He lowered her bra, exposing her breast to the night air. His mouth descended, kissing around the nipple while stroking her below.
“It’s all right,” she encouraged him, applying light pressure to the back of his head. “I’m not overly sensitive tonight.”
He chuckled against her skin, for her eagerness pleased him. Experimentally, he licked her nipple. It constricted in the cool November air. Then his warm mouth engulfed her, licking and gently teasing.
Julia lifted her hips as a strangled moan escaped her chest. She was trying to be quiet.
“You can be loud,” he encouraged her, taking her nipple into his mouth once again. “We have more privacy here than at the house.”
She gave voice to her pleas, begging him to taste her other breast and lifting her hips as he stroked between her legs.
“Do you want to come?” he rasped, paying homage to her other nipple.
“I want to come with you inside me.” The confession had scarcely left her mouth when he was tugging down her jeans and removing his own.
The voyeuristic moon shone, giving light to Gabriel’s endeavors. He took one of her hands in his, resting it beside her head.
He cupped her opposite hip and separated her legs more widely. His hips nested with hers.
Gabriel’s eyes measured hers as he pressed forward. Again, with the practiced ease born of lovers who’d coupled to infinity, he slid inside.
Julia moaned.
“I want you to move.” Gabriel’s speech was terse, clipped. He seemed overwhelmed, holding himself still over her.
Julia did as she was bidden, lifting her hips and gripping his backside to urge him deeper.
Gabriel watched. Then he captured her mouth, kissing her deeply. “You arouse and delight me.”
“Good,” she managed to say, lifting her hips once again.
Gabriel began to move, slowly at first, marking his pace by Julia’s reactions. Then he began to speed up, thrusting more deeply.
Julia’s hands slid up to his shoulders and she clung to him as he drove inside her.
She wanted to signal to him that she was close, poised just on the edge. But before she could whisper in his ear, she fell. Her hands gripped Gabriel’s shoulders and she tightened, eyes wide open, as she climaxed.
Gabriel watched raptly, increasing his pace in order to chase after her. She’d already softened in his arms and almost hazarded a smile when his own pleasure overtook him.
His jaw hung slack and his hips jerked. A few more thrusts and then he, too, was still.
He exhaled against her lips. “Sweetheart?”
“I’m good.”
Julia snuggled against her beloved under the blanket, while the stars in the canopy of Heaven winked down at them.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Tammy and Scott took Clare into the living room while Richard and Rachel attacked the dishes.
Richard picked up a crystal goblet and began drying it. “I can remember doing this with your mother. The crystal can’t go in the dishwasher, she said, and so we’d have to wash it by hand.”
“She was right.” Rachel continued washing and rinsing crystal and placing it carefully on the drying rack.
“I’m proud of you.” Richard’s tone was low.
“For what?”
“For having the courage to embark on a new path. I know you enjoyed your job in the mayor’s office, but I always envisioned you doing something more creative. Your new position sounds exciting.”
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.” She finished washing the crystal and drained the sink. Then she filled it with fresh, soapy water and began tackling the stack of pots and pans.
“Your mother would be proud of you.”
Rachel fixated on scrubbing the inside of a pot.
“Talk to me, sweetheart.” Richard leaned against the counter and focused his whole attention on his daughter.
Rachel paused. “Mom visits you and Gabriel but she hasn’t visited me.”
Richard’s silver eyebrows lifted. “What do you mean?”
“You see Mom in your dreams. Gabriel told me she’s appeared to him and spoken to him. But she hasn’t appeared to me.”
Richard folded his dish towel pensively. “It’s true I dream about your mother. Not every night, but many nights. I find those dreams comforting. It’s not certain she’s appearing to me. It could be wish fulfillment on my part.”
Rachel lifted her head. “You don’t believe that.”
Richard hesitated. “No, I don’t. I think some of it is wish fulfillment, but there have been a couple of conversations we had that I believe to be genuine.
“I can’t speak for Gabriel. Perhaps Mom had unfinished business with him.”
“What about me?” Rachel dropped the pot into the water, causing suds to splash all over her clothes. “I’m her daughter. We were close. Why doesn’t she have unfinished business with me?”
Richard put down his dish towel. “I don’t know the answer to that question. What would you like to tell her, if she were here instead of me?”
Rachel peered out the window, over the back patio. “I’d tell her I love her. And that I wish we’d had more time.”
“I wish the same. I never expected to lose your mother so early. I thought we’d grow old together. Travel the world. Annoy our children.” He tousled Rachel’s hair affectionately.
Rachel examined the pot and rinsed it out. She placed it on the drying rack.
Richard lifted the pot in order to dry it. “I knew your mother, perhaps better than anyone. She loved you without reservation. I know she’s proud of you. I know she still loves you. And whether or not she is actually present here in the house, I feel her love and her comfort. And I am convinced she is always with us.”
Rachel placed the roasting pan in the sink and began scrubbing. “That’s because you believe in God and an afterlife.”
Richard jerked. “Don’t you?”
“Sometimes. Sometimes, I doubt.”
“I wrestle with my own doubts, as well. Especially at night. But I have felt your mother’s presence. And I have no doubt, no doubt at all, as to what I was feeling. That feeling has nothing to do with the other beliefs you just mentioned.”
Rachel glanced at her father. His expression was concerned, and earnest, and honest. And she knew him well enough to know he did not lie.
Richard put the pot in one of the drawers and leaned against the counter. “I know I’m not your mother. I know I’m just—your dad. But I’m here. I’m here and I’m listening.”