by Scott, S. L.
I went to several of the holiday parties, including the one where Evan proposed to me, before getting pregnant with Kai, but that was ten years ago. It’s time to go visit and I know that Evan is looking forward to some ‘us’ time. I am too, but my heart hurts thinking about being away from the children for five nights.
After tucking them in, we flop down on the loveseat in our bedroom. This is where we always reconvene after a long day—a ritual we started too long ago to remember when. I look forward to it every night though.
Our hands find each other and our fingers entwine silently as we sit in reflection of the day that has faded into night.
“This will be a good trip,” he says, resting his head against the arm of the couch. “They’ll be okay without us for a few days. It will be good for them.”
“Are you trying to reassure me or convince me?”
He chuckles. “Both.”
“This will be good for all of us.” I look at our connected hands. Always nervous when it comes to spending a lot of money, I say, “I bought a few things over the last couple of weeks, like shoes and stuff. And I pick up my dress for the party from the designer when we’re in Manhattan.”
“You can spend money, Mallory. We’ve got plenty of it. It’s all yours, so do as you please.”
“Don’t say that. I don’t want the responsibility.”
“Welcome to my teen years.”
“Not funny,” I smirk.
“Kind of funny?” he smirks back, his eyes tired.
“Kind of,” I agree, a relaxed smile crossing my lips as I close my eyes.
“You want to take a shower with me?” he asks casually, but I can hear the deviousness in his tone.
I roll my head to the side and see that sneaky look firmly in place in the shaded blues of his eyes, just as I suspected. My man is feeling frisky, so I play along. “A shower shower or a get ourselves dirty shower?”
His hand rubs lazily over his stomach. “A shower where I can worship that body of yours.”
I laugh because he makes me smile and feel pretty though I lost my flat stomach after having our second child. The endless crunches couldn’t save my belly, but I look good for a mother of three. The jogging leaned me out overall post-babies, but my hips are still a bit wider than before. I’ve always liked my breasts. He loved them before and he still loves them now. After kids and with age, they aren’t as perky as they once were, but if you listen to Evan, my body is the same one I had pre-kids. He loves me as I am, whether I’m a size two or a size-ginormous. I’m not big, but I’m not a size two either. I hold steady at my current weight and feel pretty damn good about myself.
I can also still work a bikini if my husband is anything to go by as he usually eye-fucks me and becomes very handsy when we’re on the beach.
With my back against the armrest, I move my feet to rest in his lap. He starts rubbing them and it feels amazing. “Inside or out?” I ask, smiling, giving into him, wanting him just as much.
“Out.”
“Okay, I’ll get it started. You grab the towels.”
I swing my feet to the ground and head for the French doors. The house that Evan gave me for our wedding has been renovated over the years. What was once a small beach bungalow of 900 square feet has been expanded on all sides to 2800 feet with future plans for a second floor. The bungalow next to ours never went on the market, but Evan came home seven years ago with the property deed in hand. The house was a shack at best and was promptly torn down. It was xeriscaped, palm and banana trees were also planted. We now own almost an acre of beachfront property on the north side of the island. It’s our personal piece of paradise.
I step outside the doors and turn on the faucet to the outdoor shower. This was added just over four years ago and we use it a couple times a week. The wall is made of large, smoothed-out lava rocks and gives us privacy while allowing us to enjoy the perfect island weather.
After pulling my shirt over my head, I toss it inside. I reach for the strings of my bathing suit, but Evan joins me and pulls me to him first. No words are exchanged as his hands roam my body, heating me up. It may be Hawaii but it’s also December and we get some chilly winds sometimes at night. I feel the hot water spraying from the shower head and step forward, bringing him with me.
We sigh in unison. The warm water eases my muscles and my mind, my body relaxing against him.
Untying the strings around my neck, my top falls, then he catches it on his hands as he squeezes my breasts. The top comes completely off and he tosses it next to my shirt a few feet away.
His lips and nose slide down my neck as he continues massaging my breasts, and whispers, “You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen.” I feel his arousal pressing against my back as he drags our heads under the spray, nipping and kissing my shoulder while his other hand deftly unties the bottom part of my bikini. “I want you.” His breath hits my wet skin as he turns me around, rubbing his forehead against mine. “Don’t ever leave me. I need you too much. You drive me so crazy.”
I recognize the anguish mixed into his sexy tone. I almost died giving birth to our first child, and we’ve been through some tough times, like the miscarriage. So I know he means what he says.
My nails scratch his neck as I fist his hair with my other hand. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll never leave you, Evan.” I try to comfort him, but find my hold on him is just as desperate as he smothers my words with kisses and moans.
He pushes me back against the wall of rocks, cushioning the blow with his hands. He slips them out from behind me and steps back, eyeing me from head to toe and back again.
My natural instinct is to cover myself, but he grabs my wrists and stops me. “Don’t. You’re body is fucking amazing.”
The water sprays as it steams up the area around us when it hits the colder air. I sigh, dropping my eyes, “Evan.”
“I love you. I love everything about you and trust me, Baby, your body is so sexy.”
He sits on the built-in bench and pulls me to his lap as I roll my eyes and smile. He’s such a suck-up. I straddle him without a request. I know he likes when I do this and he knows how good it feels to me. I wrap my arms around him and kiss him deeply. I can never get enough of his kisses. Our love flows freely between us when we kiss. My hips start a slow grind that builds quickly. He feels so damn good between my legs.
Evan grips my hips, pulling me down harder and making me moan. I rest my chin against the side of his head, my breath getting away from me. “I want you inside of me when I come, babe.”
His hands stop, his breath stammering just before he lifts me up, my weight resting on my knees. I feel the head of his cock and balance myself with my hands on his shoulders before sliding down. I’m not slow or careful and just as it knocks the wind out of me, I cry out. “You feel amazing.”
“Fuck, you feel good.” With his eyes closed, he leans his head back against the rocks.
I watch him from above. My gorgeous husband has a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth, savoring the feel of our connection. Moving up and down, I use the bench as leverage.
Evan’s hands roam my body then land on my nipples. Gentle pinches and soothing circles follow the way he knows I like it – not too rough, but not breakable.
I reach up and take hold of two large rocks with my hands and pull myself up to then slide back down—quicker, quicker, quicker until his voice is rough with desire as he calls to me, “Fuck me, Baby. Yes!”
His words speak to my dirty side, the side that only he brings out of me. Dropping my head down, resting my weight back down on him, I release the rocks and wrap my arms around his neck. I feel it. Deep down inside, I feel what our love twists into when we bond like this. A tightening begins and my thoughts start to spin as I chase an ecstasy that is uniquely ours. “Evan! Yes, keep going. Yes!”
He thrusts faster and faster as I tighten around him, securing myself to him and this feeling.
The fuse is lit and rushes through my
body igniting every nerve, making them feel like live wires caught on fire. The pressure sends blissful sparks flying throughout my body. “Oh my God! Evan! Babe!”
Grabbing me by the hips, he slams me down mid-orgasm, his breath hot and eager against my ear. “Fuck! Mallory!!”
He falls apart as I come down, his arms wrapping under mine, his hands holding me tight. Teeth threaten to puncture my collarbone as his harsh breaths try to level. He won’t hurt or scar me. He likes to see me in a bathing suit too much for that.
I rub my hand gently down the back of his head and over his shoulders before lifting off of him. I kiss the top of his head then relax back down, curling myself onto his lap.
“About that shower,” he says through a sly grin, and we both laugh.
35
Mallory
After a tearful goodbye with the kids and Ms. Chart, Evan and I catch an early morning flight to New York City. Can’t say I’m thrilled with the thirteen hour flight ahead of us, but with a stop in Los Angeles to break it up a bit, it seems somewhat more bearable.
On the journey, I sleep some and read a paperback I’d been meaning to read for ages. I peek over at Evan a lot. I can’t help it. I’ve always been so drawn to him. Obviously the flight attendants are drawn to him as well. I’d like to say I’ve gotten used to the attention Evan receives, but I haven’t. I don’t think I ever will. He handles it much better than I do and barely notices anymore, even though he’s actually gotten better looking with age. His body can put a twenty-three year old to shame and he’s got abs that are utterly lickable. Trust me, I have done this many, many times.
I smile as the attendant walks away rejected. Evan is rolling his eyes. He gets annoyed by the obvious flirters of the world and doesn’t understand the fascination until the tables are turned. I’ve had a few obnoxious admirers myself. He’s not been in a fight in years, but he’s come close several times. The closest was one time at the grocery store. I had sent Evan, who at the time was holding eight-month- old Kai, to grab a couple of mangoes I’d forgotten to get from the fruit section. I was wearing some cut-offs that were quite short, my green bikini, and a tank top with flip flops—my usual lounge around the house and grocery store attire. I was bent over getting these cookies that Evan loves from the bottom shelf and this young haole stopped, ogled then actually whistled. I jumped up in shock, dropped the cookies, breaking them, and turned around while covering my ass in the process.
Bad timing for that guy.
I caught Evan’s glare just over the guy’s shoulder. He was so angry—tensed jaw and flexed arms as he gritted his teeth. His look was deadly. If not for Kai, who was sleeping comfortably in his arms, I think that guy would’ve ended up in the hospital. Maybe it was good timing for that haole, after all. Kai totally saved his ass.
I slide my hand under his on the armrest and curl my fingers with his. He looks over and gives me a soft, tired smile. He takes his black rimmed glasses off, setting them on the tray in front of him, the ones that drive me wild when we play Doctor and patient. I play his patient who is obsessed with her Doctor. Yeah, I make him keep the glasses on for that.
“Dr. Ashford, the Cappuccino you requested,” the blonde, leggy first class cabin attendant says, handing it to him while smiling and ignoring me. Typical.
He takes it with a thank you and a nod thrown out. Just as she leans in to offer him her services, he turns to me. “I ordered this for you. I know you didn’t get yours this morning before we left the house.”
The attendant magically disappears. Funny how that happens when they discover he’s taken.
“Thank you, babe. I really need it.” I take a sip then ask, “You excited to see the house in the Hamptons?”
“Everything will be different this time. It’s been so many years since we’ve been out there. Our first appearance at the party since we’ve been married.”
A lot has changed over the last few years with the company and in the family. This will be the first time we’ve been back to New York to witness it firsthand.
* * *
EVAN
After settling into my old apartment in Manhattan, we shower and ready ourselves for dinner. We’re meeting my family for a late reservation at a restaurant in Tribeca.
Watching Mallory, she seems to be debating what to do with her hair. She’s wanted to cut it shorter for a while now, but she knows how much I like it long. It seems she lives to make me and the kids happy. I do the same, anything for them.
She settles on leaving it down, pulled forward over her right shoulder. She looks incredible. I stand in awe of her. “Wow!”
A tinge of pink colors her cheeks and it’s not from her make-up. I love that she still blushes. I read somewhere once that when you start having sex with a woman they don’t blush for you anymore. I’m here to tell you, that’s a fucking lie. Sometimes I may have to work a little harder for those pink cheeks, but I still get them.
“You look incredible.”
She grabs the end of her skirt and twirls for me. “So you like?”
“I love,” I say, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her to me. “And I love you.”
“Oh Evan, I love you too.” She scoots out of my reach and grabs her shoes, bending over to put them on. She stands up, and declares, “These are my new shoes.”
After I pick my jaw up off the floor, I shake my head. “What are you doing to me? We have to leave and all I want to do is—”
“I’m sure your mom will hate them which kind of makes me love them even more.” She grabs her purse and heads for the door. “We’re gonna be late if we don’t leave now. C’mon.”
I follow her out of the apartment, pinch her ass, and chase her playfully down the corridor to the elevators. I steal a few kisses from her once inside and on the cab ride over.
We arrive at the restaurant right on time and are led to the table by the hostess.
“Evan! Mallory! I’m so happy to see you,” my mom exclaims as we approach.
We do our rounds of hugs and then sit down at the table in the corner of the crowded bistro. My mom leans toward Mallory, and says, “The food is to die for. Literally, to die for.”
They start to chat about the menu as the wine is delivered and poured. “A toast in is in order,” I say, getting their attention. “To my dad, congratulations on your official retirement. I hope it’s fulfilling and relaxing. It’s well deserved.” I lean forward and lower my voice. “That means you can be lazy now if you want to be.”
We all laugh and tap our glasses together.
“Fill me in on the kids.”
Mallory fields this question from my mom. “Kai made the select swim team last week. He’ll swim competitively starting in the spring.”
“That’s fantastic,” my dad adds, smiling at Mallory.
She smiles, sliding her fingers between mine on top of the table. “He very much takes after his father. He’s smart and a truly gifted athlete. And Duke…” She laughs to herself as if she’s remembering something clever he did. “He’s so much like Evan it’s crazy. He wants to be an explorer and travel the world. He loves history and I think he might have a photographic memory. It’s amazing what that kid remembers.”
“He’s also a damn good surfer,” I add unabashedly.
“Yes, I can’t keep him out of the water. I have to have my eyes on him at all times or he’ll slip out to boogie board.”
Leaning back, I feel at home, relaxing into the comfortable conversation. “I got both Duke and Kai custom boards this past summer. It’s incredible watching them shred the waves.”
My parents are looking between us amused by how we finish each other’s thoughts. Tapping Mallory’s arm, my mom says, “I’m so glad to see you both so happy. It’s obvious our grandkids are gifted and take after both of their wonderful parents. Tell me about Reef. I can’t believe he’s almost four. We are due for a visit. Now that Hugh is retired it will be easier to spend time out there.”
Mallory sips her
wine, so I start, “Reef is just like his mother. He loves books and is competitive and feisty, strong-willed, so clever, and so damn cute.”
“Thank you for emailing,” my Mom says, “all of the photos and this new Skyping business is fun.”
“Yes, I’m thankful for modern technology. I can see them growing and changing so much every time we see them online.” My dad then asks the awkward question we forgot to prepare an answer for, “Do you want to have any more kids or are you done at three?”
“I think we’re done,” I say just as Mallory says, “Yes, more is good.”
We look at each other surprised. Okay, so maybe we don’t always finish each other’s sentences the same. My gut tells me to speak up and remind her of the reality of the situation. “Every time we have another is you taking a risk.” I know my parents are listening. How can they not be? They’re only two feet if that away from us. But I need to say this.
Mallory lowers her voice to match my tone. “I have easy pregnancies, babe. You know that. You’ve seen it.”
“Yes, you do, but the births aren’t.”
“I think you’re blowing this out of proportion. It only happened one time.”
“You fucking died that day—”
“Evan,” my dad cautions.
I turn to glare at him. “Dad, you’re not a doctor. You didn’t almost lose your wife right in front of you while holding your newborn.”
Mallory’s hand soothes over my forearm. “But I didn’t die. See? I’m right here,” she says, raising her hands up as if to prove her point. “I’m alive and well.”
She knows me too well. Her voice is just a whisper, just for me. “Evan, you heard the doctor. It was a freak of nature type thing, unexplainable, and they never really lost me. I was just unconscious for a minute. I was always alive and with you.”