***
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I was awakened by a loud bang followed by a hearty curse. “Fuck!” I sat up in the darkness and looked around, just where the hell was I? And what the hell was that noise? Then I remembered; I was in Heath’s room, and that noise was undoubtedly Heath as he tried to get in.
I scrambled off the bed and rushed to open the door. But I was not prepared for the sight that greeted me. Heath leaned heavily against the door jamb. His lip was bloodied, his shirt was torn, and there was a large blood stain spreading across his right shoulder. My hand flew to my mouth, “God, Heath! What happened to you?”
Heath pushed me aside and came into the room. He closed and locked the door behind him. Then he headed for the bathroom and began to strip out of his shirt. I managed to gather my scattered wits and went in behind him. He winced in pain as he tried to peel the shirt off using his uninjured arm.
He wasn’t having much luck, so I stepped forward and pushed his hand away. “Here, let me help you.” Moving as gently as I could, I first slid the shirt off his uninjured arm; then moving with all possible tenderness, I pulled the material away from his wounded arm. When the shirt fell away, I was not able to admire his chest the way I had hoped to be tonight. Instead, my gaze was focused on a jagged cut on his upper right arm. I looked up to see him watching me. “Heath, what happened? Should we call the police? Was there a fight? Were you mugged?”
Heath shook his head, no. “I can’t tell you what happened, and no don’t call the police. Don’t even think about it.”
My suspicions tried to surface at his demand, but it was useless even at a time like this. “Just tell me what to do.”
Heath sat down on the toilet which was a good thing since he had turned white as a sheet. “Grab some soap and hot water, and clean this as best as you can,” he gestured to his bleeding arm. “Then you’ll have to bandage it with something.”
I opened the cabinets in the bathroom, and rooted around for any supplies that I could find. I pulled out a wash cloth, soap (antibacterial _ thank you, Lord!), and turned on the hot water tap. When the water was hot enough for steam to rise from the basin, I dipped the washcloth under it and worked the soap into a lather. “This is probably going to hurt; I’m sorry.”
Heath steeled himself. “I’m ready; just go ahead and do it.”
I washed the area as best as I could. I had to stop regularly to rinse the blood from the rag and then begin again. When the job was done and I could see the damage, it was not as bad as I had expected it to be. “Okay, now we need to find some bandages. Have you got a tee shirt or something here?” I asked.
“Yeah, there are some in the dresser out there.” Heath used a jerk of his head to indicate the bedroom. I went out and plundered through the drawers until I found what I was looking for, a plain white jockey t-shirt. I retrieved my evening bag and pulled out my mini scissors, a crucial necessity for a big night on the town as was the needle and thread that was tucked safely inside. I carried the shirt and the scissors back into the bathroom. Heath was still sitting on the toilet, but he now rested his head against the sink edge. He looked bad.
I sent up a prayer; “Please don’t let him pass out. Please don’t let him pass out.”
Heath glanced up when I came in. He saw my scissors and raised his brow. “You carry scissors around in your purse?
“What? I’m a girl scout remember.” At his blank look, I added “Always be prepared, an adage to live by.”
“Oh.”
I rolled my eyes anyway. I quickly cut up the shirt into some long strips to wrap around the wound and then tied the ends off to make a crude bandage. I stood back and took a look at it. “Well, it’s not pretty, but it’ll do.”
Heath flexed his arm and tested out the bandage. It seemed to be holding well enough. He pulled himself up to his feet and staggered into the bedroom. I cleaned up the bathroom careful to leave no trace of Heath’s blood. I felt like a criminal who was withholding crucial evidence from the police. With a sigh toward the inevitable, I went to join him.
He was stretched out over the bed. His skin was still pale, but he looked better than he had a few moments ago. Some of his color had returned. As if he felt my eyes assessing him, Heath lifted his arm off of his eyes and looked at me. “I know this wasn’t what you had planned for the evening. If you want to leave, I won’t hold it against you, Miranda.”
I put my hands on my hips. “What? Since you don’t have the strength to have sex, you want to send me away? Get me out of your hair? I don’t work that way, mister.”
Heath bristled up. “Damn it, woman! That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Me getting shot, and you tending my wounds was not part of the deal. You didn’t sign up for this. I don’t expect you to put up with it. What’s wrong with that logic?”
I blanched at the harsh reality of someone shooting Heath. Suddenly my legs were more jelly than flesh and bone, and I slid down on the bed beside him. “Oh, Heath. Why is this happening? Why does someone want to kill you?”
Heath sat up and pulled me against his chest with his good arm. “I wish I could tell you, sweetheart, but right now I just can’t. If that’s not good enough for you, I’ll understand.”
I sniffled and buried my head in his chest. “I told you I trusted you, Heath Brandon; I’m not running off at my first test. No matter how bloody that first test happens to be. Do you understand?”
I felt his rumble of laughter in his chest rather than heard it. “You are a remarkable woman, Ms. Hannigan.”
I sniffed again. “Thank you for noticing.”
Now he really did laugh. “You might find this hard to believe love, but I think you were even more beautiful in that dress mopping up my blood than you were in that same dress while we danced tonight.”
“Stop trying to be so suave. You don’t have to be; you’ve already got me.”
Heath chuckled, “I might have got you, but I certainly have not had you. However, that is a situation I plan to change right now.”
“Heath, you can’t mean…But you’re hurt.”
Heath growled as he pulled me even closer to his body. “Not that hurt, darling.” And then his lips were on mine in a kiss so hungry I melted, completely under his spell.
My mind short circuited, and the only thought that entered my brain was that this kiss was even better than the last. I was nothing but putty in his hands, and that seemed to please him beyond measure as he continued his explorations of my body with his teeth, tongue, and lips.
As he nibbled on my collarbone, his hands slid up my legs and pushed my gown higher and higher exposing more of the flesh that he longed to taste. I wiggled my bottom trying to help him free my dress from under my hips, but he just laughed against my neck. His breath was warm as it puffed against my too sensitive skin. “Slow down, love. We’ve got all night.”
I pushed at his shoulders so that I could look him directly in the eyes. “We might have all night, Heath Brandon, but I have been waiting for you too long for you to torture me this way!”
His hand slipped even higher up my thigh, and his fingers traced the outline of my thong. Those glorious fingers played over the thin scrap of material causing me to whimper in need and demand, and then there was that sexy, sultry voice again. “And here I thought I was giving you pleasure, my dear.” He paused, and all I could feel was his breath rubbing across my skin. “Perhaps, I should stop?”
I blinked my eyes open at his suggestion. “Hell no, you shouldn’t!” I fairly screamed in his face.
He just laughed and pushed me down into the mattress covering me from head to toe with his long lean body. His hands were behind me caressing my back, or at least I thought he was caressing my back. The next moment, my dress was pulled from my shoulders and dragged down bearing my breasts.
Heath gazed at me for a moment and then ran one finger slowly around my right breast. My hips bucked against his
straining in pleasure for the fulfillment of his body in mine. “Not yet, my sweet; there is still so much to see.” He looked into my eyes, “And touch.” His hands once again played teasing games with my panties. “And taste, my dear…yes, always to taste.”
Then his mouth took possession of my nipple gently suckling and then laving it with his tongue. The pleasure burned low and coiled tightly in my breasts and between my legs. I ran my fingers up into his hair and held on as he rocked me with pleasure time and time again.
When I knew that I could not take another moment of such pleasurable torture, he moved to my other breast and then its nipple. My body wept with pleasure and pain and frustration all at the same time. I didn’t know if I should cry out in pleasure or demand satisfaction or to beg for mercy, but it really didn’t matter because all I could do was moan and pant as he played my body like it was an instrument made for only his pleasure.
When I was nothing short of barely conscious, I felt him pull my dress farther down. I knew the touch of the silk against my skin, but now it was like another lover’s caress adding to my pleasure. And then I felt the chill that told me it was gone. A gentle rustling noise suggested it was falling to the floor.
Heath’s fingers slipped into the waistband of my panties, and finally in answer to my pleas, he pulled them down and threw them away. I managed to open my eyes and look at him. He looked like a conqueror of olden times. He was still dressed in his black dress pants, but I could clearly see the bulge of his desire. His chest heaved with the effort to breathe, yet he still kept his control. His eyes were hooded as he looked his fill at my naked body. What he saw seemed to add to his pleasure, and so then did it fuel mine.
I lifted up my arms reaching for him, and he came into them, but not as I had expected. Instead, his head moved between my legs and his lips began to nibble their way up the inside of my thigh headed toward the flesh that craved him the most. I was dying from the pleasure and the anticipation. And then, there it was. His tongue flicked out licking my most sensitive bud. Again and again he licked and nibbled as I writhed with my pleasure. “Please.. Please. Oh please, Heath.” I cried out. I’m not sure what I called for: please more, please give me an orgasm, please take my body now…It really did not matter, any and all of the above would have been just fine.
Heath paid me no mind; he simply continued his ministrations until my hips buck and my back bowed and I screamed his name as I came.
Without a word, he stripped off his pants until he was gloriously naked and moved between my legs. His hands gripped my hips, and his stormy eyes were on mine; he thrust completely into me, filling me up with all that he was. A moan slipped from between my lips as he began to move deep inside me.
Slowly, Heath eased out and then when we were almost separated, he thrust back inside me with so much force I was driven deeper into the squishy mattress each time. My arms locked around him, and my fingers clung to his shoulders trying to hold on to him while this storm raged between us.
In and out the fierce rhythm continued until once again I was on the edge of that supreme pleasure. Heath seemed to sense my need and slowed his pace to drag out the moment of my release making me quake and whimper and beg for fulfillment. Finally, when I could stand it no more, I screamed out. “Please now. Heath, please now.” My cries seemed to fuel him, and he pumped into me with a force that left no room for half measures. I rammed my hips up following his retreat so that I was never without a large part of his manhood inside me. I rode him as he rode me, and we watched eye to eye as we each pleasured the other.
In his eyes I could see his rising release, and I held on trying to reign in my own so that our pleasure would overcome us together. We held on together as we rocked back and forth in this lover’s dance that was as old as Adam and Eve. Then after what was such a short amount of time, we burst together heaving and shouting wrapped in each other’s arms and each other’s release.
The hours of the night passed in snatches of slumber in Heath’s arms. I drifted asleep after our love making only to be awakened again sometime later seconds before Heath entered me with a gentle yet powerful thrust. I was caught up in the passion on the act while my body struggled to throw off slumber.
Languidly, I wrapped my legs around his waist and anchored my hands on his steady shoulders. This time our loving was not so urgent. The pace that he set allowed time for whispers and feather light kisses. A breathy promise of love and the future whispered past my ear.
In the bliss of this waking dream, I fell apart in Heath’s arms again. After the fire banked and the sweat from our bodies had cooled, I found myself snuggled against Heath’s side. His breathing had already fallen into the steady rhythm of sleep. A smile curved my lips. I closed my eyes content in body and spirit for at least this night.