Taking his time, he slowly entered her. No mad, passionate dash to climax, his lovemaking was sweet and slow, as if they had all the time in the world. She got lost in the warmth, the affection — the “love” part of lovemaking. He didn’t have to touch her clitoris for her to come — the slow and tender rhythm of his body did it for her.
They lay silently curled in one and other’s arms, watching the river as they usually did after they made love but this morning her beloved river couldn’t hold her attention for very long.
“I didn’t finish my apology,” she began.
He skimmed his hand along the curve of her hip. “I don’t think it was lacking in anything.”
“Please, Tony. I need to finish it.” She took a deep breath. “The only thing that matters to me is being with you. So whatever it takes, whatever you want, let’s do it.”
He pulled back from her and frowned. “Whatever I want? How about whatever we want? This isn’t a decision for one of us to make.”
“But I thought … didn’t you say … ?”
“Margo, I asked if we could begin to talk about the future, we and begin being the operative words. I wasn’t asking to pick out our kids’ names, although I would like to put in a good word for the name Joseph when we get to that conversation.”
She rolled her eyes and laughed.
He went on as if she wasn’t laughing. “If you’d said that one thing you said a little while ago — that you can’t imagine being without me — I’d have had the answer I was looking for.”
“I was an idiot. Can you forgive me?”
“If you’ll forgive me.”
“For what?”
“How long have I known you? I knew better than to bring up something like that just as I was about to walk out the door for a couple days. My timing sucked. When I walked into the room for that first meeting after I got back, you looked scared to death. No woman who wasn’t under arrest has ever looked at me like that.”
“I’m not scared any more. I know what I want.”
“I do, too. Do you trust us to get it?”
“Yes, of course I trust us — trust you.” She drew him close and kissed him. “I can’t believe I’ve wasted all these days when I could have had you here to myself.”
“We wouldn’t have been here after what happened at Blue Lake. You’d have been in a hotel room with Danny. And it’s not a bad thing that I’ve had a few days on my own. I found out I really like Portland, even when I’m not with you.”
“You’re just being nice.”
“When I have this golden opportunity to guilt you about kicking me out of your bed, do you really think I’d do that, Keyes?”
Chapter 23
The payback for Fiona’s help in getting her cover story held was a long phone call during which she squeezed every detail out of Margo she could. By the time they had gone through the whole adventure, Fiona knew everything from the smell of the bread in the Russian grocery store to the sticky feel of adhesive tape holding a wire in place to the metallic taste of fear as a car sped along an interstate to places unknown.