Wrapped In Pleasure - Brenda Jackson [38]
“Delaney…” Her words were like a torch, sending his body up in flames. He captured her mouth with his at the same time his body thrust deep inside of her, giving her just what she had asked for.
“Mmm, this feels good,” Delaney said, leaning back in the hot tub.
After they had made love, he had gathered her naked body up in his arms and taken her outside and placed her in the hot tub then got in with her. “It will help relieve the soreness,” Jamal said slowly, looking at her. He had decided to sit on the other side of the tub, at what he considered a safe distance away. He couldn’t trust himself to keep his hands off her.
“I’ll survive a little soreness, Jamal. I am not a weak woman.”
He chuckled, thinking that was an understatement. “No, Delaney, you are definitely not a weak woman. You’re as strong as they come.”
Delaney quirked a brow, not knowing whether he meant it as a compliment or an insult. She knew he was used to docile women; women who were meek and mild. She doubted it was in her makeup to ever be that way.
She glanced around. The sun had gone down, and dusk was settling in around them. “Are you sure it’s all right for us to be out here naked? What if someone sees us?”
“I don’t have a problem being seen naked.”
Delaney lifted eyes heavenward. “Well, I do.”
Jamal leaned back and closed his eyes. “This is private property, you said so yourself. And besides, they can look at you all they want, but they’d better not touch.”
Delaney stared at him. “Getting a little possessive, aren’t we?”
Jamal slowly opened his eyes and met her stare. “Yes.” His attitude about that was something he couldn’t quite understand. He had never been possessive of any woman, not even Najeen. That thought didn’t sit too well with him. Deciding to change the subject, he said, “Tell me about this job of yours as a doctor.”
Delaney spent the next half hour telling him about how she had to go through a period of residency where she would work at the hospital in a pediatric ward.
“Is this hospital a long way from your home in Atlanta?” he asked as he shifted his body below the water line some more.
“Far enough. It’s in Bowling Green, Kentucky, so I’m leasing an apartment for the two years I’ll be working there.” She didn’t add that she needed that distance away from her brothers.
When she had first left home for college she made the mistake of going to a school that was less than a two-hour drive from Atlanta. Her brothers nearly drove her crazy with their frequent impromptu visits. The only people who enjoyed seeing them had been the females living in her dorm who thought her brothers were to die for.
For medical school she had decided on Howard University in D.C. Although her brothers’ trips to see her weren’t as frequent, they still managed to check on her periodically just the same, claiming their parents’ concern was the reason for their visits.
“After your residency do you plan to open up your own medical office?” Jamal asked.
“Yes, it’s my dream to open up a medical office somewhere in the Atlanta area.”
Jamal nodded. “And I hope your dream comes true, Delaney.”
She knew he meant that with all sincerity and was deeply touched by it. “Thanks.”
Later that evening they ate a light meal that the two of them prepared together. He noticed she had slid the table closer to the window and that it wasn’t wobbling. She told him of her conversation with Reggie, who had told her that the problem had not been with the table but with the floor.
“So as you can see, Jamal, things aren’t always as they seem to be.”
He had lifted a brow at her comment but said nothing.
She smiled. He knew she had been trying to make a point about something, but from his expression it was quite obvious he didn’t get it. Delaney felt confident that one day he would.
After dinner she sat in the living room watching television while he sat on the opposite end of the sofa sketching on something. It was the same papers that he had occasionally worked on since she had arrived.
“What are you doing?” she asked curiously when