Chapter 134

God, yes.

Richie crushed her to his chest in a constricting embrace, pushing the air from her lungs with his strength.  His reaction was immediate and spontaneous, but also unfair.  Those kinds of games were based on trust, and right now he wasn’t feeling very trustworthy.  Her very tempting offer would have to keep for another time. 

“How long are you here for?” he inquired, diverting his own attention and making a conscious effort not to crack her ribs.

Allegra’s arms were wrapped just as tightly around his waist, her head tucked comfortably into his shoulder.  “I’m in Europe as long as you are.”

The heat of her body pressed against his didn’t provide much distraction from his desire to pin her against the wall and make her come at her own hand.  Richie instead zeroed in on the mundane details of life that he’d thought were preventing her from being here to start with.

“What about the amnio testing next week?”

“Dr. Shively knew a colleague in London who was able to fit us in the day after the WTB show.”  She shrugged.  “I knew you were unhappy about missing out on it.”

Richie breathed an inaudible sigh of relief.  She hadn’t hung herself with the rope he’d given her.  Allegra had tied it into a bow on a gift of sorts for him.  It made him feel a little guilty for speculating that she would do anything less.  More guilt heaped on top of that because herehe was –

“So that’s a no on the control thing?”  Allegra angled her head to look up at him with an impish grin. 

His eyebrows lifted and an amused chuckle escaped.  “I didn’t know you liked me being in control.  You never said.”

Dropping her face toward the floor, she felt the heat of embarrassment infuse her cheeks and she mumbled, “I liked it.”

“What was that?  I couldn’t hear you.”

The teasing was plain to hear and she met his gaze purposefully, willing away the embarrassment.  Deft hands burrowed under his jacket and t-shirt to stroke his bare back.  “I said I liked it.  A lot,” she stated clearly, with a hint of defiance.

“So did I,” he concurred softly, cupping her cheek.  “But how about we save it for later?”  To her surprise, he swept her feet from the floor carrying her in a beeline toward the bedroom.  “Right now I wanna make love.  I wanna get lost in you and the sweet little noises you make when you’re coming apart in my arms.”

A tingle went up her spine and an instant later the luxurious bedding swallowed her in its downy softness.  In any other bed Allegra would have bounced when he released his hold several inches above the mattress, but the rich fabric of the comforter absorbed the shock, cradling her in its midst.  Richie’s face immediately loomed over her own, eyes searching.

“You know I love you, right?”

If she’d had any doubt, the sincerity shining from the beautiful mocha depths would have erased it.  While she didn’t doubt it, his need to declare it just now, in just that way…  Well, it troubled her.  Pushing away the eagerness to feel his skin next to hers, she tried again to draw him out.

 “What’s wrong, Richie?  Let me in.”

Concerned hands cradled his face, thumbs smoothing the crow’s feet that were a bit more pronounced than usual. The fatigue was written plainly across his features and told of long, busy days and even longer nights.   In a vain effort to absorb some of the burden she pushed her fingers into his hair, massaging his scalp and neck until his eyelids fluttered shut. 

A shake of his head refocused his attention back to her.  “Later.  Just let me love you now.” 

He dropped onto his left hip, kicking his loafers away as he meandered a sensual hand up the front of her thigh.  Its trek began near her knee, savoring the texture of the shiny gray tights all the way up and under the loose cotton top that draped her torso.  Before he could reach the waistband and the bare skin beyond, Richie was distracted by an unexpected rise in the soft plane of her belly.

He snapped his eyes to hers, even white teeth flashing in pure delight.  “You’ve got a baby bump,” he marveled, its warmth filling his palm.  “It’s little, but you have one.” 

The oversize fit of her blouse had hidden the barely noticeable change, but he’d found it and was determined to inspect it in minute detail.  Flipping the hem of the blouse haphazardly up, he wasted no time in shucking the tights down over her hips and legs.  Tossing them aside, he fixated on the first visible proof that something special was happening in Allegra’s body.

“Hello, Bug,” he murmured, after a quick kiss.  “You’re growing so fast that it won’t be any time before I get to carry you instead of Mommy.”

Smiling, Allegra stroked Richie’s hair affectionately.  “Bug?  What happened to Doodlebug?”

“It’s a little long,” he admitted, propping himself on one elbow.  “I should’ve given that one some more thought.”

“Bug’s good.”

He could call the baby anything he wanted as long as that look of love filled his eyes, she decided.  She waited for him to remember what he’d been doing before the Great Discovery, but he was lost in his thoughts, idly rubbing her belly.

“Richie, are you – “

“Promise me something,” he interrupted before she could ask if he was okay.  “And I don’t mean to just say the words.  I really want you to promise.”

The solemn furrow between his eyebrows and serious frown only added to the urgency he’d infused in his plea and Allegra’s heart skipped a beat before moving to a rapid staccato rhythm.   He was starting to scare her. 

A wide, plastic smile affixed itself to her lips in a distraction from the tendrils of fear that presented themselves as widened eyes and dilated pupils.  She tapped the end of his nose, lightly tossing off, “Well I can’t really promise without knowing what it is, now can I?”

“Look at me,” he demanded, pinching her chin between his thumb and forefinger and staring into her soul.  “I want you to take this seriously.”

The smile faded and, bracing herself, she assured him, “I am listening.”

Both hands curled over her shoulders with a gentle squeeze.  “When the results come back on the paternity test – no matter what they are – I want you to promise me you won’t run away from me again.  Even if you get it in your head that it’s for my own good, you can’t leave.  Promise me.”

The instant relief dropped her blood pressure by at least twenty points.  “Is this what’s been bothering you?”

“Just promise.”

His plea was more of a command, and Allegra sighed.  She had been trying to formulate a plan for that eventuality ever since appointment with Dr. Shively.  What if the paternity test came back with an unwanted answer?  She still felt like she owed him the option of bowing out if the baby wasn’t his, but she was no longer compelled to protect him from himself – at least because of the baby.  The choice would be his and she would accept it.

“There will be no running,” she assured him, stroking his face fondly.  “We talk things out and decide what’s best for all of us, and we do it together.”

Properly placated, he swooped in to seize her mouth.  Allegra had only a moment to speculate once again at what was brewing in his head before the heat of his kiss ricocheted down her nerve endings and pooled in one central point between her thighs.  The moan filled the back of her throat and his tongue claimed its opportunity for a long overdue taste of her.  She met each passionate swipe of his tongue with one of her own until he pushed her back to the mattress.

Richie levered over her body, pushing up at the crinkly cotton blouse, lifting his mouth from hers only long enough to whip the unwanted piece of clothing over her head.   Her breasts were bared to his hungry gaze with the flick of his wrist, and in the next breath his palm covered one aching globe.  Its twin received a different type of attention when he drew the nipple in between his lips and wrapped his tongue around it.

“Mmmffh.”  The whimper of pleasure wouldn’t be contained.  Her breasts had become more sensitive in the last week and his gentle attention had her quivering with delight, hands buried in his hair. 

With one nipple properly laved and standing at attention, he moved his efforts to its mate while his hand stole southward.  The rosebud tip slipped between his wet lips at the same moment his fingers slid into her panties. 

Her womanhood was hot and swollen with desire.  His kiss was all it took to make her ready for more, and he took advantage of it, immediately immersing two of his fingers in the depths of her heat.

“Unmmhh.”

“Tell me you missed me,” he breathed before sending a puff of air across the wet tip of her breast.  Richie watched it pucker in response.

Her back arched toward him with desire and she obediently recited, “I missed you.  So much.”

Suddenly his fingers left her, and sheer determination had the delicate sides of her panties ripped down the seams.  She gasped, desire coursing through her at his caveman display of passion.

There was something about the way he looked at her.  Something about the way his hands stroked her skin, setting her on fire.  He was always engrossed in their lovemaking, but it was as though he had an agenda today. 

Her flesh grew cool when he drew away from, and she briefly thought he was leaving her alone on the pillowy bed.  Then she felt her foot being encased by his strong hands, thumbs circling as they massaged the ball of her foot, then the arch.  Her ankles were the next part to be subjected to his loving touch, palms stroking up and over her calf until his fingers dusted across the sensitive spot at the back of her knee.

Shuddering at the tickling sensation, she watched him smile and redirect his efforts to her other foot and leg until he reached that same sensitive spot behind the other knee.  Receiving the same reaction, he merely smiled again and continued his journey with one hand stroking upward over each thigh.

Allegra would’ve sworn there were flames licking up her legs instead of his fingertips.  The heat at her core built into a wildfire threatening to consume her in a blistering inferno.

But Richie paid no mind.  Still fully clothed, he intently focused his energies on touching every pore of her skin.  The touch of his hand swept across her torso, breasts, arms.  Allegra found out how sensitive the insides of her elbows were when he brushed a feathery kiss there along his journey.

“Mm.  Unh.  Nnh.”  She couldn’t keep the mewls of pleasure from escaping as each touch pushed her further toward the edge.  Begging didn’t seem unreasonable.  “Please take me,” she panted.  “Kiss me, taste me, lick me, fill me.  Please.  I need more.”

He snatched his shirt over his head and aligned himself so that their chests were pressed together, nipples scraping against one another as he plundered her mouth.  His tongue was thick and possessive, determined that no part of her mouth would go untouched. 

Her muffled cries were lost in his mouth when his fingers delved between her wet, swollen lips to stroke her slippery folds.  Sure fingers circled the bundle of nerves that was rigidly pleading for attention.  When she thought she would explode from frustration, he flicked it gently then rubbed with a mind-shattering friction that had her coming apart in his arms.

“Ohhhhh!  Oh my God!  Yes!” she wrenched her mouth away and screamed as the jolts of pleasure shot from his fingertip through her thighs, abdomen and beyond.

“Is that good, baby?” he murmured, quickly divesting himself of the jeans that kept his erection hidden from her.

“Mmm-hmmm.  Now I want you.”  She tugged at his waist, eager to have him settle between her thighs. 

He guided himself into her, deliberately easing into her warm sheath with a deep groan.  “You have me.  So deep that you won’t know where I end and you begin.”  One focused drive of his hips fulfilled the prophecy and she reveled in the way he possessed her so completely. 

“Move,” she commanded softly, bucking gently to prompt the friction her body craved.  But he wasn’t to be swayed from the slow, sensual slide he’d begun. 

The tip of his nose connected with the outer shell of Allegra’s ear, and his hot breath made her shiver.  “Every time I fill you, I lose another piece of my heart.” 

Allegra knew he was whispering, but a loudspeaker couldn’t have proclaimed his feelings any more plainly.  Her heart beat more fiercely with the knowledge.  Her emotions, combined with the physical sensation of their bodies sliding against one another, was too much to bear.

Each stroke was just as slow as the one before it, but Richie was pushing harder… deeper.  She wound her legs around his waist, pulling him tight against her, restlessly pushing for something more.

“Mm. Ohh.  Richie.  Ahh.”  She couldn’t form the words necessary to relay her desire.

But she didn’t have to.

“I know baby.  Just a little longer.  Then you’ll come for me.”

God, she loved him.  She couldn’t remember why it felt important to stay away when all she wanted to do was be a part of him.

Fondling.  Sliding.  Stroking.  Moaning.  Whimpering.  Thrashing.  Begging.  Pleading. 

Ecstasy.

Love.