Page from a Tennessee Journal (AmazonEncore Edition)

her refusal, a look of dawning awareness that he wanted something more than lovemaking reflected out of her eyes. Alex took her arm and led her back through the bedroom opening. He turned and bent his head as he backed through the door frame and sat down on the mattress. He pulled her between his spread legs. She looked puzzled. Reaching behind her, she slid the burlap curtain closed while Alex kept his hands tight around her waist. Looking at her face, he pushed the gown up to her waist, showing her triangle and belly. She grabbed at the flannel with one hand as she rested the other on his shoulder. He let one hand glide gently over her stomach from just below her breasts to the triangle, then across her belly from side to side. He heard her take in a breath and hold it for several long seconds. He laid the side of his face against her belly and listened to her racing heart.
    “Laurie, what’s this?” He watched her hand fly to her stomach before she could win her usual battle to restrain it. He could hear little gurgling sounds in her throat as she tried to answer.
    “I’m getting a little fat on your food, is all.” Her voice sounded strained and false.
    This time he let his fingertips circle her stomach. He could feel the trembling in her whole body. He took the palm of his hand and pushed in on the swelling. She trembled.
    “Laurie, is that a baby in there?” Alex fought the huskiness in his voice.
    The slim shaft of light from the shuttered window above them came in brighter as the fullness of dawn broke. The light caught the lower half of Laura’s face in its white grip. He watched her mouth open and close, her lips turn up to a smile and then down to a frown. He heard little bubbling sounds in her throat and watched her swallow two, three times. He had never known her not to have a quick answer for everything.
    “You would tell me if there’s a baby in there, wouldn’t you?” Before her movements registered fully in his head, she dropped to her knees, forcing her body between his legs.
    Faster than he could respond, she lifted the flannel gown over her head, showing her nakedness. As she leaned forward brushing her breasts against his pant leg, he saw for the first time, a playful smile on her face. Her hands reached for his belt buckle. As she unbuttoned his trousers, that funny little smile that seemed to fade and revive itself only to repeat the cycle within the blink of his eyes was accompanied by a sassy little twitch of her shoulders. Too surprised to react, Alex followed her lead as she lifted her body and leaned her naked breasts hard into his bare chest and pushed him back onto the bed. With the light from the shuttered window glowing behind her like an old painting, he watched her climb onto the mattress beside him. While he lay there, she pulled his trousers over his hips and off his legs. Torn between surprise and extreme pleasure, Alex fought to keep his eyes open. He’d waited too long to miss even one delicious moment of Laura’s real feelings for him.
    Naked, he watched her face move down his chest to his own tuft of hair. His eyes slid closed against his will when he felt her wet kisses just above his manhood. An involuntary shudder rocked him as he sensed Laura’s mouth moving up his body. Her legs straddled him, pushing her thighs against his body. His own heart pounded in his ears louder than any blacksmith’s hammer on an anvil.
    Alex forced his eyes open when her lips reached his chin. She stopped and raised her nutmeg-ripe breasts level with his eyes. With a gentle sway to the side, she pushed one nipple into his open mouth. Alex sucked on the honeyed taste, his eyes shut, his mind floating, his body quivering. He felt the kisses planted on his forehead, on his hair. He squinted open his eyes just as she took his two hands in hers and guided each to her breasts and she bent down again to find his lips. Her tongue searched inside his mouth and caressed his own. The taste was sweeter than Christmas oranges. The feel of silken threads covered his body and stroked every inch of him. Somewhere, rummaging in his mind, was the thought of a baby, but it faded away when Laura lifted her body just enough to guide his manhood into her with her own hand.
    “At last,” thundered out of him as his mind drank in Laura’s passion.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
    “They say some colored women eat the starch right out of the walls. Dig their nails right into it, pull it out, and pop it