Part 3

JOURNAL ENTRY SEPT 17TH, 2002 - cont.

I'm back again. Mopped up the chamomile. The m's and n's are a little sticky, but guess I have to live with it for the moment.

Where did I leave off? Oh, yes...Alex kissed me.

I was told once that I have a way with words...but I'll be damned if I can find the right ones to describe his kiss because there was so much more than a mere touch of lip on lip.

His scent surrounded me. Not just the cologne he wore...Joop, I think it's called. No. His scent...that fragrance that belongs to him and only him...the scent of male. It made my head swim. I was lost in him...utterly, utterly lost.

There was the faint brush of bristles from his cheeks and chin. Not enough to really mark, but just enough to leave a small red abrasion as the kiss deepened.

His hands were under my shirt, playing with my nipples. The contrast drove me crazy! Soft and hard at the same time. Calluses, I believe I mentioned them before, abraded my already hard nipples even as the softness of his hands cradled my breasts. Madness.

And his mouth. Ah, his mouth. So many times I had written of that mouth...so many times I had watched him as he sang or spoke. That mouth covered mine...his lips coaxed mine (as if they really had to go very far)...his tongue slid past my parted lips to twine around my tongue, flick over my teeth.

We only pulled apart long enough to rise from the chairs. With my hands in his, he led me over to the bed. My heart thundered in my ears. Yes! I wanted to scream it out loud. Wanted to shout! Yes...finally...for a little while...Alex would be mine. The ghost of Sarah...of Amanda...they would be there, yes...but, for now...only for now...he would be mine.

Again his mouth met mine, and any hesitation was wiped away. Those hands of his, expert hands. He knew just how to touch...and where...to send my temperature soaring. My shirt disappeared, my bra following close behind. Then the bed was at my back. Again I was lost...lost in the luxurious softness beneath me...and the hard man above me. He still wore his white beater, but when his mouth once again met mine, I knew I couldn't wait to feel his skin. I grabbed the bottom of the beater and pulled, ripping it straight up the back. He sat on his heels, chuckling softly as he shrugged out of the ruined beater and tossed it away. When he came down, we were chest to chest...skin to skin...and I couldn't help but moan.

I must have murmured his name even as my hands roamed this newly exposed flesh. From memory, I knew each tattoo...and now traced them with my fingers. His lips blazed a trail over my cheek, down my neck. His teeth nipped at my collarbone, and I groaned, arching my hips against him...and his very evident arousal. I wanted more...no, needed more. My hands left his arms, trailing down his back, sliding into the back of his jeans.

Is it any wonder I cursed fluently when the phone rang?

Actually, we both did, but I think Alex was impressed with my vocabulary. He grinned, pressed a hard, quick kiss on my lips, then reached over for the phone.

The change in him was almost immediate, and I knew it had to be Sarah. I wanted to scream! I wanted to weep!!! So close!!! So very, very close!!!

Alex hung up the phone, and rested his weight on top of me, his arousal only a little less evident. He stared down at me. "You going to ask who was on the phone?"

I shook my head. "It's doesn't matter," I replied softly, and it didn't. Not anymore. "Just one night," I whispered, my hands trembling a little as they skimmed over his belly, the 69 tattoo I'd often fantasized about, "just one stolen night."

"No," he said with a slight shake of his head, and my hopes sunk. "Not just one night."

My hopes slowly rose and my heart remembered how to beat again. "What...what do you mean?"

"Not just tonight," he explained, "but tomorrow night and the night after."

I blinked up at him, "What?" My passion fogged brain just couldn't process it. I pulled slightly away, holding him still as he leaned back down for another kiss. "Alex...what..."

"Not just one stolen night," he explained, a sensual smile curving those very kissable lips, "but three."

"Oh," I softly replied, drawing a chuckle from him before he bent his head for another kiss.

We spent the rest of the night making love.

I can't really describe all the things he did to me. He loved me with his mouth...his hands...his body...over and over. Sometimes I felt so close to him, I wasn't sure where he ended and I began.

God, now that sounds like some of that romantic dime store drivel...but it's true. Something happened to me that night. I can't explain it. It was like one of my fan fics...or all of them. It felt...familiar...like I'd made love to him a thousand times in my fics, but...this was so new.

This was real.

I learned all those secret places...like just behind his ear...his right hip bone...the bottom of his ribs...places to touch and taste to drive him a little insane.

He likes to be bitten, too...and likes to bite. Good thing, since I do, too. I still have his lovebites all over my neck and shoulders and...well...

We made love all night long...well, mostly. We would nap occasionally...then wake up and make love again...

He told me that, at one point, I snuggled up against him and told him I loved him. I don't remember whether I did or not...but I have a sneaking suspicion I probably did.

*sigh*

So...that was my first night with Alex. I had a little trouble walking the next day, because we did leave the hotel. Alex went with me on two trips. One, to Ellis Island. My great grandparents had come over to America at the turn of the twentieth century, and...it was like a private sort of pilgrimage. Had to do it. And two...we went to where the Twin Towers used to be. Everyone still calls them the World Trade Center, but when I was growing up it was the Twin Towers, so that's what it still is to me...

Marcus was there. He's Alex's bodyguard. None of the three of us walked away without tears in our eyes. Me, freak that I am, actually hugged one of the fireman that was still nearby. He hugged me back...didn't say anything or freak out.

Anyway...I went with Alex to the Garden, and hung out for the show. Then I spent another magical night in his arms.

No phone call this time.

The oddest thing happened though. Well, not odd, exactly, but...I was on top this one time, and just leaning there for a moment to catch my breath. Alex all of a sudden cupped my face in his hands so our eyes met. A shiver slid down my spine. The look on his face...almost as if he were memorizing me and that moment...or maybe it was that he just realized something...

So...our last day...

On rubbery legs, we went shopping. Getting by on even less sleep than the night before, Alex and I stormed Manhattan. He kept teasing me because I bought something for everyone except me. At this one antique shop, I saw this beautiful silver ring...an old claddagh ring with a ruby heart. I fell in love with it. But I just couldn't bring myself to buy it. I didn't need it.

That's how I am. If I need it, I'll buy it for me. If I don't, I won't.

Alex bought it.

I didn't know though. I didn't find out until late that night...last night, actually. After the concert, we went back to the hotel. I had mixed feelings. It would be our last night together. I didn't want to think about it. I just wanted to be in his arms...hell, I needed to be there...I needed him.

We got to the hotel around 2AM, and I thought we'd go straight up to the room. But Alex told me he had a surprise for me. He led me to the lounge where there was a baby grand. He sat at the piano, and started to play. I couldn't help but cry as he sang "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith. You know the song...the one from Armageddon.

Then, as the last notes faded away, Alex pulled out this little black velvet box. My hands trembled as I opened it, and there, there was the ring. Nestled in black velvet, the silver claddaugh I'd fallen in love with earlier. I pulled it out, and noticed the inscription, "Bed of Roses - Love Alex"

It didn't make sense, but, hey, he'd bought it for me. I kissed him as a thank you, and then we went upstairs.

That's when Bed of Roses made sense. The room was lit only by candlelight and the bed...strewn with rose petals.

Hell, my throat's tight just remembering. I need a tissue. Be right back.