by Ciana Stone
Olivia started the shower, then peeled off her tank top and shimmied out of her bikini bottom. Max had just reached for the button of his jean shorts and froze. He’d imagined her naked a thousand times, but nothing in his imaginings measured up to the real thing.
Her breasts were not overly large, but firm, high and adorned with nipples perfect in shape and size, drawn tight now in what he hoped was excitement. She was not a big woman and carried no extra weight. Lean was an apt description.
His eyes traveled down her body, taking in the slight curve of belly and the tight wet curls that topped her sex, neatly trimmed to accommodate the tiny bikini bottom she’d worn.
His eyes moved back up and he saw her smile when he reached her face. “You going to shower in your shorts?”
A sudden bout of nervousness gripped him. He’d never been naked in front of her. What if she thought he was gross? Or what if his package wasn’t what she’d hoped?
She seemed to sense his nervousness and stepped up close, her fingers going to the button of his shorts, but her eyes glued to his. In seconds, his shorts were sliding down his hips, then his legs.
Livi smiled up at him, ran her right hand over his hip to his stomach, and then lower. When she took him in her hand, his knees almost went weak.
“Ready for that shower?” She asked softly, rising on tiptoes to nip his chin.
“Yeah.” His response was a hoarse croak.
She didn’t release him, but put her free hand on his hip and stepped backward into the walk-in shower, pulling him with her.
Hot water cascaded over them, rivulets running across her shoulders and down over her breasts. She smiled up at him and released him to pick up a bar of soap. She smiled up at him and began to soap the front of his body.
Extra attention was paid to his genitals and all the while, she kept her eyes glued to his. It was wonderful and horrifying at the same time. He was going to come at any moment. “You need to stop,” he put one hand on hers to stay her motion.
“Not yet,” she argued and turned him toward the water. When he was rinsed, she turned him to face her and knelt in front of him.
Max had to reach for the side walls when she took him in her mouth. She worked her tongue against the head of his erection, taking him deep inside her mouth then pulling back. Over and again, one sublime stroke after another.
When her left hand came up and her fingers stroked over the bottom of his balls, he had to bite back a groan. He could feel an orgasm coming, like a big train barreling down the tracks ready to sweep him away. And he could do nothing to stop it except shudder and hang on as it overcame him.
Livi stood and leaned in as if to kiss him. He embarrassed himself by pulling back. She just smiled. “Can’t quite get into the idea of tasting yourself on me? That’s okay.”
She stuck her hand between her legs and inserted two fingers into her vagina. His eyes glued to the motion of her hands and his penis experienced a sudden resurgence of life. She removed her fingers and pressed them against his lips.
He opened his mouth and took her fingers into it. One taste and he reached up to take her hand, licking each finger from tip to the knuckle of her hand. Her eyes watched, the blue of her irises deepening to the color of twilight and the pupils enlarging.
Max pulled her to him and kissed her. It was a unique experience, her taste combining with his. She reached between them to the thickening length of his erection and gave an appreciative little moan.
Suddenly the heat of the water started to diminish and Max realized that she still had sand in her hair. “My turn,” he said and picked up the shampoo. “We might have to hurry. We’re running out of hot water.”
“Don’t hurry,” she replied. “You can keep me warm.”
“I’ll do my best.”
While he soaped her hair, she stroked him, kissing his chest, running her tongue over and around his nipples. It was not an easy task to keep his mind on what he was doing, but he managed to wash the sand from her hair.
He soaped his hands and ran them over her shoulders. She raised her arms and leaned back against the shower wall, submitting to his touch. He worked up to her fingers and trapped her hands against the wall with his own, pressing against her to capture her lips. She accepted the kiss eagerly.
Max ended the kiss and moved his hands slowly down her arms to the sides of her breasts, then in to track over them, feeling the hard nipples against his palms. She gave a breathy little moan and thrust her breasts forward more into his hands.
He cupped her breasts, running his thumbs around the tightened skin of the areola then the nipple. Her breathing quickened and a flush rose on her skin. “Slow,” she whispered. “Soft.”
Max followed her desire, seeing on her face that he was giving her pleasure. When the soap on his hands started to deplete, he directed her into the water, then turned her again to face him and began to soap her stomach.
His hands moved over her hips and back up, then down, over the tight curls of her sex and into the junction of her thighs. Her sex was plump and wet and when he cupped it, felt hot in his hand.
Livi moaned when he worked his middle finger inside her and pressed against his hand. “Yes. Yes.”
Her whisper brought him to full erection again. He pulled her against him, felt her writhe against him, riding his hand. When his thumb brushed over her clit, she gasped. “Oh god. Max.”
Max understood the tone. It filled him with a kind of excitement he’d never known. He was the one making her come. He could take her over the edge. Or, he could prolong it. He opted for drawing it out and removed his hand.
“Awww, it’s so wrong to leave a girl hanging like that,” she protested teasingly.
“I won’t leave you hanging,” he promised and turned her to rinse then turned off the water.
He grabbed a towel and dried her. She took another towel and tried to dry him and it ended up a hit and miss endeavor that had him snatching both towels, chucking them to the floor and sweeping her up in his arms.
Max carried her to the bed and placed her beside it. He stripped back the bedcovers then pressed her back onto the bed, spreading her legs to kneel between them. Livi looked up at him. “Tell me what you want, Max.”
“You. All of you.”
Time lost all meaning for him as he explored her body with hands and mouth, touching and tasting, learning what made her gasp and want more. Max never heard another sound other than that of her breath or his name on her lips. He didn’t know if time was passing or standing still. Nothing else mattered or existed. There was only the two of them; locked in a dance of love that opened a door he had not known existed, the door that led to unity.
Sex was far more than he had dreamed. It wasn’t just physical even though the sensations were nearly overwhelming they were so intense. It was something that transcended the physical. He felt like he and Livy were linked, heart, and mind. He could feel what she wanted and responded in answer to those feelings.
In turn, he felt her fulfilling needs he did not have to express in words. As corny as it sounded, it truly was a dance of love that ended separation. He was not alone. She was with him, part of him.
He gave himself to it, not caring what lay beyond that wonderful moment. And when they finally lay exhausted in one another’s arms with dawn creeping upon them, he heard her soft whisper. “Happy Birthday Max. I love you.”
He was right. Today changed everything. Today he came of age. Today he had won her love and from now on, nothing would be the same.
Chapter Six
The Present
Max leaned back in his chair, using the heels of his hands to press against his eyes, as if that would block the memories and free him from their power. He’d once heard that you never remember a feeling. You remember “feeling” but you don’t recall the actual feeling and experience it again. If that were true, then he had to be some kind of freak, because he could sink back into those feelings all too easily.
And
it got him nowhere. Well, if he was honest, it did benefit him. It was because he could access those feelings that he could write the book, and now, with luck, the script. His editor had told him that he had the ability to make her believe that what she read was something real, something happening to someone, somewhere.
If she only knew.
Max got up and went into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. As he worked, his mind turned to what happened after he and Livi came back from the beach.
A smile rose unbidden to his face. He was like someone obsessed after they returned. He couldn’t think of anything but her. When he was not with her, it was misery and when he was, he couldn’t keep his hands off her.
If it bothered her, she never let him know. They stole moments whenever they could. Before work, in-between clients and after work. Max was rarely home except to sleep. His parents thought he was with his friends, when he was with Livi.
He was in love and everything was right with the world. June passed in a blur of happiness. Then July rolled around and he looked forward to the July 4th weekend. His parents always spent a long weekend at the lake house and this year he’d told them he wanted to stay home. Which meant he would be at Livi’s for four days. Four uninterrupted days and nights. He couldn’t wait.
July 2004
Livi loved to watch the fireworks, so they planned on driving to San Antonio and watch the uptown display. They were running late thanks to him wanting her more than he wanted to get ready. They were just heading out of the door when something came in on the police scanner he’d set up for her in the kitchen the previous month.
Livi was scrambling for her cameras before he fully got the gist of what was happening. “Come on!” She raced by him. “We have to get to the courthouse in Rock Ridge, now.”
Max ran to the car, surprised that she was in the passenger seat. Then he saw that she was loading film into her camera. He got behind the wheel. For the first time, she didn’t say anything to him about having a lead-foot or warn him that he was going to get a ticket.
They were two blocks from the courthouse when they hit a roadblock. Police were diverting all traffic away from the city. “What now?” he asked as he followed the police officer's directions and turned around.
“Find a place to park. We’ll run.”
It took only a couple of minutes to find a shop on the edge of town closed for the night. Livi was out of the car before Max could grab her spare camera. She seemed to know where she was headed, so he followed.
The closer they got, the more apparent it became that whatever was happening it was something major. It looked like every police and fire official in the county was there. Livi ducked behind a parked car across the street from the courthouse. Between them and the courthouse, the street was cordoned off.
He could see five fire trucks, a HAZ-mat van and what looked like a swat team gathered around a van he assumed was a command post. A white van was blocking the main entrance of the courthouse.
Livi had put her telephoto lens on the camera and was using the hood of the car to steady it as she shot. Max kept his eyes on what was going on. As he watched a man from the SWAT team stepped to the curb with a megaphone and ordered the driver of the van to step out of the vehicle.
“Can you see anyone in the van?” He asked Livi.
“No. Yes. No. I can’t be sure.”
What followed, he would forever remember as surreal. The driver’s door of the white van opened and it was like the volume on a television set being turned down. Suddenly there was no sound. A man climbed out of the van and held his arms up, bent at the elbows. His left hand was spread, fingers up. His right hand was clenched. Did he have something in his hand?
The silence ended with one of the eeriest things Max had ever heard. What must have been a hundred weapons cocked at the same time. “Holy shit,” he breathed. “Are you getting this?”
“Yeah.” Livi replied. “I need the other camera. Hurry.”
Max handed her the camera and she quickly replaced its lens with the telephoto. The SWAT officer was ordering the man to step away from the van. The man yelled something back, but Max couldn’t make out what it was.
The SWAT officer gave the order again. Max thought for sure the man would comply. Instead, the van exploded. Max literally jumped, his heart hammering fast in his chest.
Half of the courthouse was gone, fire and debris raining down everywhere. It was like a scene from a movie, cool and exciting when viewed on the movie screen, but horrible and terrifying when viewed in reality.
Max grabbed Livi to pull her down behind the car, but she shook him off. “I have to get this!”
“Livi!” He made a grab for her but she scooted by him, still shooting. “Livi!”
He caught up with her at almost the same moment a police officer spotted her and yelled at them to get out of there. Livi paid no attention to the officer, she was headed closer to the explosion.
“Hey! Get those people out of there!” A voice yelled, followed by. “Get that camera.”
That did it. Max grabbed Livi from behind, around the waist and whirled her around, shoving her in front of him. “Go!” He yelled. “Go!”
This time she did. They ran like the devil was chasing them and didn’t stop until they reached her car. Max started the engine, threw it in gear, and stomped the accelerator. It wasn’t until they were a few miles down the highway that either of them spoke.
“Can you believe that?” He looked over at her.
She shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense. The courthouse is deserted this time of night. So, it couldn’t be terrorists. And I don’t remember hearing about any protests.”
“A man just killed himself!” Max yelled.
“I know!” She yelled back at him.
“And it doesn’t bother you that we just saw a guy blown to bits?”
She went silent and didn’t speak for the rest of the ride except to tell him to go to the studio. When Max parked in front of the studio, she got and preceded him to the door. She went straight to the darkroom
Max followed her and stood in the dark, listening to her work and breathe. Her breath was fast like someone recovering from a long run. He wondered if she was feeling as uncomfortable as he. He wasn’t afraid, wasn’t sick, but he couldn’t get the images out of his mind.
When she turned on a light, he blinked and looked at her. Tears were streaming down her face. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, then shook her head, then waved him back when he took a step toward her. “Just give me a minute, okay?”
Max made no further move toward her. He simply watched as she processed the film and hung it up to dry. Then he followed her out of the darkroom. She went to her office and stopped in the middle of the room, just standing there.
“Livi?”
She turned to look at him. “Please don’t hate me for this.”
“I could never hate you”
“I’m going to sell those photos, Max.”
“And?”
“And I’m going to profit off some poor schmuck blowing himself up.”
He had not thought of it that way and found it surprising that she did. “Isn’t that what the news is?”
She barked a laugh. “I guess so. I need to make some calls.”
“Then make them.”
Within an hour, there was someone at the door of the studio from the largest newspaper in the San Antonio area. Max stayed out of the way as Livi talked with the man. When the man left, he had the negatives and Livi had a signed contract.
“So?” Max asked as she turned from the door.
She held out the contract. Max took it. He read the amount she was going to be paid and looked at her in surprise. “Wow.”
“Yeah. You know what that means.”
“What?”
“No pizza!” She flung herself at him in excitement.
Max caught her, putting his hands beneath her rear to support her as she jumped up and wrapped her
legs around his waist. She rained kisses on his face and lips.
Max had never seen her that excited. She slid down his body, devouring him with kisses that nearly made him dizzy and tearing at his clothes. He wasn’t about to argue with the direction she was headed, but did stop her long enough to turn off the lights in the front of the studio and lead her back to her office.
That night was an indoctrination into the diverse ways of making love. Before the night was over, he’d made love to her on every piece of furniture in the office, as well as pressed against the wall and on the floor.
And when finally, they were exhausted, they snuggled up on the old sofa in her office. His last thought was not of missing the fireworks, or of her selling the photos. It was of how right it felt to fall asleep with her in his arms.
The Present
Max suddenly realized that the coffee was ready. He looked at the clock and was surprised that he’d been standing there, lost in memory for the last twenty minutes. He poured a cup of coffee and returned to his desk.
When he had been writing the novel, he’d found a way to channel those memories and feelings into words. He couldn’t count the hours he’d lost, unaware of the movement of his hands on the keyboard as he poured out his story.
He had to find a way to do that again so he could finish this script. As he started to type, he wondered if it was more difficult this time because he’d seen Livi.
*****
Olivia barely noticed the cold or the misting of rain as she ran. She didn’t notice the burn of her leg muscles or the people she passed in the park. Her body was on autopilot. That seemed to be the way she operated these days. No matter what she was doing, her mind was occupied with Max.
She knew this was a process she’d avoided for a long time, facing her past and her feelings and while a lot of it hurt like hell, she knew it was a healing hurt. For the first time, she was ready to come to terms with what had happened and resolve her feelings.
She’d already accepted the fact that right or wrong, moral or immoral, she’d fallen in love with Max all those years ago. Moreover, she’d never let go of that love and had done exactly what her friend Lydia had pointed out—she’d measured every man and every relationship since then against Max and her time with him.