FOREVER MINE(46)

And she was okay with that because she felt in time, if given the chance, he could love her as well. Maybe not as much as he did his wife, but love came in various degrees, and he was too compassionate a man not to share his love.

She rubbed her hands together, not from the cold but from wariness. She couldn’t help but wonder what Parnell wanted to talk with her about. If he had changed his mind about the proposal then she wanted to make sure he never regretted doing so. She would make him a good wife and his girls’ a wonderful mother. She couldn’t help doing so because she loved all three of them.

She turned when she heard the sound of his footsteps and looked into his face the moment he rounded the corner. Those familiar stirrings started in her stomach, but tonight they seemed more intense than ever because she knew she loved him . . . with all her heart. She cleared her throat thinking it would be pointless to ask how the girls were doing. It would only serve as small talk since she knew under his love, care, and guidance the girls would always be fine. He was a man who took care of his own.

“Sorry, you were kept waiting,” he said, coming into the room.

She smiled. “No problem. I enjoy you and the girls’ company so I didn’t mind waiting. Besides, for some reason I think what you have to say is important,” she said, moving away from the window to sit on the sofa.

“I hope that it is since it involves my future . . . as well as yours.”

“Now you have me curious.”

A smile touched the corners of his lips when he took the chair across from her. And that smile touched her in a way she couldn’t explain. She knew if she had met Parnell a few years ago that she would not have appreciated the man that he was. As the old Rose, a totally different sort of man would have appealed to her. She had made a lot of changes in her life and one thing she now looked for in a man was sincerity.

She glanced over at him. Instead of leaning back in his chair, he had leaned forward as if to make sure he had her absolute attention. If only he knew just how much of her attention he had he might be downright leery.

“I wanted to talk with you about your proposal,” he said. “Like I told you earlier today, I’ve been giving it some thought. And I think it might work.”

Hope flowed through her. She felt it all the way to her bones. “You do?”

“Yes, but I want to make a few things clear. I need to know that we’re on the same page about some things.”

“Okay. What part do we need to discuss further?”

“The part regarding you and me. I’m straight on your involvement with the girls. But I am sort of crooked on just what our relationship will be.”

She leaned forward in her seat as well. “Okay, tell me just what do I need to clarify?”

“Our sleeping arrangements.”

Rose nodded, thinking things couldn’t get any more direct that that. She looked at him and then wished she hadn’t. The light from the lamp hit his face at an incredible angle, detailing the solid plane of his face, making her awareness of him that much more intense. It was on the tip of her tongue to say their sleeping arrangements would be any way he wanted them to be. But she drew in a deep breath instead and said. “What do you need to know? What part of it don’t you understand?”

“Not sure. How about breaking it down for me again.”

She thought she could do better than that. She would give him something to think about; something to mull over tonight. And definitely something to look forward to. She eased up off the sofa, knowing he caught a glimpse of her thigh when she did so. When she stood, she saw how his eyes swept over her. A quiver went through her from the heat of his gaze.

As she took the few steps over to him, she saw something flicker in his eyes. It was something she recognized. It was something she wanted. His desire. She might not have his love but she did have his desire. When she came to a stop directly in front of the chair where he was sitting, the gentleman in him instinctively made a motion to stand, but she gently pushed him back down in his chair and in a surprise move, she eased down in his lap.

And before he could gather his wits, she looped her arms around his neck and kissed him. This was a bold move, she thought, as her lips parted under his, taking his tongue into her mouth with a hunger and yearning that had her hot between the legs. Before she left to go home tonight, she wanted to leave Parnell Cabot both breathless and helpless. And she wanted him horny. But just for her. She had to start somewhere and she would start there.

She deepened the kiss when she felt the touch of his hand as it inched up her thigh; the same thigh he’d caught a glimpse of a few moments ago. His touch was doing things to her. And when his hand traced a path even farther up her leg, easing its way between both thighs, she thought she would lose it. When he touched her center, she almost did. She pulled her mouth back and breathed in deeply. Inhaling both his scent and hers. Finding her voice, she asked. “The girls. Are you sure they’re asleep?”

His gaze never left hers. Nor did he remove his hand from between her thighs when he said. “Yes, they’re asleep. They were knocked out before I finished the story. Besides, the door alarm will let me know the moment one of them opens it.”

She knew that the door alarm was a safety feature he’d installed so he would know whenever the girls got up during the night for anything. It wasn’t a piercing sound that would frighten the girls; instead it released the musical jingle, “Three Blind Mice”.

Rose decided she didn’t want to make any more small talk. What she wanted was to let Parnell know the answer to his question regarding what their sleeping arrangements would be. She sank back into his arms and went back to his mouth. It was a scorching kiss, hot and greedy. She made sure that like all the others they had shared, it would be a kiss he would remember.

And he seemed just as intent on giving her something to remember as well. His fingers were on the move again, caressing her center through her silk panties. The lips eating away at hers suddenly softened, gentled, but were just as meticulous. She drew back slightly, their heated breaths mingled, connected. Rose slowly eased out of Parnell’s lap and taking his hand, she pulled him out of the chair.

“Come with me in the kitchen,” she whispered suggestively, close to his ear, and taking the tip of her tongue she swiped a wet kiss there. She began leading him into the kitchen when suddenly she was swept off her feet into his arms.

They had barely made it into the kitchen and closed the door when Parnell placed her on her feet and was at her mouth again, overriding any need for either of them to take things slow. Her fingers were at his shirt, undoing the bottoms and when he lifted her off the floor to pin her against the wall, she wrapped her legs around his waist.

Rose didn’t think there was anything that could have prepared her for this – a Parnell who was out of control; just as overridden with passion and desire as she was. A man transforming into a mass of need right before her very eyes, beneath her lips. She was conscious of everything, his very touch, the way his erection was poking into the apex of her thighs, and the way his arms were clamp tight around her like he didn’t ever intend to let her go.

If only he didn’t.

When she had gotten the last button on his shirt undone, she pushed the fabric aside, off his shoulders, needing to feel his warm skin. She moaned out loud when her hands blazed a hot trail through the curly hair on his chest, liking the way it felt to her fingers.

This time it was Parnell who withdrew from the kiss, to pull in a deep breath but he continued to watch Rose through the heat of his gaze. Her touch was sending him over the edge, making him feel things he hadn’t felt in years, and making him want things he hadn’t wanted in that same length of time.

But he wanted them now and he wanted them with her. He actually trembled at the thought; felt a certain part of his body hardened even more. But he knew before he put an end to this madness, there was a part of her that he needed to touch, he needed to taste. And with her still pinned solidly against the wall and her legs wrapped tight around his waist, he reached for the front of her dress and yanked the stretchy material down past her shoulders to her waist. Then with a flick of his wrist, he unsnapped the front clasp of her bra.

Her breasts, full, firm and inviting, seemed to leap into his waiting hands, and he gently closed his hands over them, kneading them methodically with his fingers. Automatically, he leaned over for a taste.

He drew a nipple into his mouth and quickly discovered that even the tip of her nipple was hot, delicious, and perfect for his mouth, tongue and lips. He became caught up in a degree of passion he wasn’t aware he was capable of feeling; an urgency sharper than anything he’d ever experienced. He tried keeping his mind rational, logical. He fought to retain his control and found it getting shot to hell and back.

He moved his mouth to the other nipple, wanting to give it equal attention, needing to hear the moans she had begun making, wanting to continue to feel how her center cradled his erection, made it feel at home.

He wanted to feel her heat, touch it and shifting to support her against the wall he lowered his hands to inch up her dress and then his hand was there, his fingers finding their way beneath the lining of her panties, past the silk material to touch her feminine folds. And then he began to explore her there, taking his time to slowly caress her feminine mound, liking the way it felt beneath his searching fingers. Provocative.