The Way We Were : A second chance romance (Take Me Home Series Book 2)

by SJ Cavaletti

  Suddenly, she sat up in bed and pulled at my shoulders. “Come here.”

  I looked up from between her thighs, my lips surely glistening with her come. “I’m not done here.”

  “I want you inside me.”

  Fuck if that didn’t fill my dick to bursting.

  I climbed upward, and on top of my girl, resting my stomach on hers, my dick flat against her entrance, perfectly aligned along the slit of her pussy.

  Now face to face, I kissed her and said, “You know I love watching you moan though.”

  “Let’s moan together.”

  That was all I needed to hear.

  I reached down, grabbed my cock, and eased it inside her.

  Wet.

  Warm.

  I held in the sounds that bubbled within. Groaning. Moaning. I practically wanted to cry like a baby. Her pussy felt so good and it was mine forever.

  She pushed her hips up into me and I thrusted, my dick consumed by those tight but soft muscles. Wrapped around me, smooth, urging me to move faster.

  She reached around and grabbed my ass. Wrapped her legs around me and I pushed in deeper, right to the end of her, circling my hips, moving my dick around every inch of her insides.

  Then, in a quick move, she urged me onto my back and sat on top of me. Her tits hanging down tenderly. I reached up and took them into my hands, and she bounced up and down on my cock, rubbing her clit.

  What a fucking show. She worked up and down on me, harder and harder. Faster she rode, and I held her tits in place as I grew harder and her juices gushed onto my dick. Just when I felt she was close to coming, I gave her nipple a vicious pinch. Her pussy throbbed. Hot. Wet.

  “I’m coming,” she said.

  And that was my cue to let go.

  I pumped into her. She jerked up and down, and my dick throbbed almost painfully until it finally exploded inside her. She let out a gasp and rode me while my dick pulsed.

  I grabbed around at the underside of her ass and steadied her. I couldn’t take anymore.

  She bent over, but still with my dick inside. Her hair tickled my neck as she rested her head on my shoulder, and I felt her soulful, melodic voice in my ear.

  “I love you, El. Forever isn’t even enough time with you.”

  It was perfectly warm that afternoon because unlike Miami, Sedona graced us with dry desert heat. I lifted my head to the sun, closing my eyes so it didn’t burn right through my Ray Bans. It could have. I didn’t want to take off my sunglasses; it was so bright, but the tight protective helmet wouldn’t fit over them well. At least the thing shaded my eyes a bit.

  Tom, Enrique, Liz and I stood outside an ATV rental place. Red Rock Rollers. We had just finished getting our tutorial and safety briefing, but all of us, bar Tom, had already used all-terrain vehicles. Enrique and I grew up in North Carolina, and Liz’s mom was a dune buggy fanatic.

  “So,” the instructor in his sixties, with his hair in a ponytail and cheap plastic sunglasses finished up. “You got your water, packed lunches, helmets, goggles, maps. Tablets all loaded up, too, and those, in most places anyway, should be able to call us if you get lost. But it ain’t too hard to get around.”

  He looked at Enrique the whole time because he had mentioned at least seven times that he already knew everything about ATVs. He hadn’t been on one for ages and wanted the old man to hurry so we could hit the trails. Less talk, more daylight to ride. We booked them out till six and every second he spent explaining to Tom, our only novice, what to do if this, that and the other, was a minute less on the trails.

  Finally, the instructor waved us off for a day in the deceptively comforting heat.

  “Lizzie?” I asked. “You got your sunscreen on? I know it doesn’t feel hot but at forty-three hundred feet you might burn.”

  “Yeah, Doc,” she pushed her helmet on and her beautiful locks hung out the bottom. “All set.”

  Tom took off his sunglasses and pushed on his helmet as well. “I’m not the best driver in the world. Hope you guys aren’t bored hanging out with grandpa today.”

  Enrique was slightly over his cautious husband slowing us down, but stopped short of rolling his eyes. But rightfully so. These vehicles were powerful and could be dangerous. Liz tried her best to comfort and tame his apprehension.

  “Do what feels safe. That’s the golden rule. The minute you show off, that’s when shit goes wrong. Don’t worry. I’ll hang with you. Anyway, if we go too fast, we’ll hardly take in what we came here to see.” Liz said this, as if she was always the sensible one. She wasn’t. But she was empathetic. I’d never seen her scared or nervous before, but she spoke to Tom as though she had been once before and got what it felt like.

  But she had a point. We had to enjoy the journey, not just the destination. The scenery was off the charts, and it was worth stopping to smell the roses. Red rock buttes, steep canyon walls, cliff dwellings. The rich red and orange colors all around penetrated right to the core. There was a special energy here. It was said there were vortices of energy that could heal in these parts. We would go to Boynton Canyon today. Apparently one of the most powerful energy spots in Sedona.

  I didn’t know what such a thing might feel like, but one thing I did know? Being in Sedona was like taking dried up roots and planting them in rich earth. For some unexplainable reason, this place was nourishing.

  “Alright,” Enrique said, hands on his steering, “Enough jibber jabber. I’ll lead for the first stint.”

  We followed Enrique in a row. Me behind him, Tom third and Liz to bring up the rear. I knew she didn’t want to be there. She was a total speed demon. But she couldn’t let Tom go last. He wouldn’t enjoy himself if he felt the need to keep up all day. As third, he was sandwiched and safe.

  Up and down the rocky trails, we zoomed. Past pine trees, magical layered rock and drove for forty-five minutes when we finally stopped beside a dark hole in the giant rock bed.

  Enrique took off his gloves, grabbed a map out of a pannier We waited for our leader to tell us why we stopped.

  “So,” he said, rubbing a finger around the laminated surface, “There should be some petroglyphs in there.”

  He pointed to the cave.

  Liz took off her helmet. I wanted to race over to kiss her. Part of me knew ATVs would be a good idea after drinking so much the night before. None of us were exactly up for a super hike. But equally, I hadn’t touched my fiancée for hours.

  “Cave art?” She asked.

  “Yup.” Enrique replied, folding up the map and getting off his vehicle.

  Inside the cave, a magical mural unfolded before us. Petroglyphs, ancient scratched mysteries, art left inside shallow caves by people almost a thousand years ago.

  I couldn’t help but wonder why they were here. Why would someone etch an image of a mountain lion into a rock? Who knew?

  Liz came by my side and took my hand in hers. I kissed her shoulder.

  “These are so much more than I thought they’d be,” she said.

  “I know, I thought they’d be more faded and less… I don’t know. Impactful.”

  An entire wall was filled with readable and discernible images. Suns. Antelope or some horned beast. Humans, a snake…

  They made me think of a time when magic and sacred rituals actually worked. A time where the very people who tapped this image healed people, just like I wished to do.

  Shamans. It must have been shamans.

  Liz pulled my hand and our bodies bumped together.

  “What are you thinking?” She asked.

  “Just about the people who did these. And why…”

  “You think healers did them.” She teased.

  I turned to her and pulled her waist close. Cheeky woman. She kissed my lips gently.

  “It’s all you think about,” she said.

  “Not true. Okay. Maybe you’re right. I think about other things, too.” I tossed my head back and forth in thought, “Though you could say fornication is medical if you lo
ok at it that way.”

  She shook my body and wiggled hers against me. “You’re a rascal. It’s hot enough out here without you talking like that.”

  I gave her a kiss but, thinking of Enrique and Tom, kept my tongue to myself. I silently mouthed, “Love you.”

  She mouthed back, “Love you, too.”

  Then she lifted her left hand, rubbed her new engagement ring with her right, and bit her lip, grinning from ear to ear. That smile on her face in that moment was pure. Untainted joy. Living in Liz’s world, where we were free to feel, dream and dance, was a joy I’d now experience every day of my life.

  Sharing someone’s truth was the most whole feeling in the world.

  I didn’t want to get back on the ATV. I wanted to throw Liz down on the dirt, make love and come away with red dust on our bodies, smeared with approval from mother nature herself. By the look in Liz’s eye, she felt the same.

  Of course, she felt the same.

  I lifted a brow. She narrowed her eyes. A huge smile on her lips. She was in trouble tonight.

  Riding out for another hour, Enrique was a man with a plan, and the next stint was long. He wanted to get up to Boynton Canyon for lunch. Enrique, dead set on being there by noon, raced faster than we had before, and Liz and Tom fell further and further behind.

  We headed up some steep trails, twists and turns, and I suspected Tom didn’t feel very confident handling the corners. But we all knew where we were going and even though I’d shouted to Enrique to hold up a few times, he hadn’t heard me over the engine and wind in his ears.

  Finally, Enrique and I made it to the top edge of the canyon. We looked behind us and all around, no Tom and Liz in sight.

  Enrique took off his helmet. “Oops. Guess I was going too fast. I couldn’t have been going that fast?”

  “You were dude. It was even a push for me. Don’t think Tom was that comfortable with the pace.”

  We waited for five minutes, took in the scenery, but then Enrique looked at his watch. Impatient. Because it was nearly noon and he had expected some magic to rain down on us at that time.

  “Where are they?” He demanded again, then asked. “They couldn’t be over five minutes behind. It’ll be noon in ten minutes.”

  I pushed my helmet back on my head. “I’ll go look. Wait here.”

  Full blast, I took off down the hill. Enrique had one wish today. He’d given me mine. I needed to get these guys motivated up this damn hill.

  Going at full tilt, I zoomed down. My engine roared, the wind whipped my face, and I thought about Enrique tapping his toe. The path was winding, and I went around one bend faster than I should have, feeling my body slide far to the left with centrifugal force. I should have slowed down, but I knew what I was doing. And frankly, I wondered what Liz and Tom were doing. Were they okay? It was a pretty big gap between them and us…

  I turned another corner. And it happened. Liz turned the corner, too.

  She was going so fast.

  I was going too fast.

  She tried to brake.

  I tried to brake.

  I held steady for impact and had to close my eyes.

  But I never hit her.

  A loud crash. An echo of tragedy sounded out across the canyon. Liz swerved off the trail and her ATV now lay crashed twenty feet down.

  The world swirled around me like I was on a merry-go-round. I hurled myself off my ATV to the edge of the cliff and saw Liz. She wasn’t moving.

  Adrenaline made the next minute disappear. Somehow I got down to the bottom of that cliff edge and found Liz, her eyes open, with life in them.

  Thank fucking God.

  “Fuck. Oh my God, Liz…”

  I took off my helmet.

  She opened and closed her eyes, a combination of disbelief and urging herself to embrace that this world was still hers to have.

  “Jesus, El. What…?”

  “Where are you hurt, Liz? We’ll get you help right away. Don’t worry… I won’t let you down. We’ll get you help.”

  “El. Thank God I was wearing this helmet…”

  I scanned her from her eyes and down. Her shoulders. Her thoracic area. Her hips. Her… legs.

  I could hardly make my eyes move back upward to meet hers. I knew. I knew right away.

  “El?”

  I looked back to her face and tried my best to slap a reassuring look on it.

  “I think I’m okay, El,” her voice creaked.

  “Good Liz. You are okay. It’s all going to be okay.”

  Just then, I heard Tom shout from the path above. I hadn’t noticed him arrive.

  “I’ve dialed 911!” He shouted.

  I turned to Liz. “Tom’s been in touch with emergency services so we’ll get you out of here soon.”

  I checked her pulse. Part for show. Partly to feel like I was doing at least one goddamn thing. Because this wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. I tried not to look back down at her legs. I didn’t want to scare her. I didn’t want to scare myself.

  “Your vitals are fine, Lizzie. You’re going to be okay.”

  “You said that,” she seemed out of it, “But I can’t…”

  Don’t say it.

  “I can’t…”

  No.

  “I can’t feel my legs.”

  15

  Liz

  Present Day

  Uyu

  * * *

  Sim and I were outfitted to the nines. I loved dressing up with my girl for a night out. But Uyu glamming was more like Halloween. Hog wild. I felt like I was in the Lord of the Flies when everything was still fun. Before it got insane and the kids just enjoyed having no rules for once.

  Simone and I actually got matching outfits. Not because we were like that. Typically, what flattered her tall, modelesque and (in her words) flat-chested physique didn’t work for me sitting down with D cups. But when we saw a photo of some women from a previous year, in neon boy shorts with matching getups looking like futuristic roman soldiers, we both wanted it.

  So now, we matched apart from she was in fluorescent yellow and I in neon pink.

  “I literally feel like the queen of Egypt or something!” Sim shouted, climbing onto one of the chariot horses. “This thing is sick! We look hot girl!”

  I had lowered the driver's seat hydraulics, so it was now low on the platform. The seat was much like a bar stool that could raise and lower, only it could lower to the platform. The platform (under which the wheels were hidden) was at just a height where I could shift myself onto it, shuffle on to the driver’s “stool” and then raise myself back up into a high position. Standing height.

  In theory, I would look like I was standing inside a chariot, driving horses, but I really sat on a high stool.

  “Hey!” Simone called back. “You sure you don’t want any help?”

  “No. I need to get on with it. I don’t want a false sense of security. If I do it myself I know I’m good.”

  I pushed myself up onto a bumper-like lip, off my wheelchair, and then pressed into my palms again to lift onto the platform. Success. And this was why I preached to women, and men that if you’re in a chair, work on those triceps. Biceps are for show. Triceps are for survival.

  Shuffling myself over, I lifted one more time onto the stool chair. It had a back and also a strap and lap bar, much like a rollercoaster. I plugged myself in.

  I was a scientist, an engineer by trade, but I hadn’t realized just how fine and damaging the gypsum dust was. And my chariot had more than a few mechanical parts. I pressed the button for the chair to lift, wondering if at some point this week, even tonight, the hydraulics would give in.

  But it worked.

  Yes.

  One turn and I clicked the driver’s seat into place, facing Simone on a valiant steed in front of me. She looked back at me. “Bad ass, girlfriend. This is seriously badass.”

  “I really hope it works all week.”

  “If not, I happen to know one of the most amazin
g women. She can fix anything.”

  “Mmm. Not exactly a shop out here, though. Anyway, we’ve got tonight Cleopatra. You hanging on?”

  The merry-go-round horses were on the platform, so Simone was unlikely to fall off the vehicle, but still.

  “Yup!”

  “Here goes…”

  I fired up the ignition, and I drove a few feet and said up to Simone, “Remind me to shout out SimpleTouch when we get back. This was a serious passion project.”

  “Don’t worry. It’s been on your guest blog list for a long time.”

  I turned my concentration back to the road and finding El’s camp. “Sim, can you be the navigator? I don’t have a sense of the size of this thing yet. B and October.”

  The avenues were easy enough to navigate but pretty slim with my machine. Normally, art cars weren’t allowed to go through the avenues, or streets, or whatever they were called, but I had a “Super Mutant” badge. Basically, a disabled car pass so I could park and drive where I wanted to.

  At first, I thought “super mutant” was weird. Not that nice of a reference for us disabled folk but then Simone had said, “Ooh. I like that, like the X-Men.” And I thought more highly of the title. Maybe that’s what the etymologist was thinking.

  “Okay, turn onto October here,” Simon shouted back, pointing at a turning with a signpost with the month on it.

  B was one street away, and I was pissing myself. Would El and I talk tonight? It was probably best to get the whole thing over and done with so we could both enjoy our weeks.

  “Hey! I think I see Drake on top of a motorhome. Over there!” Simone pointed to a camp with two motorhomes and a beautiful, shiny airstream camper van.

  I looked and saw Drake, too. Standing on top of a motorhome next to a guy around my age, a woman in her late twenties and two other women a few years older than me climbed up a ladder.

  Shit. They had a whole hippie colony at El’s camp. No El in sight, but we knew he camped with Drake.

  Everyone stared at us pulling into camp now and started back down the ladder or off the roof of the motorhome to greet us. I pulled in the best I could, into the central space created by the motorhome perimeter.