true pain, Nick felt a sweet relief as his slow but steady strokes inside of her increased with every thrust, knowing that it would soon be over. And then the feeling came, so strong it could not be denied, and he was too far gone to wait any longer.

“This time it’s for me,” he groaned, and lowered his head between her breasts, unable to stop the inevitable.

His hands slid beneath her hips, lifting her that much closer. But it was instinct that made Lucky lock him within a hold of her own.

Nick choked on a breath as her long legs coiled around his waist. It was a move he hadn’t expected her to make. Her eyes were closed, her neck arched to the beat of a drum only she could hear.

He smiled, and then slowly gritted his teeth as release became impossible to deny. One push followed another, and with a final thrust of his sex, he came with a burst and spilled inside of her. Shudder upon shudder followed as his seed continued to flow.

She could not hold him close enough or tight enough to satisfy the urgency of her love. And it wasn’t because she’d finally crossed a hurdle into complete womanhood. Nor was it from the complete and unbridled joy that Nick had given her.