The abrupt, unexpected words had startled Ruby. “What did you say?” Then she’d whispered, “Say it again.”
“Let’s get married.”
“Is this a proposal, Jack?” she’d gasped, tears of happiness filling her eyes.
“Yes.” His breath had fluttered against her parted lips, soft as a butterfly’s kiss. “Oh, yes!” Then Jack had smiled for the first time that day and begun a sweet assault of kisses. His lips had been white-hot with blistering heat as they’d seared a path from lips to throat and back to lips to pursue deep drugging kisses that had turned Ruby mindless and incoherent in her cries. Over and over, he had marked her with his stalking mouth.
Impatient, Jack had torn off his jacket and removed Ruby’s as well. Her sweater and his T-shirt had followed quickly after. For a moment, Jack had pulled back to look at her exposed body appreciatively. “Oh, Rube!” he’d exclaimed before lowering himself. “Oh, sweet, sweet, Rube!” By the time his lips touched the tips of her breasts, Ruby had already arched up to meet him, yearning, aching to be suckled. He’d used his tongue to circle and flick, his teeth to rasp softly, his lips to draw her into his mouth rhythmically.
Ruby had been feverish with wanting by the time Jack had stood to remove the rest of his clothing. She could no more have halted him then than stopped her wildly careening heart. All their petting in the past had taken place in his car or on the living-room sofa, with parents nearby. This had been the first time she’d seen Jack naked. Like an ancient Viking, he’d stood proudly, his tall, muscular body perfectly in tune with the autumn background, his blond hair fluttering in the air. His erect penis had grown rock hard and huge under her flattering perusual. Jack’s sheer masculinity took her breath away.
By the time Ruby had lain naked, as well, they’d both been panting. His long fingers had moved expertly in the delta between her thighs to prepare her wetly. She’d budded, then flowered under his fluttering fingertips. When he’d poised between her legs finally, he’d repeated his earlier question, “Will you marry me, Rube?” At the moment she’d whispered, “Yes,” he’d buried himself in her sheath in one smooth stroke. There’d been slight pain, but mostly the overwhelming, wonderful feeling of being filled by the man she loved. After that, she’d been unable to think at all as he’d driven her to the edge of eternity and then over with catapulting waves of pleasure.
When they’d lain in each other’s arms afterwards, Jack had nuzzled her neck. “Let’s get married—now! We can drive out of state, get married by a justice of the peace and be back at my apartment by Sunday night. I have three hundred dollars in my checking account.”
“Now? Today?” Ruby’s brain had still felt muddled from their lovemaking. He couldn’t be serious, she’d thought.
“Yes. I want you to come back to school with me. I don’t want to be there if you’re not with me. Please, Rube, marry me.”
“This is just lust speaking, Jack,” Ruby had commented, with a shaky laugh.
“Yeah! Ain’t it great?” he’d responded with the drop-dead grin she’d always found irresistible, and Ruby had felt a deep throbbing begin in her center once again. Then he’d begun a new assault on her already weakened senses. “I love you, Rube. I’ll never love any other woman,” Jack had whispered as they sank to the soft autumn bed. “We can make it work. We can…”
Words hadn’t been necessary after that as they made sweet, sweet love for the second time in the most gorgeous setting any bride could ever want.
They hadn’t eloped that weekend, but they’d convinced both their parents of their seriousness. The formal wedding had taken place over Christmas vacation, and Ruby had returned to Jack’s university with him. Thanks to the financial help of both sets of parents, part-time jobs, Jack’s scholarship and some extremely frugal living conditions, including postage-stamp-size apartments, both had managed to graduate from college four years later.
* * *
As the fog of memories began to dim, Ruby realized she still lay on the Viking pallet with eyes squeezed shut, her body shuddering with silent sobs she didn’t want her wretched guard to overhear. Jack’s words lingered in her mind: “We can make it work.”