Love Me or Leave Me

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“Really? Well, for heaven’s sake, come here, and I’ll do my best to plug it up.”

“Are you a gambler? Don’t you know I can get to Baltimore in forty minutes?”

“Normally I don’t gamble, but when I do, it’s for high stakes. If you feel like taking a forty-minute ride, it’ll take me about that long to make cookies and coffee.”

He looked at his watch. Nine thirty-five. “See you at ten-fifteen.”

He hung up, slipped on his shoes and walked over to Henry’s cottage. “I’m going to Baltimore, but I’ll be back tonight.”

Henry put his hands on his hips and stared at Drake as if he didn’t believe what he heard. “Humph. Seems to me if you’re smart enough to go, you ought to have sense enough to stay all night.”

He winked at Henry, knelt down and patted Henry’s puppy, a golden retriever, on the head. “When I do that, you’ll know something serious is going on.”

“Looks to me like it’s serious now, ’cause when you left me, you weren’t going anyplace but upstairs to bed. Don’t drive too fast.”

“’Course not. See you.”

He went inside, brushed his teeth, checked his face for evidence of a beard, got into his Jaguar and headed for Baltimore.

She met him at the door in an orange-colored silk jumpsuit that fit her body as if it had been made on her.

Okay, he said to himself. She’s declared war, but I’m a pretty good shot myself.

“Hi,” he said to her. “You look like moonlight shining over a peaceful lake. You take my breath away.”

A wide smile welcomed him. “Come on in, and be careful what you say, because I intend to hold everything you say and do tonight against you.”

He pushed back the strand of hair that fell over his left eye, giving him what Henry called the look of a rascal. “In that case, I can’t win. But I can’t lose what I don’t have, either. Hell, Pamela, I really have missed you.”

“Me, too. And if you’re the gentleman you claim to be, you’ll make amends.”

“I’m here, aren’t I? If you don’t call that making amends, I needn’t even start trying.” She looked so warm and sexy in that getup that he… “I… Pamela, put your arms around me. I need to hold you.”

“If you do what you did to me the last time, I’ll throw that pot of coffee at you.”

“Would you hurt me?” He didn’t know how much he meant that question until he heard himself whisper it. “Would you?”

“No. Oh, no.” Her arms opened and he walked into them. The feel of her soft, warm body and the scent of her faint perfume teased him, stirring his libido and awakening something in him that he wanted to remain dormant. She was on tiptoes now, and her hand at his nape guided his mouth to her waiting lips. His senses seemed to reel, and he plowed into her, demanding, asking and then—with his lips, arms, hands and his whole body—begging her to possess him, to love him. His hands roamed her back, arms and hips, and she held him, giving all he asked for, heating him until he thought the inferno inside of him would explode like a volcano.

“Pamela,” he moaned. “What have you done to me?” He crushed her to him, kissing her hair, face, ears and neck. “I want to make love with you, but if I do, that will be the end of it.”

She stepped back from him. “Why?”

“I can have protected sex with a woman I barely know, and it won’t mean anything beyond physical relief, but with you it would be life changing.”

“And you don’t want your life changed.”

He followed her into the kitchen, took the tray and carried it into the living room.

“A few weeks ago, I was certain I didn’t. Now, I’m less sure. I do know that I’m here right now because I needed what you just gave me, and I needed it with you.”

She poured the coffee. “You have needs. Right? So do I. The problem is that I can’t conceive of being intimate with a man I don’t care deeply for. But I think I should set that old-fashioned attitude aside. Who says a single woman can’t have a baby?”

He nearly choked on the cookie. “A child has a right to have the love and guidance of its father, as well as its mother.”

“Agreed. In the best of all possible worlds, it would be that way every time, but honey, this world doesn’t come anywhere near that. We get what we’re lucky enough to find. I’ve been considering adopting a child.”

“Tell me you’re not serious.”

“I wouldn’t lie, Drake. Tell me that you are not going to disappear from my life for another three weeks, because if you do that I won’t welcome you again.” She laughed. “Can you imagine my father asking me when you were planning to speak with him? I told him it was unlikely that you ever would.” She stood. “When you kiss me good-night, do a good job of it, because it will probably be our last time.”

He put the cup on the coffee table and stood. “I care far too much for you to trivialize it in any way. I can’t say I won’t see you again, unless you forbid it. Each time I’m with you, I know you better, what I see pleases me and I need you more. Will you wait for six months?”