May to December Ch. 03

He let her legs side down to the wet floor of the shower, and pulled her into his body, his breathing hard, his heart racing. His kisses became tender, treasuring her, showing her how he felt about her, telling her without words how he loved what she had done for him.

"Dawn, I..." She put a hand over his mouth, halting his words.

"You're welcome," she said, forcing a smile. She didn't want him to say anything she wasn't prepared to hear.

He rinsed her tenderly, and as he was drying her, he pointed out the sweat pants and T-shirt he had ready for her. While she dressed, he dried himself, and pulled on his own sweats and tee.

"Here's a toothbrush, and a comb and brush. I'll be in the kitchen when you're done."

He dropped a kiss on her forehead and walked out of the steamy bathroom, leaving her to sort out her conflicted emotions. He was fast becoming more important to her than she had expected or even thought he would be, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. The sexual marathon she had spent the last twelve hours enjoying was more sensual exposure than she had ever had with a man she barely knew, and it had been more intense than anything she had ever had, even with Hunter in the early days. She wasn't sure how to process that, or how to respond to it, and she suspected that Scott knew what she had done in stopping him from speaking, and was giving her some much-needed breathing room.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, when she walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. He was busy at the stove, and she noted that he had laid the table for two, and that a few sprigs of yellow, peach and red roses graced a tall bud vase in the center.

"Ravenous," she admitted, wondering when he had gone out to shop for flowers. The smell of bacon and sausages made her mouth water, but she didn't see a frying pan on the stove.

"I do instant coffee," he said apologetically. "Never learned to use a coffee maker, and don't usually have time to fiddle with it. I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine," she said, smiling. "I love coffee, however it's made!"

"I have French vanilla, hazelnut, and plain. Which would you like?"

Dawn smiled again. "Hazelnut, please!"

She watched him pour four heaping teaspoons of instant coffee into a silver pot, add hot water and bring it to the table.

"Please pour while I bring breakfast," he asked, and turned away to open the oven. The delicious scent of breakfast meats wafted out, along with the smell of fresh biscuits. He put the trays on the stovetop, and served her plate and his, adding scrambled eggs, which he had kept warming.

"Help yourself to biscuits," he invited her, and added cream to his coffee, taking a hearty sip before beginning to eat.

Dawn watched in amusement as he devoured his first sausage link and a biscuit, and realized that he had expended more energy from their sexual excesses than she had, and he must also be ravenous.

"You are full of surprises, aren't you?" she commented before tasting his eggs. They were creamy and delicious.

Scott chuckled softly. "I wish I could take the credit for this, but my mum comes over every weekend with breakfast and dinner fixings for the weekend, because she knows that's when I usually have time off, enough to linger over real food."

Dawn choked, and he tapped her back gently. "What?"

"Your mom was here? This morning?" She sipped her coffee to dislodge the rest of the food from her throat.

Scott laughed, noting her flushed cheeks. "Don't worry. She never comes into my bedroom, so she doesn't know who my companion is."

Dawn remained quiet, thinking about how awkward it would be for her to meet Scott's mother, who might only be a few years older than she was. She tried to ignore the unease that crept into her heart, making her shoulders stiffen, and asked,

"So what did YOU make?"

"I put the bacon and sausages into a hot oven, just as she instructed, and the biscuits in the last few minutes to reheat. I follow directions really well!" He grinned at her.

"And the flowers?"

"I called yesterday before I left and asked her to bring me some fresh cut blooms with breakfast."

"So she knew you had company!" Her voice held accusation and outrage.

"I suppose so. I wasn't hiding it. What does it matter?" He was unrepentant.

Dawn remained silent, knowing she was making a mountain out of a molehill, and knowing it was a defense strategy, as she felt herself losing her grip on her control. She could feel his eyes on her, but she refused to look up, concentrating on eating the food he had put on her plate. The silence became strained, at least to her mind, and when she finally gave in and looked up, Scott was watching her with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Are you ready to talk to me now?" he asked, his mouth set in a hard line.

"There's nothing to say, is there?" She was suddenly not up to the task of sparring with Scott, who appeared to be ready to do battle with her. She always seemed to be the one withdrawing, and she knew that after last night, after this morning, she had to find a new way to respond to him. Withdrawing was no longer a viable option.

"Why did you stop me this morning in the shower?" he asked, surprising her, and making her uncomfortable at the same time. Before she could open her mouth to stall, he added, "And please don't lie to me. You know what I'm talking about."

Dawn simmered, wishing she could be angry with him, and irritated that she couldn't be. "I wasn't ready to hear what I thought you were going to say," she confessed, miffed that he was making her face the truth.

"And now? Are you ready now?" He didn't pretend not to know what she meant.

She shook her head, suddenly unable to speak.

"Why not?" He was unrelenting, his tone hard.

"It's too soon, Scott. We hardly know each other. And no matter what you say, the age difference between us is significant." She stood up suddenly, unable to sit still a moment more, and walked over to the doors that led out to a small porch. She unlatched it and slid it far enough aside so she could slip out into the morning air. She knew he would follow her, and when his hands descended on her shoulders, she struggled to keep from leaning against him.

"I'm thirty-five years old, Dawn. Don't you think I know by now what's good for me, what I need to make me happy? Don't you think I can take care of myself and any woman I choose?"

"It's not your problem, Scott, it's mine," she demurred, and he turned her to face him, shaking his head at her.

"That's where you're wrong, Dawn. It's OUR problem! I told you before. I'm not going anywhere, so you'd best get used to the idea." He shook her gently. "Stop trying to keep me out, baby. Every time we turn a new corner, you try to run away, but I'm giving you fair warning. I won't let you escape me. Stop throwing up roadblocks. Help me make this work, honey. Please!"

Dawn's eyes mirrored her need to let go, and her need to protect herself. She saw the determination to force her to face everything with him, and knew he would finish what he had started to say earlier now that he had broken down her defenses again.

"I've fallen for you, Dawn. Hard. I was already halfway there before we ever met, and now, after getting to know you a bit, I can't help the way I feel. I think about you every waking minute, and even at work, when I must focus on the patients, you're there, in the background of my thoughts. I go to bed hard for you, and wake up aching. I want to know you in every way, not just sexually. I want to be the one man you can count on to be there, to be with you, to care for you better than anyone else ever will. I want Jeff and Dana and everyone else to know you're mine, and they don't need to take care of you anymore, because I will."

Dawn smiled tentatively, not wanting to offend him. "I'm not a baby, you know!" she protested.

"You're MY baby!" he insisted. "But I need you to admit it freely, and let yourself feel something for me in return."

His face was unsmiling. He was deadly serious, and her smile faded. "I do feel something for you, Scott," she said, "and it scares me."

"Stay with me, and I promise your fear will go away, honey. I'll prove myself to you."

Dawn saw the look in his eyes, and knew there was nothing she could say or do to change his mind. And she realized, in the part of her heart that she kept running away from, that she didn't want to change his mind. She wanted to be cherished and loved, and she wanted to give her heart freely to someone she could trust. Maybe she had finally found that someone...

"Come back inside with me. Let's cuddle and listen to some music. Or watch a movie. Whatever you feel like doing." He pressed tender lips to hers before shepherding her back indoors.

"What do you normally do on a Saturday morning when you wake up?" she asked as they walked back into the house, wanting to know his ways, see him in his natural habitat.

"You mean after I do my chores?" he returned, a gleam in his eyes.

"Chores? You have chores?" she chuckled.

"What? D'you think my mother cleans and does my laundry and my shopping for me?" She tried not to smile at his outrage. "Don't get offended. I wasn't saying any such thing!" She went back to the table and began to clear it. "I'll tidy the kitchen, shall I? You choose the chore you'll do while I get this done."

Without waiting for a response, she scraped plates and washed and stacked dishes and wiped down the counter and table. She searched till she found the drawer where he kept his place mats, found a broom and swept the floor, and when she was done, she went in search of Scott. She found him putting the last few clothes in the washing machine in his basement, and she looked around her. The space was large, and he had divided it into four specific rooms -- the laundry and the boiler room, both small and compact, a room that looked like a bedroom with two walls lined with books, and a den, the largest room, with a wide-screened television, a wide leather couch, and a pool table.

"Do you spend a lot of time down here?" she asked, wandering into the bedroom/library.

"Aside from the laundry, and the bedroom library, I'm only down here when my friends come over, or my family comes for dinner and I need to escape." He smiled at her as she led her to a shelf against the far wall of the library. "The books you want are here," he added, and took three from a shelf. "These are the ones I promised you."

"I have a Kindle," she said, taking them from him. "If I like them, I'll see if I can get them on it."

"I like to feel the paper between my fingers," he told her, drawing his fingers across the spines of a few of the books on the shelf. I like the smell of a book. I like the decorations on them. I love the illustrations in children's books. I love books."

Dawn reached over and touched his hand, feeling the warmth and strength seep into her pores. "Maybe when we're done with chores, we can sit down here and you can share some of your children's books with me?"

Scott raised her hand to his lips and kissed it, letting her see his feelings in the eyes he turned to her.

"Anything you want is yours," he replied, and then reached over to steal another kiss from her mouth. "You turn me inside out," he confessed, deepening the kiss, pulling her fully into his arms, suddenly hungry for her again, as though he hadn't had a feast of her all night.

"Scott..." Dawn wasn't sure what she wanted to say, but the moment seemed to call for words. She knew she was falling in love with this man whom she hadn't known a month ago, and it frightened her, but she was determined to try to get past her fear and mistrust.

"Let's finish chores first, hmmm?"

Scott pulled an inch away from her and smirked. "You're not my mother," he said, "and if I choose to, I can end chore time now in favor of play time!"

"I don't want to be your mother," she purred, feeling the heat of his erection on her mound. "She can't enjoy you like I can."

She smiled at him, a sexy, turned-on smile that had him seeking the heat of her mouth again, slanting his lips over hers greedily, suckling her tongue and her lips, ravenous for her. He wanted to take her to the carpeted floor and fuck her blind, but he knew she was still struggling with her feelings for him, and he didn't want to give her any reason to run again. He managed to rein in his lust, which had been out of control since he had read her first story, and back away from her.

"We can check out some of my favorite books while we wait for the load to finish," he said, and turned to pull a few gaily-colored books from a lower shelf. Taking her hand, he went to sit in the armchair by the window through which she could see a pool, a tennis court and lawns.

"I didn't realize this was a walk-out basement," she remarked. "I prefer this kind. I hate the ones where you can't get out unless you go back to the first floor, or else crawl though a hatch like a thief. They are claustrophobic!"

Scott settled her on his lap and began to tell her about his favorite children's books. He loved how she listened as he told her who had given him each book, or why he had gone out and bought it. She paid attention to him, asking questions that showed her interest in his stories, in him. Neither of them noticed when the washing machine beeped, indicating the cycle was complete.

"How did you manage to get into so much trouble with all the books you had?" she asked, laughing at his latest tale of mischief.

"I was a boy. What do you think?" He laughed and put the last book on the table beside the chair he sat with her in. "My dad was a tough Scotsman, but I think he understood me because he had been just like me. So his justice was tempered with mercy."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning he didn't whip me to within an inch of my life, or disown me!" He chuckled as he spoke, and Dawn could see the affection he felt for his father in his eyes as he looked at her. "I think my clothes are ready for the dryer."

He stood up, putting her away from him as he went to load the dryer, and then he invited her upstairs to the living room.

"I'll be right with you," he said, and turned back to the kitchen. When he reappeared, he was carrying a bottle of wine and two glasses. He put them on the coffee table, and poured for both of them. Handing her a glass, he said,

"Thanks for staying with me this weekend, baby. This is the best date I've ever been on!"

Dawn grinned at him and sipped her drink, watching as he went to start some music going. She let the symphonic sounds wash over her, feeling relaxed and at peace for the first time in a long while. When he came back, she scooted over so he could sit beside her, and when he put his arm around her shoulder, she lay her head against it.

"Would you like to go out for dinner again this evening?" he asked, smoothing her hair.

"No. I'd rather stay in. We've spent a lot of time..." She paused, then began again. "We need to get to know each other better, don't you think?" She turned her head up to look at him, and he lowered his head and kissed her lips.

"Yes, we should!" His smile was sinful, and he waggled his brows at her mischievously as he pulled her face round so he could kiss her again, more deeply, with tongue.

"I didn't mean that!" she protested, trying to sit up, but he refused to let her go, pulling her all the way onto his lap and holding her there, her face inches from his.

"I want to know everything about your body, what makes you moan and sigh and purr, what makes you go up in flames and melt for me. And I want you to know that about me, too."

He kissed her again, deliberately ravishing her with his tongue and lips, trailing kisses from her cheeks down the sides of her neck to her throat, to the swell of her breasts and back to her swollen mouth. His kisses were electric, shocking them, raising the heat between them, drawing the lust between them out to surround them and wrap them in passionate intensity.

"Scott, please...I'm serious!"

"So am I," he retorted, sliding a hand under her breast and squeezing gently.

"We can't spend the whole weekend having sex, Scott!" she protested again.

"Why not?" he demanded, caressing a nipple between trembling fingers. "I've gone without for far too long already. Just making up for lost time." Dawn gasped as he suckled her nipple through the cloth of the T-shirt, and swallowed before returning to her attempts to maintain some sanity.

"What will you do when the lust burns out, and you see me as I really am, and not with lust-glazed eyes?" She struggled to keep from moaning as he assaulted her senses with his hungry mouth.

"It's more than lust, baby," he whispered, fondling her now wet right nipple as he suckled her left one.

"What more is it? And how can you be so sure?" She could feel her temperature rising, and when he suddenly pulled the T-shirt up and over her head, she wondered if he knew.

"If it were lust, it would have fizzled out by now, but it hasn't," he argued, barely taking his mouth from her naked breasts.

"Maybe you're just reacting to the excitement of the chase!" she countered, moaning uncontrollably now as he laved her breasts with his tongue, and delivered erotic love bites to her aching nipples.

"I can feel it, baby. I can feel that it's more than lust. I want to spend time with you, talking about anything and everything. I think about you all the time."

Dawn had to admit that she had fallen into that same habit herself, that Scott was always on her mind. She wasn't about to share that bit of information with him, though, at least not for now. But it made her weak inside to know he was in the same condition. She arched her throat when his mouth rode up to taste her there, wishing she had some deeper reserve of strength to withstand his sensual onslaught.

"Scott, please..." She found herself almost incoherent, a condition she seemed to sink into around him more than she liked. This was the twenty-first century, and she was a very modern woman who did not swoon when seduced, who in fact was never seduced without her express permission.

"Stop thinking so much, baby, and just let me have my way with you, hmmm?" Scott's voice held a teasing note, but Dawn knew he meant every word.

She gave in, smiling at his tone and letting him own her mouth. His kisses were increasingly hungry, his hands roaming everywhere before he picked her up.

"Scott, put me down this instant!" she squealed, struggling to get out of his arms. She knew she was no lightweight, and she was embarrassed that he was being so valiant when she must be making him sweat.

"Why? I will not take the chance that my mother forgot her favorite pan and comes back to find me balls deep inside you on my living room floor!" He was laughing as he strode with her to the stairs.

"I'm too heavy for you!" she protested, blushing furiously.

"Did I say that?" he asked, climbing the stairs. "Stop squirming, or I'll forget to be gallant and take you on the stairs!"

"You call struggling up the stairs with a whale of a woman being gallant?"

Scott stalled on the stairs, and put her down. She hazarded a look at his face, and what she saw made her cringe. He was furious.

"If you didn't want me to make love to you, all you had to do was say so, you know!"

Dawn was stunned. He was so angry, his cheeks were flushed.

"That wasn't..."

"Why do you persist in throwing up roadblocks between us? Haven't I told you that I find you incredibly sexy? Why won't you believe me?"

He reached for her hand and dragged her closer, draping her open palm over his erection. His cock jerked when she touched him, and he kept her hand there, while with his other hand he forced her chin up so her eyes met his stormy gaze.