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The fisherman on the bank expertly cast his line out into the water and grunted with satisfaction as it plopped into the exact spot he'd picked out. He turned to call over his shoulder, "Hey, Honey...", and stopped with a smile when he saw his fishing partner was curled up on her blanket, sound asleep, the pages of the book she had been reading fluttering in the wind. A sudden jerk on his line brought his attention back to his rod and reel, and he concentrated on landing another fish as he laughed to himself. "And she's the one who said, 'Let's go fishing today, Honey.'" As he reeled in his catch, he glanced down at the stringer at his feet. "This makes six. We can't possibly eat more than that before we go home tomorrow night."
He cleaned up his gear and washed off his hands in the spring water before cupping his hands and catching some water in them, drinking thirstily of the icy freshness. Wiping his sleeve over his dripping face, he breathed deeply and stretched his arms up toward the sun. "Man, I haven't felt this good in weeks!" His eyes softened as he quietly stepped closer to his sleeping wife, kneeling down next to her and lowering himself to lie close beside her.
She stirred drowsily, instinctively sensing his presence, and rolled over to cuddle next to him. Only half-awake, she yawned and murmured, "You catch anything?"
He held her close, her head resting against his muscular chest. Stroking his fingers through her hair he said, "You bet I did." Kissing her forehead, he mused, "Right here at this lake, almost two years ago."
"Mmm." Eyes still closed, she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. "Silly. I was talking about fish."
"Oh, my mistake. Hey, I thought you were going to keep me company while I fished."
"I did. Never moved from this spot."
"I felt pretty silly talking to myself."
One eye opened and she said, "If I'd have talked, I'd have scared your fish away." Her hand slid up and curled around his neck, her fingers feathering through his hair as her thumb traced his jaw. "Feels good to be outside and in the sun, and all alone with you."
Running his hand up and down her back, he agreed, "I especially like the 'all alone with you' part."
"I love it up here. And I'm glad we agreed: no phone ringing, no television, no radio. I'm glad we took this time for us, for a second honeymoon. I want to pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. I could live here with you forever, just us and our babies."
"Babies? As in plural?"
"Of course. You want more than one, don't you?"
Visions of Carolyn's experience flashed through Peter's mind and he shifted nervously. "Why-why don't we see how this one goes before we worry about having more."
Wide awake now, Kacie propped herself up on one elbow and regarded him seriously. "Peter, I've talked to Carolyn and I know all about what happened to her. The chances of that happening to me, too, are about ten thousand to one."
Lying flat on his back, he stared up at her, hazel eyes dark and solemn. "I don't care if it's ten million to one; it's that one part that scares the hell out of me."
Brushing the hair away from his face with the backs of her fingers, she smiled at him reassuringly. "I love you for worrying about me and the baby, Peter, but I really think you're borrowing trouble. I'm planning on everything going smoothly with this delivery. Why do you think I swallow those horse pills called prenatal vitamins and drink so much milk I feel like mooing?" She giggled. "And how about that disgusting stuff your father's mixed up for me?"
He laughed and reached up to take her face in his palm. "Now you know what I was talking about when I complained about the tonics I endured for so many years."
"Every one of my checkups has gone great," she went on. "I follow my doctor's orders to the letter. I get plenty of rest. I eat right. I do my exercises..."
Peter groaned as he grinned widely. "Lord, woman, I thought you were going to kill me with those exercises last night."
"Liked helping me with my workout, did you?" She leaned over and kissed him, sliding her tongue over and around his mouth before closing her lips on his. "I have to do them every day, you know." Slowly unbuttoning his shirt with one hand, she slipped the other inside and lightly scratched his chest and abdomen.
Peter inhaled with a sharp hiss and shivered at her touch. "Every...day?"
"Mmm hmm." She licked and nibbled a path from his neck to his navel and back again. "And you showed me last night that working out together is way-y-y better."
His hands swept large circles over her back as she pressed closer to him, sliding her knee up along his thigh to rub over his crotch. "Oh," he gasped. "Hon, don't start something...out here...oh-h."
Hands busy undoing the snap and zipper of his jeans while her lips and teeth teased his taut nipples, she breathed, "Too late, Peter." Her palm slipped inside his briefs and brushed the pulsing tip of his throbbing manhood. "Something's already started, I see. But, if you don't want to..."
She started to remove her hand, and he instantly grabbed her wrist to hold her position. She rewarded him with a gentle squeeze, and he groaned deep in his throat. "Not here. Not here. Too public. That grove back there."
She bit at his throat. "What are you waiting for? Let's go."
"You let go, then." His hungry lips ate at hers. "But remember that thought."
She released his aching erection and linked her arms around his neck as he scrambled to pick up both her and the blanket. Stumbling into a small clearing in a clump of trees, he knelt to the ground and lowered her gently.
Lying down beside her, he let his hands roam over her neck and shoulders before attacking the buttons of his cast-off blue plaid flannel shirt she wore and kneading his hands over her pregnancy-swollen breasts.
She shut her eyes tightly and groaned, "Mmm-m. I love it when you do that." She slid her hands down the front of his chest, dipping lower to assist him in hunching his hips out of his jeans.
Beads of sweat popped out on Peter's upper lip, and he moaned as she squeezed and tugged on his hardening manhood. He nibbled a pathway from her throat to her breasts, his eyes widening in wonder as a drop of liquid appeared at the very tip of each ripe mound. "You have milk." He licked at the fluid before closing his mouth over her nipple and gently suckling, the taste new and exciting, his senses on overload. He enthusiastically gave equal attention to both breasts, his thumb keeping one peak aroused as he pleasured the other with his mouth and tongue.
Kacie threw back her head with a muffled scream and pleaded, "Oh-h, now, Peter. Please...now!"
Clothing was rearranged in a frenzy of movements, and Peter easily lifted her up, poising her dewy cleft over his eagerly waiting arousal. Placing his hands on her hips to steady her movements as she straddled him, Peter slid his throbbing erection into her slick, hot passage. He writhed and bucked beneath her, her inner muscles clutching and releasing him in rhythm with his penetrations and withdrawals. Their cries of pleasure sent flocks of birds flapping away from their perches, and the squirrels chattered nervously as they darted from tree branch to tree branch.
Peter braced his feet, arching his back in one last upward thrust. Animal growls ripped from his throat; his teeth bared in a grimace of exquisite pleasure. Kacie slammed down her hips, reached back to squeeze his balls, and, in wild climax, convulsed around him. As he emptied himself into her molten core, the top of his head exploded and drifted away.
They lay together, breathing in sobbing gasps as the wind cooled their hot, sweating bodies. "My...God," Peter wheezed, struggling to think and speak coherently again as Kacie nestled against his side, her legs and clothing hopelessly tangled with his. "I give up. I surrender. Anything you want is yours. We'll stay up here. We'll have a dozen kids. I'll trade in the Stealth for a mini-van." He abruptly checked himself. "Well, maybe not that."
"Mmmm."
"Was that 'mmm, OK,' or 'mmm, not OK'?"
"That was 'mmm, if I was a cat, I'd be purring my head off right now'."
"Mmmm." He sighed. "Sweetheart, you've brought new meaning to the words 'back to nature' for me. What in the world made you think of that?"
Caressing his collarbone with the pads of her fingers, she giggled against his chest. "While I was waiting around at the ranch for the appointment with the judge, I had a lot of time on my hands. I stumbled across a few trashy romance novels, and they had some marvelous ideas."
"Good Lord, you mean there's more?"
"Oh, Honey, you ain't seen nothin' yet, but most of them will have to wait until after Baby is born."
He tugged at her, and she wriggled up his body until their lips could meet. Kissing the tip of her nose, he growled, "It'll take me that long to recuperate from this honeymoon."
She thrust out her lower lip in a pout. "I was hoping you'd recuperate enough to enjoy our last night in the cabin."
"I'm only human, Kace. You at least had a nap. I'm exhausted."
She traced the outline of his mouth with the tip of her index finger. "Tell you what, O Great Outdoorsman. I will clean and cook the fish while you get some rest. And if you're very good -- "
"I thought I just was very good."
"Oh, you weren't good."
He blinked at her and frowned when she grinned impudently at him.
"Sweetheart, you were un-be-liev-able. I just might have to write my own trashy romance novel."
Peter's smile abruptly faded and he clutched her to his chest so tightly she squeaked in protest. Releasing his hold only slightly, he choked, "God! I love you so much." He drew a shaky breath. "I thought the curse of Caine had taken you away from me."
Her voice was muffled against his shoulder. "I'll stack up my Irish luck against your curse any day. I'm never leaving you, PC. I've seen the way other women lust after you with their eyes. I'll never let them get their hands on you; you're mine."
"Don't joke about it." He buried his face in her hair and tightened his grip around her once more. "When I thought I'd lost you, I wanted to die, too."
"Shh." She twisted in his arms and laid her hand over his mouth. "This is our honeymoon, and we are not going to talk about sad things, or serious things, or what has happened, or what might happen. For these few special days I want only to talk about happy things and baby things and right now things."
His eyes met hers for a long moment, and then his lips turned up in a smile beneath her fingers.
Smiling back at him, she asked, "What?"
"Trashy romance novel things?"
She threw back her head and laughed, and he joined her mirth as the birds flew back to their roosts and the squirrels scurried to their holes, seeking safety from the strange behavior of the humans below.