Sweet gestures of intimacy can be as powerful as moments of hard, intense passion.
On the tail end of my release of Vigilant Hart, an action mystery novella, I wanted to thank everyone for their support by adding a new Standalone Scene to my blog. Though Vigilant Hart is different from my contemporary romance novels, it's always fun to revisit one's origin genre and share one's work with those who appreciate that genre.
I hope you enjoy this sweet and romantic scene between Vincent and his wife Lauren, as they come to spend an afternoon celebrating not only their future together, but the very bond that has held their long love together:
This
is going to look beautiful.
Lauren pulled another loop of pink
yarn through the white thread with her crochet hook to add colour to the
stitch. The afternoon sun sent beams of light through the window, splashing
conveniently across her lap where she sat working with peaceful focus. The
house was quiet. But it didn’t bother Lauren. She knew that in another six
months, she and her husband would be graced with a very special gift.
The sound of a tumbling latch echoed
across the hall as the front door opened, and Lauren’s husband entered, kicking
the snow off his boots.
“Hey sweetheart!”
“Vincent? What are you doing home this
early?”
“It’s Friday,” Vince called out,
removing his navy blue pea coat to hang in the hall closet. “I decided to leave
the office early and surprise my wife.”
Lauren smiled. “What a sweet thing
to do. But aren’t you needed at work today? Isn’t the team finishing that
bridge design for approval next week?”
“All done, young lady.” Vince
entered the bedroom of their tiny home to meet his wife with a small tray
containing two hot beverages. “Your choice. Tea with milk and sugar, or hot
chocolate. I know you like both.”
“I’ll take the tea please.”
Vince removed the tea from the tray
and placed it on a small side table not far from the recliner chair.
“So what are you building here?”
“It’s going to be a little baby
hat.”
“Looks like a doily so far.”
Lauren looked to her husband with a forgiving
smile. “I just started it. It will grow just big enough to hold a little baby’s
head inside. What do you think of the pattern. Isn’t it cute?” Lauren lifted
her hands to display the elaborate design.
“It’s beautiful. Seriously honey, I
can design a suspension bridge, but I have no idea how you make those little
circles all stick together like that with a long piece of yarn.” Vince moved
his hand gently onto her belly. “You’re just better than me at some things,” he
whispered, kissing her forehead.
Vince eyed her smile and got up to
remove his suit jacket. “So how was your day, honey?”
“Oh, fine.
Quiet. Actually, the crib arrived today. I had them leave the box in the baby’s
room.”
“Perfect. We can assemble it
together after dinner!”
Vince hung his jacket up neatly in
the closet and turned about. He took a quiet moment to watch his beautiful
pregnant wife focus on each stitch going into the little hand made gift for
their first baby. He was just as ecstatic as she was, knowing that after their
numerous efforts to have a child, God had finally answered their hopes with a
precious gift.
“Lauren,” he whispered as he paced
slowly to her and descended to his knees at the foot of the chair. “I can’t
tell you how happy I am that you said yes
to me three years ago. You’ve made me the happiest man alive.”
Lauren stopped working the hook and
yarn in her lap to focus on the sincere expression in her husband’s gaze.
“Vincent, I couldn’t be happier, married to you.”
Vince smiled like a young boy in
appreciation of the company before him.
“How’s the tea?”
“A bit hot. Going to let it sit.”
Vince looked at his wife’s hands as
she picked up where she left off on the little hat. “Sweetie, your fingers look
a bit tired. Why don’t you stop and rest them for a while?”
“I just want to finish this next set
of stitches. Oh, and I made something for you…”
“You did?”
“Yes. It took me a week, and I hid
it from you, but now it’s ready. I hope you like it.” Lauren set her work aside
and reached under the recliner pulling out a small plastic bag. She opened it
and withdrew a striped burgundy scarf.”
“You made this?” Vince took the
scarf with wide eyes and unfolded it curiously. “It’s beautiful! This will go
perfectly with my peacoat.” Vince drew it behind his head and let it fall over
his broad shoulders. “It’s going with me to work tomorrow,” he said, lifting
the end of the scarf with one hand to Lauren’s cheek and grazing it gently in
circles with the tail ends of soft yarn.
Lauren closed her eyes and smiled,
enjoying the light sensation on her skin…
Vince saw the sweet reception of his
gesture on his wife’s face and felt further attracted to the woman who meant
the world to her. Home early from work, and captivated by his stunning wife, he
decided to entertain her…
He reached for the yarn and hook and
tucked them away in Lauren’s crocheting basket, then took her hands in his. He
rubbed his fingers along hers in an effort to edge out the soreness of several
hours work on a quiet afternoon. Lauren had enjoyed an entire day alone,
dedicating her time to someone who would arrive in their lives by the start of
summer. But before their sweet gift arrived, Vince wanted to spend some
intimate time with his partner.
He stood up and edged Lauren out of
her seat by the hand.
“Come.”
“What are you doing?”
“I want to entertain you. Come over
to the bed.”
Vince
drew her tight against his body and in the stillness, dotted her lips with a
single, soft kiss. “I want to feel your body close to me. Every inch of it.”
Lauren lowered her head, shyness
splashing through her chest. “You still like my body? It’s going to start
looking very different soon.”
Vince raised her chin to meet her
eyes.
“Are you kidding me? Your body has
been the center of my attention since we met years ago. I always have a hard
time peeling these eyes and hands away from you, babe.” Vince travelled the
length of her with a slow, commanding gaze, one that Lauren occasionally
indulges in from her sweet, mild-mannered husband. She watched as a slow smile
curled the edges of his lips, his hands approaching her body.
“Let me take this off for you…”
Vince slowly undid the white buttons of Lauren’s baggy cotton shirt. His
fingers travelled to her neck, hooking the opening of her sweater, and
travelled to her shoulders, edging the sweater down her sleeves and tossing it
onto the bed. He gazed at her beautiful bare breasts.
“Comfy?” he asked, the tiny smile
still on his face.
“Yes.”
“Let’s get you more comfortable.”
Vince led her to his side of the bed
and crouched down. His fingers slowly loosened the drawstring of her
comfortable cotton pants and gently slid them down past her bottom.
“Have a seat, sweetheart.”
Vince then raised a leg of his
comfortably seated wife, then the other, and slowly withdrew the pants from her
person. He got to his feet, and folded them neatly, setting them aside by the
sweater.
“Neat freak,” Lauren called out,
giggling. She loved his organized mannerism. His constant efforts always warmed
her heart.
“What? Freak, you say?” Vince
questioned, his grin now sly.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Lauren
laughed back.
“Well, maybe you’ll get a little
freak this afternoon. Maybe you won’t. You’ll just have to wait and see.”
Lauren drew her chin into her chest
in curiosity. “And what might you have planned for me at the moment, good Sir?”
“Well,” he stated softly, “You’ve
been so busy today, it’s time you relax, and let my hands take over for a while. Who knows, maybe I’ll have you join
in a little later. Now, I want you to lay back, across the bed on your back.”
Lauren did as she was asked, and as
she took a position across the plush bed, she noticed, staring upwards, that
her husband had pulled a small chair up behind her head and took a seat.
She met his gaze as he leaned
forward in the chair, over her face.
“Close your eyes,” he whispered with
a smile.
Lauren slowly closed her lids and
nestled into the bed’s soft fabric.
“Just bring yourself a bit toward
me, sweetheart. I want the back of your head just a tiny bit off the edge of the bed.”
Curious, Lauren obliged, and
wriggled herself up a few inches.
“Why do you want me slightly off—”
Eyes, still shut, Lauren suddenly
felt the warmth of two palms cradle the back of her head. One hand slowly
lifted it up, while the other hand collected her length of soft hair and guided
it back, letting it hang loosely over the edge of the bed. Her head was then
lowered slightly, and Vince sat back for a moment.
“This is going to feel better as each
minute passes. Just keep your eyes closed.”
Lauren nodded in anticipation. A
peaceful silence arrested the room. With eyes shut and her head tilted back
slightly, Vince was going to love his wife by elevating the receptions of her
body.
Seconds later, Lauren felt the soft
touch of her husband’s fingers land on the skin just behind her ears, making
her smile. The soothing warmth of his digits connected with her jaw as they
glided along its length and converged at her chin. The index and middle finger
of both Vince’s hands passed the edges of her smile and slid ever so softly
across her cheeks and temples, converging at her forehead.
“Mmm…” Lauren purred, through closed
lips.
Vince traced his fingers apart and
Lauren felt the moist impression of her husband’s lips on her forehead. A
splash of adrenaline charged her core and she did her best to conceal a slight
shiver, enjoying the surprise treatment that afternoon.
“You like that?”
“Mmm yes…”
“Good,” Vince replied softly. He got
up from the chair and returned moments later to sit down.
Lauren
opened her eyes and saw Vince take a seat with his new scarf slung around his neck.
“I’ll need this in a minute,” he
explained with a smile. “Now close those eyes back up, sweetheart.”
Lauren shrugged and closed her eyes,
darkening the thoughts and mystery that swirled in her mind as she waited virtually
naked on the bed.
Vince’s hands returned, this time to
her shoulders. The warmth of open palms inched along the length of her arms,
past the elbows, rubbing her forearms and meeting at her fingers. He entwined
his fingers in hers and leaned forward.
“Stay still.”
Vince’s lips landed on his wife’s,
the familiar taste of his skin melting her instantly. Teased by her husband’s brilliant
romantic gestures, Lauren waited for his tongue to search hers, and they danced
about between their mouths. Vince loved kissing his wife. It was a connection
that felt both comforting yet thrillingly undefined. Every long, sensuous kiss
the two had shared seemed to take them to states of lustful camaraderie.
Lauren tuned into the senses that
were intensifying as the handsome gentleman above her made splendid contact
with her body in all the right ways. Instinct captured her muscles, and as her
core began to tense with desire, so did her grip on Vince’s hands.
“Relax Lauren…” came the soft rumble
of words past Vince’s lips as he edged back slowly and freed his hands from
hers.
“Okay,” she whispered back,
wriggling her neck about on the edge of the bed. With her head still hung back
ever so slightly, blood coursed through her body with an unusual sensation, her
sense of touch now magnifying under Vince’s control…
“I love this scarf, Lauren. Though I’m
not quite ready to accept it yet.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. I think it will come in handy.
It’s so soft. I want to share it with you.”
Seconds later, Lauren felt the
faint, recognizable contact of fibres— the inch-long loose strands of yarn that
made up the tail ends of the scarf— circling her cheek. She curled her chin in
from the ticklish sensation, but soon heard her husband whisper into the
darkness of her mind, his voice not far from her ear.
“Relax baby…and keep those eyes
closed.”
Lauren tried hard to relax, and
after some time tuning back in to a state of calm, her chin and neck lost their
tension and remained soothed and limp on once again on the bed.
Vince supported the hand-made scarf across
his two hands, one of them dangling the threaded ends in his grip. The loose
strands now left Lauren’s silky cheek and travelled up to the tip of her chin
and down her neck. Gliding slowly along an unknown route, Lauren focussed on
the areas of her body that were being charmed by soft woolen fibres. The slight,
ginger contact on her skin felt electric, charging her mind with thoughts that pulsed
desire toward every corner of her body.
Vince remained focussed and
receptive to the reactions of his beloved wife. As he trailed the scarf’s soft
edge between, then about her breasts, he kept watch on the rise and fall of her
chest, reading her breaths and gauging his choreography of caress upon her.
Brushing each of her soft nipples in
temptingly slow circles, Vince finally caught sight of Lauren’s hands speaking
back to him. He looked on as Lauren sunk into an instinctive state of
captivation, watching her palms, earlier face up on the bed, now turn to meet her
thighs. Lauren’s fingertips spoke her mind’s desire, reaching slowly for the
soft skin of her own body, each digit making slow, barely conspicuous contact
with her legs.
Lauren wanted more.
Vince carefully leaned out further,
leading the scarf down along her beautiful round belly, swirling it about. He
altered its path in random sequences, Lauren enjoying the elating tickles
wandering lazily across her torso in alternating directions.
Her breath hitched, as the delicate
scarf sunk further down her body, finding the soft flesh of her inner thighs.
Swirling the fabric about against her skin, Vince knew he had captivated his
lovely wife. He watched on pleased, as his wife’s hands matched the motions of
the scarf, her fingers swirling slowly about the outsides of her thighs.
The scarf made its way along the
insides of Lauren’s legs, tickling the back of her knees. As the soft fibres
returned up her body, Lauren’s tuned instinct caught Vince’s eyes once again,
as he saw her legs edge open slightly, her toes curling as she lay waiting for
more.
Finally, Vince drew the scarf across
the bridge of her legs, dancing it gently over her underwear…
He lowered his head beside hers and
whispered alluringly.
“I know where your hand wants to
go.”
Lauren’s eyes popped open and caught
sight of her husband’s face not far above her, and she nervously edged away
from her relaxed state. “I…I can’t do that in front of you.”
“What, touch yourself sweetheart?”
“Yes,” she whispered back. A shy
rouge flashed across her cheeks, embarrassed by her admission.
Vince nodded, and edged out an
understanding smile, determined to sync his incredible wife back en route to her
pleasurable afternoon journey.
“Let me help you, sweetheart. Close
your eyes…” Vince gathered the gifted scarf and folded it lengthwise, then laid
it across Lauren’s eyes, encouraging the comfortable darkness to draw her back
into her earlier state of solitude.
“Now let me take your hand…” Vince
cupped her hand in his, both palm down, encouraging her to relax her fingers as
he turned his head and dotted her cheek with soft pecks. Vince stayed close to
his beautiful wife as he picked up where they left off and guided her hand in
random motions about her belly.
Together, Lauren’s and Vince’s
fingers travelled the skin of her body, the bare touch suddenly building a wave
of growing elation. Comfortable in his care, Lauren gradually felt less nervous
about hiding the fact that she had rarely been familiar with herself in
private. As Vince’s lips continued to dot her cheek, his hand guided her own
along every inch of skin that she remembered him kissing and caressing; in all
their years together. Visions of their love making flooded her mind. Memories
of passionate kisses plunged into Lauren’s attention, arresting her inhibitions
and casting them far away…
With Lauren’s chest rising and
falling with greater distinction, Vince edged her hand in his slowly down her
belly, and slid it smoothly under her panties…
Suddenly,
Lauren felt more tuned in to her state of elations than ever before. In slow,
slight motions, her legs wriggled about on the bed. Her shoulders tensed, and
her breaths magnified from under hushed lips. The gentle trace of skin on skin
magnified Lauren’s heartbeat, filling her with warm, successive pulses of
delight.
Vince
soon felt Lauren’s confidence surge as her hand took its own route of play from
inside his gentle grip, and he slowly pulled away, trailing his palm up past her
wrist and forearm. His hands floated to her sides, inching along her hips,
never leaving her…
“I
want to see you…” she whispered, in heat.
A hand disappeared from her side and
slid the scarf gently from her temples, allowing her to gaze upward and meet
the beautiful rich hue of her husband’s comforting eyes.
His presence felt magnificent,
fleeting her reservations as she shared her body to his witness in the most intimate
of manners.
Under a hard percussion of
adrenaline flowing through her body, her head felt an unusual daze, just off
the bed, though safe, now cradled in her husband’s caring hands. His fingers
eased her scalp with a soothing massage and her lips edged open, sucking in
another deep, satisfying breath.
Their eyes held onto each other as
she brought herself closer and closer to an awaiting highpoint of ecstasy.
Soon, with her body captive to such extraordinary touches, pressures, and
sensations, Lauren could hold back no longer.
She
closed her eyes and plunged blissfully, into a swelling sea of euphoria…
Her body tensed and wriggled about,
waves of pleasure leaving the splendid efforts upon her body. Pulses of joy
coursed through her from head to toe. Light-headed, her imagination floated
about in an endless state of bliss as she rode out the details of each slow,
consecutive burst of pleasure.
For moments that would be locked
away and cherished for an eternity deep in her mind, Lauren closed her eyes and
smiled avidly, riding the last pulse of wonderment as it trailed away from her
exhausted body.
She let out a slow, satisfying
exhale and opened her eyes to catch her husband gazing at her with endearing
eyes. He ran his fingers along her temples and she reached up to feel the back
of his hand in her palm. The sweet grin never left Lauren as the two relished
the long, quiet connection in each other’s touch that afternoon.
“Thank you for that,” Lauren
whispered, gazing appreciatively at her sweet husband.
“For you, anything,” Vince replied
softly, his thumb rubbing her temple as his eyes never left her.
Connected
they were, and forever would be.
